Xiao Sun said: “Boss, you are completely different when you are working and when you aren’t.” He originally wanted to say that Chen Maidong was driven when he was working, something similar to having some sense of mission. But being less educated, he was at a loss for the appropriate adjective. That is to say, Chen Maidong’s work attitude can easily make people mistakenly think that the work he is doing is a very sacred and marvelous thing. When in fact, he is just working at a funeral home, because in the end, he’d had nowhere else he could go.
Xiao Sun is only twenty-four years old, a native of the nearby village, and was taking the accounting certificate exam, but planned to change careers once he got the certificate. He is different from Chen Maidong. He is a contract worker with average salary, so he was very realistic when he studied this major. Now the funeral home expressly stipulates that it is not allowed to accept monetary gifts, and if it is reported that you accept them, you will lose your job.
Xiao Sun was complaining to Chen Maidong, when the funeral director came to find them. Chen Maidong took one last puff of his third cigarette, straightened his clothes and went back inside the funeral home.
From early morning until midday he was too busy to even eat. He grabbed two meat buns that the receptionist had brought that morning. He ate one and handed the other to Xiao Sun, who shook his head again and again, expressing that he was not hungry. He drank a cup of tea after eating, and decided to head home to catch up on sleep. The front desk attendant and Xiao Sun were talking about the deputy curator who had come earlier. He had said that he wanted to send two people to the city for a meeting to study and improve the quality of the entire funeral team.
When Chen Maidong got home, grandma cooked the noodles and left out. It was probably because her hands shook too much and sprinkled too much salt on the noodles, they were extra salty. He barely ate his bowl, secretly poured out the rest of the pot, and started a new pot.
When Grandma Chen came back, she saw that the noodles in the pot were different from what she had cooked, but it didn’t matter. She took out a bowl and shouted into the other room, but Chen Maidong said that he had just eaten it, and for her to eat by herself. Grandma Chen served a bowl, sat it on Chen Maidong’s bedside table and ate while talking about the table’s set up on the street. On October second, there is a traditional temple fair held once a year. A day when families and friends will rush back from all over the country to visit relatives. It will be very lively.
Grandma also asked him to go to the temple fair that day to see if there were any young, single girls. Chen Maidong replied in a daze, “Young people don’t go to temple fairs these days.”
“Oh, you young people are really missing out.” Grandma said, covered him with the quilt, and left the room with the bowl.
Rural temples have had traditions for hundreds of years and are usually held during the slack season. In the early years, there would be dancing dragons and lions, beat gongs and drums. Now only the elderly still think about it, young people don’t take it seriously, and rarely go to the stores.
Chen Maidong woke up and opened the refrigerator to find something to eat. After a long time, he picked out some hardened chicken. Grandma Chen took him by the hand and said that she was going down the street to buy food. After walking for a bit, she turned around and said eating meat is the best, then she led him into Zhuang Jie’s roast chicken shop..
Tomorrow was National Day. Liao Tao marinated the chicken at home to seal the vacuum, so Zhuang Jie came to the shop to help. As soon as she wrapped the fried chicken in bran and put it in the oil pan, Grandma Chen lined up and said she wanted to buy fried chicken. Fried chicken is the most popular food now.
Zhuang Jie and Chen Maidong nodded, and continued to work on the matter at hand. Seeing that the two of them knew each other, Grandma Chen turned her head and asked, “Dongzi, do you know this little girl?” The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
Chen Maidong said: “A junior high school classmate.”
“Oh.” Grandma Chen looked at Zhuang Jie seriously. She looked ordinary, but she can stand up to scrutiny. She is slender and tall, and works quickly. She seems like she is a person who knows how to live.
Zhuang Jie looked at her in response, smiled kindly at her, and asked her to sit on the stool and wait a while, that the fried chicken would be ready soon.
Grandma Chen was very happy, and she became more and more satisfied the more she watched. She turned her face away and asked in a low voice, “Dongzi, does your classmate have a boyfriend?”
“I don’t know.” Chen Maidong played perfunctorily on his mobile phone.
“If you were classmates, wouldn’t you be around the same age?” Grandma Chen muttered and approached the fried chicken window, and asked with a smile, “Girl, are you dating someone?
Zhuang Jie was taken aback, glanced at Chen Maidong, held back a smile and said, “Not yet, grandma.”
Grandma Chen smiled even more happily, and said, “You look so pretty. You are tall, and you have a good smile. If I have a great-granddaughter like you, I think I can wake up smiling everyday.”
Chen Maidong was embarrassed, he could imagine what grandma would say next. Before he could stop her, he heard grandma say, “If I were fifty years younger, I would definitely put your photo on the head of the bed, fast and pray to Buddha every day, to bless me to give birth to a little package like you.”
“My lifelong regret is that I didn’t have a granddaughter, but I have a grandson who is handsome and personable.” As she spoke, she pulled Chen Maidong, who was wearing flip flops and wearing lazy pants, in front of her. “Young lady,” she asked, “What do you think of my grandson?”
…
Chen Maidong didn’t have the face to look at Zhuang Jie, he scratched the back of his head and insisted on taking grandma home. Grandma Chen was very stubborn, and continued, “My grandson is 5’9, and his body is very strong.” After she finished speaking, she slapped him on the back twice. “He has good conduct, good looks, and not to mention his good virtues. He is currently serving the people in the civil affairs department, has a staff, and is not short of money, We have a house in the city…”
Already powerless, Chen Maidong silently looked at the fried chicken in the oil pan.
Zhuang Jie looked at his attire, which was completely different from his previous suit and leather shoes. Chen Maidong rolled his eyelids and glanced at her, she smiled back jokingly. Chen Maidong turned around and asked, “Grandma, are you going back, yet?”
“I’m not going back. If you want, you go back.” Grandma Chen said confidently: “My fried chicken is not ready yet.”
Chen Maidong turned his head and left the roast chicken restaurant, he didn’t go far, just waited at the intersection in front.
Seeing him leave, Grandma Chen winked and said, “My grandson is shy. Despite his size, he is still a shy boy inside.”
Ha ha ha ha–