I Thought It Was Some Kind of Treasure! This Is It?
There was nothing much to do at home anyway.
So he might as well stay at work for a while, then take a walk around the neighborhood when he had nothing to do.
He had been here for several days, but he had yet to look around.
Mostly because he hadn't opened up his Ren and Du meridians during those first few days, and hadn't grasped the great truth that the jianghu wasn't all about fighting and killing, but about social relationships and human connections.
So he had spent every miserable day loading and unloading goods, until he was as tired as a dead dog. How could he have been in the mood to go sightseeing?
"Xiao Liang, you're here! Come give me a hand!"
Liang Xin saw that the man who had come in was his colleague from the same team. He called him Brother Zhou.
He shared a surname with their team leader, Zhou Aimin.
Well, obviously. The man called Zhou Aimin uncle, so how could their surnames be different?
His actual uncle!
As for why uncle and nephew worked at the same workplace, in the same department, with one even reporting to the other-
It was definitely because neither of them ranked high enough for it to matter. For now, there was no need to avoid any appearance of impropriety!
Who would bother gossiping about a minor team leader and an ordinary worker?
"Brother Zhou, what's this?"
Liang Xin couldn't very well remind him, Brother, I'm sick.
So he came over and helped him carry a woven sack into the room.
Fortunately, it wasn't heavy, only about seventy or eighty jin.
"Slowly, handle it gently. Don't drop it."
Liang Xin lent a hand and helped carry the sack to a slightly secluded spot in the office.
Only after wiping the sweat from his face did Brother Zhou smile and say, "We'll divide this up among everyone in a bit!"
Divide it up? Divide what up?
Liang Xin was quite eager to find out.
It was a nice feeling, and to preserve the anticipation, Liang Xin deliberately held back from opening the sack to see what was inside.
After a while, six of the team's seven members had returned, including their leader, Zhou Aimin.
"We won't wait for Xiao Wu. Just save some for him!"
Zhou Aimin gave the order, then shut the door and eagerly went over to untie the sack.
The others all gathered around, their faces full of anticipation, Liang Xin included.
He had kept himself in suspense for a whole hour, guessing all along what it might be.
Now, seeing Zhou Aimin open the sack to reveal a sackful of tomatoes, he froze.
This is it? This is it?
Just a pile of lousy tomatoes. Was there any need to be so mysterious?
I thought you'd brought in a sack of contraband or something!
Liang Xin couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
This little bit of stuff wasn't worth the hour I wasted waiting!
Brother Zhou said proudly, "A villager grew these on the sly outside the village. There's eighty jin!"
"Not bad, Xiao Zhou! You can use these as vegetables or give them to the kids as fruit to satisfy their cravings. One bite and they're tender and juicy! Lao Zhou, hurry up and divide them among everyone!"
"By the way, Brother Zhou, how much are these tomatoes per jin?"
Brother Zhou held out one hand and gave it a forceful push forward!
The expression on his face was especially smug!
"Five fen a jin? Not bad. Ten jin for each of us?"
"What do you mean, ten jin each? Five jin each! I'll ask the director and the other team leaders if they want the rest!"
"Come on, Lao Zhou. How about eight jin each?"
Liang Xin was dumbfounded. They were only dividing up a few lousy tomatoes, so why did it look like they were about to fight?
Were they really that shortsighted?
Even though Liang Xin was very disappointed, when he saw everyone's eager gazes, human nature played its tricks, and he actually wanted some too!
Strange, wasn't it?
Mm, I loved eating Snow on Flaming Mountain when I was little. I'll make some when I get home.
Mm, muxu tomatoes are a famous dish too. I've eaten them since I was a kid, so that's another option.
Leave some juices in the pan when stir-frying, then pour them over snowy white rice. That sweet-and-sour flavor would go really well with it.
Thinking about it that way, Liang Xin felt his mouth start to water!
He was actually looking forward to it now.
But there was still the biggest problem: he couldn't cook!
Suddenly, he really wanted to find someone to share a home with!
She has to be a good cook!
I'll provide the grain!
Alas, why hasn't some kindhearted colleague come over and asked me, "Xiao Liang, would you like a widow or something?"
It's been several days already. Why hasn't some busybody come to introduce me to one?
Could it be that I have a face that makes me look like I don't go near women?
I'll take a good look in the mirror when I get home!
In the end, team leader Lao Zhou couldn't resist everyone and gave ground, dividing out six jin per person.
Including Xiao Wu, who hadn't come, that was six times seven, forty-two jin-half of the eighty jin was gone.
Lao Zhou had to use the remaining half to cultivate relationships.
For the director, the other team leaders, and so on.
It wasn't entirely for his own relationships, either.
By exchanging favors like this, when other teams got hold of something, his team could sometimes get a share of the soup too.
Like this sack of tomatoes: people from the other teams could probably each get a jin or two as well, joining in the fun and adding a dish to the family table.
Liang Xin paid three mao and received six jin of tomatoes.
They were ball tomatoes, too.
They were all about the same size, a little bigger than an egg.
He picked one up, rubbed it on his pants, and took a crunchy bite.
Mm, who was it that said that just now? Sure enough, tender and juicy!
Did it really taste this good, or was it because this body was short on nutrients?
Forget it. Who cares?
As long as it tastes good.
It's just that something seems a little strange.
What got on these pants? There seems to be a bit of a strange taste.
Why can't I remember?
Forget it. If I can't remember, I won't think about it.
Time to get off work and go home!