Chapter 63 Chapter 63
The working group of the Southern Province Embroidery Factory arrived a week later than what Chen Jiahua said in the letter. When they arrived, the leaves of the ginkgo trees in the courtyard of the Jiangbei County Party Committee were already golden.
Gu Yangbo maintained his usual clean and efficient work style. On the afternoon of the day when the embroidery factory team arrived in Jiangbei County, he took time out to hold a meeting with the working group. The directors of several streets in the county, the secretary and director of Liuqiao Commune, and Shen Moli also attended the meeting.
The director of Liuqiao Commune is Zhang Zhengxiang, a grassroots cadre promoted by Geng Liming. He is less than 40 years old, which makes him relatively young among the secretaries and directors. He is usually low-key. Geng Liming is in charge of all the work of Liuqiao Commune. He is responsible for the specific implementation. The two have a tacit understanding in their cooperation.
Regarding the situation today, the county not only called them, but also called the directors of several streets in the county. Geng Liming and Zhang Zhengxiang looked at each other and immediately felt something was wrong.
Zhang Zhengxiang and Shen Moer were sitting next to each other. While the people from the embroidery factory were still explaining the situation, he lowered his voice and said, "Comrade Shen, no matter what the county says later, you must stand firm and stand on the side of our commune!"
Sure enough, after discussing economic indicators and taxation, the embroidery factory put forward some requirements for construction land. County Magistrate Gu looked around and asked the street directors and Geng Liming to talk. Geng Liming almost slammed the table on the spot. He had run to the county several times in the past few days, crying poor and pitiful, and finally got a promise from County Magistrate Gu that "as long as the embroidery factory has no objection, the county will definitely have no objection." Now it seems that this statement is clearly a lie to him.
If the streets in the county participated in the site selection, why would the embroidery factory choose a small commune instead of a county town with more convenient transportation? Moreover, Geng Liming was familiar with these directors. They were shameless in their fight for resources.
Sure enough, several directors not only proposed many convenient conditions and measures based on the characteristics of their own streets, but also secretly extended an olive branch to Shen Moli.
Guangming Street, where the county ceramics factory is located, said it could help solve the employment problems of the families of core employees. For example, Comrade Shen's father, who is said to have a good foundation in art, could be transferred directly to the ceramics factory.
Xiangyang Street, where Qianjin Middle School is located, said that Qianjin Middle School also needs relevant talents. Moreover, it is heard that Comrade Shen’s wife is a high school student who is good at mathematics, physics and chemistry, and can also be considered to be recruited into the teaching team.
Chicheng Street, where the Dongfanghong Primary School is located, has even set its sights on primary school students, saying that it can open up some places to allow outstanding students from the Yangliu Brigade to transfer to the Dongfanghong Primary School, and provide them with certain tuition and food subsidies.
…
Obviously, these people not only knew that the key to where the workshop was built lay in Shen Moer, but they even inquired about Shen Moer's situation, trying to take a roundabout route and impress Shen Moer with the people around them.
After all, everyone could see that she did not choose to go to the provincial capital herself, but instead persuaded the embroidery factory to go to Jiangbei County to build a workshop. It was obvious that she was reluctant to leave her hometown and her relatives and friends.
In other words, they want to help their relatives and friends live a good life.
Not to mention Chen Moer, even Geng Liming felt moved when he heard it.
But, also more angry.
Shen Shaoyuan was also transferred to the ceramic factory. If the kiln factory had not refused to let him go, he would have been brought to the commune long ago, okay? This is not a solution to the employment problems of the families of core employees, this is simply wielding a hoe to dig out his talents!
These old guys really racked their brains. They even knew that Shen Moer's lover was a high school student and had good grades in math, physics and chemistry. This was very helpful to them.
Fortunately, their Liuqiao Commune is not without advantages.
Geng Liming and several other street directors finished speaking, cleared their throats, and said, "Our commune is in a similar situation. We definitely have land, and we can temporarily move out some of the corresponding staff dormitories to facilitate the transition when the workshop is just completed. As for the work and housing issues of Comrade Shen Moer's family, we have already considered them in the early stages."
