Chapter 77 Another early morning, so depressing...

It was another early morning. Yu Jiajia did the Five Animal Frolics exercise three times with her third sister, Yu Jiamin, before happily going to pick out her clothes for the day. Actually, she only had three skirts and a shirt and straight-leg pants, but she couldn't miss the ritual of choosing clothes every day.

She took out a pale yellow daisy-print dress from the closet. The dress was particularly ethereal, with a very large skirt, and it was very beautiful.

She then chose a pair of brown leather shoes to wear.

She now has two pairs of leather shoes! She can alternate wearing them.

However, it's more comfortable to wear sneakers when practicing the Five Animal Frolics.

She braided her hair into two pigtails, tied them with pale yellow hair ties, looked at herself in the mirror, and looked very pretty!

Yu Jiajia dressed herself up beautifully before taking her toothbrush to wash up. When she reached the Su family's door, Su Man called out to her.

Su Man was reading a textbook under the eaves. Her grades were only average when she was in school, and now that she has graduated, it is quite difficult for her to pick up her textbooks again. She can't concentrate on reading.

Seeing Yu Jiajia walk over, she was truly envious. How could Yu Jiajia be so happy? Her whole family doted on her, and her mother had become the deputy director of the steel rolling mill! Her father was on a business trip to Haicheng and might become a level five fitter! She herself was an officer in the propaganda department, beautiful, and dressed smartly. In this drab era, she was too eye-catching.

If only she were Yu Jiajia, even just being as beautiful as Yu Jiajia would be wonderful.

She concealed the jealousy in her eyes and smiled, "Jiajia, does the steel rolling mill really hire workers?"

Yu Jiajia said, "We will definitely recruit workers. Our factory is now a model unit, and the city is allocating more resources to our factory, so the number of recruitment slots will increase."

Moreover, Cheng Xiuying said that there might be recruitment, which means that this matter is probably true, and there is no need to keep it a secret.

Otherwise, Cheng Xiuying wouldn't have told anyone.

Su Man bit her lip: "Jiajia, do you think I can pass the exam?"

If she had grades as good as Yu Jiajia, she wouldn't be having trouble concentrating on her studies right now.

Yu Jiajia encouraged them, "We just graduated, and we still remember all the knowledge from the textbooks, which is an advantage! You're also very smart, and your grades used to be good. As long as you're willing to work hard, you'll definitely pass the exam. If there's anything you don't understand, I can teach you."

She certainly couldn't miss the opportunity to do a good deed.

Su Man looked down at her book; she didn't know any of the questions, so she just randomly picked one.

Yu Jiajia glanced at it and explained the problem to her very seriously. Su Man was dizzy from listening. Yu Jiajia was delighted to receive: [10 feet of cotton cloth *1, Intermediate Materials Science Theory *1 (4/10)];

Yu Jiajia: "Is there anything else you don't understand?" I definitely need to explain a couple more questions! She also received: [Spicy Roasted Chicken Wings*6, Intermediate Materials Science Theory*1 (5/10)], [Five Jin of Cotton*1, Intermediate Materials Science Theory*1 (6/10)];

Yu Jiajia got more and more excited as she spoke, and she finished checking in for good deeds in just one morning! Su Man's foundation is really weak. Math is her weak point, and she basically doesn't know anything about it. Moreover, she doesn't study seriously and her mind wanders away while listening.

Under these circumstances, it would be quite difficult to get into a steel rolling mill, wouldn't it?

Su Man felt as if she were listening to gibberish; she thought that becoming a worker in the steel rolling mill was not as good as becoming the deputy factory director's daughter-in-law.

If she becomes Cheng Xiuying's daughter-in-law, will she still lack a job?

No, she absolutely had to win over Yu Songqing!

Finally, it was Grandma Yu who came to call them, "Jiabao, let's eat first, or the food will get cold."

Yu Jiajia then said, "If there's anything you don't understand, you can circle it, and I'll come back to explain it to you tomorrow morning."

Suman: ...

However, this is an opportunity to learn from Yu Jiajia and get in touch with Yu Songqing.

So she said very enthusiastically, "Thank you, Jiajia."

Regardless of how much Su Man had learned, Yu Jiajia was very happy that she had successfully completed her daily check-in task. "Review what I just taught you, and redo these questions."

She took Grandma Yu's hand and said, "Grandma, I'm going to wash up. I'll go home for dinner later."

