Chapter 229: Chapter 229: Happy Eaters
How to screen the thousands of resumes received to find the right person was a problem for the provincial government. First, resumes were selected, and then interviews were arranged. In short, it was not an easy task.
This certainly wasn't a headache for Feng Yiping, but soon enough, his headache came. As soon as the holiday started, Xiao Zhijie and Wang Changning arrived in the city.
Their parents both ran noodle shops outside the city, so there was no one at home. They both lived in the county, attending school, and didn't rent a room, so they had to go to their parents during the summer vacation. However, before that, they wanted to 'relax and enjoy themselves' at Feng Yiping's, as Xiao Zhijie put it.
Feng Yiping pointed out the window at the rising river and said to them, 'In a few days I'll be hiding out in my hometown, so why are you still here?'
'Go back if you want, we can take care of ourselves,' Xiao Zhijie said, comfortably reclining on the sofa, selecting channels on the remote control and shouting into the kitchen, 'Classmate, have you washed the fruit yet?' He really didn't consider himself an outsider at all.
Huang Jingping came out with a basin of washed grapes, 'That's all there is, if you don't like it, I'll go out and buy some more.'
Grandpa Xiao grabbed a bunch of grapes and slurped on them directly. 'It's raining heavily now, so we'll have to make do with what we have. We'll go out again when it stops raining. I like big apples.'
'I told you to make do with what we have,' said Wang Changning, unable to bear it any longer. He pinned him to the sofa and gave him a good beating. Huang Jingping also came over grinning, and gave him a few slaps.
'Haha,' Feng Yiping hadn't laughed so heartily for a long time.
Once they arrived, their first task was to go shopping, but that was also a hassle now. Although the danger of flooding had been taken into account when the building was constructed, and the foundation of the farmers' market was built very high, in the face of this unprecedented flood, it was rare for the ground of the farmers' market not to accumulate water.
Huang Jingping wore rain boots, while the other two wore sandals. The water had already reached their ankles, but that didn't dampen their spirits. After they reached high school, they had been living and eating at school, so they had never been to the farmers' market before. Now that they had so many varieties to choose from, they were a little excited. Fresh vegetables, dried goods, cooked food, chicken, pork, carp... They scanned the aisles, and when they came out, everyone was carrying several bags. To be honest, there was more food than they had bought for the New Year at Feng Yiping's house before.
They didn't just eat without doing any work. Wang Changning and Xiao Zhijie washed and prepared all the ingredients for the lunch dishes before handing them over to Huang Jingping. 'You're the only one who can cook, and you're a good cook.'
'Don't be modest, you guys are good cooks too, go ahead.' Feng Yiping stood in the kitchen doorway with his arms folded.
'Okay, you guys all go out, it's hard to even turn around here,' Huang Jingping laughed as she pushed them out the door.
Once they were out of the kitchen, the two of them took Feng Yiping hostage to the study, sat him down in a chair, and said, 'Tell us the truth,' pointing towards the kitchen. 'How long have you two been living together?'
'What do you mean living together?' Feng Yiping cried out in protest, but then immediately lowered his voice, 'We just happen to live in the same house.'
'Just happen to live in the same house?' Wang Changning's eyes sparkled with the small flames of gossip, 'Who knows if one of the beds is left empty at night.'
'Brutal, filthy, how can you think such dirty thoughts?' Xiao Zhijie scolded Wang Changning a little, and before Feng Yiping could praise him, he immediately asked with a smirk, "When can we hold our nephew?" Then the two of them cackled together.
'You guys,' Feng Yiping pointed at the two of them, exasperated, 'it's because you go to the video parlours on the street too many times!'
In the past two years, although the business of video arcades in small cities like their county seat was not as prosperous as it had been two years ago, it was still quite good.
There is a street in Chengguan, about 200 to 300 metres long, and both sides of the street are now full of video arcades. There is usually a sign in front of the door, handwritten with the names of some very enticing videos and extremely provocative introductions. Going through the glass door of the video arcade, after a few steps, there is a red velvet curtain, the kind that is sometimes used to cover the stage table during meetings.
Pulling back the curtain, there are chairs roughly arranged in rows inside, with a 21-inch colour TV in front. Of course, although it is still called a video hall, some are already playing discs on VCDs.