"For example, if Comrade Xiao Fu is willing, we can arrange for him to work in the commune-run factory or the commune middle school. However, as far as I know, Comrade Xiao Fu is an educated young man with ideals and ambitions. He is currently leading the members of the Yangliu Brigade to experiment with composting to increase crop yields and is not planning to leave the vast rural world. Comrade Shen Shaoyuan has recently been promoted to deputy chief of the propaganda department of our commune kiln factory. I don't think he will leave our Liuqiao commune kiln factory for the time being."
Hey, you didn’t expect that, right? His family members are also very outstanding and their commune business is thriving.
Geng Liming changed the subject: "Of course, we have also preliminarily selected 30 people with a certain foundation in embroidery through our early visits and investigations. These people are already working hard to improve their embroidery skills. As soon as the workshop is completed, they will be able to take up their posts immediately."
Several street directors: "..."
What is there to argue about?
They have even found the people.
Gu Yangbo laughed: "It seems that Liuqiao Commune has made sufficient preparations. What does Comrade Shen Moer think?"
Shen Moer smiled and said, "Thank you for the care and support from the county leaders and directors. We are all committed to building the ninth workshop better. I believe that the leaders of the Embroidery Factory have also seen the determination and sincerity of our Jiangbei County. Secretary Geng has already introduced it in detail, so I won't repeat it."
Gu Yangbo made the final decision: "Okay, then please ask Comrade Geng Liming and Comrade Zhang Zhengxiang to do their best to cooperate with the Provincial Embroidery Factory to advance the construction of the ninth workshop as soon as possible."
*
The weather seemed to turn cold all of a sudden. As soon as the sun came out, the Shen family's courtyard was filled with people, all of whom brought their own bamboo chairs, benches, needlework and thread making machines.
It was nearing the end of the semester, and students were beginning to review for exams. The number of art classes had been drastically reduced, and apart from class time, Shen Moer was conducting “pre-job training” in her own yard.
It was Fu Mingze who taught her the concept of pre-job training. He said that in the large state-owned factories in the capital, workers would receive training after being recruited, and those who would take over would first serve as apprentices for a year and learn skills from the master craftsmen.
In their embroidery factory workshop, except for Chen Moli, all other embroiderers were selected from various brigades of Liuqiao Commune. Their skills vary greatly, and it would be difficult for them to get started without training for a period of time.
Let the other teams figure it out on their own, but the Yangliu Team has the advantage of being close to the water and can ask Chen Moer for help.
The people of Yangliu Brigade were all selected by Shen Moer herself. She planned to spend some time to train these people first, and then let them teach others.
"I don't know when the factory building will be completed. By then we will have to go to the commune to work."
Li Xinmei said with a smile, her grandmother knew how to embroider, and several sisters in the family learned a little. She was considered to be a relatively good learner, and was the first one to be chosen by Shen Moer this time. Her in-laws also supported her. Aunt Chen recently took over all the work at home, saying that she must not be a drag on her to become a worker.
"There are dormitories too, we can live together then." Zhao Tingting said with a smile.
She had never learned embroidery before, but fortunately she knew how to sew and was quite deft, so Shen Moer asked her to come and learn. She was Shen Moer's cousin, and in the past, most people would not teach outsiders a skill like embroidery. Others thought that Shen Moer was very generous for being willing to teach them, and naturally, everyone had no objection to her teaching her own cousin.
Zhao Tingting is still young and has just graduated from junior high school. Shen Moer wanted to persuade her to continue studying, but she herself said that it was not that she did not want to take the high school entrance examination, but her grades were too poor to be admitted to high school. She had no intention of studying and originally thought that she would stay at home to farm and get married in two years when she was older. Unexpectedly, Shen Moer suddenly sent her a letter, asking her to come and learn a craft, and then work as an apprentice in a factory for a year, and she could be converted to a regular employee if she performed well.
Not to mention her, even her two brothers, Zhao Zhengyang and Zhao Zhenghui, were extremely envious and only regretted that they were not girls and did not have the ability to sew.
