PDLP Chapter 138 Not a Type 1 Person
Chapter 138 Not a Type 1 Person
Chen Feng sidestepped to make way, and Song Ming's iron pot was placed on the empty stove, brushing against his waistline.
Song Ming picked up the strainer with his right hand, and the soup on Chen Feng's side was just brought to the thickest, most viscous state, without a trace of impurities.
This tacit understanding was born in a small courtyard house in Beijing, where two boys, around ten years old, were being whipped hard on the buttocks by their grandfather under the scorching sun.
In those years, they often secretly stole the finest ingredients that the old man had reserved for entertaining foreign guests and cooked them up in a mess. They were often punished for being too cheeky and made to kneel side by side in the ancestral hall to be scolded.
After each beating, the two of them would stand in front of the stove, wiping away tears while applying safflower oil to each other's swollen buttocks.
But those past events, washed away by time, have come back to life in the everyday life deep within the old street.
"Senior brother! Take the blame!!"
Song Ming let out a loud shout and took half a step back.
Chen Feng casually picked up a large ladle with his right hand, and with a graceful flick in the air, a plate of bright red, wine-scented matsutake mushrooms braised with rock eagles, covered with thickened sauce, landed neatly in a large blue-and-white porcelain plate.
It was decisive and efficient, without any hesitation or delay.
"My goodness... Brother Chen, your and Chef Song's skills are unmatched! All those world culinary competitions I've seen on TV before, they couldn't even touch your heels!"
Su Chen slid off the bench with a thud, rubbing his rumbling stomach with both hands, his young eyes filled with fervor and reverence.
Xingruo stared in astonishment at the steamed abalone and braised pork with dried bamboo shoots from Changbai Mountain that the two had prepared so efficiently and quickly on the cutting board in the blink of an eye.
"It smells so good!! Dad and Uncle are making a big meal!!"
The small side door to the backyard was "pushed" open by a chubby little hand.
Mengmeng, whose little face was flushed from sleeping, rubbed her sleepy eyes and ran over following the scent. Her little mouth was full of glistening drool, and she immediately hugged Chen Feng's leg.
Chen Feng bent down and pulled his daughter into his arms.
He looked at the table full of steaming, glistening, exquisite dishes, then at his junior brother Song Ming, who was grinning and winking at him from the side.
In front of the somewhat dilapidated square table on the old street, the ceiling fan was still whirring.
Chen Feng picked up a bowl of snow-white rice and handed it to Song Ming.
Then he tilted his head toward Su Chen and Xing Ruo, who were staring in a daze, his eyes filled with deep nostalgia and tenderness.
At a construction site in the south of the city, cement mixer trucks were still emitting a dull roar, and dust swirled in the heat.
The foreman, wearing a red hat, jogged up to Zhang Qiang. His face, which usually wore a menacing expression, was now beaming like a dried-up chrysanthemum.
He was bent over, his hands awkwardly clasped in front of him, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper:
"Oh, Brother Qiang! This document just came down. Manager Qian specifically instructed that the shifts for the technical guidance positions are different. You've already finished the heaviest work today, so you can go home early and rest! Really, you've worked so hard!"
As the foreman spoke, he pulled out an unopened pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and pretended to shove it into Zhang Qiang's hand.
"Tomorrow morning, just go to the top-floor office to report for duty and pick up your new uniform! From now on, you can just assign the heavy lifting work down there!"
Zhang Qiang placed the bottle of mineral water he was holding on the rough toolbox next to him, and slapped his hands hard twice on his camouflage pants covered in white dust, making a series of dull "slap slap" sounds.
He looked coldly at the foreman in front of him, who had just been scolding him for unloading goods slowly, without the slightest hint of being flattered.
Thank you? He couldn't possibly say those two words to the other person.
Zhang Qiang knew exactly what was going on. These opportunistic bastards treated them, these hard-working peasants, like dirt, wanting to squeeze every last drop of profit from them.
The reason he can now put on this disgustingly obsequious face is entirely due to the efforts of his brother, Chen Feng.
He benefited from his brother's influence; it had nothing to do with those money-grubbing bastards.
"I'm gone."
Zhang Qiang didn't even glance at the foreman before striding towards the steel gate of the construction site.
His heart was burning with anxiety; he desperately wanted to rush back to the old street to find out what had happened that day.
"Pah... What's with the attitude? He's just a stinking peasant..."
Watching Zhang Qiang's figure disappear around the corner amidst the rising dust, several young migrant workers, who were hunched over carrying bricks, spat on the ground with a hint of bitterness and muttered under their breath.
"Shut up, all of you!! Get to work!!"
The foreman, who was wagging his tail in front of Zhang Qiang just a second ago, turned around and his fat face turned completely gloomy in an instant, his eyes flashing with sharpness and shrewdness.
He snatched the shovel from the hand of the worker next to him and slammed it hard onto the cement bucket, making a piercing, sharp sound.
"Discuss? You bunch of peasants have the right to discuss Zhang Qiang?!"
The foreman stood with his hands on his hips, his snobbish triangular eyes sweeping over the faces of several migrant workers with a sinister look, before lowering his voice and sneering.
"You all better keep your mouths shut!"
Zhang Qiang now has powerful connections backing him up!
A single phone call was enough to scare Manager Qian at the group headquarters so much that he wet his pants and personally came to the scene to apologize and offer the person a new job!
Starting tomorrow, they will no longer be the same kind of people as you laborers who earn a couple hundred a day!
"They're officials, you're thieves! If you dare gossip behind my back again, I'll make sure you can't even get into this construction site tomorrow! Get back to hauling sand!!"
For a moment, the entire construction site fell silent after the foreman's shout.
The migrant workers exchanged a startled glance, none of them daring to utter another sound, and lowered their heads to diligently lift the bricks.
Meanwhile, the old street is bustling with the warmth of everyday life.
The last rays of the setting sun slanted in through the slightly mottled wooden window, illuminating the plates of freshly cooked, steaming dishes of braised matsutake mushrooms with rock eagle and steamed abalone in the kitchen.
"Bang!!"
A pair of large, rough hands, reeking of engine oil, hurriedly pushed open the half-closed wooden door of "Human Fireworks".
"Fengzi!! What are you guys doing in the house this afternoon?!"
Why does this smell keep wafting into the street? It's making me so hungry I'm practically craving more oil!
Zhang Qiang stepped over the wooden threshold in an instant.
He hadn't even had time to go home and change out of his dirty camouflage uniform when he came in, sweating profusely. His big, round eyes fixed intently on the dazzling array of dishes on the old square table.