Chapter 77
Lang Qinghong and Yu Ziyang’s demands are actually not difficult to achieve.
The service station is run by the street office, and they have the final say on who to recruit.
However, Ye Manzhi was more worried about the selection of the head chef.
"Director Yu, I certainly support providing more job opportunities for women, but the food service station is responsible for its own profits and losses. If it's not managed well, it might go bankrupt in less than a month..."
Yu Ziyang: "Director Xiaoye, just tell us what you mean. Let's discuss it together."
"A service station is like a restaurant. If we want to serve stir-fries, the food shouldn't be too homely or too reminiscent of the cafeteria's communal dining experience. Otherwise, why would people pay to eat out?" Ye Manzhi said with a smile. "So we have to hire a chef with real skills, preferably one with a few signature dishes."
She herself is a consumer, and among the four restaurants on Guangming Street, she only likes to go to the one that is a joint venture between the state and private sectors.
The food at the other three restaurants was average, so she seldom patronized them.
This shows the importance of the chef.
Ye Manzhi continued, "Director Yu, Sister Lang, your suggestion is very good. Under the same conditions, you can give priority to hiring female comrades. Do you have any female chefs to recommend?"
Lang Qinghong shook his head: "..."
Many craftsmen are very particular about their craft and only pass it down to their sons rather than their daughters. It is not easy to find a professional female chef.
"Director Xiao Ye, is it okay to recruit all female staff except the chef?" Yu Ziyang asked.
Although she wanted to secure job opportunities for female comrades, she also knew that the prerequisite for the job was that the service station could continue to operate.
If the food doesn't taste good, everything else is useless.
"Sure! I'll post a notice tomorrow recruiting only female lesbians. If there are suitable candidates, it would be best if even the chefs were female," Ye Manzhi said excitedly. "Apart from the textile factory, it seems the city doesn't have a team composed entirely of female lesbians. I heard a while ago that a car company wanted to form an all-female team, but it takes a while for female drivers to learn how to drive, and there's been no news lately..."
Yu Ziyang immediately responded, "If we could establish a service station staffed entirely by women, wouldn't that be the first women's unit in the city?"
Even the textile factories with the largest number of female workers are not purely female factories; there are many male comrades in the factories.
Lang Qinghong shook her head and said, "Forget about setting up the first women's unit. When I was working in the township, I heard about many women's labor groups. We can set up the first women's service station or women's restaurant."
Ye Manzhi listened to the discussion between the two and was lost in thought for a while.
If all the staff are female, they can name the service station "March 8th Convenience Catering Service Station".
Highlight its uniqueness.
Although it is not certain whether it is the first in the city, it is definitely the first unit in Zhengyang District founded entirely by women.
District Chief Mu is now the deputy district chief in charge of women's affairs.
If a "March 8th Service Station" could be opened on Guangming Street, on the one hand, it would support District Chief Mu's work. On the other hand, the first unit founded by women would definitely have some special significance. If someone reported that they were running a restaurant, the district might be able to find a way to keep them.
The three of them discussed the service station until dark, and each drank two bottles of soda before finally disbanding.
When Ye Manzhi saw the guests out and returned to the house with the empty bottles, Wu Zhengrong was measuring the dimensions in the aisle with a tape measure.
"You're so clever! I'd forgotten we could offer guests soda!" General Ye Manzhi praised us profusely on behalf of his comrades, then asked, "What are you measuring?"
Wu Zhengrong discussed with her: "What do you think about turning this into a reception room? That way we won't have a place to entertain guests."
All the houses in this area face south and have three bedrooms and a living room.
The main hall is right after the entrance, and there is a room to the east, west and north.
At Mr. Su's house next door, they eat in the main room, meet guests in the west room, and the other two rooms are bedrooms.
But Wu Zhengrong's yard is smaller than others, mainly because the main room and the north room are smaller, and the width is much narrower than other yards.
