Chapter 93

The money is safest with Zhou Jiani. She did not put the money collected from the two department stores into the piggy bank, but directly put it into the warehouse and placed it on the shelf for easy access.

I packed away all the valuable things that could be packed away and only carried a bag. It looked bulging, but it was actually just two woven bags and two lunch boxes.

There was no way to explain this safety factor to Sheng Manliang, so he was just told to be at ease. However, the old man still kept his eyes open all night, staring at the passengers near Zhou Jiani, fearing that someone had bad intentions.

I got off the train at around four in the morning with bloodshot eyes.

Zhou Jiani patted herself pretentiously and said, "Don't worry, Uncle Sheng, we're all here."

Sheng Manliang nodded with confidence: "That's good, that's good!"

It was worth his staring all night.

This time, the village did not arrange anyone to pick her up. Zhou Jiani planned to stay outside the station until about six o'clock and then take a bus back.

I discussed it with Sheng Manliang, who nodded and said, "Okay, let's find a warm place to stay."

It was November now, and the temperature had dropped a lot in the morning and evening. Zhou Jiani wore a sweater inside and a lined jacket outside, and she couldn't help shivering as soon as she left the station.

In the future, try not to buy tickets after 6 pm. If you take a night train, buy the 10:30 pm one.

Sheng Manliang sighed and just said, "Wow, it's still quite cold!" when he saw Comrade Xiao Qiu approaching and said, "Uncle Sheng, Comrade Xiao Zhou, you're back!"

Zhou Jiani was completely stunned: "Comrade Xiao Qiu, why are you here?"

Comrade Xiao Zhou's eyes were bright with surprise and joy. Qiu Zeming unconsciously curled his lips and said with a smile, "Uncle Sheng said you would arrive this morning, so he came to pick you up."

Zhou Jiani looked at Sheng Manliang, who rubbed his hands sheepishly and said with a smile, "I called."

Yesterday afternoon, after Zhou Jiani went home to get her things and left, Sheng Manliang couldn't contain his excitement, so he asked the photo studio's master to take him out to make a phone call, and it happened to be Comrade Xiao Qiu who answered the phone.

Later, when Zhou Jiani came back, he was too embarrassed to talk about this matter, for fear that Comrade Xiao Zhou would laugh at him.

Likewise, he hadn't asked anyone to pick him up over the phone, so when he first saw Qiu Zeming, he was surprised, then a little embarrassed, and said, "Hey, kid, we said we'd take the bus back by ourselves."

"It's okay. It's not pleasant to sit on the train all night. I can go back early and rest earlier." Qiu Zeming said with a smile.

Sheng Manliang rubbed his hands and said, "You said this... you made me make this trip."

I thought Comrade Xiao Qiu was so nice. I didn't ask him to come to pick me up, but he still came.

Climbing onto the car, he saw a thick straw blanket covering it, with a mattress beside it. The mattress looked familiar; wasn't it the one he'd built at home? His heart warmed, and he chuckled, "Little comrade, you're so thoughtful."

He was indeed tired after loading the cart with so much grain. After getting on the ox cart, he lay down on the thick straw felt, put the mattress over himself, and soon began to snore.

But before going to bed, he reminded me to call him when I got to town so that he could buy two meat buns for his grandson.

Zhou Jiani didn't sleep. She was sitting on the front of the car, wrapped in the thick woolen coat that Qiu Zeming brought, and talking to him.

This coat belongs to Qiu Zeming himself. He was worried about the bad influence, so he did not go home to move Zhou Jiani's quilt and mattress.

Old Man Sheng didn't care. He went to talk to his aunt, and his aunt came out with a broken mattress.

"Thank you. The temperature has dropped so much in the past two days. It must be hard for you to drive here so late at night."

It’s certainly better to go back earlier than to wait outside for two more hours.

Qiu Zeming smiled and said, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, there's no need to be so polite."

There was still half a box of glutinous rice lotus root in Zhou Jiani's bag.

Last night, she went to a nearby restaurant with Uncle Sheng and ordered a vegetable dish and two bowls of hot porridge, and ate it with the braised pork she brought from home.

