Chapter 4242 The truth is revealed
To be honest, Lu Jiaze's speculation made Jiang Lili a little unhappy, but it also made her sober up. No matter how good playmates they were in the past, they were not the same kind of people after all.
At this point, Lu Jiaze was also a little annoyed. He seemed to have said something wrong. He looked up and explained, "That's not what I meant. I just felt that as your friend, I shouldn't have any contact with her."
"I'm not that overbearing. Well, it's boring to talk about this. Let me take you around." Jiang Lili ended the topic directly.
"Okay." Seeing that she didn't want to continue this topic, Lu Jiaze could only put away the explanation he had prepared.
In fact, schools at that time were very simple. After Jiang Lili took him around the inner and outer playgrounds, she casually asked, "Do you regret not choosing a government school now?"
"Why do you regret it?" Lu Jiaze looked at her in surprise. The conditions of the school now may not be as good as those in the government school, but there are people he knows here.
"I'm glad you don't regret it. Let's go back to the classroom." She didn't want to hear from anyone that he came to this school because of her.
"Jiang Lili, I feel like you're prejudiced against me after not seeing you for a few years." Lu Jiaze threw away the milk bag in his hand and complained.
Jiang Lili sneered, "I haven't even told you that you're prejudiced against me, but you're the first to feel wronged?"
Thinking about what just happened, Lu Jiaze quickly explained, "I just didn't express myself clearly. I know you don't like Ji Mingyue. Don't worry, I will always stand by you."
Jiang Lili originally didn't want to pay attention to him, but seeing his confident expression, she suddenly became interested: "Okay, you said that yourself, so remember what you said."
"Of course." Lu Jiaze looked confident.
Jiang Lili curled the corners of her lips without saying anything, but just walked towards the classroom. According to the plot, Uncle Lu will stay in Yuncheng for at least three years. Similarly, Lu Jiaze will also stay here for three years. She suddenly became a little curious.
The first class of the morning was Chinese. The routine was to hand out exams and review mistakes. Baring all the other classes today, Lu Jiaze, who hadn't taken the exam, naturally became an idler. He'd always been inferior to Jiang Lili in academics, so he was numb to hearing the teacher's praises. He hadn't expected the teacher to praise Ji Mingyue right after Jiang Lili.
His deskmate Yan Jiangshuai also muttered quietly, "Looking at it this way, Ji Mingyue is actually more impressive. She grew up studying in the countryside, and she managed to get second place right after arriving. If she had grown up in the city, it's hard to say who would be first now."
"You grew up in the city, but I never saw you get first place in the exam?" Lu Jiaze asked back.
"How can they be the same?" Yan Jiangshuai retorted subconsciously.
"Why is it different? At their level, it's all about brains." Lu Jiaze thought, the resources of his school were better than now, but he still couldn't surpass Jiang Lili.
"Okay, I can't argue with you. Anyway, I think Ji Mingyue is more powerful." Yan Jiangshuai stopped arguing with him.
The others were unaware of the argument between the two and were all working hard to correct their mistakes. Jiang Lili's Chinese test was full marks except for the composition and reading comprehension, which were symbolically deducted. She lowered her eyes and stared at her test paper. There was only a two-point difference between her and Ji Mingyue's Chinese scores. She thought that if she wanted to continue to maintain her first place in the next monthly exam, she would have to work harder.
Today the entire grade was distributing test papers and correcting wrong answers, so the atmosphere during the ten-minute break was obviously much more depressing than before. After all, the majority of students did not perform well in the exam.
Ji Mingyue casually put the test paper into her book. She should tell them about the results when she returned home at noon. She felt a headache when she thought of Ye Qiuju's nagging.
But no matter how much of a headache it was, they had to face it. When they returned home at noon, only Ye Qiuju was at home. Ji Mingyue was a little surprised: "Where are Dad and Auntie?"
