Chapter 173
She packed her luggage, leaving only her bedding and simple toiletries unpacked, and went out to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things. When she arrived, Lu Zhaoliang was there. Seeing her come in, he smiled and said, "Team Leader Zhou, congratulations on your promotion. You said... you didn't even let everyone celebrate for you, so I couldn't even help."
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "This place is like my second hometown. I'm just going to the county to work. It's not like I won't be back in the future. What's the point of practicing this?"
Lu Zhaohua smiled. "Team Leader Zhou is really good at talking." He said, "If Team Leader Zhou needs any good resources in the future, don't forget our fellow villagers."
"Did I forget about you?" Zhou Jiani pointed out mercilessly, laughing. "I just got you a batch of silk sheets last month. Although the silk content is not high, the colors are bright and beautiful, and they are a rare commodity here. Good thing, I only heard that the goods had arrived, but you didn't even let me take a look."
Lu Zhaoliang smiled sheepishly, turned around, and walked back to the counter. He bent over and fiddled with something for a while before pulling out a bright red embroidered bed sheet. He smiled and said, "I'm saving this for Team Leader Zhou. Even if you forget someone, you should never forget your benefactor."
"I can't bear the title of benefactor." Zhou Jiani was not polite. She didn't give the ticket, but she did give the money. She couldn't let others talk about her for nothing.
He bought a few bottles of wine and a few bags of snacks, chatted with Lu Zhaoliang for a while, and then left with them.
After returning home, he divided the things into several portions, and also divided the tea he had saved during this period into half-pound portions, and put them in the warehouse.
She first went out and rode her bike to Zhao Hai's house, ordered a batch of rice noodles and vermicelli from him, paid the money in advance, agreed on the time for her to pick up the goods, and went home to light a fire and cook around noon.
Zhao Mei came over at noon. She took some time out of her busy schedule to make two pairs of cotton boots for Zhou Jiani. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to finish them before Zhou Jiani left, so she worked late into the night to finish them.
Zhou Jiani and Zhao Mei accepted the cotton boots without hesitation.
Zhang Huihui came over with her, and somewhat reluctantly hugged Zhou Jiani. She looked up and asked, "Sister Jiani, will you come back after you leave?"
Zhang Huihui was almost as tall as Zhou Jiani's shoulders. Zhou Jiani raised her hand to pinch her chubby cheek and said with a smile, "Of course I'm back. This is my second home. As long as I'm not busy, I will definitely come back." She added, "When winter vacation comes, wait for your sister Wanxia and the others to go to the county to play, come and visit me with them."
Zhang Huihui's eyes lit up, and she quickly turned to look at her mother. Zhao Mei smiled and said, "Let's talk about it after the holidays."
In the afternoon, Zhou Jiani went to the factory to find Li Jingdang.
Li Jingdang smiled and said, "Is the leader here to assign tasks right now?"
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "No, no, no, Director Li, don't be so polite. There's no such thing as leader or not. We're all just colleagues."
Secretary Zhai asked Li Jingdang to be his assistant, but he couldn't really treat him as an assistant. When the factory was built in the future, Li Jingdang would be the secretary or director of the factory.
Besides, she also admired Li Jingdang's management skills.
Li Jingdang laughed and said, "A leader is a leader. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
Zhou Jiani waved her hand and stopped dwelling on this topic. She came here to discuss the future work arrangements.
"County Magistrate Wang has given us three potential locations. Let's go and take a look together when you're free," Zhou Jiani said. "Also, before we build the factory, I suggest we go to the neighboring city and take a look at their knitting factory model to learn from their strengths and weaknesses..."
The Qianjin Weaving Factory is not large in scale and cannot be compared with the municipal units in the neighboring city. Visiting and learning there can help us avoid detours during the construction process.
Li Jingdang quickly agreed and asked, "When will Team Leader Zhou take office?"
"The day after tomorrow, which is also next Monday." Zhou Jiani said with a smile, "I'll go there tomorrow."
Li Jingdang: "Let's schedule it for next Wednesday, depending on the venue..."
Zhou Jiani has just taken up her new position and needs to familiarize herself with the work environment and job content. He will go over next Wednesday to take a look at the site for a day, and the specific location will need to be discussed in another meeting.
"Okay, then come find me in the county next Wednesday."
In the evening, Zhou Jiani visited the homes of Zhang Baosheng, Zhang Laosi, Sheng Manliang, and Liu Tong one by one. It was just an ordinary visit. Although everyone was reluctant to leave, they also knew that this was a good thing for Comrade Zhou.
