Chapter 17: Finding a Job

"Comrade Xiao Ai, we brought you some daily necessities this time."

As Yang Ruihua spoke, he signaled the people who came with him to bring over the things they brought.

The Military Support Office's visit this time was very generous. They brought ten kilograms of flour, five kilograms of eggs, and a thermos to the Shi family. It can be said that all of them were things that the family urgently needed.

Especially the thermos. If we had one at home before, it wouldn’t have been so difficult for the two children to drink hot water just now.

In fact, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the family didn’t have money before. After all, the old man has always been working, and he suffered from an emergency disease. It only took a few months from the time he fell ill to his death, so it wouldn’t cost too much money at all.

Logically, there should be no shortage of devices needed for normal life at home.

But when Xiao Ai and the others came back, almost all the valuable things in the house that were easy to take were gone.

There was almost nothing left except the heavy furniture that was impossible to move out, the pots and pans with chipped porcelain and cracked edges, and a set of quilted bedclothes that had been used for who knows how many years.

Even the half-pack of noodles they found in the cupboard on the day they arrived were probably thrown away on purpose because they felt the old man had already eaten them.

Aunt Liu said that these were all taken away by Shi Laoer's family.

Anyway, no matter who did it, Xiao Ai and the others were short of everything at this moment.

Seeing these things, she naturally expressed her sincere gratitude to everyone again.

Shi Xiaoai's eyes were dark and bright, with thin eyelids, typical almond-shaped. When she stared at someone, her eyes sparkled, looking pure and beautiful.

In addition, she has a pair of shallow dimples at the corners of her lips, which makes her smile sweet and pretty, full of girlishness.

At that time, people didn't know what girlishness was, so they felt that the person in front of them didn't look like a young wife of twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and looked as lovable as a girl of seventeen or eighteen.

Looking at her happy smile and listening to her words of gratitude in a gentle voice, everyone present felt warm in their hearts and wanted to give her more.

"Xiao Ai, is there anything your family needs? Or is there anything that needs our Military Support Office's help and coordination? Just tell us, and we will do our best to help." Yang Ruihua spoke out what was in their heart on behalf of everyone.

"Thank you, Director. Actually, I do have something I'd like to ask the organization for help with, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate."

Shi Xiaoai was not polite. After all, such opportunities don’t come every day, and they will be wasted.

Yang Ruihua didn't think there was anything wrong with her doing this, and nodded with a smile: "You go ahead."

"Can the organization help me find a job? I'm not afraid of hard work and I'm okay with physical labor. As long as it's a little closer to home and allows me to take care of the children a little bit, that's all that's fine." Shi Xiaoai asked sincerely.

As soon as she said this, there was a moment of silence in the room. Yang Ruihua, who had just said that he would do his best to help, did not dare to respond.

Because—there’s no way to respond to that.

Finding a job is so difficult!

Not to mention that they are just a small military support office, even if the municipal government wants to assign a job to someone, it is by no means an easy matter.

After a while, Yang Ruihua gave an awkward smile and said, "Finding a job isn't our responsibility! You should talk to Director Yu about this matter! The resettlement of returned educated youth has always been the responsibility of the street office."

As she spoke, she pointed towards Yu Xiangxue.

Yu Xiangxue never expected that the ball would be kicked to her.

Can she arrange work?

If she could find a job, her second son wouldn't have been unemployed at home for more than a year!

It is so difficult to find a job nowadays. Not to mention being a temporary worker in a regular company, even jobs like carrying heavy bags and sweeping the streets require waiting time of half a year to ten months!

She quickly waved her hands with a wry smile on her face: "Don't come to me about this matter, it's useless to come to me. If I could find a job, your second brother wouldn't have to marry into his wife's family and live with her."

The "second brother" she was referring to was naturally her second son. Everyone in the alley knew that he took over his father-in-law's job at the chemical factory.

His father-in-law's family only has one daughter. At the beginning, the family did not give the job to their daughter but to him as a son-in-law. The two families agreed that after he got married, he would live in the girl's house and take care of the old couple in their old age.

