Chapter 53: Unexpected Reward!

“The Beijing Railway Station and our passenger transport section just held an emergency joint meeting. Besides criticizing the broadcasting room for its slow response to the sudden situation, Deputy Station Master Hou of the Beijing Railway Station specifically praised the three of you at the meeting.”

“Dongzi, Deputy Station Master Hou praised you as the ‘people’s great loudspeaker’.”

Liu Erdan looked at Li Xiangdong and smiled, “Li Da Laba (Big Loudspeaker Li), you’re famous now!”

Damn!

It was bad enough that he didn’t get a nickname like “Li the Capable” or “Li the Skilled.” Even “Li the Water Supplier” would have been fine!

Li Xiangdong was speechless. What the hell kind of name was “Big Loudspeaker Li”?

If others called him that, he’d be too embarrassed to even answer!

Li Xiangdong was very unhappy with this nickname, especially when he saw Hou San standing to the side, trying hard to suppress his laughter.

He almost lost his composure on the spot!

Liu Erdan looked at Li Xiangdong’s strange expression and smiled, “Don’t take it personally. There are other reasons why Deputy Station Master Hou of the Beijing Railway Station calls you that.”

Li Xiangdong naturally understood and forced a smile.

“I don’t have any personal feelings. Everything is for the revolutionary work. As long as this nickname can remind my colleagues at the Beijing Railway Station to prevent such incidents from happening again, I won’t have any resistance to it.”

Liu Erdan looked at him with admiration and clapped his hands, “Well said! Comrade Li Xiangdong, the fact that you can think of this shows that your awareness is very high. I am proud to have a team member like you!”

He patted Li Xiangdong’s shoulder hard, “You’re really a good kid!”

Li Xiangdong was so embarrassed at this moment that he didn’t know what to say…

He had just said a few high-sounding words to play along, but he didn’t expect Liu Erdan to actually take it seriously!

Liu Erdan looked at Li Xiangdong and Hou San, his tone very solemn, “In view of today’s sudden incident, Comrade Li Xiangdong and Comrade Hou Quan acted decisively and promptly prevented a potential mass incident that could have endangered the lives and safety of the people.”

“Through a vote by all the cadres and staff present at the meeting, you two are given a verbal commendation, and your apprenticeship period is shortened by one year.”

He looked at the two and smiled, “Starting next month, you two can receive the salary of a second-year apprentice.”

Although there was no formal award, only a verbal commendation, the salary increase was real. It went from 18 to 23 yuan, an extra 5 yuan per month.

Li Xiangdong finally smiled from the bottom of his heart. Nothing was more practical than getting money!

Liu Erdan saw the two of them laughing endlessly and pointed to the two cloth bags on the table.

“One for each of you. This is your material reward. Inside are good things brought back by our comrades who went to Shanghai.”

Seeing the two of them eager to see, Liu Erdan smiled, “Are you shy because I’m still here? Alright, I’ll make way for you two.”

He started walking out as he spoke, “Dongzi, if there’s nothing else, you can get off work early. I’ll give you a small break as a reward from our group. Just remember not to be late for work tomorrow.”

“I got it, Group Leader Liu. Thank you so much!”

Li Xiangdong was of course happy to go home early. It was his first day reporting for duty, and his family must be anxious. Going back early would put them at ease.

Hou San quickly asked, “Brother-in-law, don’t go yet. Can I get off work early too?”

Liu Erdan stopped, turned back to look at Hou San, and said, “You can’t. It’s Dongzi’s first day. If he goes home early, his family won’t worry. What are you going back so early for? Just stay here honestly!”

After speaking, he turned and walked directly out of the office.

“Tch!~”

Hou San muttered, “What’s there to be so arrogant about? You only know how to bully me, your little brother-in-law.”

After muttering, he walked to the desk, picked up one of the cloth bags, and opened it directly.

“White Rabbit creamy candy!”

Hou San grinned from ear to ear, his mood changing extremely quickly!

He took out a piece, unwrapped it, threw it into his mouth, and said while chewing, “White Rabbit creamy candy is still the best!”

Li Xiangdong smiled, “Are you short of this?”

Hou San chuckled and replied, “Of course, I am. How could I not be? Whenever there’s something good to eat at my house, my eldest and second sisters come over and take it back to their own homes. I’m a grown-up now, I can’t fight with my own nephews and nieces for food.”

“Then you’re a pretty good uncle.”

Li Xiangdong rarely praised Hou San.

Hou San said proudly, “Of course. My nephews and nieces love me.”

Li Xiangdong smiled, opened his own cloth bag, took out a net bag of White Rabbit creamy candy, and when he saw what was underneath, he let out a “What the hell!”

It was actually instant noodles!

He would never have imagined that the station leaders would give instant noodles as a reward!

He poured all the instant noodles from the cloth bag onto the table and counted a total of ten bags!

“Shanghai Yimin Food Factory’s egg instant noodles! This is great, I haven’t had them in so long!”

Hou San exclaimed, took out a bag of instant noodles from his own cloth bag, and danced with excitement.

Seeing Hou San’s reaction, Li Xiangdong finally realized that instant noodles were still considered a high-end food at this time. For ordinary people to eat a bag, they had to grit their teeth to make the decision to buy it.

Moreover, the production of this item was insufficient, and it was often out of stock. If you wanted to buy a bag to satisfy a craving, whether you could get it or not depended on luck.

Li Xiangdong took off his shoes and put on his rain boots, packed up the things he needed to take home, and prepared to get off work.

As the saying goes, if you have leave and don’t take it, you’re a fool…

He carried the cloth bag on his back and held another cloth bag in his hand. Hou San helped him carry a bundle of clothes.

The two had just walked out of the office when they saw Ah Zhe coming out of the crew group office.

Seeing the two of them like this, Ah Zhe walked over and asked, “What are you two up to?”

Hou San said sourly, “My brother-in-law let Brother Dong get off work early.”

Ah Zhe looked at Li Xiangdong with envy, then asked mysteriously, “Did you two get a raise?”

He saw Li Xiangdong and Hou San nod. “You two got the White Rabbit candy and instant noodles too, right?”

Hou San said proudly, “Of course. If you got them, how could Brother Dong and I not?”

Ah Zhe was in high spirits at the moment. He didn’t argue with Hou San. He looked at Li Xiangdong and said gratefully, “Dongzi, thank you this time. If you hadn’t told me to shout along with you back then, this good thing wouldn’t have come to me.”

Li Xiangdong looked around the corridor and saw that there was no one else but the three of them. He said in a low voice, “If you want to thank someone, go thank Hou San. Without Hou San, my clever trick would have at most gotten a verbal commendation. The leaders might have even pretended not to know.”