Chapter 11
Ye Manzhi didn't want to get too entangled with Zhou Mu and his family. Just like her third sister-in-law said, since they broke up, they should just live their own lives and not get involved any more.
She had to attend a mass meeting organized by the street tonight, so she sent Zhou Mu away with a few words and hurried to the children's primary school.
Recently, the city is promoting the "Marriage Law Promotion Month" campaign, and all districts, counties and streets will carry out a vigorous and unprecedented mobilization.
Most of the residents of Guangming Street are employees and their families of Factory 656. These people come from all over the world, have different accents, and have varying understandings of the Marriage Law. Therefore, Guangming Street Office has become one of the units that the city has focused on inspecting.
When Ye Manzhi arrived at the elementary school, there were only a few dozen people sitting sparsely on the playground.
"Auntie Li, did our neighborhood committee notify everyone in advance? Why are only these people here?"
"We've already gone door to door, but this marriage law education is like a class. If people don't want to come, we can't force them! I only had to force everyone here!"
Ye Manzhi and Chen Caixia looked at each other in surprise.
They are responsible for assisting the fifth and sixth neighborhood committees to popularize the Marriage Law at the grassroots level.
The two neighborhood committees are responsible for nearly 5,000 residents, and these dozens of people are not even enough!
Chen Caixia came up with a bad idea: "How about we each go home and call some people to fill in the gaps? No matter what, let's get through today's meeting first!"
Serving the people is a bit far away from them. They are still in the probation period, and the key is to strive to become formal street cadres.
Ye Manzhi looked towards the school gate and said regretfully, "It's too late to call for help. Director Mu is here."
Mulan looked around and was quite satisfied with the propaganda slogans and posters on the scene, but when he saw the number of people present, he frowned deeply.
She is a rare grassroots female cadre of this era who has received higher education and usually does not criticize her subordinates in public.
Although he was very unhappy, he still gave them face and said, "Today is your first organized mobilization, so just treat it as a drill. You should quickly come up with more ways to increase attendance. Make sure the Marriage Law is known to everyone and deeply rooted in their hearts!"
After he finished speaking, he walked straight to the podium and gave a speech, citing real cases he had seen in his work and emphasizing the consequences of beating and persecuting women in marriage. The atmosphere was very good, but unfortunately there were too few people.
Ye Manzhi felt uncomfortable, as if Director Mu's efforts were wasted.
The next day at work, she and Chen Caixia were like the poor student who was worried about her deskmate who got the top score. When they saw Liu Jinbao, they asked, "How are things going at the third and fourth neighborhood committees?"
"Not very good. Only about forty people showed up. Deputy Director Zhang gave us a lecture. He said we were too busy perming our hair and drawing our eyebrows and not paying attention to our work."
"It's okay. Our situation isn't ideal either. Let's think of another way."
Liu Jinbao sighed, "I heard from Zhuang Ting that the attendance rate for these voluntary publicity activities is not high. There's no point in worrying about it."
The rookies encouraged each other, which made them feel much better.
Ye Manzhi thought that the event would last for a month, so there was still plenty of time.
However, the baby-faced Liu Jinbao, who had just advised them not to rush and take it slow, turned around and contacted a folk art troupe and organized an open-air folk art performance in the open space in front of the granary!
There were not many mass entertainment activities in this era, and even if people lived in the city, many people would go to bed when it got dark.
The streets weren't completely packed on the day of the performance, but it was almost there.
Chen Caixia was so anxious that her teeth ached. She covered her cheek and asked, "Xiao Ye, what should we do? How about I contact the movie projectionist?"
Aunt Feng, who was reading a newspaper nearby, sneered, "You young people are all so generous, even paying for your work. Our street doesn't have the funds for that. Whether it's a folk art performance or a movie screening, you have to pay for it yourself."
"I heard that the folk art troupe didn't charge any performance fees!"
