Chapter 381: Imbalance and Welcome Changes among Neighbors

Chinese New Year is coming soon!
Thanks to Wang Mengde, a small number of units and factories have distributed some New Year goods in the past few days.

Of course, their units and factories cannot be compared with the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

All they distributed were things like two pounds of flour, two ounces of sesame oil, a few apples, etc.

Although the quantity is not large, it makes those who have New Year's goods very happy.

This is a good start. Our previous units and factories did not have these.

As a large heavy industrial unit in Beijing, the steel rolling mill naturally did not want to lag behind and distributed New Year's goods to every employee.

Sha Zhu came to the gate of the yard staggeringly, carrying a net bag filled with five apples, two taels of sesame oil, and two lunch boxes.

"Hey, silly Zhu, where did this apple come from?"

Yan Bugui had just come out of the public toilet next to the yard with his hands in his pockets and his neck shrunk, when he met him head on.

He had sharp eyes and spotted those Guoguang apples at a glance.

In later generations, no matter what season it is, fruits and vegetables can be grown in off-season greenhouses, and supermarkets have all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

In the winter in the north at that time, there was no need to talk about vegetables. The most ordinary families had were cabbage, radishes, and a small amount of green onions.

These winter stored vegetables need to be eaten throughout the winter, about four months.

As for fruit, basically forget about it.

There were no products for sale on the market. The small amounts that were shipped in from other areas were all in-demand materials and were sold out very quickly.

Therefore, when Yan Bugui saw those apples, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

Their family usually doesn’t buy fruits to save money, let alone in winter. They are really greedy!
"Uncle, what are you talking about? Our steel mill distributed New Year's goods today, including five apples and two ounces of sesame oil."

Sha Zhu lifted the net bag and said happily:
"These are 'Guoguang' apples. Our company specially purchased a large batch from Shandong Province and distributed one to each employee in the factory.

In fact, we have to thank Meng De for this. If he hadn't formulated various welfare benefits for the employees in his unit, the steel mill would have learned from him. Otherwise, we don't know when we can distribute the New Year's goods."

Ever since Li Huaide became the director of the steel rolling mill.

Although the production in the factory was a mess and the personnel management was very chaotic, he had one advantage, which was that he was willing to provide benefits to his subordinates and employees.

In order to arrange positions for those who supported him, he even made a joke about one director and nine deputy directors.

A few months ago, after Wang Mengde took charge of logistics at the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, he provided a lot of welfare benefits to the employees.

After reading about it in the newspaper, Li Huaide immediately realized that this was a good opportunity, so he followed suit and implemented it in the steel mill.

Whether it is condolences to retired employees or reporting good news and rewards to employees who have received honors.

Even for distributing New Year's goods, they spent a lot of money and specially arranged purchasing personnel early to go to Shandong Province to purchase a large number of "Guoguang" apples.

This was a scarce material, and the quantity was so large that it took a lot of favors and connections for him to finally transport it to the steel mill and distribute it to all the employees.

Therefore, although most of the employees still disobeyed him behind his back.

But as the saying goes, one should be grateful to those who have eaten his food and one should be grateful to those who have received his gifts. In the past few months, the discordant voices in the steel mill have become much less.

"Oh, your steel mill has really good welfare. You even give out New Year's goods. Unlike our school, we can hardly pay out wages, let alone New Year's goods."

After hearing what Sha Zhu said, Yan Bugui pushed the frame of his glasses and said with envy.

The Red Star Primary School where he was studying suspended classes every other day, and sometimes there was not a single class for a month.

Their wages are often deducted.

The two sons and the eldest daughter-in-law in the family managed to make ends meet by doing odd jobs on the streets.

Otherwise, the savings he had made before would have to be used up.

The two chatted for a few more words at the gate. Sha Zhu finally felt a little cold and prepared to go home directly.

Just then, Xu Damao walked over from the east entrance of the alley.

His face looked very ugly, and he was holding a package in his hand, which contained some items bought from the grocery store.

Just now, he was in the store and wanted to buy 2 liang 28 sauce to eat during the Chinese New Year.

Who would have thought that the salesperson was unwilling to give him the freshly arrived Erba Sauce, but instead specially scooped out two taels of it from the jar that arrived last month.

This pissed him off.

