Chapter 182: If You Were Born in Hong Kong
On the left side of the gate hung a copper-green bell, which rang in the breeze from the north.
Lan Yuanyuan walked forward and shook it casually a few times, and hurried footsteps were heard in the yard.
It was Du Sheng who opened the door. He welcomed the two people in with a smile in his eyes.
"Le Le is looking for you, you don't have to worry about me." Lan Yuanyuan said.
Du Sheng nodded in response, but still ordered his men to make some fruit tea and get some snacks.
"We added field investigations to the original plan, and adjusted the content based on the market research results." Yu Zhile handed over the new cooperation plan, "The appendix is a promotional method that may be used in the future."
She planned to create a national snack brand in the name of Haiyu Village's sideline business group. Du Sheng was responsible for the establishment of the early factory and the production line, while Haiyu Village was responsible for the subsequent production tasks and operations.
There were few changes to the first half, so Du Sheng just glanced at it casually.
After turning half of the pages of the plan, his expression gradually became serious and he would occasionally fall into a state of deep thought.
On the other side, Yu Zhile and Lan Yuanyuan sipped sweet fruit tea, and the latter whispered to her friend about her favorite snacks.
After a long time, Mr. Du closed the plan and said with emotion: "You have such a business mind. If you were born in Hong Kong, you would definitely become a leader in the business world."
His eyes were full of admiration. If this was the first time they met, he would spare no expense to persuade her to develop in Hong Kong City and use her ideas that transcended the limitations of the times to stir up the world.
As he thought about it, the fire in his heart that had cooled for a long time gradually burned up, and now that he was over fifty, he suddenly felt the urge to re-enter the business world.
Hearing him mention Hong Kong, Yu Zhile's thoughts began to trace back the development trajectory of this city, and his memory anchor finally locked on 1971.
"I was born here, and I can also wait for my own era." She answered confidently and calmly, then smiled and changed the subject, "However, if I were in Hong Kong now and had financial support, I might choose to invest in the real estate or construction industry. Although there will be fluctuations, there is still great potential for development in the next ten years."
As soon as the second half of the sentence came out, Du Sheng's expression became stern, and a scrutinizing gleam flashed in his eyes.
Yu Zhile looked at him without any stage fright.
"I knew that Li Yun must have told you about her aunt who lives in Hong Kong." Lan Yuanyuan suddenly interrupted, "I remember her uncle works for a financial company."
As she spoke, she curiously glanced at the plan that was half a knuckle thick on the table.
Du Sheng directly pushed the plan in front of her and said, "Take a look at it, it will be yours in the future anyway."
Lan Yuanyuan ignored his words and started reading the book.
Du Sheng's gaze fell on Yu Zhile again. He naturally didn't believe that a simple chat between friends could give her so much information, but Lan Yuanyuan's presence stopped him from exploring.
"You prepare the application in advance, and I will find someone to get the land and build the factory." He paused for a moment and continued, "As for the machines, wait a little longer until the right time."
Yu Zhile agreed and said nothing more.
The atmosphere in the courtyard fell silent. The two men were lost in their own thoughts, while Lan Yuanyuan quietly accepted the impact of the new ideas.
She read the plan word by word, staring straight ahead in a daze, a vague idea flashing through her mind.
"Come back to your senses." Du Sheng snapped his fingers in front of her, "Let's go eat, so you don't have to walk at night when you return to the village."
Lan Yuanyuan came back to her senses, staring straight at Yu Zhile with a gleam in her eyes.
"What's wrong? Is there chocolate cookie crumbs on my face?" Yu Zhile asked.
Lan Yuanyuan shook her head and said, "Le Le, you are amazing. I want to learn from you."
"Okay, start by moving back to my house tonight," Yu Zhile joked.
Lan Yuanyuan nodded like a chick pecking at rice, excitedly sharing her thoughts after reading the plan, and boldly asked questions about the parts she didn't understand.
Yu Zhile answered her questions one by one.
Du Sheng stood in front, listening attentively to the discussion between the two people, feeling quite pleased.
The three of them arrived at the state-owned restaurant. It was still early and the restaurant was not full, but most of the customers were eating malatang.
"What do you want to eat?" Hu Lan looked up and saw Du Sheng, and said unhappily, "My dear, please order whatever you like. I have no obligation to make the decision for you."
Du Sheng handed her the money and motioned her to look at the door.
Hu Lan caught a glimpse of two familiar figures, quickly clipped the money into the account book, and shouted to the kitchen through the small window: "Third brother, Yuanyuan and Lele are here, please prepare some dishes that the children like to eat."
"Okay." Hu San responded with full energy, turned around, scooped three bowls of radish and mutton bone soup and handed them out through the food pick-up window.
