Chapter 9

“Mom, it doesn’t cost much. Let’s cook all the fish since it’s hot. Otherwise it will go bad and it will be a waste.” Du Yimeng said.

The other members of the Du family looked at Du’s mother eagerly, even Du Weihai.

This was said by Du Yimeng, and she was the one who bought the fish. If it was someone else, Du’s mother would have gone crazy in minutes.

As everyone was waiting, Du’s mother nodded, and everyone’s face showed a happy expression.

“I’ll go kill the fish…” The third brother Du Yinan was very tactful and offered to kill the fish. His mother had worked hard pasting matchboxes all day, and his father, brother and sister were also tired from working.

He even brought the fourth child with him, but as for the fifth child, forget it…

Du Yimeng followed her mother to the kitchen and took out three steamed buns made of two-grain flour from her bag.

“Why did you take your ration back? There’s no shortage of food at home…” Du’s mother frowned subconsciously when she saw Mantou. She always remembered what happened before her daughter’s high school entrance examination.

The girl was too sensible. She often saved her own steamed bread for her younger brothers, and as a result she almost starved to death.

At that time, she was so frightened when she saw her daughter, who was pale and barely breathing, that she thought she was going to lose her daughter.

Fortunately, nothing happened. She still gets scared every time she thinks about it.

“I have a small appetite, but it’s not enough. Have you bought any food?” Du Yimeng quickly changed the subject. Mother Du didn’t know what she was thinking about, and her face looked very unhappy.

“I’ve already bought 50 kilograms. Do you want to buy more?” Du’s mother asked. She found that there was less and less food in the grain station today, and many people were buying food.

“Buy it. Let the third and fourth sons buy it secretly and try not to let outsiders see it. Don’t show your wealth to others, and the same goes for food.” Du Yimeng said. There are so many people in their family, and 50 kilograms of food are only enough to eat for a few days.

She was worried that other people would come to borrow food. If she didn’t lend them food, they all lived in the same family compound, and if they did, they would go hungry.

“I don’t know what the future will be like. What if the ration is gone? Buy more and keep them at home. It’s always better to be prepared.” Du Yimeng then explained to Du’s mother what they might encounter. Du’s mother was so scared that she wanted to go out to buy food.

“Mom, you don’t have to worry about money. I’m level 14 now and my salary is 48.5. Together with Xiaodong and my dad’s salary, it’s more than 100 yuan a month.” As soon as Du Yimeng finished speaking, her mother screamed.

“What’s the matter?” Du Weihai, who was sitting in the living room, rushed out and asked anxiously.

“Level 14, salary 48.5 yuan…” Du’s mother had already inquired about it. Even if he became a technician, the maximum salary would be 37 yuan. How could it be so much more?

“What do you mean by level 14… Daming, you are level 14?” Du Weihai asked in disbelief, but then he remembered that Daming could not only repair machine tools, but also improve them, so it seemed nothing special to be a technician at level 14.

“What a great joy, what a huge joy…” After coming back to her senses, Du’s mother was ecstatic.

Du’s mother was so excited that all the sadness on her face disappeared. Her dream was so great that she was ranked 14th right after graduation.

When her eyes fell on Du Weihai, even though she concealed it well, Du Weihai still saw the hint of disgust in her eyes.

I’m middle-aged, and my salary is only 52.8 yuan. I was almost caught up by my own daughter. Tsk tsk tsk tsk… How pitiful…

Du Weihai: What’s with that look of disgust and sympathy from his wife?

Du’s mother didn’t bother to comfort Du Weihai’s wounded heart. She quickly walked out of the kitchen and went to the sink outside.

It took two young men so long to kill a fish. It was such a waste of her food for so many years.

She couldn’t wait to show off her cooking skills, and today she wanted to let Da Meng enjoy a good meal of braised fish.

Not long after, a fragrance wafted out of the Du family’s small kitchen, and everyone in the staff quarters who smelled the fragrance couldn’t help but swallow a few mouthfuls. It was no wonder they were like that, as it was so difficult to eat meat in that era.

Lao Wu had been guarding the kitchen door, drooling. Du Yimeng saw how useless he looked and stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth.

Then she distributed the rest of the candies, giving two pieces to each person and three pieces to Du’s mother.

“Sister, Dad doesn’t like candy.” When Lao Wu saw Du Yimeng was about to give the candy to his dad, he reminded her.

Last time, he spent several days writing homework for others and only earned a candy. He was reluctant to give it to his dad, so he gave it to his dad. As a result, his dad said he didn’t like candy. He always remembered this.

Du Weihai, who had just taken the candy, saw the clear stupidity in Lao Wu’s eyes. He was speechless for a moment. His son was a little stupid, what should he do?

“What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?” Lao Wu noticed a moment of silence in the air. He looked at everyone in confusion, and saw that everyone was looking at him with something indescribable. He was puzzled.

“Old Fifth, look more, think more and talk less in the future, otherwise you won’t be able to find a wife.” Du Weihai said earnestly.

“Dad, don’t worry! I don’t want a wife in the future…” Lao Wu felt the sweetness on the tip of his tongue, he squinted his eyes in satisfaction, the candy was really delicious.

He can’t even feed himself, so why does he need a wife?

If I marry my wife, she will definitely compete with him for food, and he is not stupid…

Du Weihai: …

Everyone: …

“Fifth brother, we all heard what you said, and we’ve made note of it. If you dare to get married in the future, we’ll beat you up.” The second brother Du Yidonggang took the lead, and the third and fourth brothers echoed him.

Du Yimeng cast a sympathetic look at Lao Wu, then went into the small kitchen to help Du’s mother.

…

For the next period of time, Du Yimeng was very busy, working with the people in the technical department to improve the machine tools in the machinery factory. Of course, there were many machine tools that could not be improved.

The only thing that never changes is that she is always the first to eat. At first, the people in the technical department were puzzled, but later they understood and finally joined in.

So now, when it is time to eat, you will see a group of people running towards the cafeteria. They are all people from the technical department, and the one running last is of course Section Chief Song.

Of course the one who benefited the most was Du Yimeng. The factory rewarded her with a ticket for an electric fan and 50 yuan, and even announced it to the entire factory through a loudspeaker.

Now, everyone in the entire machinery factory knows Du Yimeng from the technical department.

Other people in the technical department also received rewards, but hers was the biggest.

The biggest reward still came from the system, with 105 attribute points alone, plus money, tickets, and supplies. Seeing so many rewards, she couldn’t wait to get back to work.

And considering that she was the only female comrade in the entire technical department, she was given a separate office. In this way, she no longer had to stay in the big office to eat every time.

When you have strength, everything you get will come naturally, otherwise it would be a sign of unworthiness.