Chapter 325: Grow Old Together (Part 2)
Once the seaweed soup and platters of flatbreads were served, the village’s helpful young men and women brought out bowls and chopsticks and began passing them around. The moment a table got their chopsticks, everyone dug in. For a while, no one spoke. Every eye was filled with a craving for the delicious food—even Jiang Weimin and his entourage were no exception. Zhao Wendong accompanied Jiang Weimin’s group, and every other table had someone assigned to keep the guests company, either a member of the Zhao Family or someone from the team committee.
“Wow, this is delicious! These fried sparrows are amazing.”
“Such huge pieces of meat! Oh my god!”
“Brother Dong is incredible.”
After a few minutes of eating, the cafeteria began to fill with all kinds of praise. Many people hadn’t eaten this well even for the New Year, so they never imagined they’d get a meal like this today.
“This is indeed excellent. Comrade Wendong, you’ve really gone all out!”
Jiang Weimin nodded repeatedly as he ate. Eventually, he saw Big Wang at the next table and laughingly brought up the grain Zhao Wendong had sent over. He had truly gotten a taste of the benefits this time; he’d actually managed to trade restricted materials for grain. This gave him a few other ideas. ‘Trade between individuals is speculation, but what if the government takes the lead? That would change the nature of things, wouldn’t it? The county’s biggest problem right now isn’t production and construction, but how to solve the food shortage for the entire county during this disastrous year.’
“Comrade Wendong, we’ve received the grain you sent. The county will start sending over the various restricted materials your production team needs. Keep up the good work!”
Zhao Wendong nodded, gave a smiling salute, and said, “Mission guaranteed.”
Knowing others were still waiting to eat, many people left the table as soon as they finished. By the time Jiang Weimin and his group were done, the first seating in the cafeteria was mostly finished. As they were escorted out of the cafeteria, a group of young people from Dragon King Pond swarmed in and began deftly clearing the tables, preparing for the second seating.
Outside, several groups of people were gathered here and there, yelling and shouting.
“Haha, I won! I won with Brother Dong!”
Jiang Weimin’s group was instantly interested and walked over to watch. Seeing them approach, the onlookers quickly made way. When they got closer, they saw that it was Li Bing and his friends playing cards. Jiang Weimin watched for a moment and then laughed.
“Well now, these cards are interesting. Are the faces on them all you young folks?”
When he saw Jiang Weimin looking at him, Zhao Wendong was baffled, too. ‘I’ve never seen these cards before!’
Just then, Li Bing and the others finally noticed Zhao Wendong’s group. They quickly stopped playing and stood up awkwardly, grinning sheepishly at everyone.
“Bingzi, what in the world are these?”
“Wendong Cards.”
“What cards?”
“Wendong Cards! They’re named after you, Brother Dong! Brother Dadan, hey, Brother Dadan! Come over and explain it to Brother Dong!”
Li Bing waved at Zhang Dadan, who was just trying to slip away. He had no choice but to walk back over, wearing an embarrassed and sheepish grin.
“Heh heh… Brother Dong, this is a wedding gift from all the guys. Heh heh.”
Zhao Wendong picked up the cards and took a look.
“Whoa, these are pretty novel. So this one is Ai Zhongguo, huh? And here’s Brother Niu as well?”
“Heh heh.”
Jiang Weimin found this amusing and asked with a smile.
“I just happen to be out of cards at home. Do you have an extra deck of these?”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
Zhang Dadan quickly produced a deck. Nearby, Tao Dongdong’s eyes lit up. “Could I get a deck, too? I love to play cards.”
“Sure, here you go.”
Yang Wenxue chimed in, “Then I’ll take a deck to have a look, too.”
While seeing Jiang Weimin and his group off to their cars, Zhao Wendong spotted Zhao Xiaoyan and Zhao Baolian helping nearby and waved them over.
“Dongdong, these are my two younger sisters. They’re going to need your help in a few days.”
“Hah, Brother Dong, don’t you worry. I guarantee I’ll handle it perfectly for them.”
Tao Dongdong patted his chest in assurance, his face saying, “You can count on me.” After he spoke, he gave the two women a careful look.
Before getting into the car, Jiang Weimin patted Zhao Wendong’s shoulder.
“Meeting in the prefecture on the seventh. We’ll come pick you up then. Don’t forget.”
“Okay, got it, Secretary Jiang. Actually, there are two other things I need to ask you about.”
“Well now, Comrade Wendong, you don’t hold back, do you? I come for one meal, and I have to do favors for you in return. And not just one, but two of them!”
“Heh heh.”
It was Zhao Wendong’s turn to play dumb and chuckle sheepishly.
“Go on, what is it?”
“It’s about my cousin on my third aunt’s side, over in Yin County… And also, would it be okay if I brought a friend with me to the prefecture on the seventh? It’s Liangzi, the buddy I go fishing with.”
Jiang Weimin recognized Liangzi and nodded at him. He thought for a moment, then said, “Alright, that’s settled. We’ll come pick you both up then.”
“No need, I can just ride with Brother Niu to the county seat and meet you there. He’s coming that day anyway to drive my second aunt’s family back to Dahei Mountain.”
“Mm, alright.”
Jiang Weimin nodded and got into the jeep, and the others all boarded their own vehicles. Several production team leaders who had come with Yang Wenxue climbed into the bed of a large truck to hitch a ride back to the Commune. Watching the convoy disappear into the distance, Zhao Wendong finally breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Dealing with officials is way more tiring than hunting.’
“Brother Dong, I saved a deck for you!”
Zhang Dadan proudly presented a deck of cards. Zhao Wendong took them and began looking through them one by one. There were many names he didn’t recognize, but with help from the people around him, he slowly started putting names to faces. He found it strange seeing the names of the people from Dragon King Pond among them.
“Dadan, how did you know the names of Baozhu and the other people from our village?”
“Heh heh. Liangzi secretly asked Er Gou for them.”
Zhao Wendong shook his head and chuckled. ‘So much for Zhao Ergou being tight-lipped.’
“Brother Dong, that was some serious food. All the guys are full and want to play for a while longer. It’s rare for everyone to be here together, and besides, we all just got our hands on these cards. We haven’t had our fill of them yet.”