Chapter 178
After leaving the brigade headquarters, Zhou Jiani took a detour to Zhao Mei's house and brought the prepared fruits, malted milk, and canned food to Zhao Mei. She sat for a while, talked a few words, politely declined their invitation to dinner, and went to Yu Wanxia's place.
They took out the meat buns bought from the restaurant and divided them up. After dinner, they went to work. Zhou Jiani went to the brigade headquarters and waited for Secretary Zhai to come. Everyone held a meeting. Zhou Jiani explained her plans in detail and proposed that after the recruitment was completed after the New Year, they would be arranged in batches to study in various brigades of Xihe Commune.
Secretary Zhai was very supportive of Zhou Jiani's recruitment plan, but... he smiled and said, "Isn't the recruitment work going to be difficult?"
Which leader doesn't have a relative who's unemployed? Which office worker doesn't have a family member or relative who went to the countryside to work in the fields?
With such a large project being carried out vigorously, I wonder how many people are eyeing the recruitment vacancies, hoping to take the opportunity to recruit their relatives who are working in the countryside outside the province.
I don’t know how many unemployed young people who have returned to the city are crying out for food.
Wouldn’t the Youth League Office be keeping a close eye on it?
How much can be given to them?
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I know. I'll try my best. Also, when we recruit, we'll clearly outline the requirements and arrange unified training. Only those who pass the assessment can be hired. If you don't pass, you'll be dismissed. Weaving requires some talent."
"Regular worker quotas are given priority to skilled workers, followed by those with outstanding performance. The factory must first ensure production..."
These two points are unchangeable, and they can only compete for temporary worker positions.
Secretary Zhai nodded, then offered her some advice, cryptically saying, "Recruiting is a big deal. You might be in for a bit of a hassle, so you need to be more careful."
We are all leaders. If we do it well, we may not get much credit, but if we do it badly, we will only offend people.
Zhou Jiani understood and said with a smile: "Secretary, don't worry, if you can't provoke me, you can't hide from me!"
After the brief meeting, Secretary Zhai hurried away. Zhou Jiani went to Grandma Wu's house to pick up a few pairs of insoles, then took a stroll around the greenhouses, bought a bunch of vegetables, and asked Uncle Liu to drive her to town. She took the last bus back to the county. The next day, she packed up some New Year's specialties and sent them to the capital. She also called the military hospital, but Du Yunxin surprised her with a revelation: "Jiani, I'm going to visit you for two days this New Year..."
Zhou Jiani was surprised for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay, Auntie, is Uncle coming over? Have you bought the ticket? What time will he arrive?"
"He can't leave, so I'll go by myself." He added, "You don't have to pick me up at the station. We can just go there by ourselves. You can just book a few rooms."
Du Yunxin vaguely heard someone calling "Doctor Du" in an urgent voice. She said hurriedly, "Jia Ni, I'm hanging up first..."
It hung up with a snap.
It must be an urgent matter. Zhou Jiani didn't care. Instead, she laughed after hanging up the phone. Aunt Du said she would come by herself and used the word "we". She also asked her to book a few rooms. I don't know if it was just something she said in a hurry.
I'm thinking of calling again in a couple of days.
The next day, she received a call from her mother: "Nini, we are going to Bin County in a couple of days. We will celebrate the New Year in Bin County this year. Can you find a place to stay? If not, we can stay in a guesthouse. By the way, Zeming's mother called and said she will come to celebrate the New Year. I said she wants to come to your place to celebrate the New Year, and she wants to come too. Let's have dinner at my house first, and then we will go to Bin County together..."
Zhou Jiani was extremely happy and said with a smile, "No wonder Aunt Du called me yesterday and asked me to book a few rooms. Before I could ask in detail, she had something else and hung up."
I quickly asked them about buying tickets and the approximate arrival time, and chatted for a while before hanging up.
