Chapter 38 (Catching Bugs)
After Yu Huifang finished speaking, she saw the ribs and chicken in the basin and asked in surprise, "Nini, where did you buy them?"
She bought a pound and a half of meat today to make braised pork. She ran four miles to buy it. She wanted to ask for more but couldn't get any. Unexpectedly, her daughter brought back such a big piece of ribs and a chicken.
Jiang Xinfeng was rubbing salt on the spareribs when she lowered her voice and said, "I also bought some white soup meatballs. Nini said to cook them again until they're thoroughly cooked."
Glancing at the meatballs in the lunch box, Yu Huifang said in surprise, "So many! We'll have meatballs tonight and braised pork tomorrow."
Stew the ribs and chicken after two days.
Zhou Jiani, still copying the list, nodded and said, "Mom, you can make the arrangements."
Three pounds of pork meatballs is indeed a lot, so you don’t necessarily have to have a meat dish.
"I'm going to stir-fry some vegetables..." Yu Huifang muttered to her daughter, "The factory has distributed mooncake tickets. I'm going to buy some mooncakes tomorrow and give two to Comrade Xiao Qiu."
I didn’t know if my daughter could stay until Mid-Autumn Festival, so I decided to celebrate it early.
Just thinking about it makes her feel satisfied. Her daughter has only been in the countryside for a short time, and now she can come back home and stay for a few days. She would wake up smiling in her dreams.
Zhou Wanli came in carrying two "mud monkeys" in each hand. Yu Huifang took a glance at them and was immediately furious. She rolled up her sleeves and went forward to start working. After a while of beating her son and cooking, she finished the two important tasks in half an hour.
Jiang Xinfeng also processed the meat and chicken and hung them in a ventilated place next to the window to dry.
During dinner, Zhou Jiani mentioned Liu Jiefang's self-criticism. Yu Huifang sneered, "I took a look before leaving get off work, and it wasn't posted."
Before he could say anything else, Zhou Wanli replied, "He put it on when most people had left."
As if this doesn't make it so sensational.
Yu Huifang said angrily, "He was cunning even when writing his self-criticism. If he had used his cunning in the right place, he would have been promoted long ago."
In the evening, seven or eight people came to look at the samples.
Everyone took the basket and rubbed it over and over again, their eyes full of admiration. If Zhou Jiani hadn't repeatedly emphasized that these were samples to be sent to the department store, they would probably have divided them up on the spot.
Zhou Jiani recorded their information.
Some wanted one, some wanted two, some wanted three, and in the end there were forty-seven pieces of knitted fabrics. Even if the department store couldn't make the deal, these alone would be a considerable order.
It was cold at night, so the meat was fine to keep overnight. However, Yu Huifang was worried that it would not be fresh if left for another day, so she braised it in the morning, put some in an aluminum lunch box and put it in her bag, asking her daughter to take it with her when she went out. She only needed to buy a steamed bun for lunch.
Zhou Jiani slept until after eight o'clock, got up to eat something, put on a small backpack with a military water bottle hanging on it, took one of each sample, and went out.
When he opened the door, he ran into Lu Cuilan who was walking out. He glared at her and snorted coldly.
He thought to himself that he had really misjudged that silly girl of his. The girl from the Zhou family was not stupid at all. She was more cunning than a monkey and had a bad heart. She made a big deal out of such a small matter and even asked her husband, Old Liu, to write a self-criticism.
Zhou Jiani raised an eyebrow, thinking that it would be fine if they kept their distance. She didn't insist on doing this, so she raised her voice and said, "Auntie, are you going to the factory to read the self-criticism posted by Uncle Liu? I'll go take a look when I have time."
Lu Cuilan was so angry that she almost sprained her ankle.
Liu Aifang's faint voice came from behind Zhou Jiani: "Sister Jiani, why are you doing this?"
Her family suffered such a huge loss that her father was too embarrassed to face his superiors, and now he was rubbing salt into their wounds.
Zhou Jiani turned around and said, "Aifang, you shouldn't ask me this. Wait until your sister comes back and ask her exactly the same question."
After saying that, he paused, reached out his hand, and before Liu Aifang could scream, he took off the hairpin on her head and threw it into the honeycomb coal stove next to him.
"What are you doing?" Liu Aifang covered her head.
