Chapter 143 Luck This is no ordinary luck.
Xiao Ye sat in her bedroom, so angry that she couldn't sleep all night. The thought of the couple downstairs stealing her good fortune made her heart ache, and she wished she could tear their faces off.
"Changtian, Li Jianzhi, who lives downstairs from us, has been promoted to regimental commander!"
Jiang Changtian nodded: "He is a capable and skilled person. He should have been promoted long ago. It's just because he is too young. Otherwise, Li Jianzhi would have been a full regimental-level cadre long ago."
"Don't say those polite words. No matter how outstanding Li Jianzhi is, can he be as outstanding as you? Besides, this Li Jianzhi looks like a sissy. You are the real man!"
Jiang Changtian was stunned for a moment, "This Comrade Li is so tall, how could he be effeminate?"
“If a man looks like him, isn’t he effeminate? A real man should be like you. Your face is like a stone statue carved by swords, very masculine. As for that Li Jianzhi, besides being a big guy, he has a woman’s face.”
"You're the most manly person in our apartment building! You're the best man ever."
Jiang Changtian grinned; he enjoyed hearing his wife's praise.
Xiao Ye gave him a reproachful look: "You're still laughing! That Li Jianzhi stole your luck! Our family's fortune has been borrowed. This couple lives downstairs from us, are they secretly digging up our luck from below?"
"First is fate, second is luck, and third is feng shui. Your fate is definitely good, but your luck... unfortunately, it's been bad lately. As for our family's feng shui, I think it's because the downstairs neighbor disturbed it."
"You think Li Jianzhi and Qin Xiangxiang, that couple, are secretly setting up a spell in the house? They're using sorcery in the house, stealing our family's luck. Otherwise, one of them would be a regimental commander at such a young age, and the other a factory director..."
Jiang Changtian smiled honestly: "How about we buy an imported watch, Yezi?"
Xiao Ye: "??"
"I heard that the family downstairs had good luck after buying an imported watch. Our kids are all grown up now and don't need to be looked after anymore. Yezi, why don't you go work in a textile factory? You could earn an extra five or six hundred yuan a year."
Xiao Ye's throat tightened, and she said incredulously, "You said you would take care of me for the rest of my life!"
Every time Xiao Ye brought this up, Jiang Changtian would remain silent.
"We can't go on like this. We have to find a way to move. We can't let the people downstairs continue to steal our family's luck. They must be performing some kind of ritual downstairs to drain our fortune!"
Xiao Ye did not work after marriage, and she never planned to work. Instead, she was determined to be a good wife. Her husband, Jiang Changtian, had promised to support her for life when they were dating.
With little need to care for her child, Xiao Ye had plenty of free time each day, so she started thinking about moving to a different house. It wasn't easy to move to a different house in the military compound, but that wasn't absolute, because at the end of the year, there were various officer rank transfers, and new people would move into the family housing, which gave Xiao Ye an opportunity.
A military officer surnamed Lei, named Lei Zhentao, was scheduled to move into the middle unit on the first floor. Xiao Ye discussed with Lei Zhentao and his wife about exchanging their apartment, moving from the long side unit on the third floor to the middle unit on the first floor.
Lei Zhentao and his wife readily agreed, "Okay, we'll switch with you!"
So Lei Zhentao and his wife moved into the long corner unit on the third floor, becoming the residents above Qin Xiangxiang and his wife. Jiang Changtian and Xiao Ye, on the other hand, moved from the long corner unit on the third floor to the middle unit on the first floor, where the Gou family lived.
Jiang Changtian and his wife became neighbors with Political Commissar Gou.
When Zhong Li learned that Jiang Changtian and his wife had moved to the apartment below hers, she went over to tease them, saying, "Did you move downstairs to absorb our luck?"
Xiao Ye snorted, thinking to himself that he was the one he feared least, the old turtle that hadn't moved for eight hundred years.
When Gao Rong and Gou Qiang learned that new neighbors had moved in next door, it was Jiang Changtian and his wife, who used to live on the third floor. Jiang Changtian was also a celebrity. In previous years, he had good fortune and was promoted three levels in a row, which was quite extraordinary.
Gou Qiang whispered to Gao Rong, "My dad also said that Jiang Changtian doesn't have any special skills, he's just lucky. Unlike Li Jianzhi, my dad said that Comrade Li is capable and competent, but Jiang Changtian... his rapid promotion was purely due to luck."
"The people next to him don't know why, but it seems that whenever it's his turn, his competitors have accidents or bad luck, so he's the only one who can go up. He's incredibly lucky."
"The couple upstairs, Zhong Li and Lao Yang, were really unlucky. They came too early and got into trouble. Jiang Changtian really came at the right time."
Pregnant Gao Rong whispered, "So the neighbors really are quite capable? Will they steal our family's luck?"
Gou Qiang's lips twitched: "Our family's luck? Our family is like a weasel's offspring, each litter worse than the last."
"People still call us sisters 'three locusts' because we owe it all to my dad."
Gao Rong hit him, but she didn't care because her family were just ordinary people with no relatives in official positions. She was able to marry the good-for-nothing son of a military officer. If Gou Qiang had any ability, she wouldn't have been chosen for the blind date in the first place.
Marrying Gou Qiang means at least you can rely on his father. Commissar Gou has a salary and a pension. As long as Commissar Gou doesn't die, the couple can rely on him for at least another twenty or thirty years.
Rather than praying for her husband to get promoted, become rich, and be successful, she would rather pray for her father-in-law to live a long and healthy life, like an old turtle, so that they can keep eating her for decades to come.
In this naval compound, who else would sponge off their parents like this couple?
