Because it had snowed recently, the roads were very muddy and difficult to walk on after the snow melted.
Xu Ningyan felt as if all the bones in her body had shifted due to the jolting. Several times, if Gu Zhiyuan hadn't grabbed her, she would have been thrown against the carriage wall.
Not to mention the lackey, who was completely stunned by the jolting. Fortunately, Gu Zhiyuan had come prepared and tied the lackey to the railing of the carriage with a rope. At this moment, the lackey was limp and lying in the carriage, his whole body showing four words: utterly hopeless.
Xu Ningyan wanted to laugh, but she couldn't, because she was even worse than a lackey.
She even considered whether she should tie herself to the railing of the carriage with a rope, hoping it would make things better.
Fortunately, there was Gu Zhiyuan.
For the rest of the journey, Gu Zhiyuan almost always had his arm around her shoulder and let her hold onto his arm, which prevented her from being thrown off.
When they arrived at Red Star Commune, the car stopped. Gu Zhiyuan half-carried Xu Ningyan in his arms and put her down in the car. After making sure she was standing, he took the lackey off the bus and placed him next to Xu Ningyan.
The man and his dog almost cried their eyes out. It's so good to be alive and grounded!
Gu Zhiyuan carried all the luggage off the car by himself, then went to the front and said a few words to the driver, handing him two packs of cigarettes and two bottles of wine.
They had arranged with someone that on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, when the convoy returned to the city from the neighboring county, they would give the two a ride back to the county town.
Once the convoy had driven far away, Gu Zhiyuan turned around and saw a man and a dog leaning on each other, looking at each other with expressions of relief. He almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Afraid of hurting Xu Ningyan's pride by laughing out loud, he shielded himself with his fist and coughed, "Are you feeling better?"
Xu Ningyan nodded reluctantly, and the lackey barked weakly.
Gu Zhiyuan suppressed a laugh and ruffled Xu Ningyan's hair: "Let's wait a bit, there will be a car soon."
Sure enough, not long after, they saw Old Yang driving his oxcart slowly along the road from the Tuanjie Brigade.
Xu Ningyan was still surprised that Gu Zhiyuan was so amazing, he even predicted that Old Yang would come to the commune today.
When Old Yang came in, the oxcart turned around and stopped. He greeted the two men, saying, "I figured it was about the right time. You didn't have to wait too long, did you?"
Gu Zhiyuan said to Old Yang, "We just arrived too, thank you for your help, Uncle Yang!"
As he spoke, he handed Old Yang a pack of cigarettes.
Old Yang rubbed his hands together as he took the cigarettes. They were big rooster cigarettes that cost a dime a pack, but he couldn't bear to smoke them. He carefully put them in his pocket and jumped down to help Gu Zhiyuan carry his luggage.
Judging from the tone of his voice, Xu Ningyan realized that Gu Zhiyuan must have arranged this all along. When did he arrange it? She had no idea.
When a big shot gets things done, he's incredibly thorough!
It is indeed terrifying!
After loading the luggage, Xu Ningyan climbed into the car, and the lackey jumped up after her.
Once Gu Zhiyuan was finally seated, Old Yang cracked his whip, and the oxcart slowly moved forward again.
Perhaps it was because of that pack of cigarettes, but Old Yang, who was usually not very talkative, became quite talkative the whole way.
He told the two of them about the situation in the brigade over the past few months.
They said the brigade was much richer this year than in previous years, and work points were worth more than in previous years. Everyone was waiting for the two of them to go back so they could settle accounts and distribute money and grain.
Then he sighed and said, "It's all thanks to you, Siya. If you hadn't made connections with the department store in the county, our Tuanjie Brigade wouldn't be living such a good life."
Xu Ningyan felt a little more energetic as the cold wind blew on her. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, "You can't say that. I only played the role of a middleman. It's all thanks to the leaders of the department store and our brigade leader and secretary that we have such a good life today. It's also because everyone in our brigade is of one mind and works together that we have such a good life today."
Putting everything else aside, during her time working in the city, Xu Ningyan has also learned a set of ways of speaking.
As expected, Old Yang became even happier upon hearing this and began to talk about other aspects of the Unity Brigade.
For example, the Xu family. Xu Zhenzhu married into the Lu family, and now the Xu family is the only one of its kind in the Tuanjie Brigade. They don't even look at people when they walk.
They keep talking about our family's pearl; our in-laws are leaders in a machinery factory.
They also said that the Lu family was already looking for jobs for their children, and that the whole family would become city dwellers soon.
Xu Ningyan and Gu Zhiyuan exchanged a glance, both understanding the situation.
Old Yang was talking about the young woman who went to the countryside and was brave enough to design new styles of scrunchies, and who married a local man.
Chen Fangfang will also be Lu Kai's capable assistant in the future.
Now, thanks to making large intestine hair ties, her status in her husband's family has risen. Her mother-in-law no longer dares to scold or gossip about her, and the whole family treats her with utmost respect and pampering.
Speaking of this, although Xu Ningyan no longer helped the Unity Brigade sell these hair ties, Chen Fangfang privately asked her to help bring back rubber bands from the department store and scraps of fabric from the garment factory.
He proactively offered to share a portion of the profits with Xu Ningyan.
Xu Ningyan, thinking about Chen Fangfang's future achievements, naturally wanted to befriend her, and it would be best if he could recruit Chen Fangfang to his side.
Therefore, although the conditions proposed by Chen Fangfang were not significant to her, she still agreed.
However, Chen Fangfang was still in charge of sales.
Chen Fangfang is also remarkable. She gritted her teeth and withstood the pressure, not only designing and making hair ties, but also promoting them to various supply and marketing cooperatives.
Later, it was Xu Ningyan who reminded her to send the scrunchie to the department store. With Xu Ningyan encouraging her, the department store agreed to consign the scrunchie made by Chen Fangfang on behalf of the Unity Brigade.
For each item sold, you get two cents as a commission.
Chen Fangfang also gave several pretty hair ties to the salespeople who helped sell a lot.
Therefore, sales are still quite good.
As for the profit, after deducting costs, two cents were given to the department store, and one and a half cents were given to the team for each hair tie, since it was done in the name of the brigade.
The rest should be distributed to Xu Ningyan and used to pay the female colleagues who make the hair ties.
Even so, it is said that Chen Fangfang has earned several tens of yuan in the past six months.
She earns more than the rest of the family in a year, no wonder they treat her like royalty.
Even Xu Ningyan earned twenty or thirty yuan from Chen Fangfang.
After talking about Chen Fangfang, they then talked about the brigade leader and the party secretary. Among all the brigades in the commune, they now walk with a swagger and speak with great confidence.
The other brigades were extremely envious.
In the second half of this year, the marriage prospects for young men in the brigade have improved significantly, and young women from the surrounding villages all want to marry into the Tuanjie Brigade.
I heard that even the most stubborn bachelor in the village got married this year to a widow from the next village.
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