Chapter 26
Chen Lanjun thought about it all the way.
She went over in her mind all the ways she had heard of that were feasible to make money in this era - even some illegal ones. She eliminated those that required a long period of planning, and then eliminated those that required high costs. There were only a few left.
She needs to find a business that requires little investment, makes money quickly, and is not too complicated. It would be best if it is something that Ajing is good at. This way, even if her classmates quit in the future, she can still do this business on her own and make a living.
Thinking this way, the idea of expanding the review materials is not appropriate. I still have to find a new business that suits Ajin. After all, it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish.
After thinking about it, Chen Lanjun's eyes stopped on Xiaonian's gloves.
Those were the gloves that Ah Jing had given her, saying that Ah Jing had knitted them herself. From Chen Lanjun's discerning eyes, Ah Jing's craftsmanship was good. Although the wool she used was cheap, the knitting was very dense, and at least it looked beautiful.
I'm good at knitting.
Chen Lanjun seemed to have realized something and began to search through her memory, which actually reminded her of something.
Probably this winter, there will be a sudden trend of wearing hats in the county. Although Chen Lanjun is teaching in the countryside at that time, and rural schools are not places to follow trends, you can still see one or two little girls wearing new hats and coming to school happily.
In the past, most people in the county who wore hats wore military green hats, which were rather old-fashioned in style. However, the style of hat on the little girl's head was something Chen Lanjun had never seen before.
Chen Lanjun felt strange and asked, "Your hat is very nice. Why do you want to wear this?"
The little girl was very enthusiastic and rushed to ask: "Teacher, teacher, have you seen that movie? The heroine in that movie wears a hat like this."
"What movie?"
"Jane Eyre!"
In the days when televisions were not yet developed and radios were not widely available in every household, the most accessible art form for the county towns and villages was actually showing movies. No matter what was shown in the county cinema, it was always full. In the countryside, as long as it was the slack season for farming, every ten days or half a month, there would be a movie projectionist with a roll of tape, setting up a large white cloth as a screen in the rice drying area at the entrance of the village, and showing movies.
Every household brought a stool and went early to grab a seat. The content of the movie, whether it was the plot or the clothes of the hero and heroine, would become the topic of conversation for a long time.
Chen Lanjun has read the novel Jane Eyre, but she has never seen the movie. It is said that it was a Western film specially introduced because of the opening up and the lifting of the film ban.
That weekend, Chen Lanjun went to the county town after a long absence and bought a movie ticket alone to watch "Jane Eyre".
The plot is not much different from the novel. It is a story about a girl with a rough life who still pursues freedom and dignity even in the face of all kinds of hardships.
When the "Jane Eyre" in the film review appeared, a pair of girls sitting in Chen Lanjun's seat said excitedly: "Look, isn't the 'Jane Eyre hat' very beautiful!"
Chen Lanjun suddenly realized that this kind of women's hat with a large wide brim is called a "Jane Eyre hat."
Counting the time, that movie is about to be released.
This is an opportunity.
Chen Lanjun began to think about the issue of execution. She was always used to working backwards from the results and then breaking down the tasks.
You need to earn 400 yuan, no, you need to have some margin just in case, so your goal should be to earn 500 yuan.
Relying solely on donations from classmates, we could only raise about 100 yuan at most, leaving a gap of nearly 400 yuan.
Time is very tight, so Chen Lanjun specifically asked that Ajing's grandmother must undergo surgery within a month, otherwise there would be no way to save her.
To be honest, it would not be enough to collect all this money in such a short time relying solely on the efforts of him, Cao Hongyao, Liu Li, Xiaonian and others.
We must mobilize the power of the people.
For Chen Lanjun and others, the only strength they can rely on is the class. She was a little worried that her classmates would have an attitude of "it's none of my business", or that they would sympathize with her but would not be able to help her because they had to prepare for the exam.
However, she did not expect that when she mentioned that she needed help from her classmates, no one raised any objection.
"We are a warm class," said Cao Hongyao, a well-behaved student who has always been conservative. "We are classmates and comrades. What happens to Ajing is what happens to all of us. If there is a risk, we take it."
"Yes! The martyrs were able to block the eyes and blow up the bunkers for their comrades, so why not for us to take a little risk for our classmates!" This is the Little New Year's Eve party where people slam the table.
“That’s right, we should treat our comrades as warmly as spring.” Liu Li nodded solemnly.
"As long as I can help Ajing, I'm willing to do it." This is a classmate.
"I would like to too!" This was another classmate.
…
One young face after another, perhaps immature, but sincere.
Chen Lanjun smiled slowly: "Well, please, comrades!"
The key to making a Jane Eyre hat is to make a wide brim.
The original craftsmanship was probably felt? Chen Lanjun and others could not get it for the time being, so they just tried to imitate the shape.
After confirming that the movie would be shown in theaters a week later, Chen Lanjun started her plan - selling items such as hats.
The reason given was: winter is here and it is quite cold this year, so we can knit nice hats to sell and there will definitely be a lot of buyers.
Chen Lanjun, Liu Li, Cao Hongyao, and Xiaonian all pooled their money to buy wool, and Xiaonian actually took out five yuan. In private, she found Chen Lanjun, feeling a little embarrassed, and said awkwardly, "I was wrong, Alan, I admit that I secretly lent the review materials to others to copy, fifty cents each time."
Chen Lanjun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She patted her gently and let the matter go.
I took the money and bought some raw materials, such as wool and cotton thread. Some classmates also brought crochet hooks from home. These things are easy to make. In short, I got everything together within a day.