Then, he asked his two apprentices to cook together, and said, "Hai Lan, go find Yu Feng and the others later and tell them that they will be leaving get off work early today. You and Xiao Yu and Yuan Yuan will go back to the village together."
"The boss just said that the new window will be separated. If we leave early, will it affect your future work?" Zhang Hailan looked hesitant.
Hu San poured the vegetables into the hot pot and said, "It's okay. You are under my control now. I still have this authority."
The sizzling sound covered up the subsequent conversation between the master and the disciple.
In front of the counter, Yu Zhile and Lan Yuanyuan greeted Hu Lan in unison.
Hu Lan felt so distressed when she saw their cheeks were red from the cold that she hurriedly brought them hot soup, took them into a private room, and lit the charcoal stove.
Du Sheng glanced at the lonely soup bowl on the food counter, picked it up consciously, and followed them silently.
After a while, Zhang Hailan and Yu Mengjun brought the dishes into the private room, and told the two that they had gotten off work early, and agreed to go back to the village together.
As soon as the door closed, Lan Yuanyuan asked Yu Zhile questions related to the plan.
"Don't talk about work while you're eating." Du Sheng sighed and interrupted them, "You're only in your early twenties and you still have decades to work. There will be plenty of time to talk later."
Lan Yuanyuan pouted in dissatisfaction, but did not continue asking questions and just focused on eating.
The eating habits in Beijing are different. She has lived there for nearly half a month and really misses Uncle Hu's cooking.
During the meal, the three of them only occasionally exchanged ideas about the taste of the dishes. Most of the time, they just lowered their heads to eat, and the atmosphere was exceptionally quiet.
By the time they finished their meal, the sun had set and the sky was growing dark.
"Be careful on the road." Hu Lan reminded Yu Zhile and the others, and helped Lan Yuanyuan tighten her scarf. "Go to bed early at night, and don't light the kerosene lamp to draw."
Lan Yuanyuan nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Hu Laosan helped fix the bicycle that Yu Zhile rode to the rear of the ox cart, and then Zhang Hailan patted the ox's butt.
The old cow took slow steps and the car swayed forward.
On the way back to the village, Yu Zhile learned that Hu San had been called to a meeting a few days ago. The superiors were going to assign the three windows to another person. From then on, the personnel and purchasing affairs of the new windows would have nothing to do with Hu San.
"Master is afraid that the other party is someone with connections and will squeeze out Sister Ping and the others," Zhang Hailan explained.
After all, there was an incident of betrayal by a former apprentice before, and if the other party really has bad intentions, the food supply of Haiyu Village will also be affected.
"Don't worry, be optimistic." Yu Zhile comforted the others, and then looked at Zhang Hailan, "Tomorrow, tell Brother Hu San that the breach of contract will not have much impact on us, and tell him not to worry about it."
She was not lying. With the development of other branches of the sideline group, the proportion of food supply income in the total income was decreasing. Even if the state-owned restaurant stopped booking tomorrow, she could think of other ways to consume it.
The six-member group was more optimistic than she had imagined. They said, "If we lose our jobs, we lose them. At worst, we can just go back to farming."
"With your current cooking skills, you can join the non-staple food processing team." Yu Zhile responded with a smile.
Everyone laughed at the same time, breaking the heavy atmosphere in the car.
When we returned to the village, it was already completely dark.
Yu Zhile asked Yu Mengjun to help her push the bicycle home, as she and Lan Yuanyuan were going to the garment-making group.
The clothing-making team was set up in the ancestral home of Zhang Wenxin's family. Before Yu Zhile and the others approached, they saw the orange-red candlelight coming through the window.
"After tonight, our group will disband." Aunt Zhang's voice came from the group, her tone revealing reluctance, "It's a pity that there are not many jobs like this where you can earn work points and chat."
Her older sisters all agreed, but some expressed different opinions.
"If I can't earn work points, I'll go to the old warehouse and listen to Chen Zhiqing's stories. Life is better than before." said the lady with single eyelids.
Aunt Zhang laughed twice and replied, "That's right. My damn parents would never have thought that a daughter like me, whose body is half buried in the ground, could still pick up a pen and learn to write."
Lan Yuanyuan knocked on the door gently and then pushed it open.
Zhang Haiyan, who was packing clothes, stopped what he was doing and asked, "Why are you here? Is there a problem with the clothing order?"
"No, no." Lan Yuanyuan denied repeatedly and took out a stack of drawings. "There is still work to be done. Make ten sets of each drawing and send them to the same address."
Her words immediately made the ladies smile, and the atmosphere in the room became more lively.
"It looks like a lot. I estimate it will take more than half a month." Aunt Zhang asked with a smile.
Lan Yuanyuan replied: "Two hundred sets of clothes, and I will send them once I finish making four styles."
"Okay." Zhang Haiyan took the drawing.
