The Legend of Tang Sanzang

  Although Zhu Tiejun promised, Lin Zhenhua was not in a hurry to show off his skills. The work of a porter, for Lin Zhenhua, is not considered hard labor, his previous life may have been a weak scholar, but the body he inherited was a scout from an elite unit, with great strength, doing this kind of work doesn't tire him at all. He intentionally worked as a porter for a while to adapt to this society.

  In addition to Zhong Rulin and Lin Zhenhua, there were three other porters in the porter class, namely Xu Zhanhua, Lü Baoan, and Xiong Lijun. Xu Zhanhua and Lü Baoan, like Zhong Rulin, were middle-aged workers who were not very smart and could not learn technical skills, so they could only do some simple physical labor. Xiong Lijun, on the other hand, was extremely intelligent, but he couldn't focus on anything, so he was eventually assigned to the porter class, where there was no opportunity for him to utilize his intelligence.

  "Kobayashi, do you still have some Red Double Happiness? Give me one more, just one more." Xiong Lijun stuck close to Lin Zhenhua, shamelessly begging him for Red Double Happiness cigarettes. Lin Zhenhua had brought back several packs of cigarettes from Changsha, giving two to Yang Chunshan and distributing a few packs to Chu Hongyang and other close friends. He then brought the rest to the workshop to share with his new colleagues. Zhong Rulin and other middle-aged workers each took two cigarettes, but didn't dare ask for more. However, Xiong Lijun's face was thick enough, so he would occasionally ask Lin Zhenhua for cigarettes to smoke.

  "Old bear, I don't have many left either. Come on, here's one more for you." Lin Zhenhua made a painful face, dug out a flattened cigarette box from his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and handed it to Xiong Lijun with a reluctant expression.

  Lin Zhenhua now has some feeling about the material shortage of this era. If it were 30 years later, he would definitely take out a whole pack of cigarettes and hand them directly to Xiong Lijun like this. But now, he can only give one cigarette at a time to Xiong Lijun. If he gave the whole pack of cigarettes to such an ordinary colleague who had known him for only a few days, it would be strange instead.

  Xiong Liming was overjoyed, pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a match, holding the still-burning match in his hand, gesturing to Lin Zhenhua, meaning to help Lin Zhenhua light a cigarette.

  "I've had a sore throat these past few days, I'll quit smoking for now." Lin Zhenhua said with a wave of his hand.

  "What's the point of carrying cigarettes if you're not going to smoke?" Xiong Lijun asked in surprise.

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "If I don't bring it, what will you smoke?"

  "That's it, that's it." Xiong Lijun hastily replied, he took a deep drag on his cigarette, savored it for a moment, then said to Lin Zhenhua: "Little Lin, you're really not bad."

  "Got it, are you going to want another one after finishing this?" Lin Zhenhua said.

  "Cigarettes and liquor are a package deal, aren't they?" Xiong Lijun said with a rather heroic tone. "I'm telling you, once I get rich, I'll treat you to five-yuan-a-pack cigarettes, the imported American kind, Marlboro."

  "Wanbao Road is not even considered a good cigarette, the real good cigarettes are still our domestic ones, Xiaoxiongmao, have you heard of it?" Lin Zhenhua said.

  "Panda cub? Never heard of it."

  "That's it, this is the special supply cigarette for central leaders."

  "I had no hope of smoking the central leadership's cigarettes. However, if I were to become rich, I really want to buy a pack of American cigarettes to try them out." When Xiong Lijun said the words "become rich", his eyes shone with a bright light.

  "Little Bear, when will you get rich?" Xu Zhanhua said with disdain. He knew this bear, Li Jun, all too well - a 20-year-old bachelor who spent his entire salary every month and had to borrow money from others by the end of the month, belonging to China's first generation of "moonlight clan". Since he usually didn't have good food to eat, he would scrounge around for anything edible, with a thick and hard face like 50mm steel plate. It could be said that as long as you gave him something to eat and drink, he would kowtow without any problem.

  Xiong Lijun heard Xu Zhanhua's questioning and immediately lost his spirit: "Alas, I have no hope. With a monthly salary of over 30 yuan, I can't even afford to buy a pack of good cigarettes. What's the point of living like this?"

  Zhong Rulin advised: "Little bear, this is where you are wrong. Look at Guo Haipeng, he entered the factory with you at the same time, but he learned his skills well and now earns 48 yuan in wages, and his life is still so frugal."

  Xiong Liming looked at him with disdain: "Old Zhong, don't mention Guo Haipeng to me. No matter how badly I mix it up, I won't be like him and become a soup commander."

  "Tang Shuai?" Lin Zhenhua was somewhat dizzy, "What's the relationship between Guo Haipeng and Tang Shuai?"

