Chapter 39 The Piano and the Spy

Jiang Suining opened the bedroom door and saw Wang Jiang standing in the doorway.

Wang Jiang was filled with anticipation when the door opened, and a smile immediately bloomed on his face. However, when he didn't see his brother Jiang Hai come out, his lips drooped again: "Where's my brother? Auntie, why isn't my brother coming out?"

Jiang Suining patted Wang Jiang's head: "Your brother needs to think about some things right now, don't disturb him."

"What's the problem? Let's think about it after we eat." Wang Jiang peeked into the bedroom, wanting to go in, but Jiang Suining stopped him.

"Go and set aside some food for your brother. He'll come out to eat when he's thought things through." Jiang Suining closed the door behind her and pushed Wang Jiang. "Hurry up, or your brother won't have any left if we finish all the food."

Wang Jiang was indeed intimidated and hurriedly went to the kitchen to get a bowl.

"Don't worry," Jiang Suining comforted Zhou Chunlan, "the child is just stuck in a rut for a moment, she'll figure it out."

Zhou Chunlan silently shed tears, but quickly wiped them away when she saw Jiang Suining approaching: "I'm doing this for his own good. I discussed it with his father before, and we decided to buy him a job, a proper job with a monthly salary. That would be so respectable. But he insists on learning tailoring. What's the use of learning that stuff? Those who opened tailor shops in the past and managed to survive are now either working in clothing factories or textile factories. Who would dare to open a shop now!"

It seems that the mother still doesn't understand her child's thoughts. Wang Hai genuinely wants to learn tailoring, but he doesn't just want to learn tailoring. The child just hasn't found a way out yet.

“Sister Chunlan,” Jiang Suining took a sip of water, “Dahai is an ambitious and thoughtful boy. He wants to learn tailoring, but he doesn’t stop there. He likes fashion design.”

"Fashion design?" Zhou Chunlan stammered, somewhat unfamiliar with the term. After thinking for a moment, she said, "What design? In the end, isn't it still about making clothes? If he likes it, I'll find someone to buy him a job in a clothing factory. He can learn it there and he'll be fine. There's no need for him to apprentice under someone else."

“That’s different. I think he still has talent, he just hasn’t had the opportunity.” Jiang Suining disagreed with Zhou Chunlan.

"How is it different?" Zhou Chunlan suddenly looked up, her eyes red and shining. "Talent? Can talent put food on the table? Aren't there plenty of talented people locked up in the cowshed?"

Jiang Suining immediately realized Zhou Chunlan's concerns. It seemed that what happened to her father back then had left her with a significant psychological shadow, and it wouldn't be easy to change it in a short time.

“Times are changing. Although some people still live in the cowshed, no one has been sent there in the last two years. Instead, some have returned one after another,” Jiang Suining said softly, but with an undeniable certainty. “A while ago, the military region conveyed a document from the Central Committee, which specifically emphasized ‘respecting knowledge and respecting talent,’ and even said that intellectuals are part of the working class. You are a technician in our factory, so you should know best that those old technicians we rehired were all sent down for reform and study in their early years. Some were even paraded through the streets. Look around the factory now, who even mentions those things?”

She reached out and grasped Sister Zhou's trembling hand, saying, "The country is developing and moving forward; we won't go back to the old ways."

Zhou Chunlan fell into deep thought. Jiang Suijing looked at her quietly, hoping that what she had just said could help her let go of the past suffering and misfortune.

After a long while, Zhou Chunlan looked up at the swaying branches outside the window, her lips trembling: "But making clothes is ultimately a private business. You know that's speculation and profiteering. There's no future in it."

“The child just said he wanted to learn tailoring. That’s apprenticeship, not opening a shop or starting a business. How is that speculation?” Jiang Suining knew that she was softening her stance and pressed on, “Why are you, as a mother, labeling your child like that? He can work in a clothing factory after he learns the skills.”

