Chapter 78
On the farm, Zhao Weiguo put down the dung bucket, sat down at the edge of the field, rubbed his sore shoulders, and thought about what Ailing said when she came to see him two days ago.
"You were just confused for a moment and didn't commit any serious crime. Are you really willing to spend a year here as punishment?"
Zhao Weiguo was deeply moved when he saw Liu Ailing come to see him. He muttered, "What can I do? If there's a better place to go, who wants to come here and be looked down upon?"
Although he didn't suffer much because he was looked after by his fellow villagers, it was still different.
Moreover, he would be assigned to another brigade in the future. Needless to say, it would definitely be the most remote and poorest place in the entire commune. Just thinking about it made him feel heavy-hearted.
Do I regret it? Of course I do. I regret being too impulsive and not choosing the right time, which led to this situation.
Comrade Liu Ailing genuinely cared about him and offered him advice, saying, "Don't you know that the Qianjin Brigade is planning to build a plastic greenhouse? You could also bring this up with the leaders here. If you can help them succeed, you'll have made a contribution and could try to stay on the farm after your punishment. But by then, you won't be in the same position you have now. Like the other educated youth, you might even be able to run for a junior cadre position. Even if you don't want to stay on the farm, your contributions will earn you a spot on a better brigade."
Zhao Weiguo felt a surge of heat in his heart, then scratched his head again: "But I don't know anything about that stuff."
He had been in the Qianjin Brigade for a short time and had not even learned how to farm. He could only break corn and harvest corn stalks, let alone grow crops in a plastic greenhouse.
Liu Ailing encouraged him firmly, saying, "If you are willing to strive for progress, I will help you."
"Should you continue doing the dirtiest and most tiring work and be assigned to the brigade with the worst conditions when your contract expires? Or should you try your best and stay on the farm under the guise of supporting rural construction, gaining more freedom and benefits for yourself? Think about it carefully. I'll come back to you in a few days."
"If you can't even achieve this, you're only fit to stay here and pick up manure. I won't try to persuade you again!"
Thinking about what Liu Ailing said before she left, Zhao Weiguo felt a little annoyed.
After coming here, except for a few fellow villagers who protected him, no one treated him as a human being. They all ordered him around, and even a gatekeeper dared to shout at him.
During their breaks, other educated youth could get a letter of introduction to go out and travel, but when he wanted to ask for leave, no one even approved it.
Zhao Weiguo suddenly jumped up from the ground, clenched his fists tightly, his eyes gradually became firm, and went to find his best fellow villager.
In the Qianjin Brigade, Yu Wanxia and her team ran home as soon as they finished work and asked Zhao Mei, "Sister-in-law, is everything okay?"
Seeing the two people's panicked faces, Zhao Mei asked in surprise: "No...nothing, what's wrong?"
Sun Ping asked nervously, "Why are people in the village saying that Jiani's deal with the First Department Store has fallen through?"
Zhao Mei is currently working as a quality inspector in the processing workshop. If there really is a problem, she will definitely be the first to know. She was stunned and said, "Where did this rumor come from? The processing workshop is almost busy. The fourth uncle and his family didn't go home for lunch today. They asked their apprentice to go back and bring them some food after lunch. How could it be a failure?"
Yu Wanxia breathed a sigh of relief: "You scared me." Then she said angrily, "Who is spreading such gossip?"
By the time lunch was over, Zhang Baosheng had heard about the village gossip. He was so angry he shouted over the loudspeaker, "Who's been gossiping like this? Don't you want the best for our Qianjin Brigade? Who is it? If you have the guts, step forward! Don't take this money when the village distributes it later!"
Yu Wanxia and Sun Ping, who had not yet left the house, felt a knot in their stomachs.
However, Liu Ailing felt upset when she heard this. The gloating ended in less than two hours, and Zhou Jiani's honor remained.
The samples of the storage stools were loaded onto the truck the next evening, along with four hollow lace baskets and four octagonal hats, two blue and two army green.
Zhang Baosheng also took the brigade's official seal and the commune's letter of introduction, and took a car to the provincial capital to sign the contract. He did not follow the truck. Comrade Xiao Qiu suggested that in the future, people should try not to follow the goods unless there are special circumstances.
He left by train.
However, this time the train ticket was only available until 10 o'clock in the evening, so Zhou Jiani, who was far away in the provincial capital, first went to the transport team to pick up the goods, and then went to the train station to pick up the team leader.