In fact, there was a small episode in the middle. Zhao Zhengyang is 20 years old and is looking for a partner. Before, the matchmaker introduced him to a girl from a nearby brigade. The girl disliked their village because it was remote and their family was poor. The whole family lived in three mud houses, so the blind date did not go through.
Originally, this matter had happened a month ago and Zhao Zhengyang had put it aside long ago. However, recently the other party heard from somewhere that his cousin was going to be the deputy director of a state-owned factory and would send their Zhao Tingting to work as a worker. So he asked a matchmaker to mediate, meaning that the Zhao family would find jobs for her and her brother, and they agreed to the marriage.
The rural people didn’t know what a workshop was. They only knew that Liuqiao Commune was going to set up an embroidery factory and Zhao Zhengyang’s cousin was one of the leaders, so they got the Zhao family’s little girl to work as a worker.
The Zhao family was totally baffled and asked the matchmaker to give up on the spot. Not to mention that their family had no ability to help them solve their work problems, even if they had the ability, they would not want to marry into a family with such an arrogant attitude!
She just asks someone to find a job for her. It's not enough to find one job for her, she also wants to find one for her brother. You don't even think about it, if the other person really has this ability, why would he date you?
You really think you are a fairy.
There are always such ignorant people. In fact, it's not just the Zhao family. It's the same in Yangliu Brigade. Some families don't notice the situation at all and act as if it's their right. Like the girls and wives from other branches of the old Shen family, Zhou Zhaodi's stepmother Yang Danniu, and some people in the village... They are all making a lot of noise. They obviously don't know anything, but they are extremely confident that they must be on the list for the opportunity to be a worker.
However, these people could not cause trouble in front of Shen Moer. Zhou Mancang was no pushover. He knew that only thirty people were pre-selected in the entire commune this time, and their team had ten of them. If it weren't for Shen Moer, could they have taken advantage of this?
If the village can produce ten workers, then ten families can become prosperous. Moreover, Shen Moer had told him that if the workshop was really built and put into production, more workers would definitely be recruited.
And they are definitely recruiting not only embroiderers, but also logistics personnel.
This is a major event that concerns the future of the members, so no matter how those people make a fuss, Zhou Mancang has only one thing to say: whoever makes a fuss again will have his work points deducted.
They were all "suppressed" very quickly.
No matter what people outside say, the people studying in the Shen family courtyard are all serious and the atmosphere is harmonious.
Before, when Zhou Mancang asked the village carpenter to make embroidery frames for everyone, Shen Moer also asked someone to make a recliner for her. She used the old wood and bamboo collected from the old carpenter's home. She didn't spend any money on it, but exchanged it for eggs and biscuits.
Now that the weather has turned cold, the role of this recliner has become apparent. After explaining an embroidery method to everyone, she lets everyone practice it by themselves. Then Shen Moer leans back on the recliner, basking in the sun and reading a book, which is very comfortable.
Seeing that it was almost noon, Shen Moer looked at her watch and reminded everyone that they could go home to cook. Several girls and wives stood up, but a few stayed.
Li Xinmei: "My mother-in-law told me that I don't need to cook anymore and asked me to learn more and try to improve my cooking skills."
Cheng Tao's wife Xing Fangjie also smiled and said, "Cheng Tao also said that he can cook, so we can go back and eat directly later."
She and Cheng Tao were part of a group of educated youth who went to the countryside. They have been married for several years and have a three-year-old daughter, nicknamed Yun Duoer. The little girl is very well-behaved. If you give her a sandbag, she can play happily for a whole day. This has not affected Xing Fangjie's embroidery learning at all.
Listening to Xing Fangjie's words, the little girl looked up from her stool and smiled shyly, "Hello, Dad."
Wang Qiutong couldn't help but pinch her little face: "Our little Yun Duo is so well behaved."
Even though Wang Qiutong is there, she is not here to learn embroidery, she is here to learn painting.
Chen Moer will not teach at the brigade primary school next semester. The brigade leader wants to find someone to replace Chen Moer and continue teaching art. Unfortunately, no one in the village can draw. There are a few educated youth who can draw, but their level is only a few art classes in school, which is far from enough to teach students.
