Chapter 115: A Chance Encounter with Li Huaide

"At home, wait until I have time to take you to see it."

"Cough, better wait until you two are married to look at it slowly."

Right now, Zhang Ping'an was the only one in his house; Lao Wang was afraid that if the two young people were like dry wood and a raging fire, it would be troublesome if they couldn't hit the brakes.

"Alright, I'll listen to Master."

Zhang Ping'an could understand the old man's thoughts, and at the same time, he was also afraid that he wouldn't be able to restrain himself if the two of them were alone at home.

After sending Wang Xiaoling home, Zhang Ping'an went home to prepare to distribute the local specialties with Jia Dongxu.

Earlier, Jia Dongxu had carried four packages directly to Zhang Ping'an's courtyard, locked the door, and pedaled Zhang Ping'an's tricycle to the Clothing Shop to pick up his wife, Qin Huairu.

The current Clothing Shop was a Public-Private Partnership, and they had also been approved for one tricycle and one flatbed cart for procurement use.

When Zhang Ping'an arrived at the courtyard gate, Jia Dongxu had also returned with a cart full of six children.

"Uncle!" Donglai and Dongzi looked like they were about to jump down.

"Hey, hey, hey, no jumping!" Zhang Ping'an hurriedly stepped forward a few paces to hold them down; these two little monkeys.

"Smack, smack, smack!" Zhang Ping'an pressed the two little ones onto the cart and gave their bottoms two smacks.

"Hee hee hee, Uncle, I was wrong."

In this deep winter, wearing cotton-padded jackets and trousers, plus Zhang Ping'an didn't use much force, they naturally didn't feel any pain.

"Great-Uncle."

"Uncle Zhang," x3.

"Hey! Go on, everyone sit still first, we'll talk when we get back."

The group returned to Zhang Ping'an's courtyard, and Jia Dongxu helped the six little ones off the cart, and they started building a snowman on their own.

"Dongxu, come, let's divide the things."

"Alright."

Jia Dongxu only had two million on hand at the time, so the majority of the four packages belonged to Zhang Ping'an.

Among the four packages, one and a half were filled with dried frog and Frog Oil, while the rest were local specialty pastries and food.

When it came to the final division, Jia Dongxu gathered all his things into one package, and Zhang Ping'an gave him another bag of Frog Oil.

"Uncle, I bought quite a lot too."

"It's fine, you can never have too much of this stuff. This thing is good for both men and women. After soaking it to expand, add some rock sugar, Red Dates, and goji berries, and stew it for an hour or so; it's very nourishing. But children shouldn't eat it, or should eat very little."

"Alright."

After Jia Dongxu left, Zhang Ping'an started sorting through the big and small packages again. He had already sent some to Master and his father-in-law's side; tomorrow he would take some home to his parents and sisters, and send some to Wang Shu and Li Aiguo and the others.

Wu Qiang also had to have some. As for Zhu Weiguo, Zhang Ping'an thought about it and decided to send some as well. Since he had sent some to the deputy, it wouldn't look good if he didn't send any to the head, so he would do it in his and Jia Dongxu's names.

The next day, when Zhang Ping'an and Jia Dongxu arrived at the Procurement Section, only the two heads, the chief and deputy, were in the office; the others hadn't returned yet.

"Hahaha, our great heroes are back."

Zhu Weiguo was very happy; Zhang Ping'an and the others had exceeded their procurement quota, and he, as the Section Chief, also had glory on his face.

"Section Chief, we don't deserve that."

"Eh~ a merit is a merit. I have reported my idea of promoting you two to team leaders to the factory leadership, and I believe there will be results soon. You must work even harder in the future."

"Alright, Section Chief, we guarantee to complete the mission. By the way, two Section Chiefs, these are local specialties that Dongxu and I bought in Jilin Province. It's not much, please take them back to taste; please don't mind." Zhang Ping'an gave them both some local hazelnut pastries and cigarettes.

"Hmm~ you have hearts. I have quite a few ration coupons here, you take them; consider it as us buying them."

"This..."

"Alright, can we as leaders take advantage of you?"

"That's right, Ping'an, Dongxu, accept them."

"Alright."

"You two have also worked hard on this business trip, go home and rest for two days. If there are good things, remember to procure them in time."

"Alright, Section Chief." Since they were on break, it was just right to go back to their hometown.

"Uncle, where are you going?"

