Chapter 42
Qiu Zeming was not aware that Zhou Jiani was thinking about the college entrance examination that would be resumed in two years. He thought that Comrade Zhou was only looking for books and materials related to agriculture, so he began to search in a targeted manner.
As they flipped through the books and stacked them to the side, Zhou Jiani paused and turned her head to pick up the books that Qiu Zeming had pushed to the side. "Little picture books!"
Qiu Zeming said, "A comic strip of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!"
Zhou Jiani picked it up, stretched out her arms, and patted it a few times before flipping through it. Aside from some graffiti on the inside pages, the content remained unaffected. She looked over to the area where Qiu Zeming was in charge and asked, "How many of these little picture books are left?"
She lowered her voice and said, "Actually, it would be nice to have a complete set. I can take it back and show it to the children in the village."
In his previous life, Qiu Zeming was a private teacher. If he continues on the same trajectory in this life, he should become a glorious teacher in the new year. By then, he can throw out a set of comic books and instantly become a hero in the eyes of children. The little kids will definitely be obedient.
Qiu Zeming had no idea what Comrade Xiao Zhou was planning for him. He glanced at the pile of books in front of him and said, "It's hard to get a complete set. I'm lucky to be able to get half a set together."
He tilted his head and asked, "Do you want it?"
"Yes! Not just that set... What's that book without a cover at your feet?" Zhou Jiani leaned over to take a look at the contents. Recognizing it as the novel 'Lin Hai Xue Yuan,' she said excitedly, "I want that too. Books at the recycling station are cheap, so a little dirt and tearing doesn't matter. I'll have a lot of free time soon, so I'll slowly clean and repair it and bring it back to the team."
He added, "You also need junior high and high school textbooks and notebooks that are worth studying."
Qiu Zeming began to sort through the books again. He picked up a tattered notebook, opened it and took a look. It was a junior high school math notebook. The content was not bad. It was the notebook of an excellent student. He put it on the pile of books at his feet that he was about to take away.
Zhou Jiani herself also gained something, finding a first edition mathematics book from a few years ago: Chonghui Provincial Middle School Trial Textbook, Mathematics, High School Volume 3.
She didn't look closely to see if the content was much different from her math textbook, so she put it away and read it slowly when she had time.
Besides books, there are notebooks.
I also found several magazines, including "Chemical Fertilizer Industry" and "Scientific Farming"; and the two volumes of the novel "Journey to the West", one of which was missing.
The comic books "Small Factory Walking on the Big Road" and "Huang Jiguang", the former is complete, but one of the latter has several pages torn off, so the content is not very complete.
Zhou Jiani becomes happier the more she shops.
After sorting through the pile in front of me, I saw a pile of bundles of books in front, including books, notebooks and newspapers. Judging from the marks left by the top book and the degree of wear on the rope, this pile of books has not been opened since it was brought into the purchasing station.
Sure enough, when she reached out to lift it, the rope broke and fell to the ground in the garbage pile at her feet.
Zhou Jiani carefully flipped through the books one by one, collecting the useful ones and putting the unused ones aside to make it easier for the purchasing station staff to sort them out.
As he was flipping through the books, his eyes suddenly paused, and he subconsciously glanced towards the simple offices to the east, then calmly took two of the books.
One book on plane geometry and one book on physics.
There was nothing surprising about these two books, but the small words above the titles made Zhou Jiani's heart skip a beat: Self-study of math, physics and chemistry from this book!
This set has a total of 17 volumes. It was destroyed for some reason. It was not until the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977 that this set of books was reprinted. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a treasure book for the college entrance examination.
At that time, there were long queues in front of bookstores all over the country. Books were not sold in sets. Each person could only buy one book and could not choose. They took whatever book was next in line.
If they were lucky, the educated youth in the entire brigade could put together one or two complete sets, and everyone would take turns learning from them; if they were unlucky, they could not put together a complete set, so they had to run to other brigades and beg them to let them copy them.
However, there might be some risks in presenting this set of books at the moment. Zhou Jiani couldn't tell whether she was excited or panicked, or both. Her face felt as hot as if it was on fire. With trembling hands, she put the two books in the pile of books she decided to take away. She also picked up a few pieces of newspaper, folded them slightly larger than the two books, and pressed them on top. She pulled a rope from the pile of rubbish next to her and tied the pile of books. When tying, she folded the newspapers down to perfectly cover the edges. She pretended to be calm and put them aside, waiting to be taken out for weighing.
The two of them rummaged through it for an hour or two and finally gathered four solid piles.
Comic books, magazines, novels, textbooks, notebooks, newspapers, etc.
Apart from this, no other treasures were found.
During the process, Zhou Jiani also had fantasies of getting rich, such as finding some antiques, calligraphy and paintings, but later she found that she was overthinking.
