After noon, wave after wave of customers came to Anqiao Garment Factory from all directions.
The location of the Anqiao factory was mentioned in the newspaper, and it was Li Hongjun who strongly asked the two reporters to add it. The reporters thought that adding one more line to the long paragraph would not be a big deal, so they just replied.
As a result, Anqiao Garment Factory received thirty orders in one day!
Calls came to the factory one after another. The phone number was not listed in the newspaper, and I don’t know how they got here… They were all asking for cooperation, or wanting to visit the factory, asking if they were free, whether they could, whether it was possible…
Xu Haizhou agreed to all the requests, arranged his time, and told his assistant to quickly post a recruitment notice at the factory gate and recruit two more assistants and some general workers. There was no limit on the number of people, recruitment was open all year round, and the best candidates would be selected.
Regardless of whether the order can be negotiated or not, Xu Haizhou and his An Qiao have become completely popular in Li'an!
When it comes to purple dragonflies, it has to rank second.
In fact, if Li Hongjun had not told the reporter about the traffickers in the end, there might not have been a sensation. At most, Purple Dragonfly would have received more attention from the public.
Once the matter of the human trafficker came to light, the focus shifted, and everyone couldn't help but become curious about what such a brave and wise Lei E□□ looked like.
More than a dozen families were saved! How could this not attract attention?
In fact, a reporter from a newspaper had wanted to interview Xu Haizhou a long time ago, but the couple refused because they were in a hurry to find Qiao An.
Now that I think about it, refusing the interview was the right decision. Wouldn't it be great to wait until this opportunity to promote An Qiao and Zi Qingting together?
It just so happened that the factory had just started production and was short of a large number of orders. Now that the interview had become famous, orders were pouring in. It was truly the icing on the cake!
Strike while the iron is hot, Anqiao Garment Factory opened another production line and hired twelve general workers to work overtime to complete the orders.
Three days passed, and the popularity of Li'an Daily remained high. Later, the director of the municipal party committee came to the factory in person with a group of subordinates to inspect it.
Xu Haizhou was flattered, listening to the leaders' official words, such as: it is worth learning, it responds to policies, and it is a good start...
After listening, Xu Haizhou introduced Anqiao to everyone and told them the philosophy of Anqiao:
Quality is paramount, we build our business on excellence and win with quality. Anqiao only produces high-quality products!
As expected, it received strong praise from the leaders.
The two reporters followed Director Xu and the leader, quickly taking notes in their notebooks. It seemed that they would not have to worry about the layout of the newspaper for the next week...
On the Lantern Festival, it was the second time that Xu Haizhou appeared on the Li'an Daily. The difference from the previous time was that he showed his face - it was not his own initiative, but the request of the leaders!
They said they wanted him to have a good image. This time the newspaper would not only be published in the Leon Office, but also be published on the newspaper to save effort, so as to be a "model"...
Although Xu Haizhou didn't want to be too "famous", thinking about An Qiao's future, he had no choice but to do it.
It would be fine if they didn't show their faces. But once they did, at the entrance of Anqiao Clothing Factory, one could occasionally "run into" some young girls or lesbians in their twenties or thirties.
What are you doing here? After all, you are not here to discuss business... You just want to see what the young, promising and handsome factory director mentioned in the newspaper looks like!
Qiao Lu had been busy with the Purple Dragonfly incident recently and had not paid much attention to the newspaper situation. She only found out about it later when Li Hongjun mentioned it jokingly.
I was speechless and choked for a moment.
That night, a crescent moon hung in the sky, and the stars were twinkling. Xu Haizhou returned home in the moonlight and changed his shoes at the entrance.
Just as he straightened up, Qiao Lu stood in front of him without him noticing, staring at him as if he were a criminal.
Xu Haizhou was stared at inexplicably, raised his eyebrows, then slightly curled his lips, put his arm around her shoulders and led her to the living room, asking, "What's wrong? Have you eaten? I was a bit busy at the factory today and came back late. If you haven't eaten, I'll make some more noodles."
"We've already eaten. If we had waited for you to come back, An'an and I would have been so hungry." He pouted speechlessly, pulled the man to sit at the dining table, and opened the fly-proof cover. "I left it for you. The braised spare ribs and cauliflower. The egg drop soup is finished. Your daughter likes it."
Shaking his head helplessly, Xu Haizhou picked up the bowl and went into the kitchen to pour boiling water. He liked rice soaked in soup the most, and if there was no soup, he would just soak it in boiling water, it would be the same.
He had just sat down and taken two bites of rice and was about to compliment his wife on her improved cooking skills when an elbow suddenly raised in front of him.
