Chapter 566: Good Person

Wang Yan's development with Su Meng exceeded many people's expectations and spread quite widely. The first day they confirmed their relationship, the second day he went directly to their house for dinner, the third day he went for dinner again, the fourth day he ate two meals morning and evening, the fifth day he ate two meals again...

It spread and spread, plus the fabrication of those with ulterior motives, it inevitably changed. At first, it was considered normal, but later it was said that Wang Yan was not a good person, that he had already "cooked the rice into cooked rice" (had premarital relations) with Su Meng, and the Old Su family had to grit their teeth and admit it.

Regarding such rumors, Wang Yan disdained to pay attention. He still had three months until marriage, and the rumor would break by then. After all, it would only start to show after three months, and by then it would naturally be visible.

The Old Su family were all intellectuals. Although they cared quite a bit about face, they could actually accept it. After all, even without mentioning Wang's excellent qualities, his experience as a son-in-law was unmatched; he was even a son-in-law to many families at the same time...

Of course, he didn't eat for free; he still took ten yuan. He also bought quite a few eggs to eat as a meat dish. The Old Su family already knew his appetite and still let him go to eat, so they hadn't thought about whether it was appropriate or whether they were losing money. However, since Wang Yan gave money, there was no reason for them not to take it. Not to mention they weren't married to Su Meng yet, even if they were married, they would still have to take money if they should.

Compared to the speed of Wang Yan and Su Meng, Han Chunming's progress on the other side wasn't slow either. Knowing that Su Meng had no hope, facing Cai Xiaoli's fierce offensive, he had no way to parry at all. On the Saturday night one week after Wang Yan went to the Old Su family, Cai Xiaoli came to the door.

The whole Han family gathered, and they also called Old Guan over. There was roast duck, fish, and meat; it was incredibly lively.

After Wang Yan finished eating, he returned to his home with Su Meng to be clingy.

Su Meng smelled the scent of wine and dishes floating in the air, listened to the clamor coming from over there, lay on the table, turned her head to look at Wang Yan, who was drinking tea on the side: "I really didn't expect Han Chunming and Cai Xiaoli to develop so fast."

"There are many things you didn't expect. Aren't we faster than them?" Wang Yan shook his head: "Besides, those who are introduced for marriage, let's not talk about the big families with three letters and six betrothal gifts, just talk about those in the village. They are all introduced by matchmakers, meet once, and if they are satisfied, the two families meet and get engaged, and they get married in a few months. Chunming actually had feelings for Cai Xiaoli long ago. Now that the two are in the same factory, maybe they were stimulated by us, plus Cai Xiaoli truly likes Chunming, so this is a good thing."

"Hey, speaking of stimulation, didn't we talk about that petty person Cheng Army Supervisor last week? Listening to my grandma nag, they said Cheng Army Supervisor found a job, saying he's learning to tune pianos at a piano factory. His mom also said she's looking for a partner for him. It's really as you said, he's the one who's stimulated."

"It's not hard for him to find a partner. Tuning pianos at a piano factory is related to art. Although they are all workers, when people say it, it's more impressive than mine. Besides, his dad is a section chief in a public unit, and he has some power in his hands. This condition must be him picking others."

While Wang Yan and Su Meng were chatting, a greeting suddenly came from outside: "Lord Wang! Lord Wang! Are you home?"

Su Meng frowned and said suspiciously: "Who is it? Why does this voice sound so familiar?"

"Yang Huajian."

Wang Yan said, then got up and went out.

By this time, Yang Huajian had reached the door. Seeing Wang Yan and Su Meng following behind him coming out of the room, his eyes were full of confusion: "You two are..."

"Dating, what's so strange about that? Come, come in and sit."

Yang Huajian sat by the desk, looking confused, looking at Su Meng, then at Wang Yan. After reacting for a while, he asked: "When did you two start dating?"

"It was last week, didn't expect it?" Su Meng giggled: "We've already discussed it, we'll get married in October. You must come then. Even if you can't come in person, the gift must arrive."

"Must come, definitely must come." Yang Huajian shook his head with a bitter smile: "Lord Wang, you have good fortune. Back when we were in school, that great beauty Su Meng didn't know how many people's hearts she held. Well, you captured her quietly. Lord Wang is indeed Lord Wang, amazing, amazing. Don't worry, after I go back, I'll pass the word to that group of people at the Third Middle School, telling them that the great beauty Su has an owner, and let them stop thinking about her."

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled, dealt with it for a few sentences, and turned to ask: "Coming over so late, what's the matter?"

"Look at your memory, did you forget when we were at Shichahai last time? Didn't we say that when my work was arranged, I'd treat you to a drink?"