Besides, their village has produced a county-level official, and they will feel proud when they talk about it.
When she left, she didn't ask anyone to see her off. She put her luggage on the back of the bike, hung her bag on the handlebars, and rode out swayingly.
But when they arrived at the village entrance, they found many fellow villagers standing there. Zhou Jiani got out of the car and greeted them with a smile: "It's so cold, what are you doing out here?"
Many aunts and sisters wiped their tears and said, "Jia Ni, you must come back more often!"
Zhou Jiani didn't want to be sent off because she was afraid of this scene, which would make her heart sad. But she couldn't bear it at this moment. She suppressed the tears in her eyes and smiled, "I walked out of our brigade. There are still familiar folks and good friends here. I will definitely come back often. Uncles, aunts, and grandmas, please come back soon. It's very cold."
"Jia Ni, please be careful when riding your bike."
"Jia Ni, come back and play when you're not busy. If anyone dares to bully you, call back and we won't tolerate him."
"Jiani, there's a slippery section in the middle, so be careful when you go through that section..."
"I understand. Don't worry, everyone!" Zhou Jiani responded one by one, said goodbye to the reluctant villagers, got back on her bike, turned around, waved goodbye, and left the village.
Behind the crowd, Zhang Baosheng wiped his eyes, put his hands behind his back and returned to the brigade headquarters.
Meng Jiandi was also nearby, too embarrassed to show up. Seeing Zhou Jiani reach a new height with such achievements, she felt envious and complicated. She said to Zhao Weiguo beside her, "Let's go back. We are no longer on the same path as her."
Zhao Weiguo left silently. Meng Jiandi curled her lips, looked at him from a distance again with a sense of loss, turned around and followed him.
Zhou Jiani had already registered at the county office and was assigned a single dormitory. The dormitory was not big, only about 30 square meters, with a bedroom, a living room and a small kitchen, which was a little crowded.
However, housing is tight these days, and it is common for a family of five, six, or seven or eight people to squeeze into a 30-square-meter apartment. 30 square meters is already very spacious for her to live in alone.
When she reported back last time, she received the dormitory key. After leaving the unit, she went to check on her dormitory, cleaned it, and got to know a sister-in-law next door named Dai Jinfang.
When she got off the bus, the driver kindly helped her take down the bicycle and bedding tied to the roof, and tied them up skillfully before starting the car and leaving.
Neither the driver nor the salesperson had expected that in less than two years since they knew Zhou Jiani was going to the city to give a report, she had already become a county official.
Zhou Jiani did have a warehouse to collect luggage, but she didn't do so and chose to take it there openly.
She adjusted the handlebars of the bicycle and raised her hand to straighten the cashmere hat on her head. This hat was sent to her by Du Yunxin from the capital. I heard that it was very difficult to buy. I don’t know how many connections she had to make to get this hat.
He put on his cotton gloves again, exhaled white air, and rode his bike straight to the dormitory area on East First Street of the Government.
When she arrived at the door, it was not the same old man as last time. Zhou Jiani took out her ID and letter of introduction to register, then pushed the cart in.
The dormitory area is a row of bungalows. It is called a single dormitory, but there are also families living here.
She had just parked the car in front of the door when Dai Jinfang, the woman next door, saw her coming through the window and hurriedly opened the door to greet her, "Team Leader Zhou, have you moved in?"
Zhou Jiani greeted with a smile: "Sister-in-law Jin Fang, just call me Xiao Zhou."
Dai Jinfang came over to help and said with a smile: "It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate. You are the leader, you can call me whatever you want."
Zhou Jiani was helpless. Thinking that they were not familiar with each other at the moment and neither of them could let go, she just let her go.
The door of a dormitory two rooms away opened, and a young man wearing a cotton hat came out. His eyes lit up when he saw Zhou Jiani, and he came over to greet her with a smile: "Hey, newcomer!"
Dai Jinfang acted as a middleman, introducing them to each other: "This is Team Leader Zhou from the weaving department, Team Leader Zhou, and this is Secretary Wang."
Zhou Jiani greeted him, "Hello, Secretary Wang. I hope you will give me more guidance in the future."
Secretary Wang's dark yellow face turned slightly red, and he said embarrassedly: "So you are the leader of the new department. I have heard of you for a long time, but I didn't expect you to be so young." And so beautiful.
Not everyone pays attention to the weaving industry and those who lead local villagers to develop the weaving industry.
Dai Jinfang smiled and said, "Ability knows no age limit. Secretary Wang has great potential. Let me tell you, all of you who can become cadres in government departments have ability."
