Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu went to the cafeteria to eat. Thanks to his familiar face, Gong Liang successfully got a serving of eggplant with minced at, with noticeably more at than others.
Of course, it still couldn’t compare to the braised pork Guo Mingzhu brought.
The young couple finished their al and wandered around the area for more than an hour. Just like high school students in love, they did nothing but walk around the track and could stroll for a good two hours.
It wasn’t until the sky was completely dark that Gong Liang took Guo Mingzhu back ho, and then leisurely returned ho himself. When he got back, Mrs. Gong was massaging Mr. Gong’s thigh, while Mr. Gong wasn’t idle either, flipping through a yellowed book to exercise his hand strength.
"Xiao Liang, you’re back. Just now Zheng Da ca over to borrow so winter lon candy, saying Master Jing would be making snacks tomorrow, but there wasn’t enough winter lon candy. I rember we still have a small packet at ho. I just looked around and couldn’t find it. You check again to see if sothing’s covering it. If you find it, take it over to Master Jing." said Mrs. Gong.
"Okay." Gong Liang went back to his room, put away his notebook, and started searching high and low for the winter lon candy.
There weren’t many cupboards in Gong Liang’s house; it’s just that the things inside were quite miscellaneous. Maybe fearing mice would steal it if left outside, almost all food, even sweet potatoes, had to be locked in the cupboards.
Gong Liang searched carefully and found the winter lon candy wrapped in oil paper inside an empty tin of Ovaltine.
"Mom, I found it. I’ll go give the candy to Master Jing." With that, Gong Liang took the winter lon candy next door.
The Xia family was on the right side of Gong Liang’s house, and Jinglixiang’s house was on the left. The houses were adjacent but varied in size; both the Xia family and Jinglixiang’s houses were slightly larger than Gong Liang’s.
However, the Xia family had many children: two boys and a girl. The two boys were high school graduates but hadn’t found stable jobs, and the girl was in high school. The children, being older, couldn’t sleep well cramd together, so the Xia family partitioned their small house into several rooms to give each child so independent space, making it extrely crowded.
Jinglixiang’s house, on the other hand, was much more spacious in comparison. Huang Shengli and Zheng Da both lived here, and the house was partitioned into three rooms with still a fairly large living room. Apparently, the benefits of the State-owned Restaurant were pretty good, as the allocated houses were large.
The door to Jinglixiang’s house wasn’t closed. Gong Liang initially intended to knock, but it opened with a push. Jinglixiang, Huang Shengli, and Zheng Da were all in the living room. On the tables and chairs in the living room were spread oil paper, and the oil paper was filled with winter lon candy, which appeared quite abundant at first glance.
"Master Jing, I’m here to deliver the winter lon candy." Gong Liang was taken aback by the scene before him. As he was pondering where to place the pack of winter lon candy in his hand, he glanced at Zheng Da and was startled once more.
Zheng Da had a big bump on his forehead, a bruise on his face, and tissue stuffed in his nose. He looked like he’d been severely beaten.
"Today... did a fight at the State-owned Restaurant involve the chef?" Gong Liang was astonished.
How had he not heard of such explosive news?
Zheng Da:...
Huang Shengli laughed heartily, rcilessly mocking his junior, "See, everyone who sees you like this first thinks you couldn’t win the fight at the restaurant today."
Gong Liang leaned in to scrutinize Zheng Da, ensuring his appearance wasn’t from a fall, but purely from getting beaten. Concernedly, he asked, "Who hit you?"
"My mom," Zheng Da mumbled.
Gong Liang: ?
"The winter lon candy wasn’t enough, so he went ho to pick the lock and dig through cupboards. His mom thought a thief had broken in and hit him with a stick. Zheng Da bumped into the cupboard and hit his nose on the wall due to losing balance, ending up like this."
"If you ask , he deserved it. If you’re going ho to get sothing just do it openly, why pick locks? Who wouldn’t think it’s a thief?" said Huang Shengli.
Zheng Da protested defiantly, "There was a whole 5 pounds and 6 ounces of winter lon candy. If I asked my mom for it, would she have given it to ? Of course, I had to pick the lock! Besides, I got results, didn’t I? Took a beating but at least brought back the candy; it wasn’t for nothing."
Jinglixiang shook his head helplessly and, feigning a harsh tone, said, "Should have hit him again, didn’t hit him hard enough."
Zheng Da quickly put on a smile, but with his face bruised and his nose stuffed with tissue, the smile was as awkward as could be.
"Master Jing, does making snacks really require so much winter lon candy?" asked Gong Liang, curious.
Jinglixiang smiled and said, "Ordinary snacks wouldn’t, of course. Tomorrow is your birthday, isn’t it? A birthday calls for sothing special."
It then dawned on Gong Liang that all this winter lon candy was for snacks for his birthday tomorrow. He was both shocked and moved, then instinctively refused: "It’s too extravagant."
"Master Jing, troubling you to prepare ingredients and cook for my birthday al is already quite embarrassing. This... so much, this..."
The room full of winter lon candy had rendered the scamr speechless, causing him to stumble over his words.
"What’s the big deal about it? Winter lon candy isn’t so rare item; there are much better candies than winter lon candy. Kids would rather have milk candy and fruit candy than winter lon candy. They just look like a lot, not that extravagant."
"A birthday is a big day. When I was young, on my birthday, whatever my father could make, it was definitely whatever I wanted to eat I could have. If there were dragon liver and phoenix gallbladder, I could have that too."
"Rember to co at seven tomorrow; I specifically requested a private room for you. Once you turn 20 and get married next year, you’ll be a real adult. Wanting to go all out again to make snacks for your birthday? No chance!" Master Jing teased, waving his hand to signal Gong Liang to head back.
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