"Your father went to set up a stall, and your aunt went to where I used to work." Song Zhenzhen went to Qingyuan Restaurant to wash dishes.
"Hasn't she met Ji Yumo yet?" The disgust in Ji Mingyue's tone was obvious.
"We met near the iron factory yesterday. There's no rush. By the way, are the results out?" Ye Qiuju asked with concern.
"It's out. I'm second and Jiang Lili is first." Ji Mingyue said it directly without waiting for her to ask further.
"Why didn't you get first place? Didn't you say you were very confident? I patted my chest in front of your father and guaranteed that you could surpass her." Ye Qiuju looked at her with some displeasure.
"Why rush? There's still three years of high school to go." Ji Mingyue thought it was just an accident.
"Then it's good that you know it in your mind. You can explain it to your father tonight." Ye Qiuju knew that she could not control her now.
"Well, let's eat first. I'm hungry." Ji Mingyue said as he got up and went to the kitchen.
*
After school, even though Lu Jiaze moved slowly, he was tall and had long legs, so he still walked ahead of Jiang Lili. Ke Sisi glanced at the person standing in front and waved to her: "Lili, bye, I'm leaving first."
"Bye." After saying goodbye to Ke Sisi, she looked up at the person standing there and said gently, "Let's go."
Perhaps because there was an extra guest at home, today's lunch was noticeably more sumptuous than usual. Zhou Qingfen served Lu Jiaze some rice while telling him, "Your mother went back to Jincheng early this morning. Jiaze, from now on, treat this place like your home. Just tell me if you need anything."
"Okay, I will. Thank you, auntie." Lu Jiaze nodded in agreement.
"Brother Lu, please eat more." Remembering her parents' instructions, Jiang Qitong took the public chopsticks next to her and took the initiative to pick up some food for Lu Jiaze.
"Thank you Tongtong." A smile flashed in Lu Jiaze's eyes.
"Lili, your monthly exam results are out. I heard that you got first place again this time?" Jiang Aiguo just heard someone downstairs talking about this monthly exam.
"Yeah." Jiang Lili nodded calmly.
"Lili is still so awesome, that's great." Jiang Yulan had always been afraid that their divorce would affect Jiang Lili's state, but fortunately she was not affected.
"You got first place in the exam but didn't even tell us. If I hadn't heard it from others, we wouldn't have known about it." Jiang Aiguo gave her a reproachful look.
"It's just an ordinary monthly exam." Jiang Lili's tone was somewhat helpless. You know, after entering high school, exams have become commonplace.
"Then you should tell us. Let's celebrate for you tonight?" Jiang Aiguo suggested.
"Not today. I have an appointment with Director Yang to take Lili to Factory 1." The school is closed today and will be over at four in the afternoon.
"Then let's do it next time. Business is more important." Seeing this, Jiang Aiguo had no choice but to give up.
Lu Jiaze, who was standing next to him, looked at Jiang Jianyi curiously: "Grandpa Jiang, where are you going? Can I go with you?"
"Lili designed a new toy for the toy factory before. This time she is going to the factory to see the pattern making. Do you want to go with her?" Jiang Jianyi looked at him happily.
"If it doesn't bother you." Lu Jiaze's eyes flashed with surprise. He didn't expect Jiang Lili to have already moved on to the toys area. At this time, he also remembered why she and Tongtong emphasized going to the toy area that day.
"Lili, what do you think?" Finally, the old man did not forget to ask Jiang Lili's opinion.
"I'm fine with anything." Now that things have come to this, she can't just say she won't let him go. She had anticipated these problems when she knew Lu Jiaze was moving in, so she accepted it well.
Probably because everyone had told their families about their grades at noon, the atmosphere in the classroom returned to the state before the exam in the afternoon. However, the topic still did not avoid the monthly exam. Many people had already learned from classmates in other classes that their class had the highest average score in this monthly exam.
"The teacher is so mean. He didn't even tell us such good news."
"Even though we only got one point more than Class 5, we still won."
