Bitterness

  "Mom, where is Liu Cheng from? Is he a factory son?" Zhao Guotang unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. The wind blown by the electric fan was somewhat hot and humid, and it had not yet reached June, but the weather suddenly became sultry.

  "Not from here, but from Mei County, recruited to work." Obviously, Xu Xiujin was not very satisfied with the object her daughter had found. Her own daughter's appearance and character were fine, a high school graduate, and in the factory, she could also be considered as someone who could go out, yet she had found an outsider, not to mention an ordinary worker, which made her somewhat unhappy. However, she was usually gentle in nature and didn't interfere with her children's affairs, so she only reminded her daughter to think carefully, but did not strongly oppose it.

  "Huh?" Zhao Guotang also furrowed his brow, these two years the male workers recruited from outside were generally the most bitter and exhausting jobs, how could Big Sister take a liking to this kind of person?

  "You have the time, so advise your sister as well. Although Liu Cheng is sincere and honest, in today's world, this kind of person isn't popular. If she marries him, she'll suffer later." Xu Xiujin sighed, "Guodong, your sister still listens to you, but now she doesn't listen to me or your father, and has even quarreled with Deshan a few times. You should advise her."

  Zhao Guotong could only scratch his head and agree, his elder sister was only one year older than him, at the age of 22 it's just right to find a partner, but finding an outsider as a son-in-law was somewhat unexpected, no wonder everyone in the family was unhappy, it seemed that this matter would have to be resolved by himself again, as soon as he got home he was faced with these troubles, which also made Zhao Guotong a bit worried.

  "Brother, Zhang Qing and Zi Quan have come looking for you." Zhao De-shan's hoarse voice called out from outside the window.

  "Mom, I have time to take a look at Liu Cheng first, anyway, I'm close to home now, not to mention coming back every day, I can come back every three or five days, there are plenty of opportunities." Zhao Guotang stood up and walked out while speaking.

  Wu Changqing and two other young men were already standing by the washing sink outside the door, chatting with Zhao Deshan. Wu Changqing had just handed Zhao Deshan a cigarette, which he was about to light when he suddenly saw his older brother walking out with a dark face. He quickly removed the cigarette from his mouth and pinched it in his hand.

  Wu Changqing saw Zhao Deshan's appearance and couldn't help but complain: "Guotun, it's your business if you don't smoke, Deshan is also old enough, do you need to approve him smoking a cigarette?"

  Zhao Guotong ignored Wu Changqing, but warmly patted the shoulder of one of the tall and thin young men and put his arm around him. "Ziquan, it's been a long time since we last met! Why didn't you come to see me? And Wang Fei, your glasses are still on, aren't they?"

  Fang Zhonghe and Wang Fei were both good friends of Zhao Guotang during his middle school days, while Wu Changqing's relationship with them was not as close, but they were all classmates. Now that they are all grown up, their relationships have become much warmer when they meet.

  "Alright, Guo Dong, we thought you'd become arrogant after becoming a public security officer, but then Chang Qing told us that you've been transferred back to Jiang Temple. This is great, now we can all get together more often." The tall and thin young man's face was slightly red with excitement, while the short bespectacled one was rubbing his hands excitedly. "Guo Dong, it's good that you're back, it's been a long time since we've all been together, our brotherly bond is almost rusty!"

  "Heh heh, haven't had dinner? If not, just make do with something at my place." Running into several old classmates, Zhao Guotang's mood suddenly improved.

  "Everyone has eaten at home, today is the weekend, go ice skating or dancing?" Wu Changqing also chimed in, "You haven't been back for a long time, I'm afraid the factory is unfamiliar to you, why not take a walk around?"

  "What's the point of changing? Isn't it still the same? I think there hasn't been much change in the factory over the past few years." Zhao Guotang loosened his belt, the food at home was delicious and he had eaten a bit too much.

  "Brother, when are you going to get me a police uniform?" Seeing Zhao Guotang's improved complexion, Zhao Deshan also became bolder, holding the cigarette in his hand and wanting to put it in his mouth, but he was somewhat afraid.

  Seeing his younger brother's evasive behavior, Zhao Guocong also felt a bit moved. Wu Changqing had some truth to what he said. De Shan was almost twenty years old now, and he had long known that De Shan smoked, but he had always pretended not to know. In front of him, Zhao De Shan never dared to smoke, and it seemed like he had been too strict with him as well.

  "If you want to take it off, then take it off, don't pretend to be a sore loser." Zhao Guocong glared at his younger brother with annoyance and said, "My police uniform is barely two years old since I started working, the one from school can no longer be used. Let's talk about it when new uniforms are issued next year."

  Hearing his brother's words, Zhao DeShan was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. Now he could openly smoke. Just as he was about to light up, Wu ChangQing suddenly shouted, "Guo Tong, take out your Ai Shi Ma and sprinkle some around. My Jia Xiu isn't ashamed of being inferior?"

  Zhao Guotang shook his head helplessly, took out the remaining half pack of Aesma and threw one to each person, including Zhao Deshan. He also gave the remaining half pack to Zhao Deshan, who only had a few yuan for pocket money every month, and it was really hard for him.

  Holding the half pack of Ashima that his elder brother had tossed over, Zhao Deshan's bones almost turned to mush. This was the first time his elder brother had given him cigarettes, and it was a whole half pack of Ashima at that. For Zhao Deshan, who only had 10 yuan in pocket money for the entire month, this was no small temptation.

  "Shall we go to the ice rink first?" Wu Changqing spat out a ring of smoke, seemingly savoring it.

  "A bunch of kids playing around, would we lose face if we go?" The whole house shook their heads.

  "Don't say that, there are many 18 or 19-year-olds, and they're only two years younger than us." Wang Fei rubbed his eyes with a mysterious expression: "But Guo Dong won't be able to run into Kong Yue there, so why don't we just go to the club's dance hall instead?"

  Wang Fei mentioned Kong Yue again, and Zhao Guo Dun shook his head helplessly. After all these years, did they really think he still had a crush on Kong Yue? It was laughable. He hadn't seen Kong Yue in two or three years either. Since getting together with Tang Jin, Zhao Guo Dun seemed to have lost that flirtatious look in his eyes and became more serious. With Tang Jin by his side every day, he didn't even dare to have any romantic thoughts.

  "Don't drag me and Kong Yue together, we don't have anything to do with each other."

  "Yes, my brother already has a girlfriend in the police academy." Zhao DeShan also found an opportunity to boast about his older brother, "And she's from Anshan city too."

  "Oh? Guo Dong has found someone?" Several classmates' eyes all focused over.

  Zhao Guotang felt a bit bitter, and he hadn't dared to mention the fact that he was being sent down to Jiangmiao Temple to Tang Jin yet. He had been keeping it from her for two days now, but he knew he couldn't keep it hidden forever. Their relationship already felt somewhat distant, and now with this development, who knows what kind of waves it would stir up?

  "Don't listen to his nonsense, she's just a relatively close female classmate, working in the city, and we're worlds apart, not on the same path. We haven't been in touch for a long time now." Although he said so, Zhao Guocong's unease in his heart was even more intense, perhaps it would really come true, what should he do then?

  "What's with the good relationship with female classmates? Haha, Guo Dong, you can't even lie convincingly, how good is it?" Fangzi heavily punched Zhao Guodong and said with a mischievous smile: "In this day and age, what kind of good relationship can there be between men and women? Besides that kind of relationship, is there still such a thing as pure friendship?"

  "Right, right, Zi Quan, let's go to the ice rink and dance hall tonight to find some 'pure friendship'." Wu Changqing chimed in.