Qiao Lu sat beside him, holding her face with one hand, and stared at him: "I heard that a girl deliberately bumped into your arms this afternoon. Did you two get together?"
"The girl fell into my arms? And I hugged her?" Xu Haizhou was almost choked by the warm water in the rice. He covered his mouth and coughed twice, recalling carefully.
It was a long time before he remembered, stuffed a mouthful of meat, chewed it twice, spat out the bone, and said, "Not really, I helped him."
It was seven o'clock and there was no time to eat the whole afternoon. Xu Haizhou was very hungry, so he ate two bites of meat without waiting to reply to his wife.
Qiao Lu frowned: "What's going on?"
Qiao Lu would never torture him for such a small matter, so Xu Haizhou couldn't help but look at her a little more.
"I was discussing an order with the person in charge of Linping Clothing. He brought a secretary with him. I went to the restroom on the way and bumped into her on my way back. She ran too fast..."
So they bumped into each other, and it wasn't his fault.
Qiao Lu was speechless: "Bumped into you? Is it urgent to negotiate the order? Do you need to run?"
"Maybe he was in a hurry to go to the toilet and didn't take it seriously." Xu Haizhou really didn't take it seriously. If Qiao Lu hadn't brought it up, he would have forgotten about it long ago.
Qiao Lu didn't buy this explanation. She looked carefully at his deep and bright eyes, his high nose bridge, his superior jawline... He was more manly and mature after being weathered by the wind and frost. Not to mention young girls, even experienced women couldn't resist him!
When she thought about her man's recent "explosion", she suddenly felt a sense of crisis and her eyes narrowed smaller and smaller.
Glancing at him, she snorted, "I don't care. I heard you hugged her."
Xu Haizhou: "Cough cough cough——"
If there was no surveillance back then, Xu Haizhou would have definitely called him out to let his wife see!
He put down his bowl and explained: "Nothing happened. The girl didn't stand steadily and fell backwards. I subconsciously tried to support her, but I couldn't hold her and she fell. I carried her into the office and applied some medicine."
"Go to your office to apply the medicine?" There was a strong taste of jealousy in his tone.
Xu Haizhou held his forehead helplessly, pinched her face, and felt the tenderness and smoothness of her hand.
After giving birth to Qiaoqiao, her mother's skin actually got better and better. It was so amazing that I couldn't help but pinch her a few more times.
Qiao Lu slapped him away angrily, her cheeks puffed up like a little hamster.
Xu Haizhou was stunned for a second, then laughed out loud, turned around and asked Qiao An, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book: "An An, look at your mother, does she look like a hamster?"
Qiao An turned his head and took a quick look. He didn't know if he saw it clearly or not, but blurted out without thinking: "Mom is my mom, not a hamster."
The couple had never had an argument in their four or five years of marriage. Seeing that her mother was always humming to her father, Qiao An thought they were flirting again and didn't take it too seriously. She just casually replied and continued to tell stories to her sister with the storybook in her hands.
Today we are going to talk about the mythological story Jingwei Filling the Sea, the pinyin version and the children's version.
In fact, it was mainly because Qiao An wanted to read it herself, so she read it aloud and told her sister at the same time.
Although the little boy didn't understand, he nestled in his brother's arms and bit his fingers, but he didn't cry or make a fuss. He listened quietly, pointing at the illustrations in the book from time to time, and laughing as if he was having fun, his laughter as clear as a bell.
Xu Haizhou was helpless and looked away.
"There's also Mr. Liu in the office. I'm not the only one here."
Qiao Lu: "Did you give her medicine?"
The first aid kit was specially placed in the office by Qiao Lu when the factory was first established.
There are large equipment in the factory, so if any employee or Xu Haizhou encounters an injury, it can be handled immediately.
After making more money in the future, Qiao Lu plans to hire a doctor and open a small clinic in the factory to treat minor illnesses.
"Give her the medical kit. She did it herself. It's her knee that's injured, not her hand. There's no need for me to come."
Besides, even if he hurt his hand, there are so many female employees in the factory. It is not necessary for a married gay man like him to apply medicine to young girls.
"Humph, I fell into your arms while I was supporting you."
Xu Haizhou was scolded: "...Li Hongjun said that?"
Otherwise, the tone sounded as if she was there at the time.
That's not right. Even if she was there, he held the female secretary's hand and she stood still immediately, and didn't fall into his arms.
Could it be that Li Hongjun was slandering him?
Then he heard his wife snort unreasonably: "I guessed!"