"Could I forget about eating and drinking for free? I was afraid you'd forget. Looking at your meaning, it's arranged, what unit?"

Yang Huajian couldn't hide his smile: "It's not much, just an errand runner at the Civil Affairs Bureau."

"Your mouth is almost reaching your ears, and you say it's not much."

"It's all serving the people. Don't look at me going to a public unit, but if you talk about this life, it's still not as happy as you, Lord Wang. It's just that it sounds better when you say it, and the salary isn't much more, it's all the same."

"Wait until you've worked for two years, let your old man exert some effort, and promote you to a section-level cadre. Can that be compared to a worker like me who repairs equipment at a food factory?" Wang Yan patted him on the shoulder: "How about it, does this mean we drink now?"

"That's certainly not it, we must go to a restaurant. Tomorrow at noon, Su Meng goes too. Call Han Chunming as well, let's have a good meal at the Moscow Restaurant."

"Forget it, a bunch of men, I won't go and get in the way." Su Meng shook her head and refused.

Of course she had to refuse; sitting at the same table as Han Chunming, she felt awkward no matter what.

"You decide for yourself."

Looking at the two of them exchanging glances in front of him, Yang Huajian changed the subject: "Is Chunming home? Just entered the courtyard, I heard it was very lively over at their house."

Wang Yan laughed: "Today is a big day for their family, I don't even know if he can go tomorrow."

"What big day?"

"He's here, let him tell you himself."

Just as Wang Yan's voice fell, Han Chunming ran to the window and looked inside. Seeing Yang Huajian, he laughed: "I knew it was you kid who came. Just now I heard you greeting Lord Wang, our house was too noisy to hear clearly, anyway I felt the movement was familiar. Later I ate two more mouthfuls of rice, and then I reacted, so I quickly dropped my chopsticks and ran over. Yo, Su Meng is here too, being sweet and honeyed with Lord Wang again."

Looking at Han Chunming, who was acting like nothing had happened, Su Meng rolled her eyes at him: "Fine, this is chasing me away. You talk about yours, I won't join in the fun. Lord Wang, this little girl takes her leave, you guys chat."

"Don't, I don't have that meaning, this is greeting you. Lord Wang..." Han Chunming looked at Wang Yan.

Wang Yan waved his hand happily: "I'll find you in a while."

After Su Meng left, Yang Huajian once again sighed: "Lord Wang is indeed amazing, quietly getting together with Su Meng. If our classmates find out later, their eyes will pop out."

"Hi, don't talk about them, I'm in the same factory as Lord Wang, going together every morning and returning together every evening. I haven't seen him talk to Su Meng a few times, and then suddenly they were together. You don't know, the speed was fast, he said they were dating one day, and the next day he went to Su Meng's house to eat and see his father-in-law. Now it's even more amazing, he's living the life directly, having eaten at Su Meng's house for a week, two meals a day."

Han Chunming looked at Yang Huajian, who was drinking tea casually, baring his teeth. He wanted to instruct him a few words, but Wang Yan, the host, didn't speak. If he didn't say it, he was afraid watching. Later he had specifically looked, that was the Hongzhi period, and it was a whole set. If one broke, he didn't know if Wang Yan would cry, but he would definitely cry; he couldn't bear to see things wasted.

Yang Huajian only thought Han Chunming was sighing at Wang Yan's awesomeness, and he also gave a thumbs up: "Lord Wang, you are this."

Seeing Wang Yan waving his hand without answering, he looked at Han Chunming again: "Speaking seriously, when I was at Shichahai before, I bumped into Lord Wang and invited you to drink together. But just now Lord Wang said your family had a big day? Maybe no time tomorrow?"

"Ah, it's not a big day, just the partner coming to see my family. It won't delay eating tomorrow. Don't worry, even if I have something, I have nothing. I must eat a ruthless meal of yours no matter what. When is tomorrow?"

Yang Huajian was confused again, with four questions: "You're dating too? We've only been back to the city for two months, right? Who is the girl? Do I know her?"

"Give you a hint." Han Chunming giggled: "We were sent down together."

"Sent down together..." Yang Huajian pondered for a moment, thought about the girls who were sent down, and said with certainty: "Cai Xiaoli! Okay, Chunming, you two finally got together. Lord Wang is getting married in October, when are you two holding yours?"

"That will have to wait for a while. You say my second brother and second sister aren't married yet, and our family doesn't have a place to live now. I can't afford to buy a house, and I'm not qualified to be assigned a house by the factory. Let's talk about it next year. See if my second brother can be assigned a house and move out, or if our factory can assign us a house. Aiya, alright, let's talk in detail when we meet tomorrow, I'm going back, the family is all there."