“I know what you’re trying to say,” Zhou Chunlan wanted to say that the garment factory also learned, but Jiang Suining interrupted her, “You’re right, the garment factory can indeed learn, but can what the garment factory learns be the same as what the old tailor taught? In the past, which of those old tailors didn’t have some family-inherited skills? If he had mastered these skills, and with Dahai’s talent, he would definitely have become a key design member of the garment factory in the future.”

Zhou Chunlan smiled, clearly not quite believing it.

“Don’t you believe me?” Jiang Suining said, “Take cutting for example, some cutting methods can save a lot of fabric.”

In fact, garment factories naturally choose the method that saves the most fabric when cutting, but Zhou Chunlan didn't understand. Seeing Jiang Suining's confident statement, she thought about it and felt that it made sense. She hesitated and said, "So, let him become an apprentice and learn before going to the garment factory?"

“Yes,” Jiang Suining knew that Zhou Chunlan was worried about her child’s job, so she tried to persuade her from this point of view, “Think about it, which one would be assigned a better position in a textile factory: a complete novice who knows nothing or a tailor trained by a master craftsman?”

"Of course, I'd choose tailoring. You'll pick it up quickly!" Zhou Chunlan blurted out without even thinking.

“Right?” Jiang Suining couldn’t help but laugh. “Look, aren’t you perfectly clear-headed? Then why are you stopping the child from taking on a master and learning skills?”

Zhou Chunlan was speechless for a while before realizing she had fallen into Jiang Suining's trap. She was both amused and exasperated: "Okay, I will think about what you said and talk to the child about it later."

“That’s more like it,” Jiang Suining thought for a moment and added fuel to the fire, “In recent years, clothing from Hong Kong has become popular everywhere. What does that mean? It means that more and more people are starting to pay attention to their clothing. I think clothing design will definitely have a bright future. Your son has a promising future, so don’t let his talent go to waste.”

Although Zhou Chunlan is no longer young, her love for beauty remains. She naturally knows that clothing in the port city is popular, and many styles and colors are bold. Although she feels that they are not suitable for her age and she will not buy them to wear, this does not stop her from liking them. Therefore, she agrees with Jiang Suining's words and becomes more cautious about her son learning tailoring.

For several days in a row, Jiang Suining and Zhou Chunlan spent their off-get off work hours in the laboratory developing sunscreen. After revising the formula several times, they finally found the most suitable ratio.

Zhou Chunlan's knowledge of sunscreen was limited to Jiang Suining's popular science explanations. Although it did contain sunscreen ingredients, she still didn't really believe in its effectiveness.

Jiang Suining knew that although she had made a sunscreen, it was unrealistic to say that it would prevent anyone from getting tanned at all. This product was definitely for skincare, but as for sun protection, she would consider it a success if it could reduce the degree of tanning and prevent sunburn.

The finished product is ready, but it will take a long time to put it into mass production and even into the market. First, people need to try it out. This is relatively simple. The two of them made quite a few products, one bottle each. They gave half of the remaining products to colleagues and friends. For the other half, the two of them went to the fishing village and selected some fashionable young women and wives. After explaining the effects and usage of the sunscreen, they gave each of them a bottle.

With test subjects already on board, there's no need to track usage daily for the sunscreen, but a weekly follow-up is still necessary. Jiang Suining's biggest fear is widespread allergic reactions after use, but thankfully, none of the fifty bottles sent out had any allergic reactions. Therefore, the safety is deemed satisfactory, and going forward, monitoring the usage of these individuals is all that's needed.

Jiang Suining and Zhou Chunlan would visit each of these users every week to observe and record their usage. Those who persisted in using the product daily showed visibly better skin than before, while those who did not use it daily did not see such obvious results.

Although these people haven't even finished using a single bottle, judging from the current results, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it's absolutely certain that the sunscreen will go into production.