When he lived there alone, he used the main room as a corridor and the west room as a study. When someone came to visit, he would directly invite them to the east room.
However, now that I have a wife, the situation is different.
Director Xiao Ye has to socialize with the families of other leaders and occasionally entertain colleagues, so he can't always talk to people in the yard.
Ye Manzhi looked around for a while, shook his head and said, "This aisle is already narrow enough. If we put tables and chairs here, it will be inconvenient for the two of us to pass through. Let's just forget it."
Wu Zhengrong proposed a second plan, "How about turning the north room into a reception room? Then I'll replace the glass on the wall to make it more transparent."
According to the original design, the wall opposite the entrance, that is, the wall between the main room and the north room, is actually designed with glass on top and bricks and stones on the bottom, which can help increase the lighting in the room.
But I don’t know which owner of the house painted all the transparent glass with yellow paint, which not only blocked the view of outsiders, but also blocked all the sunlight.
Ye Manzhi asked: "After the north room becomes a reception room, where can I take a shower?"
That little room is now her bathroom, and she has just fallen in love with taking baths these days.
"You can take a bath in our bedroom. It's just a bathtub anyway, so it doesn't matter where you put it."
Ye Manzhi glared at him and said, "You wish!"
"I can go to the study while you take a shower." Wu Zhengrong looked like a gentleman.
"That won't work! How can you take a shower where you sleep?"
In fact, Maiduo was taking a shower in the house. There were many people taking a shower in the house.
But she felt that taking a bath was like eating canned food.
In the past, at least there was a process of unscrewing the bottle cap. If he took a shower in the bedroom, it would be like canned food coming off the production line, without even a bottle cap, and it would be delivered directly to his mouth.
How can that be possible!
Seeing that she disagreed, Wu Zhengrong had to propose a third plan, "Then let's build another small shed next to the kitchen. I'll bring the tap water there, and you can go there to take a shower. You can tell others that it's a place to store miscellaneous items."
"Will the logistics allow it?"
"As long as you don't demolish the house, you can handle the logistics as you like."
Ye Manzhi thought that since her yard was as spacious as a playground, it would not be a big deal to build another shed.
She patted the shoulder in front of her and said encouragingly, "Comrade Military Representative, you've worked so hard on such a big project!"
According to their agreement, they were supposed to work two days and rest one day on weekdays to recharge their batteries. However, she felt that the military representative might be busy in the reception room for several days and might not have the energy to work two days afterwards. So she did not rest that night and took the initiative to do drills with him.
The next morning, when the wake-up call was blown, she turned over in anger, and then vaguely saw Wu Zhengrong seemed to take something out of the drawer of the chest of drawers.
She was so sleepy at the time that she pretended not to see it and turned over to continue sleeping.
When she finished eating the breakfast brought back by Wu Zhengrong and was about to lock the door and go to work, Qin Xiang came with two young soldiers.
The two little soldiers grinned and shouted, "Hello, sister-in-law."
Qin Xiang was more understanding and called out "Director Ye".
Director Ye smiled and asked, "Why are you here at this time?"
"Our regiment commander has to go to the military district for a meeting today and can't take care of the project at home. We came here first to measure the dimensions and estimate the materials we need to purchase."
Ye Manzhi knew that Wu Zhengrong was going to the provincial military region and would be back on the same day.
She thought these three people were here to do the preparatory work, so she invited them in and let them do their own work.
She still has to go to work, so she won't be watching here anymore.
Qin Xiang said politely, "Director Ye, please go to work. I'll be watching over here and I promise to help you get everything done!"
Ye Manzhi had nothing to worry about him and went to work happily.
…
When she left, the yard was still a bare playground. However, when she returned home from get off work in the evening, she could see from a distance that a small red brick house had been built in her yard.
She rubbed her eyes, ran over quickly and unlocked the door.
The yard looked much the same as when I left it that morning, except for the small brick house.
