Chapter 62: Immorality

For Ji Ze, reporting the accounts every half month is just like doing reporting work.

When he saw Ji Duo frowning, he subconsciously suspected that there was something wrong with what he said, but he didn't expect that Ji Duo would ask this.

He was a little confused, "It's the Mu from Mutou and Zi from Bullet. Isn't this a collaboration between my aunt and I? They just took half of each of our last names."

I took half of each of their last names...

Ji Duo looked at him for a long time without saying anything. After a while, the man's cold voice came in the evening breeze, "How long have you been using it?"

"I've been using this all along." Ji Ze said, "I've been using this since I talked to you about expanding the scale."

That was a long time ago. With his current sales range, I estimate that half of Yandu City knows about it.

It's just that firstly they were far away, and secondly Ji Ze was also very careful, so the troops here haven't come to sell for more than two months, and Ji Duo didn't even notice.

This made Ji Duo silent again, "This one is not good, change another one."

"What's wrong with it? Isn't this pretty good?" Ji Ze thought about it for a long time before coming up with it. He was very satisfied with it. "It's simple, easy to remember, and meaningful."

As soon as this meaningful sentence came out, Ji Duo's gaze completely shifted from the accounts to his face.

After a while, he heard his uncle continue, "It's easy to be exposed. Don't you want your sister-in-law to find out so quickly?"

It turned out to be because of this. Ji Ze was relieved. "It's okay. They definitely won't find out. They all think my last name is Li. Even the employees call me Boss Li."

When he talked about this, he was in high spirits, and apparently a little proud of it.

It seemed that he didn't understand, so Ji Duo closed the account and asked, "Why don't you come up with a name that will go with your aunt? Is that appropriate?"

Ji Ze was suddenly stumped by the question, "Don't other people use the same method? Two people working together only use two words, three people only use three words. Besides, my name has already been established, and now everyone recognizes this, and it cannot be changed."

He didn't remember his uncle being such a stingy person.

Is it because my aunt didn’t tell you well? "

This time it was Ji Duo who was stumped.

He looked at his nephew for a while, then reopened the account in his hand, "Has Song Jing contacted you recently?"

When this was mentioned, Ji Ze's face fell instantly. "She didn't look for me, but my mother called the military camp twice and asked me to send her something. If I hadn't informed them earlier, I might have been exposed."

"Have you ever thought about why your sister-in-law always asks you to send her things?" Ji Duo looked at him meaningfully.

Ji Ze really hadn’t thought about this before, “Didn’t Aunt Cheng ask me to help take care of her?”

"Then did your Aunt Cheng know about what your sister-in-law said? She didn't just spread it to me and your aunt."

Ji Ze was completely frozen now. His expression changed from the initial suspicion and disbelief to speechlessness. "My mother is not trying to match me up with Song Jing by doing this, right?"

Because of those rumors, Ji Duo had to marry Lin Qiao. Ji Ze always felt guilty about this and never delved into the other contents of the rumors.

Seeing that he understood, Ji Duo put away the account and said, "This matter will be exposed sooner or later. You can handle it yourself and don't drag your aunt into this."

Ji Ze nodded. "My aunt doesn't even know about my cooperation with her, why should I drag her into this?"

A business, a Song Jing, all were troublesome things. He couldn't help rubbing his forehead. All his excitement and pride were gone.

Ji Duo went back and handed the money and the account to Lin Qiao. Lin Qiao had been mentally prepared in advance and did not say anything.

She put the things into the box where she kept her money and took out her passbook to take a look. She felt that as long as nothing serious went wrong, she would be able to get her investment of more than 10,000 back by the New Year.

Most of the 10,000 yuan was Ji Duo's savings, and she earned half of it. She would save more next year, and after the college entrance examination, she should be able to buy a house near the university. It would be best to buy a courtyard house. Even though she didn't read novels, she knew how valuable it would be in the future, and it would definitely be worth it.

As I was thinking about it, the man at the desk asked, "My friend also gave liquid soap a name, did you know that?"

