Chapter 541: Gossip Survival System (40)

Gu Yu'an also smelled it from far away.

At first, he didn't know this fragrance was drifting from the Xie Family, until he entered the courtyard gate and heard Li Youcai's youngest son standing in the Courtyard, looking up at the Xie Family's chimney and drooling, he: "..."

"Off work, Bureau Chief Gu?"

Luo Caifeng came to call her son home for dinner, saw Gu Yu'an, and greeted him with a smile:

"You're in luck today, Xiao Xie managed to buy some meat."

Gu Yu'an raised the corners of his mouth, locked his bike, took the long box wrapped in newspaper from the bike basket, and strode up the steps in a few large steps.

"What delicious thing are you making? I smelled the fragrance from far away."

As soon as he entered the door, he headed straight for the kitchen, his nose catching the faint scent of her hair, and he took a deep breath.

Xie Yang thought he was sniffing the fragrance of the venison, and smiled as she lifted the lid of the casserole to show him: "Venison. I saved a piece, will you send it to your aunt?"

"You went to the black market?"

This kind of meat could only be bought on the black market, and you had to be extremely lucky.

Xie Yang smiled and didn't say much, just letting him guess.

"Then our luck is quite good today."

He smiled and revealed the paper-wrapped box, opened the lid, and pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Sent by a comrade-in-arms from the Northwest, he said it's red wine brewed by the locals themselves, want to try it?"

Xie Yang's eyes lit up: "Red wine with venison, a classic pairing!"

Gu Yu'an smiled and raised an eyebrow: "Is this a metaphor for the two of us?"

"..."

This person's skin must be so thick that even an arrow couldn't pierce it, right?

On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, the Xie Family received festival gifts sent by the Chen Family and the Qiu Family.

The packages were still shockingly large.

Fortunately, after the start of the year, Xie Yang passed the Engineer exam on her first try, her salary increased, her ration quota was raised, and with last year's experience, she had prepared enough return gifts in advance.

Considering that Gu Yu'an often received various local specialties from comrades-in-arms from all over the country, Xie Yang asked him if he needed to send return gifts to those comrades.

If he needed to, she would prepare them all together.

Sending two packages is the same as sending three or four; at worst, she would just make a few more trips to the Post Office.

Gu Yu'an hadn't originally thought of this.

The reason his comrades sent him specialties was that when they were in the army, he often lent them money and ration coupons.

Most of them were already married and had a whole family to support; their daily expenses were much higher than his, and many had to send money and coupons to their parents back home every month.

Unlike him, he was all alone, eating in the Canteen and living in the dormitory. The coupons he received, apart from sending some to his aunt during holidays, were all lent to comrades for emergencies, and even if they couldn't pay him back, he never urged them. Anyway, if they stayed in his hands, they would just expire.

So after he transferred to civilian work, receiving these things from his comrades, he understood that it was a gesture of gratitude and also a way of repaying those coupons.

However, since his partner had thought of return gifts for him, Gu Yu'an pondered and gave her the addresses of a few people:

"These few were very close to me, and we had a give-and-take relationship when we were in the army. Forget about the others; they sent things to repay a favor. If we send return gifts, they'll feel obligated to send more things back. They all have families to support, so frequent gift-giving would actually be a pressure for them."

Xie Yang immediately understood what he meant, nodded, and indicated she had it covered.

Afterwards, she prepared three return gifts and, ten days before the Dragon Boat Festival, sent them to the southern islands, the eastern islands, and the Northwest respectively.

What Xie Yang didn't know was that at the same time these three comrades received the packages, they also received phone calls from Gu Yu'an at their stations:

"Did you receive the package?"

"Received it, received it! Old Gu, you're being too polite! Why did you send me so many good things!"

Look at this! Salted duck! Salted Duck Egg! Ham and egg yolk zongzi! Red bean paste and egg yolk pastry! Minced meat and mushroom sauce!

"Old Gu, this is too much! It must have cost a lot of money, right? How about I send you some money and coupons!"

"No need to be polite, my partner prepared it all."

"..."

Tsk! The thick smell of showing off in those words—is he afraid others don't know he has a partner?

So what if he has a partner! It's not like they don't! They're even married!

But then again, when they were dating, their partners never organized these things for them.

Let alone sending things to comrades, they weren't even this thoughtful when preparing festival gifts for their own parents.

Comparing it like this, they really did lose to Old Gu!

Damn it! This guy succeeded in showing off!

Gu Yu'an hung up the phone with a look of pleasure.

Although it was raining outside the window, his mood was comparable to a sunny day.

"I hate rainy days the most! Everything is damp wherever you go. The road to school has a puddle here and a puddle there. I even stepped on a 'landmine' after school today, man! My whole pant leg got splashed."

Zheng Miaomiao brought a bowl of early-ripening apricots for Xie Yang to eat, complaining about the sudden rainy weather.

The rain in Beijing is not as abundant as in Jiangnan, but the overcast and rainy days before the start of summer are indeed more frequent than in other seasons.

The crops in the fields rely on this period to build up strength for a good harvest.

Xie Yang looked at her complaining appearance; it didn't seem like it was just because of the weather.

"What's wrong? In a bad mood?"

Zheng Miaomiao let her face drop: "I'm graduating soon, and with my grades, let alone my parents, even I can't bear to look at them. My mom said if it really doesn't work out, she'll let me take over her job. But I don't want to. My mom is still young; if she gives the job to me, what will she do? And I have a cousin who is also graduating this year. If my mom gives the job to me, my grandma might make my dad give his job to my cousin."

Xie Yang: "Didn't you say before that you wanted to go to the neighborhood committee?"

Zheng Miaomiao's ears turned red instantly: "That, I was just daydreaming. The current neighborhood committee is like a public institution; every position is filled. Let alone a Formal Worker, even a Temporary Worker position wouldn't come to me."

As for being a volunteer, are you kidding me!

Those Formal Workers and Temporary Workers will think you are eyeing the vacancy, so would they let you go?

Seeing her so worried, Xie Yang thought of how Gu Dagu was the Women's Federation Director and wondered if the Women's Federation was hiring any Temporary Workers.

However, before confirming, she did not disclose this to Zheng Miaomiao.

The Main System asked her why she wanted to scout for a job for Zheng Miaomiao.

Wouldn't it be better for her if Zheng Miaomiao couldn't eat the gossip and couldn't extend her life? She could then complete the Task sooner and obtain more reward points.

But Xie Yang felt that Zheng Miaomiao was an athlete who brought glory to the country in her past life, and in this life, she was also a straightforward and cute young girl, so she would help if she could.

Anyway, this plane had no life pressure for her; it felt more like retirement. Now that she had also found a partner she was quite satisfied with in all aspects and was getting married in the second half of the year, even if the Sub-system were reclaimed, she would likely continue to stay until the end of her natural life. So why not help the young girl and let her extend her life by a few more years?

Thus, on the Sunday before the Dragon Boat Festival, she carried six savory rice dumplings and six sweet rice dumplings, and went to Gu Dagu's house together with Gu Yu'an.

The savory rice dumplings were salted egg yolk, ham, and pork rice dumplings.

The Salted Duck Egg was sent by the Chen Family, the ham was sent by the Qiu Family, and the pork belly was bought with two jin of Meat Coupons that she and Gu Yu'an pooled together.