Chapter 28

The department store had its own canteen. Xu Di had exchanged her food coupons yesterday, and she brought a lunchbox with her when she came this morning.

The canteen didn’t provide lunchboxes at this time, and all the workers brought their own lunchboxes, those old-fashioned aluminum lunchboxes.

They had been used for many years, and the lids were pitted and dented. Some people were not so careful, and their lunchboxes had lost their original color.

Xu Di followed Sister Tang to the canteen and lined up at the window. Fortunately, there weren’t many people, and the saleswoman at the counter was taking turns eating.

When it was Xu Di’s turn, she took a look. There was stir-fried cabbage, braised tofu, and radish soup, all vegetarian, no meat.

Xu Di ordered a portion of rice, a portion of braised tofu, and filled a bowl of radish soup.

“Oh, it’s been like this for days, cabbage, radish, potatoes every day, not a single bit of meat. We’re not geese, we can’t eat vegetarian food every day.”

Sister Tang, holding the same lunch, whispered to Xu Di, complaining.

“Sister Tang, has our canteen always been like this?”

Xu Di had been in high school for a year, and the food at the school canteen was even worse.

“Well, recently there’s been some kind of plague, a lot of pigs and chickens have died, pork supply is insufficient, and eggs are also in short supply.”

Sister Tang worked in warehousing, and she was well-informed.

“Now the vegetables are just planted, eggplant, green beans, tomatoes will take a while to come out.”

“That’s right, at home it’s cabbage, radish, potatoes every day, and the canteen is the same, really, I’m about to throw up.”

Sister Tang complained and complained, but she couldn’t not eat. Fortunately, there was braised tofu today.

Xu Di didn’t say anything, she quickly ate her meal, she had things to do in the afternoon.

After lunch, there was still rest time, Xu Di looked at the other people in the office, some were napping on the desk, some were busy unravelling sweaters. This was the change of seasons, sweaters and long johns couldn’t be worn anymore, and they were too small, so they could only be unraveled and re-knitted.

Xu Di didn’t have any personal matters to attend to, so she took out some rules and regulations of their department from the office file cabinet and read them.

After lunch break, the afternoon continued to reconcile accounts with the warehouse people, Xu Di still watched and remembered more, and didn’t speak easily.

At five o’clock in the afternoon, the people in the office started to pack up and leave work.

Xu Di also put on her own shoulder bag, which contained her washed lunchbox, and left the office.

The first day of work was over, Xu Di experienced a different work atmosphere from her previous life.

When she got to the bus stop, it was packed with people, Xu Di felt like she was sore all over, and she was going to be squeezed again in a while.

After finally getting off the bus, Xu Di thought, how am I going to do this in the future, the bus is too crowded.

At the Xu family, Xu’s mother hadn’t come back yet, she was on the night shift today.

Xu’s sister-in-law was cooking, she was on the early shift today, and they switched shifts with Xu’s mother.

“Xu Di is back, how is it, how was your first day at work, are you getting used to it?”

“It’s okay, sister-in-law, what are we having for dinner? I’ll change my clothes and help you cook.”

Xu Di quickly went into the room to change clothes, her sister-in-law had also worked all day, she couldn’t just wait to eat.

In her previous life, she would come back from work every day, busy cooking, busy looking after the children, washing clothes, she couldn’t wait to grow two more hands.

At first, she also asked Li Kai to do housework, and he wouldn’t move a finger.

If she said too much, they would start arguing, arguing and arguing, he didn’t help at all, and the child was scared and cried.

Later, she was tired of arguing, so she gave up. She could finish everything herself in the time it took to argue with him.

Otherwise, the fight would be over, the work wouldn’t be done, and she would be tired and angry.

Therefore, Xu Di especially hated coming back from work and being busy alone, while the others were idle like grandfathers.

“We’re having cabbage braised tofu and steamed flower rolls for dinner. I don’t know what’s going on lately, we can’t buy pork, and there are fewer eggs too.”

Xu’s sister-in-law had already cooked, Xu Di helped clean up.

“I heard from my colleagues at the office that there seems to be a pig plague and a chicken plague. They said the canteen at the department store has been eating vegetarian food for days.”

