Chapter 11 (Chapter Eleven) Cultivating Connections
Grandpa Wei couldn't help but keep staring at Zhou Dafu. They had known each other for over a decade, and this was the first time he had ever seen Zhou Dafu realize that his daughter-in-law was quite something, managing to change Zhou Dafu's mind in such a short time. This was something that not everyone could do.
"You didn't learn these things from your daughter-in-law, did you?" Grandpa Wei teased.
Zhou Dafu swallowed nervously and retorted, "Of course not. I'm a very conscientious person. I follow the country's policies. If the country tells me to go east, I won't go west."
Grandpa Wei looked at Zhou Dafu with a complicated expression. Today, Zhou Dafu seemed to be possessed, acting strangely.
On the other side, before leaving the dormitory building, Lin Yuanshu took a photo of Director Tang, which she had cut out from the factory newspaper. After all, she had never met Director Tang and could only recognize people in this way.
After going downstairs, she glanced in the direction of the department store and decisively chose to walk in the opposite direction.
The person who can become the workshop director is undoubtedly a shrewd old fox. If she rashly rushes up to him to curry favor, Director Tang will not pay any attention to her at all. So what if she has gifts? Does the workshop director lack such small gifts? He has plenty of good stuff.
Therefore, we need to use the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao". The most difficult thing for Director Tang right now is that his daughter wants to become an educated youth. So, if we want to get close to Director Tang, we need to help her solve this problem in order to catch his eye. To solve this problem, we must first get to know Director Tang's daughter.
The lowest level of climbing the social ladder involves going to the leader's door to offer gifts without any regard for consequences; the highest level involves addressing the leader's urgent needs and troubling them with what they need.
In this day and age, without connections, it's truly impossible to get by.
Since she couldn't go directly to see Director Tang's daughter, she could only choose the most rudimentary method: she would wait downstairs at the tenement building where Director Tang lived, and rush over as soon as Director Tang's daughter came downstairs.
It's okay if we don't meet today; she's just here to scout things out.
Lin Yuanshu saw a group of middle-aged women chatting downstairs and naturally joined them.
"Who are you? I've never seen you before," one of the older women asked.
Lin Yuanshu gave a sweet smile and replied, "I am Zhou Dafu's youngest daughter-in-law. I just got married here. My mother told me that I wanted to get to know Beijing as quickly as possible, so I came here to chat with you."
Upon hearing this, the older woman immediately perked up. She smiled and said, "Your mother isn't wrong. Your husband is Comrade Zhou Xiangyang, isn't he?"
Lin Yuanshu nodded and praised, "You are truly amazing; you guessed it right away."
"I didn't expect Comrade Zhou Xiangyang to be married. You're so lucky. Apart from being quiet, Comrade Zhou Xiangyang is great in every other way," the middle-aged woman with a thin mustache exclaimed.
Her daughter had been clamoring to marry Zhou Xiangyang! Of course, she disagreed. He was not only quiet and reserved, but also lacked assertiveness. If her daughter married him, wouldn't she be bullied to death by Zhou's mother? No matter how beautiful she was, it wouldn't work.
“Yes!” Lin Yuanshu agreed with a smile.
An hour later, Lin Yuanshu's mind was filled with all sorts of explosive news. Who said that the aunties of this era were feudal? They were really good at having fun.
"Director Tang's daughter is downstairs. Didn't you need to see her? Hurry up and go." One of the older women gestured to Lin Yuanshu with her eyes.
Lin Yuanshu's gaze fell on the girl in the distance wearing a white shirt and blue shorts. She said very politely, "Thank you for the reminder."
She thought that Director Tang's daughter would look similar to Director Tang, but the two were completely different. Although she had never met Director Tang, she would have definitely missed it if these older women hadn't reminded her.
"Comrade Tang Rong, please wait a moment." Lin Yuanshu hurriedly caught up with Tang Rong, calling out as he ran. Director Tang's wife also had the surname Tang.
Tang Rong looked at Lin Yuanshu warily and said coldly, "I don't know you."
Lin Yuanshu smiled slightly and got straight to the point: "My name is Lin Yuanshu. I just got married and moved to Beijing. My husband works in a chemical plant, and I live in the apartment building next door. I heard that you want to go to the countryside to be an educated youth, so I came here specifically to talk to you."
Although Tang Rong's wariness lessened a bit, her tone remained stiff as she said, "What do you want to talk to me about? Are you trying to persuade me not to go to the countryside? If that's your purpose, then you can give up. I will go to the countryside no matter what."
Lin Yuanshu shook his head and looked at Tang Rong with admiration. "No, quite the opposite. I hope you can come to my hometown's production team as an educated youth. It's a poor place, but also a beautiful one. I thought that by studying, I could help the production team improve, but I didn't expect that my abilities were too weak and I couldn't do anything. If it were you, I believe you could bring about new changes to the production team."
She truly believed that those who were willing to voluntarily go to the countryside as educated youth in this era were brave. What was there in the countryside? Endless farm work, unappetizing food, and an absolutely terrible environment.
Tang Rong smiled somewhat embarrassedly. Over the past few days, Lin Yuanshu was the only person who supported her. Even her classmates disagreed, saying that going to the countryside would only lead to hardship. But she didn't want to stay by her parents' side forever, relying on them to find a job, get promoted, and live a routine life.
People only refer to her as Director Tang's daughter, not Tang Rong. She hopes that one day, people will be able to describe her mother as Tang Rong's mother.
"I'm not as amazing as you make me out to be."
“You do, but not everyone has the courage to challenge themselves and take the initiative to go to the countryside as an educated youth,” Lin Yuanshu said firmly.
Upon hearing this, Tang Rong's ears turned red uncontrollably. She pulled Lin Yuanshu upstairs, wanting to talk to him about her hometown and life in the countryside.
Lin Yuanshu did not lie. He directly described the difficult life in the countryside, affirmed Tang Rong's idea of going to the countryside as an educated youth, and expressed his full support.
Her purpose in coming was not to dissuade Tang Rong from her idea, but simply to offer Director Tang a suggestion: to consider her daughter's desire to become an educated youth in a different way.
Tang Rong wasn't the kind of person who had to go to the countryside as an educated youth. With Director Tang as her mother, she was already far ahead of others. Making achievements in the production team would be an easy thing for her; it just depended on whether she dared to think about it and dared to do it.
After hearing about the hardships of life in the countryside, Tang Rong did not give up her idea. Instead, she said sadly, "Sigh, my mother now wants me to stay in the city and does not agree to me going to the countryside at all. No matter how much I cry and make a fuss at home, it's no use."
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