Chapter 228 I Still Have a Brother to Take Care of
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the garment factory had already started production, as a batch of work clothes from a private factory had to be delivered before the Lantern Festival.
With the spring breeze of reform and opening up in Guangdong, there are more and more private factories and town-run factories, and the demand for them is huge. Huang Ling returned to Changzhou. Li Yiming will be in charge of the factory on the second, third and fourth days of the Lunar New Year. He will take over the rest after Huang Ling comes back.
Before the official start of work on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the daily working hours are shortened and there is also separate overtime pay.
The factory has strict regulations from raw materials to production lines to shipment, so there will be no chaos even if Huang Ling is not there.
Everyone knows how great she is. She is a very nice person normally, but when it comes to product quality and regulations, she is extremely strict.
Therefore, no one dares to act casually at work.
Li Yiming gave out red envelopes to the employees who came to work today.
Everyone laughed when they saw him:
"Manager Li, I'm going to visit my girlfriend's house for New Year's greetings!"
"I'm telling you! This little leather jacket looks so cool!"
"Mr. Huang bought it for me from Shanghai. Mr. Huang has a good taste, right? Our factory will have to import leather to make leather jackets in the future!" Li Yiming patted the leather jacket on his body and said proudly.
"That's right. We work in a garment factory, so we have to dress nicely when we go out, otherwise people won't believe in our craftsmanship."
"That's right."
After chatting for a while, everyone went to their workstations and started working.
At this time, Wu Shanshan entered the factory. She walked a little hurriedly and was a little out of breath.
Li Yiming handed over a red envelope and said, "Shanshan, Happy New Year!"
"Brother Yiming, Happy New Year." She shook her head and did not accept the red envelope.
"Take it! Aunt Huang told me to give it to you." Wu Shanshan still shook her head.
"It's unlucky if you don't accept it." Li Yiming stuffed the red envelope into Wu Shanshan's hand without saying anything.
Li Yiming asked again: "How did you tell your family about this? Don't look for you later. When I left, your parents were still there."
"My dad went back to her parents' home with my mom and Zhang Min today. They will stay overnight and come back tomorrow. I can work all day today." Wu Shanshan seemed very happy to be able to work for a day.
"Did you ask Xiaojun to come to my house for lunch?"
"No need. I cooked lunch this morning. Xiaojun can heat it up for lunch. I brought my own food too." Wu Shanshan showed Li Yiming the lunch box in her hand.
There is a small boiler in the factory, which is used not only for work but also for steaming hot meals.
"Okay, then go to work!" Li Yiming felt relieved when he saw that she had made all the arrangements.
She was busy until the end of the day, until she could no longer lift her hands, but she still felt extremely happy and satisfied.
After get off work, Wu Shanshan left the garment factory and took out a book from her bag to read while walking.
Xie Zheyu was running around under the tree. When he saw Wu Shanshan coming, he hurried over.
"Wu Shanshan!"
Wu Shanshan raised her head, a little surprised, but she didn't say anything and continued walking forward.
Xie Zheyu didn't say anything else and just followed her.
"Xie classmate, what are you doing?"
"I was passing by and happened to meet you. I want to go back with you!"
"Your house is closer over there."
"Uh...I, um, ate too much during the Chinese New Year, so I'm going to do some exercise." Xie Zheyu stammered.
"If you have something to say, just say it." Wu Shanshan stopped and put away the book.
"I want to ask you, have you learned about college?"
When Wu Shanshan heard the word "university", she turned her head to look at him.
"This is what happened. I have a relative who is a teacher at Jiaotong University. He went back to Suzhou for the New Year, and many people asked him about going to university. He simply gathered everyone together to give a talk. I asked Tunan and Hongbin to come as well. Do you want to come and listen?"
As Xie Zheyu spoke, he observed Wu Shanshan carefully.
He saw a different kind of brilliance in her eyes.
Wu Shanshan withdrew her gaze and continued walking forward.