Zhou Jiani had not expected her family to come over, so she did not buy much New Year's goods. Now she pretended to be busy. When she heard what kind of supplementary food was available today, she hurriedly lined up and then quietly added things to her room.
I called the village again and ordered a batch of vegetables, and asked a truck going the same way to deliver them.
For things that are difficult to buy openly, Zhou Jiani sends red envelopes to buy them from the group.
Sufficient quantities of ribs, pork, beef, mutton, eggs, herring, carp, flour, rice and millet were prepared in advance.
I found that I didn't have a kneading board and rolling pin at home, and I also needed a large clay basin for kneading dough. So I bought a set when I went to the market, and also added some chopsticks, bowls, and plates.
Zhou Jiani originally planned to go to the restaurant in advance to buy some raw dumplings and cook them to eat on the first day of the new year. That was more or less the idea, but since her parents were coming, homemade dumplings would definitely be more delicious.
While she was busy, she also felt Secretary Zhai's advice, and all of a sudden, familiar and unfamiliar neighbors became enthusiastic towards her.
The same goes for her colleagues. Whenever she is in the office, there are always people coming to visit her, both familiar and unfamiliar people, who come to ask her about the recruitment in a roundabout way.
People from the Youth League Office also came to look for us, hoping that we would give priority to the educated youth who returned to the city...
The specific recruitment situation has not been officially announced yet, so Zhou Jiani certainly won't reveal anything in advance. She only said, "The county magistrate has been busy in meetings recently, and there hasn't been a formal discussion yet. The specific situation is unclear."
Simply asking for information was not a big deal. Gradually, people started sending her things, but Zhou Jiani didn't dare to accept them and pushed them all back.
He also called Qian Hai over to give him some instructions. Qian Hai said, "Several people came to me, but I was always helping to monitor the materials at the construction site and wasn't at the office much, so I don't know anything."
Zhou Jiani nodded, knowing that he knew what he was doing, and let him get busy.
When she was riding her bike to the dormitory area that day, someone greeted her on the road: "Team Leader Zhou, are you off work?"
Seeing that she was a stranger, Zhou Jiani only responded with a polite smile: "Yeah, I'm off work."
She didn't intend to stop, but the female comrade followed her for two steps and said, "Team Leader Zhou, I'm from the dormitory building. I went to buy meat today and just happened to grab two pieces. I know you're busy and can't usually take care of these little things, so I brought you a piece. You can take it back and cook some food..."
As he said this, he was about to hang it on her handlebars.
Zhou Jiani was so panicked that she quickly got out of the car and tried to stop him: "No, no, no, if you want to eat, I'll go and queue up to buy it myself..."
"Team Leader Zhou, please don't be polite to me." Zhou Jiani was a little overwhelmed by her sister-in-law's enthusiasm. She smiled, but her tone was firm: "Sister-in-law, I'm not being polite to you, I really can't accept it. Please don't let me make a mistake."
The other party withdrew his hand in dismay, seemingly unconcerned: "What's wrong with a piece of meat? Team Leader Zhou, you're being too serious."
"If I were to take it, that would be serious." Zhou Jiani stopped the car and said with an apologetic smile, "Sister-in-law, don't blame me for being blunt. A lot of people have been looking for me lately, and I know why they're looking for me. It must be about recruiting workers."
"The recruitment plan hasn't been finalized yet. Once it's finalized, it will be made public. Since my sister-in-law lives in the dormitory, she must have family members at the company who will be the first to know the news. If anyone in your family meets the requirements, please sign up. If they don't meet the requirements, I can't help you."
"I can only provide this much information. I'm sorry for the rest."
Zhou Jiani smiled, got back on her bike and left.
Zheng Guiyun returned home dejected. Her younger sister hurried over to greet her: "Sister, what's wrong?"
"He's not easy to talk to." Zheng Guiyun said, "He's doing his job impartially. He won't accept anything. He just said, 'Wait for the announcement and go sign up yourself.'"
