In mid-September, Qiaoqiao is finally one month old!

The couple is planning to hold a full-month banquet for their baby in the next two days until Sunday.

The baby's one-month birth meant that Qiao Lu's confinement period was over and she could move around freely, but she was so pent up that she ran around the house like crazy.

Liberated!

After getting up on Wednesday morning and feeding his daughter, Xu Haizhou struggled to get up to cook for the family, but was held down by Qiao Lu.

"Don't move. I'll do it today. You take a good rest." Her voice was so gentle. She leaned over and gave me a kiss with a milky scent: "I've tired you out recently. Take a good rest."

With Qiao Lu's words, all the hard work turned into insignificant dust.

"Thank you, wife."

Having not cooked for half a year, Qiao Lu was a little unfamiliar with the cooking. She didn’t add enough water to the millet and pumpkin porridge, so it turned out to be like dry pumpkin rice. She also used too much heat to stir-fry the vegetables, so they turned out dry…

It’s not as delicious as Xu Haizhou’s, sad.

Fortunately, her husband and son gave her face and praised her craftsmanship, so Qiao Lu felt better.

I'll just get by with breakfast, but I'll let my dear husband do the lunch.

"Don't hold the full-moon banquet at the state-owned hotel. I heard from Mrs. Li that a new hotel has opened on the street of the department store. What's its name? Youzhuang Hotel, a private one. She said the food is good. Let's have it there."

As soon as she heard the name, she knew that the hotel was not cheap. Xu Haizhou raised his eyebrows and scratched her nose: "The one who lives on the floor above us, the wife of Director Li of the hardware factory? Are you so familiar with her?"

Qiao Lu smiled playfully, hugged Qiao Qiao and patted her back, and while cradle her, she replied, "Yes, she is my best friend in this neighborhood. We are about the same age and both are mothers, so we have a lot to talk about. And she is a middle school teacher. She always shares with me the interesting stories of the students in the school. It's very interesting. We probably chatted a lot."

Xu Haizhou nodded thoughtfully and said, "Very good, I will go and see this Youzhuang Hotel then."

"good."

These days, private hotels are expensive, but the food is richer than that of state-owned hotels.

This hotel, called "You Zhuang Hotel", even serves Hong Kong cuisine. It's fine to try some fresh food, since they have money anyway.

In early August last year, our country sent a team of athletes to participate in the Olympic Games in the United States.

Xu Haifeng won the first gold medal for China wearing a Chinese red plum blossom sportswear. Since then, plum blossom brand sportswear has become popular all over the country and is in short supply.

It was already October last year when Xu Haizhou received the news from the newspaper. At that time, the sportswear craze had just reached Li'an.

Sensing the financial storm, he hurried, dropped all his work, and took Li Hongjun with him to travel thousands of miles to Jinshi to purchase goods.

Each man was carrying two large sacks, covered in dust and looking exhausted.

Fortunately, hard work pays off, and all the sportswear were sold out within a month!

By the time other merchants reacted, the sale of Plum Blossom brand sportswear in Li'an City had already become "rampant". The meat could no longer be eaten, so the only option was to drink some meat soup.

Then in November, Qiao Lu became pregnant. She didn't know much about the details of the sportswear afterwards, as it was Xu Haizhou and Li Hongjun who were in charge.

Now that they were chatting about the topic, Qiao Lu only found out now that Xu Haizhou and Li Hongjun had made a special trip to Jinshi to purchase Plum Blossom brand sportswear, and in more than a year, they made a huge profit of 23,300!

As of August this year, sportswear can still bring in four to five hundred yuan in revenue to the store every month, which is quite considerable.

So when Qiao Lu said she wanted to invite relatives and friends to dinner at Youzhuang Hotel, it was a no-brainer for Xu Haizhou, who immediately booked ten tables.

The task of inviting guests was given to Xu Haizhou. On Friday, Xu Haizhou personally took his wife and children to the big courtyard to invite the old neighbors to attend Qiaoqiao's full-month banquet.

Of course, I came here not only to invite everyone, but mainly to bring my wife and children to visit our old neighbors, chat and relieve my boredom. She has been feeling very suffocated these past few months!

This Friday, I arrived just as the kids were getting out of school.

The old neighbors were still so enthusiastic. When they saw her, they were so excited as if they had seen the factory leader. They covered their mouths in disbelief.