Not to mention that she didn't see any antiques, calligraphy or paintings at all when she took a quick glance. Even if there were, she didn't have the knowledge to see them, so she could only accept them blindly.
But this purchasing station didn't even give her the chance to buy blindly, and she only found four heavy stacks of books.
I showed it to the person in charge, but he didn't check it. He just glanced at it, symbolically charged them two cents, and let them take it away.
Zhou Jiani breathed a sigh of relief, but when she walked out of the purchasing station, she found that her feet were a little unsteady.
But after knowing that he had successfully made it, the excitement in his heart surged up again, and he couldn't suppress it. The light in his eyes was so bright that Comrade Xiao Qiu was surprised for a moment. He said with a smile: "Are you so happy to find books? Why don't you go to the bookstore?"
Zhou Jiani's heart skipped a beat, and she whirled around, "I know two scrap recycling stations!" Then she remembered her duty as a host, and she hadn't finished showing Xiao Qiu the places she'd agreed to visit. She smiled sheepishly, "Forget it, let's go back and wash our hands. Let's go to the department store first."
After Comrade Xiao Qiu left, she went shopping slowly by herself.
If she is lucky enough and can collect a complete set of self-study books on mathematics, physics and chemistry before the college entrance examination, she will make a fortune.
Qiu Zeming looked at the uncontrollable light in Comrade Xiao Zhou's eyes, raised his chin, and said stubbornly: "No, I just want to go to the scrap collection station!"
Zhou Jiani was stunned for two seconds. She didn't expect to see Qiu Zeming like this, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Ah, her partner actually has such a cute side?
"Let's go and take down those two scrap recycling stations today."
Qiu Zeming casually lifted up the bicycle, turned it around, and pushed it onto the road. He gripped the handlebars with his pitch-black hands, as if he was holding the light in Comrade Xiao Zhou's eyes.
Two days later, Zhou Jiani was in the provincial capital transport team sending Qiu Zeming and the plastic sheet back to the village. She looked at Comrade Qiu's constantly waving hands. Those hands were clean and slender with distinct joints. In later words, they were the hands of a piano player.
She suddenly realized that she seemed to have some serious illness. She took Qiu Zeming to all the scrap collection stations in Qiyang and rummaged through the garbage for two days.
If one day this good partner no longer works with her, it will be because she pushed him away based on her own strength.
Watching the delivery truck go away, Zhou Jiani rode her bicycle away, feeling dazed and like something was missing.
However, this little disappointment was gone after I grabbed two red envelopes in a row, each worth more than one cent.
Zhou Jiani stopped the car on the side of the road and stared at the goods that were about to be loaded into the group.
The first group to open in the group was for frozen chicken wings. Zhou Jiani thought about it and didn’t take a picture.
The food at home has been good these past two days, with meat dishes being served every other day, including meatballs and braised pork. Last night, she fulfilled her promise and gave Comrade Xiao Qiu some stewed pork ribs with dried cowpeas.
The chicken is still hanging in the window to dry and has not been stewed yet.
I won’t buy chicken wings.
The second group-purchased item was the Northeast Facelift, passed!
Then she saw the crayfish, which had the highest reunion rate.
Zhou Jiani swallowed her saliva and finally waited for the group she thought was pretty good, Mangosteen.
I was destined not to bring mangosteen home, I just bought one to satisfy my craving.
In fact, apples are the best. They can be preserved for a long time and can be used at critical moments.
But Apple has never been re-stocked, but Lychee did start a group re-stocking, and Zhou Jiani hesitated for a moment before it was sold out.
I found a corner to park the car, and while keeping an eye on the movements outside, I took out two mangosteens and peeled them to eat, while keeping an eye on the group from time to time.
I ate a few mangosteens, put the skin away and destroyed it, took out a piece of wet wipes from a pack of wipes from the shelf to clean my hands, and then scanned them into the warehouse for destruction.
Apart from the books, the biggest gain from rummaging through the garbage for the past two days was the wet wipes and mineral water I snatched from the group.
Oh, and a few pounds of mangoes.
Mangoes are like mangosteens, which are only kept for yourself to satisfy your cravings.
After packing up, I rode my bike back home to repair the "treasures" I had found in the past two days.
It was a pity that they didn't find the textbooks for self-study of math, physics and chemistry, but they still gained a lot. The set of picture books of Romance of the Three Kingdoms almost completed their study.
I also collected some other picture books, children's publications, novels, magazines, etc.
Comrade Yu Huifang was speechless, disgusted, and could no longer bear it and complained: "Nini, these are just junk that others have sold, right?"
Although my daughter had good grades when she was in school, she didn't like to study to this level.
