Chapter 146 Qin Xiangxiang, the Virtuous Wife, Takes the Whole Family on a Business Trip, and Finally...
Qin Xiangxiang planned to lead a team to Xingcheng, Hunan Province, to visit the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Mawangdui archaeological excavation site. The Mawangdui archaeological site is only five or six kilometers away from the center of Xingcheng, the capital of Hunan Province, which is not a very remote place.
This trip can also be considered a publicly funded long-distance tour!
"Li Jianzhi, you damned man, you really know how to come up with ideas! I'm going to personally go to the Mawangdui excavation site to learn about the characteristics of the textiles unearthed from Mawangdui. I want to use the past to serve the present, and I want to cultivate artists and history and culture enthusiasts from the working class!" Director Qin can now recite these slogans fluently, one after another.
Li Jianzhi took off his military uniform jacket, and now he finally understood what it meant to lift a rock only to drop it on one's own foot.
I suggested the idea of visiting Mawangdui to my wife, but I never intended for her to go there herself. However, this lazy wife, wanting to travel far and wide for food, drink, and fun, actually decided to go herself.
Indeed, government-funded travel was a rare treat in those days, and Mawangdui was located near the provincial capital, making transportation relatively convenient. It would be a shame not to take advantage of such a great benefit.
Li Jianzhi: "You took your daughter away on a business trip, and I'm left alone in this empty room with my chubby son?"
“My sister-in-law and Xue Haiyang are going together this time, and I’m also taking my daughter Suisui with me so she can be exposed to history from a young age. Besides going to the Mawangdui archaeological excavation site, we’re also going to Orange Isle, Hunan Provincial Museum, and May 1st Square!”
Li Jianzhi slapped her on the bottom, "You're too cocky!"
"Go to Orange Isle? Go to the museum? Why not eat some stinky tofu? It'll suffocate you."
Qin Xiangxiang chuckled and kicked him lightly, "You're just jealous!"
"Later I need to go and ask Zhuang Xiaoman to lend me her camera, then buy some film, and also say hello to Master Huang and Mr. Ma, and ask if the art and painting students there would like to go together."
“We will select seven or eight more skilled printing workers from our factory. They can secretly learn from these art students on the way and then copy the patterns.”
Qin Xiangxiang realized that they were just trying to ride the wave of popularity and obtain some official approval, such as collaborating with the Hunan Provincial Museum to produce shirts under the guise of protecting cultural relics.
Furthermore, associating with "Mawangdui" is like gilding textiles with a golden edge, making them highly sought after internationally at a premium, simply for the sake of the Mawangdui name.
This principle is similar to the later phenomenon of "Yangcheng Lake bathing crabs." Crabs from other places are taken to Yangcheng Lake for a bath and then become Yangcheng Lake crabs, commanding a much higher price.
Many cultural and creative products are essentially selling the value of their "IP" (intellectual property). Their trip there was to obtain "IP" licensing.
"Later I need to find the head of the intelligence department to ask which family member in our compound is from Hunan Province, and what local specialties Xingcheng has. I just got back and heard from people at the factory that there are many time-honored street food stalls on Huangxing Road in Xingcheng! I also heard that the braised duck there is very famous! Oh, and the 'strange-flavored' broad beans!"
"Of course, the most important thing is to eat stinky tofu, and then take everyone from the factory to Orange Isle for a group photo! It will be a status symbol when it's displayed in the factory!"
Li Jianzhi gasped, "What an outrageous wife!"
Before the people even arrived, the food, drinks, and entertainment were already arranged here.
"You eat stinky tofu, I'll eat you!"
When Little Fatty got home and heard that his mother was going to take his younger sister and aunt on another long trip, he felt like the sky was falling!
Last year, Mom went to Guangzhou to eat Moutai chicken, and this year she's going to Changsha to eat stinky tofu and braised duck! She also wants to go to the Hunan Provincial Museum and see an archaeological excavation site!
Little Fatty was almost crying out, "Little cabbage, turning yellow in the field, my sister, why isn't your brother you?!"
"My little sister is only a little over two years old... and she's already traveling all over the country with her mother!"
"My brother didn't get any benefits! He's stuck in the house with an old man."
Li Jianzhi: "??? You little fatty, who are you calling an old man?"
"How about Daddy takes you on a warship? We'll take you up the mountain and down to the sea."
The chubby boy cried out sadly, "I want to eat stinky tofu!"
Li Jianzhi sneered: "An old man will make tofu for you by his own hands."
"High-protein, low-fat tofu".
Not only did Xiao Pang cry, but Gao Rong downstairs also felt a dull ache in her body when she heard that their textile factory director, Qin Xiang, wanted to go to Xingcheng, Hunan Province, with the factory's female workers. It was only because she was about to give birth that she felt this way; otherwise, she would have gone to Hunan Province anyway.
Gao Rong burst into tears: "This child came at the worst possible time. I wanted to go to Guangzhou but couldn't, and I wanted to go to Changsha but didn't have the chance. How many times in a lifetime can a person have such an opportunity?"
"The female worker who used to work with me is now doing printing. This time, she's going to Changsha with Factory Director Qin to see Orange Isle and the archaeological excavation site!"
Gao Rong's mouth was practically watering with craving. "I want to go to Guangzhou to eat Moutai chicken, and I want to go to Changsha to eat stinky tofu!"
Gou Qiang comforted her from the side: "Rongrong, don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities in the factory in the future, and it will be your turn to go on business trips eventually."
Gao Rong wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes: "When I get back to the factory, I will work hard and strive for opportunities to go on business trips and learn. I want to go to Guangzhou to participate in the Canton Fair!"