"By then, there will surely be a sea of applicants. What if I don't get selected?" Zheng Guilian said anxiously, "Sister, ask my brother-in-law to help ask around."
"Your brother-in-law is such a conservative guy, he scolds me whenever I mention him..."
She had suggested earlier that her husband go ahead and make a word of advice to reserve a spot for them, so that her younger sister could start working directly. However, the man at home was a stubborn person and would not agree no matter what she said.
There were many similar incidents, and there were also people coming to her dormitory at seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Zhou Jiani simply stayed at the construction site during the day and stayed in the guesthouse at night.
Zhou Jiani was happy to stay in the guesthouse. She could afford it and was willing to pay for it. The guesthouse was warm and convenient for taking a shower. She didn't have to go home to light the stove and boil water every day. She didn't have to queue up to go to the toilet in the morning, and she didn't have to worry about being woken up by early-rising neighbors.
If she wasn't afraid of the negative impact, she would have paid for it for the whole year.
This is a ready-made opportunity, don't waste it.
But she couldn't show too much happiness. When she was at the construction site, she would complain to Li Jingdang a little, saying how annoyed she was, how she couldn't go back even though she had a free dormitory, and had to hide in the guesthouse, in order to prevent someone from bringing this up in the future and to help her refute and clarify the matter.
She stayed there for several days straight, which alarmed County Magistrate Wang. One day, after a meeting at work, County Magistrate Wang called her over and asked, "I heard you're staying at the guesthouse?"
Zhou Jiani immediately put on a bitter face and said helplessly, "Because of the recruitment, people block me on the way back to the dormitory every day, or knock on my window at night. I'm afraid that if I continue living in the dormitory, I will offend all the family members of the company."
County Magistrate Wang understood Zhou Jiani's difficulties. Some people also came to him, earnestly hoping to have their children who had been in the countryside for several years return. He also understood those people's difficulties, but if he agreed to one and not the other, the other would make trouble. If he agreed to everything and gave everything to the families of cadres, what would happen?
The children of cadres are children, but the children of ordinary people are not children?
These people in the unit are unreasonable. Why do they want to make things difficult for a little girl? They have prevented her from returning to her dormitory and forced her to stay in a guesthouse at her own expense.
He said, "Just move back. I'll report to the secretary later and call a meeting. I'll have everyone manage their families. Everything will wait until the next year for the job announcement."
outrageous!
Zhou Jiani said disappointedly: "Thank you, County Magistrate!"
As soon as the meeting started, she felt much more at ease and moved back from the guesthouse reluctantly. She happened to meet Mrs. Dai walking out with two large handbags.
Zhou Jiani: "Ready to go back home?"
Some people in the unit whose homes are far away and who do not hold important positions have already asked for leave; those who have families like Sister Dai have also returned to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year.
"Yes, I'm going back for the New Year and will be back after the New Year." Sister Dai waited for Zhou Jiani to approach before she chuckled softly, "Now that the company's meeting is going on, it's quiet here today."
During the days when Zhou Jiani was away, people from the tube-shaped building came over every day to peek in, and the old ladies from there gathered in the open space here, sitting there sewing shoe soles, mending socks, and knitting sweaters.
I don’t usually see so many people coming here, but they all showed up in the past two days.
As a result, Zhou Jiani did not return for several days and was warned at a meeting at her workplace.
Her mother-in-law found out late and was thinking about getting close to Zhou Jiani. However, before she could do anything, Zhou Jiani didn't come back for several days.
"Auntie Song went back first?"
Sister Dai smiled and said, "I took the two children back yesterday. I'm taking the last bus back today. I'd like to wish you a happy new year in advance. We'll see each other after the new year."
Zhou Jiani also laughed and said, "I'd like to wish you a happy new year first. See you after the new year. Have a safe journey."
After watching Sister Dai leave, Zhou Jiani opened the door and entered the house.
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