Chapter 119: Arrangements

“Jerky? And it’s even packaged like this?” Da Fei’s mother looked in surprise as her son caught up with a few bags of jerky in hand.

Jerky has a long history, tracing back as far as the late Song and early Yuan dynasties.

As the imperial capital, there’s no delicacy the city doesn’t have. But whether one’s had the chance to eat them is another matter. This kind of jerky—Da Fei’s mother had seen it before, but it was hard to get nowadays.

However, what she’d seen before was all sold in bulk, not sealed in this kind of transparent plastic packaging.

“Brother Zhou gave it to me. Said it was a gift from Da Peng to us,” Da Fei said with a grin.

He felt proud, like he was really something.

Da Fei’s mother was touched. Though her son was usually unreliable, loafing around in the streets, at least he’d made a true friend. Over the past couple of days, his usual friends must’ve known they were leaving, but not one of them had come by.

Instead, it was Luo Da Peng who had visited two or three times, even helped their family find a buyer for the ancestral home.

And now, Da Peng’s brother even brought over a few pounds of jerky on his behalf.

“Mom, I want jerky,” Da Fei’s younger siblings stared at the jerky, eyes glued to it.

Da Fei tore open a bag and handed it to them. “Go ahead, eat!”

His mother glared at him in mock anger.

The boy may be unreliable, but he treated his family well—that much made her feel comforted.

“Mom, big brother, you eat too—it’s really good! It’s sweet!” one of the little ones said as they munched happily.

Da Fei tried some himself. Sure enough, it had a rich, pure flavor—sweet with a hint of salt, savory and full of umami, with a long aftertaste.

“It is pretty good.”

…

After the courtyard emptied out, Zhou Yimin stored a large amount of supplies in the basement—rice, flour, corn, and other grains; sausages and other meats; peanut oil and other cooking oils; sugar, bean products, canned goods, and various side foods.

To do this, he even topped up his brain-store credit again—another thousand yuan.

Once Li Youde and Luo Da Peng sold all of this, Zhou Yimin believed his funds should break the 10,000 yuan mark. At that point, he planned to upgrade the brain-store.

He was a bit curious what the store would look like after the upgrade.

At this moment, Zhou Daqiu had found the siheyuan according to the address and was staying at Eldest Uncle’s home. Eldest Aunt quickly took a liking to the boy—when you love someone, you love the people close to them too.

Eldest Uncle took him to the steel factory’s infirmary to lend a hand.

Bringing a student along like this made it easier for him to grow into the role. With more cases to see, it would be a big help to Zhou Daqiu. Even though he wasn’t the one diagnosing and treating patients, he could still build up valuable experience.

Chen Baishu was one of the top three doctors in the infirmary, and no one objected to him mentoring a student.

After all, he wasn’t asking the factory for an extra salary or anything.

In the infirmary, everyone knew Chen Baishu had taken in a disciple—Zhou Daqiu—and that he had a close relationship with Zhou Yimin. Because of that, no one dared gossip.

In fact, they were quite nice to Zhou Daqiu.

“How old are you, young man? Our Xiaoping just started here too. You two should chat more!” someone in the infirmary teased.

In their eyes, Zhou Daqiu had a bright future ahead of him—with Chen Baishu as a mentor and Zhou Yimin’s backing, there was no way he’d end up unemployed.

Xiaoping was a nurse in the infirmary, just hired this year.

Fresh-faced and inexperienced, Zhou Daqiu couldn’t take that kind of teasing—he didn’t even dare to speak.

The girl named Xiaoping was the same, shy and thin-skinned, not like the seasoned veterans.

Chen Baishu laughed and scolded the others, “Don’t you all have work to do? But Xiaoping and Daqiu do make a good match. It’s good for them to get to know each other.”

Now that he was Daqiu’s mentor, he cared about the boy’s future. Xiaoping had been at the infirmary for nearly a year, and he knew her character well—she was a good match.

At noon, Chen Baishu took Zhou Daqiu home for lunch.

After all, Zhou Daqiu wasn’t an official employee of the factory and couldn’t eat in the factory cafeteria.

“I’ll try to get you a temp job in the infirmary. That way you can eat in the cafeteria and earn some income too,” Chen Baishu told his disciple.

The pay for temps was low, and they didn’t get all the same benefits as full-timers.

But it was still income—good enough for now.

“Thank you, Teacher!” Zhou Daqiu said gratefully.

“Study hard. When there are no patients in the afternoon, read the medical books I gave you. Don’t slack off. When there are patients, observe from the side, pay attention. If you have questions, don’t interrupt—wait until we’re done, or ask me back home,” Chen Baishu instructed.

He took his role as teacher seriously.

“Got it, Teacher. I understand.”

Eldest Aunt served him food. “Daqiu, eat more.”

“Thank you, Master’s wife!”

Just then, Da Peng arrived.

“Well now! Eldest Uncle, Eldest Aunt—you’re eating?”

“Da Peng, eaten yet? Come join us,” Eldest Uncle invited.

Da Peng shook his head. “Already ate. You all go ahead. Daqiu, after you’re done, come with me—Yimin asked me to take you over. The place you’ll be staying in is already arranged.”

Hearing that, Eldest Aunt let out a breath of relief.

If there hadn’t been a place arranged, she wouldn’t even know where Daqiu would sleep tonight.

Eldest Uncle told Daqiu, “Once you’re full, go get settled. Studying medicine isn’t something you do in a day. You can’t fatten up in one meal.”

So after eating, Zhou Daqiu packed up his things and left with Luo Da Peng.

“Brother Da Peng, is it far?”

Luo Da Peng replied, “Didn’t you call me Uncle Da Peng before? I’m your Sixteenth Uncle’s peer.”

He was a bit annoyed—why did his generation rank just get knocked down for no reason?

“Forget it, just call me whatever. It’s not far anyway—only a few hundred meters.”

They arrived at the courtyard. Inside were Zhou Yimin and Li Youde.

“Daqiu, you’re here? You’ll stay in the room near the entrance for now, okay? Later, people from the village might come to stay with you, but don’t worry about that,” Zhou Yimin said.

Zhou Daqiu nodded quickly. “No problem at all, Uncle Sixteen.”

Having a place to stay was already a blessing—how could he possibly complain? To him, this place was great, much better than back in the village.

The room near the entrance wasn’t big, but it had a bed, wardrobe, table, chairs—everything needed. All he had to do was move in with his things.

“Use what’s there for now. If anything’s missing, tell me. I’ll have Da Peng get it for you.”

Before he could even speak, Luo Da Peng asked, “No soap, right? Face basin, kettle, bowls and chopsticks…”

He quickly listed a bunch of daily necessities.

Zhou Yimin pulled out some ration tickets and cash. “Da Peng, take him shopping. Tonight we’ll have dinner here—get Da Zhong over too.”

Zhou Daqiu only took the tickets. “Uncle Sixteen, my dad gave me money. It’s enough.”

He had over fifty yuan!

What he didn’t know was that money came from his grandparents’ burial savings. They secretly gave it to his dad, with strict instructions not to tell anyone.

“Alright then. Study hard with your teacher—he’s got real skills in medicine.”

(End of chapter)