"That's right. Next time, let's keep up the good work and try to surpass them by more than ten points." At this time, everyone's sense of honor was still very high.
"The top ten students in the grade all received prizes, and our class took up five of them. It was impressive no matter how you looked at it."
Ji Mingyue had just learned that there were prizes for the top ten in her grade. She had no idea what the prizes were, but she was a little excited. After the person next to her finished speaking, she turned back to look at Lu Jiaze. He was looking down at something, and this time, the strategy value above his head had gone directly negative. Ji Mingyue seemed to have figured out why she had lost to Jiang Lili in this exam. She guessed that Jiang Lili must have said something to him, otherwise the strategy value wouldn't have gone directly negative. How should she reverse this situation? Ji Mingyue fell into deep thought.
"This week was spent on exams, but it's finally over." There was still one last class left, and Ke Sisi couldn't help but sigh as she sorted out the homework left over from the previous classes.
"Yeah." Jiang Lili lowered her head to pick up the test papers distributed in the last class. They were not allowed to be idle even during the holiday.
"During the flag-raising ceremony next Monday, the top ten students in each grade will go on stage to receive their awards. Lili, are you ready?" Ke Sisi said with a smile.
"Do you want to go on stage?" Jiang Lili was a little surprised. Didn't they not need to do that before?
"Yeah, I also heard it from other classes." Ke Sisi nodded.
"Since you are going on stage, why not expect a generous prize?" Although it might just be a notebook or something like that.
"I don't know." Ke Sisi shook her head.
Jiang Lili didn't take this matter to heart. She was distracted because she was going to Factory 1 soon. To be honest, she hadn't been to Factory 1 yet. She heard that the scale there was much larger than Factory 2, and she didn't know if she could see their other production lines.
After school, when Jiang Lili was still packing her schoolbag, Lu Jiaze was already waiting for her with his schoolbag on his back. After she finished packing, he picked up her schoolbag with a familiar look and said, "Let's go. Grandpa Jiang is probably waiting for us."
"Okay, but we have to go back and put our schoolbags away first." Jiang Lili guessed that they would ride their bikes there later. Factory 1 was still some distance away from the cotton mill.
Just as Jiang Lili thought, the three of them rode two bicycles to a factory. Jiang Lili sat on the back seat of Jiang Jianyi. It was early October and the wind blowing across her face was already a little cool. Jiang Lili lowered her head submissively.
It was twenty minutes later when they arrived at Factory 1. This was not Jiang Jianyi's first time here. He greeted the guard with familiarity and went straight to the workshop with the two of them.
"Grandpa, when did you become so familiar with this place?" Jiang Lili was a little surprised.
"When I have nothing to do, I come over and take a look, and then I'll become familiar with the place." Jiang Jianyi comes over every day these days to ensure that he can get the latest news from the toy factory.
Except for a few people who stayed behind to make the pattern, everyone else in the workshop had already left work. They checked the time and confirmed with Director Yang: "Director Yang, when can they come over? Making the pattern takes quite a while."
"It should be here soon." He had just finished speaking when he heard the workshop director's voice behind him: "Director Yang, Mr. Jiang and the others are here."
"Let them in quickly." He looked at Zhao Dong and said, "Aren't they here now?"
Zhao Dong was the team leader of this production line. He felt good about the dolls he made last time, so he was unhappy when he was directly rejected. This unhappiness reached its peak when he found out that the other party was just a sixteen-year-old student. What does a little girl know?
"Director Yang, I'm sorry. My children just got out of school and kept you waiting for a long time." Jiang Jianyi looked at everyone apologetically.
"It's okay. Lili's situation is special and we all understand. Come, Lili, these are the workers who make patterns on our production line. If you have any opinions, feel free to raise them." Director Yang said as he introduced Jiang Lili to Zhao Dong and others.
Jiang Lili greeted a few people, but they were not very enthusiastic. In their opinion, the second revision was because of her veto, and they didn't know what else she would do today?
