Chapter 63 (Minor Repair)

A letter from home, a letter from the station photo studio.

I squeezed them and found that there were photos in both letters, and the one sent by the photo studio even had negatives in it.

In the letter that her parents sent her, which came with a parcel slip, they mentioned that it was the information and books that Director Huang and Director Ge from the Street Office had sent her.

The photo is of her with the twins.

She stood behind the two boys and put her arms around their shoulders. The two boys had serious and formal expressions.

There is another photo of her sitting on a chair, and the twins sitting cross-legged on the ground, their little faces slightly tilted up. In this photo, Jiaan has a little smile on her face, pursing her lips, while Jiaping still has a stern face.

The other two photos are a solo photo of her and a separate photo of the twins.

Liu Tong took it and looked at it, then said, "Is this your brother? Twins?"

"Yeah, twins."

"Not bad, they look a lot like you. They'll definitely be two handsome guys when they grow up."

When Zhou Jiani went to see the letter from the photo studio, she didn't expect that Qiu Zeming would fill in her name.

There was no letter paper inside, only photos and negatives.

I tore open the envelope and poured out the photos. The first one was of Zhang Baosheng standing in the station square, looking at the camera with a serious expression.

At that time, I asked him to smile, but his face was expressionless. He said he couldn't smile and felt like his face was out of control.

As soon as the photo was taken, he was happy.

Liu Tong took it and looked at it. He chuckled and said, "Wow, the captain looks quite photogenic." He added, "I have to compete for the title of Outstanding Member, and I'll have to take a picture like this one when the time comes."

Zhang Baosheng just happened to come in from outside with his hands behind his back. He was stunned when he saw this and hurried over: "Have the photos been sent?"

He quickly took it and looked at it, saying happily, "Hey, it's not bad."

The second one is a group photo of the three of them. Three copies were printed, one for each person.

Further down are individual photos of her and Qiu Zeming, and finally a group photo of the two of them.

Liu Tong glanced at it, clicked his tongue, and said "yo" meaningfully, with a good-natured teasing.

Zhou Jiani said unhappily, "What are you talking about? The captain told us to do it together."

Zhang Baosheng raised his hand and gave Liu Tong a pipe: "Oh my god, stop talking nonsense."

Liu Tong covered his head and laughed: "I understand, I know what's going on. There are no outsiders here."

He just thought that the two young people looked strangely well-matched in the same photo.

Zhang Baosheng also thought so, but he did not tease the two children.

There were two group photos, and Zhang Baosheng asked her to send them to Qiu Zeming. After all, there were also group photos of three people and individual photos.

Zhou Jiani hugged the stool and asked Liu Tong to keep the accounts.

Only then did the two of them see what she brought.

Zhang Baosheng said, "Is this the one you drew for them? It looks pretty good!"

Liu Tong had never seen one before. When he went to the workshop, everyone was making baskets and he didn't see them making anything else. When he looked down, Zhou Jiani happened to lift the lid and saw that it was empty. He said, "This basket is a bit thick."

Zhang Baosheng laughed and scolded, "What about the basket? You're ignorant, aren't you? This is called... Xiao Zhou, what's the stool called?"

He had heard of that name before, and thought it sounded very elegant and nice at the time, but now he couldn't remember it.

Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Storage stool."

She put the lid back on and said, "Captain, try sitting on it."

Zhang Baosheng was a little hesitant, as he was afraid that it would be crushed again if he sat on it.

"If it can be crushed, it's not called a stool. It also means that the Fourth Uncle and his men are not good enough. You can sit on it with confidence." Zhou Jiani said with a wave of her hand.

Zhang Baosheng sat on it halfway at first, but when he felt it was stable, he sat down confidently. He looked down and said, "Hey, it's quite sturdy and stable. Hey, it's really not bad."

He stood up, bent over, patted it, looked around, and said, "Not bad, this thing can be used as a stool, and it can also store some needles and thread. Not bad, not bad!"

Liu Tong also sat on it and tried it out, saying, "It's really solid. It feels just like sitting on a wooden stool."

They knew about boxes and stools, but this was the first time they had seen something that could be used as both a stool and a box. Liu Tong said cheerfully, "That's great. I'll buy one later. How much does our workshop charge?"

Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "The retail price is tentatively set at eighteen or twenty. We'll decide based on the specific situation."

