Chapter 229

Ji Wanmei's aunt and uncle had lunch at Ji Wanmei's house, but left after a short while.

Ji Wanmei escorted them to the outside of the compound.

Before getting on the bus, her aunt said to Ji Wanmei, "Meimei, after you graduate from university, you can consider developing your career in the United States. Currently, whether it is the economy, science and technology, the United States is much more advanced than China. Our country is bound to accelerate its development, but it also needs young people like you to bring back good foreign experiences and technologies. I hope you will have the opportunity to go abroad in the future."

Ji Wanmei nodded: "I will consider it, Auntie."

Back home, Ji Xingguo said with a stern face, "Is your aunt trying to persuade you to immigrate abroad like her?"

"No, Auntie just said she hopes I'll have the opportunity to go abroad someday and learn from other people's strengths," Ji Wanmei said helplessly.

"That's not the same thing!" Ji Xingguo, in his habitual old-fashioned cadre posture, put his hands behind his back and said in a deep voice as he walked into the courtyard, "The two of them went abroad to become foreigners as soon as the reform started, and now they want to come back and encourage my daughter to go abroad like them! If I had known, I should have kicked them out just now!"

"Dad, don't the city and provincial leaders in your state-owned factory also advocate cooperation with foreign capital and foreigners? We're living in a peaceful era now, so why do you still have such a strong prejudice against foreigners?"

"How can that be the same? The country encourages cooperation with foreign capital, which means making money from foreigners. But your aunt's kind of capitalist and hedonistic behavior is a complete betrayal of her country, her people, and her ancestors."

Ji Xingguo's attitude was firm: "As a Chinese, we must never forget this."

Ji Wanmei took her father's arm and nodded in agreement: "I completely agree with that. However, precisely because China is still quite backward, we need a large number of students to go abroad to learn their advanced technologies and management experience, and then develop our own country."

“Even if I go abroad to study someday, I will definitely not choose to immigrate like my aunt and uncle. You can rest assured, Dad.”

Ji Wanmei said coquettishly, "After you retire, I still want to take care of you and be filial to you."

Ji Xingguo then became happy and burst into hearty laughter.

During the Spring Festival holiday, state-owned enterprises will be closed until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, after which they will resume work.

Oriental Daily Chemical Factory was no exception.

Moreover, as the factory director, Ji Xingguo was already at the routine mobilization meeting of the leadership team on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, preparing for the start of work.

On the afternoon of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Ji Wanmei followed her original plan and first went to Huadong City to attend Grandma Song's birthday banquet, and then went to Pingdong City to find Lei Tingjun.

They haven't seen each other for almost twenty days since the start of winter break until after the Lunar New Year.

This was the longest time Ji Wanmei and Lei Tingjun had ever spent together since they established their relationship.

During this time, it's unclear whether Lei Tingjun's transport team is busy or not, but last time he wrote to Ji Wanmei, he said he would take advantage of this month at the end of the year to review the key points of the adult college entrance examination.

This is to ensure that I can pass the national unified entrance examination for adult universities in the spring of next year on my first attempt.

Because school starts after the Lantern Festival, and from the seventh to the fifteenth, there's only a week in total.

Ji Wanmei said to her father, "Dad, I plan to stay in East China until the start of the semester. I won't come back in the middle. It's too much trouble to travel back and forth by bus. Besides, you've started working at the factory now, and I'll be quite bored at home by myself. I'll learn Shu embroidery from Grandma Song for a few more days, and then I'll go straight to school on the fifteenth."

Ji Xingguo originally wanted to postpone the event so that he could go with Ji Wanmei to the birthday celebration of Grandma Song, the woman Ji Wanmei had become an apprentice to, but Ji Wanmei stopped him.

Ji Xingguo wanted to go mainly because he wanted to take the opportunity at the birthday banquet to see what kind of person Lu Zhuoxuan, who had called home, really was.

Whether or not he wants to pursue his daughter remains to be seen.

Ke Ji Wanmei repeatedly assured her.

With a very serious expression, she swore to her father that she and Lu Zhuoxuan had absolutely no relationship other than that of classmates, telling him to put his mind at ease.

After much persuasion from Ji Wanmei, Ji Xingguo finally gave up his plan to go to Huadong City with her.

However, while packing, Ji Xingguo kept filling two suitcases with all the New Year's goods, food, household items, and clothes for Ji Wanmei.

Winter clothes are already thick and take up a lot of space when packed into a box, so everything Ji Xingguo packed was something he thought he would need.

Actually, Ji Wanmei really wanted to say that there were some things that could be bought at school, so there was no need to bring them.

But seeing her father's earnest and concerned expression, Ji Wanmei couldn't bring herself to say anything and let her father fill two large boxes for her.

In the end, because the items were too heavy for Ji Wanmei to carry, Ji Xingguo called a driver to take Ji Wanmei to the station.

Ji Wanmei thought to herself, with two such large suitcases, it seems that once she arrives in East China, she really needs to find a car to take her to school, otherwise she really can't manage on her own.

Now, apart from purchasing new products, Luo Chunyan is basically in charge of everything at the store.

Luo Chunyan has become one of the owners of this store, and she will treat it with even more seriousness and dedication.

Ji Wanmei gradually began to relinquish control, handing over some decision-making power regarding the procurement and selection of goods to Luo Chunyan.

Let her try running a store independently.

Ji Wanmei knew that she would definitely not only have this one small shop in the future; her goal was to create a domestic clothing brand that reflected the aesthetics of the Chinese people.

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