"Qiaolu! Qiaolu is back!"

"Sister Qiao Lu is back!"

"Aunt Qiaolu is back!"

They served her tea and water and moved a chair for her to sit on, which made Qiao Lu feel uncomfortable.

"After not seeing each other for more than half a year, everyone is still so enthusiastic. There has been no change at all."

"Well! Look at what you said. What changes can be made in half a year?"

Wu Guifang teased her: "You have changed a lot, you have gained some weight on your face, but you are still so beautiful!"

Qiao Lu laughed and subconsciously lowered her head to take a look at her voluptuous figure, but - oh no, her breasts were too big, and her vision was blocked by the two pounds of flesh at first glance!

I laughed out loud: "Really? I finally gave birth and finished my confinement, but I still feel fat and want to lose weight."

It doesn't matter even if I lose the extra fat on my chest, since Haizhou said he likes her even though she has small breasts.

Ahem——

"Lose weight? What weight do you want to lose? You're not fat." These days, only people want to gain weight, no one wants to lose weight.

Besides, apart from the chef in the cafeteria, where else can you easily see fat people?

"Lose a little weight and get rid of the excess fat." Qiao Lu said with a wry smile.

After a while of greeting, everyone's attention shifted to the baby in Qiaolu's arms.

"This must be the big fat boy you gave birth to Xiao Xu. Come and take a look." Aunt Chen couldn't wait to hug her.

Speaking of Xu Haizhou and his wife's newly born child, everyone is no longer sleepy. They gather around and want to see how beautiful this little guy is who combines the beauty of his mother and the handsomeness of his father.

Big eyes, small mouth, upturned little nose, pink face, clear facial features, clearly a baby who is just one month old. His black hair is so lush that even Chen Jiamei feels ashamed of herself.

"Our Qiaoqiao is a little beauty, not a boy." Qiaolu just held her in her arms for everyone to see, not letting them hold her or touch her face: "The child has a weak constitution, the doctor said not to let adults touch her, she is very uncomfortable when she is sick, she keeps crying."

As soon as the words fell, everyone withdrew their hands that were about to try.

This delicate and lovely baby, you will not be able to pay for it if you damage it.

"Is he weak in constitution? Not enough milk, not enough to eat, or something else?" I have never heard of a baby who would get sick if an adult touched him. At least in the 1980s, there was no such saying.

Of course, it wasn’t the doctor who said this, it was Qiao Lu who lied.

"I don't know. She was born weak. We didn't even dare to touch her at home."

"Ah, such a beautiful girl, but I can't touch her. What a pity..."

At this moment, the little Qiaoqiao, who was regarded as weak by the adults, was sleeping sweetly in her mother's arms. Without any adults poking her face or disturbing her, she was sleeping soundly and comfortably.

"By the way, what's the child's name? Shaqiao? Qiaoqiao? Xu Qiaoqiao?"

Shaking her head, Qiao Lu was about to reply when Qiao An excitedly raised his hand and explained to everyone: "Grandma Tian, ​​my sister is a girl named Qiao Qiao. She doesn't take our father's last name, but mine!"

“Aiyahahaha——”

If you can’t touch the baby Qiaoqiao, can you touch the baby An’an? Just one sentence made everyone come to touch and rub him, so rare.

"How can I call you by your last name? Isn't it your mother's last name?"

Scratching his head, Qiao An suddenly realized and responded: "Yes, it's my mother's last name. We all have our mother's last name!"

In the room opposite, the little friends heard the noise and ran out at the same time, pencils in their hands. It was obvious that they had just returned home from school and were doing their homework in the room!

He ran out and said in surprise:

"Joan! Joan, you are finally back!"

"Joan! You seem to have grown taller!"

Seeing his former friends, the boy's eyes lit up with excitement! He went up to hold Chen Botao's hand.

"Taotao! Brother Kangkang! Sister Nannan! Let me tell you, I am now a primary school student, just like you! In the first week, the teacher asked the students to raise their hands to vote, and then, I became the study committee member of our class!"

Qiaoan tells everyone she meets about her role as a study committee member, and she is proud and honored.

Although Qiaoan is only six years old, his language organization ability is still very good. I can understand every sentence he speaks.

"Wow, Qiao An, you are amazing. The study committee member of our class is a girl. She has excellent grades and scores 90 points in every exam!"