Sheng Manliang tried two pieces of the glutinous rice lotus root and refused to eat it. Sheng Manliang said that she felt embarrassed after eating the braised pork, so she asked her to take this rare thing home and eat it slowly.

He also said that he had learned something new. He didn't expect that lotus root could be stuffed with rice... Oh no, it was stuffed with glutinous rice and then stewed with sugar. It tasted good, but I guess a lot of sugar had to be added.

It was cold at the moment, and it was not suitable to eat in the cold wind. Zhou Jiani thought about giving half of the money to Comrade Xiao Qiu after returning to express her gratitude.

I was making plans in my head when Comrade Xiao Qiu suddenly asked, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, what are your plans for the future?"

Zhou Jiani tilted her head and met Qiu Zeming's gaze. Comrade Qiu had beautiful eyes, with a long and narrow outline and a little bit of double vision, but they spread out in a fan shape at the end of the eyes, slightly upturned, which was particularly beautiful.

At this moment, those eyes were bright and clear, looking at her deeply with a tenderness that was no longer hidden.

Zhou Jiani's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked away, saying in panic, "What plan?"

He smiled again and asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Future life plan." Qiu Zeming said softly, "My plan is to stay here for a while and then join the army. What about you?"

Comrade Xiao Qiu seems to be continuing along the path of his previous life, as if his goal has been set from the very beginning.

Zhou Jiani's plan in this life is to take the college entrance examination.

But I couldn't explain it now, so I said, "I didn't have a plan before, but now... let's work together with everyone to develop the knitting factory."

Qiu Zeming glanced back at the loudly snoring Sheng Manliang, then turned back to Zhou Jiani and expressed his thoughts: "Comrade Xiao Zhou, after I go to the army, you come with me!"

Zhou Jiani turned her head suddenly and looked over, her pupils trembling.

Is this a confession to her?

Her heart was beating wildly, not because she was excited, but because she was a little panicked when she heard such an invitation.

I had a few illusions before, feeling that Comrade Xiao Qiu seemed to treat me differently, but then I felt that I was overthinking it.

After all, their contact during this period was not that frequent, and even if there was communication, it was normal interaction. Zhou Jiani no longer had any illusions, but she did not expect that Uncle Sheng would confess his love to her amid his rising and falling snoring.

Well, she was right, this was a confession.

Zhou Jiani took a deep breath and smiled, declining the offer. "I, well... I'm just not the right person... I've never thought about being with anyone in my life. I think focusing on my career is good."

Who knows if Qiu Zeming had an official partner in his previous life? If she agreed, this plot would be messed up.

Looking at the stuttering Xiao Zhou, Qiu Zeming smiled slightly and said, "It's good to pursue a career. Our ideas coincide with each other. My plan is to establish a career first and then start a family."

Then he whispered, "I'm not talking about now. It will probably take a year and a half or two years."

Zhou Jiani: ...the first half of her words about love were in vain.

Qiu Zeming was worried that he would be rejected again if he continued the conversation, so he stopped talking and turned to the topic of the plastic greenhouse. He said, "I plan to take Liu Yan with me to do the plastic greenhouse experiment."

Liu Yan is from this village. He is smart, hardworking and willing to learn. I will start taking him with me from now on to prevent any skill gaps in the future.

Zhou Jiani nodded. Comrade Xiao Qiu was thoughtful and careful, which also showed that he had been prepared to leave since the first day he arrived here.

When we arrived in town, we called Shengmanliang and went to the state-owned restaurant together.

After returning to the village and handing over the ox cart, Zhou Jiani opened her big schoolbag, reached in, took out the payment for the goods, and also took out a few foreign exchange coupons.

Zhang Baosheng and his colleagues already knew that the samples they sent were bought by foreigners on the spot. Sheng Manliang called back last night to tell the village that they had to continue making the samples and that they had to make a few more sets according to the previous plan and put them in the department store's warehouse as a reserve, in case the store reopens one day.

Seeing the foreign exchange certificates, Zhang Baosheng and Liu Tong gathered around curiously, saying, "This is the foreign exchange certificate. Are there words from the foreign devils on the back?"

The back of the foreign exchange coupons is printed in English.