She looked around the small brick house for a while, remembered something, and quickly unlocked the door of the main room.
When the door opened, what came into view was a bright glass wall. All the painted glass on the wooden window frames had disappeared!
The cement on the brick house and the putty on the wooden window frames had not yet dried, so she didn't dare to touch them.
But it was done in just one day. How fast is that?
How come the project is progressing so fast?
Wu Zhengrong returned just as lights-out was about to begin. Upon hearing her exclamation, he laughed and said, "This is socialist speed."
"You're just bragging!" Ye Manzhi opened a can of eight-treasure rice pudding that she had only eaten once for dinner. "I thought you were the one who did the project, but it turns out Qin Xiang helped you do it."
Wu Zhengrong finished half a box of eight-treasure rice in two bites. Seeing her staring at the can eagerly, he fed her a mouthful and said, "I have more important things to do."
"If you don't have time, I can ask my third and fourth brothers to help. It would be embarrassing to ask Qin Xiang to help us build the house!"
"What's there to be embarrassed about? Some messengers have to make their beds and clean, but he never has to do those things." Wu Zhengrong pointed at the brown paper bag on the table. "I haven't even had time for dinner because I've been running around for him. Is it too much to ask him to build a bathroom for me?"
The brown paper bag was open, and at his signal, Ye Manzhi pulled out the only form inside.
It is a recommendation form for admission to a military academy without taking an entrance exam.
"Are you going to recommend Qin Xiang to attend military school?"
"Well, Factory 656 didn't get a quota, so I went to the military district specifically to ask for it. The military representative office only has this one."
Ye Manzhi had just been standing up for Qin Xiang, but now she was feeling a little envious and jealous.
Oh my God, Qin Xiang is going to college!
You'll be a college student soon!
"If he leaves, you won't have a messenger, right?"
Qin Xiang seemed to be quite capable. She didn't know the specific situation of the military representative office, but she knew that he was different from ordinary communicators, and Wu Zhengrong valued him very much.
"Xiao Qin is capable, but his education level is a bit low. Being a communications officer is a waste of talent. Let him go to a military academy, where he can have better development in the future."
Hearing this, Ye Manzhi became envious again.
Why didn't anyone recommend her to go to college?
I finally got a chance to transfer to a civil servant position, but was rejected!
She should stop worrying about others. Wu Zhengrong recommended his communicator to go to college. With this example, other outstanding talents will definitely flock to Wu Zhengrong and strive to become communicators.
They don’t lack communicators at all!
She was filled with jealousy and snatched the last bite of eight-treasure rice and refused to give it to him.
She had originally changed into a new set of underwear, which made her skin look whiter, but unfortunately she was too jealous. She turned her back to him and didn't want to talk or do anything else.
Anyway, she should have had one day off yesterday, but she worked two, so let's just take today as a day off.
*
Ye Manzhi was stimulated by the news that an acquaintance was about to go to college, and she began to think about the matter of transferring to a cadre student.
If there are still recommendation spots next year, she will definitely sign up again.
She has a short working experience, so if she wants to be successfully selected, the resume on the application form must have some impressive achievements.
If we can make the "March 8th Convenience Catering Service Station" successful and famous, it would be considered a good achievement, right?
She was already very concerned about this service station, and after being stimulated by Qin Xiang, she became even more serious.
Early the next morning, she went to the district and introduced the idea of the "March 8th Service Station" to District Chief Mu.
The most important thing is that I want to get some benefits and policies from the leaders.
After all, this is also to support women's work.
However, Mulan frowned and asked, "Is this service station you guys set up a restaurant?"
"No, no, it's a service station."
Mulan snorted, "Don't play dumb in front of me. How can I not tell the difference between a restaurant and a service station? The restaurant is under the unified management of the Commerce Bureau. If your business fails, it's fine. But if it becomes successful, the Commerce Bureau will definitely come to the district to complain!"
