thefictionvixens Chapter 383 Busy Morning
Chapter 383 Busy Morning
At the first light of dawn, a faint pale fish belly white appeared in the sky. The soft light was like a veil, slowly covering the courtyard with a hazy coat.
The courtyard, which had been sleeping all night, gradually woke up under the caress of the faint light.
The women in the yard were the first to break the silence of the night. They got up sleepily and skillfully picked up the urine buckets in the hazy morning light. The pungent smell spread in the cold air.
They walked in hurried steps towards the public toilet outside the yard. The sound of urine pouring into the pit was particularly clear in the silence.
The first people to get up in the courtyard are these aunts and grandmas. They have to get up early every day to take care of the family's food and daily life.
After returning home, they didn't even bother to wash themselves. They just washed their hands carefully and started cooking over a fire.
Soon after, the crackling sound of firewood came from the stove outside the yard. The flames in the stove were jumping, and when a piece of honeycomb coal was added, black smoke immediately rose.
When the black smoke disappeared and the honeycomb coal in the stove was burning, they sat on the pot and started adding water into it.
The women were busy shuttling between the kitchen and the stove, cooking porridge, making pancakes, and cutting pickles. Their movements were orderly. From time to time, they would go back into the house and gently remind their family members who were still sleeping to get up quickly.
The men also woke up one after another, some stretched, some yawned, and walked towards the public toilet outside.
Some of them sat on the small bench at the door, took out their pipes from their pockets, filled them with tobacco, and started to smoke. The smoke swirled in front of them, their eyes were blurred, and they were immersed in this moment of comfort.
Others picked up brooms and swept the yard outside the house. The brooms swept across the ground, making a rustling sound, gathering the fallen leaves and dust from last night aside.
The children rolled around in their warm beds, unwilling to get up. When they heard the sounds of cooking outside, they covered themselves with the quilts and continued to pretend to sleep.
However, this tranquility and comfort only lasts before breakfast. If you don't get up until the meal is served, you will definitely be nagged by your mothers.
As time went by, more and more people moved into the courtyard.
There was already a long line in front of the public toilet outside.
People were either yawning or talking in low voices, waiting patiently.
Front yard, east wing.
After Li Weiguo woke up, he stretched, moved his hands and feet, and prepared to wash his face, but he saw the empty bucket.
"Alas, I was so busy with the whole school meeting that I forgot to fetch water last night!"
He carried the bucket, walked through the hall door, and slowly walked towards the pond in the middle courtyard.
In the past, he would prepare water for washing in the morning in advance, because there were too many people fetching water in the morning, and if he didn't get up early, he would have to wait in a long line.
But he was delayed by the whole hospital meeting last night, so he had to come early in the morning to queue up for water.
When he arrived at the pool, the long line of people fetching water in front of him made him sigh, he was still late.
He was not in a hurry and stood quietly at the end of the line.
The people in the team couldn't stand the loneliness and started gossiping, and the topic was what happened yesterday when Liu Haizhong went home and beat his child.
"Have you heard? Liu Haizhong was so angry last night that he beat the two kids until they cried loudly when he got home."
"He only knows how to vent his anger on the child. If he is not convinced, he can go to Xu Damao to argue. What's the point of beating a child?"
"That's right. Who would have thought that he would not only beat people, but also drive the children out, leaving them freezing outside the door all night."
"What a sin! The neighbors in the backyard saw it early in the morning. Fortunately, it's only September now. If it was winter, the child would have been frozen to death."
Everyone was talking about it, and their words were full of sympathy for the two children and dissatisfaction with Liu Haizhong's actions.
Li Weiguo felt someone behind him, and when he turned around suddenly, he saw his new neighbor Yang Dongsheng standing not far away with a bucket of water.
Li Weiguo nodded towards Yang Dongsheng as a greeting.
After all, they are not very familiar with each other yet, and being too enthusiastic might make them feel disgusted.
Li Weiguo studied CNC machine tools in his previous life, and he is still full of curiosity about the mechanical engineers of this era.
In this special era, those who can be called engineers are all people with real talents and knowledge. Their creativity and professional ability cannot be easily compared with those of later generations.
Since he knew that Yang Dongsheng was a mechanical engineer, Li Weiguo looked at Yang Dongsheng with respect in his eyes.
When the neighbors saw Yang Dongsheng coming, they greeted him warmly.
"Comrade Yang, good morning! Come and get some water..."
Yang Dongsheng also responded in a friendly manner with a faint smile on his face.
"Well, good morning, everyone!"
He tilted his head to look at the long line in front of him, thinking to himself, with so many people queuing, when will it be his turn? Wouldn't it be a waste of time if it continued like this?
And when he went to the toilet outside just now, there was also a long queue, which made him sigh. He really witnessed the crowded morning in the old city.
He asked Li Weiguo in front of him: "Comrade, is this the only tap water in our courtyard?"
Li Weiguo responded: "Hello, Mr. Yang, I am Li Weiguo from the east wing of the front yard."
"There is indeed only one water pipe in our courtyard, and there is only one faucet, so we have to queue up to get water. Normally there wouldn't be so many people here, and most families would have eaten dinner and would have gotten a bucket of water in advance. But yesterday we were delayed because of the meeting, so that's why this happened."
Yang Dongsheng finally understood after hearing this. He looked ahead again, his brows tightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.
After a moment, he said, "In fact, if we modify it a little bit and put it in a row, everyone won't have to wait."
When he said this, many people heard it.
People's eyes suddenly lit up, and they secretly admired in their hearts that he was indeed an engineer with a very flexible brain.
However, no one responded to this question.
Yang Dongsheng was very confused when he saw everyone's reactions.
Just now I saw that the neighbors all agreed with what he said, so what’s wrong with them now?
Li Weiguo lowered his voice and whispered, "Engineer Yang, your suggestion is very good, but this is a slum, and no one is willing to pay for the renovation."
Yang Dongsheng didn't pay any attention to how Li Weiguo addressed him. Only after hearing his explanation did he understand the truth of the matter.
Seeing that he understood, Li Weiguo added, "This situation doesn't happen every day. Today is a special case."
Yang Dongsheng nodded gratefully and said, "Comrade Weiguo, thank you for helping me solve my doubts."
Just now, Yan Bugui also hurried over with a bucket and stood right after Yang Dongsheng.
Because the two were talking, they didn't pay any attention to Yan Bugui who came behind them.
Yan Bugui always regarded himself as the most educated person in the courtyard, but the appearance of Yang Dongsheng made him feel a sense of crisis.
He pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the conversation between Li Weiguo and Yang Dongsheng. Although he could not get a word in for the time being, he had his own opinion of Yang Dongsheng in his mind.