Chapter 253: The Deceitful Beast (Part 6)

Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu went to the canteen to eat. Relying on the advantage of brushing his face, Gong Liang successfully got a serving of minced meat eggplant with significantly more minced meat than others.

Of course, it still couldn't compare to the braised pork brought by Guo Mingzhu.

The young couple finished eating and wandered around the area for more than an hour, just like students in love in high school—doing nothing, just walking around the playground for two hours.

It wasn't until the sky was completely dark that Gong Liang sent Guo Mingzhu home and walked home slowly. When he returned home, Gong's mother was helping Gong's father massage his thighs, and Gong's father wasn't idle either, clutching a yellowed book and trying hard to turn the pages, practicing his hand strength.

"Little Liang is back. Zheng Da just came over to borrow winter melon sugar, saying Master Jing needs to make dim sum tomorrow and doesn't have enough winter melon sugar. I remember there was a small bag at home; I looked for it just now and couldn't find it. You look for it again to see if it was pressed by something. If you find it, send it to Master Jing," Gong's mother said.

"Okay." Gong Liang put his notebook in his room and started rummaging through boxes and cabinets to find the winter melon sugar.

There weren't two cabinets in the Gong family home in total, it was just that the things in the cabinets were messy. Perhaps out of fear of being stolen by mice if placed outside, basically, as long as it was food, even sweet potatoes had to be locked in the cabinet.

Gong Liang looked carefully and found the winter melon sugar wrapped in oil paper in a can of malted milk that had long been empty.

"Mom, I found it, I'm going to send the sugar to Master Jing." After speaking, Gong Liang took the winter melon sugar and went next door.

To the right of Gong Liang's home was the Xia family, and to the left was Jing Lixiang's home. The houses were adjacent but not the same size; the areas of the Xia family and Jing Lixiang's family were both larger than Gong Liang's home.

It was just that the Xia family had many children—two boys and one girl. Both boys were high school graduates and hadn't found formal jobs yet, and the girl was in high school. The children were grown up and squeezed together, sleeping poorly. To let each child have as much independent space as possible, the Xia family partitioned the small house into several rooms, so it looked very crowded.

Jing Lixiang's home was relatively much more spacious. Huang Shengli and Zheng Da both lived here, and the house was partitioned into three rooms and could still have a not-so-small living room. It could be seen that the welfare benefits of the state-run restaurant were still quite good, and the houses allocated were all large.

The door to Jing Lixiang's home wasn't closed. Gong Liang originally wanted to knock on the door, but it opened as soon as he pushed it. Jing Lixiang, Huang Shengli, and Zheng Da were all in the living room. The table and chairs in the living room were all covered with spread-out oil paper, and inside the oil paper was winter melon sugar. At first glance, the quantity was surprisingly large.

"Master Jing, I'm here to deliver the winter melon sugar." Gong Liang was shocked by the scene before him. Just as he was looking for where to put the bag of winter melon sugar in his hand, he looked at Zheng Da and was shocked again.

A big bump had swelled on Zheng Da's forehead, his face was bruised, and his nose was stuffed with grass paper. Looking at this posture, it looked like he had been beaten up fiercely by someone.

"Today... did the state-run restaurant fight reach the chef?" Gong Liang was greatly shocked.

How come he hadn't heard such heavy news.

Zheng Da:...

Huang Shengli laughed loudly, mercilessly mocking his junior brother: "Look, everyone's first reaction when seeing you like this is that you didn't win the fight at the restaurant today."

Gong Liang leaned closer and looked at Zheng Da again, confirming that his appearance wasn't from falling but purely from being beaten, and asked with concern: "Who hit you?"

"My mom," Zheng Da said with a nasal voice.

Gong Liang:?

"There wasn't enough winter melon sugar, so he went home to pry the lock and rummage through the cabinet. His mom thought a thief had entered the house and gave him a stick. Zheng Da bumped into the cabinet and knocked himself, didn't stand steady, and his nose hit the wall again, and that's how it is."

"If you ask me, he deserved it. Going home to get things is one thing, but prying the lock—who wouldn't think it was a thief?" Huang Shengli said.

Zheng Da argued unconvinced: "There were 5 jin 6 liang of winter melon sugar! If I asked my mom, would she give it to me? I definitely had to pry the lock! Besides, wasn't there a harvest? At least the sugar was brought back after a beating, it wasn't in vain."

Jing Lixiang shook his head helplessly, pretending to have a fierce tone: "Should have been beaten again, the beating was too light."

Zheng Da hurriedly accompanied him with a smiling face, but unfortunately, his face was bruised and purple, and his nose was still stuffed with grass paper, so that smile was as ugly as it could be.

"Master Jing, does making dim sum need so much winter melon sugar?" Gong Liang asked curiously.

Jing Lixiang said with a smile: "Ordinary dim sum definitely doesn't need it. Isn't it your birthday tomorrow? Birthday definitely needs to eat something good, make something unusual."