Lü Cuilan, who was standing in front, turned around, confused. She thought Zhou Jiani was bullying her little girl, so she quickly put on a relentless attitude and shouted, "Zhou Jiani, you're not done yet, are you? Even Old Liu writing you a self-criticism doesn't make you feel better, right? Come on, come on, why don't you beat me to death? What's the point of bullying a child?"
Another row of neighbors stood in the corridor. Zhou Jiani said speechlessly, "Did you see clearly and then accuse me of bullying the child? Shouldn't I take back my things?"
Liu Aifang looked at the hairpin that had been burned to ashes in the coal stove, tears welling up in her eyes. Perhaps she was so angry that she said something stupid: "You gave it to my sister. It's my sister's thing. Why did you burn it?"
"Because I bought it with my own money!"
The neighbor in the corridor curled his lips and shook his head. He had never heard that something given away could not be taken back.
He was too lazy to even offer help.
Even though Lv Cuilan loved to take advantage, she felt ashamed. She came over and twisted Liu Aifang's ear and pulled it out: "You silly girl, you've never worn a hair flower before."
Jiang Xinfeng didn't even have time to fight before the battle was over. She told her granddaughter to be careful on the road and said, "We'll make some eggplant boxes tonight."
"Okay grandma, I'm leaving."
Go downstairs and ride your bike straight to the First Department Store.
The provincial capital's department store wasn't like the supply and marketing cooperatives where you could see the entire wall as soon as you walked in. It was four stories tall and expansive, filled with glass counters. The ceiling was decorated with light tubes arranged in the shape of five-pointed stars, with a new set of five-pointed star-shaped tubes every few steps, illuminating the entire hall. It was somewhat like the prototype of a later shopping mall.
When Zhou Jiani arrived, the store was already crowded with customers. After entering, she didn't stare at anyone to ask questions. Instead, she strolled around like she was shopping normally. When she saw the area selling woven products, she walked over with her net bag and stood there to take a look. There were quite a few goods, including ordinary large wicker baskets, medium and small rattan baskets, various sizes of sieves, large and small combs, rattan sieves, plastic woven items, etc.
The styles are very simple and practical, but the ones she has are not only practical but also beautiful.
So when she stood there, the salesperson couldn't help but come over and say to her, "Hey, where did you buy this basket?"
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Hello, comrade. This is from the weaving workshop of our Qianjin Brigade."
Since they had struck up a conversation, and the other party seemed somewhat interested, Zhou Jiani smiled and asked, "Comrade, does your unit have any support missions? Are the knitted items sold here purchased directly from fellow villagers?"
Curious about the woven basket in Zhou Jiani's hands, the waiter responded, "That's a matter for the supply and marketing cooperative and the buyers down there. What? You want your products to be sold in the department store? That's not easy. Our inspection and acceptance here is much stricter than at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"I understand. It's such a large organization, after all." Zhou Jiani smiled. "But the craftsmen in our team are truly excellent, and their weaving is exquisite. Comrade, could I ask you one more question? Who would be the best person to contact for this business?"
The waiter didn't say anything, maybe because he didn't want to get involved in this nosy business or what, and said, "Let the responsible people in your commune contact the higher-level units layer by layer. There are procedures. If everyone is like you and can bring anything to ask, we will be in chaos!"
Zhou Jiani understood and didn't waste time here. She thanked him and strolled somewhere else to think of a solution.
During this time, many customers turned around and stared at the basket in her hand. Many people mistakenly thought that Zhou Jiani bought it from here, so they didn't ask her and went straight to the place where woven baskets were sold.
When they got there, they specifically asked for a gold ingot basket, and some even gestured for lace.
The teller said impatiently: "No, these are all we have."
The customer refused to give up: "Hey, are they sold out? When will they be back in stock?"
The cashier emphasized: "It's not sold out, it's not available. That's not our stock!"
The customer still refused to give up: "But I saw people carrying it around here..."
The teller gradually became irritable: "Even if she's running around here, it's not our goods. If she says it's not ours, then it's not ours!"
The customer gradually lowered his voice: "That basket is very beautiful. Let your leader buy some too."
The teller explained it over and over again, and was almost annoyed to death.
Zhou Jiani walked up and down the stairs but couldn't find the office door. She began to stare at the counters with few customers and thought about it. Seeing that there were not many people selling thermoses, she walked over there slowly.
