Chapter 48 Buying Coal
Li Shengli didn't take this matter seriously. It was just some corn noodles. He was not a fool.

The next day during work, Li Shengli prepared lunch and stood by the window to eat.

"Next." Li Shengli served the workers food one spoonful at a time with an expressionless face.

"I want a serving of shredded potatoes and two steamed buns." said a familiar voice.

There are so many familiar voices. The repetitive life of serving food every day almost wears out Lee Seung-ri's enthusiasm. Lee Seung-ri took the ticket and the lunch box, scooped a spoonful of shredded potatoes, and took two steamed buns and put them in the lunch box.

"Shengli, bring me more food." Li Shengli raised his head slightly when he heard that, and saw Qin Huairu leaning against the window, slightly leaning inside, looking at Li Shengli with a smile.

Not knowing what Qin Huairu was up to, Li Shengli glanced at Qin Huairu and said nothing or did nothing. He just handed the lunch box over and then looked up and shouted, "Next."

Not many people saw this scene. While Li Shengli was getting his meal, he was thinking that Qin Huairu was targeting him.

Time passed slowly, and Li Shengli often met Qin Huairu these days, but every time Li Shengli saw Qin Huairu, he just nodded and greeted her lightly.

It was November in a blink of an eye, and the temperature was getting colder. According to the lunar calendar, BJ added fire on the first day of October and extinguished it on the first day of February. It was almost time to start a fire. Coincidentally, the street office had also sent a notice that coal could be purchased with tickets.

Li Shengli worked the early shift this week. After work at noon, Li Shengli went home, took two baskets, put them on the back seat of the car and prepared to go out.

"Shengli, where are you going?" The third aunt next door heard the noise at Li Shengli's door and asked while standing at her door.

"Hey, Third Aunt, you are busy. The weather is getting cold. I'm going to buy coal for this month. The weather will be cold soon and I'm the only one at home, so I'd better find a free day." Li Shengli was busy tying the basket to the back seat of the bicycle while replying to Third Aunt.

"Yeah, the weather is starting to get colder." The third aunt leaned against the door and watched Li Shengli busying himself.

"Auntie, you are busy. I will go first." After tying up the basket, Li Shengli said goodbye to Auntie and pushed the bicycle out of the courtyard. After leaving the courtyard, he crossed the crossbeam with his right leg, pushed hard with his foot, and drove the bicycle wobbly towards the station selling honeycomb coal.

Honeycomb coal has become popular in the city now. Honeycomb coal made from the same amount of coal can save much more money than simply burning coal. Those who can afford it can go to the coal shop with their coal purchase book to buy honeycomb coal. Those who don't can buy coal and make coal balls themselves.

Each household is supplied with about 100 kilograms of coal per month, and this is recorded in a notebook.

When he arrived at the coal shop, Li Shengli took a look and saw a few people queuing in front of him. It was obvious that they were pushing bicycles or carts one after another. Those without cars were all families with children. This family used a lot of coal in a month.

Li Shengli stopped his car and pushed it into the queue. Soon it was Li Shengli's turn.

Li Shengli handed in the coal book and money at the entrance and received the coal withdrawal certificate. Li Shengli pushed his bicycle with the certificate to the place where coal was loaded. Several young people were working hard. Li Shengli took a look and found that these people were all blackened by the coal ash and it was unrecognizable what they originally looked like.

Li Shengli handed the voucher to a worker who looked like a leader, and handed him a cigarette: "Comrade, have a cigarette."

The leader of the workers glanced at Li Shengli, took the cigarette and the voucher and glanced at it, but without lighting the cigarette, he just shouted to the people working inside: "Xiao Liu, bring the 80 yuan worker over and install it."

A young man working inside, his face covered in coal dust, pushed 80 pieces of honeycomb briquettes over on a cart and put them into Li Shengli's basket. Li Shengli wanted to put more, but his basket was only so big, so he had to come a few more times.

I thanked the worker who was loading the car and handed him a cigarette as usual. Although smoking is prohibited in this place, I can go to the office to smoke when I have free time.

Riding a bicycle back to the courtyard, Li Shengli set up the bicycle and carefully placed the honeycomb coals one by one on the wooden rack under the eaves. This thing is quite sturdy, but it cannot be exposed to water as it will easily fall apart, so it needs to be placed in a dry place.

He was working right away, and his hands were all black from unloading coal.

"Shengli, this is the honeycomb coal you bought." The third aunt came back from Li Shengli and was watching the fun from the side.

"Yes, Auntie, I just replaced the stove." After finishing his work, Li Shengli clapped his hands and raised a cloud of dust.

"I was still thinking about the loose coal you bought. Then our two families can make coal balls together." The third aunt said regretfully.

Li Shengli curled his lips and said nothing. Before honeycomb coal became popular, Li Shengli's family and Yan Bugui's family had worked together to make coal briquettes. The coal briquettes made by the Yan family were not easy to burn at all because they contained too much soil. The Yan family was reluctant to pay for the meal of the person who made the coal briquettes and even asked Li Shengli for food expenses.

Shaking coal balls is a troublesome thing. Li Shengli is a family with only one person, so it is more convenient to buy honeycomb coal. So when honeycomb coal was promoted before, Li Shengli decisively changed the stove.

"Auntie, there are not many people in my family. It's too troublesome to shake the coal balls. Besides, I just changed the stove." Li Shengli wet his hands in a basin of water, put some soap on them and rubbed them vigorously.

"I still think that honeycomb coal is better to burn. Why don't you change it at home?" Li Shengli washed his hands, changed the basin of water to wash his face, then picked up the towel beside him and wiped it while speaking.

"Honeycomb coal is so expensive. Besides, to burn honeycomb coal you have to buy a special stove, which costs money again." The third aunt pouted and settled the bill with Li Shengli.

"Honeycomb coal burns so quickly. It's no big deal to spend a little more money in such a cold day." Li Shengli said with a smile.

"Hey, you kid really don't know how expensive food, oil, salt and firewood are..." Then the third aunt began to calculate the various living expenses for Li Shengli, which made Li Shengli feel overwhelmed.

"Okay, okay, okay, Third Aunt, please stop plotting. I was wrong, okay?" Li Shengli couldn't stand the verbal bombardment from the Third Aunt, so he quickly clasped his hands and begged for mercy.

"I have something else to do, so I'll go get busy first." After saying that, Li Shengli went into his home in a flash, leaving the third aunt outside still mumbling something.

In the evening, the third aunt told the third uncle Yan Bugui about Li Shengli's purchase of honeycomb coal today.

"Li Shengli bought coal? And honeycomb coal? This is bad." The third uncle slapped his thigh in annoyance.

By making coal briquettes with Li Shengli, my family can pick slightly bigger coal briquettes and can also ask Li Shengli for some food expenses, which means I can save a lot of money. Now that Li Shengli has changed his stove, my family can't take advantage of him this year. I have to find someone to be my partner this year. However, every household in this yard has someone, so it's difficult to find someone to be my partner.

The third uncle was a little worried, but he would need to borrow Li Shengli's bicycle to buy coal in a while.

(End of this chapter)