  "Commander Tang, you don't know?" asked another porter, Lü Bao'an. "It's from that movie 'Battle of Shanghai', the big fat guy who appears on stage and someone shouts 'Commander Tang has arrived', haven't you seen it?"

  "I've seen him, it's Tang Enbo," said Lin Zhenhua, "What does he have in common with Guo Haipeng?"

  Lü Bao'an said, "You don't know, Little Guo is getting married and needs to save money to buy furniture and stuff, so he's being very frugal with his meals. Every time he goes to the cafeteria, he only buys a bowl of soup noodles, which costs just five cents! That way, he can save some money. Xiao Xiong and those other bachelors tease Little Guo, saying he's only drinking soup, calling him 'Soup Commander'."

  "Is there such a thing?" Lin Zhenhua was shocked. In his day, he had heard of "house slaves", and online, people often complained that they hadn't dared to eat out for several months in order to save money to buy a house, which was already considered a very miserable thing back then. He didn't expect that in this day and age, there would still be young people who only drank five-cent soup with every meal in order to save money to buy furniture. To think that it wasn't just one meal without vegetables, but year after year relying on a bowl of vegetable soup to fill their stomachs. The five-cent soup in the cafeteria was something Lin Zhenhua had seen before - basically just a few leaves of cabbage with a few tiny drops of oil floating on top.

  "Nowadays young people are too particular about getting married," Lü Bao'an concluded. "They want a set of furniture with a sofa, which has 48 legs, and also three wheels and one press, namely a bicycle, watch, sewing machine, plus a camera. Xiao Guo only earns more than 40 yuan a month, if he wants to buy all these things, how can he afford it without saving from his food expenses?"

  "What's this 48 legs thing?" Lin Zhenhua hastily asked for guidance, as it was a matter that concerned his happiness for the rest of his life, and asking ahead wouldn't hurt.

  "It's just the number of furniture, calculated at four legs per piece of furniture, and it's actually more than 48." Lü Baoan said, "Haven't you heard? Large wardrobe, small wardrobe, medium wardrobe, high and low cabinets, camphor wood boxes in fours, dressing table, writing desk, electroplated round table standing up, six folding chairs, set up to play poker..."

  "Save up for these things with just a salary?" Lin Zhenhua clicked his tongue, a set of 48-legged furniture, at the very least, would cost over a thousand yuan. A bicycle, watch, sewing machine, and camera, each one costing over a hundred yuan. Adding it all up, the total cost of everything needed for marriage would be around 2,000 yuan, equivalent to three or four years' salary for an ordinary worker. The key point is that during these three or four years, this worker still needs to eat, wear clothes, and wash his face, it's impossible to have no expenses at all. So, wanting to save up this amount of money is really a huge undertaking.

  Xiong Lijun sneered, "I'm not that stupid, my wife is dear to me, but can she be more important than my own stomach? I'd rather remain a bachelor for life than cheat my own stomach. Look at Guo Haipeng now, he's so thin he's just skin and bones. I really wonder if he can still get it up after marrying his wife... maybe he'll even need me to lend a hand..."

  "This... we didn't plan on asking for your help, you'd better take care of yourself." Lin Zhenhua said with a sweaty forehead.

  Xiong Lijun regained his confidence from the process of belittling Guo Haipeng, and he smiled fawningly at Lin Zhenhua: "Little Lin, that... can I have another one? Look, I've gotten addicted to it again."

  Lin Zhenhua pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed them out to everyone, but several middle-aged workers shook their heads in refusal. Seeing Lin's resolute attitude, they reluctantly accepted the offer. Xiong Lijun quickly took the cigarette, lit it for himself, and then helped others light theirs. He said, "I like people like Lin Zhenhua, who doesn't hide such good cigarettes. You should let Tang Shuai buy a box of Red Double Happiness to try, he won't even mind spending money on that. It's hard to get a box of Golden Leaf, but he hides it away, afraid others will take one."

  Lin Zhenhua looked at Xiong Lijun, who was greedily smoking, and felt a little sentimental. He asked tentatively: "Old Bear, what if one day you could earn 10 times your current salary..."

  "I'd die for it!" Xiong Lijun didn't wait for Lin Zhenhua to finish speaking, and replied ahead of time, "Little Lin, tell me, where is such an opportunity? Don't mention 10 times, even if it's 5 times, I'll risk my life for it."

  "Hehe, I think there will be such an opportunity." Lin Zhenhua said evasively. To be honest, Lin Zhenhua himself also wanted to find such an opportunity, but where was it?

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  On the first day of recommendation, readers have given me a lot of face. This book has entered the signed author new book list and ranked sixth, which is really gratifying. I will add an extra chapter tonight to show my appreciation. If you still have remaining recommendation tickets, please spare a few for me.