I had clearly said good and bad, and even reminded him twice.

The salesperson pretended not to hear.

The anger that had been suppressed in his heart for some time suddenly came up, and he couldn't help but say something in a low voice.

Unexpectedly, the salesperson heard his mumbling and instantly exploded.

Not only did he point at his nose and scold him:
"You're a prisoner, you're lucky to have something to eat, yet you dare to be picky?", "If you dare to grumble again, I'll beat you so hard that your parents won't recognize you" and other unpleasant words.

He was ready to crawl out from behind the counter and punch him a few times.

Fortunately, he was smart enough to pick up the Erba sauce on the counter and run away.

After coming out of the grocery store, he became angrier and angrier, but unfortunately there was nothing he could do.

If it were before when he was still working as a projectionist in the publicity department of the steel rolling mill, not to mention a small projectionist, even the manager of a grocery store would have been polite to him when they saw him.

After all, he often showed movies to the leaders of the steel mill and knew many of them.

Not to mention eating Erba Sauce. According to his family's previous conditions, it must be pure sesame paste.

After thinking about the past glory for a while, I soon arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

Unexpectedly, I met my mortal enemy.

"Hey, isn't this Xu Damao? What's up? I haven't seen you for a while. You look thinner again."

Sha Zhu said sarcastically without hesitation.

"Bah, you idiot, don't be so complacent. Just wait and see. Sooner or later, I will make things difficult for you."

Xu Damao tilted his head and said with a frosty face.

Not only was Sha Zhu his mortal enemy, but even He Daqing was disrespectful to his elders. Whenever he came back from Baoding, he would go to their house to find Widow Meng.

Even talked and laughed in front of him.

If Meng Li didn't have the leverage over him, he would have turned against her long ago.

But blindly giving in only resulted in the other party becoming more and more demanding.

Now seeing Sha Zhu, his teeth were almost broken by the new and old grudges.

"Sun Thief, I'm waiting, just use whatever skills you have."

Sha Zhu said nonchalantly: "Xu Damao, come over here and talk about how it feels to be a gang leader."

After saying that, he burst into laughter.

The cold weather can't stop the good mood.

After Xu Damao married Meng Li, he immediately became the father of three children. He also heard that the widow Meng had an IUD, which she has not removed yet.

Wanting to have children in the future is completely a pipe dream.

But he is already the father of two children. These are his biological children, not children raised by someone else.

"Bah, idiot, if you want to know, go ask your father, he knows what it feels like."

Xu Damao said angrily. "Hey, Sun thief, you want to get beaten, right?"

As Sha Zhu said this, he was about to rush over to teach Xu Damao a lesson.

"Shazhu, don't fight." Yan Bugui grabbed him and whispered something, then shouted at Xu Damao:

"Da Mao, why don't you go back quickly? If you fight again, you'll be sentenced to a heavy punishment this time."

After hearing this, Xu Damao was stunned for a moment, then turned around and walked quickly into the yard.

At the same time, he was filled with hatred and remembered this grudge. It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge.

But he is a villain, and villains seek revenge from morning to night, and those people must pay the price in the future.

Seeing his mortal enemy fleeing in panic, Sha Zhu walked towards the central courtyard with his head held high and his chest puffed out like a victorious rooster.

I had just taken two steps when I heard the sound of a bicycle bell not far away.

Then, Wang Mengde's voice came over: "Shazhu, don't leave in a hurry, come over and give me a hand."

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui took a few steps back and stretched their necks to look outside the yard.

Then Wang Mengde was seen pushing his bicycle and slowly walking towards the gate of the courtyard.

The rear rack, bars and handlebars of the bicycle were all hung with things, especially on the rear rack, where several boxes were stacked almost one meter high and tied tightly with hemp ropes.

"Meng De, what are you doing?"

Yan Bugui asked curiously first.

"Well, this is the New Year's gift distributed by our unit."

Wang Mengde said in a low voice.

"What? Your company distributed so many New Year's gifts? What are they?"

Sha Zhu, who was helping to hold the back rack, heard this and asked loudly in surprise.

It’s no wonder that he was so excited. There were just so many things, it was really shocking.

There are so many large and small bags and boxes that if someone doesn't know, they might think they are moving.

"The boxes are full of fruits, the bags are full of nuts and snacks, and some fresh vegetables."