After speaking, Han Chunming greeted Wang Yan, ran out, and returned home.

"Aiya, you two are truly fast, and you found ones more beautiful than the other, truly making people envious..."

Wang Yan laughed: "Then you just find one yourself, with your family's conditions, finding a beautiful one is easy."

"My old man's official position isn't big, but there are many things. I'm not talking about family background, but 'matching family status' is always necessary, right? I'm not aiming at you, you say we are all so old, which family doesn't have a bunch of brothers and sisters. This status doesn't match, today this one has something, tomorrow that one has something, and the day after tomorrow bullying others, isn't this inviting disaster for us? Not saying they can help our family, but they can't find someone who drags us down, don't you think that's the logic? So, envy is envy, but I'm not in a hurry, just waiting for my old man to arrange it."

Yang Huajian shook his head and smiled, drank the tea in his cup, and got up: "Alright, I won't disturb your sweetness here, tomorrow at eleven, see you at the entrance of the Moscow Restaurant."

"Alright, that's it, we'll talk when we meet tomorrow."

Wang Yan sent Yang Huajian out the door, smoked a cigarette outside, watched chess for a while, turned around and went to the Old Su family in the backyard to stay for a while, and was clingy with Su Meng for a while. It was after eight o'clock when Su Meng went back. There was no other way; if Su Meng didn't go back at this time, Grandma Su would come looking for her, afraid of "accidental discharge."

Draping a towel over his neck, when he was washing up in the courtyard, the Old Han family also dispersed.

Han Chunming helped Old Man Guan out and said: "Lord Wang, lend me your bicycle, it's so late, it's not safe for Xiaoli to go back by herself. I'll send her back."

"The car isn't locked, just push it yourself." Wang Yan looked happily at Old Man Guan, who was playing with his bracelet: "What meeting gift did Lord Commander give?"

"It's not popular to give that now, besides, that girl doesn't understand either, let's talk about it when they get married, don't you kid try to pressure me." Old Man Guan said: "Grandson, go send your wife back, it just so happens you've entered the courtyard, don't waste effort, I'll go see the tea set you mentioned, he'll send it back to me in a while."

After speaking, Old Man Guan entered Wang Yan's room himself.

"Hey, this old man." Wang Yan shook his head: "Alright, you go, I'll send him back."

Han Chunming cupped his hands, turned and ran home to greet Cai Xiaoli to come out. Amidst the farewells of the Han family, he greeted Wang Yan and pushed the bicycle out of the courtyard with Han Chunming.

"Aunt, are you satisfied with this daughter-in-law?"

Han's mother laughed: "Satisfied, how could I not be satisfied? This girl is good-looking, polite, and has a sweet mouth; she's clearly someone who lives a proper life. Our Fifth Son being able to find such a wife is truly hitting the jackpot."

Chatting with the Han family for a few sentences, Wang Yan also finished washing up, returned to his room, showed Old Man Guan some other items, chatted for a long time about antiques, and then sent this old wine-drunkard back to the small courtyard next to the small shop.

He was just watching the TV series; this Old Man Guan was always drinking, but 50-degree white wine, Old Man Guan's age shouldn't be small, and he couldn't drink much in a day. He came in, and only after chatting with Han Chunming did he know that Old Man Guan was a proper drinker, starting to drink as soon as he got up, and taking two sips whenever he had nothing to do. He didn't drink much at one meal, but he couldn't stand the frequency. After a day, he had a catty of wine, drunk every day. Wasn't he just a drunkard...

The next day, after eating breakfast at the Old Su family and being clingy with Su Meng until after nine o'clock, he greeted Han Chunming to set off.

The Moscow Restaurant, built and opened in 1954, was the first Western restaurant in the capital after the founding of New China, located on Xizhimen Outer Street. Cadre children were frequent visitors here, and the so-called "old soldiers" were even more frequent visitors. In many later literary works related to this period, this place was one of the important scenes.

In the past, Han Chunming was too far from Wang Yan to know how Wang Yan had mixed, and this time he witnessed it, including Yang Huajian, who also opened his eyes. Yang Huajian was actually the same; he hadn't been very close to Wang Yan before, knowing Wang Yan was very impressive, knowing that many people he knew knew Wang Yan, but still didn't understand to what extent Wang Yan had reached.

Just after entering the door of the Moscow Restaurant, Wang Yan, who was walking leisurely with his hands behind his back, nodded happily, responding to others' greetings. Of course, he didn't know many of them, but there were also many who knew him.