"Factory manager, you absolutely must give me a chance!"
Xiao Ye, who lives next door, overheard Gao Rong and Gou Qiang's conversation and felt like she was going to vomit. She wished she could find two wads of cotton in the cupboard to plug her ears.
"What does it matter if a woman is capable? It's the man in the family who is truly capable!"
Gao Rong: "Xiao Ye, your man is no match for our Factory Director Qin! Our Factory Director Qin is the most capable, far more capable than any man in your family!"
Xiao Ye gasped, almost driven mad by her words.
Gao Rong continued to ramble on: "Our Factory Director Qin relies solely on his own abilities, never on sheer luck. Your whole family, on the other hand, relies on sheer luck!"
Xiao Ye was furious: "Your family is just incredibly lucky!"
Gao Rong: "We all saw it! You stepped in dog poop three times in a row! The shoe prints are from dog poop!"
"If it weren't for your incredible luck, out of all the residents in this building, why would you be the one stepping in dog poop every day!"
Zhong Li, who was upstairs, heard the conversation downstairs and almost burst out laughing.
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
She thought to herself: I am the queen of bad luck.
However, this kind of "dog poop luck" is not the same as that kind of "dog poop luck". When you actually step in dog poop, that's not called "dog poop luck" at all, but "bad luck"!
Qin Xiangxiang called Mr. Ma: "Mr. Ma, we heard that many ancient textiles have been unearthed at the Mawangdui tombs in Hunan Province. We would like to send workers there to learn about them. Do you have any people with artistic knowledge who would be willing to go with us?"
"Our main goal is to copy the patterns of ancient textiles, which requires people with artistic skills..."
Mr. Ma swallowed hard: "My goodness! You're asking about this? I want to go too!"
Ordinary artists like them wouldn't dare go alone, for fear of being labeled as feudalists or proponents of the Four Olds. But if they went with the factory and became good partners of the working class, they would be much safer.
"I'll go ask. Director Qin, don't worry, there are definitely a lot of people who want to go!"
Qin Xiangxiang said, "We also hope that this person can have art teaching ability, and can guide our factory's printing workers on the road to improve their art skills."
"Of course, of course!"
This is an archaeological excavation site! Which artist wouldn't want to see ancient historical artifacts with their own eyes? It's just that their positions are sensitive, and they can't do anything out of line… This Factory Director Qin is truly a living saint! He uses the past to serve the present, cultivates working-class artists, and innovates a new aesthetic for workers and peasants!
Wonderful, this is absolutely wonderful! By going along on this trip, we not only avoid the trouble of causing problems, but we also become supporters of workers learning and engaging in culture, and innovating a new aesthetic for workers and peasants.
"Director Qin, we will always remember your kindness!"
"Thank you so much."
Qin Xiangxiang also called Master Huang. Both the old man and his son were very excited, as this was a rare opportunity. Huang Boyuan decided to go there in person.
"Such an opportunity to see historical artifacts with my own eyes is rare! I must go and see them! I'll write a report for the cultural center! I want to support the workers!"
Grandpa Huang only regretted that he was too old to go. He said, "Let Xiao Yun go with you. Let him broaden his horizons. This is a great opportunity!"
Qin Xiangxiang asked curiously, "Xiao Yun is so young, why did she go along too?"
"This kind of opportunity is once in a lifetime! This is Mawangdui! This is a world-class archaeological excavation site!"
Qin thought to herself, "That makes sense."
"Since that's the case, I'll bring my little chubby one along too, so he can broaden his horizons and be exposed to some culture."
So Qin Xiangxiang contacted the homeroom teacher of the affiliated primary school. When the homeroom teacher heard that Li Qingfeng had the opportunity to go to the archaeological excavation site of Mawangdui with his biological mother, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Go! You absolutely have to let the child go! Take pictures, write an essay about it when they get back, and share it with all their classmates!"
So, Qin Xiangxiang took her family on a business trip, leaving only one person at home in the end...
Li Jianzhi: "Then what am I? An old man, a regimental commander, stuck at home?"
His wife ran away with their two children. He not only shot himself in the foot, but he also suffered a huge loss!
Commander Li has now become a highly resentful husband who is harboring resentment because his wife is about to go on a long trip.
Now that things have come to this, there's nothing the aggrieved husband can do.
Li Jianzhi instructed, "When you go there, bring some gifts for the archaeological team. They don't need anything fancy. What the archaeological team urgently needs right now are magnifying glasses, glue, long tweezers, and white gloves. These are things your textile factory has. You can bring some old things as a gesture of goodwill, which will also help them with their immediate needs... It's never wrong to be polite."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Our factory uses industrial-grade magnifying glasses to inspect fabrics. This should be very useful to the archaeological team, as they may not have such equipment."
Besides magnifying glasses, there are also textile adhesives, long tweezers, and white cotton gloves, all of which are precision tools used in workshops, suitable for both production and archaeological excavation and artifact discovery.
Li Jianzhi: "Donate another batch of white cotton or polyester-cotton cloth to the Hunan Provincial Museum to package the cultural relics."
Qin Xiangxiang immediately said, "That's right, this is cloth produced by our working class with our own sweat. It's much cleaner than the silk cloth of those feudal landlords. It's perfect for packaging and protecting cultural relics!"
"This is called industry supporting cultural heritage preservation! Industry giving back to cultural heritage preservation!"
Li Jianzhi chuckled: "Wife, you're getting better and better at being a factory manager!"
Qin Xiangxiang couldn't help but laugh. She patted the man's shoulder and said, "Comrade Li, you are truly a 'virtuous wife'!"
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