◎First update◎
At the beginning of the new semester, Liang Baozhen and Xu Shuping met again, but during this winter vacation, Xu Shuping and Liang Baojun seemed to have met twice. Liang Baozhen knew that Xu Shuping's parents did not want their daughter to associate with the friends she had met when she was an educated youth, so the two met secretly.
However, Liang Baozhen did not ask what the current situation of the two was. From Xu Shuping's smile, she felt that there should be good progress.
Early in the morning, students from the Chinese Department read their texts aloud, waiting for their teachers to come to class.
The teacher of the Modern Chinese class is a female teacher in her forties. She wears a pair of wide-rimmed black glasses and her lectures are lively and interesting. However, the teacher loves to interact with students in class. Sometimes, she can call on more than 20 students to answer questions in one class.
The male teacher who teaches Introduction to Linguistics has a teaching style completely opposite to hers. He is in his fifties and has lost most of his hair, leaving his head bald in front. Every time the light from the bulb on the ceiling of the classroom shines on him, he has a hazy and sparkling feeling.
Some male students in the class privately gave someone a nickname - Halver.
However, after the class monitor found out about this behavior, he severely criticized it. At least Liang Baozhen never heard about it again. Of course, some people also said that some people in their boys' dormitory were still talking about it in private.
The male teacher likes to talk about himself in class and is reluctant to make eye contact with students. This often makes everyone fall asleep and people only wake up when the bell rings for the end of class.
Liang Baozhen liked the school library the most. It was the first time she had seen such a large library. The vast array of books were arranged in different categories. When she had no classes, Liang Baozhen liked to hang out in the library. Sometimes she would go to Xu Shuping's dormitory to take a nap on her bed.
Xu Shuping lived in Room 5 on the fourth floor of Building 3 of the girls' dormitory. It was a six-person dormitory. All of them were Chinese department students, but two of them were in the same class. They often attended large classes together and had a good relationship. They all jokingly called Liang Baozhen the seventh person in dormitory 405.
Liang Baozhen rides a bicycle to and from school every day, and her riding skills have become better and better. On Saturday afternoon, she had no classes and everyone left early. Liang Baozhen did not go home, but went to the vicinity of the food factory first.
Now that we are advocating internal reforms, opening up to the outside world, and tacitly allowing private transactions, Liang Baozhen recalled that some of the first self-employed people mentioned in the book made their fortunes at this stall.
They sell breakfast buns, steamed bread, pickles, melon seeds, peanuts...everything you can think of, and they even sell popsicles.
Selling popsicles is more convenient and simpler than other things. At least it does not require much technical and labor costs. However, this can only be sold for one season. Business is good in the summer, so it is definitely not a long-term business.
Of course, it's also good for testing the waters.
Nowadays, all popsicle shops in the city are set up by food factories, mostly near large state-owned factories, and they give priority to factory employees. There are also some in large bookstores and train stations, but the city is so large and has so many people that demand simply cannot keep up with supply.
In other words, it is difficult to buy even if you have money. Even if you want to buy it, you can't find a place to buy it for a while.
She remembered that the book said that around April, the food factory would respond to national policy and provide opportunities for private wholesalers to sell popsicles, but everything was still in the pilot stage and there were not many places available.
——
In the city food factories, in previous years, popsicles were in short supply as soon as summer came. In particular, the state-owned factories with good performance would contact the food factories to sell popsicles at the factory gates for the sake of employee welfare.
But this year is different. The food factory received an order from the higher-ups to reform and open up and allow private transactions.
"This is strange, aren't people wearing red armbands going to be punished?" Director Feng from the food factory's popsicle department was talking to his subordinate Xiao Zhang as they walked.
"No, but they didn't say it explicitly. I think they just want to turn a blind eye. We've walked this path for so long, it's not easy to turn around all at once, so we'll just turn around and walk slowly. I just don't know what the outcome will be."
Speculation is a serious crime, but now private transactions are condoned. Most people's mindsets have not changed.
The No. 1 Food Factory in the city has four main production lines, namely popsicles, canned fruit, soda and malted milk. They are all good things and hard to buy outside, so the workers in the food factory are very popular if they get some benefits from time to time.
Who wouldn't be proud of this? Naturally, no one would look down upon setting up a stall to sell things, thinking it was cheap.
"Then what about the trial quota? Director, if it's my turn, I will definitely not go." Xiao Zhang is a serious state-owned factory worker. He certainly doesn't want to do such a shameful thing and bring shame to the working class.
"Let's see. If there really is no one left at the end, you can find a few workers to put on a show for a few days. At least it's OK as long as you can get the job done."
"That's fine."
The two of them parted ways at a fork in the road. Director Feng went to the cafeteria, while Xiao Zhang had to go out today. He walked all the way to the gate of the food factory and happened to see a young female comrade talking to the security guard. From what he heard, it seemed that someone from outside was trying to enter the factory but was stopped.
"Master, I really have something to ask the comrades in your popsicle department."
"Do you have a letter of introduction?" The master said seriously, thinking that he had a keen eye. "You can't enter without a letter of introduction."
"Comrade, what do you want to talk to the comrades from the popsicle department about?"
Liang Baozhen looked at the man who suddenly called her. He was wearing a green work jacket from a food factory. Perhaps he had connections, so she walked over and said, "Hello, comrade. I want to ask if I can sell you popsicles wholesale?"