Zhou Chunlan reported the situation to the head of the technical department, who then took the two of them to see Factory Director Song. After listening to their report, Factory Director Song opened the sunscreen, took some on the back of his hand, and smelled it. There was no strange smell or fragrance. He was skeptical, but when he saw the experimental tracking records that the two of them handed over, he had no choice but to believe it. After a while, he asked, "Is this stuff expensive?"

Jiang Suining handed the formula to Factory Director Song: "The other raw materials are not expensive, but this diatomaceous earth in it, I asked someone to help me get it from Northeast China. As for the price, I don't know."

When Director Song heard this, he felt a bit overwhelmed. The Northeast was not far away. However, this sunscreen was indeed a good product, and it would be a pity not to produce it.

After thinking it over, he decided to send people to purchase supplies. If diatomaceous earth was too expensive, he would produce less and supply it only to the new recruits in the army who were prone to sunburn. If it was cheap, he could sell it to the supply and marketing cooperative.

He made up his mind to leave behind the formula, samples, and experimental records. Only after Jiang Suining and the others left did he find the director of the purchasing department to arrange the purchase of diatomaceous earth.

The sunscreen was finally finished, and Jiang Suining suddenly had nothing to do again. Fortunately, Lu Ye returned from the naval exercise.

After a month of training, he was tanned to a deep tan. Jiang Suining felt sorry for him and thought that if sunscreen had been developed earlier, Lu Ye could have taken some with him.

Jiang Suining thought to herself, and seeing that Lu Ye had just washed his face, she took out sunscreen to apply to him.

Lu Ye usually uses a bar of soap to wash his hair and take a bath. Why would he use face cream? When Jiang Suining reached out to put something on her face, she instinctively backed away.

"I don't need it, you can keep it for yourself." Lu Ye dodged Jiang Suining's hand, afraid that she would be angry, and quickly explained, "My skin is thick and tough, it would be a waste to use it, you can keep it for yourself."

“This is sunscreen, which I made myself,” Jiang Suining explained. “You’re often out in the sun and wind, which is bad for your skin and makes it very easy to get wrinkles. If you’re on a mission and don’t have time, you can skip applying it, but since you have time at home, you should use it.”

"Sunscreen?" Lu Ye took the bottle from her hand, held it to his nose, and smelled it. "It can protect against the sun?"

"Yes, it can prevent sunburn and tanning to some extent, and it's also good for the skin." Jiang Suining said, trying to apply it to his skin again.

"Let's forget it." Lu Ye grabbed her wrist. "I'm a man, it doesn't look right for me to use these things. Besides, I'm not afraid of getting a tan."

Jiang Suining was speechless. She thought he had finally figured things out when she saw him saying sweet nothings a while ago, but he was still the same straight man from the book. She sighed and said, "Do you know what attracts me most about you?"

Lu Ye was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up instantly. He stepped forward and hugged Jiang Suining.

Jiang Suining heard his heartbeat quicken and his breathing become unsteady. She was about to ask him if he was feeling unwell when she heard him say, "Sui Sui, just bear with it. We'll wait until tonight."

Jiang Suining was completely bewildered. Wait until tonight? Why wait until tonight? Wait a minute, she immediately realized what was happening and became furious. She shoved Lu Ye away, yelling, "What are you thinking? Your head is full of dirty thoughts!"

Lu Ye was confused when Jiang Suining said again, "Do you know what attracts me most about you? Your face! Let me tell you, Lu Ye, I'm a sucker for good looks. Do you know what that means? You have to be good-looking and have a good figure. You happen to have both of those qualities, which is why I left my hometown and my family to marry you and come here with you."

"What, what did you say?" Lu Ye wasn't that he didn't hear clearly, but he didn't react for a moment. After carefully considering Jiang Suining's words, he was somewhat incredulous. He touched his face and it took him a while to react. He smiled and brought his face close to Jiang Suining's. "Sui Sui, which sunscreen do you want me to apply? From now on, whenever I'm home, you can apply it for me every morning."