Grandma Yu smiled and said, "I'll go with you to wash up. Jiabao is really amazing, she can even do such a difficult question! Just like your father, she's always had good grades since she was little."

Yu Jiajia: "That's right, our whole family is smart and has good grades! My mom just had a bad time because she was too playful, otherwise she would have been a college student too."

In the past, Grandma Yu would definitely have argued, but now she wholeheartedly agreed: "That's right, Xiuying is smart, otherwise how could she become the deputy factory director!"

An idiot will never become the deputy factory director.

That's the deputy factory director!

Yu Jiajia brushed her teeth and carefully washed her face with Lighthouse soap before going home with Grandma Yu.

She took out the face cream and applied it to her face, neck, and hands. Grandma Yu watched with admiration, "No wonder Jiabao has such good skin; she washes and applies the cream so carefully!"

Yu Jiajia opened the drawer, took out a new bottle of face cream and clam oil, and handed them to Grandma Yu: "Grandma, you can use this face cream, you can use it on your face and hands. Give the clam oil to Grandpa."

Grandma Yu quickly refused: "I don't want it. I'm an old lady, I don't need this! You keep it. Your face is so pretty, you should take good care of it."

Yu Jiajia handed the face cream and clam oil to Grandma Yu: "Here you go! But we have an agreement, these are for you and my grandpa."

If Grandma Yu had given it to her uncle's family, she would not give it to Grandma Yu again.

Grandma Yu's eyes welled up with tears. "Jiabao, I really don't need it."

She's an old lady, why would she need such a good thing? She's never even used clam oil.

Yu Jiajia simply unscrewed the face cream, scooped out a piece of snow-white cream, and applied it to Grandma Yu's face. "Grandma, let me teach you how to apply it."

There are techniques to applying face cream; you can't just apply it haphazardly.

Grandma Yu didn't know where to put her hands. The face cream smelled so good and felt so comfortable. With the last bit, Yu Jiajia applied it to Grandma Yu's hands.

Grandma Yu cried.

Yu Jiajia took out a handkerchief to wipe the old lady's tears: "Grandma, why are you crying?"

"Don't wipe off the face cream." Grandma Yu stepped back and carefully wiped away the tear stains from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.

She was truly touched. Who else had ever touched her face like that before, especially with face cream? That's so expensive! Only Jiabao! Jiabao is so kind.

Yu Jiajia already has too many precious things, so she doesn't value these rewards; she just gave them away.

Yu Jiajia asked again, "Grandma, do you have soap to wash your face?"

Grandma Yu: "I have it, I really do!"

Yu Jiajia: "Okay, give your bar to Grandpa, use this one. This is a Shanghai brand medicated soap. Washing your face with this can disinfect and get rid of acne, it's good for your skin." She then took another bar of medicated soap from the drawer and put it in Grandma Yu's hand, and showed Grandma Yu a mirror: "Grandma, look, isn't your skin whiter and smoother?"

Grandma Yu looked at herself in the mirror and blushed. She was embarrassed. "This face cream is so good. It makes my skin white and smells so good."

Yu Jiajia: "Tomorrow morning, let's practice the Five Animal Frolics with Grandpa and Grandma. It's good for our health and can help us stay strong."

Just follow along and practice external martial arts.

Grandma Yu hesitated and said, "I don't think I can learn it."

Yu Jiajia: "Try learning first. If you can't learn it, I'll teach you and my grandpa a simple one."

Grandma Yu put the face cream, Shanghai medicated soap, and clam oil into her pocket before going to the main room to eat with Yu Jiajia.

Grandma Yu handed a bowl of brown sugar and egg tea to Yu Jiajia: "You're tired of eating steamed egg custard every day. I happen to have a packet of brown sugar, so I thought I'd give you some egg tea instead. This is good!"

Yu Jiajia smiled sweetly, "Thank you, Grandma." She took a sip, and it was so sweet! Grandma Yu really put in a lot of sugar.

Seeing the old lady's happy expression, Yu Jiamin suspected that Yu Jiajia had given her something nice. Yu Jiajia was very generous, especially towards her family.

She has no concept of holding grudges.

Yu Jiajia: "I wonder when Mom will be back." Just as she finished speaking, Cheng Xiuying came back from outside carrying some things.

Grandma Yu quickly got up to take the things, saying, "Why did you bring back so much stuff?"

