Li Long felt too embarrassed to conduct "private business" at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Although people from the neighboring offices came over to watch and clamored to see what was in the sack, he still took Yusufu away from the cooperative. Before leaving, he joked that he would treat everyone to watermelon in a couple of days.
Although everyone earned a salary these days, they generally had heavy family burdens, and treating colleagues to food was still fairly unusual. Li Long's words immediately quieted their enthusiasm. Someone muttered:
"I wonder if each office will even get a whole melon?"
"Don't worry, Xiao Long isn't that stingy," Li Xiangqian said with a smile when he heard that. He was certain Li Long wasn't a miser. How could each office fail to get even one melon?
Li Long took Yusufu to the little courtyard, opened the gate, and said as they walked inside:
"Come on, let's look at them in the courtyard. The house is still being tidied up, so it's not very convenient."
Looking around the courtyard, Yusufu wondered to himself whether Li Long was moving. Was he no longer going to live here?
The reason he had dared to come was that he had found Li Long directly through the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. That proved what Li Long had said before was true: he really was an employee there.
Otherwise, Yusufu wouldn't have dared come.
These days, people who worked for the state naturally inspired extra trust. Once someone was proven to be a state employee, ordinary people really did tend to believe in them.
"Come and look. I bought all these from the Adasi who dig jade by the river. I didn't bring any bad ones. These are definitely all very good."
Yusufu didn't stand on ceremony.