When Wang Qiutong heard about it, she ran to beg Shen Moer to teach her. She was one of those people who had taken a few art classes and had an almost negligible foundation. However, Wang Qiutong believed that as long as she put in half the effort she put into doing farm work, she would be able to learn to paint well.
Farm work is really tiring.
Zhao Tingting put down the embroidery frame and stood up: "I'm going to cook."
Wang Qiutong immediately stood up as well: "I'll help."
Zhao Tingting is now living with her mother's younger sister. She tells others that she is staying there as a guest, but actually she pays them some rent in private. However, she eats all three meals at Shen Moer's house. When her parents sent her here, they also carried some food with them.
Wang Qiutong simply took her food coupons and came to share the meal. She ate two meals at the Shen family, so that she could learn more at noon and at night.
Especially Wang Qiutong found that when Shen Moer said that her father's level was much higher than hers, she was not being modest at all. Wang Qiutong now often took advantage of the time after dinner to ask Shen Shaoyuan for advice, and she was almost becoming Shen Shaoyuan's half-apprentice.
Since they were eating for free, Zhao Tingting and Wang Qiutong were very conscientious and took care of almost all the cooking and dishwashing tasks. So even though Shen Moer had to attend classes and teach everyone embroidery and painting at the moment, she was actually not that busy.
There are a lot fewer chores to do.
When the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen, Li Xinmei, Xing Fangjie and the others put down their food and left. If they didn't leave now, dinner would have been ready.
When Fu Mingze came in from outside, there was no one else in the yard except Shen Moer, who was leaning on a recliner with a high school mathematics textbook covering her face. He walked over and gently took the book away. Shen Moer's eyelashes moved, but she didn't open her eyes. Fu Mingze couldn't help but leaned over and pecked her on the lips.
"ah!"
Zhao Tingting came out to call people to eat, but when she saw this, she quickly covered her eyes and ran back, shouting, "Sister, brother-in-law, dinner is ready!"
Shen Moer glared at Fu Mingze: “There’s someone at home, did you forget?”
Fu Mingze's expression remained unchanged, and he said confidently: "I'm kissing my own wife at home."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to pull Shen Moer up. After Shen Moer stood up, she suddenly remembered: "You haven't washed your hands since you came back, right?"
Fu Mingze lowered his eyes and glanced at his hands, then laughed softly, "Really? I forgot."
The two of them carried buckets to the yard of the next-door brigade to fetch water to wash their hands.
In the kitchen, Zhao Tingting was serving rice while muttering, "My sister and brother-in-law have such a good relationship that they even wash their hands together."
Wang Qiutong laughed and asked, "What were you shouting about just now? What did you see?"
Zhao Tingting's face immediately turned red again. Wang Qiutong thought the little girl would not be too embarrassed to say it, but Zhao Tingting looked out the window and said in a low voice like a thief: "My sister is lying there, and my brother-in-law is kissing her secretly."
Wang Qiutong chuckled: "Oh, they are really, leading the children astray."
In fact, Wang Qiutong had also seen it. Once, when Chen Moer was hanging clothes, Fu Mingze went over to help and secretly kissed Chen Moer. She was pouring water in the kitchen and happened to see it through the half-open window.
Tsk tsk.
For lunch, we had a mixed grain rice with three dishes: stir-fried bamboo shoots with bacon, braised radish slices, and stir-fried mustard greens.
The bacon they ate this time was not the one that Shen Moer got from the treasure house. After all, her family couldn't always have too much bacon. This bacon was taken by Shen Yinyin and her husband when they sent Zhao Tingting over.
"I feel like I've gained some weight after staying at your house for so long." Wang Qiutong pinched her face and said cheerfully, "My family sent me meat coupons a few days ago. Let's go to the commune in Maque City in a few days to buy some meat and other things."
It is not easy to eat meat in the city, and it is rare for her family to send her meat coupons. Wang Qiutong was very happy and planned to buy some pork offal without coupons, and return the favor by treating Zhao Tingting and the Shen family to a good meal of meat.
Fu Mingze: "You and Zheng Jiamin are thinking the same thing. He also said that his family sent him some meat coupons and he wanted to buy some to roast in a couple of days."
Wang Qiutong's face changed slightly: "Who wants to think the same as him?"