"I'm afraid they'll complain, so I wanted to report this to you. Please give me some support!" Ye Manzhi said with a smile, "This is a service station founded entirely by women. It's so meaningful!"
"It's certainly meaningful and symbolic, but you have to think carefully. If the Commerce Bureau files a complaint with the district, the district leaders might not side with you. At worst, we can just turn the service station into a restaurant and have the original staff transfer to the Commerce Bureau. Anyway, the meat has already been rotten in the pot, so no matter who is responsible, it's the district's achievement."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
Why hadn't she thought of this possibility?
What if the district leaders speak to the Commerce Bureau and take away their service station?
By then, the district, the Commercial Bureau, and even the service station staff will suffer no losses. The only one who will suffer losses will be the Guangming Sub-district Office, which set up the service station.
According to what District Chief Mu said, being picked as the peach is almost a foregone conclusion.
Unless she fucks the service station...
Ye Manzhi's head was buzzing. If things really developed like this, then all her efforts would be in vain!
However, it is a rare opportunity to create more jobs for residents. If she really gives up, she will feel very sorry.
District Chief Mu's reply really put her in a dilemma.
After she returned from the district, she thought about it for two days and felt that she really couldn't take any chances with this matter.
If it really doesn't work, then we can just give up. Yu Ziyang and Lang Qinghong haven't found a suitable female chef anyway, so this all-female service station may not be built.
The weather was hot and she was worried about work, so she looked listless and couldn't eat.
Seeing her like this, the fourth sister-in-law Shen Liangmei couldn't help but guess: "Little sister, your appetite has decreased a lot in the past few days. Could you be pregnant?"
"How could it be so fast!" Huang Li took two sips of mung bean soup and reminded, "They've only been married for less than two weeks. They probably got heatstroke."
Shen Liangmei sighed and said, "You've never given birth, how would you understand this? Some people have reactions after just half a month."
What she actually wanted to say was that Ye Lai Ya had been married to her brother-in-law for a month, and if they slept together right after getting the marriage certificate, then it would be normal for her to get pregnant.
However, she didn't dare say this in front of her mother-in-law. If she did, her mother-in-law would be furious!
Huang Li was choked by her for no reason again, and felt a little unhappy.
She doesn't have a biological mother-in-law, and Chang Yue'e never urges her stepson to have children. In fact, she has lived a pretty good life in the past two years.
The only annoying thing is that this sister-in-law, relying on having a son named Mai Duo, always tries to gain a sense of existence in front of her.
"I've never had a child, but I've read books. I haven't seen any book that says you can get pregnant after just ten days of marriage."
"What kind of book talks about having children? This is too inappropriate."
“…”
While eating, Ye Manzhi observed her two sisters-in-law and thought to herself that it was a good thing that she didn't have to live with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Her two sisters-in-law, one educated but childless, the other a mother with children but no education, live under the same roof and always make sarcastic remarks to each other whether there is anything wrong or not.
Ye Manzhi interrupted, "Fourth sister-in-law, didn't you work as a pastry apprentice before? Do you know any skilled female chefs?"
"I don't know them. I've never seen a female chef in the drama troupe cafeteria. The chefs in the kitchen are all men, and the women usually learn to cook pastries. The main reason is that the big iron wok is big and heavy. If you don't have a lot of strength, few women can stir the wok." Chen Liangmei asked tentatively, "Laiya, I heard the street is recruiting chefs. Are you recruiting pastries? I'm really good at making pasta."
Ye Manzhi originally planned to let her fourth sister-in-law be a pastry chef, but it was still uncertain whether the service station could be built, so it was not appropriate to bring it up now.
"Let's hire a female chef first. Once we find a chef, we can hire others."
