Chapter 23: Changing Jobs

"Xiaoliang, Xiaowu, what brings you here? Come in, have a seat!" Sixth Son’s mother greeted them warmly, her earlier scolding of her son entirely forgotten.

Indeed, as long as you don’t feel awkward, the embarrassment falls on others.

“Brother Liang! Brother Wu!” The Sixth Son, who had been lying on the bed like a salted fish, immediately perked up and was about to get up.

“All right, all right, just stay in bed. We’ll just say a few words and then head out,” Chen Liang quickly stopped him from getting up.

“Hey! Mom, I’m hungry. Could you go make me a bowl of noodles?” Sensing they had something to discuss, Sixth Son hurried to send his mother off to make noodles.

Most people in the hospital couldn’t afford to eat at the canteen, so they usually brought their own food and cooked themselves, with the hospital just charging a bit for firewood.

Once his mother was out of the way, Sixth Son asked, “Brother Liang, Brother Wu, what brings you here so late?”

Without a word, Chen Liang took two hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to Sixth Son. “Here, take this for now.”

“What are you doing, Brother Liang? How can I accept your money? No way!” Sixth Son shook his head in refusal.

“Just keep it. This is compensation from Old Third Zhou,” Chen Liang insisted, tucking the money under his pillow. After a moment’s thought, he continued, “Sixth Son, this money is your nutrition allowance from Old Third Zhou and his group. Also, I managed to get you a work placement from them. Let’s consider this matter settled, just between us.”

Seeing Sixth Son’s agitated expression, Chen Liang added, “If you have any other ideas, let’s hear them.”

Grass—a mere plant.

“What else could I possibly think? This is a tremendous piece of good fortune! If Da Gang and the others heard about it, they’d be pestering those old veterans every day for the same thing!”

Just by his nickname, it was obvious that Sixth Son had five older siblings. At that time, every family had at least two or three children, but jobs were scarce—one job for one person—leaving many young people unemployed and idling outside.

So when he heard he had a job placement, Sixth Son was as excited as a poodle.

“Sixth Son, here’s the thing. About that job placement, I was thinking…”

Hearing Chen Liang’s words, Sixth Son’s face fell for a moment, but he quickly recovered and interrupted, “It’s all right, Brother Liang. If you want the placement, take it. I don’t mind at all!”

This annoyed Cao Kui. “Sixth Son, what are you thinking? Do you really believe Brother Liang would do something like that?”

“But didn’t he just say…” Sixth Son was getting confused by the two of them.

Chen Liang, half amused and half exasperated, said, “You rascal, can’t you let me finish?”

“Here’s the situation: I’m about to get married, and your future sister-in-law is a kindergarten teacher. I was hoping that you could swap jobs with her.”

“Swap jobs? What do you mean?” Sixth Son brightened as soon as he realized he could keep his job.

“When I checked, your job placement is with the library. I’d like your sister-in-law to take that, and you’ll take her place at the kindergarten. I don’t think you’d fit in at a kindergarten anyway. Later, I’ll see if I can transfer you back to the factory. What do you think?”

“That’s wonderful! Brother Liang, if you’d told me it was the library, I wouldn’t have wanted to go! Staring at books all day would drive me crazy!” Sixth Son’s words were clearly meant to reassure Chen Liang.

The library was a dream job: good pay, light work, great benefits, and a public institution to boot—most people couldn’t even dream of getting in.

“All right, it’s settled then. Once you’re healed, I’ll take you to the kindergarten myself.”

Just then, Sixth Son’s mother came in with the noodles and invited Chen Liang and Cao Kui to eat.

They politely refused and left. These were times of rationed food—every extra bite you took was one less for someone else. So when someone invites you to eat, you’d better not take it seriously, or they’ll curse you for being clueless.

After Chen Liang and Cao Kui left, Sixth Son flopped back on his bed, gazing at the ceiling in silence.

His mother, seeing he was about to let the noodles go to mush, called out for him to eat. Only then did Sixth Son murmur, “Mom, I’m going to start work soon!”

Without looking up, his mother replied, “It’s not even daylight yet, what are you dreaming about? Come eat your noodles!”

Well then, Sixth Son said no more and got up to eat. “Mom, these noodles are so mushy I can barely eat them!”

He was met with a scolding: “If you’d stayed in bed any longer, you’d be eating dough instead of noodles!”

Just then, his mother spotted the thick wad of cash under his pillow. “Son, why is there so much money under your pillow?”

“Oh! Brother Liang and the others gave it to me. Here, Mom, you take it.” Sixth Son handed over all the money. With three older brothers still unemployed, times were tough. He figured he’d use the money as payment for his job.

Back then, people always prioritized their elders when it came to work placements. This opportunity that Chen Liang had negotiated was won with his own life, so Sixth Son didn’t want to give it to his brothers; instead, he gave the money to the family, considering it as buying the job for himself.

Meanwhile, Chen Liang couldn’t escape a round of nagging from his mother upon returning home, fleeing in embarrassment—gone was the domineering air he’d shown in front of the veterans.

The next morning, Chen Liang skipped breakfast and rushed to see Teacher Xiaoyu. At the Zhao house, after he explained his plan, the whole family sang his praises.

Goodness! The library was a place where countless people would give anything to get in, and now it was being handed to them on a silver platter. Their future son-in-law truly was capable!

Chen Liang enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast at Teacher Xiaoyu’s home: golden cornmeal porridge, fluffy multigrain steamed buns, and their own homemade pickles. He ate his fill.

Before leaving, he told them that tonight Chen Dashan would treat them all to dinner at Bai Guo Li’s, then took Teacher Xiaoyu to the kindergarten to handle her resignation.

Afterward, they went together to the city’s largest library to complete her onboarding. By the time Teacher Xiaoyu came out with her work ID and uniform, the day was nearly gone.

It was the dead of winter, and night fell early. Having worked nonstop all day, the two of them, apart from grabbing a bite of dry food at noon, hadn’t eaten or drunk anything else and were famished.

“Come on, my dear Teacher Xiaoyu, my dad is taking us out for a feast tonight at Bai Guo Li’s. I’m so hungry, I could eat a whole pig!”