Shen Moer raised her eyebrows and looked at Fu Mingze.
After dinner, Wang Qiutong volunteered to wash the dishes. Zhao Tingting felt that she was a little redundant in the yard alone, so she also carried a bucket to help fetch water. Shen Moer asked Fu Mingze: "What happened between Wang Qiutong and Zheng Jiamin? Did they have a conflict?"
Fu Mingze shook his head: "I don't know, Zheng Jiamin didn't say."
He doesn't live in the educated youth center now, so he doesn't know much about the situation there. Of course, when he lived there, he didn't really care about other people's business.
When the day of the Sparrow Market came, the classes in the Shen family's small classroom were suspended, and the young girls and wives who had been studying for more than half a month went to the commune to go to the market together.
There were also several people at the educated youth center, including Zheng Jiamin, Zhang Zhiqiang, Gou Dandan, and Yang Qingqing, who had been released from the labor camp not long ago.
Shi Wei did not come back, only Yang Qingqing was released.
In fact, there was no evidence that she had instigated Shi Wei to frame Fu Mingze, so theoretically she should not have been imprisoned for so long. However, Shi Wei was probably too angry and made up a lot of weird remarks behind her back. Plus, the Revolutionary Committee did not pay much attention to hard evidence in those days, so in the end Yang Qingqing was sent to a labor camp.
If you count carefully, Yang Qingqing had only been sent to the labor camp for a few months, but she had changed drastically. She seemed to have aged several years in an instant. She became darker and thinner, and her temperament had changed drastically. She hardly spoke and looked gloomy.
It had been a long time since Uncle Liu's donkey cart had carried so many people. Everyone was sitting very close to each other, and many of them were happily discussing when the embroidery factory could start work.
Yang Qingqing glanced gloomily at Shen Moer and Fu Mingze who were sitting together.
Zhang Zhiqiang looked at Shen Moli with envy. He used to think little of this girl, but it was this girl who not only won awards in the provincial competition with the children of the village, but even when she only went to the provincial capital to participate in a competition, she was able to convince the Southern Province Embroidery Factory to set up a branch in a remote place like Liuqiao Commune.
Although it is called a workshop, Zhang Zhiqiang knows that it is far away and is actually no different from a branch factory.
He once went to the countryside with the ideal of making due contributions as an educated youth to the vast rural area and adding to the socialist construction of the motherland. However, he did not expect that he would be worse than an ordinary member.
There was a hint of melancholy on Zhang Zhiqiang's square face.
After arriving at the commune, the people in the donkey cart dispersed. Actually, it is not accurate to say dispersed, because most of them went in the direction of Maque City. It’s just that they were originally sitting crowded together, but now they were scattered.
Wang Qiutong grabbed Shen Moer’s arm and said, “Moer, let’s go together.”
Zhao Tingting was about to pull Shen Moli's other arm, but when she felt Fu Mingze's gaze beside her, she silently stepped aside and walked to the other side of Wang Qiutong.
Zheng Jiamin walked on the other side of Fu Mingze, occasionally turning his head to glance at Wang Qiutong, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.
Fu Mingze glanced at him and ignored him.
"Have you heard that Sparrow City may also be cancelled? The Revolutionary Committee has already leaked the news."
"What? Even the Sparrow Market is going to be cancelled. Where are we going to get agricultural and sideline products in the future? This is just absurd."
"Oh, you are really asking for death, how dare you say that? There is nothing I can do if it is really cancelled. Anyway, I will buy as much as I can while it is still available."
The two men walked quickly towards the Sparrow Market, and the one who said he wanted to buy more was holding a large sack in his hand.
"So, we have to hurry and buy more!" Wang Qiutong said immediately, "I'm also thinking of buying some mountain products and dried goods to send back to my family."
After arriving at the place, Wang Qiutong no longer dragged Shen Moer with her. She said, "Let's split up," and quickly got into the crowd. Zheng Jiamin immediately said, "I'm going to buy some mountain products too," and quickly followed.
Zhao Tingting was left looking at the two people who had entered the crowd in front of her, and then at Shen Moer and Fu Mingze beside her: "..."
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