Chapter 53: That Matter at Home

  Lu Zhen handed over the protective measures for the Dream of Red Mansions crew to the Public Security Section, and even called Sun Jie into his office to personally remind him a few words, asking him to take this work seriously.

  The security defense teams of various districts in the newly established county town are managed by the Public Security Bureau. From the perspective of personnel abundance and work nature, it is most suitable to hand over this task to the Public Security Bureau.

  Sun Jie patted his chest and promised, guaranteeing no mistakes would be made.

  He was the head of the Public Security Section, nominated by Lu Zhong, and openly belonged to the direct line of the Director-General. As a popular middle-level official in the bureau, his work enthusiasm is naturally dazzling.

  At almost six o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Zhong did not expect that Lu Xiaoping would pop up again.

  The slightly foreign-style new cotton blue uniform of the department store made Lu Xiaoping look more elegant, and she had a few more points of feminine charm and dignity.

  It seems she is quite satisfied with her new job, being a salesperson at a state-owned store is a good job and also relatively respected.

  "Zhuangzi, are you busy tonight?" Lu Xiaoping said with a smile, the sycophant girl only showed her unpleasant side when she looked down on someone, but if she was facing someone she wanted to fawn over, she would show her most charming side.

  Lu Zhong casually said, "Nothing much, is your husband at home?" He thought Lu Xiaoping must have come to invite him to dinner at her place, and Lu Zhong also wanted to chat with Lu Guobin, to hear the old worker's true thoughts on the fertilizer plant's restructuring.

  Lu Xiaoping rolled her eyes and said, "I don't care about him at all. His temper is getting worse every day, just because I'm not pleasing to his eyes. When I broke up with Xiao Liang, he even scolded me."

  Lu Zhong was slightly stunned and asked in surprise: "You and Xiao Liang have broken up?"

  "En, early separation." Lu Xiaoping nodded, a hint of disgust in her eyes, "Ai, don't mention him, annoying!" Immediately, she smiled again, "Zhengzi brother, if you're free tonight, I'll treat you to dinner, thanks for the gift you sent me."

  Lu Zhong asked Du Xiaohu to bring her a "Shanghai" brand watch as a birthday gift, Lu Xiaoping liked it very much and wore it every day to show off.

  Lu Zhong heard Lu Xiaoping invite him to dinner, and he hesitated for a moment. Lu Xiaoping immediately said: "Go to my house, and there's also my mom, my mom wants to chat with you too."

  She knew that she and "Zhuangzi Ge" were now worlds apart, and Zhuangzi Ge was too busy to entertain a little kid like her, so she pulled out Ma Cuihong's tiger skin as a big flag.

  Lu Zhong smiled and said, "Alright."

  At this time, Wang Yuguo knocked on the door and came in. Lu Zhong said: "Yuguo, cancel the dinner with Wang Chu from the city, tell him to make another appointment next time."

  Wang Yuguo nodded slightly.

  Lu Xiaoping couldn't help but click her tongue, "Zhengzi Ge" is now in contact with big shots, after all, Zhengzi Ge is now the deputy county head at just 22 years old, it's really impressive.

  Lu Xiaoping didn't understand what a standing committee member or a committee member was; she just thought that being a deputy county head was already a pretty big official.

  ……

  Sitting in the bread car driven by Jiao Wei, Lu Xiaoping was even more excited, looking around curiously and admiringly, and even wanted to stretch out her hand from the window and let all the people who knew her see that she was taking a ride.

  Now, how many people can fit in a small car that is just for carrying people?

  When the van drove into the residential area of the fertilizer plant, Lu Xiaoping couldn't help but roll down the window and greet the uncles and aunts passing by in the alley. Normally, she was not so polite.

  And naturally, it also attracted many curious glances. Sitting in the slowly moving bread car in the alley, you could faintly hear a few sentences of discussion, such as "Is this Old Lu's daughter?" or "She's getting more and more attractive..." and so on. Lu Xiaoping felt even more pleased with herself.

  Lu Zhong didn't pay much attention to her child's temperament either, and just let her show off.

  The van finally stopped in front of No. 3 courtyard, the alley was narrow and a bit congested, so after Lu Zhong and Lu Xiaoping got off the car, Jiao Lei drove forward again to park outside the alley.

  Lu Xiaoping was a bit reluctant in her heart, it would be better to stop at the door of the house and let others take a look, the Lu family can have a small car. However, although she felt some regret in her heart, she didn't dare say anything.

  Again entered this familiar yard, the leaves of the locust tree had already fallen off, leaving only a solitary branch.

  Perhaps seeing Lu Zhong from the glass window, Ma Cuihong quickly walked out of the house, a bit awkwardly waving: "Zhongzi, you're here." Although she still called Lu Zhong "Zhongzi", Lu Zhong could feel that her tone had become polite and even somewhat constrained. After all, he wasn't her biological son, and for Cuihong, who was still a rural woman at heart, this child had suddenly become someone superior, so she couldn't treat him as casually as before.

  From the middle house and the left house, the couples of Old Zhou's family and Old Xia's family also came out, both respectfully greeting Lu Zhong, addressing him as "County Magistrate Lu". Like Lu Xiao Ping, they thought that Deputy County Magistrate Lu had the highest official position among his part-time jobs.

  Zhou Dawei and Liu Shuna, a couple, are Tong Susu's maternal uncle and aunt, both working at the fertilizer plant.

  Xia Jianjun and Zhang Guohua, a couple from the Xia family, one is a factory worker and the other is an accountant, both hold relatively high positions in No. 3 Yard.

