During the Chinese New Year, it is winter vacation. Every day, I either stay at home or visit several relatives' homes. I ate big fish and meat every day. After eating it for less than three days, I ate my appetite. Today is the fifth day of the New Year. I had to go to a distant relative's home, but under my strong protest, I finally escaped this disaster and let me move freely. My parents went to pay New Year's greetings alone.

The winter in Shanghai is very cold. I was walking around the alley in a thick down sweater. I watched some children set off fireworks, and then squatted in front of the popcorn machine at the entrance of the alley. The snow-white popcorn "pop" sound sprayed out from the dark machine with a sound of "bloom". This thing was very common more than ten years ago, but it has gradually decreased since the 1990s. Only some remote areas or rural areas use this kind of popcorn, replaced by new electronic popcorn machines. Although scientists and newspapers have always said that popcorn in this way is too lead-containing and unhygienic, it was a good thing that accompanied our childhood to youth from the 1970s to the 1980s.

When the popcorn shaking came to the alley, the sound of popcorn was heard. The children in the alley would come around. The parents begged to take a can of rice, corn, rice cake slices, etc. from home. Everyone consciously lined up in a long queue, drooling, and patiently waiting for the fragrant popcorn to come out of the pot. You know, these things were the best snacks for the children at that time, and the children of that family had never eaten them? After so many years, I still remember the scene when I held my mother's hand in line to eat popcorn. Now when I see it, I feel very kind in my heart. I smelled the unique fragrance of popcorn emitted in the air, and looked at the flashing flames with the shaking rollers. I squatted beside for a long time.

"Li Qingbo, are you here too?" Several boys of the same size as me saw me greeting me. One of them was Zhang Jian, and I only knew three of the other five, one was Wang Zhengwei and the other was Cai Jun. These two were my current classmates, and the other was Wang Jian, who was my junior high school classmate and also lived nearby. However, after graduation, he went to the technical school. I saw him wearing a brand new work jacket with a row of small words "safety production" on it, which was probably sent from the work unit. The other two were about seventeen or eighteen years old, and I didn't know who it was. I guess they were either their friends or colleagues or former classmates.

I rubbed my numb knees, stood up and said with a smile: "Hehe! Why are you guys? I don't want to pop the rice, so I'm bored when I watch it. Who are these two? Introduction?"

Wang Jian pointed to the two and said, "They are classmates from my technical school, now they are colleagues. This is Han Da, and the one from Gao is Xu Chaohui. They are all in the same unit. This is my former classmate, Li Qingbo, and now they are in the same high school as Zhang Jian. We all grew up together, let's get to know each other."

I looked at them kindly, nodded with a smile and greeted them. I saw that these two people were wearing work jackets delivered by Wang Jian, but the style was better than Wang Jian. They were wearing dark blue military pants (blue military pants were a cool expression back then). One of them, Han Da, after listening to Wang Jian's introduction, tilted his head and looked at me with disdain, and raised his hand casually. The other, named Xu Chaohui, was very enthusiastic. He ran up and shook hands and said with a smile: "Is Li Qingbo? Hello, hehe, hehe, it's great to know you, haha!" His excessive enthusiasm made people feel that I couldn't bear it. I patiently shook hands with him for a long time before I got free from his claws.

"You guys come to popcorn?" I asked them after pulling out my hand.

"Tsk! We are not like children. What's the point of having such things? The three of us just came back from the Confucian Temple and happened to meet Wang Jian opposite the alley. Two of his colleagues came to his house to play today and hadn't seen each other for a long time. Since we happened to meet, Wang Jian asked us to go to his house together. As soon as we entered the alley, we saw you squatting here like a fool." Wang Zhengwei pointed to Wang Jian and the other three and said to me: "How is it? I think you have nothing to do, why don't you go to his house together?"

I smiled, and did not answer his words, and asked, "Don't you go home for dinner during the Chinese New Year, are you still running around outside?"