Although supporting the elderly is a duty, it is very sad for Director Yu and his wife that someone chose to marry into the family because of a job.

No one would choose this method unless there is really no other way.

After hearing her say this, Yang Ruihua didn't know what to say.

Shi Xiaoai had known for a long time that it was difficult to find a job, and she had told Aunt Liu about it yesterday.

The truth is that her pockets were too empty, and no matter how she calculated it, it was not enough to buy food for next month.

Aunt Liu knew that Xiao Ai had been spending a lot recently and had no income, so she was worried about her. But when she heard Xiao Ai say that she wanted to find a job through the office, she poured cold water on her.

What Aunt Liu said was similar to what Director Yu said, but she used her own family as an example.

After returning to the city, her youngest daughter stayed at home unemployed for almost a year. She really couldn't stay there anymore, so she ran to the home of her eldest daughter who had just given birth to a child to take care of her sister during her confinement.

But how long can this confinement period last? Sooner or later, I have to come back.

When talking about her youngest daughter's work, Aunt Liu was so anxious that her hair almost turned white.

Finally, it was Aunt Liu who gave Shi Xiaoai some advice. She said that the people from the Military Support Office would definitely send someone to visit her after they learned that she was a military dependent. She should take the opportunity to raise the issue and see if there was any solution.

As a result, what she said came true. Yang Ruihua and others really offered to help her solve the practical difficulties.

It’s a pity that the other party couldn’t help her solve her biggest problem.

Seeing Director Yu’s decisive refusal, Yang Ruihua felt a little embarrassed.

She quickly said, "Xiao Ai, this job is really hard to handle. How about this, you wait a little while, we'll keep an eye on it for you, and we'll let you know as soon as we find a suitable one."

After hearing this, everyone around nodded repeatedly.

Director Yu echoed, "That's right, that's right. Also, Director Yang and the others will help you find your Cheng Yang as soon as possible. When his allowance is sent back, your family will definitely have a better life."

Everyone knows that soldiers receive high wartime allowances these days! Furthermore, according to Shi Xiaoai, her husband has been in the army for over five years and hasn't even sent back a single salary.

That’s a huge amount of money!

With this money, their family's life will definitely be much better.

After hearing what Director Yu said, the others also thought of this and expressed their approval.

But Shi Xiaoai was not fooled by them.

She didn't refute it, but after everyone had said almost the same thing, she asked lightly, "What if we can't find him in a short time? I've been looking for him for five years and haven't found him.

And—I’m out of money.

After taking care of Grandpa's funeral today, I have less than 20 yuan left at home. This is all I have. It's not even enough to buy food for next month. My children and I need to eat too!

As she spoke, she took out a handkerchief bag from her pocket and spread it out for everyone to see.

Inside the handkerchief were neatly rolled up rolls of small change, both whole and small.

But the largest denomination is only five yuan.

Looking at the huge volume, anyone can see that the total cost of this volume is only fourteen or fifteen yuan at most, twenty is already an exaggeration.

Looking at the roll of money, the room fell silent again.

Yu Xiangxue and Yang Ruihua began to think quickly, wondering how they could help this young daughter-in-law apply for some subsidies. They couldn't let them go hungry!

The two people couldn't help but exchange glances, and then they saw deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

They know that they can apply for this subsidy, but it is not a long-term solution.

You can't apply every month, right?

If it is true as Xiao Ai said at this time, that her husband cannot be found in the short term and there is no long-term source of income, these three people will sooner or later become a burden on the street.

If they fail to keep an eye on her and she goes to the city for help, then their district leaders...

The two of them were startled at the same time.

Just when they couldn't think of a suitable solution, Shi Xiaoai spoke again.

The voice was still so soft and gentle, but the words that came out of it made both of their eyes light up!

Shi Xiaoai said, "I've thought of a job that would allow me to be self-sufficient and wouldn't cause any trouble for the office or the Military Support Office. How about I tell you about it and let the two directors give me some advice?"