Gong Liang then reacted—so much winter melon sugar was actually prepared for the dim sum for his birthday tomorrow. For a moment, he was shocked and moved, and then subconsciously refused: "Too precious."

"Master Jing, I'm already very embarrassed that you have to prepare ingredients and cook yourself to treat me to dinner for my birthday. This... so much, this..."

The room full of winter melon sugar made even the Deceitful Beast unable to speak, and for a moment, he was incoherent.

"What's this. Winter melon sugar isn't a very precious thing. There are many sugars better than winter melon sugar. Children won't want to eat winter melon sugar because there is milk candy and fruit candy to eat. These just look like a large quantity, not precious."

"Birthday is a big day. When I was a child, on my birthday, as long as it was something my dad could make, it was definitely eat whatever I wanted. If there were dragon liver and phoenix gall, dragon liver and phoenix gall could also be eaten."

"Remember to come at seven tomorrow. I specifically applied to leave a private room for you. Once you pass your 20th birthday, getting married next year will make you a real adult. In the future, if you want me to spend so much effort to make dim sum for your birthday, I won't make it for you," Master Jing joked, waving his hand to signal Gong Liang to go back quickly.

Gong Liang could only nod embarrassedly and go back.

Gong Liang went back, but Qin Huai didn't. He stayed at Jing Lixiang's home to watch the three of them count the winter melon sugar.

Jing Lixiang was right; this room full of winter melon sugar looked like a large quantity, but in reality, it was the oil paper spread underneath that increased the visual impact. When really counted, there were only 9 jin 4 liang, of which 5 jin 6 liang were exchanged by Zheng Da for a beating.

To make mixed-fruit filling, 9 jin 4 liang of winter melon sugar was enough.

Jing Lixiang nodded, indicating that there was no problem with the winter melon sugar, and continued to count the next item with Huang Shengli against the list.

Zheng Da didn't participate in the procurement of ingredients and didn't know how much was needed to make what, and still stupidly asked: "Master, is the winter melon sugar enough? If not, I remember my uncle's house has a little bit. This beating of mine can't be in vain. Should I go to my uncle's house to ask for a little bit tomorrow?"

Zheng Da didn't wait for an answer, but waited for the loud laughter of Jing Lixiang and Huang Shengli.

After counting the ingredients, Jing Lixiang told the two apprentices not to chat and to go back to their rooms to sleep quickly, especially Zheng Da.

Now Zheng Da was made permanent and could shoulder the heavy responsibility of making baozi and steamed buns in the morning at the state-run restaurant. Not to mention that getting up late would delay everyone from buying breakfast, he would also have his wages deducted if he was late.

Under the threat of wage deduction, Zheng Da hurriedly went back to his room to sleep.

Qin Huai walked through the wall back to Gong Liang's home and found that Zheng Da had already gone to bed and fallen asleep at light speed, while Gong Liang was still organizing materials by the light of the kerosene lamp.

The notebook was densely recorded with many things, some marked with circles, some underlined and bolded. In addition to the materials, he also wrote some insights.

At the top of the latest page was a line written with extra force, so much so that the pen poked through the paper, and the words seeped to the next page.

"Gong Liang, you must be confident. What exactly are you afraid of? Why do you involuntarily tremble, fear, shrink, and want to retreat every time you reach a big occasion? Does such a cowardly and timid you deserve the colleagues, leaders, friends, and Master Jing???" When Gong Liang organized the materials, he would occasionally flip through the previous content. No matter how many pages he flipped, that sentence was at the top of the page.

The next day, Gong Liang went to work as usual.

Section Chief Chen organized some new newspapers for Gong Liang and also gave Gong Liang an apple to wish him a happy birthday. Gong Liang was flattered, repeated the materials he organized last night to Section Chief Chen, and the two discussed for a whole morning. Qin Huai listened on the side and was a bit confused, listened to two sentences, and simply didn't listen, going to watch another young man in the office slacking off.

Don't say, this buddy had the same hobby as Luo Jun—he loved reading novels, and what he read were martial arts novels.

The plot was slightly old-fashioned, but the writing style was very outstanding. The young man who was slacking off was fascinated, and Qin Huai also watched with relish on the side. In the blink of an eye, a morning passed.

After lunch, the young man seized the time to continue reading the novel, and Qin Huai also seized the time to follow along and read the novel, and a day passed just like that.

The slacker who was slacking off slacked off for a whole day, and the sales champion worked conscientiously for a whole day.

After work, Gong Liang hadn't eaten the apple given by Section Chief Chen, so he washed it and brought it to his partner who was waiting for him to get off work at the entrance of the silk weaving factory.

Guo Mingzhu happily took the apple and asked: "Where did the apple come from? It looks sweet at first glance."

"Section Chief Chen gave it," Gong Liang said. "Mingzhu, why don't you eat it?"

"We're about to eat a big meal, what apple to eat now, it takes up too much stomach." Guo Mingzhu stuffed the apple into her bag. "Bring it back and save it to eat tomorrow morning. I haven't eaten an apple for a long time; the last time our unit issued apples was last year."