"Well, it's hard to hire a female chef. The capable ones already have jobs." Shen Liangmei urged, "Come on, there are already several restaurants on our street. What's the point of opening another one? It's better to sell some noodles, such as buns, dumplings, wontons, steamed buns, etc. Hey, I know an older sister who makes great pancakes. She's famous in our yard. The pancakes she makes are so good that when you pull them apart, they become long noodles. She kneads the dough so well..."
Shen Liangmei chattered on and on about several ruthless people and their unique skills that she knew.
She chattered so much that both Chang Yuet-e and Wong Tai-sin left the table, but she was still not satisfied.
Only Ye Manzhi sat there in support, listening attentively to her talkative introduction.
"Sister-in-law, do all these older sisters you mentioned have jobs?"
"Yes, I have."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
What a waste of her time.
They already have jobs, so it's impossible for them to come to the service station to work.
She listened to it from beginning to end!
Shen Liangmei continued, "However, I heard that Sister Kong's job was taken over by her daughter, and she seems to have stayed home recently. Sister Kong is the one who's really good at making pancakes!"
Ye Manzhi nodded, brought a can of mung bean soup from her mother's home to the military representative, and then strolled back home.
She felt that her fourth sister-in-law had provided her with a new idea.
Since we can’t find a chef who can cook, then just give up looking for one. We can just hire a few more pastry chefs who specialize in making noodles!
Moreover, the four existing restaurants on the street do not serve breakfast. If their service station can sell some fried dough sticks, buns, wontons, grind some soy milk, and cook some porridge, it can be regarded as providing convenient services for residents who do not have time to make breakfast.
During the day, a window is opened to sell steamed buns and sesame cakes, and dumplings and wontons are sold in the hall.
Not only can you earn some money, but you don't need very advanced skills. Any housewife who knows how to make pasta can do it.
While she was lost in thought, Wu Zhengrong had already finished drinking the entire can of mung bean soup.
"You eat and take things home. Have you paid for our mother's food?"
"No, but I give my mother 5 yuan pocket money every month."
After Ye Manzhi started working, he gave Chang Yue'e 5 yuan every month.
She wanted her mother to have some pocket money.
"Pocket money is pocket money, and food expenses are food expenses. Send the money and tickets over tomorrow." Wu Zhengrong washed the cans and picked up the file again to trim the edges of the photo frame. "Which photo do you want to put in first? Bring it over and try it out."
Ye Manzhi quickly handed over the photo of the two of them toasting side by side at the wedding.
At the same time, I sighed in my heart that having a man who can do handicrafts at home really saves money.
On the day of their wedding, Qin Xiang took more than ten photos for them.
After receiving them, Ye Manzhi was particularly satisfied with four of them, but she only had one photo frame, so she decided to choose one from the four, put one outside, and put the others in the album.
When she had been choosing for half the night and still hadn't made up her mind, Wu Zhengrong told her to stop choosing and claimed that he could make three more.
Photo frames are very expensive in stores. This kind of frame for large photos costs more than one dollar.
She was reluctant to spend so much money on a few photos, but if Wu Zhengrong could do it himself, that would be a different matter.
She also found the first photo of the two of them together and asked the military representative to make a smaller one to place at the head of their bed.
So, after get off work these two days, Wu Xiaogong did nothing else but make photo frames for her.
Ye Manzhi rested her elbows on the table, watching him put the toast photo in, and praised with satisfaction: "Comrade Military Representative, the workmanship of this photo frame is better than the ones I bought in the store!"
The military representative, who had been fed another bowl of magic potion, smiled.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I laugh at you because you're the sweetest when you ask someone to do something for you."
Ye Manzhi corrected her: "I didn't ask you to do this. You took the initiative to do this."
She admired the photos for a while, then suddenly asked, "What do you think about buying a camera? I finally get the chance to go to the south, and I don't know when my next trip will be. I want to take more pictures, yes, more pictures of you!"
Mainly, she wanted to take pictures of trains, ships and the sea, but after thinking about it, she decided to include Wu Xiaogong as well.