That's more like it. Jiang Suining achieved her goal and happily applied sunscreen to him. From then on, whenever Lu Ye was home, he would drag Jiang Suining to apply sunscreen to him every morning. It wasn't very noticeable whether he got whiter or not, but it annoyed Jiang Suining quite a bit. She protested and even went on strike, but Lu Ye wouldn't let her leave if she didn't apply sunscreen.

Every time I'm dragged to apply this stuff, I deeply regret the foolish thing I did that day—why did I have to make him apply this stuff?

Of course, that's all in the future. Time flies, and it was already the end of December. The kelp farm was still under construction, and worker training continued. Jiang Suining went to get off work and left work on time every day and studied with them. Life was uneventful, but with Lu Ye by her side, she was very content.

On New Year's Day, the factory was closed for the holiday. Jiang Suining went with Lu Ye to watch the troupe's cultural performance. The troupe had come from Kyoto to perform for the troops and had already performed seven or eight shows. Each troupe organized soldiers to come and watch. It was said that the program was very exciting. The performance on New Year's Day was mainly for the families of soldiers.

When Lu Ye and Jiang Suining arrived, there were already quite a few people in the auditorium. Even their sister-in-law saw them and came over to pull them forward, reserving seats for them in the first row.

After the two finished, Sister-in-law Lian took out the program list that she had specially obtained from backstage and showed it to Jiang Suining: "As expected of a cultural troupe from the capital, look at this, the programs are all kinds of things."

Jiang Suining took the program list and quickly browsed through it. There were singing, dancing, and instrumental performances. Some she knew, and some she had never heard of before, but the names all had the characteristics of this era, so she was still somewhat looking forward to it.

A moment later, the hosts came on stage. Both of them were wearing military uniforms and makeup. Unlike later generations, when makeup was supposed to be natural and not noticeable, the makeup of this era was very eye-catching, with red cheeks and red lips. Perhaps due to the limitations of cosmetics, their makeup did not look natural, but fortunately, it looked festive.

The opening performance was a group dance, "Celebrating the New Year and Welcoming the Spring Festival," which was quite fitting for the occasion. The performers, dressed in festive red and green costumes, hopped and skipped onto the stage to the rhythm of the music, instantly setting the mood for the entire audience.

The choreography was excellent, and the performers clearly had real skills. Both their dance moves and facial expressions conveyed the theme of celebration.

Jiang Suining was captivated by the atmosphere of the dance and watched intently.

After that, there were solo performances, Peking Opera, and skits. Each program had its own unique characteristics, and Jiang Suining watched with great interest. However, during the fifth program, a small incident occurred.

The program was the piano concerto "Yellow River". After the host came on stage and announced the program name, four soldiers carried a piano and placed it in the center of the stage. The lights suddenly dimmed, and then the spotlight shone on the piano. The pianist who had come on stage was already sitting in front of the piano.

No! Jiang Suining immediately realized something was wrong; the piano melody was off-key! At the same time, the piano melody abruptly stopped.

The entire audience fell silent. People below looked at the stage in confusion. The performer withdrew his hands, hesitated for a moment, glanced at the audience, stood up, bowed to them, and returned backstage.

The audience looked at each other and began to whisper among themselves.

"What's wrong?" Sister-in-law asked, puzzled.

"Don't rush, I'll go check backstage," Commander Zhang instructed Lu Ye. "You stay here, maintain discipline, and keep watch."

"Yes." Lu Ye stood up at attention, taking Commander Zhang's words as an order.

After Commander Zhang went backstage, the stage lights came on, and four soldiers came on stage and carried the piano off the stage. The host then came on stage and announced the next program.

The audience was puzzled, but as the show began, they gradually quieted down.

After Zhang returned, he whispered the reason for the last-minute program change and called Lu Ye out.

"Where are you going?" Sister-in-law Lian asked, pulling on Commander Zhang.