"I know." Lin Qiao was not surprised at all and answered casually, "Muzi liquid soap. I heard about it from my colleagues before."

In fact, she guessed it right away when she heard it. The name should be half of her last name, Lin, and half of his last name, Ji, which showed her sincerity in cooperation.

But this name has been used for a while. He suddenly mentioned it to her. Is he going to tell her the truth?

Lin Qiao closed the box, locked it, and waited for the man to say something else, but Ji Duo remained silent.

Why did he bring this up with her if he didn't want to tell her the truth? He couldn't be asking her to brag about his own naming skills, right?

Lin Qiao had never noticed this kind of personality in men before, but since he was so sincere in his cooperation, she still praised him for the sake of money: "The name is well chosen, simple and easy to remember. Even people who can't read much can know what it means."

Then she noticed that Ji Duo was even more silent, and after a while he changed the subject, "Have you tried the shoes that Su Zheng sent?"

How come this doesn't seem to hit the point?

Lin Qiao was somewhat speechless, realizing that women's hearts are like needles in the sea, and men's minds are not so easy to understand either.

Since the other party changed the subject, she was too lazy to bother to ask further questions. "I tried it on. It's a little looser than the shoes I usually wear. It's just right for wearing at home."

On the other hand, although Ji Ze was very troubled by his mother, he was very clear about handling business matters.

Early the next morning, he called together several top salesmen and veterans of the sales department for a meeting.

Because sales volume is related to their share of bonuses, his subordinates have also been worried about this issue recently. In particular, the person who initially proposed to give commissions to the salespersons has already apologized to him privately.

Ji Ze showed enough magnanimity in this regard. "Although you made the suggestion, it was me who adopted it. In the final analysis, it was me who made the wrong decision."

This made his subordinates respect him very much, and they have been helping him find a solution these days and have been particularly attentive.

When they heard him talk about his own small shop, they were all enlightened. "This is a good idea. You, the boss, have the solution."

"This is also an idea that my elders at home helped me come up with." Ji Ze waved his hands, not taking credit for it, "Let's discuss how to choose this small store."

After the meeting, the salesmen each drove a tricycle modified from a flatbed cart and merged into the streets of Yandu. The salesman who had said to Ji Ze that day, "If you don't want to sell, don't sell," knew nothing about this. When the store opened in the morning, he put the plastic bucket of liquid soap in the corner as usual and blocked it with other large buckets.

The salesperson at another counter couldn't help but ask, "It's been almost half a month since this bucket was sold? It's still not sold out?"

"It would be great if they haven't sold out in two months." The salesman laughed, "I heard that this thing has a shelf life. If it goes bad, they will be responsible for the loss."

This casual sentence "They will have to pay the price" simply meant that Ji Ze had no other choice but to give her the commission of one bucket and one dollar at a time.

Everyone knows how easy it is to sell this stuff. She hid it away, but people still came to ask if the store had liquid soap. She always said no and fooled them. If she sold it openly, one or two buckets a day would be too little. She could earn an extra month's salary every month just by talking.

Someone couldn't bear to watch it any longer and muttered, "How wicked." He was immediately pulled back by someone next to him.

This man is not a good person as he can do such a thing. What's more, his uncle is a store manager. Everyone is unhappy about it, but they can't say anything.

When she turned around to do something else, the man next to her whispered, "She didn't cheat you out of your money, why do you care about that?"

Just as he finished speaking, a bicycle with a cart attached to it stopped outside. The rider was wearing a conspicuous red vest and there was a row of plastic buckets on the bicycle.

"See, both sides are willing to fight and be beaten, and now we come to give her money." The man next to him pointed outside.

The one who had said that the person was evil fell silent, but the salesperson saw it out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help laughing. He turned his face away and ignored the person until he came in.

However, the person who offered to give her money as she had imagined did not happen. The other party did not even look at her and went straight to the supply department's office upstairs.

Soon someone came down and said, "Now that the money has been settled, I'll take the bucket." He went to the corner, found the plastic bucket, picked it up and left.

Not to mention the salesperson, everyone else was a little confused. It was only after asking the people in the supply department that they found out that the other party was here to return goods.