"Well, I haven't taken the exam yet. When I take the exam, I will know whether my results are good or not. If they are not good, will the teacher not let me continue to be the teacher?" He glanced at Qiao Lu and Xu Haizhou with some concern, and finally looked at his friends.

"Well, then you should study hard and try to do well in the next exam. Is your teacher a nice person? If so, I'll let you be the teacher again." Chen Nannan comforted him.

Qiao An was happy again and said with a smile: "Teacher Chen Hua is so nice. She praised me for being smart. If that's the case, I told her that if she gave me another chance, I would study hard and get better grades."

"Stop talking, Qiao An, come here quickly! Come and see our new home, the room you lived in before. It has changed a lot now, come quickly!" Chen Jingkang invited him enthusiastically.

Chen Nannan echoed her brother: "Yes, come here quickly! Let me show you our new house!"

The little friends held hands and entered the room that used to be Joan and her parents' room, but now it was the room of several elementary school students in the inner courtyard.

Qiao Lu carried Qiaoqiao in her arms and followed the children into the old house, looking around curiously.

The outhouse became a warehouse, with cloth and new clothes neatly stacked and covered with a huge piece of coarse cloth to keep out the dust.

The children living in the inner room actually act as "storekeepers". If there are thieves coming to the house, the children have keen hearing and can discover them in time even though they live inside.

There were three beds in the inner bedroom. One was the big bed that Xu Haizhou and his wife had slept on, one was the small camp bed that Qiao An had slept on before, and the other was a wooden bed that was not sure whether it was bought by the adults or made by Tian Jianzhong's father.

It has two floors, with fine workmanship. There is a small staircase on the left side of the bed.

The room was packed with things, with only a narrow gap between the beds, just enough for one person to pass through. Every inch of space was utilized to the utmost.

This is the wisdom of the working people!

"Aunt Qiao Lu! After you left, my brother, my younger brother, and Hu Fengyun all moved here!" Chen Nannan said excitedly.

"How does it feel to live here? Is it a bit crowded?" Qiao Lu asked, looking around.

The little ones shook their heads and said to Qiaolu, "It's not crowded! It's great to live here! Here, each of us has a bed! We don't have to squeeze with my parents anymore. Besides, there are children here, it's so fun!"

There are also disadvantages to having children sleep together in the same room. Sometimes when they don’t want to sleep, they just chat with each other without caring about having to get up and go to school the next day.

There were a few times when the conversation got too intense and the adults took turns guarding the room for three or four nights. Whoever talked was made to stand in the yard until they said they were done and could go to bed.

This is why they develop the habit of going to bed as soon as they go to bed, otherwise they will not be able to have the energy to attend class the next day if they keep chatting endlessly.

"Qiao Lu, this house is so nice. Look how happy the children are." After walking out of the store, Aunt Chen sighed sincerely.

Qiao Lu was tired of holding the child, so she handed Qiaoqiao to Xu Haizhou, turned her head, and exclaimed in admiration: "Yes, it's good, very good, really good."

I heard before that Haizhou arranged one room of the old house to be used as a warehouse and one room for the neighbors in the inner courtyard to live in. Because I was pregnant at that time, I didn’t feel much after hearing it. I just thought that the old house was given away, and a few more favors were not too much.

Now I realize that it is more than just a question of personal relationships, it is actually solving the practical problem of not having enough space for everyone!

It’s good, it’s really good. I feel a sense of pride in helping others.

Oh, of course, the premise of helping everyone is to make Li Xiuxiu's family of five "have no home to return to.

But as the saying goes, if you don't seek death, you won't die. Li Xiuxiu should bear the consequences of her actions.

"When are you going to come back? It's just a matter of words. We will definitely not stay here." After sighing, Aunt Chen pulled Qiao Lu and said.

The neighbors are still very simple and grateful, unlike Li Xiuxiu, that ungrateful person.

Qiao Lu comforted her: "Don't worry, just stay here and return it when you need it in the future."

By the way, speaking of ungrateful people...

"Auntie Chen, how is Li Xiuxiu doing?"

Wu Guifang interrupted and replied: "Well! What else can it be? The man does the heavy work and she stays at home to take care of the children."

He curled his lips and advised Qiao Lu: "Don't be so kind. Li Xiuxiu comes to our place every day to get materials for her craft. She can make at least a few dollars a day, which is enough for her to live on. As long as your family doesn't go bankrupt, theirs won't go bankrupt either. As for the house..."

