Chapter 112 Heartbeat "Director Wang is so majestic, it really makes people's heart beat fast..."
September rolled around, and Chen Xiuqin retired. She'd originally wanted Zhao Yunfang to take over, but Yunfang had a young child, and she herself was too lazy to work. A relative of the Wujiaohua store's director wanted the job, so Chen Xiuqin offered it to him. The director promised Chen Xiuqin that when the store received a larger item, like a washing machine or a television, he'd definitely keep one for her.
After retirement, Chen Xiuqin took over all the housework at home, and took care of Dongbao. Her daily life was no less busy than when she was at work.
One day before work, Zhao Yunsheng looked up to the sky and sighed: "I want to retire too!"
Director Zhao and Chen Xiuqin rolled their eyes at him when they heard this, but their son had always been so unmotivated that they were too lazy to even educate him.
Wang Ying whispered, "Once your work is published and you can support yourself through writing, I will agree to your resignation."
"Really?" Zhao Yunsheng's eyes lit up.
"Of course it's true." Wang Ying said.
"Yingzi is still the best." Zhao Yunsheng said with a smile.
Wang Ying firmly believed that Zhao Yunsheng would succeed because the next few decades would be an era of economic and cultural boom. Zhao Yunsheng's literary talent had been recognized by Bai Tong. After this "movement" was over, he would surely shine in the literary world.
In September, the Zhao family had another "big event": the 18th was Zhao Yunsheng's birthday. Although it was a small birthday, it was also Wang Ying's first birthday for Zhao Yunsheng, and she had been thinking about what gift to give him.
Material things were scarce these days, and Wang Ying couldn't afford much. She had saved her entire salary from the time she started working last November until now. Her first month's salary was 34 yuan, which rose to 48 yuan when she became deputy director. She had barely touched the money, saving it all. But now that she had the money, she had no idea what to buy.
Wang Ying wasn't the romantic type who would give surprises. She had been fretting for two days, unable to think of anything. Before going to bed that night, she simply asked Zhao Yunsheng, "Your birthday is coming up soon. What gift do you want?"
Wang Ying's question was blunt, but Zhao Yunsheng was still flattered. He smiled gently and said, "Have you been worried about this these days? I thought something happened at your workplace."
"You see, the company is fine. It's just that Director Qian still doesn't agree to introduce the vacuum packaging machine, nor does he agree to my going to Shanghai. He wants to wait and see. Everything else is fine." Wang Ying said, "Do you have a gift you want? I'll try my best to find a way."
"Oh my, our Director Wang has a lot of connections!" Zhao Yunsheng glanced at her and joked with her.
Wang Ying said, "What kind of solution is there? Do you want planes and cannons?"
Zhao Yunsheng laughed heartily. "Then I can't afford it. Let me think about it. The gift I want most is naturally books. Foreign books, books by great writers from the Soviet Union, Britain, France, etc. These are more difficult to come by. If I can get them, I'll get them myself."
Wang Ying thought that if he really wanted the book, he could probably only ask Gu Mei and her siblings; they should be able to get it.
Zhao Yunsheng was about to say forget it, but Wang Ying said, "Okay, I'll try my best to get it."
Zhao Yunsheng hugged Wang Ying tightly and whispered in her ear, "Director Wang is so impressive. It really makes my heart flutter."
Wang Ying didn't know how Zhao Yunsheng interpreted the word "majestic" as "powerful" from his few words. He was just imagining things, but his love was genuine. He quickly used his hands and mouth to express his feelings.
…
In order to prepare a gift for Zhao Yunsheng, Wang Ying went to see Gu Mei on his day off.
As soon as Gu Mei saw her coming, she complained: "I thought you didn't want to be my friend anymore. You haven't contacted me for so long."
"There are a lot of things to do at home. My second aunt and younger sister both gave birth to children." Wang Ying said with a smile.
"Then I forgive you. Come in." Gu Mei smiled and pulled Wang Ying into the house.
