Chapter 3

“What are you looking at? If you dare to ask me for dumplings, I will beat you…” The second brother Du Yidonggang glared at the fifth brother fiercely, then pushed the last two dumplings in his bowl into the fifth brother’s bowl.

This brat’s stomach is like a bottomless pit and can never be filled. Fortunately, he ate slowly on purpose and still had two left.

“Thank you, second brother! You are so nice. When I make money in the future, I will make meat dumplings for you every day.” The fifth brother started to make big promises with his little mouth, and then he gobbled them up. He finished two dumplings in a minute.

Du Yimeng twitched her lips when she saw this. She took one dumpling from the bowl and put it into each person’s bowl. When it was Du’s mother’s turn, she took two.

She didn’t notice it at first, but only then did she notice that her mother’s bowl was almost all dumpling soup.

“Da Meng, you can eat it yourself, no need to give them. Their stomachs are bottomless pits, no matter how much food they eat, they can’t fill them up. Mom doesn’t like eating dumplings…” When Du Yimeng saw Du Yimeng pushing the dumplings into other people’s bowls, she immediately stopped him. When it was her turn, she said a classic quote from her mother.

When we were young, we always thought that our mother was a picky eater because she always said she didn’t like this or that. When we grew up, we realized that it was not that she didn’t like the food, but that she wanted to save the good food for her children.

This situation may be rare in later generations, but in this era, it is everywhere.

“I don’t have a big appetite…” Du Yimeng said with a smile. Compared to her family, her living conditions are already very good.

In the past few years, she would occasionally send some money home, but she didn’t dare to send too much. After all, she was still a student, and even if she worked part-time, she couldn’t earn much.

“Da Meng, how do you arrange your work?” Du Weihai hesitated for a long time after dinner, but finally asked.

He had wanted to ask for a long time, but was afraid that something might happen at work. If he asked, wouldn’t it hurt the child’s feelings?

However, seeing that the child had been smiling since he entered the house, he mustered up the courage to ask.

As soon as Du Weihai finished speaking, everyone’s eyes fell on Du Yimeng.

“The work is assigned to a machinery factory, but I don’t know the specific position yet,” said Du Yimeng.

Du’s mother breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the school assigned her a job. Her daughter was different from her son. If her son couldn’t find a job, he could still go out and carry heavy bags.

If a girl doesn’t have a job, she will be looked down upon even if she gets married.

They spent almost half of their family savings on their second son’s job, and they really couldn’t afford to buy a job for their eldest daughter.

“Sister, will you be a worker in the future?” Lao Wu asked excitedly. With three workers in his family in the future, will he be able to eat a little more fully?

It’s just that his second elder brother is not so well off, with only 15 yuan a month. If his elder brother could be more supportive, maybe he could have enough to eat.

If Du Yidonggang could hear Lao Wu’s thoughts, Lao Wu would definitely be beaten up.

“If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense. I’m just a technical secondary school student, and I’ll be a cadre in the future.” The fourth brother retorted. His biggest wish was to be admitted to a technical secondary school like his sister. As for becoming a college student, he had never thought about it.

It’s a pity that his grades are not good. He also wants to work hard, and the outside world always attracts him.

Du Weihai and his wife couldn’t help but raise their chins. They had known about this for a long time, and they were very happy to think that their family would have a cadre.

“I’m not a cadre either. I studied mechanics and should be assigned to the technical department.” Du Yimeng explained quickly. She didn’t want to go out again tomorrow. All the old ladies in the compound were discussing whether she was a cadre.

“Don’t you dare go out and talk nonsense? If you dare to go out and talk nonsense, you won’t be allowed to eat for a day.” Du’s mother glanced at everyone fiercely, including Du Weihai. As her husband’s partner, how could she not know what kind of person he is.

The job hasn’t been confirmed yet, and she doesn’t want her eldest daughter’s job to be ruined because of her family’s nonsense.

Although she is not a cadre as those people outside say, she is still a technician, the first in the family compound. She gave birth to her daughter, and she is proud…

The four brothers shuddered subconsciously. A beating wouldn’t be a big deal. They were often beaten, so they were afraid of going hungry for a day.

…

Before going to bed at night, Du’s mother quietly came to Du Yimeng’s room, took out a small cloth bag and took out a pair of black leather shoes from it.

“You will report to the factory tomorrow, so dress well so that you won’t be assigned to work as a worker downstairs.” Du’s mother said calmly, but her facial muscles were stiff, which showed that she was not as calm as she appeared.

This pair of small leather shoes cost exactly 18 yuan, and she also needed a shoe ticket, which almost made her heart break. But thinking about her daughter’s job, she had to give it up no matter how much she felt bad.

Du Yimeng felt warm in her heart. Lao Wu had said that the family could only eat two steamed buns for one meal, which showed that the family was really short of money. Even so, her mother still spent so much money to buy her a pair of leather shoes.

In fact, her work has basically been assigned and is waiting for her to report. It doesn’t matter whether she wears these leather shoes or not.

But this is the love a mother has for her child!

“Don’t listen to Lao Wu’s nonsense. He is just a talkative person. The situation at home has not reached the point he says it does.” Seeing that her daughter looked worried, Du’s mother hurried to comfort her.

She holds the financial power and knows best how much money the family has. Now the ration is reduced and the price of grain is rising. She doesn’t know what the future will be like. She is worried that the whole family will go hungry in the future, so she is preparing for a rainy day.

“Mom, I heard that food prices will continue to rise. I still have some banknotes here, let’s use them all to buy food!” Du Yimeng took out a small box filled with small banknotes, which added up to more than 30 yuan and more than 20 kilograms of food coupons.

She still had more than 300 yuan in her space, but she didn’t dare to take it out. Now the price of food has only risen a little, and in another year, she wouldn’t be able to buy food even if she had money.

Du’s mother hesitated for a moment, but still took the money. However, she only took 20 yuan, saying that the girl was grown up and should have some money of her own.

She didn’t ask any more questions, because she thought the same way. She had experienced hardships, and food was the basis for survival.

As soon as Du’s mother left, Du Yimeng lay on the bed and tossed and turned but couldn’t fall asleep, mainly because it was too hot. The room separated by wooden boards was very small and had no windows.

Living in a house like this in the hot summer is simply a sin!

There is no way around it. Every household lives in a similar situation now. Her place is relatively better, but the other members of the Du family live in one small room with two people. That’s really miserable.

She had to find a way to get a ticket for the fan, and also find a way to stock up more food. Without food, life would be difficult in the next two years.

Thinking about the generous rewards the system gave her every time, she felt that she loved learning the most.