Her daughter is also living in the house now. If she returns it to Li Xiuxiu, forget it.

Wu Guifang said: "She has to be punished, otherwise she won't learn her lesson and think that she can get sympathy from others by pretending to be pitiful after doing something wrong."

Not only are they ungrateful, but the women present are all shrewd and cowardly. They are all thousand-year-old foxes. What's the point of playing Liao Zhai with them?

It's fine to be deceived at the beginning, but after a long time, who can't tell who is a human or a ghost under the skin?

After thinking for a while, Qiao Lu smiled and said, "Well, this kind of punishment is almost enough. What happened before is in the past. As long as she doesn't make trouble or act shamelessly, I don't want to bother with her."

"Yes, if she doesn't cause trouble, we won't bother with her. If she does, you don't have to do anything. Your Aunt Chen and I will go up and slap her!" Aunt Tian rolled up her sleeves and made a slapping gesture, which made Qiao Lu laugh so hard that her stomach hurt.

After chatting for a while, Qiao Lu realized that someone was missing from the inner courtyard: "Where's Sister Liu? Why can't I see her?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads: "I don't know, he hasn't gotten off work yet, I didn't see him before you came."

Hey guys, speak of the devil and he will appear.

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of footsteps approaching from the outer courtyard was heard, and Liu Xiaohong's voice was heard, so excited that her voice broke: "Hurry up, hurry up! The Red Star Garment Factory has closed down! The big warehouse, the fabrics and ready-made clothes are so cheap! Go buy them quickly, if you go too late they will be sold out!"

It turned out that Liu Xiaohong came back late because she went to buy fabric with some of her old sisters!

"Ms. Liu, your scarf is quite fashionable in such a hot day." Qiao Lu teased her with a smile.

The moment she heard the sound, Liu Xiaohong was stunned for a moment. After she came to her senses, she immediately ran home to put the cloth away and untied the two long strips of cotton material that she had randomly put on her neck because she couldn't hold it.

He trotted out, hugged Qiao Lu, stamped his feet excitedly, and patted her: "Oh! You still remember to come back! How long has it been since I came? I haven't seen you for a long time. Have you changed?"

He looked her up and down carefully, nodded continuously, with a smile overflowing from his eyes. He looked so happy, as if he was happier than Qiao Lu's mother to see her.

"You've gained weight! You've gained weight! You look more like a mother!" She has shed her former immaturity and youthfulness, and now exudes a maternal feminine charm.

"Come on, she's fat anyway. She must have become just skin and bones." Aunt Chen pulled her away and said with a smile.

"What do you mean by skin and bones?" Liu Xiaohong was puzzled.

Everyone told Liu Xiaohong that Qiao Lu wanted to lose weight, and she burst into laughter after suddenly realizing it.

"Why lose weight? Being fat is good, being fat is good! If you are fat, you are blessed!"

Nowadays, aren’t fat people a symbol exclusive to rich people? Without money, how can you get fat?

After laughing, he asked Qiao Lu the purpose of her return, and teased Qiaoqiao for a while before remembering the business.

"Just now, those two pieces of cotton material I wore around my neck, guess how much I paid for them?"

"How many?"

"Two of them, they're this long! They cost me eighty-five cents!"

"Ah? So cheap?" Two such long pieces, according to the market price, would cost at least one dollar and fifty cents, right?

"Yes, you know the Red Star Garment Factory, right? It's on the street behind Xiao Gao's house, and it's quite big. I don't know what happened, but it can't continue. I heard that the director resigned! They want to clear out the warehouse, and the factory is closed! It's closed!"

"What?"

Balabala kept asking Liu Xiaohong questions, and Qiao Lu listened. The more she listened, the brighter the light in her eyes became.

Good guys, it’s time to get some free money!

After finding out the situation, everyone didn't have time to continue chatting with Qiao Lu, as they rushed to the Red Star Garment Factory to get the best deals!

Qiao Lu quickly took Qiaoqiao into her arms and pushed Xu Haizhou: "Hurry, Haizhou, go get some bargains! Buy more and bring them back, our family needs it!"

After the reform and opening up, in order to vigorously develop the economy, socialist developing countries are more likely to experience industrial surges.