Wang Mengde explained softly.

His New Year's goods were much richer and in much larger quantity than those of other employees in the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

There was no way. After those foreign patients learned that Chinese New Year was the most important festival in China, everyone, whether they were rich and powerful or middle class, would give them some gifts.

All of this has been tacitly approved by the higher-ups. As long as the value is not very high, he can do whatever he wants with it.

Even though there are a lot of items on his bicycle, compared to the gifts he actually received in the past two days, they are less than one percent of it.

Most of it was handed over by him to higher authorities.

"Wow, Meng De, can your family finish eating so much? Don't let it go bad and waste it."

Beside him, Yan Bugui rolled his eyes and then spoke.

His underlying meaning was obvious: if the food couldn't be finished, he didn't mind helping to finish it.

"Hey, Uncle Er, don't worry. We have many relatives, including my father-in-law and his family, as well as my grandparents in my hometown. Maybe there won't be enough to go around in the end."

Wang Mengde said with a smile.

After they crossed the front yard and entered the moon gate, Yan Bugui stretched his neck to watch them walk into the middle courtyard, then he reluctantly walked back to his home.

Wang Mengde's home.

After helping to move everything off the bicycle into the living room.

Sha Zhucai asked curiously: "Meng De, what kind of fruits are in these boxes?"

If it were someone else, they might not ask so directly.

But Sha Zhu is different. Firstly, that's just his personality. Secondly, he has a good relationship with Wang Mengde and they usually say whatever they want.

"Haha, there are two boxes of apples, two boxes of bananas, oranges and tropical fruits."

Wang Mengde said, then he opened two boxes, took out a few red apples and a bunch of bananas, and handed them to him:
"Thank you for your help, Shazhu. Take this back and let the children taste it."

"Meng De, I don't want the apples. Our company has already distributed five. I won't hesitate to give you bananas."

Sha Zhu declined and was about to put the apple on the table.

"This apple is different from the ones your company sends you. It's made in Japan and is called 'Red Fuji'. It tastes different from our country's 'Guo Guang'."

Wang Mengde quickly stopped him.

These fruits were purchased by patients from several countries near China and then shipped here.

"Oh, so you are from Japan. I won't be polite then."

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu stopped refusing and said with a smile, "Then I'll go back first."

The next day, Wang Mengde took some meat and other supplies back from the unit.

Then on the morning of New Year's Eve, after checking on the patients in the intensive care unit, he had lunch in the cafeteria and hurried back to Nanluoguxiang.

Then, several boxes of fruits and other things were packed and sent to Caochang Hutong.

After coming back, I took some things with my family, took a bus from Deshengmen, and went to Tiangezhuang to have the New Year’s Eve dinner.

He made an appointment with the old man a few days ago that as long as the weather is good, they will go back to celebrate the New Year.

After Wang Mengde and his family left, the courtyard was filled with not only various aromas, but also the sour smell of the neighbors.

In the past two days, everyone saw what Wang Mengde brought home every day.

In addition, Sha Zhu, that big mouth, spread the news everywhere, and the whole yard knew that Lao Wang's family had eight or nine boxes of imported fruits alone, not to mention other scarce supplies.

Thinking that during the Chinese New Year, his family could only buy two or three pounds of meat, while Wang Mengde's family had all kinds of good things to spare, he felt very unbalanced.

Especially Xu Damao. Because of Meng Li, Old Xu is almost pretending to sever the father-son relationship with him.

So this year, the food in their home was very simple.

This caused him to feel endless resentment.

Unfortunately, they all knew that this was what Wang Mengde deserved, and their superiors acquiesced to it.

The fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Friday.

First day of work.

Wang Mengde first went to the intensive care unit to check the ward, and then went to the general ward of Guang'anmen Hospital to check on the condition of Master He's nephew and several other patients.

"Doctor Wang, my feet feel much better these days. Is it getting better soon?"

Master He's nephew asked nervously.

He has been receiving treatment for the past few months, and his initial expectations have gradually turned into disappointment.

Even after changing several prescriptions, the condition was still not under control, and his anthrax problem continued to worsen, although the speed was not very fast.

It was not until this month that the situation changed for the better after Wang Mengde changed the prescription.

(End of this chapter)