When Zhou Qiqi saw someone approaching menacingly, she instinctively gripped the strap of her canvas bag and quickly scanned the street with her eyes.
When that iconic military green uniform came into view, her tense back relaxed slightly, and she tilted her chin up to look at the middle-aged man rushing towards her.
The man frowned, looking fierce, and immediately began to question Zhou Qiqi.
"Are you Comrade Zhou Qiqi, the owner of Qiqi Fashion Stall?"
She straightened her back, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the clasp of her bag, and nodded indifferently.
"Yes, it is. What can I do for you?"
The man's brow remained furrowed. "You've really been on my radar!"
As he spoke, he bent down to reach for the clothes on the stall.
"Stop selling the clothes! Come with me!"
What are you doing?
Alarm bells rang in Zhou Qiqi's mind. She took out pepper spray from her bag with her left hand and was about to wave to the patrol team with her right hand.
Just then, the little girl following behind the middle-aged man arrived and hurriedly called out, panting.
"No, no, no! Don't call the police! We're not bad people!"
Zhou Qiqi stared intently.
The newcomer was wearing an ill-fitting khaki military uniform, his melon-shaped cap askew on his head, his mustache trembling slightly with his panting, and his face covered in sweat, looking just like an Imperial Army soldier.
The comical appearance startled Zhou Qiqi. It wasn't until the other person blushed and pulled off the fake beard that she recognized him as Zou Qianqian, a student from the teachers' college.
"Qianqian?"
Zhou Qiqi's tense shoulders instantly relaxed. She pulled out a tissue from her bag and handed it over, her tone tinged with helplessness and relief.
"I almost didn't recognize him in that outfit, it gave me quite a fright!"
Zou Qianqian stuck out her tongue, took the tissue, and wiped her sweat.
"I just finished rehearsing for the school's stage play, and when I heard you were setting up a stall, I dragged my cousin over."
She nudged the man to the side, "He has something urgent to discuss with you!"
Zhou Qiqi frowned slightly, her gaze lingering on the man's serious face for a moment.
"This is your cousin? Then why did he tell me to stop selling clothes and come with him?"
She still felt a lingering fear when she recalled the tension she had just experienced.
"He's tongue-tied! He's completely bad at talking! But he doesn't mean any harm."
Zou Qianqian glared at her cousin reproachfully, then immediately flashed a sweet smile.
"He meant that we would buy the rest of the clothes and we could find a place to talk slowly."
The man's forehead was covered in sweat. He nodded hurriedly, wiped his thick palms on his trouser leg, and then awkwardly extended his hand.
The man nodded hurriedly, rubbing his thick palm on his trouser leg before extending it.
"Yes, yes! My name is Zhang Guoqiang, deputy director of the No. 1 Garment Factory in G City. I have something important to discuss with you, Comrade Zhou. It's not a bad thing, it's a good thing."
The First Garment Factory?!
Zhou Qiqi still remembered this name.
"You wouldn't happen to be the friend that Sister Ping from the wholesale market mentioned, would you?"
Zhang Guoqiang nodded quickly, "That's right, it's me, it's me!"
As soon as he said that, Zhou Qiqi roughly knew what he wanted to talk about.
She lowered her eyes to conceal the knowing look in them, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and a meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
"It's no use for a grown man like you to buy so many clothes for me. You don't need to buy any more. My legs are tired from standing anyway. Let's pack up and find a place to talk."
Zhang Guoqiang was afraid of saying the wrong thing, but fortunately, before he could open his mouth, Zou Qianqian quickly interrupted him.
"No way! I strongly object! I have to buy this suit and skirt! I want the pink skirt!"
"Okay! I'll pay!"
Zhang Guoqiang hurriedly untied the keychain clipped to his waistband and pulled out a Peony brand wallet from his inner pocket.
Zhou Qiqi took a closer look and found that the wallet looked quite high-end, with a shiny surface, so it probably wasn't a cheap item.
However, after a long time of use, the edges and corners became worn white, much like the faded blue Zhongshan suit he was wearing.
It seems that Deputy Factory Director Zhang is quite frugal in his daily life.
Therefore, when Zhang Guoqiang suggested going to a teahouse, Zhou Qiqi declined and chose to go to the pavilion in the nearby People's Park instead.
Upon arriving at the destination, Zou Qianqian happily tried on the dress on herself.
Zhang Guoqiang got straight to the point.
"It's like this, Comrade Zhou Qiqi, I've seen your designs before, so I'd like to hire you to be a fashion designer at our factory!"
Zhou Qiqi had long expected him to say that.
This is also why she chose to come to the park instead of going to a teahouse, because she would definitely refuse, and there's no need to waste other people's money.
She shook her head gently, her tone firm.
"Brother Zhang, I'm sorry, I can't accept this job."
Upon hearing that he had been rejected, Zhang Guoqiang became so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead, and he quickly repeated the offer.
"Comrade Zhou, think it over carefully. We are a state-owned enterprise. I can give you the highest salary according to the technical level 8, with a monthly salary of one hundred yuan. This is a secure job. Once you get it, you won't have to set up a stall outside anymore. You can earn that much money by going to get off work on time."
In those days, an ordinary laborer's monthly wage was only twenty or thirty yuan, while a large factory with good profits could earn thirty or forty yuan.
One hundred yuan a month is indeed a lot of money.
If it were anyone else, they definitely wouldn't have been able to refuse.
But Zhou Qiqi was different. She earned 110 yuan on her first day of setting up a stall, and 200 yuan on her second day.
This time, before they were even sold out, they had already made about two hundred yuan.
These three times added up to five hundred dollars, and that's only for three weeks, even with her frequently slacking off.
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