Xu Haizhou: “…”
He stuffed two mouthfuls of rice desperately, chewed the spareribs for just a few seconds and spat out the bones, very quickly.
The dry rice is quite active.
Qiao Lu withdrew her gaze from his bowl and asked, "Li Hongjun said she bumped into your arms and you held her, so doesn't that mean you were hugging each other?"
Xu Haizhou shook his head: "After she fell, I helped her up and got a little closer to her. How could you ask us to hug each other? Was it really Li Hongjun who told you that?"
Qiao Lu pouted, brushed her long hair off her shoulders, and said proudly, "Just say you're a celebrity now, and the lesbians out there are like wolves and tigers, so I'll be more careful and give you a beating."
Xu Haizhou: "..."
He doesn't need to worry about it.
"Maybe it's revenge for me scolding him before." Xu Haizhou suddenly remembered some things that happened before, but he didn't have time to tell Qiao Lu.
"What did he do? Why are you scolding him?" Qiao Lu looked at him puzzledly, and her attention was successfully diverted.
"I'll tell you more later. Let's eat first. I'm starving."
He got up and went to the kitchen to add another bowl of rice to the rice cooker.
After dinner, he held Qiao Lu's hand and sat on the sofa. While watching TV, he told his wife about Li Hongjun and his girlfriend.
"It happened last week. He said his girlfriend was clamoring to get married. He thought about it all night and felt that it was not impossible. Besides, he was old enough and seeing my children were itching for it, he was tempted. He couldn't control himself and told his girlfriend..."
Qiao Lu interrupted and asked, "Did they do it?"
Xu Haizhou choked: "...Can't you be more subtle?"
"You've done everything with me, why are you pretending to be innocent now?" Qiao Lu sat cross-legged and punched him in the chest in a funny and speechless manner, "Okay, okay, I'll change my words. They are sleeping together, right?"
Laughing out loud, Xu Haizhou held her fist, pulled her into his arms, kissed her cheek, took a breath of fragrance, and then hugged her and continued, "Later, Zou Yinghua let him take charge and let the two of them choose a date to meet their parents and discuss when to get married."
Wo adjusted her sitting position in his arms. Qiao Lu turned her head and their lips came close together. "What happened next?"
The meat is right before your mouth, there is no reason not to take a bite.
He lowered his eyes, bit her lips, rubbed them, rolled them over and over, and kissed her deeply.
After a while, he kissed Qiao Lu so hard that she could hardly breathe and fell on the sofa with her back facing up.
Fortunately, Xu Haizhou was holding her back so she wasn't crushed.
She had probably just washed up and changed into soft plush pajamas. She also smelled sweet, with rose-scented shower gel, and was carrying a lot of Hong Kong goods, including a lot of skin care products on the dressing table in her bedroom, all of which were expensive high-end brands.
It smells so... delicious that he has to inhale it for two or three minutes every time before he can get excited.
"Oh, you are such a fool. Just say what you want to say. What are you doing..." Qiao Lu pushed him coquettishly, but when she turned around, she met the dumbfounded eyes of the two young guys...
Qiaoan was six years old after all, so she could understand. Qiaoqiao was only five or six months old, so she couldn't understand either, but that didn't stop her from showing a surprised expression. She babbled "Daddy and Mommy" and tried to get out of her brother's arms and crawl over.
If you want to kiss, just kiss together. Why leave out Qiaoqiao? Qiaoqiao also wants to be kissed.
He crawled over grunting.
Qiao An immediately restrained her sister and prevented her from escaping.
"Ahem—" Qiao Lu was very embarrassed and speechless.
He gave Xu Haizhou a light kick and said to An An, "What are you looking at? Go read your book."
Qiao An: “…”
Mom and Dad are so disgusting.
Xu Haizhou smiled and stopped arguing with her: "Hongjun actually felt a little regretful, but things have come to this point, you know? He brought gifts to visit her, and originally just wanted to meet her parents, and didn't say that he had to settle the marriage. Who knew that during the meal, he even talked about the betrothal gift."
"Zou Yinghua's parents knew from their daughter that Hongjun was the "boss" of Zi Qingting and Anqiao. Maybe he wanted to show off. Hongjun revealed part of his monthly income. Zou Yinghua's parents originally wanted three turns and one ring and a complete set of furniture, plus a betrothal gift of 2,000 yuan. But after the meal, they decided to buy a house for their little son."
"ah?"
Selling my daughter or marrying her off? I have to buy a house for my brother-in-law if I marry their daughter. How can I calculate it like this?
