The courtyard was quiet, and most of the people went to line up to grab the New Year's goods today.

During the Spring Festival, each person supplies two catties of flour, and the supply of non-staple food is also richer than usual, but there are many people who rush to buy.

No way, one thing one team, green onions, ginger, cabbage, radish, melon seeds, sesame oil...... If there are fewer people, you can't grab anything.

Zhou Xiaoan walked along the alley to the small street in front, and sure enough, there were several long queues in front of the Red Star non-staple food store on the street.

Zhou Xiaoan went around the alley next to the bigger street in front of him, bought a meat-stuffed bun in front of a state-run restaurant, and spent six cents and two taels of food stamps.

She wanted to go in and buy another bowl of ravioli, sit in it and eat it hot. But look at the miners sitting at a table shouting and drinking, with stir-fried vegetables and liquor on the table, and their rude demeanor and loud voice are shocking, and they dare not go in.

This is not the world she is familiar with, a girl entering the restaurant by herself must be the focus of everyone's attention, she is most afraid of being watched, she must not be able to eat, or take the bun and eat while walking......

Deep down, she is still the little girl who has obstacles to the outside world.

What she has to face, she stubbornly insists on doing it, and in the trivial things that don't matter, she will unconsciously hide back.

But fortunately, she is used to it, and she will not be discouraged by her timidity, and happily nibble on buns while walking.

The bun is a big meat filling, the meat filling is a little big, with green onions and pepper powder, the taste is okay, but it tastes a little oily, but Zhou Xiao'an can't eat a little oil star all year round but likes it very much, and the big bun is eaten in a few bites, and it is still unfinished.

Zhou Xiaoan looked back at the hotel that had just walked out twenty or thirty meters away, and decided to walk a little longer and buy another one at the hotel in front.

After eating one so quickly and going to buy it, the uncle who sells steamed buns must have to look at her with very strange eyes......

Buy two more for Zhou Xiaoquan, and improve the food for the New Year, once a year, which is not a luxury.

She took all the money left back from the hospital with her, and she didn't have a chance to give it to Zhou Yuehai yesterday, so she decided to spend it first, and then pay him back when her salary was raised.

Zhou Yuehai gave her ten yuan and ten catties of food stamps at the hospital nurses' station, and asked Zhou Xiaoquan to buy things with five yuan and two cents, two industrial coupons and a one-foot cloth ticket.

As for the future, she will definitely not let herself be a temporary worker all the time.

So she had to do a big thing today -- send pennants to the union.

With two big meat buns at the bottom, Zhou Xiaoan has more strength to walk today, walked for more than 20 minutes to the second department store of Peizhou City, and found the consignment point of the city handicraft factory in the corner of the cultural and educational counter.

At this agency, which does things like pennants, printing awards, or printing letters on clothes, a thin middle-aged black man with black-rimmed glasses sits behind a wooden counter and looks down at a book.

Zhou Xiaoan pondered for a moment and stood up in a proper manner, "Comrade, I want to make a pennant." ”

The middle-aged man's glasses had fallen off his nose, he looked down at the top of the frame, picked up a notebook and asked her, "Which unit is it for?" What is your name? On behalf of a unit or an individual? ”

"To the Peizhou Coal Miner's Association, I represent an individual, my name is Zhou Xiaoan. The eldest sister of the union helped me ......"

"Urgent?" The middle-aged man interrupted her slowly.

Zhou Xiaoan didn't know why, but thinking about the cramped and chaotic environment of the Zhou family, he nodded hurriedly, "Hurry." ”

"Two pennants in one piece, expedited and five cents!" The middle-aged man recorded it, took out another notebook and flipped through it, and then issued an invoice book to Zhou Xiaoan, "The handicraft factory charges independently, pay the money now, and send a pennant at the gate of the coal mine at two o'clock in the afternoon." ”

Do you want to send it? Zhou Xiaoan's eyes widened curiously, seeing that the middle-aged man ignored her, and hurriedly paid the money and collected the invoice.