"Never mind that, just enjoy the show." Commander Zhang broke free from Sister-in-law Lian and quickly left with Lu Ye.

Jiang Suining felt increasingly uneasy and looked around. She then noticed that there were many soldiers around her. Something must have happened. She wanted to find Lu Ye and leave the auditorium, so she whispered to Sister Lian, "Sister-in-law, I need to go to the restroom. Will you come with me?"

"Going to the restroom?" Sister-in-law Lian wanted to watch the show and didn't want to go, but Jiang Suining invited her, and she couldn't refuse. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Can you wait? I'll go with you after this show ends?"

Jiang Suining felt flustered and didn't want to stay a moment longer. She shook her head and said, "No, I can't wait any longer."

"Alright, let's go," Sister-in-law Lian said, seeing the anxious look on Jiang Suining's face and glancing at the program before reluctantly following her out of the auditorium.

Two soldiers were standing at the entrance of the auditorium. Seeing the two approaching, they asked, "Where are you going?"

"I need to relieve myself," Jiang Suining said with a smile, "I'm going to the toilet."

The two soldiers exchanged a glance, and one of them said, "Wait a moment, I'll go report."

"What? We have to report this?" When the soldier asked the two of them, even the wife didn't think anything was wrong. But having to report something just to go to the toilet? That was definitely suspicious. After all, she was a military wife with high awareness and had experienced many unexpected situations. Thinking back to how Commander Zhang had hurriedly called Lu Ye away earlier, she immediately realized something was wrong. She grabbed Jiang Suining's hand, wanting to ask the soldier what had happened, but she swallowed the words back down. She knew they wouldn't tell her even if she asked, given the confidentiality regulations.

Sister-in-law Lian quickly calmed down and whispered to Jiang Suining, "Something's wrong. Something must have happened. Can you hold your tongue? Let's go find Old Zhang first."

Jiang Suining hesitated for a moment, then pulled Sister Lian aside before saying, "I only wanted to leave because I realized something was wrong."

Sister-in-law Lian was surprised and looked around warily, only to see that the auditorium was surrounded by soldiers: "This seems to be no small matter. When did so many soldiers come here? What do we do now?"

"I don't know either. I guess we can't get out," Jiang Suining said, her heart sinking.

The soldier who went out to report returned quickly, along with Lu Ye. When he saw that it was Jiang Suining who needed to use the restroom, he was a little surprised: "Come on, I'll go with you to the restroom."

"I," Jiang Suining hesitated, then waved her hand, "never mind, I won't go." After saying that, she pulled Sister Lian back to her seat.

Lu Ye reached out to stop them, but didn't say anything. He watched their backs for a moment, then decisively turned and walked out of the hall.

Jiang Suining sat in her seat, no longer interested in watching the show, and neither did her sister-in-law. However, the two did not talk, each lost in their own thoughts, waiting anxiously.

The soldiers around were very quiet. The auditorium was dark, and everyone was attracted by the performance on stage, so they didn't pay much attention to their surroundings. Only a very few people noticed the soldiers in the corridor, but they all assumed that they were there to watch the show.

After a few more performances, a few soldiers entered and left the auditorium intermittently. Jiang Suining kept an eye on the people coming and going, pondering repeatedly that these changes all occurred after the failed performance of the piano concerto "Yellow River".

She couldn't figure out what was going on until the performance ended, all the lights in the auditorium were turned on, and everyone left. The undercurrents from before seemed to have never existed. Jiang Suining and Sister-in-law Lian waited until everyone had left before slowly walking out of the auditorium.

Both of them were preoccupied with their own thoughts, but neither of them mentioned what happened in the auditorium. When she got home, Lu Ye wasn't there. She closed the door, washed up, and went to bed. But she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she did, her mind filled with the scenes from the auditorium.