"Are you home alone?" Wang Ying saw that the Gu family's living room was empty and there was no other sound.
"Well, I'm alone. Grandpa went to visit an old friend, Mom and Dad went out for something, and my eldest brother went on a business trip." Gu Mei said as she led Wang Ying into her room.
The two hadn't seen each other for some time, and when they met they couldn't stop talking.
"I'm telling you, that guy is still writing to me! And you know what, he even asked his family to come to my workplace to look for me!" Gu Mei said of her ex-boyfriend Tang Chunlai, "I'm really pissed off!"
"Didn't you say you were going to talk to the village party secretary's daughter?" Wang Ying remembered what Gu Mei had said before.
"This is what makes this guy so bad!" Gu Mei said angrily.
"There was no trouble at your workplace, right?" Wang Ying asked.
"They don't dare, and I have made it clear in front of them that I have nothing to do with that person. If they come again, I will call the police." Gu Mei became more and more angry as she spoke.
Tang Chunlai is so obsessed with Gu Mei that Wang Ying is worried that when he returns home in the future, he might continue to harass Gu Mei.
"You really need to be tougher in your attitude and not let them think you can take advantage of them," said Wang Ying.
"Alas, I met the wrong person and will be unlucky for the rest of my life!" Gu Mei said bitterly.
"Life is long. If he's really gone too far, write a letter to the place where he's been sent to work. Otherwise, you can report it to the police."
Gu Mei complained to Wang Ying for a while, then asked Wang Ying, "Why did you come to see me suddenly?"
"I need your help with something." Wang Ying said directly without any polite words like "I miss you".
"You say." Gu Mei sat up straight and listened carefully.
Wang Ying said, "My husband's birthday is this month, and I want to get him some books as a gift. I don't have any connections, so I wonder if you have any?"
"Book? What book? It's not a book that can't be read, right?" Gu Mei lowered her voice unconsciously.
"No, no, it's a book you can read, but it's hard to buy right now. You just need to know where to buy it," Wang Ying said. At this point, the question of whether or not it was possible was vague, but it was already the second half of 1975, and things weren't as chaotic as they had been in previous years. The last turmoil in Beichong was the one Wang Ying had experienced earlier, and since then, everything has been peaceful.
"I understand. I'll find a way for you," said Gu Mei.
Wang Ying knew that Gu Mei must have a connection.
"Don't worry, I can still do this, and there will definitely be no problems with the books that pass through my hands." Gu Mei patted her chest and guaranteed.
Wang Ying smiled and said, "Thank you first. By the way, what gift do you want for your birthday?" After Wang Ying's birthday, Gu Mei gave her a gift, a silk scarf. Now Gu Mei's birthday is coming soon, so she can return the gift and give her a thank you gift as well.
Gu Mei chuckled: "I want clothes made by you, or sweaters knitted by you, is that okay?"
"Okay, I'll make you some clothes," Wang Ying said. "Do you have a tape measure at home? Let me take your measurements."
"Yes, yes!" Gu Mei hurried to find a tape measure. Gu Mei had loved the suspender skirt Wang Ying had made for her before, but for no reason, she was too embarrassed to ask for it. Now was the perfect time!
Gu Mei found a tape measure, and Wang Ying took her measurements and wrote them down on a piece of paper. He then asked her, "Do you have any designs in mind? Or do you want me to make them for you?"
"No, you can do it as you see fit." Gu Mei said, "The suspender skirt you wore last time looked very nice."
"It's September now, and it's cold to wear a skirt, but you can make a tweed skirt, which will look good when worn over a sweater. In winter, you can also wear it under a coat or windbreaker," said Wang Ying.
"What does that look like?" Gu Mei thought everything Wang Ying said was interesting.
"Give me a piece of paper." Wang Ying said.
Gu Mei brought some paper, and Wang Ying quickly drew several styles of tweed skirts on the paper, some with suspenders, some with short sleeves, and some with long sleeves.