Qiao Lu asked him angrily, "What about the Red Army? They are not really going to give it to my brother-in-law... um, will my brother-in-law buy a house in the future?"
I haven't even saved enough money to renovate my own new house, but I'm still buying a house for my brother-in-law? That's crazy!
"Of course it's impossible. Hongjun is not stupid. Besides, he loves Zou Yinghua... They met through a blind date and then got together. He was too lonely and had been alone for too long, so he started dating a lesbian without thinking too much. Until now, he doesn't really like her. He is used to living together. Unless something serious happens, they probably won't break up."
The big deal usually refers to Zou Yinghua cheating on her, which gives Li Hongjun a legitimate reason to break up. However, if there is no substantial progress between the two, wouldn't it be easy for Li Hongjun to find a reason? At most, he can just give her some breakup fee.
But now that a relationship has occurred, it may not be that easy to get rid of it cleanly.
Furthermore, since Zou Yinghua had such shameless parents, it was also foreseeable that if the Red Army easily broke up, Zou's father and mother would do something "extreme".
If the trouble breaks out in the factory or the store, it won’t be just his problem.
It seemed a bit tricky, but Qiao Lu still said lightly, "Yeah, after all, not everyone can fall in love at first sight like us, right?"
Xu Haizhou curled his lips, his eyes smiling, he touched her face and kissed her: "Well, he told me about it later, and I scolded him, saying that he couldn't control his lower legs. But if you want me to come up with a solution, I don't have much experience. I haven't encountered such a thing, and I haven't talked about lesbians other than you. You might as well ask Yu Fan instead of me."
"Yu Fan...Yu Fan can't even sort out his own feelings, and he's still looking for her. It's better to look for me than her." Qiao Lu pouted, disagreeing with his words.
"Looking for you?" Xu Haizhou looked at his young wife with amusement and motioned her to continue.
Qiao Lu turned her head and looked into his eyes: "It's very simple. Since Li Hongjun can't solve this problem, just throw it to Zou Yinghua and let her choose for herself."
After thinking for a while, Qiao Lu continued, "Zou Yinghua has long known that Li Hongjun bought a house in Nanhu Garden. She asked Hongjun to take her to see the rough house these days. She said that now she can't even get enough money for decoration. It's not easy to take out 2,000 yuan as a betrothal gift. If she buys another house for her brother, then even if they get married, they will have to live in a big compound. Now that the factory has just started, all the money earned must be kept in the factory as working capital. Even if he is a shareholder, he can't take it out easily."
After pausing for two seconds to catch his breath, Qiao Lu continued, "So as a small shareholder, he actually won't get any money from the factory within two years. All he can get is the salary from the Purple Dragonfly store on Baiyun Street, and nothing more. He also doesn't have the financial strength to buy another house. Even if he has money, he has to renovate his own house first, and then open a branch store. In short, ten years... well, it seems a bit long, so let's say five years. If he can't come up with money within five years, he can buy another house."
"Houses are so expensive now." Expensive refers to the price relative to commodity prices. Compared to 20 or 30 years later, the prices are of course skyrocketing. "You think you're buying cabbage, you just buy it. You're not even married yet and you're already talking about buying a house. What will happen after you're married? Won't you be pushing your aunt around in every way?"
"You can use moral kidnapping to morally kidnap Zou Yinghua and tell her that if you insist on listening to your parents and buying a house for your brother, then in the next ten or even twenty years, we will have no funds and will miss the best opportunity to make money. In the future, we can only watch others make a fortune with envy. Even if Anqiao Clothing Factory becomes big, he is only a small shareholder and will not get much money."
Zou Yinghua is a junior high school graduate with a low level of education. She could hardly understand words like shareholders or other terms, so she just got over it after a little coaxing.
"If Zou Yinghua wants to live a stable life with Hongjun, then it's okay for Hongjun to pay more for the bride price, but buying a house is impossible. Tell her directly that it's impossible. Otherwise, break up and let her find a man who can afford to buy a house for her brother."
"But... apart from Li Hongjun, I'm afraid there's really no other gay man in the whole of Li'an who's as young and single-married as him, right?" Most of those who have a little money are middle-aged men with families.
Li Hongjun's current conditions are much better than Xu Haizhou's four years ago, but he is still not satisfied and wants to make trouble and demand more. To be honest, Zou Yinghua is not worthy of him.
After that, Qiao Lu asked her husband: "Do you understand what I mean?"
Xu Haizhou nodded decisively: "I understand, but I don't know whether the Red Army will accept it."
"Well! If you don't accept it, then all my words will be regarded as in vain."