"You're here to sell popsicles wholesale?" This was the first time Xiao Zhang heard a comrade say that he was here to sell popsicles wholesale. "Why are you selling popsicles wholesale?"
"Take it and sell it." Liang Baozhen answered naturally.
Xiao Zhang carefully looked at the female comrade. She seemed young with pretty features, so how could she say something so bold?
"Are you trying to kill yourself? How dare you sell popsicles?"
Liang Baozhen smiled and recited what she had read in the newspaper. She had a good voice, which she had practiced at the National Cotton Mill Radio Station, and it was particularly attractive. "Didn't the newspaper say that we need reform and openness? Shouldn't we allow private transactions?"
Xiao Zhang didn't expect that such a young female comrade was so courageous. Not only himself, but most of the workers in the food factory were not interested in private transactions. This job was degrading and unstable. It was not as good as being a worker. Workers got paid every month and had much security.
But now there is someone who is willing to be a pilot, and he couldn't ask for more!
"You've found the right person."
Xiao Zhang just happened to have a quota in his hand. This year the food factory has 30 quotas for private wholesale of popsicles. After all, the factory is state-owned and it is a specialized business, so he can't mess things up.
“But this spot is not easy to get.”
"Can you tell me what the conditions are? Maybe I meet them."
"You have to fill out a form and pay a deposit of ten yuan." A deposit of ten yuan is not something that many people would want to do in this kind of business, and they have to pay for it themselves. Who would want to do that?
Xiao Zhang is worried.
"Where is the watch? Do you want to pay now?" Liang Baozhen was delighted. Is it so simple?
After filling out the form and paying ten yuan, Liang Baozhen rode her bicycle around the area again and finally set her eyes on a state-owned factory near the food factory - the Steel Factory Gate.
The area is spacious, with a tailor shop, a state-owned hotel and a steamed bun shop on one side and the entrance of a steel factory on the other. Usually, most of the people coming in and out are workers, and when the weather gets warmer, popsicles become very popular and very tempting.
You can rent a popsicle cart from the popsicle factory and set up a stall on the roadside.
Liang Baozhen, who acted first and asked for permission later, finished inspecting the site and rode her bicycle home. She still had to discuss things with Xu Shengjie. She certainly couldn't hide her actions from him, after all, wholesale ice cream would require money from her family.
Even though I manage all the money at home, I guess he wouldn't even notice if I used it secretly.
* Xu Family
At this time, Xu Shengjie was taking out a passbook from the locked drawer of his closet. It was a thin yellow-covered passbook with a number close to three thousand on it.
The passbook made a clacking sound when he slapped it against his hands.
The words of his old comrade rang in his ears, inviting him to go south to purchase goods. His old comrade Qin Huai was from a poor family. This time, he was sharp-eyed and caught the policy changes. He also knew someone in the south, saying that the area had been opened up, and some people could make hundreds of yuan a day. What does hundreds of yuan mean? It was the annual salary of an ordinary worker. The old comrade thought this was a great opportunity. He and Xu Shengjie had been in the same company, and they had trusted each other. At this time, he trusted him the most and wanted to work with him and set off together.
Xu Shengjie naturally noticed the changes. The newspapers he read every day were not read in vain, especially since he heard that the red armbands were rarely seen recently. If he were alone, he could just leave.
Xu Shengjie has never been a person who follows the rules since he was a child. Even though he was trained to look more obedient in the army, he still has his own ideas in his heart. Maybe other people would think that working in a state-owned factory is good, stable, and they get a fixed salary every month, and their life is indeed very stable. But he thinks that now is an opportunity, perhaps a once-in-a-century opportunity. If he misses this opportunity, he may not have another chance. But now, the daughter is still young, and she will be one year old in a while, and his wife...
He didn't know whether his daughter-in-law would agree, and he was always worried about scaring her.
Liang Baozhen had repeatedly warned him not to go to the black market before. Even though the threat of the black market is gone now, she probably wouldn't be willing to go out and do such a thing herself.
Xu Shengjie, holding the passbook, was a little troubled and thought carefully about how to convince his wife.
"Why are you sitting here?" Liang Baozhen parked her bike and looked around but didn't see Grandma and Shanshan. "Where's Shanshan? Did Grandma take her out?"
Xu Shengjie heard a familiar voice and turned around to see his wife coming back. He nodded and said, "Grandma took Shanshan to Yang's house in the next yard. Her granddaughter is not yet one year old, so she is treating us to a drink today."
Speaking of birthdays, Liang Baozhen also happened to think of her daughter's birthday. She had already come up with an idea, "Next month is Shanshan's first birthday. Let's set up two tables in the yard and take Shanshan to take a photo in the afternoon. Shanshan didn't come when we took the family photo last time."
"Okay." Xu Shengjie naturally had no objection. He also wanted to leave a commemoration for his young lady.
"The weather has cleared up a lot today. I don't think I can wear this thin cotton jacket for more than a few days before I have to change into spring clothes." Liang Baozhen strolled outside for a while and then rode her bike home. There was already some sweat on her forehead. She wiped it with a handkerchief and drank a cup of water before she felt better.
After sitting down, she looked at Xu Shengjie, ready to tell him that she wanted to try selling popsicles in the summer, but before she opened her mouth, she heard the man opposite her speak.
"Zhenzhen, I want to do business."
The author has something to say:
Liang Baozhen: I think about how to tell him
Xu Shengjie: I think about how to tell her
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