Gu Mei was pleasantly surprised and said, "Yingzi, you can also draw and design clothes. You should go into the clothing industry!"
"I've done it in my past life, and I don't want to do it again," Wang Ying thought. And if she were to come up with something new, she wouldn't have the skills. She'd just seen it in her past life and was able to make it happen. She was just an ordinary person, without any extraordinary brains. Her only cleverness was probably her ability to assess the situation and seize the opportunities of the times.
"I just thought about it myself, you choose one." Wang Ying said.
"Oh, I want them all, but that would be too greedy. I'll just take this one!" Gu Mei picked the tweed suspender skirt in the middle.
"Okay, I promise you can wear it before your birthday." Wang Ying said.
Gu Mei's eyes narrowed with a smile: "You are so skillful, you really should make clothes."
"I still prefer to eat." said Wang Ying.
"By the way, I'll treat you to dinner. We can go to the department store to see if there are any nice fabrics that can be used to make a skirt for me."
Wang Ying was planning to buy the cloth for Gu Mei to make clothes. Asking someone else to buy the cloth was not a gift at all; it was just OEM. Wang Ying said, "I have something to do at home today. I can't have dinner with you. We'll do it another day."
Gu Mei thought Wang Ying was really busy, so she didn't keep her for long and asked her to come back next week.
Wang Ying left one hundred yuan and asked Gu Mei to buy her books.
Wang Ying did not go shopping with Gu Mei. After returning home and having lunch, she went shopping with Zhao Yunsheng and bought a lot of fabrics. It was the change of seasons and her work was not busy, so she had time to make clothes for her family.
That afternoon, Wang Ying made a little skirt for Dongbao. Dongbao loved it, and Zhao Yunfei was delighted to see it after work. The next day, she bought some fruit and some family planning supplies for the family, which delighted Zhao Yunsheng greatly, as Wang Ying had always told him to save on them.
One day, Chen Xiuqin went to her former workplace to run some errands. When she came back, she muttered to Wang Ying and the others, "Your sister-in-law Yanfen is no longer working at Wujiaohua. She's working at the paper mill. I didn't hear her talk about it when I was there, but she's been transferred these past few days."
Zhao Yunsheng was not happy to mention her and said, "Why do you care about her?"
"I don't care, I don't care, I just said it casually." Chen Xiuqin said, and put it aside without mentioning it.
Wang Ying felt a little strange, wondering if Lu Yanfen had left because Chen Xiuqin was no longer at Wujiaohua. She hadn't bothered Zhao Yunsheng, so it couldn't be that bad, could it? Wang Ying glanced at Zhao Yunsheng. He was just a man, so it definitely wasn't that bad. After all, Deputy Director Gao was at the paper mill, so it was normal for her to go there. Wang Ying didn't think much about it.
It was Wang Ying's day off again, and she went to Gu's house to get the book.
This time it was Gu Xuan who opened the door. Wang Ying saw him and said with a smile, "Are you back from your business trip?"
"Yes." Gu Xuan said, "Please come in."
After Wang Ying entered the room, Gu Xuan called out Gu Mei, and Gu Mei immediately came out of the room.
"Yingzi, you're here!" Gu Mei walked over quickly with a smile, "I've already bought the book. It's in my room. Come on, I'll take you to see it."
Gu Mei pulled Wang Ying back to the room. Wang Ying saw a pile of books on Gu Mei's desk.
Wang Ying walked over and looked through it. As expected, there was nothing wrong with it. It was mainly Soviet revolutionary literature and some critical realism novels. These books were worth reading.
"How about these books? Are they good? They are both literary and revolutionary." Gu Mei was a little proud. She asked her father to get them for her, so there must be no problem.
"Very good, thank you! Is the money enough?" Wang Ying thanked him solemnly.
"There are a lot of them, they are tucked away in the book. There's no need to be polite. By the way, let's go choose the fabric today!" said Gu Mei.