Lan Yuanyuan came not only for this matter, but also accepted an order for new dance costumes from the cultural troupe. This batch of clothes was relatively delicate and required the use of silk fabrics from Huaxi Village. She sat down with Zhang Haiyan to discuss the details.
The old lady with single eyelids saw Yu Zhile who was alone and asked, "Team leader, can we ask Chen Zhiqing to tell us a story? It can be quite boring here sometimes."
"I think he would be happy to come." Yu Zhile said with a smile.
Hearing this, Aunt Zhang replied: "Then I'll go ask tomorrow."
Everyone expressed their anticipation. They had heard from others about Chen Zhao meeting a famous actor on the set, but they always felt that something was missing.
Lan Yuanyuan and Zhang Haiyan didn't talk for too long. They planned to meet with Du Nanzhi to negotiate the price of the silk cloth and then determine other details.
Yu Zhile and Lan Yuanyuan walked home side by side. The only sound on the road was the whistling of the north wind. It was not until they passed the old warehouse that they heard the noisy voices of people, and Chen Zhao's voice stood out among them.
As the two approached and looked around, they could still see circuit workers wearing dark blue cotton jackets in the crowd.
"Le Le, Yuan Yuan." Yu Chuyue in the corner glanced at them and waved to greet them.
The next second, her voice was drowned out by the cheers of the whole room, and she struggled through the crowd to reach them.
Yu Zhile noticed the English vocabulary notebook in her hand and said, "I heard from Zhou Yuesheng that Aunt Xin's English is pretty good. If you encounter something you don't understand, you can ask her for help."
"I'll go find her." Yu Chuyue nodded in agreement, then frowned and complained, "Alas, I've forgotten everything after not studying for just a few years."
"It will be much easier to learn if you have the basics," Yu Zhile comforted.
They didn't avoid Lan Yuanyuan when they talked about this topic. She was quick-witted and recalled their conversation on the train, and she figured everything out.
"Chu Yue, come on," she encouraged.
Yu Chuyue giggled and put her arm around her shoulders: "Yuanyuan, why don't you learn with me? It's said that you can learn as long as you live, and it will always be useful in the future."
Lan Yuanyuan thought about it and felt that what she said made sense, so she happily agreed.
The two of them put their arms around each other's shoulders and whispered for a while before agreeing on a time to slap each other on the back and to go find Qu Xin for some private lessons.
Yu Chuyue put her other arm around Yu Zhile and said she wanted to stay overnight at her house.
The three of them returned to the Yu family's courtyard, laughing and joking, and lay on a bed and chatted until late at night.
The next day, the supplementary food team resumed work. Yu Zhile and Yu Chuyue came to the shrimp pond at dawn and told Qu Xin how many kilograms of shrimp they would need that day.
Not long after, Zhang Wenxin and Ge Tai came hand in hand and were teased by them again.
Ge Tai was silent as usual, and if you looked closely you could see that his ears were red. Zhang Wenxin, on the other hand, smiled and responded to them with the same old rhetoric.
While we were chatting, people from the tiger prawn breeding team brought over two buckets of shrimp.
The shrimps that had just been caught were very active, splashing water when they jumped, but were quickly stopped by Qu Xin with a straw hat.
"I'll do it." Ge Tai lifted the bucket onto the ox cart and pulled the rope.
Yu Chuyue bumped into Zhang Wenxin and said with a sly smile: "It seems that your partner hasn't neglected exercise even when he joined the transport team."
Zhang Wenxin rolled her eyes at her.
Yu Zhile, who was standing next to her, suddenly thought of a question because of her words and asked about Ge Tai's refrigerated truck.
"Refrigerated truck? I haven't seen one yet. I only heard a senior mention it once." Ge Tai replied.
Yu Zhile sighed imperceptibly. The situation was not as optimistic as she had expected.
"Why are you asking about refrigerated trucks?" Zhang Wenxin was puzzled. "Does our sideline group plan to buy such trucks in the future?"
Yu Zhile shook his head and said, "After Qi Er's movie is released, Haiyu brand will be known by more people. I hope to be able to ship the original seafood cans to all parts of the country."
Then, she casually talked about cold chain transportation in the 21st century, in which refrigerated trucks are just one type of equipment.
The other three thought it was her fantasy and listened attentively.
"Can the fish caught from the rivers in Guangdong Province still appear fresh on the tables of people in Beijing in a few days?" Zhang Wenxin summarized her meaning with an example.
Yu Zhile hummed.
"The whole process needs to be strictly managed. Otherwise, if one link goes wrong, the goods will be damaged." Ge Tai commented from the perspective of a member of the transportation team, "It can only be achieved within the region."
"What if it's not the current management method? What if efficiency and service quality are linked to the performance of the transporters? What if the stations are spread out like stars?" Yu Zhile asked him back.
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