Chapter 254 – What Day Is It Today?

Even the commune secretary came out to ask, “Captain Zhou, does your Zhoujiazhuang really have a truck driver?”

The commune often needed things transported too—if he could build a good relationship with a truck driver, wouldn’t that make things a lot easier?

The brigade captain understood clearly what could be promised and what couldn’t.

He gave a bitter smile and said, “Secretary, that truck driver just now was our village’s Zhou Yimin.”

The commune secretary was stunned for a moment upon hearing the name—of course he knew who Zhou Yimin was. He exclaimed, “I didn’t expect Comrade Zhou Yimin to be this capable. He can even drive a truck!”

“Right, what brings you here today?”

It couldn’t be just to show off in a truck, could it?

The captain remembered the main reason he came and quickly said, “Secretary, our village wants to build a small reservoir, and we were hoping to apply for some blasting caps. Is that possible?”

Back then, regulations on firearms and explosives weren’t as strict as they would be in later years. As long as no one deliberately made things difficult, these things were generally easy to apply for.

The commune secretary said, “Alright, go submit your application. I’ll sign off on it.”

He had already heard about Zhoujiazhuang’s plans to build a reservoir—after all, that wasn’t a minor project.

If a village took the initiative to construct water conservancy infrastructure, the commune had no reason to stop it. In fact, they were even willing to provide some support, since this kind of project benefited both the country and the people.

Besides, he had also heard that Zhoujiazhuang even managed to get their hands on something like a generator.

All he could say was—Zhoujiazhuang had capable people!

And that capable person was clearly Zhou Yimin!

So the commune secretary was really giving Zhoujiazhuang some face—but in truth, he was giving Zhou Yimin some face.

If someone else had come with the same request, they wouldn’t have gotten such special treatment. Even though it wasn’t hard to apply for blasting caps, it wouldn’t have been approved on the same day.

The brigade captain was a bit surprised, but quickly realized it was all thanks to Yimin. It seemed like asking him to come along had definitely been the right decision.

“Thank you, Secretary.” The captain sincerely expressed his gratitude.

Just like that, the application for the blasting caps was smoothly approved.

…

Back in Zhoujiazhuang, a barrel of palm oil was delivered to the school kitchen.

When they saw such a large container of oil, Zhou Zhigao and his wife were overjoyed. They couldn’t help but exclaim—Sixteenth Brother really did take great care of the school! There had never been any shortages of supplies.

You could say that the children at school were now the best-fed group in the entire village.

Well, excluding Zhou Yimin’s own family.

They had food, clothing, and all they needed to do was focus on their studies. This generation of kids was truly blessed—it was a great thing to have someone looking out for them.

“Fifty catties of oil, that’ll last us quite a while.” Zhou Zhigao’s wife said with a smile.

Even the village canteen only got fifty catties.

The school kitchen had recently added a new cook, which lightened her workload. Though truthfully, even on her own, she could manage just fine—it was only cooking for about a hundred kids.

“Mm! For kitchen matters, you and Sixth Sister-in-law can handle them together.” Zhou Zhigao said.

He could now focus on teaching without having to worry about anything else.

In the evenings, he might still help teach literacy classes to the villagers. That was part of his responsibilities, but he didn’t mind—it didn’t feel like a burden.

…

Zhou Yimin quickly transported the vegetables back to the steel factory, went through the usual procedures, and received the payment—about three hundred yuan in total.

Just as he was about to leave, projectionist Lu Guofu came striding over, face beaming, and waved in greeting.

“Yimin, come eat at my place today. Got time?” Lu Guofu was clearly in high spirits.

He had enjoyed the limelight at the recent awards ceremony—or more accurately, his two sons had, earning praise and rewards from the factory.

The reward was a rice cooker.

That was a great reward!

Even though the rice cookers were made by their own factory, they were primarily for export. Even with money, it was hard to get one domestically.

You could say a rice cooker was a big deal.

Yesterday, when he brought it home, the entire courtyard was in an uproar. Everyone came over to get a look—it was that much of a novelty. Within a few hundred meters, his was probably the only household with a rice cooker. No one had seen one before.

And more importantly, it had been “earned” by his two sons. That brought even more pride.

Because of this, he wanted to invite Zhou Yimin over for a meal as a gesture of thanks.

Even though the idea had been his sons’, they hadn’t actually participated in the design or manufacturing. The one who truly made it happen was Zhou Yimin.

“Uncle Lu, what’s the occasion today?” Zhou Yimin asked with a smile.

Lu Guofu laughed heartily. “A wonderful day!”

Zhou Yimin said, “Alright, I’ll come over a bit later. Oh right, Uncle Lu—are you free these days?”

“You want a movie screening, right? I’ve got time—when do you want it?” Lu Guofu instantly understood the request. If it were someone else, he’d play hard to get. But for Zhou Yimin, he didn’t hesitate.

“In the next couple of days.”

The villagers were working hard on the reservoir project—it would be nice to give them some entertainment to relax.

“Okay, let’s do tonight.” Lu Guofu didn’t dilly-dally.

At noon, Zhou Yimin arrived at Lu Guofu’s place just on time.

He didn’t come empty-handed either—he brought a few cans of preserved food.

In those days, any kind of canned goods were rare and precious. Ordinary people were reluctant to spend money on such things—they were mainly used for gifts and social visits, where they gave you face.

“Yimin, why’d you bring stuff? That’s too polite—come in, sit down.” Lu Guofu came out to welcome him.

The dishes were already prepared—they’d just been waiting on Zhou Yimin.

And the meal was lavish, to say the least.

As a projectionist, Lu Guofu was not short on food to begin with.

There was a small bowl of braised chicken with mushrooms, a whole braised fish, a roast duck, and white rice—cooked right there in the rice cooker! The rice cooker was placed in the most prominent spot in the house, practically being worshipped.

Three dishes—and all meat.

What kind of household was this?

This meal wasn’t just rare in the countryside—even city folk wouldn’t have such a spread on New Year’s.

Clearly, Lu Guofu had gone all-out for this dinner.

“They’re from a friend. I don’t really like canned food myself.” Zhou Yimin said with a smile.

Lu Xuezheng and Lu Xueyi, the two brothers, both greeted him enthusiastically.

They were riding high these days.

Everyone in the courtyard, along with their teachers and classmates, knew they had helped invent the rice cooker and had been recognized and rewarded for it.

Who wouldn’t be envious?

Even the teachers treated them with a newfound respect.

“Study hard. Use your imagination. Turn your ideas into reality.” Zhou Yimin encouraged them.

The two brothers were so excited their faces flushed red—they wished they could come up with another invention right on the spot.

“Alright, let’s eat!” Lu Guofu called out.

He even opened a bottle of Maotai. He’d bought it years ago and had hardly touched it, but now he was willing to bring it out.

Zhou Yimin had a couple of drinks with Lu Guofu.

They ate and chatted.

Lu Guofu had been to many places—after all, he often went to the countryside to show films, so he’d seen and heard plenty of strange things.

After eating and drinking, Zhou Yimin took his leave.

(End of Chapter)