Over the next few days, Wen Ziqing's martial arts skills improved by leaps and bounds. While Wen Ziqing was delighted, he also had a tinge of doubt. Zhou Yuanyuan hadn't concealed the fact when she was sifting through Zhou Jiasheng's meridians. Could it be that the little girl had done the same for him? Wen Ziqing couldn't help but feel touched.
After waiting for several months, Wen Ziqing knew that Zhou Yuanyuan was a person who would not let anyone approach her easily. Now that he could get the same treatment as Jiasheng, did it mean that the little girl also regarded him as a family member?
Over the next few days, Zhou Jiasheng saw Wen Ziqing laughing alone at the holly tree in the yard more than once. Unfortunately, Wen Ziqing, who was used to having a dull expression, looked a bit ferocious when he laughed, which almost scared Zhou Jiasheng.
After Zhou Zhixin's letter, Zhao Qingshan and his family began to prepare to go to Kyoto.
There may not seem to be many things to do at home, but if you look at them carefully, there are actually a lot of them.
First, Zhao Qingshan's position as village Party secretary. After the Lunar New Year, Zhao Qingshan went to the town several times to meet with the mayor and secretary, requesting to resign from his position as village Party secretary of Zhaojiagou. The mayor and secretary both tried their best to retain him and refused to let Zhao Qingshan resign.
After Zhou Zhixin's letter arrived, Zhao Qingshan took it with him and went to see the Sanhe Town leaders and secretary again, explaining his intention to follow his daughter and son-in-law to Kyoto. This time, the mayor and secretary agreed to Zhao Qingshan's resignation, and when Zhao Qingshan left, they smiled and escorted him to the town government gate.
Of course! Zhao Qingshan's son-in-law got promoted, so these local leaders also have a good reputation! What's more, Zhao Qingshan is going to Kyoto to enjoy his life. They can't stop him from being hated, right?
Zhao Qingshan's matter was settled, but Zhao Yunxiang still had some unfinished business.
Years ago, Zhao Yunxiang had a falling out with her husband's family and returned to her parents' home. The job of making fish balls was outsourced to her neighbor Aunt Qiuju's family in Zhoujia Village.
When Zhao Guohui was still the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, the fish balls made by Aunt Qiuju were delivered to the cooperative every day. Zhao Yunxiang would go there to settle the bill when she was free, and then pay Aunt Qiuju the wages at the end of the month.
After Zhao Guohui resigned, the supply and marketing cooperative got a new director, Li Wenhua, Zhao Guohui's former deputy.
Li Wenhua had some opinions about Zhao Guohui before. After Zhao Guohui stepped down, Li Wenhua took the opportunity to take control of Zhao Yunxiang's fish ball business, saying that the previous fish ball supply contract was signed by Zhao Guohui and did not conform to the current situation of the supply and marketing cooperative. He asked Zhao Yunxiang to sign a new fish ball supply contract with the supply and marketing cooperative this year.
A new emperor appoints new ministers. Zhao Yunxiang knew that there was nothing wrong with Li Wenhua's behavior, so she agreed to Li Wenhua's request. After sending Zhou Zhixin back from Qingshan City, on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Yunxiang went to the supply and marketing cooperative to find Li Wenhua to re-sign the supply contract.
Unexpectedly, Li Wenhua demanded a huge increase, doubling the quantity of fish balls Zhao Yunxiang could supply each day, while keeping the total price the same as before. This effectively cut the price of Zhao Yunxiang's fish balls in half.
Li Wenhua's contract was so excessive, Zhao Yunxiang definitely wouldn't sign it. Before signing the contract, Zhao Yunxiang had already considered it. Her family would be leaving Sanhe Town in a few months anyway, and the distance between Kyoto and Sanhe Town was too great for Zhao Yunxiang, making it a difficult decision whether to continue the fish ball business at the Sanhe Town Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Zhao Yunxiang had originally planned that if Li Wenhua was a kind person, she could continue the fish ball business for a year or two, thus creating another source of income for Aunt Qiuju's family. But if Li Wenhua was dishonest in his business, would Zhao Yunxiang, far away in City N, have to constantly return to Sanhe Town to reason with Li Wenhua?
Zhao Yunxiang wasn't unwilling to make concessions, but there were limits. Fish balls were time-consuming and labor-intensive to produce, and Zhao Yunxiang's secret recipe was involved. Li Wenhua's sudden move to slash the price in half resented her.
Zhao Yunxiang didn't want to argue with Li Wenhua any further, so she simply announced she was done with the fish ball business and told Li Wenhua to go to the Qingshan City Food Factory to source the stock himself. After all, when Zhao Yunxiang had given the fish ball recipe to the Qingshan City Food Factory, Wen Yulun had retained Zhao Yunxiang's supply rights to Yuan County in order to drum up business for her. Now that Li Wenhua had turned his back on her, Zhao Yunxiang didn't bother to argue with him. She could just give up the supply rights. Even if she earned less, she'd still have peace of mind. Otherwise, doing business with someone like Li Wenhua would only lead to him ripping her off sooner or later.
Li Wenhua saw Zhao Yunxiang turn and leave, feeling smug. If he didn't buy from Zhao Yunxiang, he could go to the Qingshan City Food Factory to buy from her! Surely the fish balls produced by a large food factory would be more popular than those made by Zhao Yunxiang?
After Li Wenhua took over as director of the supply and marketing cooperative, he specifically checked the price of fish balls Zhao Yunxiang had provided him. Although the supply and marketing cooperative was in desperate need of fish balls and profited at least 50%, Li Wenhua believed Zhao Yunxiang's price was the result of Zhao Guohui's manipulation. If he could get the goods at half the price, wouldn't he be able to earn the cooperative thousands more yuan per month?
Li Wenhua harbored malicious suspicions about Zhao Guohui, and naturally, he was dissatisfied with Zhao Yunxiang, which led to the 50% price cut in the contract. Zhao Yunxiang disagreed, and naturally, they parted ways. After settling the bill, Zhao Yunxiang directly notified the Yuyuan County Reservoir to stop shipping fish to Zhoujia Village. She also made a special trip to Aunt Qiuju's house to inform them that they no longer needed to make fish balls.
Zhao Yunxiang felt free and at ease. After returning to Zhaojiagou, besides preparing meals for everyone, she knitted every day. The several pounds of wool she'd bought in Qingshan City gradually became one sweater after another in Zhao Yunxiang's hands. Everyone in the family, including Wen Ziqing, shared a share.
When Wen Ziqing received the sweater Zhao Yunxiang had knitted for him, he was so moved that he almost cried. It was the first time Wen Ziqing had ever received a sweater as a gift. Having lost his mother when he was young, Wen Ziqing had always worn store-bought sweaters, knitted on a knitting machine. Those sweaters looked beautiful, but the same pattern was the same on eight out of ten people on the street.
The sweater Zhao Yunxiang knitted for Wen Ziqing was different. Zhao Yunxiang was skilled in knitting, using several different stitches. Each member of their family had a different pattern: Zhao Qingshan used a thick, thick Yuanbao stitch, Wen Ziqing used an elegant chain stitch with osmanthus flakes, and Zhou Zhixin used alternating left and right, up and down stitches. As for the sweaters for Zhao Yunxiang and her daughter, Zhao Yunxiang hadn't had time to knit them yet.
Wen Ziqing thought that even if his mother were still alive, she might only be able to achieve what Zhao Yunxiang did. These days, Zhao Yunxiang personally took care of everything for Wen Ziqing, from food to clothing. In Wen Ziqing's heart, Zhao Yunxiang had become like a mother to him.
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