She is a family member, and her husband is in charge of logistics, his surname is Song.
Dai Jinfang swiftly helped Zhou Jiani carry the luggage into the house. Secretary Wang felt embarrassed to go in and help, considering that it was a female comrade's dormitory, so he said hello and went back.
The room was as cold as an ice cellar. There was hot water on the shelf in Zhou Jiani's warehouse, but it was not easy to take it out without permission. She could only apologize and said, "Sorry to bother you, sister-in-law, but I haven't cleaned up here yet, so I don't have anything to treat you. When I'm done, I'll treat you and your family to a meal."
Dai Jinfang knew that food rations were tight, so she didn't dare to agree. Besides, this Team Leader Zhou held a higher position than her husband Song, so it would be beneficial and harmless to establish a good relationship with him.
Besides, it was just a matter of helping out, so how could I eat someone's meal? He hurriedly said, "Team Leader Zhou, please don't be so polite. We are neighbors. It's not worth treating someone to a meal just to help out. Who doesn't have a shortage of food these days..."
Zhou Jiani opened a handbag, reached in, took out a few pieces of egg cake and stuffed them into Dai Jinfang's mouth: "Take them back for the children..." Dai Jinfang wanted to refuse, but she continued hurriedly, "Don't push it away. We will be neighbors in the future. I am not familiar with the surroundings. I have to trouble my sister-in-law to take me to familiarize myself with the environment. Where can I get the coal stove and the coal briquettes? I am completely in the dark. If you don't accept, I will be embarrassed to trouble you."
Dai Jinfang couldn't refuse after hearing this, so she enthusiastically took the responsibility: "Wait a minute, I'll go borrow a cart and we'll bring it back in one trip."
He turned around and hurried back to the house to put down the egg cake, wrapped his scarf around his neck, put on cotton gloves, borrowed a cart, and took Zhou Jiani to pick up the things.
Along the way, he introduced her to the surrounding environment, where the nearby grocery stores and grain stores were, what the ticket numbers that had just been released a few days ago corresponded to, when the batch of supplies would arrive, etc., and he explained it in detail.
Zhou Jiani went to collect her share of supplies with the letter of introduction issued by the county and the ticket she received when she reported.
Dai Jinfang worked efficiently. She came back and brought her own coal briquettes to help light the stove. Zhou Jiani gave her a new coal briquettes in return.
She was a wealthy woman, but she did not forget how difficult life was for people at that time when supplies were scarce.
Water is convenient here. There is a centralized water pool and pipe in front of each row of dormitories. There is an iron bucket under the water pipe. When the faucet is turned on slightly, water drops down to prevent the water pipe from freezing.
Zhou Jiani went to fetch a bucket of water, then filled an aluminum kettle with water. She came back and put it on the coal stove that had just been lit, waiting for the water to boil.
When the stove was burning, the room was not particularly warm, but it was not as cold as before and it felt a little warmer.
Zhou Jiani had a stool in the warehouse, but not in the luggage she had brought. She asked Sister Dai to sit on the edge of the bed and said, "Sister-in-law, I see you all have cotton curtains hanging on your doors. Is there anyone in our county who specializes in making those? If there is, I'll make one too."
In fact, there was one where she lived in Qianjin Village. She paid her neighbor to make it, but now that she moved to a new place, it was not easy to ask someone to do it directly, so she pretended not to know and asked.
Dai Jinfang said hurriedly, "Oh, there's no need to find a place to make this. With cotton covers and rags, you can make it yourself. It's not difficult."
Zhou Jiani smiled sheepishly and said, "I do have some rags and cotton covers, but my sewing skills are really average. I'm thinking of paying you a processing fee. Can you help me find someone who can make them? I'll make a pair to hang on the door to block the wind."
Dai Jinfang was immediately tempted, her eyes slightly lit up, but she was too embarrassed to take it all in directly, as if she was taking advantage of Team Leader Zhou. If she introduced it to someone else, the hard work fee would be gone. Seeing her hesitant, Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, do you have time?"
"Yes, yes, yes. I'm idle at home all day." Dai Jinfang grasped the hem of her clothes a little awkwardly, and simply gritted her teeth and said, "Sister, oh no, Team Leader Zhou, if you trust me, I can do it for you. I don't care whether I'm paid for it or not..."
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, sister-in-law. But the hard work fee will be determined by you. If you refuse, I will find someone else."
"Hey, you mentioned this... I don't think it's a big deal..." Dai Jinfang said a few polite words and agreed.
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