Chapter 381 The Return Journey
Before leaving, Song Lubai took advantage of Feng Ying again, using her ticket to buy herself a lot of things at the store, but she insisted on stuffing two yuan into Feng Ying's pocket.
As she was leaving, Song Lubai said, "You must send me a message when you get married. Even though I can't come, I will definitely send you a gift."
Feng Ying was reluctant to see her leave, and with tears in her eyes, she punched her and cursed, "You're so annoying."
As the morning glow painted the sky red, piles of fabric were loaded onto the car.
Despite the truck bed being quite large, this pile of fabric still took up most of the bed, costing as much as twenty yuan in freight.
This pile of fabric proved very useful. As the car traveled through the desolate Gobi Desert at night, the passengers, who were still shivering from the cold even while wearing clothes, huddled inside the pile of fabric.
Without this fabric, everyone would have been freezing after a few nights.
Compared to the roads, the sandstorms weren't as severe, but cars still couldn't travel as fast in the Gobi Desert as they would in good weather.
Upon arriving in Baishuicheng, the driver helped them unload the goods at the supply and marketing cooperative.
Liu Wei and Xiao Feng were panting heavily from unloading the goods.
They loaded and unloaded the truck twice along the way, and each time it was a considerable undertaking.
Song Hai was astonished by the sheer amount of fabric.
"Hey girls, where did you buy your stuff?"
Seeing that Song Hai was about to look at the inner fabric wrapped in felt, Song Lubai quickly diverted his attention by saying, "Brother, where do you live? I'll bring my man over next time to let him know where we live."
There were a lot of scraps of fabric inside; shoes made from those scraps would sell for 1.2 yuan each. If Song Hai knew they were buying this kind of fabric, he might try to lower the price for them.
Song Hai gestured and explained the approximate location of his house, then wanted to look at the fabric inside.
Song Lubai stepped forward and said, "Don't take that off. It's tied tightly. If it comes undone, you'll have to tie it again."
She remembered which felt box contained good cloth, and when she got closer, she untied the ropes so that Song Hai could see it all.
Song Hai asked, "These goods can only be obtained in Shicheng or the bird market. What's the price?"
Song Lubai said with a dissatisfied look, "It's five cents more expensive than the wholesale price, and the shipping cost along the way is also several tens of yuan. Brother, why don't you raise the price for us a bit more?"
Song Hai shook his head vigorously, "We already had an agreement. How can you raise prices like this? If you keep increasing prices like this, will our supply and marketing cooperative raise prices too? How can we sell arbitrarily?"
Song Lubai didn't really want to raise prices; she was just trying to prevent Song Hai from having such an idea.
This batch of goods is very cheap, and it's different from the last batch of fabric. If they make all of this into shoes, their profits will increase significantly!
It's not safe to unload the goods in the supply and marketing cooperative's yard; we have to take them all back today.
Song Hai lent them bicycles from the supply and marketing cooperative, and Xiao Feng, hungry, rode the bicycles to the 16th Regiment.
Song Lubai and the other two stood guard in front of the pile of fabric until nearly nine o'clock in the afternoon when the troupe's tractor finally arrived.
It was past eleven o'clock when I got back to the group.
The goods could only be unloaded into the warehouse in the backyard of the supply and marketing cooperative.
After locking the door, Song Lubai yawned and walked home with Yang Xiue.
The round trip took nearly twenty days. I left at the end of April and returned in the latter half of May.
There were no lights on in the house, and Song Lubai thought they must all be asleep, but she didn't know if Wei Yang was home today.
The door was closed from the inside. When Song Lubai knocked for the first time, Wei Yang, who was already fast asleep, opened his eyes.
He sat up alertly and heard Song Lubai calling his name softly outside the door. Without even putting on his shoes, he got out of bed and strode towards the door.
As soon as she entered the room, Song Lubai was picked up by him before she could even put down what she was carrying.
He held her tightly, and Song Lubai couldn't push him away. She said, "Boil some water for me, I want to take a bath."
She had eaten a lot of dust on her trip and felt like she was about to go bad.
Wei Yang quickly lit the fire, and while the water was boiling, Song Lubai packed up the things she had brought back.
The door was open, and Wei Zhao walked in silently.
Her figure swayed in the candlelight. Song Lubai thought it was Wei Yang and didn't pay any attention to it. But when she spoke, she was startled.
"I thought a thief had broken into the yard, but it turns out it's just you coming back."
Song Lubai clutched her chest and said, "Sister, you walk so quietly, you scared me to death."
Wei Zhao yawned and said, "You pack up first, I'll say a few words to you and then I'll leave."
Song Lubai pricked up her ears. What important thing had happened recently?
Wei Zhao said succinctly, "The regiment has established a commercial office. The group leader is Yu Lin, who was sent by the division headquarters. He is the group leader now. There are already several clerks in the office. Zhao Hongying is also a clerk in the commercial office. We are still missing a deputy group leader. Wei Yang tried to get one for you, but Yang Xiu'e is the head of the shoemaking team now, so she seems to have a more legitimate position than you."
"Alright, that's it. You handle it. I'm going back to sleep."
The temperature was pleasant on a late May evening, but not so friendly to Song Lubai after her shower.
After drying herself off, she put on her clothes and shivered as she left the bathroom, whereupon Wei Yang picked her up and carried her around the waist.
After putting Song Lubai back to bed, Wei Yang went out and closed the courtyard gate, then brought a bucket of water into the house.
Wrapped in a blanket and sitting on the bed, Song Lubai then noticed that the floor of her home was covered with tiles.
Song Lubai was concerned about the deputy group leader's matter, but after exercising, she was overcome with sleepiness and simply didn't have the energy to ask anymore.
Young couples are full of energy and don't care how late they stay up when they're in the mood, unlike Yang Xiue and Feng Gang, a middle-aged couple whose sex life is always just a brief encounter.
After it was over, Yang Xiue thought to herself, "Finally, it's all done."
When Yang Xiue was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open, Feng Gang, who had just finished smoking a cigarette while sitting on the edge of the bed, said, "Tomorrow, go to the business office first to report the situation to Yu Lin. Get up early and come with me to the government office."
Yang Xiu'e asked, still a little confused, "A business office? It's newly established?"
Feng Gang pinched her to bring her to her senses and make her tell him what had happened.
He emphasized, "There's only one deputy team leader position. You've put a lot of effort into the shoemaking team, so you must secure the deputy team leader position. This time, you'd better take all the credit for yourself."
Yang Xiue was fully awake. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, saying, "But this time when we went to Shicheng, if it weren't for Xiao Song, we wouldn't have been able to even see the leaders of the cotton mill. If it weren't for her, the three of us wouldn't have been able to get any goods at all. How could I do such a heartless thing?"
Feng Gang said angrily, "How is this heartless? You were the foreman of the shoemaking team. Without my help, would you have been able to borrow five hundred yuan to go to Shicheng? Without my support, would the troupe have been able to cover the fabric costs last time?"
"If you don't become the deputy team leader, you'll be disgracing me!"
Feng Gang's words were resolute.
Yang Xiu'e remained silent for a long time.
She was just thinking that, in her man's eyes, she hadn't contributed anything to the shoemaking class!
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