After thinking about it, she took out another two cents, "Comrade, I'll make another one and give it to the nurse department of Peizhou Mining Hospital." "There's no need to rush this, it won't be delivered until noon tomorrow.

After the middle-aged man finished collecting the money, he pushed his eyes up and glanced at Zhou Xiaoan, "Add two cents and send a thank you letter." ”

Zhou Xiaoan added another four cents and wrote a letter of thanks to the mine and the hospital.

There is a sample pasted behind the counter, and the thank you letter is written on a large piece of red paper with a brush, which is festive and eye-catching, and it is pasted at the door of the unit when the time comes, and everyone will read it when they see it, and the publicity effect is very good.

After the master received the money, there was nothing to do with Zhou Xiaoan, and as for how to write the pennant and thank you letter, he didn't discuss it with her at all.

At first glance, she didn't look like she was conditionally literate, and she was injured, what should she write, and the master already had a score in his heart.

There were still four or five hours before two o'clock in the afternoon, Zhou Xiaoan's health was not good, he didn't have the energy to walk around, and he didn't have any spare money to buy things, so he went home and slept honestly.

When she woke up and went to line up to buy things, Wang Lamei saw that she didn't do any work during the day, so she lay on the bed and slew, and raised her hand to slap her.

Zhou Xiaoan didn't hide, and asked her seriously, "Auntie, what did my uncle discuss with you in the hospital?" What did he say about me? ”

Wang Lamei's eyes flashed, her hand was put down unconsciously, and while she went to move the cardboard box, she replied in a rough voice, "What else can you say?" Said to let you go back to Lao Han's house and live honestly! If they dare to bully you again in the future, our whole family will support you! ”

Zhou Xiaoan didn't poke her either, she promised to go out, and no one stopped her when she went home, and she didn't even ask where she went.

Zhou's house was more than ten minutes away from the mine, and Zhou Xiaoan first said hello to the uncle in the communication room when she arrived at the gate.

As soon as the uncle heard her name, he didn't ask anything, and shouted at the door, "Defend the branch Xiaoren!" Come here! Zhou Xiaoan is here to send the pennant! "It seems to be very familiar with her.

A tall young man wearing a patched military coat happened to pass by, and as soon as he heard it, he ran over, called "Uncle Ma", and looked at Zhou Xiaoan with a smile.

"Comrade Zhou Xiaoan, I'll take you to the trade union later, you happened to be in time today, Sister Lao happened to be in the office to distribute labor protection supplies to each section, and she will definitely be able to send the pennant to her!"

Zhou Xiaoan nodded, thanked him, and walked out of the communication room with his lips pouted, and went to the gate to wait for the people from the handicraft factory.

The two men in the communication room looked at her from time to time, muttering something in a low voice.

Obviously, word of her has spread throughout the mine, and she is now a news figure that everyone is interested in.

The people from the craft factory were very punctual, and two people came in a while.

As soon as they arrived at the gate, they familiarly pasted a big thank you letter on the cement doorpost of the gate, took out a pennant and unfolded it, which read "Help the poor and solve problems, the workers' home", let Zhou Xiaoan hold it, and the two of them took out gongs and drums and beat the ground and walked inside.

Xiao Ren led the way with a spring breeze on his face, and the group walked through the factory area lively, attracting countless audiences along the way.

Many people spontaneously followed behind this small team, and even clapped their hands, which seemed very lively for a while.

From the gate to the small red brick building of the trade union, almost half of the people in the mining area were alarmed.

Zhou Xiaoan walked all the way, feeling that his whole body was stiff, and his joints were clicking like a robot, and he couldn't turn his neck at the thought of going to the hospital tomorrow to experience such a lively experience......

When you get to the union, it's also very lively.

