Chapter 41: 161

Outside the warehouse.

The atmosphere was rather silent due to Hou San's shameless behavior. None of the three spoke until Zhang Dajun emerged from the warehouse.

He piled all the labor protection supplies he was holding onto the table in one go.

"Dongzi, Azhe, you two split these supplies. Aside from the batteries and gloves which are issued every month, everything else is a one-time issue, so you must take good care of them. By the way, how tall are you both?"

"180 centimeters."

Whenever faced with this question from others, Li Xiangdong was always full of confidence.

In this era where people could barely manage to fill their stomachs, let alone eat well, he was definitely considered quite tall!

Zhang Dajun exclaimed in surprise, "Good grief, Dongzi, you're that tall?! I wonder if you'll even fit into the uniforms in the warehouse. Azhe, how tall are you?"

Standing beside Li Xiangdong, Azhe shifted his feet slightly to the side. "I'm 165."

Zhang Dajun glanced at Azhe, then shifted his gaze to Hou San.

Hou San squatted directly on the ground, raising his head with a flushed face. He stopped even calling him Brother Jun. "Old Zhang, what are you looking at?! Don't you already know how tall I am?!"

Zhang Dajun chuckled. "Hou San, you and Dongzi really are two extremes. It took me quite a bit of effort to find clothes for you the other day."

"Hmph, you just want to say I'm short."

Hou San buried his head in his arms, afraid of being mocked by the two friends he had made today.

Li Xiangdong and Azhe hadn't thought of it that way at all. They walked over to the table and began dividing the supplies.

A brand-new flashlight for each of them, complete with a few batteries.

After inserting the batteries and testing them to make sure they worked properly, they shoved them straight into their canvas shoulder bags.

A set of military-green raincoats, rubber rainboots, and five pairs of work gloves.

They were all large sizes and didn't need to be tried on—just measured by eye, folded up, and stuffed into their canvas shoulder bags as well.

An aluminum lunchbox with a spoon inside. It was brand new and looked much better than the one Li Xiangdong had brought from home.

Finally, there was a white enamel mug with red lettering on it: "One Thousand Days of Safe Production", "Beijing Railway Bureau Union", "May 1979", and a red railway emblem right in the middle.

There was simply no room left; their canvas shoulder bags were already full, so they had to leave the mugs on the table for now.

Remembering what Zhang Dajun had said earlier, Li Xiangdong turned to look at Hou San, who was still squatting on the ground with a look of utter despair on his face. "Brother Jun just mentioned something called 'all directions open'—is that our uniform?"

Hou San let out a grunt of affirmation.

Li Xiangdong asked with a puzzled expression, "How did it get a name like that?"

Seeing that Hou San didn't reply, Li Xiangdong walked up to him. "Being short isn't your fault. Azhe and I aren't laughing at you. Get up so we can take a look at you!"

As he spoke, Li Xiangdong reached out, grabbed Hou San's arm, and tried to pull him up.

"Dongzi, stop pulling at me. I'll get up myself, okay?"

Hou San stood up, pointed at his own clothes, and began explaining, "Look at my uniform pockets. Do you see those two pleats?"

Li Xiangdong let go, looked closely, and nodded. Azhe stepped closer and nodded along.

Hou San continued, "These represent railway tracks."

He then pointed to the other pockets on his clothes one by one. "Our uniform has a total of four pockets, representing the four directions: east, west, south, and north. Within our railway system, this style of clothing is called 'all directions open'."

Li Xiangdong looked Hou San up and down.

It had a military uniform style, deep blue in color, with buttons bearing the railway emblem.

The buttons were made of copper and also featured the emblem.

He bent down, took Hou San's cap out of his pocket, and flipped it over to examine it.

It was a soft cloth cap with a visor, adorned with a five-pointed star featuring the railway emblem.

After Azhe had also inspected it, Hou San took his cap back and shoved it back into his pocket. "Well? Not bad, right?"

"Not bad at all."

Li Xiangdong nodded.

Hou San didn't look very good in it, but that was just because of his physique—he was so thin and short that he couldn't pull it off at all.

If it were him wearing such a uniform, he'd definitely look like a dashing and spirited young fellow, sure to charm his wife to death when he got home!

"Nothing else going on, you can go back to squatting."

Li Xiangdong pressed both hands on Hou San's shoulders and applied a slight downward pressure, sending Hou San right back down into a squat.

"Dongzi, you really are a piece of work!"

Hou San was furious. He finally realized that Li Xiangdong was secretly mischievous.

Zhang Dajun came out of the warehouse carrying a pile of clothes. "Dongzi, these are the uniforms for you and Azhe. Two sets each for winter and summer, and every set comes with a cap. Check and see if anything is missing. If not, put them on and try them out."

He pointed toward the warehouse door, signaling the two of them to go behind it to try on the clothes.

Li Xiangdong and Azhe each took a set of clothes and walked over.

Seeing the two of them start changing, Zhang Dajun said, "You two try those on first. I'll go get your overcoats and heavy leather boots. In a few months, it'll start snowing here in the Northeast, so I'm getting them ready for you ahead of time."

After changing into their uniforms, Li Xiangdong and Azhe stood facing each other to look.

Although Hou San was also wearing one, looking at him provided no useful reference whatsoever!

Azhe was very excited after changing into the uniform. "Dongzi, you look much more spirited now!"

"That's for sure."

Li Xiangdong praised Azhe in return, "You don't look bad yourself."

Hou San sauntered over with a sway and chimed in with a sarcastic remark, "A lanky giant and a little dark-skinned kid."

Li Xiangdong exchanged a knowing wink with Azhe, and Azhe understood instantly.

The two of them lunged forward, grabbed Hou San, dragged him to the doorway outside the warehouse, and shoved him straight to the ground.

As for Azhe, even if Hou San's father was the head of the Passenger Transport Section, he wasn't afraid. Before coming to work here, he hadn't thought of this as a particularly good job anyway.

The main reason he came to work here was out of fear of rotting away from idleness at home. After his mother replied to his letters in a while, even if he didn't go abroad with his father, his father could still arrange a university job for him.

Therefore, his attitude toward Hou San was quite casual, much like Li Xiangdong's. They both just figured Hou San had a powerful family background, but neither of them was going to grovel before Hou San just for the sake of a job.

Besides, after interacting with him for a bit, they could more or less figure out Hou San's personality.

"You two stop messing around. I was just joking! You two aren't that petty, are you? Hurry up and let me go."

Li Xiangdong slapped him on the backside. "Do you feel like nobody can put you in your place?"

"Hiss~ Dongzi, you play dirty! Let me go quickly, I'm feeling dizzy, I'm fainting..."

As Hou San spoke, he started rolling his eyes. Azhe also gave Hou San's backside two resounding smacks.

"Why are you getting dizzy from getting spanked? I'll show you fake fainting! I