"I'm planning to go home this afternoon."

"That's perfect, I've prepared some things for Grandma and Grandpa, please take them back."

"Fine." Zhang Ping'an didn't refuse; it was, after all, a gesture of filial piety from Dongxu.

Leaving the Rolling Mill, Zhang Ping'an rode his bike to the Sub-bureau.

"Ping'an, I heard you went to Jilin Province?"

"That's right, come, come, come, everyone try their cigarettes." Zhang Ping'an took out two packs of Great Production and Lao Ba Duo.

"Yo, I really haven't smoked this kind of cigarette."

"Hiss—whoo~ eh, don't say, it's quite a kick."

Zhang Ping'an had smoked before too; although he didn't know much about it, overall it was purer than in his previous life.

After distributing the cigarettes, Li Aiguo dismissed the others, and the two of them puffed away in the room.

"Ping'an, do you have a cold? Why isn't smoke coming out of your nose?"

"Cough, I can't swallow it, I'm just smoking for fun."

"Then you'd better not waste the cigarette." Li Aiguo snatched the remaining cigarette from Zhang Ping'an's hand.

"..."

"Fine, these two portions are for you and Uncle Li, local specialties from Jilin Province."

"Alright, wait a moment." Li Aiguo went into the inner room and brought out a cotton-padded jacket.

"This is a coat that no one has worn; it should fit your build." This was a Public Security Uniform coat.

"Is it appropriate for me to wear this?"

"It's fine, there are no markings on it at all."

"That works, then I won't stand on ceremony." Zhang Ping'an tried it on and it fit perfectly; it was quite warm and even more windproof than his own cotton-padded jacket.

"Kid, wearing this outfit, if you put on a hat, you'd really look like Public Security. Why don't you come to our cafeteria and be a purchaser?"

"Better not, I'm someone who's about to become a team leader."

"......"

"Forget it then. Don't forget to give us a share if you bag anything good in the future." He couldn't let his own selfish interests delay Zhang Ping'an's career in the department.

"Alright, that's it for now, I'm going to go see Wang Shu."

"Good."

After chatting about recent events with Wang Weiguo and leaving behind a bag of local specialties, Zhang Ping'an prepared to return to his hometown, just in time to catch lunch.

When Zhang Ping'an arrived home, he discovered a lot of straight logs and stones in the yard; Zhang Ping'an guessed they were for the roof beams and foundation.

"Grandpa, when are we starting construction?"

"In another month or so. By then, the ground will be mostly thawed. Your father and mother took Xile to your eldest sister's house."

No wonder he didn't see his father, mother, and Xile; usually, Xile would have come out to open the door as soon as she heard the bicycle bell.

"Oh, I was just about to head to my eldest sister's and second sister's houses anyway. Grandpa, Grandma, this is..." Zhang Ping'an took out the forest frogs.

"Isn't this a frog?"

"Uh, it's a forest frog. It looks a bit like a frog, but it's different. This thing is very nourishing and tastes great."

"That works, I'll stew it tonight and have a taste." The old man wasn't averse to this; on the contrary, he was quite interested.

"Alright, I'll head to my eldest sister's place first."

"Go on, go on."

When Zhang Ping'an arrived at his eldest sister's house, the food had already been served on the table, and his second sister and second brother-in-law were both there.

"Ping'an, why did you come over?"

"I just went home, and Grandpa said you were all here, so I came over."

"Ping'an, you haven't eaten yet, right? Hurry up and sit down to eat."

"Okay."

Nowadays, every household was living quite well, and since it was cold, they usually made a big pot of Steamed Buns at once, so there was never a shortage of food.

"Ping'an, you didn't go to work today?"

"I just got back from a business trip and have two days off. I bought some local specialties in Jilin Province to bring to you and Eldest Sister."

"Hey~ you should have kept them for Father and Mother to eat, instead of making a special trip."

"It's fine, there's enough for everyone."

After finishing the meal, everyone chatted about family matters.

"Is Lao Er home? I need to use the Bicycle."

"What's wrong, Big Brother?"

"It's just that Huaide from Third Uncle's family is back, and his car is broken. It won't be fixed for a while, and he has a meeting this afternoon, so he's in a rush to get back to the city."

At this moment, Li Huaide also walked over from a distance.

"Big Brother, Second Brother, have a smoke. I really have an urgent matter. Eh? Zhang Ping'an?"

"Director Li? What a coincidence."