"I don't want performance fees, but I have to provide food. Isn't the money for food and drinks money? How much food will so many people consume?"
Ye Manzhi took Chen Caixia's hand and said, "Our main purpose is to promote the Marriage Law. Watching a movie won't help. Let's think of another way that doesn't cost money."
Their financial resources cannot compare with Liu Jinbao's.
As early as when Liu Jinbao asked her to make clothes for him, she could see that the boy was rich.
When people make new clothes, they never look at the price of the fabric, they only care about how it looks on you.
Ye Manzhi felt that he did not have the financial strength to make such a big move.
However, the publicity activities held by the fifth and sixth neighborhood committees for several consecutive days did not make much of a splash. Except for some activist residents, most people felt that their lives were good and that it was a waste of time to listen to something about the marriage law.
Ye Manzhi was so worried about the poor performance at work that he couldn't even enjoy his meals.
In the past, she could still go home and seek the opinions of her family, but because her third brother's qualification to study in the Soviet Union was revoked, Old Ye's body pressure was so low that black water could be seen coming out of her body.
She had a guilty conscience and didn't dare get close to Lao Ye, so she went back to her room after dinner.
"Come on!" Fourth Brother knocked on the door outside, "Is Ye Lihua in your room?"
"What did it do to you?"
If you call the kitten by its full name, it's likely that the kitten has gotten into trouble again.
The fourth brother angrily said, "It ate my Xiaoqing!!!"
"No way? If it ate the fish in your tank, that's possible, but how could it eat katydids?"
No wonder I didn’t hear the katydid’s desperate cry today, it turned out that it was killed by the pear blossoms!
"Why not! He's the fattest in the family, yet he still refuses to let Xiaoqing go!"
Ye Mangui was in so much pain that she wanted to die. That was all money!
"Look for it again. Why would the kitten do such a thing? It doesn't like to eat katydids. Maybe the katydid ran away on its own."
Ye Manzhi persuaded the grumbling fourth brother to leave. When he turned back to Lihua, he asked with a stern face, "Where did you hide the katydid?"
"Meow meow meow~" Lihua jumped onto the desk nimbly and squatted gracefully next to a pile of picture books.
Ye Manzhi suddenly felt something was wrong...
The picture album is her magic weapon for making money!
The reason why the tailoring business became prosperous at that time was all thanks to these picture albums.
She liked beautiful clothes, and in order to earn the 70 cents for her work, she went to all the major stores in the city and painted most of the beautiful new spring and summer clothes in the windows.
Customers can choose styles from the catalog and then go to the store to buy fabrics, which is absolutely good value for money!
She suppressed her nausea, picked up the top book with one hand and shook it.
really!
A flattened blue-black iron katydid fell to the ground with a plop!
"Leaf! Pear! Flower!!!"
Before she could take action to settle the score, Ye Lihua jumped out of the window and escaped.
*
Ye Manyi waited for it for half the night but never saw the cat. Before going to bed, he was still thinking about finding an opportunity to teach it a lesson.
But when she woke up the next morning and sat on the bed in a daze for a long time, she suddenly changed her mind, picked up the kitten that sneaked back in the middle of the night and gave it two big kisses.
Without even having time to eat breakfast, he rushed to work like a gust of wind.
He took the chalk from the office, dragged the dizzy Chen Caixia with him, and rode back to the military industrial compound at full speed.
"Xiao Ye, what are you doing?" Chen Caixia asked, panting, standing in front of the bulletin board at the entrance of the compound.
"Sister Caixia, we will soon be able to mobilize hundreds of people to respond to our calls!"
Chen Caixia: “…”
Dreaming early in the morning.
Ye Manzhi took out a piece of chalk and wrote on the small blackboard on the bulletin board: "Introducing several cutting patterns that are particularly economical on fabric!"
She even bolded the words "especially save fabric" with yellow chalk.