Gao Rong: "But I really want to try my luck with the neighbors."
Gou Qiang: "How about this, I'll throw dog poop in front of their house tomorrow and see if the neighbors step in it."
Gao Rong: "???"
Gou Qiang: "Stepping on it is pure luck!"
Gao Rong: "Wouldn't that be unethical?"
"People would just assume it was done by a kid. Besides, it's not just ordinary luck to step in such an obviously pile of dog poop."
Gao Rong nodded: "You're right."
So for the next three days, Gou Qiang threw dog poop at the door of the neighbor's house every day, and every time Xiao Ye stepped on it. Gou Qiang and Gao Rong exclaimed that it was a miracle.
After stepping in dog poop three times in a row in front of her house, Xiao Ye was about to lose her mind. She cursed loudly from the first floor: "Whose unlucky kid is it that throws dog poop downstairs every day!"
Xiao Ye thought it was just some naughty kid on the first floor throwing dog poop, since chickens roam freely in this residential compound, and it's normal to occasionally have some chicken droppings and dog poop.
She now regrets moving to the first floor; the first floor has been incredibly unlucky.
"Sister-in-law Xiao Ye, your family is incredibly lucky!" Gou Qiang and Gao Rong exclaimed sincerely.
They never expected that Xiao Ye would step on dog poop even after throwing it for three days straight. Xiao Ye must be incredibly lucky; he's no ordinary person.
So when Gou Qiang and Gao Rong went home, they would come to Xiao Ye's house every day to touch the door, hoping to get some of the neighbor's good luck.
Xiao Ye was so angry at the two oddballs next door that her liver hurt.
Qin Xiangxiang is currently busy building the factory's staff and family housing. She needs to apply for building materials, such as cement and steel, which must be allocated by the local authorities. If she builds it herself, she can only build rammed earth brick houses.
"Many people are eager to get married and said they would build rammed earth houses first, and I agreed to that for the time being. We'll build a few houses to make do, and then demolish them after the staff building is completed."
"Once we get the steel, I want to build a staff building. I also want to build myself a two-bedroom apartment. I think it would be good if the family housing was built like the military housing – square and solid."
Li Jianzhi: "How many people in your factory are getting married?"
"It's hard to explain, but a lot of people are dating. If they don't get married this year, they'll get married next year, and if they don't get married next year, they'll get married the year after..."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Many people get married in the twelfth lunar month. I calculated the dates and asked Representative Xie to do a survey. We decided to hold a group wedding in the cafeteria on the last auspicious day of the year and ask them if they would be willing."
Li Jianzhi: "How many people are willing?"
"The number of people hasn't been counted yet, but I estimate there shouldn't be many, maybe four or five couples. Those who were going to get married before have already done so. These people's families aren't very well-off, so I guess they can't afford a banquet. We'll have a group wedding, with all the employees having a meal together in the cafeteria, which will also serve as a celebration. We won't need to invite them a second time."
Qin Xiangxiang chose to hold this group wedding to save trouble. Several couples of male and female employees held weddings in December, and each of them had to invite the factory director to dinner and give a speech on stage.
Qin Xiangxiang: "Speaking at people's weddings every now and then... what kind of person am I, a factory manager?"
"December was torture for the factory manager. So many people were getting married, and I had to say a few words to each one. It was driving me crazy."
"They all had their weddings in the cafeteria!"
Li Jianzhi couldn't help but laugh, but Qin Xiangxiang glared at him and said, "You're still laughing!"
"Sui Sui is so happy to come along to her mother's wedding banquet every day, isn't she?"
"I don't want to eat anymore. Let's just have a group wedding. I only need to give one speech, and that way I can save myself some trouble next year."
The next day, Qin Xiang went to Representative Jie and asked him how many people were willing to participate in the group wedding. "If there are any who are still hesitating, Representative Jie, could you do some persuasion?"
However, Representative Jie stared at her as if she were a gorilla: "Director Qin, you... what kind of ideological work do you think I should do?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "What?"
"Twenty-six couples! So far, twenty-six couples have registered to participate in the mass wedding."
Qin Xiangxiang: "??? How could this be?!"
"People in our country love to join in the fun. Even those who weren't planning to get married suddenly decide to get married as soon as they hear about a group wedding."
Representative Jie said, "The main reason is that group weddings save money. Everyone pools their money on cigarettes and alcohol, which saves a lot of money. Nobody's money grows on trees, and the employees think that every little bit saved is a good thing."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Representative Jie, you still need to do some ideological work. Marriages shouldn't be done haphazardly. We need to think it over carefully. Employees shouldn't get married just to save money."
"I couldn't persuade them. Many people were just one step away from success. We are so grateful to you, factory manager, for removing the threshold."
"Everyone is thanking you privately."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
“A group wedding saves money and also prevents employees from comparing themselves to each other. Several companies had already started comparing their cigarettes and alcohol, or how much the factory manager talked. This kind of trend is unacceptable. I think this group wedding is a good thing. How can they compare themselves now?”
Qin Xiangxiang: "He talks more than the factory director?"
"That's right, they know far better than you how many words you said."
Qin Xiangxiang felt completely lost and had a headache: "Representative Jie, you should try to persuade them again and tell them that there will be a group wedding at the end of next year, so there's no need to rush into marriage so soon."
"Think about it more."
With so many employees getting married, the next few years will see a surge in children, one after another.
In addition to solving the housing problem for employees and building a nursery, we also need to build an employee kindergarten and an employee children's primary school.
Most urgently needed is a staff hospital, as adults are less likely to get sick, but children need hospitals and clinics.
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