Wang Ying smiled and said, "I've already chosen the fabric and cut it. I'll start making it when I get home today."
"Oh, that won't work!" Gu Mei said loudly.
"What's wrong?" Gu Xuan pushed the door open with an iron box in his hand.
"Brother, why didn't you knock on the door!" Gu Mei glared at Gu Xuan.
Gu Xuan walked into the room, placed the iron box in front of the two of them, and said, "These are some snacks I brought back from my business trip. Have some."
"Oh, brother, you actually have some hidden stuff!" Gu Mei turned and said to Gu Xuan.
Gu Xuan rolled his eyes at Gu Mei and turned away.
Wang Ying saw a bag of vacuum-packed five-spice dried tofu at a glance. It turned out that vacuum packaging was starting to be used outside!
"Gu Mei, can I take this bag of dried tofu away?" Wang Ying asked.
"Of course!" Gu Mei said, "I have more here, I'll give you two more packs." Gu Mei took out two more packs from her drawer and gave them to Wang Ying.
"Then I won't be polite with you." Wang Ying said, "I saw in the newspaper that Shanghai has designed a vacuum packaging machine and wants to introduce it to our factory. The factory is still waiting and watching, so I'll bring it back to show the leaders."
"That's all for you!" Gu Mei said as she was about to open the drawer again.
"No, no, these are enough." Wang Ying said.
Gu Mei took a bag of dried tofu and looked through it. "If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have noticed it was vacuum packed. Did they remove all the air?"
Wang Ying smiled and said, "Yes, isolating it from air can extend its shelf life and preserve its flavor. Ordinary consumers can just eat it. They should understand it once it becomes more common."
"Take anything else you want back!" Gu Mei pointed at the iron box and said, "I'll ask my brother for more. He's got a big mouth, so he must be hiding some!"
"No need, I'll just pick a few things to take back." Wang Ying said quickly, "It would be embarrassing to eat and take them all at the same time." The things Gu Xuan brought back included dried tofu, dragon beard candy, milk candy, and candied fruits. Wang Ying was most interested in the packaging of the dried tofu.
"You even bought cloth for me to make a skirt! What's the big deal? We just keep giving and taking, and we'll be good friends for a long time!" Gu Mei said with a smile.
Wang Ying was infected by Gu Mei's smile and said with a smile: "Okay!"
When Wang Ying came out of Gu Mei's room, Gu Xuan was sitting in the living room reading a newspaper. Wang Ying walked over and said to Gu Xuan: "Gu Xuan, are you going on a business trip to Shanghai this time?"
"Yeah." Gu Xuan responded and put down the newspaper.
"Do they have a lot of vacuum-packed foods?" Wang Ying only saw the five-spice dried tofu; the others were still wrapped in oil paper.
"Not much, just a little." Gu Xuan said, "I heard it's a new technology."
"Yes, I saw it in the newspaper." Wang Ying said with a smile, "I'm pestering our Director Xiang to find a way to go to Shanghai with me for an inspection."
"As for him, others are like donkeys and can't pull him, and even he is a locomotive and can't pull him, so don't waste your time." Gu Xuan said with a chuckle.
When Wang Ying heard Gu Xuan say that Director Xiang's locomotive couldn't pull the train, she laughed happily, and Gu Xuan and Gu Mei also laughed.
It was getting late, so Wang Ying talked with the Gu siblings for a while, thanked them again, and took the things home.
After arriving home, Wang Ying did not rush to give the book to Zhao Yunsheng, but took the five items of dried tofu to find Director Zhao first.
Wang Ying came to Chen Xiuqin's room and saw Director Zhao sitting at his desk reading a newspaper. Wang Ying walked over and said, "Dad, look, this is vacuum packaging."
Director Zhao put down the newspaper, took the five-spice dried tofu, looked it over, and said, "There really isn't any air at all."