Undoubtedly, something must have happened. The piano, which was properly tuned, suddenly became out of tune during the performance. If it was caused during the moving process, it couldn't have happened in the auditorium. It must have been someone deliberately adjusting the piano to cause the pitch to deviate. What was the purpose?

Jiang Suining thought and thought, and then a flash of inspiration struck her: could it be that she wanted to send a message through the musical score! She sat up with a start, wanting to tell Lu Ye, only to realize that Lu Ye hadn't come back at all.

She slowly lay back down on the bed, but she couldn't calm down. She tossed and turned for a while, and after a while, she looked at her watch. It was past ten o'clock. She wondered if Lu Ye would come back tonight. She couldn't lie still, so she got up, dressed, and wandered around the yard.

A breeze picked up at night, making it a bit chilly. Jiang Suining walked for a while, then went back inside to put on her coat. When she came out again, she saw Lu Ye.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Lu Ye locked the courtyard gate behind him, turned around and saw Jiang Suining. A smile appeared on his face. He took a few steps forward, pulled her coat up for her, and put his arm around her shoulder as they went into the house. "Didn't I tell you that you don't need to wait for me at night anymore?"

"I can't sleep," Jiang Suining said. She knew Lu Ye had to abide by the confidentiality agreement and there were some things she couldn't tell him, but she couldn't help her curiosity and asked, "Was there a problem with the piano in the auditorium tonight?"

Lu Ye suppressed his smile: "Yes, didn't Commander Zhang say that there are a few notes on the piano that are out of tune?"

Jiang Suining immediately understood that he was not telling the truth, but she didn't mind. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I once read in a book that some spies would use musical scores to send messages to the outside world."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Ye, who was leading her towards the bedroom, suddenly stopped, remained silent for a moment, then turned around and led her to sit down on the sofa.

"You guessed it." Lu Ye smiled wryly. "There are indeed spies, but no one has caught them. Be careful when you go out these days. If I'm not around, don't go out after dark. If you're home alone, make sure to lock the door."

“I know.” Jiang Suining had many questions in her mind, but she didn’t ask them aloud. Instead, she shared her guess: “A perfectly good piano suddenly went out of tune during a performance. Those few wrong notes might be the message that the spy wanted to convey.”

Lu Ye was surprised and stared at Jiang Suining for a while before gradually smiling: "As expected of my wife, Lu Ye's wife, her reaction is really amazing."

Jiang Suining knew she had guessed correctly and was naturally very happy: "Have you caught the person who adjusted the piano's pitch?"

“We caught him,” Lu Ye sighed, “but unfortunately he’s dead.”

"The person is dead?!" Jiang Suining never expected that the person who delivered the message was dead. If the original code could not be found, then only the person who received the message could decipher the incorrect notes.

“He was a sound engineer from the Capital Cultural Troupe,” Lu Ye said, his face ashen. “He committed suicide. When we found him, he was dead in the backstage storage room.”

"Didn't he bring a master codebook in his luggage?" Jiang Suining blurted out.

“No,” Lu Ye shook his head and smiled bitterly, “We searched through his luggage but couldn’t find the master code.”

"Didn't you check the other people's luggage?" Jiang Suining asked anxiously. "The luggage of everyone who came this time, all the members of the cultural troupe, might be in their luggage."

Lu Ye's eyes lit up, and he stood up abruptly: "Sui Sui, I'm going out for a bit. I might not be back tonight. You go to sleep quietly and don't wait for me. If I can come back tomorrow morning, I'll buy you breakfast. If I can't, I'll have Xiao Zhao buy it and bring it over."

“No need,” Jiang Suining said, not wanting to trouble Xiao Zhao. “If you’re not coming back, I’ll eat at the cafeteria myself. You don’t need Xiao Zhao to bring it to me.”

“Okay,” Lu Ye said without pressuring him, “but you must eat breakfast.”

After he finished speaking, he left in a hurry. Jiang Suining followed him out of the house, locked the courtyard gate, and only went back inside when she could no longer hear his running footsteps.