"I originally wanted to let Tunan tell you, since you two are quite familiar with each other, but he went to Changzhou for the New Year, and it was not convenient for me to go to your house to find you, so..." Xie Zheyu added.
Wu Shanshan glanced at him again:
You're quite smart! You knew you couldn't come to my house to look for me, and you knew I would definitely come to work and earn money!
"I know you definitely want to go." Xie Zheyu said firmly.
He knew how much effort Wu Shanshan had put in to get into high school and take the college entrance exam.
"Oh, don't worry, there are not only you but two girls."
Wu Shanshan bit her lip and nodded slightly: "Where is it?"
Xie Zheyu's voice floated: "At my house, at 2 pm on the sixth day of the New Year. My uncle will return to Shanghai on the seventh day."
Wu Shanshan nodded: "Thank you."
The two of them didn't say anything else and walked together towards the cotton mill alley.
It wasn't until Wu Shanshan was almost home that Xie Zheyu asked again: "Wu Shanshan, which university do you want to apply to?"
Wu Shanshan answered without hesitation: "Shanghai."
Xie Zheyu was a little surprised to hear this answer. Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask, "Don't you want to be as far away as possible?"
Wu Shanshan smiled lightly and looked at him: "I still have a younger brother to take care of. If I don't take care of him, no one will."
Xie Zheyu was stunned.
He knew that Wu Shanshan had a younger brother. He thought that Wu Shanshan was the only one who was despised and oppressed in the family. Unexpectedly, her younger brother was also the same.
"Yeah, I see."
When they were still one street away from the alley, Xie Zheyu and Wu Shanshan said goodbye.
When Wu Shanshan returned home, Wu Jun was already watching TV at Song Ying's house.
"Shanshan, your parents are not here, so you and Xiaojun can have dinner with us here tonight." Song Ying greeted Wu Shanshan.
"Okay, Aunt Song."
Wu Shanshan walked into the house and took out a cloth bag from her bag.
"Aunt Song, Aunt Li, this is...I made it for you."
Wu Shanshan opened the cloth bag, which contained two pairs of cloth gloves, a champagne-colored pair for Song Ying, and a maroon pair for Aunt Li.
"I made it myself. I learned to use a sewing machine...Oh, Aunt Huang agreed." Wu Shanshan explained.
"Shanshan, you have such a dexterous hand. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you bought it in a state-owned store." Song Ying took a closer look and found it was indeed well made.
She knew that this fabric was the same one used for the spring coats that the factory was making, and the two pairs of gloves should be made from the leftover fabric from making clothes.
"Yes, I thought so too. I will wear it when visiting relatives tomorrow. It looks so beautiful." Aunt Li was also very happy.
Watching the two people wearing gloves and gesturing in front of her, Wu Shanshan lowered her head with tears in her eyes.
She felt very embarrassed because the cloth and machines also belonged to the factory and she had only done a little work, which was like borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha.
Song Ying and Aunt Li went to cook dinner, and Wu Shanshan went to help, but Song Ying kicked her out.
"Go out and watch TV! The kitchen is so small, the three of us can't turn around."
"Yes, Shanshan, go and peel the pomelo. Those two lazy little guys want to eat it but don't want to peel it." Aunt Li found an excuse not to let her help.
Wu Shanshan had no choice but to leave the kitchen. She took the pomelo and a fruit knife from the house and went to the backyard to peel the pomelo. Before she knew it, tears began to flow down her face.
Aunt Li looked up and saw Wu Shanshan wiping her tears. She cursed in a low voice:
"That Wu Jianguo is such a piece of shit. He went off to have fun and left the two kids at home. If you don't think it's okay to take them there, you can just leave them at home. Why don't you come back the same day?"
"I heard from Xiaojun and Lin Dongzhe that they didn't leave any money or meat. There was not even any leftovers during the New Year celebrations in their family. They picked up all the eggs and took them back to their parents' home. In the morning, Shanshan fried cabbage and steamed rice." Song Ying sighed.
"You bastard." They both cursed at the same time.
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