"How much?" Zhang Baosheng and Liu Tong both widened their eyes and asked loudly.

"Let's make a smaller payment, the size of a stool. The small one is tentatively set at nine or eleven yuan, and the large one at eighteen or twenty yuan." Zhou Jiani said with a smile.

Liu Tong blinked and scratched his head. He decided to take back what he was about to say and whispered, "Are you sure it's eighteen, not one dollar and eighty?"

Zhou Jiani rolled her eyes and said, "If you want to order 1.8 yuan, ask Uncle Si if they'll give you a discount. This thing takes about the same amount of effort as weaving a bamboo basket. If you order 1.8 yuan, you could make several baskets with that much effort. It's not as cost-effective as a basket."

Zhang Baosheng also scratched his head and whispered, "The most expensive thing we've ever sold was a bamboo basket. I paid ten yuan to the vendor. I asked the other brigades, and they said fifteen, maybe eighteen at most. The vendors have to make some money from the rest."

But this thing is different from a bamboo basket. Carrying a bamboo basket when visiting relatives is a sign of appearance. Families without bamboo baskets have to borrow one to save face when visiting relatives, and they have to add a little money when returning it.

Storage stools may look nice, but having one or not will not affect your life.

Is there anyone willing to pay such a high price?

"You know that bamboo baskets can be sold for over twenty or thirty bucks out there, right?" Zhou Jiani said. "It's about the same effort to weave this."

Zhang Baosheng nodded. When he accidentally found out the price they were selling for outside, he took a deep breath and his heart ached.

Zhou Jiani repeated what she had said to Zhang Laosi and the others, saying, "Master Sheng said we should just treat it as a wealthy family. If we come across one, we'll open a new business. If not, we can still buy more, right? Besides, don't worry about whether we can sell it or not. We won't have enough manpower for real mass production. It's too early to worry about that now."

She patted the stool and said, "Let's take it to the department store and prove our ability to launch new styles."

Zhang Baosheng nodded and stopped worrying about it for the time being.

He looked around again and found it to be quite rare, but when asked to buy it, he was reluctant to do so.

The retail price is eighteen or twenty, and the purchase price will be discussed and decided in a meeting. It is estimated that the price will be based on the standard of the箢子.

Zhou Jiani didn't pay the bill for the time being, waiting until the price was decided. She took the stool back home, put it in the house, and then turned around and went out to the experimental field.

Qiu Zeming is helping to make clay molds.

Several farmhands leveled the ground again and were making ridges.

Zhou Jiani went over and took out the envelope, saying, "The photos have arrived."

Qiu Zeming's eyes lit up. He dropped the small stone hammer in his hand and took it, opening it. His gaze fixed on the photo of the two of them, and he said with a raised lip, "This is a really good photo."

In the photo of the three of them, Comrade Xiao Zhou's smile was bright and radiant. He was smiling slightly, while Captain Zhang had a stern face.

Three people, three expressions.

In the photo of the two of them, Comrade Xiao Zhou's smile is more restrained, with his lips slightly pursed, as if he is a little restrained, but he still looks good, especially good-looking.

He glanced at his own solo photo and put it away, smiling, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you should have seen my solo photo. For the sake of fairness, should I see yours as well?"

That's not the case. She delivered the goods to the door but didn't ask for payment.

Zhou Jiani was so angry that she refused to indulge him: "Go and beat your clay."

Qiu Zeming smiled and picked up the small stone rammer on the ground. He stepped on the mold and hammered it again and again, working very hard.

If we can get it done sooner and build the wall sooner, we can move in.

They also had to make furniture. They originally wanted to make a homely style, but Comrade Xiao Zhou had her own requirements. They decided to wait until she finished drawing the blueprint and then go find the village carpenter to order it.

After a busy morning, when I went home for lunch at noon, I saw Sun Ping and Yu Wanxia studying the stool.

Of course, like Liu Tong, both of them treated it as a basket.

"Jiani, what is this basket used for?" Sun Ping asked.

There's no shoulder strap or handle. Can I use it as a suitcase at home? I don't think it can hold anything too big.

Yu Wanxia also said: "The shape is quite nice, but it's too thick and heavy."

Zhou Jiani explained the function to the two of them, and both Sun Ping and Yu Wanxia found it a little strange.

But when I heard the price, I was shocked.

"Why is it so expensive?"