"Comrade, please give me a few thermos bottles so I can choose." Zhou Jiani pretended to put the net bag on their counter.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't put things on the counter. If you break it, you can't pay for it." The cashier expressionlessly handed her a three-pack of thermos flasks and stopped her coldly. He stared at the basket in the net bag for a few seconds and asked in a blunt tone, "Did you buy this basket from here?"
Do they have new stock here?
Zhou Jiani had no intention of putting it on the counter at all. When the other party reminded her, she just put the net bag on the ground, which instead caused the teller to lean over and take another look.
"No!" Zhou Jiani kept it a secret this time and didn't say where she bought it. She concentrated on picking out the goods and put the mouth of the thermos to her ear to listen to the buzzing sound inside. It is said that the louder the sound, the better the insulation effect.
After listening to it several times, Zhou Jiani pointed to the one in the middle and said, "Comrade, I want this one. Please also get me a bamboo thermos cover." She started to take out money and tickets.
The teller turned around, took a thermos wrapper, and helped her assemble it. He leaned over to take a look, then bent down to write her a bill. He asked again, but his tone was much gentler than before: "Little comrade, where did you buy this basket? It's very beautiful."
Zhou Jiani's expression was also cold and indifferent, and she looked distressed. She sighed before she spoke, "I was working in the countryside in Bin County. When I came back to visit my family, our team leader insisted that I bring the baskets we made, asking if we could move the goods into our department store. Oh, it worried me to death. I'm not good at speaking, and I get scared when I see the leaders. I spent two days at home mustering up the courage to come here, and now I'm scared. To be honest, my legs are shaking just standing here."
The teller clipped the receipt and bills onto the clip above her head and swung it vigorously. The clip slid along the wire toward the cash register. She said with a smile, "What are you afraid of? The boss doesn't eat people." Then she said, "Bring the basket over here so I can see it."
Zhou Jiani handed the net bag to her. She seemed really distressed and couldn't help sighing. She looked like she was under a lot of pressure.
The clerk selling light bulbs next door had just finished giving a customer a receipt and tossed the bill to the cashier. When he turned around and saw it, he asked, "Hongmei, are you buying a woven basket? This style is rare." He left the customer and walked over to take a look.
The teller pointed at Zhou Jiani and said, "This is from a female comrade."
Seeing Zhou Jiani's sad face, the light bulb teller didn't hear what she said before, and said jokingly: "You little comrade, I just want to take a look, I don't want it!"
The thermos counter clerk said: "No, she is..." As he spoke, he took the basket out of the net bag and looked at it. When he turned it over, he found the words "Qianjin Brigade Weaving Workshop" written on the bottom, and he agreed with Zhou Jiani's statement even more.
After a brief explanation, the light bulb teller also smiled, raised his finger and pointed, saying, "What's there to be afraid of? Go to the North Building... We're in the South Building. From there, you'll find the North Building compound. Go to the Purchasing Office on the second floor and find Director Zhao. If Director Zhao isn't here, find Section Chief Wang."
Zhou Jiani was surprised and speechless. As a native of Qiyang, she didn't even know that the First Department Store was divided into the South Building and the North Building.
Then she would never be able to find it even if she turned around in here.
Even though he was cheering in his heart, he had to put on a full show, looking like Alexander, and asked tremblingly, "Really, really? Is your leader a fierce person?"
One said, "What's the big deal about being fierce? He doesn't eat people. You can't be so timid when trying to sell something, little girl."
Another said: "Don't be afraid, these two leaders are easy to talk to."
As they were lecturing Zhou Jiani, they looked at the baskets and muttered, "This one looks like a big ingot, it's beautiful."
"This basket looks like a flower."
"Oh, these two baskets are slanted to begin with. I thought I was seeing things, haha. How did they become slanted? But they don't look ugly."
The cashier was very busy and I didn't know how long I would have to wait.
Zhou Jiani looked encouraged and hesitated, "Well, how about I go and ask?"
"Go ask. Isn't waiting here the same as waiting? You don't know when it will be your turn at the cashier." He added, "Don't worry, I'll remember you. I'll come back with the thermos when I'm done. I won't lose you."
The two men packed their things back and encouraged her with a look of disappointment on their faces. They watched Zhou Jiani turn into the aisle towards the north gate, then withdrew their gazes with a great sense of accomplishment.
A moment later, Zhou Jiani stood at the door of the purchasing office on the second floor of the north building. The door was open. She raised her hand and knocked on the door frame, then walked in with a net bag in hand and a polite smile on her face.
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