Afterwards, she organized all the girls in the class to knit hats, gloves and scarves in their spare time.
Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't require much effort. Once you're proficient in it, you can even spread a book in front of you, recite it, and still keep working on weaving.
The female students started to get busy, and the male students were a little anxious before they were assigned any work. The sports committee member of the class, a boy named Ali, approached Chen Lanjun and said, "We are all classmates, and we also want to help."
Ah Nian, who was sitting nearby winding yarn, heard this and joked, "You boys are all clumsy, how can you knit?"
"We are like Zhang Fei embroidering - rough but delicate!" Ali argued, "Besides, you have your advantages, and I have mine."
"What are your strengths, big fool?"
“I run fast!”
"What's the advantage of running fast?"
Chen Lanjun suddenly interjected: "Running fast... can also be an advantage."
Especially now, this skill is very suitable for setting up stalls. When you see the "daban" from a distance, you can neatly collect the mat on the ground, put it on your shoulder, and run away. As long as you run fast enough, the "daban" can't catch up.
She specially picked out a few male classmates who were fast runners and taught them the secret skills.
In the sandpit beside the playground, Chen Lanjun picked up a branch and wrote and drew on the ground.
“Here, this is a distribution map.”
The horizontal line represents the street, and the stick figures represent people.
Chen Lanjun pointed at a stick figure with a branch: "This classmate is the one who keeps watch at the street corners. Once he sees someone fighting in the distance, he will shout, 'It's raining, collect the clothes!'"
"When you hear that sound, put away the mat and run. Is that clear?"
Ali and the others nodded and memorized it as if they were remembering the key points for an exam.
Chen Lanjun tested them several more times, and seeing that everyone remembered the slogan "It's raining, put away the clothes", she moved on to the next step and taught them the skills to pack items quickly and to choose an escape route in advance.
...In short, it sounds a bit unorthodox.
Some male students who are not so good at running joined the knitting group with great enthusiasm, with the attitude of "contributing one's light and heat".
In the whole class, everyone has something to do after class and after school.
The subject teacher might be fooled by such obvious noise, but it would be difficult to fool Mr. Qin, the class teacher.
Within two days, Teacher Qin discovered something was wrong.
She went to Cao Hongyao and Liu Li to find out the situation.
"Hongyao, as the class monitor, you should have noticed that there's something wrong with the atmosphere in our class, right?" Teacher Qin asked.
Cao Hongyao blinked and said, "Maybe winter is coming, and everyone wants to knit something to keep warm."
"real?"
"Really!" Cao Hongyao said sincerely.
Teacher Qin asked her to leave suspiciously, then turned around and called Liu Li: "Is there anything going on in the class recently?"
"No." Liu Li played dumb.
"Really?"
"No." Liu Li suddenly thought of something and said with a smile, "There is one thing. Cao Hongyao took the right medicine. We are now peaceful and united."
“…”
Teacher Qin had to repeatedly tell the class to focus on studying, but it had little effect. She secretly observed for a while, and during the evening self-study, Teacher Qin tiptoed to the side of the classroom and peeked in through the back window.
The students in the classroom are still studying with books in front of them, but what is a bit strange is that they are knitting with their hands?
She watched patiently for a long time and finally caught a scene: Cao Hongyao and Liu Li actually listened to Chen Lanjun's orders obediently?
Caught a ghost.
The next day, after Teacher Qin's class, she stood on the podium and said with a cold face, "Chen Lanjun, come out with me."
All the students’ hearts stopped beating!
Has it been discovered?
Among the frightened classmates, Chen Lanjun looked particularly calm.
She followed Teacher Qin to a secluded place.
Teacher Qin stopped and frowned as he asked, "What the hell are you doing?"
As expected, I was discovered, Chen Lanjun thought. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and thought for a second.
Two lines of tears fell from her pretty face.
"Teacher, please save Ajing!"
Teacher Qin is a person who responds to soft words and not to tough ones. In her impression, Chen Lanjun has always been a very calm child. Why did she cry so miserably this time?
She had no choice but to lower her tone and ask, "What's going on? Don't cry, talk to the teacher."
Chen Lanjun added some exaggeration to the story. When she talked about Ajing's story, she almost started singing "The north wind is blowing, the snowflakes are floating" on the spot.
"…We have no other choice but to knit some hats and gloves and sell them to make some money to help Ah Jing, wuwu…"
Teacher Qin frowned and said, "But this is... well, this is a mistake."
"Wanting to help a classmate, can that be considered a mistake?"
Chen Lanjun's rhetorical question left Teacher Qin confused.
After a long while, she sighed and said, "Okay, but don't delay your study time."
"Teacher, rest assured, we will do our best and make sure both hands are strong!"
Chen Lanjun wiped her tears and said, "Then I will go back to study."
"Go ahead."
I hadn't taken two steps when I heard Teacher Qin say, "No, wait a minute!"
Oh no, Chen Lanjun secretly regretted herself, could it be that she was still not fooled?
She pinched herself, looking extremely sad and tearful, and said, "Teacher——"
Teacher Qin took out a big stack of banknotes and pressed them in her hand: "This is my salary for this month, forty yuan. Take it."
Chen Lanjun looked at the money, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Teacher Qin looked at a cloud in the sky and said sadly, "I am your teacher. To be honest, every time I see students dropping out of school for unavoidable reasons, I... I also feel uncomfortable."
She stepped forward, took out her handkerchief, and gently wiped away Chen Lanjun's tears: "I am very happy to have taught students like you."
“So, come on!”
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