Wu Zhengrong could occasionally borrow the camera from the military representative's office, but it belonged to the unit after all. They couldn't possibly take it away for twenty days, right?
That would have such a bad impact!
Wu Zhengrong said nonchalantly, "Sure, buy it if you want."
Upon hearing this, Ye Manzhi quickly put down the photo and ran to look through the drawers of the chest of drawers.
She has been very busy recently and has not yet carefully calculated their property.
The camera must be quite expensive, right? I wonder if they have enough money for it.
She opened the drawer and took out her two passbooks first. She knew how much money was in them with her eyes closed.
One was a deposit of 800 yuan that had been made for three years. This was the meeting gift and betrothal gift given by the Wu family, and was deposited into Chang Yue'e's account.
One was a current account passbook, which contained all her savings since she started working, a total of 170 yuan.
She earned 30 yuan a month, 5 yuan of which she gave to Chang Yue'e for pocket money, and she saved the rest. She usually ate and drank old leaves, and actually didn't spend much. The biggest expense was the things stored in the cellar.
She took out her own passbook and then looked through Wu Zhengrong's passbook, which contained three pages in total.
There is a three-year fixed deposit of 800 yuan, a one-year fixed deposit of 500 yuan, and a current deposit of 150 yuan, totaling 1,450 yuan.
Ye Manzhi was not surprised by his savings.
He had a high allowance and had published books. Although he had only received royalties for one of them, that book looked quite long. If he was paid per thousand words, the royalties should be no less than her clothing book.
Moreover, such practical reference books may be reprinted, and if the quota is exceeded, there will be subsequent royalties.
Ye Manzhi said to herself, it’s okay.
His allowance is so high and he doesn't have much expenses in his daily life. I heard that her parents-in-law will mail living expenses to Wu Zhengrong before he comes of age.
Saving this money is actually not that much!
Then she saw a thick stack of $50 government bonds in the candy box next to her that contained cash.
She had been selling government bonds for two years and was familiar with them. She could tell with a pinch that these bonds were worth about a thousand yuan.
Then she quickly counted them and found that there were indeed a thousand yuan!
"Wu Zhengrong, why did you buy so many government bonds?" Ye Manzhi shouted at the top of his voice.
To redeem the government bonds, one must draw lots based on numbers. He bought so many, and he doesn't know when he will be able to redeem them.
Wu Zhengrong was installing a bracket on a photo frame when he casually said, "I only bought the ones worth 400 yuan at the factory. You can figure out what the rest are."
Ye Manzhi thought about it for a while, oh, it seemed like it was to help her complete the public debt task.
Buy three hundred in the first year and another three hundred in the second year.
Well, Ye Manzhi put his hundred-dollar government bonds together with his.
The couple had a decent amount of savings. Their savings account couldn't be touched for the time being, but they had 320 yuan in their current account. Should that be enough to buy a camera? Ye Manzhi assigned Wu Zhengrong the task of finding a way to buy the camera.
Perhaps it was the good mood of having a camera that suddenly made her realize something.
The next morning after doing morning exercises, Ye Manzhi did not go directly to work, but went to the post office first.
"Third sister-in-law, don't go deliver the newspapers yet," she stopped Huang Daxian, "I want to tell you something."
"Why do we have to talk about it in the morning?" Huang Li had a time limit for delivering newspapers, and she was in a hurry to leave.
"Great!" Ye Manzhi said straight to the point. "Our street is planning to open a service station. Originally, we were planning to just offer catering services, but if we only sell noodles, we might not be able to fit into such a large space. So, I thought, since it's a convenient service station, why not add a few more business items, like selling books, newspapers, and magazines? If we can use our service station as a sales outlet for your post office, it would save you a lot of trouble. We can then hire someone to help deliver newspapers."
The Commercial Bureau can take over the restaurant, but if it wants to expand the scale of the service station and increase the business categories, it can't take over the post office, bookstore, insurance, banking business, etc., right?
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