Late October, the wind and the sun are beautiful, and it's the best time of year in the western state. Usually at this time, as soon as the things in the field are harvested, some people who are busy with the autumn harvest begin to use a year's harvest and a few years' savings to rebuild their houses. Naturally, people from ten miles and eight villages come to the factory to find Yangliufang to make customized furniture, especially near Yantan in the northern suburbs of Xizhou, compared to the crops in the rural fields in the far suburbs are mainly corn and artichokes, and the people who live in Yantan are close to the city and the Yellow River, so they can mention water by digging a well four or five meters deep into the ground. So they started growing vegetables very early, and over time they became the vegetable basket of Xizhou City, and their income from growing vegetables was of course much higher than that of crops.

Because Yang Liufang helped the vegetable farmer uncle and his neighbors, who were the first to build a house, to make door and window furniture, so the reputation has already spread, and there are many people who come to admire it, from the beginning of October to the present, in addition to doors and windows, four whole house custom furniture has been set, and Yang Liufang and the workers have also begun to run at full capacity.

One day, Yang Liufang was working with the workers, and the vegetable farmer uncle came to the door with a person of his age to ask Yang Liufang to make furniture for his new house, and Yang Liufang was of course happy to go. A group of three people took the car hired by the customer and went straight to Yantan Village. After a year of flipping, the village has already changed compared to the first time Yang Liufang came to make furniture, and the small two- and three-story buildings built by farmers on their homesteads abound. Most of them built the first floor into shops or warehouses and rented them out to the people who did business in the city, and the houses on the second floor were kept for their own residence, so the main furniture production was actually on the second floor. There are also those that build three floors, and even if they do, the three floors are empty, and renting a house in those days was not as casual as it is now.

The car they were in drove along the newly built road in the village until it came to a stop in front of a newly built building in the middle of the village where scaffolding was being removed.

"Xiao Yang, we're here, this is it."

"Oh, that's magnificent." Yang Liufang has now learned to flatter, but this small three-story building is indeed different from other homes in the village, and their new house has a meter-high white wall tile under the base of the wall, compared to other homes that only make 50 centimeters of cement plaster at the base of the wall, so the decoration looks much more advanced.

"Hey! What's the style, I just thought that since I did it, I would do it in one step. ”

The three of them were chatting as a raggedly dressed worker turned his back to them, hands and feet down from the second-floor scaffolding. Yang Liufang looked at the back a little familiar, and when the man came down and stood still, when he turned around, Yang Liufang was shocked.

"Brother Qin! It's you. ”

"Brother Yang." Qin Jiajun was also surprised, saying that he was going to come up and shake hands, and then immediately shrank back. He smiled embarrassedly and said, "Oh, look at me." He spread his hands.

"It's fine." Yang Liufang stepped forward, smiled, and happily held his hand. Yang Liufang found that his hands were covered with calluses.

"Big brother, aren't you in the army?"

"Alas! It's a long story, but in this way, I finished the cart of scaffolding and sent it over. You also go to get down to business first, and I'll come to you at noon and invite you to dinner. ”

"Okay, Brother Qin, we'll see you at noon after we're busy."

After the two settled, they were busy with their own things. At noon, Yang Liufang just finished measuring all the furniture, accompanied by Uncle Han, a vegetable farmer, walked out, and saw that under the shade of a tree not far away, Qin Jiajun was squatting below and waiting for him, he had already changed into clean clothes, and a military satchel was placed on the ground next to him, which should contain his clothes for work. Uncle Han didn't go with them because he was going to the vegetable field, so Yang Liufang said goodbye to Uncle Han and walked towards the Qin family. The two met, and followed each other to a beef noodle restaurant in the village.

One of them asked for a big bowl of beef noodles, and Qin Jiajun asked for a bottle of beer.

"Do physical work, drink this to relieve fatigue."

Yang Liufang couldn't drink alcohol, so he asked for a bottle of 504 soda. The two chatted while eating.