Laughing, Xu Haizhou said: "No, I will tell him tomorrow."
"Well, I'll tell him when the time comes. We don't know what he thinks right now, and other people's affairs have little to do with us. But one thing we must pay attention to is that we must not let Zou Yinghua's parents influence us, An Qiao and Zi Qingting."
"good."
After the talk, they continued to be affectionate for a while, and Xu Haizhou went to the bathroom to take a shower. Qiao Lu took the book from Qiao An and told stories to the two little babies.
The moment Qiao Lu came over, Qiao An abandoned her sister, turned around and slipped into her mother's arms, twisted her buttocks comfortably, and adjusted her sitting posture.
Qiao Lu was just about to ask him why he abandoned his sister when she saw An An clapping his hands, motioning for her sister to come into his arms.
It turns out that they wanted to make nesting dolls.
Holding her brother in his arms, and her brother holding his sister, the two of them were having a lot of fun. The novel posture amused Qiaoqiao, who giggled with joy, clapped her hands non-stop, and even raised her head, thinking that she could see her brother and mother at the same time in this posture. It was very interesting.
"Mom, you have been chatting with Dad for a long time. Were you talking about the Red Army uncle?" Qiao An asked while touching his sister's hair.
Qiao Lu nodded and lifted up her son's messy bangs. His bangs had grown long and it was time to cut them.
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
The young man shook his head: "Nothing, I heard from you that Uncle Hongjun is going to marry Sister Zou. Does marriage mean living together like a father and mother, and then having a baby and living together?"
Such a little kid, yet he knows the word "living".
Qiao Lu: "Yes, we can live together, but it's not certain. Mom doesn't know what the situation is like there."
Qiao An: “Oh.”
Qiao Lu tilted her head and looked at him: "What's wrong? Why are you asking this? Are you interested in their affairs?"
Qiao An still shook his head: "No, I just think that Sister Zou is a good person, but Uncle Hongjun doesn't even have the money to repair his own house, so why is he buying a house for Sister Zou's brother?"
Qiao Lu corrected the mistake in his words: "It's decoration, not repairing the house."
"Oh, Uncle Hongjun doesn't even have money to renovate his own house, so why is he buying a house for Sister Zou's brother? The house is so expensive, and Mom and Dad saved up for three years to buy it."
He saw the hard work and remembered it deeply.
Qiao Lu couldn't help but sigh: "Yeah, even our An An thinks it's too much. Just tell me how wicked that family is."
When it comes to marriage, it is not just between a man and a woman, it also concerns two families.
With such hateful "father-in-law and mother-in-law", Qiao Lu really hopes that Li Hongjun can break up with Zou Yinghua.
Yinghua is a girl with a good personality. She is a little shy in front of strangers and has a gentle character. I guess she is not the kind of girl who would rebel against her parents. If she marries Li Hongjun in the future, her parents might make a big fuss about her.
The situation with Hongjun is not so bad. His parents are not from this province. Like Haizhou, they left their hometown and came to Li'an to start a business. So if anyone marries him, there will be no mother-in-law and daughter-in-law problems. It's pretty good.
"Yes, mother, they are wicked, they are wicked, taking the hard-earned money of the Red Army uncles."
"You little kid, where did you learn so many words?" Qiao Lu poked his little nose. The tip of his nose felt cool, like a piece of cold jade.
"Hard-earned money? That's what the Red Army uncle said!" Qiao An pointed to the ceiling happily.
I don't know when I said all these strange words to him.
Qiao Lu was amused and kissed his little face: "Well, okay, continue reading. Dad seems to be almost done with his bath. I'll go in and see if you guys are going to bed?"
Qiao An quickly took her sister out of her mother's arms and waved at Qiao Lu: "No, no, I still want to read. I will also read "Calabash Brothers" later."
Don't miss a single episode!
"And later, Brother Jiahao will come down to watch it with me." Qiao An said happily and expectantly.
After arriving at Nanhu Home, there are not as many children as in the big compound. Qiao An currently only knows one child, Li Jiahao, who is about the same age as her, and she can only play with him.
"Are you good friends now?" Qiao Lu asked curiously.
An An thought about it seriously and answered, "Yeah, yes, we are good friends. We even agreed to take the entrance exam for the same junior high school in the future."
We have agreed to take the entrance exam for junior high school, and we are only in this grade.
This made Qiao Lu laugh non-stop: "Okay, okay, then both of you should work hard and try to get into the best junior high school in Li'an, okay?"
"Okay, Mom."
The author has something to say:
I'm addicted to a certain game, and I'm even slower QAQ...