Chapter 166
The rest of the time, I had another meal with Zhang Baosheng, Zhang Laosi, Liu Tong and others.
In the final days, Qiu Zeming handed over the things in his hands and gradually withdrew himself. He accompanied Zhou Jiani by sending her off in the morning and picking her up in the evening every day. He also tidied up the vegetable garden in their yard, harvesting what needed to be harvested, building racks where needed, and sowing new vegetable seeds in the small empty plot.
Zhou Jiani couldn't ask for leave again, but Qiu Zeming took a day off to go to Qi Yang to visit his future father-in-law and mother-in-law. After returning, he stayed for a few more days and it was time to leave.
Only a small group of people knew that Qiu Zeming was leaving to join the army, and they didn't let the news spread. He didn't stay in the greenhouse all the time, and some people just thought he had an external guidance mission. In addition, the village primary school was officially preparing to open, which attracted everyone's attention. Qiu Zeming's leisurely attitude did not attract special attention.
The more times I get to this point, the more I have a thousand words to say, but I don’t know where to start.
Qiu Zeming was riding his bike to give Zhou Jiani a ride home from work. Seeing that there was no one on the road, he braked and stopped with his foot.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Jiani slid down from the back seat.
Qiu Zeming parked the car, came over and hugged her, rubbing his chin against her forehead. He whispered, "I will work hard to achieve results, get promoted as soon as possible, and come back to get married."
In the military, if you want to be promoted, you have to have achievements, and achievements are earned with your life.
Zhou Jiani remembered the description of Qiu Zeming in the book, her heart skipped a beat, and she raised her head and quickly refused: "There's no rush to get married. We are still young, we can wait a few more years. Don't recklessly pursue your achievements..."
Zhou Jiani's rejection was a bit too quick, and Qiu Zeming's mouth twitched. His girlfriend really wasn't too keen on marrying him, so he muttered, "I'm anxious!"
He would not feel at ease unless the person was registered in the same household registration book with him.
The object is too good, I am worried.
Zhou Jiani chuckled, stood on tiptoe and pecked him on the lips, scratched his ribs with her hand, and said, "Okay, let's go back first."
Qiu Zeming ignored it, lowered his head and bit his partner's lips.
After a while, the two separated, both with unnatural redness on their faces. Zhou Jiani looked around like a thief to see if anyone was coming on the street, then she reached out and pinched his waist, glaring at him fiercely.
Qiu Zeming still felt a little unsatisfied. He looked around and whispered, "It's okay, there's no one..."
After getting back on the bike, Qiu Zeming went into the kitchen to cook after arriving home. Yu Wanxia was openly slacking off. There was no other way. She couldn't help but let Brother Qiu show off these past two days. She glanced at Zhou Jiani with a teasing smile and deliberately raised her voice towards the kitchen, "Brother Qiu, I'm going to the river to wash the sheets. Will it delay dinner when I come back?"
Qiu Zeming didn't feel embarrassed at all, and said openly: "This girl is sensible. Go, come back and ask your brother to come over for dinner."
"Okay." Yu Wanxia walked away with her head held high. Qiu Zeming came out and pulled Zhou Jiani into the kitchen.
Originally, Zhang Baosheng wanted to hold a farewell party for Qiu Zeming, but Qiu Zeming declined. Han Yang knew that he was leaving, and there was a hint of jealousy on his face during this period, and he was a little absent-minded at work.
For fear that holding a farewell party would cause more resentment among the old educated youth, this part was omitted.
After eating dumplings made by his girlfriend, he quietly packed his luggage and left the village one morning with Zhou Jiani driving a car with Zhang Baosheng, Liu Tong, Bai Haoyang, Wang Qianjin, Yu Wanxia and others in it.
Secretary Zhai came early and waited. He personally pinned a big red flower on him, and asked the photographer who had been invited in advance to take a few photos of everyone, and gave him some earnest instructions.
Zhang Baosheng and Liu Tong did not follow the carriage to the county town. Today, the village primary school held an opening ceremony, and as village and commune cadres, they all had to attend. They watched the carriage leave together.
In fact, there were a few people in the commune who were going to join the army, and trucks were arranged for them, but Qiu Zeming chose to take the team's mule cart, which was slower and allowed him to spend more time with his partner.
But no matter how long the distance is, there will be a time to arrive. When they arrived at the county, the atmosphere was different. There were loud gongs and drums, and the streets were filled with people who came to see them off. In the middle were clustered new recruits wearing military uniforms and big red flowers on their chests. Zhou Jiani found that Qiu Zeming was also very dazzling among the new recruits. They all wore the same military uniforms, but when he stood there, his posture was always taller than others, not to mention his appearance. He was naturally the best one. He turned around and looked at her with burning eyes.
Zhou Jiani's eyes warmed up, she smiled at him, and reminded him again in a loud voice: "Protect yourself during training, and remember to write back!"
Qiu Zeming's eyes were filled with reluctance as he said solemnly, "Don't worry, I've got it in mind." He added, "You too, take care of yourself."
Zhou Jiani nodded.
Qiu Zeming glanced at Bai Haoyang and the others one by one, nodded and said, "Take care, everyone!" He gave a very standard military salute, turned around and strode away, and got on the truck nimbly.
Bai Haoyang sniffed, waved his hand, and said, "Take care, Brother Ming!"
Yu Wanxia turned her head and glanced at Zhou Jiani. Zhou Jiani looked at Qiu Zeming on the truck, trying hard to suppress the tears in her eyes. She reached out and held Zhou Jiani's hand, and waved at Qiu Zeming with the other hand.
The truck moved away, farther and farther away, until it was completely out of sight, and then everyone turned back.
That day, the villagers knew that Qiu Zeming had left.
