Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 104 Xia Gu's Face

After breakfast, the two of them strolled along the road. No one was working at the moment, so there was no point in going back. They didn't feel cold after eating, so a walk was a good way to digest their food.

Xia Maosheng pointed to the ancient pagodas that could be seen in the distance and said, "Want to take a look at the North and South Pagodas? The North Pagoda is over a thousand years old. It used to be over forty meters tall, the tallest building in this area, and also the tallest Buddhist pagoda in Northeast China, the number one pagoda in Northeast China. It was rebuilt later, and now it's less than forty meters tall, a little over thirty-seven meters. Let me tell you, when the pagoda was destroyed, they found a lot of good things inside, all gold and silver Buddhist pagodas and such, as well as relics, and a thousand-year-old glass bottle, which was extremely valuable, over a thousand pieces. The South Pagoda is over eight or nine hundred years old now, it's quite magnificent."

Xiao Wei asked, "Who built it?"

Xia Maosheng said, "I can't remember what Murong something was, but this was built by the emperor back then. This used to be the capital, isn't that awesome?"

Xiao Wei exclaimed in surprise, "Even an emperor came from here? Aren't emperors always in the capital?"

Xia Maosheng gave Xiaowei a disdainful look and said, "I'm telling you to read more books. How are you going to talk to your wife in the future? You don't understand anything. Seriously, read more books. This area used to be the Yan Kingdom, you know? Back then, China was divided into many countries, dozens of them. This was one of them. Chaoyang was the capital of the Yan Kingdom, and the emperor lived here."

Xiao Wei nodded, glanced at the tower, and said, "Pretty awesome."

After walking for a while, the warmth of the meal wore off, and Xiao Wei tightened his coat and hugged himself, saying, "Why is it so cold here? It's much colder than Fengtian, even colder than where I'm from."

Xia Maosheng pointed east and said, "It's a kilometer from here to the Daling River. Ever heard of it? It's right next to a big river. How could it not be cold? But it's great in the summer. You should come and try it in the summer. It's really cool."

The riverside means strong winds, and strong winds in winter mean it's very cold.

In the end, the two returned to the guesthouse; it was cold. If it were summer, Xiaowei would definitely go to the river to take a look. There aren't many rivers in that small town; he hasn't seen many large rivers. The Hun River is considered a large river, but he's only seen it once.

At the guesthouse, the old gatekeeper and I roasted melons together by the stove until the workers arrived at work. At 8:30, the two of us tidied up and went to the Labor Bureau.

At this point, the Labor Bureau hadn't been merged yet, so it was still a major entity. Although it didn't manage many things, it had the authority.

The main gate was wide open, but a curtain was hung inside, probably because they found it too much trouble to lift the curtain and push the door open at the same time. At this time, government departments and units all had dark green curtains, while factories and enterprises had dark blue ones; I don't know who assigned them. The curtains were all made of canvas and stuffed with thick cotton; they were not only stiff but also incredibly heavy. Two grown men could barely lift one curtain.

I squeezed through the gleaming gap between the two curtains into the building, and immediately everything went dark. A lone incandescent bulb hung from the ceiling, looking rather dim compared to the sunlight and snow outside. In Northeast China, winters are so bright because of the heavy snow that you can see in the middle of the night, making the interior feel particularly dark when you come in from outside.

When traveling to snowy areas, especially those from the south where snow is rare, it's essential to bring sunglasses. The glare from snow can be quite damaging to the eyes and can easily cause snow blindness. You can't compare yourself to the locals in snowy regions; they're adapted from a young age, it's part of their genes.

All government office buildings have a guardhouse on the left and a reception room on the right in the lobby on the first floor. They may have different names, but that's how they function.

Moreover, every unit in China has a serious-looking old man in its guardhouse.

"What's going on?" The two were called out.

Xia Maosheng walked over and leaned against the window, saying to the old man, "I need your help. I need to see Director Wang."

The old man's expression softened somewhat, and he asked, "Which Director Wang? What's the matter?"

Xia Maosheng said, "I'm the director. I'm from the Beipiao government."

The old man asked, "Do you have a letter of introduction?"

Xia Maosheng took the letter of introduction out of his pocket and handed it over. The old man took it, raised his reading glasses with his right hand, squinted at it, handed the letter back to Xia Maosheng, put down his reading glasses, lowered his head slightly, looked at Xia Maosheng through the top of his glasses, and said, "Third floor, second to last room on the right, go up."

The two then turned and went upstairs.

Climbing the old cement stairs to the third floor, their eyes had adjusted to the light inside. Turning right on the third floor, the two of them searched further inside.

The second-to-last office had its door ajar.

Xia Maosheng peeked through the crack in the door, then gently knocked. Someone inside called out, "Come in."

Xia Maosheng pushed open the door and went inside with Xiao Wei.

"Hello Uncle Wang, I'm Xia Xiaolan's nephew from Beipiao. My aunt called you, right? She asked me to come see you." Xia Maosheng introduced himself as he walked in. Director Wang smiled broadly and stood up from behind his desk: "Oh, haha, it's Xia Xiaolan. You called yesterday afternoon. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. Have a seat, help yourself to some water; there's a thermos over there. When did you arrive?"

Director Wang came out from behind his desk and warmly led Xia Maosheng and Xiao Wei to chairs against the wall on the other side.

The three people sat down. Director Wang picked up the thermos flask from beside the chair leg, took out a few cups from under the coffee table, poured some hot water into one cup to rinse it, and then poured the water directly onto the cement floor. He then poured a cup for each of the three people, put the thermos stopper back on the chair leg, and said, "Are you planning to start a training course? I heard a bit from your aunt but didn't quite understand what kind of course it is?"

Xia Maosheng said, "The conditions for chef training classes are good now. More and more people want to start their own businesses. Opening a restaurant is a good business. We're thinking of starting a small class to teach people how to cook. The key issue is the certification, which is why we've come to trouble you."

Director Wang nodded and said, "Oh, a chef training class? We do have the authority to issue these certificates, but because our place is small and we don't have a professional assessment center, and nobody applies, we've never done it. Okay, no problem. Now that we're reforming and opening up, encouraging people to start their own businesses and stimulate the economy is a good thing. But let me ask you something, Xia, is this class being run under your own name, or under the name of your aunt's government?"

Xia Maosheng said, "My aunt told me to do what you say is best."

Director Wang laughed, leaned back, and said, "Mayor Xia is very considerate. How about this, let's do it under the name of the Labor Bureau, okay? Let's include your aunt's place too, this is to support employment for the people. You won't need to find a place yourself, our bureau will just clear out a space for you. Don't just hire cooks, let's set up two more shifts, you can figure out what to do. We'll issue the certificates here, you don't need to worry about the personnel bureau, we'll handle the files, okay? But you'll have to pay some management fees."