Indeed, people of their age were either soldiers or working in some unit, but coming here to eat didn't necessarily mean they were old soldiers. People had the conditions and could get meal tickets, so they came over to eat and drink, what was wrong with that?

After finding a corner seat, and ordering various Chinese and Western dishes, Han Chunming and Yang Huajian gave him a thumbs up together: "Lord Wang, awesome."

Wang Yan shook his head and waved his hand: "This is nothing, most of them are descendants of soldiers, with red roots. When they were young, they had nothing to do, so they respected the strong. I practiced martial arts since I was a child, they were not my opponents, so they respected me more. At that time, everyone was equally poor, except for some welfare from their fathers, such as us coming here to eat Western food, there wasn't much difference between everyone else.

But it's different now, everyone is working, just like Yang Huajian, the father's energy is revealed, and the gap between everyone is big. They can still call me Lord Wang, that's giving me face. But I believe you can also feel the sense of distance, after all, I'm just a worker repairing equipment at a food factory, and we haven't been in touch for these years, so it's just looking good on the surface. If you take it seriously, that's too naive."

Han Chunming nodded knowingly, he understood the truth, and Wang Yan had told him similar words before. However, he still thought Wang Yan was awesome: "Lord Wang, you are low-key enough. Even if it's as you said, your face is not small, there is no mediocre person in this room. Oh, except for me, the 'Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden', they are all children of high-ranking cadres, all descendants of old revolutionaries, enough face."

"Didn't I say that, it just looks good on the surface."

Yang Huajian waved his hand and patted Han Chunming, who was nodding foolishly: "You still underestimate our Lord Wang's low profile, Chunming, you've been deceived."

"What do you mean?"

Looking at Wang Yan, who was smiling and not speaking, knowing he could say it, Yang Huajian asked: "What do you think Lord Wang does?"

"Isn't he repairing equipment at the logistics department of the food factory? What else can he do?"

"If you don't say you underestimate Lord Wang's low profile, I'll tell you, he is basically the biggest ticket scalper in our capital. He flips tickets for those who flip tickets, you tell me if it's amazing. I heard there are other things like meat, eggs, etc., that he also flips, specifically selling to those state-owned big factories. Lord Wang does this kind of thing, you tell me if he can be simple? So, just listen to Lord Wang's words, don't look at the surface. If I hadn't met you at Shichahai last time, I wouldn't have known Lord Wang did this in my whole life."

Wang Yan looked at him happily: "Okay, you found this out?"

"There are no secrets in this world, the fat man behind you that day has a big name, the circle is only that big, just ask a few people and you'll know."

Han Chunming truly thought Wang Yan was a worker making 26 a month, who would have thought he was speculating and profiteering? He carefully looked around, found that many people's eyes were unconsciously paying attention to here, and leaned forward with his hands on the edge of the table: "Lord Wang, if you are caught, that's ten or twenty years..."

"If you want to live well and earn money, you have to take risks. You also know that I drink tea at the factory every day, 26 yuan a month, what is that money enough for? So, you two know, that's it. I believe you are both tight-lipped, don't spread it for me. Being caught is a small matter, but Su Meng and I will be finished. I'm waiting to live a steady life after marriage and then pass on the family line, don't harm me."

The two promised repeatedly, not to mention they weren't that kind of person, even if they were, they didn't have the guts to report Wang Yan, that would be purely hanging themselves in front of the King of Hell.

Actually, this was also Yang Huajian really inviting him to dinner, and coming to the Moscow Restaurant. It wasn't that he was begging Wang Yan, but chatting about feelings, making friends, he could definitely ask for help.

Han Chunming was stimulated. He had been gloating that Wang Yan was eating potatoes every meal, who would have thought he was acting poor.

With this complex thought, he didn't even taste the Western food he was eating for the first time...

Han Chunming nodded vigorously, sighing to himself. Although Master Wang had snatched Su Meng away, the man didn't know he had a history with Su Meng, so he couldn't blame him. Besides, Su Meng was the one with the problem, being ambiguous with him while flirting with Master Wang. But even so, even though he knew all this, he still wasn't happy, though he had never shown it in front of Wang Yan.

But now, as Wang Yan said he would help him—someone who had only been at the food factory for a month—with the housing matter, he was truly moved. Because of that business with Su Meng, although he hadn't been able to let go for a moment, his intuition had suddenly calmed down a lot. Master Wang was a good person, capable, generous, and very caring toward him; he was much better than him, Han Chunming, and that was great.

Regardless, Wang Yan and Su Meng were already together, and he was also talking marriage with Cai Xiaoli, so there was no point in dwelling on those things anymore...