Jiang Lili didn't care about their attitude. She looked at Director Yang and asked directly, "Director Yang, before I offer my opinion, can I ask a question? This is closely related to my subsequent suggestions."
"Of course, tell me what you want to ask." Director Yang nodded.
"I wonder what your positioning is for this dress-up doll, affordable or something else?" Jiang Lili asked.
"This product has such a huge initial investment, and we still don't plan to go for the affordable route. The current price of one set is 20 yuan." Director Yang seemed to not understand the meaning of her question.
"If I were a consumer, I wouldn't spend twenty yuan to buy this set of crudely made dress-up dolls. Twenty yuan is not a small amount of money for many families. They need to feel that the money is worth it, so our products must give people a sense of value." Jiang Lili took out the pattern doll they had given her before and explained everything from the fabric to the hair and makeup to the small accessories.
"According to your requirements, the cost will be more than twenty." Zhao Dong's tone was full of sarcasm. It's just a toy, but you asked for so much.
"Not really. The hair just needs to be adjusted to the right needle holes, and the makeup only needs to be adjusted once when making the pattern. As for clothes, I think children will prefer gauze, the kind of mosquito net material. The hidden version can have sequins and beads added." Jiang Lili's tone was neither hurried nor slow, making it impossible to refuse.
Director Yang pondered for a moment, then nodded after a long pause: "Then let's try her suggestion." Seeing their reluctance, he couldn't help but remind them: "Don't forget the purpose of this reform. The assets of the Second Factory will be sold off soon. If we don't save ourselves, the current situation of the Second Factory will also be ours."
Director Yang's seriousness made everyone else's expressions serious as well. This was a matter of life and death for everyone. People were laid off at the Second Factory, and the factory was planning to be sold. Thinking of this, Zhao Dong had an idea: "I'll go adjust the machine and make the hair more dense."
The others were also thinking about Jiang Lili's proposal normally and quickly making changes. Only Jiang Lili's attention was on Factory 2. She looked at Director Yang with surprise and asked, "Director Yang, are you planning to sell Factory 2?"
"The factory is holding a meeting and has this intention. What's the matter?" Director Yang said and looked at her.
"It's okay, I'm just asking." Jiang Lili lowered her head to hide the smile on the corner of her lips, afraid that they would misunderstand that she was gloating.
Lu Jiaze, who was standing next to her, saw everything she did and was a little surprised. Could it be that she wanted to acquire the second factory?
The word "laid off" seemed like a curse. Zhao Dong and the others, who had been reluctant just now, were now very cooperative. More than an hour later, Jiang Lili looked at the newly printed dress-up doll. She took off the doll's skirt and suggested to the naked doll, "You can wrap it in an inner layer. Otherwise, it won't look good. What do you think?"
"That's true. Parents are paying more and more attention to their children's education nowadays." Director Yang nodded and wrote this down.
"And these skirts, I think making them with hidden buttons, or using a single button, Velcro doesn't look sophisticated enough?"
The next step is to add lace, she said while Zhao Dong and his team were making improvements. It's no wonder that when the first and second versions of the dolls were placed together, the difference was enormous.
"If this one costs ten yuan and this one costs twenty yuan, which one would you choose?" Jiang Lili raised her eyes and asked everyone.
Almost everyone chose the twenty-yuan one without hesitation. After all, the money had been spent, so naturally they wanted something exquisite.
Their reaction made Jiang Lili curl her lips. At this time, the others also realized what they had said before and blushed for a moment. Zhao Dong was the first to apologize to Jiang Lili: "Sister, it's us who don't understand the market. We were wrong just now. Please don't mind."
"It's okay. Everyone is doing this for the good of the toy factory. They all want this dress-up doll to sell well." Jiang Lili shook her head, indicating that she didn't care.
"Sister, you are so generous. If there is anything that needs to be changed in the future, just tell us." Zhao Dong said very generously.