After all, it was strange that the two most dazzling young people in the village did not attend today's primary school opening ceremony. When someone asked Liu Tong about it, he did not hide it. Many people were shocked, and the old educated youth were naturally shocked.
Many people did feel unbalanced, but when they looked at Qiu Zeming's achievements, they had to admit his excellence, though they still said sourly, "That was Comrade Zhou's idea..."
Someone nearby reminded him, "Comrade Zhou is Qiu Zeming's girlfriend, so they're no different. Besides, Comrade Zhou has also made the weaving industry a booming business. She definitely can't handle both of these things on her own. Someone has to look after the plastic greenhouses."
Some people couldn't help but run up to Zhou Jiani and say some sarcastic things. Zhou Jiani was already annoyed. She changed her usual smile and confronted each one of them. She said coldly: "The greenhouse has been built, but there are still crops to be planted, and vegetables to sell. There are plenty of jobs that can produce results waiting for everyone to do. If anyone is not satisfied, just go for it. If you have outstanding results, are you still worried about not being able to return to the city?"
He added, "You've been here for quite some time now, so stop saying you don't know how to grow vegetables, or that you can't do it well. I only provided a direction with the greenhouse. The rest was built little by little by Qiu Zeming and the uncles and uncles in the village. He didn't know how to grow vegetables at first, but he was able to study materials under the oil lamp, roll up his trouser legs, stand in the ridges of the fields with the village farmers to conduct experiments, and humbly ask for advice on farming and vegetable cultivation. What were you doing back then? Don't say that no one assigned you tasks or divided up your work, and no one made any strict regulations for Qiu Zeming to study materials. How could he have only studied hard?"
Those people didn't expect Zhou Jiani to be so angry and speak so directly to the point. They smiled awkwardly and said, "Comrade Qiu is just hardworking. We should learn from him."
He left in shame.
When Zhou Jiani received the first letter from Qiu Zeming, she was working with various companies to make dried cowpeas.
Based on last year's experience, everyone in the village planted a lot of cowpeas in their private plots this year and started drying them before the rush to harvest.
There are also some in other villages.
Since it wasn't peak season for making vermicelli noodles, Zhao Hai came by in the evening and asked Zhou Jiani if she wanted any more dried cowpeas. Zhou Jiani nodded, "Yes, bring as many as you can. If you have enough, I'll ship them along with the other goods to the provincial capital. You can also collect some fresh ones and dry them yourself, then give them to me at the price of dried cowpeas. You don't have to send them here. I'll bring them along when I visit your brigade."
"Okay, Comrade Zhou."
“It must be dried thoroughly to ensure both quality and quantity.”
"Don't worry, Comrade Zhou. I promise I won't let you down."
Just after I sent the reply letter to Qiu Zeming, I received another letter from Li Yan. In the letter, she happily expressed that she could return to the city, and made an appointment to call Zhou Jiani to discuss cooperation issues there.
She couldn't just cut off this connection when she returned to the city, but she wanted to hear Zhou Jiani's opinion on whether to find another educated youth to take over or let the local commune continue to connect with this side.
Zhou Jiani went to Lu Zhaoliang to discuss this matter. After all, the main line was with Lu Zhaoliang, and she didn't know the background of the new educated youth very well. If anything went wrong, she would be in trouble.
Moreover, after Li Yan came back, she would reduce the number of times she made long-distance purchases from there and switch to Meng Yan at the silk factory.
During this period, I have been exchanging letters with several people I met at the Canton Fair. The one I have the closest contact with is Meng Yan. I placed an order with the weaving factory and the silk factory, but it took so long to receive a batch of goods.
Zhou Jiani wanted a small silk handkerchief, but couldn't get it from the factory, so she mailed cloth coupons and money to Meng Yan and asked her to buy the small silk handkerchief from the local supply and marketing cooperative and send it back to her.
To express gratitude, we gave Meng Yan two women's woven bags, a one-shoulder model and a women's briefcase. We also received her order call and she ordered about ten of each.
When Li Yan's matter was mentioned, Lu Zhaoliang chose to deal with it directly without thinking. He said that if it were someone else, they would not know their background and would not be stable, so it would be better to deal with it directly. As for whether the educated youth personally needed this achievement, Lu Zhaoliang was not aware of this.
After finishing the call with Li Yan, Li Jingdang asked someone to call Zhou Jiani to the factory for a meeting to discuss the Autumn Canton Fair.
All the export orders from the Spring Canton Fair have been successfully completed, but there are always new orders from export companies and Friendship Stores, so Qianjin Knitting Factory is still doing export work.
Zhou Jiani was shown several new baskets and artworks created by the factory's technicians and was given some guidance. The next step was to discuss product selection.
The styles from last time are still available. This time, not only are there new products, but it would be best if they were produced in advance, just like the handicraft factory in Linshi, so that customers can pick up the goods on the spot.
"The step of communication and learning is the right one. Our technical staff's thinking has been expanded a lot..." Li Jingdang pointed to two of the new samples and showed them to Zhou Jiani. They had a bit of the style of Linshi handicrafts.
Zhou Jiani nodded: "After the Autumn Canton Fair is over, we can have a second round of exchanges and learning."
"We have this plan." Li Jingdang said excitedly, "The people in Linshi have the same idea."
Li Jingdang picked up the mini basket and sieve again and said with a smile, "I didn't expect this set of little things to be so popular. The export company has placed three orders. I'm going to bring them to the Canton Fair this time."
There is still more than a month to go before the Autumn Canton Fair, so we need to prepare in advance.
This time, the team is still led by Li Jingdang himself, and Zhou Jiani's quota remains unchanged. There are two village members, two old educated youth, and two outstanding young technicians from the factory who are not from this brigade.
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