"Because it takes time, materials, and money, it's too laborious to weave this, so it can't be cheap." Zhou Jiani said with a smile.

As two people who grew up in the city, we also felt that there would not be too many families buying this.

Zhou Jiani smiled and said nothing more. She had thought of a sales channel, but she wasn't sure if it would be successful. If that route didn't work, she would have to rely on the wealthy, as Sheng Manliang had said.

Zhou Jiani's idea of adding a seat cover to the lid was good, but it was a bit difficult to get started, so we decided to let Zhao Mei do it.

Zhou Jiani drew a diagram and showed it to Zhao Mei, explaining to her: "Put them together in circles like this. The width should be even, the stitches should be dense, and when the cover is opened, the stitches should not be visible from the surface."

You don't need a ticket to buy scraps of cloth, and they're cheap. To keep costs down, I can only start by using scraps of cloth to create a patchwork design. I'll consider the overall pattern later when I can choose more fabrics.

Of course, if that sales channel can be successfully penetrated, it will be different.

"Okay, I'll try." Zhao Mei took out the women's shoes she had just made and showed them to Zhou Jiani. "Is this it?"

"Yes, just do it this way."

Zhou Jiani decided that when the group sale started, this pair of cloth shoes could not be sold at a low price at all, as it was too time-consuming and costly.

And after it opens this time, I don’t know when it will open again.

There's really no logical reason for where the shoes went.

Making it for family members or relatives... This reason has been used so many times that even Zhao Mei, who doesn't like to ask questions, would start to wonder: Is there no one in Comrade Xiao Zhou's family who can make shoes?

Zhou Jiani covered her face, she couldn't let her ruin her family's reputation.

Let's wait a little longer until a batch of handmade cotton boots are produced in winter.

That night, Brother Zhao Mei brought 50 kilograms of dried cowpeas, 20 kilograms of peanuts, 5 kilograms of dried dates, and 2 kilograms of walnuts. He didn't want any money for the walnuts, as they were a gift from his mother-in-law to Comrade Zhou.

Of the fifty kilograms of dried cowpeas, twenty-six kilograms were taken from his mother-in-law's house. He could earn several dollars at once. His mother-in-law was happy and asked him to give two kilograms of walnuts to the educated youth who received the goods.

Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Walnuts are quite rare. I'd be embarrassed to accept so many for free. I'll put them in your account."

The eldest brother of the Zhao family waved his hand and said, "It's a gift if you say so. Comrade Xiao Zhou, my sister said that you take good care of them. Don't refuse this little gift, otherwise we will feel uncomfortable."

He is also offering flowers to Buddha.

Zhao Mei also smiled and advised Zhou Jiani, saying, "Don't be polite to your sister-in-law."

"Okay, I'll take it this time. But walnuts are rare in our place, so if you have a lot, I'll send more next time." Zhou Jiani said, "As for other dried goods, there are beans and the like. I'll take whatever you have."

Zhou Jiani settled the bill for the dried cowpeas and peanuts, and gave them an extra 80 cents as hard work fee, which was an extra 5 cents, and she didn't let them argue any further.

Although his sister had mentioned the hard work fee to him, the eldest brother of the Zhao family was still a little embarrassed and whispered, "Thank you, Comrade Zhou."

The eldest brother of the Zhao family felt a little guilty because he earned 80 cents by helping to collect some things in the evening without delaying his work.

Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I should thank Brother Zhao. You don't know that the last time I went back, the cowpeas I had were not enough to share. Everyone who saw me asked me for them. If you don't agree, they are all uncles and aunts who have watched me grow up. If you agree, it's really hard to get such things. Brother Zhao is helping me solve the problem."

The eldest brother of the Zhao family scratched his head and laughed, "You city folks love this. The educated youth in our brigade also buy a few every year to take back home. Especially when we go home to visit our families, half of the chickens in the village are gone because the educated youth buy them all."

Zhou Jiani smiled and grabbed a handful of rags for him, then gave him a hairband, saying, "Have your sister-in-law at home wear it to help spread the word for us. If anyone asks, just tell her it came from the Qianjin Brigade."

The eldest brother of the Zhao family thanked him repeatedly and left in the dark.

Zhou Jiani felt that this batch of goods arrived at a very good time. She would go to the town to pick up the package tomorrow, which would be a good excuse to send it away and collect it for a group purchase.