Chapter 76 : The Relationship Behind Han Zhenyu

Machinery Factory Family Building

After eating in the cafeteria, Li Shaohua went to another staff building with the food given by Su Xieqiu, not waiting for his wife to get off work.

His parents and parents-in-law all lived there, and his second uncle lived in the building behind.

Li Shaohua’s wife worked in the cafeteria, so the couple rarely cooked and mostly ate in the cafeteria.

He had saved some tomatoes and cucumbers that his wife liked, and sent the rest of the food to his relatives.

He went to his second uncle’s house first. Li Chong’s family had just finished dinner and was sitting in the room listening to the radio.

“Uncle, Aunt, these are from Han Zhenyu’s wife. Yanling and I don’t usually cook, so you can share these dishes with my parents,” Li Shaohua said as he sat next to his cousin and reached out to change the radio channel.

“Brother, you’re so annoying! We were listening to the radio just fine, but you make us change it as soon as you come in,” Li Shaoqing complained as he ran to grab the radio.

Li Shaohua pulled him back, gave him a light kick, snatched the radio from his hands, tuned it to his favorite station, and looked at him smugly.

Li Shaoqing was so angry that he jumped up and ran to complain to his parents, “Dad, Mom, look at my oldest brother!”

Li Chong and Tang Hui ignored them. The two brothers always fought when together, but after a while, they would be fine again, so they didn’t get involved in their squabble.

The little girl, Li Shaoyun, looked at her two brothers, sighed helplessly, and went back to her room, muttering, “What a pair of enemies.”

Tang Hui divided the vegetables into three portions. “Shaohua, give these two bags to your parents and your father-in-law and mother-in-law.”

“Aunt, just leave it. I’ll listen to the radio for a while before I go,” Li Shaohua replied, still fiddling with the radio.

Li Chong put down his newspaper and asked, “Did you see Zhenyu’s wife today? What do you think of her?”

At the mention of his uncle’s question, Li Shaohua stopped fiddling with the radio and said with admiration, “She’s very pretty, has a good temperament, and makes people feel comfortable when she speaks and does things. She’s much better than Secretary Chen from the labor union.”

“Is Han Zhenyu married? Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Tang Hui was surprised.

Li Chong smiled and nodded. “They’ve been married for half a year. The boy didn’t tell us. We just found out that his wife seems to be an educated youth who came to Hai City to work in the countryside.”

“Why did Shaohua mention Secretary Chen from the labor union? Is there a connection between her and Han Zhenyu?” Tang Hui felt something was off. Why would her nephew randomly compare Han Zhenyu’s wife with Secretary Chen? They had no relation.

Li Chong hadn’t planned to tell his wife about this, but since his nephew had already brought it up, he decided there was no harm in talking about it.

He nudged his son and said, “Go back to your room and listen to the radio. Your mother and I need to talk.”

Li Shaoqing, happy to be dismissed, went back to his room with the radio.

Li Chong then explained the situation to Tang Hui.

Tang Hui was shocked. After a long pause, she said in disbelief, “No, the Chen family is usually quite respectable. How could they do something so shameful?”

Tang Hui smiled, “From a worldly perspective, if Han Zhenyu married a girl from the Chen family, it would definitely be better than marrying an educated youth.”

She then leaned closer to her husband and, in a mysterious tone, whispered, “But everyone in our building knows that the little girl from the Chen family is greedy and lazy. She’s a grown woman but can’t do any work. Though she’s fair-skinned and gentle, she’s not a good person. When she argues with her two sisters-in-law, she says anything and has a very bad temper.”

“Although Han Zhenyu is from the countryside, he has high aspirations and vision. Not to mention that he’s already married, but even if he weren’t, I think he wouldn’t be interested in that girl.”

Li Chong and Li Shaohua were both surprised by this. They didn’t know that the little girl from the Chen family was such a person.

Especially Li Chong, who had promised Chen Dongsheng yesterday to act as the matchmaker for his daughter and Han Zhenyu.

Fortunately, this did not happen, or it would have been embarrassing.

Li Chong asked his wife, “Why haven’t I heard you say that?”

“Don’t you like to hear this?”

Tang Hui glanced at him sarcastically, “If I really told you, you would definitely say, ‘Why are you so talkative? What does other people’s affairs have to do with us?'”

Li Chong was scolded by his wife in front of his nephew. He felt a little embarrassed and was just about to find a way to back down.

Li Shaohua held back his laughter and helped him out. “Second Uncle, who introduced Zhenyu to the factory? I was afraid that this matter wouldn’t be handled well this morning, so I asked him to ask the person who brought him into the factory for help. But he said that he had already repaid the favor that person owed him, and even if he was fired this time, he would not bother others again.”

Li Chong was a little surprised when he heard this. “Did he really tell you that?”

Li Shaohua nodded with certainty, “It’s absolutely true.”

Li Chong touched his chin and said, “I don’t know through whose relationship Han Zhenyu entered the factory, but he was personally retained by Deputy Director Bai. Moreover, I told Deputy Director Bai about Han Zhenyu and the Chen family today, and from what he said, he would definitely protect Han Zhenyu.”

Li Shaohua asked, “Second Uncle, could it be that Deputy Director Bai owed him a favor, so he brought him to the factory?”

“Probably not.” Li Chong shook his head and said, “I only know that Han Zhenyu seemed to have come with a letter of introduction. The person who introduced him might know Deputy Director Bai and have a say in Deputy Director Bai’s affairs.”

At this time, Tang Hui, who was listening to the conversation, suddenly asked “It seems that Deputy Director Bai was transferred from the army a few years ago?”

“Yes, he was transferred from the Southwest Military Region. It seems that he was seriously injured and retired.”

Li Chong felt that he had said too much, so he quickly stopped the topic and picked up the newspaper on the table to read.

He didn’t care that his wife and nephew were still waiting for him to continue, with curious looks on their faces.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any more information, Li Shaohua had no choice but to take the two bags of vegetables and go to his parents’ house.

Han Zhenyu and Su Xieqiu had just finished their meal and were discussing what new things to buy for their home.

“Buy two large water jars, and a few smaller jars and pots for making pickled vegetables and sauerkraut. Also buy a few baskets and vegetable baskets…”

Su Xieqiu wrote as she spoke, and Han Zhenyu occasionally added to the list. Soon, they had written a whole page.

Su Xieqiu sighed, “Oh, there are still a lot of things to buy.”

“It’s okay. Buy the main things first and then the rest later,” Han Zhenyu smiled, putting the paper in his pocket. “The temperature will start to drop next month, so we’ll have to prepare firewood for the winter when we move in. I will clean up the house in the next two days and go to the city to buy some daily necessities, so I won’t have time to chop wood. I will talk to Sun Dahan tomorrow and ask him to help us cut the trees, and we will give him some money for that. Now that I’ve been converted to a regular employee, I should have a coal ticket. I’ll see if I can bring back a few truckloads of coal in the near future.”

Su Xieqiu knew that winter here lasted for half a year and was extremely cold, so they needed to prepare enough firewood, or it would be difficult to survive.

With her small frame, she could pick up some small firewood from the mountain, but she definitely couldn’t bring down the large firewood. So, she decided not to try to be brave.

She smiled and nodded, “Okay, you decide.”

Before going to bed, she suddenly remembered that she hadn’t read a letter from Hai Shi.

She wanted to wait until tomorrow, but she couldn’t sleep and kept tossing and turning.

She sat up again, lit the kerosene lamp, and took the letter out from under the pillow.