In a small room of about ten square metres, there are thick curtains drawn on the windows. Apart from the fluorescent light from the TV, there are only a few cigarette butts flickering. The customers are, apart from some idle young people, students from various schools, shoulder to shoulder, and among them are no shortage of young lovers.
The three of them went there a lot back then. For one yuan, they could watch a movie for the whole afternoon, choosing any movie they liked. The sign in front of the cinema said what kind of scenes they could expect to see. They never saw any of those scenes, but at most, some actress whose name they couldn't remember would show her breasts half-exposed. However, this already made them blush and their throats dry up.
After watching two or three movies, they felt like they were drunk, with unsteady feet and a dizzy head. Xiao Zhijie mostly had to swear at the sign in front of the door, 'Fooling people's stuff.' In fact, a later term can accurately sum up this behaviour of the bosses, and that is 'title party'.
At this time, when he asked, the two of them were a little embarrassed, and indeed Feng Yiping had hit the nail on the head.
'Tut tut,' Feng Yiping pointed at the two of them with a look of disgust, "you've fallen. You must have been corrupted by the decadent ideas of capitalism. I'll have to report this to your parents.' ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
'What are you talking about? We just want to go watch those action movies," Xiao Zhijie clarified.
Wang Changning still nudged towards the kitchen, 'It's okay, we'll just mention it when we go to the city, and see who panics then.'
'Yes,' Xiao Zhijie also laughed with a slap on his stomach, "with a role model like you in front of us, what are we afraid of?'
'Changning, I've noticed that you're becoming less and less honest," Feng Yiping had to explain to them again in a low voice, 'Huang Jingping has been helping with training at the county vocational school, right? This is a recruitment in the province by the company, so she's temporarily pulled back to help for a few days, and then she took a break for a couple of days on the way. Hey, no, you know about her work at the vocational school, right?'
'Haha' "Huh" The two guys laughed and ran out, and Xiao Zhijie even turned around and said something in his mouth, 'Guilty conscience!'
This late lunch, although it was prepared in a hurry, was all hard dishes: two catties of sliced braised beef, half a roasted duck, a large plate of stir-fried meat with chilli, a pot of braised small crucian carp, a large portion of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a portion of young tofu stir-fried with minced meat and spring onions.
You can question the fighting power of the urban management officers, but you can never question the ability of high school students to eat. After nearly an hour, apart from a few miserable slices of beef, everything else was clean, and the dishes were easy to wash. Even the braised crucian carp sauce was used by Xiao Zhijie to dip his rice.
You need to find the right person to talk to, the right level of opponent to play chess with, and the right eater to eat with. Feng Yiping ate particularly much today, leaning back in his chair without wanting to move. 'Delicious!'
Xiao Zhijie agreed with him, "So comfortable!'
Wang Changning said, "I haven't eaten this much in a long time.' Seeing Huang Jingping smiling at them, he felt a little embarrassed, 'I don't usually do this, it's mainly because your cooking is so good, I'll do the dishes!'
'No need, you guys are fine just the way you are, haha, just go and lean on the sofa!'
To finish off all the food cooked by a woman is the greatest compliment you can pay her. Huang Jingping is quite happy now, and over the years, she has come to understand the importance of Xiao and Wang in Feng Yiping's heart. She also values what Feng Yiping values.
'What do you think of next year? Are you confident?'
'We're not confident at all. I guess we'll find a technical secondary school in the province.'
'No, we should set higher goals. A goal that can be reached while standing is not a goal. A goal is one that can be reached only by standing on a chair and balancing on tiptoe. There are still more than 300 days left. If we can summon the same energy as we did when we repeated the year, nothing is impossible.'
It is estimated that because the family is now earning a lot of money every month, the two of them have become a bit relaxed in their studies. 'Think about it. Can you be satisfied with just one or two noodle shops at home?'
What they lack the least now are dreams and hopes. If you think about it from another perspective, the changes in everyone's family over the past year or two have also given them motivation. If their parents can achieve so much, they can't let them down. 'Yes, we still have to strive for a bachelor's degree and build a career in the future.'
'Yes, I've already thought it all through. At that time, the three of us will join forces. I know best, so I'll be the chairman. Changning is the most comprehensive, so you'll be the CEO. Zhi Jie, you're the smartest, so you'll be the CFO.' Feng Yiping jokingly shared his vision.