"Are they dissatisfied that our products are not selling well and they won't sell here anymore?" Someone couldn't help but glance at the salesperson.

The cooked duck flew away like that, and the salesperson looked even uglier, "Where else can you sell it if not from us? Are you going to sell it on the street in such a cold weather?"

However, when she got off work at noon, the group of red vests were still shouting on the street, but what they were shouting was not selling, but -

"Muzi liquid soap is sold at designated outlets, including Mrs. Li's store in Maoer Hutong, Laiwang store in Sixi Hutong, and Chunfu store in Hehuaxiang... Everyone, remember, Mrs. Li's store in Maoer Hutong, Sixi Hutong... Buy two catties and get one ounce free, buy three catties and get two ounces free in the first seven days of sale. No more after the expiration date~"

Everyone was just listening at first, but when they heard that there would be a discount in the first seven days of sale, they immediately came around to ask.

An extra ounce of rice can save a lot of time. Nowadays, everyone is short of money. If you can save an ounce or two, you are willing to walk a few more steps.

The salesperson watched these people ask for the address and rush to the nearest sales point. Some of them came to their store to buy soy sauce, but they turned around with their bottles in hand.

There were never so many people in the newly opened small shops. The ten buckets of liquid soap prepared in advance were sold out in less than a day.

When we were about to close the store at night, some people came by with bottles and asked about the products. When we heard that they were sold out, some turned around and left, while others bought something else in the store.

Before going to bed, the family sat together to count the money and found that they had earned more than twenty dollars a day, which was almost half a month's salary in the past.

You have to know that they had to pay for the discount themselves. Muzi liquid soap only promised to give it to them at 90 cents in the first seven days, and after these seven days, the price would be raised to 92 cents.

But if you can make so much money, 9.2 cents is a good deal. If you can sell one bucket a day, that's four yuan, two buckets is eight yuan...

What's more, they can also sell other things. As long as they have these items and other stores don't, they will be able to bring customers to them continuously in the future.

The next morning, someone called and said they wanted to order two to six more buckets. Two days later, other small shops even came to our door.

"I don't think we need to send them to state-owned stores.

"As long as we can sell some, it's enough." When Ji Ze came down to check the situation, a salesperson told him, "The small shop we run has flexible hours. It opens when people wake up in the morning and closes before going to bed at night. The business hours are longer than those state-owned stores."

"It's a lot of money." Another salesman next to him also said, "If we sell it to state-owned stores, even if we don't give commissions, it's only 90 cents per pound."

Moreover, he had just been to a state-owned store to pick up an empty bucket, so he knew even more. "When they heard that we would no longer sell there, the people who received commissions all pulled me aside to ask why. I almost couldn't get out, so I told them that other stores were hiding things on purpose."

"You are such a bad guy." Another salesman laughed, "If they lose such a large commission, won't they just fire the salesmen in those stores?"

"That was their own fault. If they weren't greedy, this wouldn't have happened, right?"

The salesmen finally let go of their anger after sweeping away the gloom of the past few days. Ji Ze beside them also smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work these past two days. After this busy period, I will arrange for you to go to the hotel to cook two dishes."

As soon as he finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of something with his peripheral vision and quickly took off a cotton hat from a salesman and put it on his own head.

The salesperson was still a little confused. Ji Ze had already lowered his head with his hat brim pressed down, and the lower half of his face was hidden in the collar of his coat. "Help me block it."

Although they didn't understand why, they still moved and covered him tightly.

After a while, Ji Ze poked out one eye to take a look, and when he saw that the person had indeed disappeared, he let out a long sigh.

The two salesmen asked him what was wrong, but he didn't answer. "Can you lend me your hat for a while? I forgot it when I went out today."

Before, when his business was small, he tried to avoid places where he could run into his family. Later, when his business grew, he no longer had to do it himself. Who knows what happened to him these days? Last week, he ran into his aunt, and this week, he ran into his mother and aunt.