Li Jingdang came in from outside, and Zhang Baosheng quickly handed him the foreign exchange certificates, saying with a bit of pride, "Deputy Director Li, look what Xiao Zhou and the others brought back! We sent samples to the Friendship Store, and the foreign devils bought two on the spot."

Li Jingdang had seen foreign exchange coupons before, so they weren't new to him. He was also delighted that the storage stools had been sold through the Friendship Store, and he said with a smile, "What a good start!" He looked around and saw that most of the core cadres were present. He said, "Director Zhang, everyone's here. I'll call Uncle Si and we'll have a meeting to decide on a date for the roof beams. Meanwhile, we need to start recruiting from other brigades."

If we go back half a month or twenty days, I guess everyone would instinctively reject the idea of recruiting people from other teams. However, after working to catch up on production during this period, they also realized the inconvenience caused by the shortage of manpower.

So Zhang Baosheng was silent for a moment, glanced at Xiao Zhou, and seeing that Xiao Zhou also looked supportive, he nodded and said, "Okay, let's ask Zhang Laosi to come to the meeting."

Qiu Zeming went to call Zhang Laosi over.

Seeing the foreign exchange certificates on the table, he was also very excited and grinned, "This idea is good. Comrade Xiao Zhou's idea was really good. Does this count as exporting?"

Although Zhang Baosheng was very happy that his product was favored and bought by foreigners, he didn't think too much about it. Now, after hearing Zhang Laosi's mention, he clapped his legs happily and finally realized it. He said, "It's true! Oh, our baskets are exported!"

Next, when the issue of manpower and output came up, Zhang Laosi also realized the seriousness of the situation.

Although they worked very hard to train people, they believed that experienced craftsmen were definitely more efficient than newcomers, so they did not object.

He also subconsciously looked at Zhou Jiani. As a result, Li Jingdang had to ask, "Chief Zhou, is there anything else you want to add?"

Zhou Jiani said seriously, "Recruiting people and purchasing materials will be done simultaneously. When we discuss this, we need to clarify the order. We should first propose collecting materials to help them generate income, and then, based on that, we can offer a number of jobs, with compensation tied to their skills. We also need to ask the commune to draft a contract. To work at the weaving factory, they must abide by our regulations. For example, regarding private transactions, the agreement we signed with the department store must be followed by craftsmen from other villages."

Zhang Baosheng sat up straight and nodded, "Xiao Zhou... Section Chief Zhou is right!"

Good heavens, he hadn't thought of that.

Zhang Laosi and the others also expressed their opinions, saying, "That's right, that's right. We promised the department store that the goods we supply them cannot be sold privately. They have to abide by this even if they come here to make money."

Qiu Zeming said, "In the future, our woven product offerings will become increasingly diverse. Even though we haven't signed an agreement with the department store, we should try to impose some restrictions. We could follow Comrade Xiao Zhou's previous suggestion, such as specifying certain styles for private sale."

"It's better to set regulations right from the start than to impose strict regulations later when the market becomes chaotic."

Li Jingdang nodded, wrote down everyone's suggestions, and said, "I will discuss this matter with the commune. Does anyone have any additional suggestions?"

Zhou Jiani glanced at him and said, "Last time, I raised the issue with Deputy Director Li about whether we could plan to cultivate our raw materials artificially. We can't just wait for God to give us food every year. God's food is limited, and when it's used up, we have to rely on other brigades. If our scale expands to a certain extent in the future and raw materials become far from sufficient, others with other intentions could use this as a chokehold. So I suggest we take precautions from now on."

"Of course, I'm just saying, just in case. If everyone can get along, that would be the best. We're also willing to help other teams get rich together. The real danger is..."

Zhang Laosi snorted coldly and said, "Get along? That's impossible! Every year, each team has to take turns to punish us for water. Once we become big, it would be strange if no one would do anything bad. Secretary Li...oh, Deputy Director Li knows about this. Wouldn't he come down several times every year to make adjustments?"

Li Jingdang smiled and said, "Let's not talk about the past, let's just talk about future developments. I think Comrade Xiao Zhou's proposal is good and can be considered. I will also report to the commune in a timely manner and listen to the leadership's opinions."

Zhou Jiani said, "It would be best if it could be approved. I would have the raw materials in my hands and wouldn't be worried."