Jiang Suining slept very restlessly that night, constantly having dreams. When she woke up in the morning, she could not recall the specifics of her dreams that she had during the night. She rubbed her groggy head and felt more awake after washing up.

On her way to the cafeteria, she overheard people whispering about what happened in the auditorium last night. It seemed that someone had noticed something amiss. She didn't join the discussion and hurriedly left.

After having breakfast at the military canteen, I went to the labor protection factory and was pulled by Zhou Chunlan to the factory director's office.

“The factory has purchased some diatomaceous earth,” Zhou Chunlan told her as they walked. “The price is acceptable. Director Song said to produce a batch of sunscreen first, some to supply the military and some to the market, and see how it goes.”

"This isn't the best season for sunscreen to sell, but we could try producing in small quantities and targeting a few southern cities," Jiang Suining thought to herself.

"Why does Factory Director Song want to see me?" The products are already in production, what business is it of hers? Does he expect her to do quality control? She doesn't want to.

"I don't know," Zhou Chunlan genuinely didn't know. Yesterday, after get off work, she was stopped by Director Song at the factory gate and asked to bring Jiang Suining to the office this morning.

The two arrived at the office, where Factory Director Song had just finished cleaning. He poured them water and took out samples from a drawer: "These are the finished products. Take a look and feel free to offer any suggestions you may have."

Jiang Suining frowned when she saw the fist-sized white bottle on the table: "Factory manager, are we going to use this bottle to store our sunscreen?"

"Really? What's wrong? Can't we use a transparent bottle?" Factory Director Song asked, puzzled. Then he added, "The one I saw you had last time, wasn't it a transparent bottle?"

Jiang Suining was both amused and exasperated. She had simply grabbed a few bottles from the lab to put them in, but to get them onto the market, they needed to be packaged properly.

“I suggest,” Jiang Suining said without mincing words, “you called me here just to give advice, right? If you want it to sell well after it hits the market, first, the product has to be good; second, it has to be good value for money. If you can’t be good value for money, at least it has to be worth the price. Third, the packaging and the name are also key to grabbing people’s attention. So I suggest we give this sunscreen a catchy and easy-to-remember name and design special packaging for it.”

"Well, I accept your suggestion," Director Song said modestly. "Actually, the reason I called you here today is to discuss this matter with you. Xiao Jiang, I see that you are very good at drawing. How about you draw the bottle for this sunscreen? As for the name, it's a product that you two made, so you know it best. You two can think of a few names, and then we'll choose the best one from them."

"Sister Chunlan, what do you think?" Jiang Suining looked at Zhou Chunlan.

“I think Director Song is right, Xiao Jiang. After all, you made this sunscreen. I just assisted a little,” Zhou Chunlan said, not daring to take credit. “Then you should come up with the name. As for the bottle, I agree with Director Song. You are good at drawing, so you can definitely design the most beautiful bottle.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try.” Jiang Suining didn’t refuse and readily accepted.

Back in the auditorium, the workers had already started their classes. Usually, she would sit in the front and listen to the lessons with everyone, but today she had something to do, so she sat in the last row.

She was very familiar with the packaging and names of various cosmetics from later generations, but she couldn't just copy them. She had to come up with a name that suited the era. She thought and thought, sketching and writing on paper, and came up with several names. In the end, she came up with two: Outdoor Sunscreen Lotion and Wave Brand Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion.

If the sunscreen is to be supplied to the military, then the name "Field Sunscreen Lotion" would be perfect. If it's to be marketed, then "Wave Brand Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion" would be just right.

The name "Waves" aligns with the aesthetics of this era and also resonates with the sunscreen's production location—an island. She's considering launching other skincare and cosmetic products under the "Waves" brand later.

Jiang Suining spent the whole morning drawing the first draft of the sunscreen packaging. After get off work, she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy paints and drawing paper, preparing to color it in the evening and finish the product.