His aunt was fine, but his mother was a real problem. It seemed that he had to be more careful in the future, at least until the spring of next year when he could officially build the factory.

Ji Ze quickly left this place of trouble. Although Ye Minshu walked past, her brows were still furrowed. "Why do I seem to see Xiao Ze?"

"You must have seen it wrong?" Her sister-in-law didn't believe it. "The troops are not on holiday today, how could he be out there?"

"That's true." Ye Minshu's brows relaxed a little, but she couldn't help but glance at the crowded crowd in front of her. "It's just a few taels of rice, why do we have to queue so long?"

Mrs. Ye knew that she was very dignified and didn't like to compete with others for such a small advantage. "You don't need it, but I can't. Your eldest brother earns little, and there are many children in the family, so every penny must be spent carefully."

No girl married into a wealthy family, and her family didn't want to take advantage of them. Ye Minshu stopped at the side of the road and didn't respond. "You go ahead, I won't squeeze in with you."

Her sister-in-law carried a bucket in and bought six pounds. If she hadn't been afraid that it would go bad, she would have bought more.

After shopping, we were walking back. Sister Ye suddenly asked, "I remember you said before that your sister-in-law gave your mother-in-law a homemade liquid soap as a birthday gift. Is that true?"

Ye Minshu had complained to her sister-in-law that Xu Li's daughter-in-law treasured everything she was given, but her sister-in-law brought this up at this time...

As expected, Mrs. Ye lowered her voice and said, "This is the best-selling item in Yandu right now. If so, I don't know who she learned it from. Can you teach me and your brother?"

Ye Minshu stopped walking at that moment, "My relationship with her is so bad, and you want me to ask her to teach you and my brother?"

Her eyes were filled with disbelief, which made Sister Ye feel a little uncomfortable. "She just said something to you, she doesn't have any grudge against you..."

But that was Xiaoze's childhood sweetheart. Ye Minshu must have been crazy to beg her and get close to her, although Lin Qiao herself was not aware of it.

"Don't think about it." Ye Minshu refused bluntly, "It's getting late, and I have to go home to cook for Ji Jun."

Without even giving Mrs. Ye a chance to speak again, she just scooped up the cashmere scarf on her shoulders and left.

"She is so noble that she married into a family like that while her family still has to eat coarse food." Mrs. Ye couldn't help but curl her lips.

When I went back at noon and told Brother Ye about this, he also frowned, "Let her go and smooth things over with her sister-in-law, not to rob her. Wouldn't she be even more disliked by the old couple of the Ji family if she did this?"

"Who knows what she's thinking." Sister Ye put the prepared food on the table and couldn't help laughing. "I only know that other people who marry into good families know to pull their brothers from their natal family together, but this lady in our family keeps saying things like "the old man won't let us, the aunt won't let us", and she's afraid that we'll have anything to do with it."

"You can't say that. When I got into trouble, wasn't it she who went to ask Master Ji for help?"

"What's your big deal? It's nothing now. Besides, ever since she did that for you, she has been disliking us in every way. You know that."

Brother Ye stopped talking.

It seemed that from then on, Minshu always felt resentful when she saw him.

Moreover, his sister kept a close eye on them, fearing that they would use her name to do something that would affect her position in the Ji family and the future of her husband and her son.

"Let's check the liquid soap," he said to his wife. "Let's find out who made it. No one knows how to make it. Maybe it's related to her sister-in-law. We don't want to expand. We can sell some of it ourselves and make ten or twenty dollars a day. It won't affect their normal business."

While liquid soap was being promoted vigorously, Lin Qiao's middle school was also conducting monthly exams in full swing.

This is the last monthly exam before the end of the semester. Team leader Gao is eager to see if they have made any progress after completing so many papers.

When the average scores of each class were calculated, the class he taught ranked last in chemistry...

Not only was Class 1 successfully overtaken by Class 3, but the average score of Class 4 was less than 0.5 away from Class 2, which he led, and could catch up at any time.

He held the report card and glanced at Lin Qiao silently, "I, the former wave, will finally be beaten to death on the beach."

