Qin Hanshu walked over and asked, "Is it with Yang Guangyu?"
“Yes,” Zhou Weiguang nodded and handed the letter to Qin Hanshu. “Take a look at this too. Half of it is about you.”
Qin Hanshu smiled and took the letter.
After reading it, Qin Hanshu said, "I'll write the reply, and I'll also tell them about my pregnancy. Do you have anything to say?"
Zhou Weiguang shook his head, "It's just a greeting to your family, nothing special. You can go back whenever you feel like it."
“By the way, Mom and Dad asked if we could go back for Lan Hua’s wedding. I think we should just forget about it. It’s not convenient for you to be pregnant,” Zhou Weiguang said.
"I agree!" Qin Feiyang leaned closer and said, "Pregnancy is hard enough as it is, it's not suitable for long journeys."
Qin Hanshu thought so too. The hardship was another matter, but the main concern was that the risks were indeed higher in the early stages of pregnancy.
After returning home, Qin Hanshu said, "I'll go to the department store tomorrow and buy some more gifts for Lan Hua to mail back."
Zhou Weiguang said, "You can make the decision. If you don't have enough money, just tell me and I'll advance you a month's salary."
Since getting married, Zhou Weiguang has given all his savings to Qin Hanshu, and Qin Hanshu also collects his monthly salary.
Even his only pastime—cigarettes—was bought and kept at home by Qin Hanshu.
Zhou Weiguang probably doesn't have a single penny in his pocket.
Qin Hanshu had offered him pocket money, but Zhou Weiguang refused, saying he had nowhere to spend it and that he could ask Qin Hanshu for money when he needed it.
It's quite common for wives to go to collect their wages in the family compound, including Liu Ercui upstairs.
However, there are very few men like Zhou Weiguang who don't have a single penny in their pocket.
Zhou Weiguang never inquired about any household expenses, which is why he said "if there isn't enough money" at this moment.
Qin Hanshu shook her head with a laugh, "Do you think I live paycheck to paycheck? Our combined monthly income is over a hundred, and household expenses are only a few dollars. Plus, there's your savings from before we got married. How could it not be enough?"
Moreover, she still has quite a few things stored in her space, and she occasionally takes some out and mixes them into her daily necessities, which saves her a lot of money without her even realizing it.
Zhou Weiguang thought for a moment and said, "Commander Chen of the garrison area earns much more than me, but his family is in dire need of money almost every month and he has to take an advance on his salary from time to time."
Commander Chen was the leader who spoke at their wedding. Qin Hanshu later heard Zhou Weiguang mention him; he could be considered Zhou Weiguang's benefactor.
“Commander Chen has a large family. His son and daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law all live with him, as well as his grandson and granddaughter. The whole family is supported by his salary, and they all want to enjoy the good life, so it's normal that they are in financial straits.”
Commander Chen is actually not very old, only about fifty. He got married early, and his son and daughter also got married early, so he has three generations living together at a young age.
“That’s true,” Zhou Weiguang replied, but his mind was elsewhere.
Commander Chen's position and rank are not low; it is the highest position that most mid-to-lower-level cadres like Zhou Weiguang can possibly reach.
But... Zhou Weiguang imagined himself surrounded by his children and grandchildren, their chattering and asking for things, but he couldn't provide them...
Previously, Zhou Weiguang had always regarded Commander Chen as his life's goal.
It seems he needs to set his sights higher.
Tsk, I feel like the burden on my shoulders has become much heavier.
***
Qin Hanshu planned to use her lunch break to go downstairs and browse around, picking out a wedding gift for Zhou Ruilan.
Upon hearing this, Wu Yingxia was eager to go along.
Qin Hanshu naturally agreed.
The distance is far, the mailing time is long, and it's inconvenient to buy overly expensive items.
Qin Hanshu already had a general plan in mind: to buy two sets of fashionable ready-made clothes and some local specialties.
So she went straight to the wardrobe counter.
When the sales clerk at the counter saw Wu Yingxia, her originally indifferent face immediately broke into a warm smile.
"Aunt Wu, it's been a long time since you've come to visit us."
"I'm too busy with work to play," Wu Yingxia waved her hand.
The sales clerk's eyes flickered. "There's a rumor that our company is going to increase employee benefits this year? I wonder how exactly."
Another salesperson chimed in, "I don't ask for anything else, I just beg you not to send ribbonfish anymore... please replace it with yellow croaker instead, I love yellow croaker noodles!"
Wu Yingxia smiled and said reproachfully, "I also want to eat yellow croaker noodles, but we need to make sure we have enough to eat first!"
As she spoke, Wu Yingxia gave Qin Hanshu a wink.
Qin Hanshu thought for a moment before realizing that Wu Yingxia was asking her to continue the conversation.
"There are no more small yellow croakers, but there is peanut oil, and each person can get 1 jin."
The two sales clerks' eyes lit up immediately.
"A pound of peanut oil? That's better than any fish!"
Each person's monthly oil supply is only half a jin (250 grams), mostly soybean oil. No matter how good the benefits are for department store employees, it's difficult for them to buy an extra ounce of oil.
Jiangcheng No. 1 Department Store is one of the few department stores in the country that has nationwide purchasing rights and import quotas.
At the beginning of this year, an agricultural department in a certain province somehow found the leader of a department store and asked for help in importing a batch of fertilizers. The department store agreed.
They paid a sum of money upfront, but when it came time to pay the balance after the goods arrived, they delayed and refused to pay. In the end, the department store sent someone to collect the debt.
Then they discovered that the other side wasn't deliberately unwilling to pay; they were simply so poor that the flowerbeds in front of the provincial government building weren't planted with flowers, but with vegetables.
It was peanut season, and that province grew a lot of peanuts, so they asked if they could use peanuts to pay off the remaining debt.
Think about it, those people over there have it tough too. They went through countless twists and turns to come to Jiangcheng to find fertilizer. They must have been forced into this situation.
Ultimately, it's all for the country and its people, not for personal enrichment.
And just like that, they brought back nearly half a train carload of peanuts.
There were so many peanuts, it was hard to sell them, they just piled up there. As the end of the year approached, someone suggested to the leaders that they simply contact an oil pressing plant to press them into oil and sell them, it would definitely sell well at the end of the year.
The leader thought it was a good idea, but instead of selling it, they decided to give it to the employees as a benefit.
That's why we had the per capita benefit of one pound of peanut oil this year.
This news was not a secret among the higher-ups, but those below had only heard a whisper of it and did not know the specifics.
Even among the personnel in the labor and personnel department, only Wu Yingxia and Wang Yinghui knew. However, Wu Yingxia knowing meant that Qin Hanshu also knew.
Wu Yingxia asked Qin Hanshu to speak so that she could get closer to the two sales clerks and make it easier for her to buy things there later.
Sure enough, as soon as Qin Hanshu finished speaking, the two sales clerks immediately looked at her with increasing warmth.
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