In simple terms, the so-called surge phenomenon is that manufacturers from all walks of life enter the same industry for investment in a short period of time. For example, in the textile and clothing industry, because there is no innovation threshold, everyone can simply invest in production and enter the industry in large numbers, so the so-called surge phenomenon occurs.

Ultimately, consumers are unable to digest the goods produced by manufacturers, which ultimately leads to overcapacity.

This is also the reason why there was a wave of layoffs in the 1990s. The products produced in the factories could not be sold, and if they could not sell them, they had no money, and if they had no money, they could not pay wages, so they had to lay off a large number of employees...

"Hurry, Haizhou, follow them and get some benefits!" Qiao Lu jumped up to try.

If she wasn't holding Qiaoqiao, she would definitely go shopping with her man.

In the end, Xu Haizhou went anyway. Among the older ladies and aunts, this young and handsome guy was like a breath of fresh air.

Two hours later, it was getting dark. Qiaoqiao had finished her third round of milk, and Xu Haizhou finally came back.

I don't know where I borrowed a tricycle from, but I returned home with a full load.

Having worked in the clothing industry for three years, he already knew which fabrics to buy and which ones were not easy to use. Qiao Lu checked them over and over again and gave them nine stars out of ten for satisfaction, one less because she was afraid he would become arrogant.

"How much did you save?" I asked him happily.

"About a hundred yuan." He took it from his daughter, kissed it, and said with a smile.

The more you buy, the more you save. This time, I made a lot of money!

"Wow, that's enough. I can buy a bicycle for a hundred bucks. That's great."

But there was one thing Qiao Lu had never figured out.

"Sister Liu, if I remember correctly, wasn't the Red Star Garment Factory a state-owned enterprise? How come it couldn't continue?" I remember that the job craze only started in the 1990s, and state-owned enterprises also went into "decline" during that era.

It’s only 85 years now, that doesn’t make sense.

"Well! If there's no business, then we can't continue. Don't you know how many private factories have sprung up? Even though they're not big, they can still get a piece of the pie. No matter how big the state-owned factories are, they can't stand the private factories taking away their business bit by bit."

"What's the saying? Water drops wear away a stone... I don't know if it's right, but day by day, small things accumulate and become big things. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Well, yes." The words were rough but the truth was there, but after Qiao Lu thought about it carefully for a few minutes, she realized that the reality might not be that simple.

I flipped through the ready-made clothes that Liu Xiaohong bought, and found that the designs were far behind the market. Not only were they old-fashioned, but even the patterns and colors were dull. It would be a wonder if they could be sold.

So, not only is the external competition gradually increasing, the most important thing is that this factory cannot keep up with the market!

"Isn't Erni's brother an apprentice in a cotton spinning factory? I heard that he went to a private factory this year and was directly hired as a regular employee. After working for two months, his salary has increased to more than 40 yuan! He earns 20 yuan more than when he was an apprentice!"

"Is there such a wonderful thing? I would run away too if I were in your place!"

"Oh, did the Red Star Garment Factory go bankrupt because all the employees left and there was no one to work?"

"I don't know, but it makes sense."

"Oh! Otherwise, why did our ancestors say that there are always unexpected events? What our ancestors said makes sense after all!"

Qiao Lu deeply understands this statement.

The world is changing every day. Qiaolu remembers a crosstalk story she saw online a long time ago. It said that someone studied pager repair at university in the 1990s. Before he graduated, the pager business was gone! It was no longer for sale! Mobile phones were being used all over the world!

You are unemployed as soon as you graduate. Do you think you can grab the bamboo shoots or not?

…

On Saturday, the eve of the full-moon banquet, the couple took out the newspaper early in the morning to study it, and they actually found information about opening a factory.

"Hey, look, the Li'an Daily says that the government will exempt all privately-owned businesses from taxes for three years."

"Hey, there is also this. From 1980 to 1984, the state implemented a contract system experiment, which means that the ownership was not changed, but the management and use rights could be obtained... Starting from 1985, that is, starting this year, local governments can contract out financial affairs, and the contracting method is not fixed."

"Oh, this! It says that state-owned enterprises can be contracted out to individuals according to the law!"

After reading the newspaper, Qiao Lu felt as if she had found her direction.

"Haizhou, let's take over the Red Star Garment Factory that is about to go bankrupt!"

The author has something to say:

Here it comes! This chapter has some private settings, please don't mind~