Chapter 233 Sister Sui Sui and Grandpa Li are here!
After the wedding banquet, the canteen of Feiyan Textile Factory became the talk of the town, especially among Xu Guangming's comrades, who began to envy him for finding such a good wife who enjoyed the factory's internal benefits.
Xu Guangming humbly replied, "There are plenty of women in the factory, everyone is a lucky person!"
Xiao Zhier's face lit up, ignoring her sister Xiao Ye's sarcastic remarks, her heart filled with anticipation for a brighter future.
The most unexpected thing after the wedding banquet was that Feiyan Textile Factory received a batch of military supplies orders—seaweed.
"This stuff is lightweight, easy to store, and rich in nutrients. It has a natural salty taste, making it perfect for supplementing your diet at sea. It's very appetizing whether you pair it with steamed buns or rice!"
The seaweed became famous, and it received orders from the military and fishing companies. Other units also requested seaweed supplies.
Faced with this situation, Qin Xiangxiang was happy to see it happen. Developing the affiliated food factory would benefit the country, the people, and himself. People need food as their heaven, and the thing that people need most in life is to satisfy their own mouths.
Clothing, food, housing, transportation... their textile factory's affiliated farms and food factories gradually transitioned into integrated farms. Many large state-owned factories had their own integrated farms.
Qin Xiangxiang said, "It would be even better if our textile factory could manufacture cars someday!"
But that's absolutely a dream.
The immediate priority is to fulfill the military seaweed orders and the fishing boat company's seaweed orders. The number of people in the seaweed team at the factory has increased, and the income of the surrounding fishermen and villagers has also increased.
The collected seaweed is washed clean of mud and sand, and the seaweed paste is spread on a wooden frame mesh and placed in a food drying room for the first dehydration, shaping and baking. Then, a layer of seasoning liquid is evenly coated by a roller coating device, and the drying room temperature is increased for a second baking until crispy, bringing out a unique aroma of seaweed.
The seaweed was finally made into 8-centimeter squares, and ten sheets were bundled together for packaging. The inner packaging was transparent oil paper, and the outer packaging was a thick white cardboard box. The cardboard box was printed with a "flying swallow," which was the logo of the Flying Swallow Textile Factory, as well as the name "Roasted Seaweed."
Such packaging is inexpensive and, although simple, is very moisture-proof and can preserve the product for a considerable period of time.
These seaweed packages were sold for five cents a pack inside the Feiyan Textile Factory, but could only be redeemed using welfare coupons issued by the factory, essentially as an employee benefit.
Feiyan Textile Factory welfare vouchers are used to reward outstanding employees who perform exceptionally well each month, and also serve as union welfare benefits during holidays.
Company union benefits are shared by all employees. All companies distribute union benefits during holidays, including rice, flour, cooking oil, soap, laundry detergent, etc., but the specific benefits vary from factory to factory.
Some organizations own "orchards," and during the fruit harvest season, the fruit is distributed to all employees as a benefit.
“If you have welfare coupons, you can buy seaweed for five cents a pack at our factory, twelve cents at our local supply and marketing cooperative, and fifteen cents at the Friendship Store.”
"Military supplies and fishing boat companies... one cent a pack."
"In addition, there are our factory's rice crust chips, which cost 15 cents a pound internally and 30 cents a pound externally."
"Buy a pound of rice crust chips, and your mouth will go numb from eating them!"
"There are also shrimp chips - these are supplied in small quantities and are currently still provided as an internal benefit of the factory, costing eight cents a bag, for the children to eat as snacks."
...
The pricing list was released, and the food factory affiliated with Feiyan Textile Factory began producing food orders. Their textile factory's unproductive production workshop gained another powerful member.
"Our textile factory even has a shoe-making workshop, so adding a food production workshop... is to ensure people's livelihood!"
"These crispy rice crusts and shrimp chips are delicious!"
...
Qin Xiangxiang took the pricing list from the meeting, along with the pre-packaged shrimp chips, rice crackers, and seaweed, back to her husband so he could try them.
"These are the food snacks produced in our textile factory!"
Li Jianzhi glanced at the price: "It's pretty cheap, only a few cents or dimes. The kids in the factory are lucky."
"A pound of crispy rice chips costs less than two cents, that's a really good deal!"
Qin Xiangxiang said, "It's not cheap either. A pound of rice is only a little over 10 cents, but it's sold for 30 cents a pound of rice crust. 30 cents can buy a big meat dish! Pork used to be only a little over 80 cents a pound. A pound of rice crust is worth half a pound of pork!"
Li Jianzhi mentally estimated: "More or less."
Prices will remain similar to what they are now. The price of half a pound of pork can buy a pound of rice crust slices. If the price of pork drops in the future, half a pound of pork will not even buy a pound of rice crust slices.
The biggest price differences are seen in appliances like televisions and washing machines, and in automobiles.
An average worker's annual salary is only enough to buy a basic black and white television, while a car costs tens or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.
Cars will actually be cheaper in the future than they were in the 1970s and 80s. Fifty years from now, you can buy a new energy vehicle that can be used for ride-hailing services for tens of thousands of yuan.
"And my wife's current car is still a sidecar."
Qin Xiangxiang snorted. So what if it's a sidecar? It's better to have one than not: "You, Regiment Commander Li, have a vehicle assigned to you?"
“I have an official car…and I also have an ‘official boat’.”
Qin Xiangxiang: "Okay, okay, yours is better."
Qin Xiangxiang's belly was becoming more and more prominent, and the autumn Canton Fair was approaching. The silk brocade shirts, wide-leg pants, and patchwork dresses in the factory were selling very well, and a large number of international orders were secured.