This was said humorously, and everyone in the office laughed. Lin Qiao also pointed to the report card and said, "Take a look at the overall average score."

Team leader Gao didn't even need to look down. He just calculated the scores of the four classes and knew, "72.3, not bad, two points higher than the midterm."

"It seems that practicing questions does have some effect." The head teacher of Class 3 smiled, "I remember that before this exam you said that the questions were a bit difficult and you were worried that the students would not do well."

That's true. They deliberately made the questions harder than those in the joint entrance examination this time, hoping that students would have some confidence when they take the examination.

After all, I have done the more difficult ones, so I will definitely feel relieved when I see the simple ones.

Although chemistry showed great results, the performance in other subjects was not satisfactory. This time, Li Xiaoqiu fell out of the top ten in the grade.

The problem was still with Chinese. This time, not only was her composition off-topic, she didn't even finish it before the time for the papers to be collected had come.

The girl left the exam room crying that day, and her face turned pale when the test scores came out.

"Is she under too much pressure?" Teacher Lan said to Lin Qiao privately, "She thinks that if the reading corner is opened in the class, the grades of other students will definitely improve. She is worried that she will not do well in the exam."

Sometimes the more people care about something and the more they want to do it well, the worse they do it.

Li Xiaoqiu was like this. In the past, no matter how well she did on the test, at least she would finish answering the questions. But this time, she answered every question very carefully, and in the end she ran out of time.

Lin Qiao felt that she should talk to Li Xiaoqiu when she had time to see if she could help Li Xiaoqiu adjust his mentality. Unexpectedly, just as she was about to go to the classroom to call for help, she saw Li Xiaoqiu and Teacher Li in the stairwell.

Teacher Li obviously knew Li Xiaoqiu's grades. She was so angry that her neck turned red. "Other people are getting better and better as they study, but you are getting worse and worse. This time you didn't even make the top ten! If you continue to decline like this, do you still need to apply for college? If not, what can you do in the future?"

Li Xiaoqiu was listening with his head down on the opposite side, and after a few words, tears as big as beans fell down.

Teacher Li got even angrier when he saw this. "Cry, cry, cry! Is crying any use? Can crying improve your grades?"

Compared to those parents who don't care about their children, Teacher Li is actually responsible for raising Li Xiaoqiu all by himself.

Lin Qiao also heard from Teacher Lan that Teacher Li had approached her privately and hoped that she could give Li Xiaoqiu extra lessons. He would pay her, but unfortunately Chinese was not something that could be remedial, so she refused.

It's just that education should be tailored to the individual. Those naughty students need to be punished from time to time to prevent them from getting too excited.

Li Xiaoqiu is a well-behaved kid who needs encouragement.

Teacher Li's behavior will only make Li Xiaoqiu more stressed and nervous, and it will be more difficult for her to perform well in the next Chinese test.

Lin Qiao walked over and asked, "Li Xiaoqiu, have you handed in your chemistry homework today?"

The girl obviously didn't expect her to suddenly appear. She wiped her face quickly and whispered, "I, I paid it."

Lin Qiao still frowned, "Why didn't I see it? Come and look for it."

Ever since the incident of losing the watch, Teacher Li always felt a little uncomfortable when seeing Lin Qiao. When he saw Lin Qiao coming, he stopped talking.

Li Xiaoqiu followed Lin Qiao to the office, but found that her homework book was clearly on Lin Qiao's desk, and Lin Qiao had already marked it.

She was stunned for a moment, then she reacted and her tears, which had just stopped, began to fall again. "Thank you, thank you, Teacher Lin."

"It's okay, just wipe your face and go back." Lin Qiao handed her a handkerchief and comforted her, "It's okay if you don't do well in the exam once. If not, the teacher will think of other ways for you."

"The teacher has been very nice to me." Li Xiaoqiu was embarrassed to use hers, so she took out her own and wiped it before saying goodbye and returning to the classroom.

The little girl looked so lost. Lin Qiao looked at her and thought for a long time while sitting at the table. Suddenly, he asked the head teacher of Class 3, "What kind of competitions are there in the country now?"