"People outside are already using it," Wang Ying said. "Look at this dried tofu. It's so fresh. Let's try it at lunch. We have tofu in our factory, so we can make this kind of dried tofu, too."
Director Zhao was very pleased to see that Wang Ying was so ambitious.
"Let's not taste it. I'll bring it to the factory tomorrow and taste it with Lao Qian and the others," said Director Zhao.
Wang Ying smiled and said, "There are still a few packets left. Let's try some first." When Wang Ying left, Gu Xuan gave her some more food, which included a few packets of dried tofu.
"Okay. Yingzi, don't worry, Dad supports you! This time we must convince Lao Qian, at least let you go and take a look!" Director Zhao said.
"Okay, thank you Dad!" Wang Ying said with a smile.
Zhao Yunsheng was in the living room at the moment and had already seen the birthday present Wang Ying had brought him. He had only intended to flip through it, but after reading the beginning, he couldn't help but sit on the sofa and read on.
Wang Ying came over and asked, "How is it? Is this the book you've read?"
Zhao Yunsheng looked up at Wang Ying, his eyes shining brightly. "Thank you, Yingzi. These books are very rare. I haven't read them before."
"That's good." Wang Ying said with a smile.
Director Zhao followed Wang Ying out of the room and saw his daughter-in-law bought a bunch of books for his son. His son looked intoxicated. He wanted to say something to him, but in the end, he didn't say anything. Forget it, forget it. If he is a loser, then so be it. He can read books. Anyway, as long as his daughter-in-law is promising, it's enough. Raising this son is just for the sake of marrying this daughter-in-law. It's worth it.
During lunch, Wang Ying took out two bags of five-spice dried tofu, and as soon as he opened them, he could smell the strong five-spice flavor.
"It smells so good." Dongbao said in a baby voice.
"Yes, it smells really good." Chen Xiuqin said with a smile, "This packaging is good. If it were ordinary packaging, it would definitely not last long in this season, and the taste would also change."
Director Zhao hummed and took the first bite with his chopsticks. After finishing, he said, "It tastes good."
After eating, Wang Ying said, "Actually, our factory can also make it, right?"
"Yes, you can..." said Director Zhao.
Wang Ying understood what Director Zhao hadn't finished saying. It was possible, but he was worried that Director Qian wouldn't agree. Wang Ying felt that Director Qian simply had no sense of crisis, believing that the economy had always been planned and everything was a chess game. That was why he had been eliminated by the market in his previous life.
"Please persuade him again," Wang Ying said. "We can't just rest on our laurels. We need to innovate."
"Well, I'll bring this dried tofu to show him tomorrow. He will probably be touched when he sees the real thing." Director Zhao said as he picked up another piece with chopsticks.
After lunch, Zhao Yunsheng and Wang Ying returned upstairs. Zhao Yunsheng was busy reading, and Wang Ying was busy making clothes for Gu Mei. She thought she should make a windbreaker for Gu Mei to wear with her skirt.
Zhao Yunsheng was reading a book happily when he suddenly put it down, rushed to Wang Ying's back and hugged her.
Wang Ying was startled by him and asked with a smile, "What are you doing? You're reading a book."
"I miss you and want to come over and hug you." Zhao Yunsheng said.
Even though they were in the same room, Zhao Yunsheng said he missed her. Wang Ying couldn't understand Zhao Yunsheng's thoughts. She thought he was corny, but she also believed that he really meant it. She held his arm and asked softly, "Is the book good? Does the sound of the sewing machine bother you?"
"It's beautiful and not noisy at all." Zhao Yunsheng's voice was also extremely gentle.
"Then let's go and have a look. I just finished taking out this skirt today and I still need to take it out to have the edges trimmed. Will you accompany me?" Wang Ying said.
"I'll go with you." Zhao Yunsheng kissed Wang Ying on the cheek again before letting go. Wang Ying thought to himself that he must be reading a book about love. His emotions were too delicate.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