Even more alarming is that their factory's seaweed has secured a large number of orders from neighboring countries.
Compared to international prices, Fei Yan Textile Factory's seaweed is cheaper, giving it a price advantage and placing it in a unique category. Currently, no other factories in China produce seaweed, and the island's specialty is seaweed strips.
Seaweed has become a popular food in island nations like Liben. They have found that the seaweed from Feiyan Textile Factory is affordable, delicious, and has placed a large number of orders.
"Your textile factory has started selling agricultural products?"
"Processed food products from factories attached to the island can also generate income for the island's fishermen."
"However, it seems that with such a large demand for orders, wild seaweed may not be enough. Should we cultivate our own seaweed?"
...
Qin Xiangxiang learned that seaweed was selling well internationally, so she decided to study artificial cultivation methods for laver. Putting aside everything else, she was afraid that wild laver would be depleted, and artificial cultivation would provide a more stable and large-scale supply.
And it can create more jobs! It can provide more positions for the families of factory workers!
“Most of the officers’ families are female, while our textile factory has many female workers, and many of our female workers have male family members. If we arrange for them to farm seaweed, we can provide more jobs that combine work and farming. We can also have the commune set up a ‘collective seaweed farming team’ and have our factory buy the seaweed.”
After the Canton Fair, the weather turned drastically worse. The sea breeze became bleak and cold, and the night wind made people shiver. The joyful season of autumn harvest had passed, and the frosty winter had arrived.
Li Xiaopang is not even ten years old yet, but he will be able to go to middle school next year. He started school early, and at this time, he only needs to study for five years in primary school. In addition, the child is quite tall. He has grown from a little chubby when he first arrived on the island to a big chubby. He even looks a bit like Li Jianzhi.
Qin Xiangxiang thought that this child... might look better if he lost weight? That is, provided that he can lose weight.
Qin Xiangxiang dresses her daughter, Suisui, up to be pretty and cute every day at the affiliated kindergarten. All of Suisui's clothes are handmade by Qin Xiangxiang, including adorable overalls, suspender skirts, and a sunflower-shaped backpack. All the children in the kindergarten envy Suisui for having such a skilled mother.
Sui Sui's little bag is always filled with various snacks, which makes her very popular in kindergarten.
Therefore, little Sui Sui has also gained quite a few "followers".
Like her mother Qin Xiangxiang, Sui Sui loves to eat and knows how to eat... but she can't eat much. She gets tired of ordinary snacks after a few bites. Generally speaking, she can't finish a bag of snacks by herself and always leaves a lot.
The kindergarten children all craved the snacks she left over.
"Sister Sui Sui, do you want to play on the seesaw?"
"Sister Sui Sui~ Let's play on the slide together."
"Sister Sui Sui..."
...
Li Xiaopang came to the kindergarten to find his younger sister and discovered that all the children, big and small, called his sister "Sister Suisui".
His sister, Li Qinghui, looked listless, yawning and out of sorts.
Back when he was in kindergarten, there wasn't this kind of fanfare. He was at most the king of the kids in the compound, and there wasn't a group of people in the kindergarten calling him "Brother Feng".
When it came to her younger sister, she actually became Sister Sui Sui!
And this kid is not even five years old!!!
"Sister Sui Sui's brother is here!"
"Sui Sui's brother is here? What should we call him? Should we call him Grandpa?"
"Grandpa Li is here!"
...
“What do you mean ‘your grandpa’s here’? Call me Brother Feng!” Li Xiaopang stood in front of a group of kindergarten children, and he was as awe-inspiring as a mountain.
"It's Little Fatty!"
Li Xiaopang: "..."
Knowing full well that he was Little Fatty, they still deliberately called him Grandpa Li. These kids are just being rebellious.
This is a kindergarten for children of military personnel. The students are all children of the navy and military personnel, and many of them are familiar faces.
He, Li Xiaopang, has many acquaintances, and his younger sister, Li Suisui, has even more. Wherever they go, people will greet them as "Sister Suisui."
"My little sister is so well-behaved and cute, why does everyone call her 'older sister'?" Li Xiaopang picked up his little sister's schoolbag, which contained a giant panda doll made by his mother, Qin Xiangxiang, which was very cute.
Li Xiaopang: "Sis, you've taken in so many little brothers at kindergarten?"
Sui Sui: "...I didn't?"
"Then why does everyone call you 'sister'?"
Sui Sui shook her head: "I don't know."
"Brother, you can call me sister too!"
Li Xiaopang: "..."
"Soon your younger brothers and sisters will come to call you 'sister,' so your older brother doesn't need to do it for you. From now on, I'll be Captain Li, and you'll be Captain Li. The new younger brothers and sisters will be your soldiers, and they'll all be under your command."
Sui Sui: "Brother, you damn man! Dad said you're in charge, and you're bullying your sister."
Li Xiaopang: "??!!!"
"I can't mess with you, 'Sister Sui Sui'."
The brother and sister returned to the family compound together in the kindergarten's bus. The vegetable garden and chicken coop at home had long been Li Xiaopang's exclusive territory, and he also took his younger sister to collect eggs.
Li Xiaopang also took on many underlings, and he still outsourced a lot of the work in the vegetable garden to others.
"Little Fatty, time to water your vegetable garden!"
The brother and sister collected the eggs. Li Xiaopang walked in front, and Xiao Suisui skipped and hopped behind him. The two went upstairs to go home.
1975 was drawing to a close.
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