Sister Lao took most of the people from the trade union to distribute the labor insurance supplies for the next month, cardboard boxes and woven bags filled the large conference room on the first floor, and an old lady with unkempt hair and shabby clothes sat on the ground crying.

Everyone hugged Zhou Xiaoan to come to Sister Lao, Zhou Xiaoan handed the pennant to Sister Lao with both hands, "The coal mine is my home, the trade union has given me a new life, and I will work hard under the leadership of the party organization in the future, dig more coal, dig good coal, and contribute all my strength to the construction of New China!" ”

Sister Lao was pleased to take the pennant, and someone had already nailed nails on the wall to help her hang the pennant. More than a dozen such pennants have already been hung on one of the walls on the first floor.

Zhou Xiaoan and Sister Lao shook hands vigorously in everyone's warm applause and gongs and drums, and Zhou Xiaoan lay in Sister Lao's ear and whispered sincerely, "Sister Lao, thank you for saving my life!" I thank you all my life! ”

Sister Lao burst into tears, holding Zhou Xiaoan's hand tightly for a long time and not letting go.

After a brief but solemn ceremony, the people of the craft factory were gone, and the people who saw the excitement returned to their posts contentedly, and the old lady began to make trouble.

"My son is a regular worker in the mine! Why don't you give my grandson a house and food? Our family of nine lives in one room, and the whole family depends on my son's salary alone, how can we survive! ”

Sister Lao explained to Zhou Xiaoan that the old lady's daughter-in-law was from the countryside, and the grandchildren's household registration was with their mother, and there was no food supply, so the family lived in great difficulty.

The old lady used to be able to go back to her hometown in the countryside every year to get some grain, but this year the countryside is making a big pot of rice, and the food is not distributed to individuals, and their family can no longer live, so they come to the union to make trouble, ask for a house, ask for food, and if they don't give it, they won't leave.

Zhou Xiaoan looked at the people around him and persuaded the old lady with kind words, but he didn't dare to say a word of seriousness, and asked Sister Lao, "The old lady is a military family?" ”

Otherwise, it would have been taken away by both soft and hard, and the union would not have come to ask for housing and food one day? If they make trouble, then the union will not work?

Sister Lao nodded, "The youngest son died in North Korea. ”

The status of martyrs is higher than that of military families. The old lady is old, her health is not good, her brain is still confused, it is not good if she is light or heavy, it is really a hot potato, she can only let her make enough.

However, it is a small matter to delay the work, and the leaders and the masses see it and doubt their work ability and attitude, and it will be even worse if bad public opinion is spread!

Zhou Xiaoan thought for a while, walked over and squatted beside the old lady, "Auntie, my uncle and my brother are also soldiers, and my uncle has also beaten Japanese devils." Our family of 12 people is crammed into a small house, and my uncle said that the country is in difficulty, and we as military dependents have to show our style and not disgrace the troops. ”

The old lady stopped crying and looked at Zhou Xiaoan, "What kind of official is your uncle?" ”

"Leader," Zhou Xiaoan pointed to himself again, "Auntie, you must have heard of me, my name is Zhou Xiaoan." ”

The old lady's eyes lit up, "Are you the one who got married or ......?"

"Yes, it's me." Zhou Xiaoan interrupted her, "Auntie, in the final analysis, my incident is also because I don't have a house, right?" The comrades of our trade union serve our workers wholeheartedly, but they are fair and responsible, and if they can solve them, they will definitely be solved, and there are difficulties in the mine, so we have to be considerate......"

Zhou Xiao'an said bitterly for a long time, the old lady pulled the bandage on her head, and saw that she was older than her own family, and her heart was finally balanced.

Sister Lao repeatedly promised that if she had a house, she would definitely take care of the military martyrs' families first, and the old lady was finally willing to stand up and go home.

The old lady left, and the whole union breathed a sigh of relief, and Sister Lao held Zhou Xiaoan's hand and didn't let go, "I'm lucky to have you today!" You've done my eldest sister a great favor! ”