"What's good at home? They're the same. I've been tired of eating for a few days, so I'm too lazy to go back to eat. Anyway, during the Chinese New Year, I'll do whatever I want at home." Wang Zhengwei curled his lips and said disdainfully. The boys next to him nodded repeatedly after hearing his words, sighing that the heroes saw the same thing. Looking at their appearance, I felt funny. I didn't expect that during the Chinese New Year, everyone's thoughts were the same, that is, no matter how delicious the food was, you would lose your appetite for a few days.

"How is it? I think you're fine, so I guess you feel the same way as them? Go to my house to have a seat. We were in the same class when we were in junior high school. We have disappeared for many years. How are you doing recently? My parents are not at home, and I went back to my hometown for the New Year. The house is quiet." Wang Jian said to me affectionately with my shoulder.

To be honest, we had a good relationship in junior high school, but later he went to technical school and I went to high school, so we saw less. Since we happened to meet him today, it would be nice to go to his house to play, and it would be better to move here in a few years, so it would be difficult for everyone to get together in the future. In my memory, I have never dealt with him since I graduated from junior high school. To be honest, when I think back to what happened after I was a child, I really miss him a little.

"Okay, listen to you. Anyway, we two haven't seen each other for a long time. Let's go gather during the Chinese New Year!" I replied readily.

"It's so sir! Let's go!" Wang Jian pulled me with his arms around and waved his hands to the other people. The seven of us walked towards his house in a mighty manner.

Wang Jian’s house is on the third floor of the workers’ room in the middle of the alley. There are two rooms in total. Each room is about twenty square meters. One room inside is obvious. One room inside is Wang Jian’s room. He threw a bunch of changed clothes, magazines, tape boxes, etc. Whenever he took us into the room, he made a sorry position to us. He quickly packed the bed, chairs and cabinets together, stuffed them into the large carton under the bed. After finishing, he clapped his hands and stood up and said with a smile: “No one has been doing clothes these days, so he is too lazy to do it. It’s a little messy. Everyone can find a place to sit.”

We chatted casually for a while, then Wang Jian brought in a big hot pot from the kitchen. We gathered together and started eating hot pot (hot pot was rare at that time, and there were very few in the south. The hot pot was similar to hot pot, but it was not necessary to rinse it). Drinking Shanghai brand beer, we started chatting while eating and drinking.

"Wang Jian, what factory are you in now? What are you doing?" I asked Wang Jian sitting beer beer overturned.

He smiled and said, "What kind of factory is there! It's just a housing management office under the Housing Management Bureau, doing water and electricity repairs, whatever you want."

"Hey, I remember you were studying in a mechanical technical school. Why did you go to the Housing Management Bureau?" Before I could ask first, Cai Jun rushed to ask.

"Yes, mechanical technical schools, but our group of students were later divided into housing management bureaus. Because we belong to the Light Industry Bureau and a system, we were allocated like this." Wang Jian explained.

"Is the salary of the Housing Management Bureau good? How about the benefits?" Because graduation is approaching, there are not many people who can get into college, and we are not a type of good academic performance, so everyone has their own little plan for future work arrangements (except me). So when we were talking about our work unit, Zhang Jian, who was still working hard just now, suddenly noticed and looked up and asked.

"The salary is not much, but we count it as a national unit. By grade, it is higher than the average worker level and belongs to the cadre level. It costs more than 60 yuan a month. The benefits are also good. Clothes, daily necessities, and New Year's goods. You have to pay. You can get a bonus of 70 or 80 yuan every quarter. It's quite good, and the work is easy, which is much better than a factory." Wang Jian replied with a smile.

"By level, there are levels? What level do you think are?" Zhang Jian blurted out and asked.

"What do you know? Level! Do you understand? Those who get a salary rating will know when you go to work in the future. I can't figure it out even if you tell me! The hair is not growing, and I'm still asking about the salary, Humph!" Before Wang Jian could explain, Han Da, who was sitting opposite me, interjected and said something ugly. He was polite and pushed his words back, and looked at Zhang Jian with contempt.

"You, you, me, I'm just asking! Why are you so fierce?" Zhang Jian, who was always honest, was so arrogant that he couldn't even speak smoothly by Han Da's words. He didn't know if he was drinking too much or was angry, and his face was flushed.
Chapter completed!