Chapter 82 Household Matters - "At the beginning of the 1970s, I made a fortune from zero-yuan purchases"

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May 30th, Sunday.

Wang Jianxin got up early in the morning and went to the instructor to ask for leave.The instructor was brushing his teeth, holding the toothbrush in his mouth, and asked vaguely: "Go home?" Wang Jianxin said: "I haven't seen the new sister-in-law yet, go back and have a look." The instructor took the toothbrush out of his mouth, rinsed it in the jar, and said, "Go, remember to come back in the evening." He pulled out a note from the drawer, wrote it, and stamped it.

Wang Jianxin left the school and got on the bus.In Beijing at the end of May, the weather was already hot. People on the street were wearing unlined clothes, and some girls had already changed into skirts.The locust flowers on the roadside are in full bloom, and strings of white and yellow flowers, with a sweet fragrance, come in through the cracks of the car window.He leaned back in his chair, looked at the street scene outside the window and stepped back, thinking about his second brother's marriage.

The bus drove for nearly an hour and arrived at the stop near his home.Wang Jianxin got out of the car, turned into the alley, found a deserted corner, and took out a bag of fruits from the space - apples, pears, grapes, all grown in the space, big and juicy.He also took out a piece of pork, about ten kilograms, and wrapped it in oil paper until it was frozen hard.Carrying things, he walked into the courtyard.

Aunt Wang in the front yard was picking leeks at the door. When she saw Wang Jianxin, her eyes lit up. She stood up and patted the dirt on her pants: "Jianxin is back? Oops, carrying so many things again! Your mother is at home. Come in quickly. By the way, I haven't congratulated you yet. You have made another first-class contribution! Well done!" She gave a thumbs up.Wang Jianxin smiled and thanked him and walked inside.Aunt Liu in the middle courtyard was drying clothes. When she saw him, she shouted: "Jianxin, you have brought glory to our courtyard!" Wang Jianxin smiled, did not answer, and continued walking to the backyard.

Entering the backyard, he saw his sister-in-law washing clothes at the door, sitting on a small bench, rubbing the sheets on the washboard, her hands red from soaking.Mother was sitting on the small bench next to her, her head lowered while choosing vegetables, but there was no smile on her face, and the corners of her mouth were turned down.The eldest brother and the second brother squatted under the wall in the shade, each holding a cigarette in his hand.The elder brother was fine. He took a puff and spit it out, just like usual.The second brother was different, he had a sad face, he held the cigarette in his mouth for a long time without taking a puff, and the ashes fell all over his trouser leg without even realizing it.

Wang Jianxin shouted: "Mom, sister-in-law, eldest brother, second brother."

Everyone raised their heads and saw Wang Jianxin coming back.The mother stood up immediately, the expression on her face changed from gloomy to clear. Although there was still a little sadness in the corners of her eyes, she smiled: "San'er is back? Come in the house quickly, come in the house quickly." The sister-in-law also stood up, shook the water on her hands, and said with a smile: "San'er, you are back. Mom has been talking about you all morning." The eldest brother nodded at him, and the second brother forced out a smile, which was uglier than crying.

Wang Jianxin looked at everyone and knew something was wrong, but he didn't ask on the spot.Carrying things, I followed my mother into the main room.My father was sitting next to the Eight Immortals table reading the newspaper. When he saw Wang Jianxin come in, he put down the newspaper and said, "You're back?" Wang Jianxin put the fruit and pork on the Eight Immortals table and asked casually, "Mom, what happened?"

The mother smiled, the smile was unnatural, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were squeezed together: "It's okay, everything is fine. What do you want to eat for lunch today? Mom will make it for you." Then she walked to the kitchen.

Wang Jianxin said: "Mom, don't worry, it's still early." He took out a small stack of bills from his bag - meat coupons, egg coupons, candy coupons, tofu coupons, colorful, tied with rubber bands - and handed them to his mother, "Mom, I redeemed these coupons, some of them are about to expire. You sort it out, spend what you need to spend, and don't be reluctant to part with it. Now that our family has a job, we can eat when we need to, and don't be reluctant to part with it."

The mother took the ticket, turned it over in her hand, twitched the corner of her mouth, smiled reluctantly, and said: "San'er, you always take things from home. Do you have enough at school?"

"That's enough. I can't spend much money on school. Just feel free to use it."

My father put down the newspaper, picked up a pack of cigarettes from the table, took out one, lit it, took a deep breath, and exhaled it for a long time.The smoke dispersed under the light, and he frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but then swallowed it.In the end, he just said "Oh" and shook his head.

Wang Jianxin knew something must have happened, but his parents didn't want to tell him.He took out two more Pegasus cigarettes from his bag, placed them on the Eight Immortals table, and patted them: "Dad, the cigarettes are put here. Don't smoke dry cigarettes all the time and make you choke."

The father looked at the two cigarettes, said nothing, and took another puff of the cigarette in his hand.

Wang Jianxin said: "Dad, Mom, I'm going to go out and talk to my eldest brother and my second brother." He turned around and left the main room.

When they came to the yard, the eldest brother and the second brother were still squatting under the wall, with cigarette ashes falling on the floor.Wang Jianxin walked over, took out a box of large Qianmen from his pocket, took out two and handed them to his eldest brother and second brother, and lit one himself.The three of them squatted in a row, no one said anything, and they heard children running and playing around outside the courtyard wall, as well as the sound of bicycle bells in the distance.

The eldest brother spoke first: "San'er, you started smoking at such a young age."

Wang Jianxin took a sip, spit it out, and smiled: "Several comrades in the dormitory smoked, so they took me away. I smoked less, two or three a day."

The eldest brother said "Yeah" and said nothing more.

Wang Jianxin looked at his second brother. The second brother lowered his head and stared at the ants on the ground. The cigarette was held between his fingers and almost burned to the point where he didn't even notice.Wang Jianxin asked: "What's wrong, second brother? What happened?"

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