It was the morning rush hour, and workers going to work and their families getting up early to buy groceries had to pass by the bulletin board.
As soon as Ye Manzhi wrote the title, several literate female comrades came forward to ask questions.
"Cadre Xiaoye, where is the pattern for the provincial cloth?"
"Wait a minute, can't you see that he's drawing on the blackboard?"
"It would be great if we could really save on cloth. Ever since we started using cloth coupons to buy cloth this year, we never have enough cotton cloth! I have to scrape together everything I need to make a pair of trousers."
The female comrades were communicating with each other, and more and more people came to watch. Soon the bulletin board was surrounded by a crowd.
Ye Manzhi rolled the notebook into a big speaker.
"Dear residents, please don't crowd! Those of you in a hurry to get to work should go first, and don't be late! Tomorrow evening at 6:30, there will be a special class at our factory's elementary school to introduce several cutting methods that are particularly economical in fabric!"
Someone asked disappointedly, "Do you still have to go to school? Why don't you just draw on the blackboard?"
"The content is too rich to fit on the blackboard! Besides, even if I draw it, no one will understand it without detailed explanation!"
"Officer Xiaoye, can the tailoring method you introduced really save fabric? Are you kidding me?"
Ye Manzhi was mentally prepared to face the questioning, and asked with a smile: "Grandma Qu, how much fabric do you need to make a women's shirt?"
"My daughter is about the same size as you. Last time I used a four-foot-two inch piece of cloth for her."
"Well, four feet two is not much, but if you use my tailoring method, only three feet seven will be enough! You can save a foot of cloth for two shirts!"
Grandma Qu didn't believe it, "Is it true?"
"I can testify to this! I asked Cadre Xiaoye to help me make some clothes. The tailor at the street shop told me to buy five and a half feet of floral fabric, but Cadre Xiaoye only needed four and a half feet!"
The one who stood up to speak for her was Lin Qingmei. After shouting, she left the crowd and stood there, winking and smiling at her.
Chen Caixia didn't know what Ye Manzhi was up to. If she really used this method to trick people here and introduced the Marriage Law, then these neighbors would definitely teach them a lesson!
While maintaining order in front of the bulletin board, she winked at Ye Manzhi.
What is going on?
Ye Manzhi flipped open the album and showed it to her, then said to the gathered aunties, "Comrade Chen Caixia and I are the liaisons assigned by the street committee to our Fifth and Sixth Neighborhood Committees. So we will give priority to introducing my tailoring method to the residents of Guangming Erdao Street and our Military Industry Compound!"
"This fabric-saving cutting pattern is the product of precise calculations by engineers and the valuable experience summed up by veteran tailors through repeated practice. I hope everyone will come and listen to it tomorrow. It will not only save fabric for you, but also reduce the burden on the country!"
Although the engineer is her third brother and she is the old tailor, the method of saving fabric is real!
Lin Qingmei waited by the side, watching her mobilizing the neighbors with a smile.
Seeing that she was about to be late for work and couldn't wait any longer, she rushed into the crowd and pulled Ye Manzhi out of the encirclement.
"I have something great to tell you! Now that I'm done, you have to get to work!"
"What can't we talk about tonight?"
"I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to find you last night!" Lin Qingmei said happily and relievedly, "That bastard Zhou Mu probably won't be able to go to the Soviet Union!"
"Who told you that? I remember he's going abroad at the end of this month."
It’s been a long time since Xu Yingxue’s medical examination fraud incident. Could it be that the Zhou family’s scandal has finally been uncovered?
"I ran into Liu Guoqing when I got home from get off work yesterday. He was the one who tipped me off. It's really tit-for-tat!" Lin Qingmei deliberately kept things a secret and asked, "Guess why he couldn't go?"
"What?"
"The Provincial Department of Education conducted a surprise physical examination before they left the country! Zhou Mu had hypoglycemia that morning for some reason! He almost fainted in front of the leadership!"
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