  Lu Zhong saw Xia's parents and asked: "Where is Uncle Xia?"

  Zhang Guohua hastily replied, "My dad went to the city and became a security manager for a company. He can't stay idle, no matter how I advise him." She knew that her father-in-law was familiar with County Magistrate Lu in front of her, and they seemed to have some connections. She had long regretted not treating her father-in-law better earlier, otherwise, as long as her father-in-law and County Magistrate Lu could maintain a relationship, the factory leaders would naturally look at them differently.

  It's all over now, can only accept fate.

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly and smiled: "It's good, the old man has something to do, Uncle Xia is not a person who can stay idle. Speaking of which, reform and opening up have also given many people a bigger stage."

  Zhou's family of three and Xia's two children all smiled in agreement.

  "Where's my uncle?" Lu Zhong asked, but he also knew that Lu Guobin must have known that Lu Xiaoping had come to invite him and had slipped out early.

  As expected, Cui Hong's aunt said with an unnatural expression: "An old colleague came to play chess with him and went to his house." Then she hurriedly said: "This old man doesn't know you're coming, otherwise I'll go call him?" This was a bit too obvious.

  Lu Zhong smiled and said: "No need, let's talk about it another day when we have time. Actually, I also wanted to discuss with him the matter of reforming the fertilizer plant."

  Lu Xiaoping was already busy buying meat and vegetables, and said to Lu Zhong with a flattering tone: "Zhongzi brother, I've been saving my salary for several months. Today's dishes are all on me, I'm treating you."

  Lu Zhong smiled and said: "Okay, but don't make it too fancy, there are no outsiders here, a simple home-cooked meal is fine."

  Zhou's family and Xia's family both wanted to chip in to buy vegetables, and after haggling with Lu Xiaoping for a while, the three women went out together, but it was unclear who would pay in the end.

  After Jiao Ye came in, Xia Jianjun and Zhou Dawei finally had someone to talk to. After all, it's not too stressful to curry favor with the county mayor's driver. If they were to have a direct conversation with Lu Zheng, it would be quite difficult for them, and they really didn't know what to say.

  Lu Zhong accompanied Ma Cuihong into the house, where they chatted quietly. Lu Zhong could sense that between him and Aunt Cuihong, a barrier seemed to be gradually building up, making it impossible for them to discuss matters as freely and effortlessly as before.

  Three households took turns using the kitchen, and soon the dishes were served. A round table was set up in the Lu family's living room, filled with delicious chicken, duck, fish, and meat. It was a completely different scene from when Lu Zhong came last time.

  Lu Zhong chatted with them about the situation in the factory and said: "The county is preparing to create the best conditions for this reform of the factory, for the contractor, introducing new production lines, and preparing to do so before contracting, so that the contractor has a bottom line. Of course, the corresponding contract conditions will also be improved. At the same time, I have another idea, taking advantage of this update of the production line, to move the fertilizer plant from our county's urban area, in the future, the county will definitely replan, heavily polluting factories, it's better to move early than late."

  Xia Jianjun and Zhou Dawei, where can they intervene? They all echoed in agreement, saying it was good. Even if there were some excessive praise for Lu Zhong, they couldn't say anything, not being at that level, aren't they?

  At this time, Ma Cuihong suddenly asked: "Zhuangzi, is the temporary residence permit handled by you? Can you handle it?" Just now she seemed to have hesitated for half a day and finally asked.

  Lu Xiaoping gave her mother a sideways glance, thinking to herself that her mom really didn't understand anything and was embarrassing. She said, "Of course, it's no big deal for Brother Zuo. But Mom, let's not bother Brother Zuo with this, he's busy with important things, don't make trouble for him." She didn't dare be too rude, having just been criticized by Lu Zuo for being a bit confrontational with Ma Cuihong while cooking earlier.

  Lu Zhong didn't bother Lu Xiaoping anymore and turned to look at Ma Cuihong, asking: "Auntie, do you want to help someone get a temporary residence permit?"

  Ma Cuihong sighed and said: "Yes, but what Xiao Hong said is right, it's troublesome for you, not good."

  Lu Zhong said: "What's the trouble?" And then to Lu Xiaoping: "You, tomorrow with that person find Xiao Jiao, let Xiao Jiao take it to handle, but remember, don't make a wanted criminal out of this, we still need to review it."

  Everyone laughed, and Ma Cuihong's face had a smile on it. She said: "It won't work out, that old aunt is really good. She came from her hometown two years ago when the flood occurred, originally she was going to have a hundred family meals, but seeing that we are rich here, she stayed behind and worked as a small worker in a small restaurant. It's just that recently, the county issued a document requiring all outsiders to apply for a temporary residence permit, but she didn't have an introduction letter or know how to make a phone call, so she was worried. The boss of the small restaurant said that if she doesn't get it done in a few days, he will fire her, otherwise, when the public security checks, the small restaurant will be closed."

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly and said, "It's better to call her hometown to verify the situation later. However, it's best for her to find time to get an ID card as soon as possible, otherwise, she'll have a hard time in the future."

  Ma Cuihong nodded repeatedly and said, "I'll go tell her right away and urge her on." The heavy stone that had been hanging over her head for days was finally lifted, and Ma Cuihong was so happy that she wanted to wipe away tears. Now, she felt even more deeply that having a child who is making something of themselves at home is truly fortunate. For other people, such difficult things are decided with just one word.

  Recently, all the annoying things at home seem to be solved by Zongzi, and they're all just a matter of one sentence.