"Okay." Jiang Lili nodded in agreement with a smile. Since she was planning to enter this industry in the future, there would be no harm in getting to know some people in the industry in advance.
After everyone finished, they realized that it was already dark outside. Director Yang smiled and said to them, "Look, we were so busy that we forgot it's time to eat. Let's have a simple meal together."
This time, Jiang Lili didn't refuse, so the group went to the restaurant next door. Director Yang pushed the menu to Jiang Lili and said, "Lili, you order."
"No, that won't work. I don't understand any of this. You should come. You must know what Uncle Zhao and the others like to eat. Director Yang, you should come." Jiang Lili did not take the menu.
"Lili is right. Director Yang, please have some." Afraid that he would refuse again, Jiang Jianyi spoke.
"Okay then." Director Yang thought about it and nodded.
Because of what happened just now, several people headed by Zhao Gang became much more enthusiastic towards Jiang Lili. Lu Jiaze remained silent. He lowered his eyes and stared at the bowl in front of him. He thought that the missing years were an unbridgeable gap between them. He found that he seemed to understand her less and less.
Everyone enjoyed the meal very much, except Lu Jiaze. After Director Yang and the others left, Lu Jiaze looked at Jiang Lili with some confusion: "Are you interested in designing toys?"
"I guess so." Jiang Lili thought that she liked making money more than having interests.
"I remember you said you wanted to be a writer." Lu Jiaze thought of Jiang Lili at that time. She held her chin with her right hand, her eyes full of longing for the future: "I want to be a writer in the future and travel to every corner of the world with my stories."
Jiang Lili looked at him in surprise: "I still remember you said you wanted to be a pilot?"
"Yes, my current dream is still to be a pilot." Lu Jiaze nodded in agreement. He never thought there was anything wrong with being a pilot.
"Becoming a writer is just one of my dreams. Does it conflict with what I'm doing now?" Jiang Lili didn't understand the meaning of his question.
Lu Jiaze didn't say anything. He just felt that she seemed less and less like the one he remembered.
"Life and dreams are two different things. Let's go back first." Jiang Jianyi on the side interrupted with a smile.
Jiang Lili finally understood what Lu Jiaze meant. She looked at him with amusement. Did he know that dreams needed financial support? Not every family was like his.
On the way back, Lu Jiaze was very quiet, and Jiang Lili didn't say anything else. When they arrived at the cotton mill, she waved goodbye to Jiang Jianyi and said, "Grandpa, I'm going back first."
"Let me take you upstairs." Jiang Jianyi glanced at their floor while speaking. There was no light on in the house, so no one was probably home.
"No need, I can go up by myself. My mom will probably be back soon." Jiang Lili shook her head.
"Isn't Tongtong going with you? Let's go to Uncle Jiang's house to pick up Tongtong first?" At this time, Lu Jiaze, who had been silent on the road, spoke.
"Oh yes, I'll go upstairs to pick up Tongtong first." Jiang Lili almost forgot about this.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Jiang Qitong was the first to come forward: "Sister Lili, is the revision finished?"
"It's basically settled, but I haven't got the prototype of the doll back yet." Jiang Lili said as she touched her head.
"Okay, then I'll wait a little longer." Jiang Qitong nodded obediently.
"Let's go, it's time for us to go to bed." Jiang Lili did not forget that the purpose of coming up was to take her there.
"Wait until your mother finishes class. She said she will come to pick you up." Jiang Aiguo stopped him.
"Well, judging by the time, she should be back." Jiang Lili glanced at the wall clock while speaking.
"Let's wait a little longer," Jiang Aiguo couldn't help but frown as he spoke.
Jiang Yulan, who they were worried about, was sitting speechless in the police station. Her tone was full of confusion: "Public Security Comrade, what does the replacement of the Ji family's property rights certificate have to do with me? Ji Yushu and I divorced a long time ago."
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