Cheng Xiuying said, "I didn't want to take it either, but my sister-in-law insisted on giving it to me. She probably brought all the eggs that my family had saved up, saying they were to give Sibao more nutrition."

She dotes on Sibao the most, loves to hear these words, and enjoys seeing others dote on Sibao as well.

Yu Jiajia: "Mom, I'm benefiting from your good fortune again."

Cheng Xiuying: "Nonsense, it's because Mom is benefiting from you."

She knows very well how she got her current position!

She owes so much to Sibao.

Grandma Yu put the things in the kitchen, sorted them out, and found that there were more than 30 eggs, 3 jin of noodles, and about 10 jin of vegetables.

The Cheng family is truly generous! And they're sensible people too!

Yu Jiajia shared her brown sugar and egg tea with Cheng Xiuying, who laughed and said, "I drank this at your grandma's house too! Did your grandma make it?" She then said to Grandma Yu, "Mom, I'll get you a packet of brown sugar later, so you can share it with Sibao later."

Grandma Yu refused; she didn't want it. She insisted on using her own brown sugar for Jiajia.

Cheng Xiuying chuckled and said, "Fine, then don't take it."

Yu Jiajia sipped her brown sugar and egg tea; the egg was still soft-boiled, it was delicious.

After dinner, Yu Jiamin instructed, "Su Man is cunning. Be careful when you're with her. Don't go out with her, and don't go to her house."

Yu Jiajia nodded: "Thank you, Third Sister, I'll listen to you. I'll teach her a few questions, hoping she can study hard and get into the steel rolling mill."

Yu Jiamin was relieved; her sister was too kind, always thinking of others' good.

But Suman is no simple person.

Everyone went to work. Yu Jiajia followed Cheng Xiuying to the office. They had just made tea and found a newspaper that interested them to start their new day's work.

Before he could even finish his tea, Section Chief Chen rushed into the office with some big news: the city chairman's propaganda team was coming to the steel rolling mill for a performance! The factory's labor union and propaganda department were fully prepared to cooperate. Their immediate priority was to change the bulletin board and then gather at the factory gate to welcome them.

To put it bluntly, it meant that the municipal cultural troupe personally went to the grassroots level, came to the factory to promote Chairman Mao's thought to the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and boosted morale for "grasping revolution and promoting production." This honor was entirely because the steel rolling mill had just been awarded the title of "Red Flag Unit for Victory in the Struggle Against the Enemy." In the past, there was never such treatment. At most, the county cultural troupe would come to perform a few times.

The factory took this very seriously. The labor union acted quickly, already hanging a large red banner at the factory gate that read, "Warmly welcome the Municipal Chairman's Ideological Propaganda Team to our factory for a performance."

Yu Jiajia followed Liu Weidong and Lin Mei, quickly finished the blackboard newspaper, and then went to the factory gate to welcome the comrades from the municipal cultural troupe.

A short while later, a bus slowly pulled up in front of the steel rolling mill. The doors opened, and two officials from the Municipal Bureau of Culture stepped off first. Then, a dozen or so young men and women in neat green military uniforms disembarked, looking energetic and spirited. They stood out against the dusty factory backdrop.

Among the crowd, the most eye-catching was a young man walking at the front of the group. He was about twenty years old, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose bridge, and a heroic face, like a hero who had stepped out of a model opera poster.

Liu Weidong leaned closer to Yu Jiajia and Lin Mei: "Look, that's Li Heyu, the star performer of the city's cultural troupe! Last time I went to the city for training, I happened to catch their performance. The 'Loyalty Dance' he led was absolutely amazing! His singing of 'Ode to Heroes' was also incredibly moving, and the applause from the audience never stopped!"

Lin Mei grabbed Yu Jiajia's hand and said excitedly, "I know him! A clip of him starring in 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy' was in the city newspaper! I even cut it out and kept it! I didn't expect him to be even more handsome and energetic in person than in the newspaper photo!"

Yu Jiajia watched intently, nodding in agreement. The man had square features and a resolute air, clearly the kind of upright and righteous protagonist from a model opera. However, she was quickly drawn to the young woman behind him: "That woman with the long braid is so beautiful, so heroic, she looks like a female hero." She thought he looked remarkably like her mother: "That woman with short hair is so cute, she has two little dimples."

Lin Mei's eyes were glued to Li Heyu, she couldn't look away. "Ahhh, he's looking over here! He's looking at us! He's smiling at us!"