It turned out that after the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, along with the shift in the focus of the work of the party and the state and the in-depth development of reform and opening up, our party gradually adjusted the state's foreign principles and policies. In accordance with the Central Military Commission's policy decisions and arrangements, the state has decided to reduce the number of personnel in our army by a total of 1 million from the second half of 1985 to the end of this year; this is a major action taken by our party and our army to shift the focus of state work to socialist modernization, and it is also a solemn commitment made by our government to the world to safeguard world peace.

In this context, Qin Jiajun's unit was also abolished in August, because he was a platoon commander in the army, and unlike the rehabilitation of soldiers, he belonged to the transfer of jobs. So he was assigned to a printing unit and worked as a security guard inside. Because the relationship between people and archives has left the army, the corresponding dormitory in the army has also been taken back and distributed to other soldiers in need. After so many years in the army, Qin Jiajun got more than 10,000 yuan in discharge money, and he used this money to borrow 30,000 yuan from other comrades-in-arms, but Ding Kemao bought a small one-bedroom house near his wife Yanhua's unit in Beiguan, Xizhou, and there was no money to decorate the house, so he moved in the newlywed furniture that Yang Liufang made for them in the original house, and the husband and wife settled down in Xizhou City.

He works in the security office of the printing factory, more than 100 yuan a month, Yanhua is not as tall as him for a month, and the consumption in Xizhou City is high, and the two of them have no money left in addition to water and electricity, food and drink for a month. But the debt of tens of thousands of yuan borrowed had to be repaid as soon as possible, and in that era, everyone was in a hurry to use the money, and Qin Jiajun had no choice but to go out to do odd jobs after work.

After all, a person's energy is limited, and going out to do odd jobs will inevitably delay the work of the printing house, coupled with the upright character he has cultivated in the army, he does not take a stitch from the masses, and as a security officer, he does not take advantage of the public, and his responsibilities lie in the office, and he is even more unaccustomed to seeing those people in the unit go out with waste books and newspapers, packaging cartons or something after getting off work, and after being caught a few times, those people in the unit scolded him for being nosy, and he did not dare to resist in name, and he wore small shoes behind his back to sue for crooked things. His work in the unit became more and more unpleasant.

Qin Jiajun resigned from the printing unit in anger, and after his resignation, he initially followed others to do short-term work and coolies. Because he is proficient in car repair and automobile circuits when driving in the army, he can also help electricians with some people's decorations, wear through wires, drain and drain pipes, and count as half a big job. In this way, I earn more every day than I do as a security guard in a printing company.

This time, I met this customer of Yang Liufang, and the scaffolding had to be dismantled after the completion of the new house. Originally, he came here as a driver, but seeing that there were not enough workers to dismantle the scaffolding, in order to make more money, he also participated in the dismantling of the scaffolding.

The two were eating noodles, Yang Liufang listened to Brother Qin's narration, looked at his tanned face, and admired the eldest brother who had helped him even more. No matter in adversity or adversity, people must strive to make their lives better. He wanted to help Qin Jiajun, but he didn't know how to talk about it, so he didn't have anything to say.

"Brother Qin, where are you waiting for work every day?"

"It's in the Beiguan Yellow River labor market."

"Is it easy to find a job?"

"Catch up, just catch up."

"Oh, Brother Qin, we just bought a car in the factory."

"I know, at that time, Zhang Feng and your brother came to me to find out about the affiliation, and I didn't help."

"Oh, where are you talking, big brother, I mean, see if you can do something with the car in our factory, it's not a way to do odd jobs like this." Yang Liufang finally said his thoughts in one breath.

"Oh, brother, thank you, big brother. You don't pity me, do you? ”

"Where does the eldest brother say, I sincerely invite you. Now, I am also very depressed, the development of the furniture factory has entered a bottleneck period, and my brother and I have discussed to do leather business, but the site selection has encountered trouble, and when I am depressed, I want to find someone to communicate with. ”

"Brother, I know you want to help me, but I'm in debt now, and I can only earn money every day, and I can't help you for the time being. So, when I'm a little more relaxed, I'll go to you. ”

"Then Brother Qin, it's decided."

"yes, definitely."

After eating, the two left from the small restaurant, and Yang Liufang went to the vegetable farmer's uncle's vegetable field, and talked for a while before going to the roadside to take a hitchhike back to the factory.