You haven't been studying anymore, so why are you collecting these things?
It’s okay if you collect some clean ones, but it’s also okay if you collect some dirty and smelly ones and have fun tinkering with them.
Zhou Wanli also said, "Daughter, how about you make a list and let Daddy go to the bookstore to buy you a new set? We can afford it."
Zhou Jiani shook her head: "You don't understand."
I don’t know how to dig through garbage…the fun of Taobao.
At this moment, Jiang Xinfeng was chatting with the old ladies downstairs. Zhou Jiani came in on a bike. The eyes of the grandmothers and aunts surrounding her grandmother suddenly lit up and they greeted her enthusiastically.
"Nini is back?"
"Jia Ni, when will the basket you ordered from First Department Store arrive?"
"Jiani, I've seen a lot of potential since she was little."
"Yes, he looks smart."
"That's true. She's also good at studying. I remember she ranked first in her exams every year when she was in elementary school, right, sister-in-law?"
The old sister-in-law Jiang Xinfeng twitched her lips and said, "Sometimes first, sometimes second." Sometimes third, it's not stable.
"Hey, even if Nini ranked second, she's still smarter than the one who ranked first."
Jiang Xinfeng: ...
Zhou Jiani: There’s no need to force praise.
After calling everyone around, he fled upstairs with a blushing face amidst the praise, and went straight into the house to repair the books.
After Zhou Jiani successfully reached a cooperation with the department store and was promoted by Yu Huifang, she became the most popular person in the dormitory area and is now praised by everyone.
It was also the first time she knew that these lovely neighbors had such rich vocabulary and such good memory that they could start praising their children from the age of one or two.
Of course, Yu Huifang hadn't expected her daughter to be so capable, having such a deal done so quickly. She didn't advertise it, but when someone asked her for the basket again, she loudly refused, saying, "They're not allowed to sell it now. My Nini said they've signed an agreement with the First Department Store, and they don't allow private transactions. If you want to buy it, wait until the First Department Store is open, and then go there."
Colleagues within a radius of ten meters gathered around and asked all kinds of surprised questions. After learning that Zhou Jiani had really brought the woven baskets from the countryside into the department store, they couldn't stop praising her.
People are like this sometimes. They don't think things they can buy at any time are that rare, but when they suddenly can't buy them, they feel like they owe it to someone else. Especially when their neighbors have it and they don't, they feel like there's nothing prettier than that basket.
The more regretful I felt, the more I wanted to talk to someone about it. As a result, the news spread quickly, and more and more people went to find Yu Huifang. Even if they didn't buy a basket, they would ask about her daughter's cooperation with the First Department Store.
Yu Huifang put on airs for a whole day, and the next day she quietly released a dozen orders and refused to respond.
But this did not prevent Yu Huifang from becoming a big celebrity in the factory, nor did it prevent Jiang Xinfeng from becoming the center of attention among the neighbors.
Of course, there were also those who were jealous and grumbled behind the scenes, saying that the Zhou family was just trying to keep up appearances.
Zhou Jiani's food supply is no longer in the city. She has to eat and live at home with her head on her shoulders. How much food stock can she have at home to sustain her?
Those educated youth who had gone to the countryside a long time ago would come back to visit their families with only their own food rations. Even though the girl from the Zhou family had many good qualities, she was not good at dealing with human relationships.
The Zhou family is the same. They don't know how to teach the child more while she is at home, and just force her to eat. Once Zhou Jiani returns to the countryside, the family will have to tighten their belts and live a frugal life.
Everyone talked about it, but no one mentioned anything about their family.
Of course, they didn't see Zhou Jiani find an opportunity to secretly take home rice, eggs, white sugar and rock sugar.
I also didn't see her secretly bringing home any white flour.
Yu Huifang was a little frightened by her daughter's lavish spending, and kept reminding her not to go to the black market all the time. It was okay to go there once or twice, but if she went there too often, things would inevitably go wrong.
Especially my daughter has a bright future now.
Yes, Yu Huifang now inexplicably feels that her daughter, who went to the countryside to support rural construction, has a bright future.
If any accident happens due to stuttering, not only will the family be heartbroken, but all the honors I have worked so hard to earn these days will be in vain.
Yu Huifang also said: "Why can't we take care of your meals? Don't just go back and look for things."
Zhou Jiani settled down and spent the Mid-Autumn Festival with her family.
She called the commune again the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Zhang Baosheng told her that the first batch of goods would be shipped out in five days at the latest. At the same time, she could also talk to the Second Department Store.
I was very happy and was helping my mother prepare dinner at home when the leaders from the street office and the factory came to visit.
It was said that someone reported Zhou Jiani, saying that as an educated youth, she stayed in the city for a long time and did not go back.
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