"Then I'll pay more attention for you next time I go on a business trip. If there are apples, I'll exchange more and bring them back for you."

"Hmm, the apples you exchange will definitely be sweeter than the ones issued by our unit." Guo Mingzhu hooked Gong Liang's arm, didn't hold his hand, and pulled a scarf from behind her clothes like magic.

"Da da da da da, look, the birthday gift I prepared for you!" Guo Mingzhu shook the scarf. "When my parents locked me at home, I had nothing to do, so I took all the wool my mom bought to knit a scarf. This is the best-looking one; the ugly ones were all unraveled by my mom."

"Good-looking, right!"

"Good-looking," Gong Liang nodded heavily.

"Why aren't you surprised at all? Did you know I knitted a scarf for you?" Guo Mingzhu asked.

"Ah, it's really too surprising." Gong Liang pretended to have just seen the scarf, and after making Guo Mingzhu laugh, he explained, "You hid the scarf behind your back, wrapped in your shirt, and it was bulging, so I saw it as soon as I came out."

"Oh my." Guo Mingzhu was a little annoyed. "Who told you to have your birthday in May? If you had your birthday in winter and wore thick clothes, wouldn't it be invisible."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's all my fault for having my birthday in May," Gong Liang said readily. "Let's go, go eat. I'll tell you quietly, Master Jing must have made a particularly sweet dim sum, you will definitely like it, he used a lot of winter melon sugar."

The two walked side by side, hands not held or hooked, but their shadows blended together.

Qin Huai followed behind and silently swallowed a mouthful of dog food.

At the entrance of the state-run restaurant, the children who were holding bowls and sponging food had already finished eating and gone home. The door was half-open. When Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu pushed the door in, the waiter was collecting the bowls he had just finished eating.

"Off work, off work, come earlier next time you eat." The waiter didn't look at who was coming at all, subconsciously said, and looked up to find it was Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu, squeezed out a smile, and his voice was relatively more enthusiastic. "Little Gong, Master Jing left a private room for you, turn right inside."

"Oh my, this is Little Gong's partner, so white." The waiter praised, and Guo Mingzhu lowered her head a little embarrassedly.

The waiter wanted to say something else, but the young man Qin Huai saw in the memory last time, who was probably Xu Nuo, ran out from the kitchen.

"Sister Zhang, Master Jing said he made too many tangyuan, asking if you want to take a few back."

Light suddenly burst into Sister Zhang's eyes, and her smile was as bright as if she had just picked up money: "Good, good, that's of course good, my few little rabbits at home love eating tangyuan the most."

"Little Xu, you stare outside for a while, I'll go pick the tangyuan."

After speaking, Sister Zhang carried the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen.

Xu Nuo smiled at Gong Liang: "Salesman Gong, right? I heard your silk weaving factory negotiated a big order at the trade fair, and the province specifically commended it. Congratulations."

"No, no, it's just that I heard the provincial leaders praised it twice, it can't count as commendation."

"Don't be humble. My dad said at home that the silk weaving factory is lucky to have you as a salesman, and the silk in the future will definitely not worry about selling." Xu Nuo said with a smile. "The private room is inside, Master Zheng is already in the private room."

Gong Liang nodded and walked toward the private room with Guo Mingzhu.

Guo Mingzhu asked curiously in a low voice: "Was that Factory Director Xu's youngest son just now? I heard that because he likes eating fermented rice steamed buns and didn't have enough food stamps, he took 20 jin of flour from home and asked Master Jing to make fermented rice steamed buns for him."

"Factory Director Xu was so angry that he chased him all over the cotton textile factory. Is this true?"

Sure enough, even a dancer in the art troupe had a heart that pursued gossip.

"It seems to be true." Gong Liang wasn't very sure either. "Don't know if there were 20 jin, but he did ask Master Jing to make fermented rice steamed buns for a long time, and he got tired of eating them after two months and didn't eat them anymore."

Guo Mingzhu took a deep breath, thinking that he was worthy of being Factory Director Xu's youngest son, he was generous, and could even get tired of eating fermented rice steamed buns.

If she were allowed to eat fermented rice steamed buns for a lifetime, she wouldn't get tired of them!

The two walked to the door of the private room and pushed the door in.

The decoration in the private room was very simple; there was just a small round table and a relatively quiet environment. There were no ornaments, no excessive decoration, no tablecloth on the table, but bowls and chopsticks were placed in advance.

"Here." Zheng Da beckoned for the two to sit down. "If you don't come again, I'm going to find you. We're about to eat."

As soon as Zheng Da finished speaking, Huang Shengli's shouting came from the kitchen: "Zheng Da! Zheng Da, where are you? Come and serve the tangyuan quickly."

"Coming!" Zheng Da ran out, and a minute later, he carried a large pot of tangyuan into the private room.

Definitely a large pot, even larger than the pot used to hold tangyuan when eating at Zheng Da's home that day.

"Master said other dishes need to wait a while, let us eat some four-joy tangyuan to pad our stomachs first."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 254 =====