“Then it’s over, even if the plague is over, it will take a while for pigs and chickens to recover.”

Xu’s sister-in-law worked at the pharmacy in the factory hospital, she usually had less contact with people, and she didn’t know some gossip.

“That’s right, pigs, at least it takes seven or eight months to raise, chicks, it takes more than a hundred days.”

Xu Di thought about the eggs and hundreds of roosters in her space, she didn’t dare to sell them easily at this time.

The two sisters-in-law chatted while working, and time passed quickly.

The family members came back one after another, and they all asked about Xu Di’s first day at work.

Xu Di repeated the content of today’s work tirelessly, to reassure her family.

The Xu family, a family of people gathered around the table eating happily.

In the government compound next to the department store family compound where the Liang family lived, Grandma Qian was worried, her second grandson hadn’t come back again.

“Grandma, I’m going on a mission soon, I’ll come back after I finish, and then I’ll take a vacation and come home. When I do, I’ll definitely go see the girl you introduced, I won’t break my promise.”

Zhang Chaoyang assured his grandmother on the phone, after comforting his grandmother, he quickly hung up the phone and gave a military salute, thinking, grandma can’t see anyway, this is a habit.

Grandma Qian stared at the phone for a long time, as if by staring at it, she could transmit her thoughts to her grandson’s mind.

He was twenty-three years old, all his thoughts were on the army, he wasn’t in a hurry about his personal matters.

Oh, let’s think about it, who among the people I know is suitable for Chaoyang, and who wouldn’t mind that he’s in the army and often away from home.

“The girl from the Wang family in the compound, she seems to be twenty years old, I don’t know if she has a boyfriend. The granddaughter of the Li family in the public security compound seems to be twenty-one or twenty-two years old. The granddaughter of the Zheng family in the neighboring family compound…”

Grandma Qian muttered to herself, thinking about the girls of the right age from families she knew, wondering if they would like her grandson.

Chaoyang was good-looking, tall and handsome, the only flaw was that his eyes were a little small.

Grandma Qian sat alone on the sofa thinking about her grandson’s matters, but she didn’t know that the main character had already packed his bags and set off on another journey.

The sun rose and set, and the days passed one after another.

Xu Di had been working for more than a month, she received her first salary, and her second month’s salary was not far away.

School also officially went on holiday, Xu Di and her classmates officially graduated from high school.

On the streets, there were young people everywhere, rushing around, they were running to different factory gates every day, inquiring about recruitment.

“We’re not hiring, the factory is not hiring this year.”

“We’ve already finished hiring, there are no positions left.”

“The business is not good, why would we hire anyone?”

…

On each of the slightly immature faces, there was a look of disappointment. No job meant going to the countryside.

If it wasn’t for the Liang family’s job, Xu Di would also be one of these people.

In the evening, Xu Di came back to the family compound from work, and she could still hear some noise.

“Why can’t my second brother go, it’s his turn. Mom, you gave the job to my second brother, what about me, what am I going to do?”

“Your second brother has a girlfriend, how can he go to the countryside? Other girls also go to the countryside, why don’t they make a fuss like you?”

“You’re just biased, you only care about your sons!”

“Bang…”

Xu Di was startled, she was once again grateful that the family she came to didn’t favor sons over daughters.

She didn’t have to do like the ones in the online novels and dramas, to get rid of her extreme family members, quickly pack up and go to the countryside, and start a new life in the future where the sky is high and the earth is wide.

“Xu Di, what are you thinking about, come in quickly, wash your hands and eat, we’re having dumplings today, leek, egg, and shrimp dumplings.”

“Oh, I’m coming, Mom, you’re amazing, where did you buy the shrimp?”

“The canteen got a batch, and we each got a little.”

Xu’s mother’s cheerful voice warmed Xu Di’s heart.

“Second sister, hurry up, we’re waiting for you, the dumplings are getting cold.”

Xu Jun was hungry and urged his second sister.

“Cold!”

An An, who didn’t understand, also shouted with her uncle, which caused everyone to burst into laughter.

“Haha…”