As soon as he saw Zhou Jiani, Zhang Baosheng smiled lovingly and said, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you've worked hard."
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "Director Zhang must have been exhausted from the journey." She said, "I'll take you to dinner first, and then we'll find a guesthouse to stay in. You can get some sleep first, and then we'll go sign the contract this afternoon."
She knew Zhang Baosheng was eager to finalize the contract immediately. Just as she was about to say he didn't need to rest, Zhou Jiani continued, "I've contacted the photographer at the photo studio, and he'll film our signing process. So, you must get some rest and try to look your best on the glorious wall of our Qianjin Knitting Factory's history."
Zhang Baosheng was somewhat surprised and asked repeatedly, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, Section Chief Wang won't have any objections, right?"
"I don't mind. This is what Section Chief Wang agreed to. Don't worry." Zhou Jiani said with a smile, "The photo studio's master has also made an appointment this afternoon. Just stay here and you'll be fine."
The old craftsman was the same one who took the photos for them at the Friendship Store that day. She paid for expedited delivery of the photos and was told that he would bring them to her in the afternoon.
They went to a nearby state-owned restaurant for dinner, and found a guesthouse to book a room for Zhang Baosheng to rest. Zhou Jiani came out and found a place to park her bicycle nearby, and stood there fiddling with her cell phone.
It took a lot of effort to carry those things away in the morning. I brought several ropes from home, strung them together and tied them to the bicycle frame, the back seat, and the handlebars. I politely declined the help offered by the transport team members, and pushed the bicycle a long way with difficulty before I found a chance to scan them one by one, put them into the warehouse, and put them on the shelves.
Eight large ones, eight small ones, four hollow baskets, and hats.
I asked my grandmother to deliver one of the hollow baskets to Accountant Zheng's home; one to Section Chief Wang in the afternoon; and the other two to Aunt Qian, whom I met in the dormitory area last time.
When the hat was brought back, the twins had already gone to school. They must have been very happy when they got home at noon.
The hats are well made. When we return to the Qianjin Brigade, I will ask Zhao Mei to help make a few more and sell them in the group.
She brought back two storage stools, one large and one small, to give to her family, and she is waiting to buy the rest in bulk.
Seeing that there was no one around, Zhou Jiani took out her thermos and slurped down some water. There were soaked dates in it. She had found a chance to soak it in the morning, and now she could only slurp it down. The heat preservation effect was really strong.
She put away the thermos and looked around again, then took out a bag of spicy dried tofu that she had packed two days ago. The individually packaged snacks really satisfied her craving.
He ate five or six pieces in one breath, inhaling heavily as he ate. He took out a wet wipe to wipe his hands and wiped the sweat from the tip of his nose due to the spicy taste. This time he didn't use the thermos to drink water. Instead, he took out a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed it, drank a few sips, screwed on the lid and put it in the warehouse.
At this time, someone started a new group in the group. Zhou Jiani waited breathlessly to see the new products, and then a string of pictures of corn silk tea flashed through the group.
Zhou Jiani was silent for a while, then looked up at the sky. "Next year, I'll pull out the corn silk from those acres of land."
Next came children's slippers, Crocs, frozen durian, and then Futuan wet wipes.
Zhou Jiani quickly stocked up on two large boxes of wet wipes.
With her cell phone to pass the time, she wasn't bored waiting. Whenever someone passed by, she would grab the pen and notebook in her bag and pretend to write and draw seriously.
When the time was almost up, I rode my bike to the guesthouse.
Zhang Baosheng took a short break and washed his face. He looked much more energetic than when he just got off the train.
The two went to a nearby restaurant to eat something and then went to the First Department Store together.
The photographer they had hired was already waiting for them at the door. When he saw Zhou Jiani, he handed her a paper bag and said, "The photos and negatives are all in here."
"Thank you, Master Huo."
“It’s my duty!”
Zhou Jiani took out the photo. Zhang Baosheng beside her was so wide-eyed that he said excitedly, "Xiao Zhou, let me see."
There was also Chief Wang's portion. When Zhou Jiani washed it quickly, she added Chief Wang's portion.
Zhang Baosheng's hands trembled slightly as he held the photo, and he kept saying, "Good, really good, this is a really good photo."
In the photo, Zhou Jiani was chatting and laughing with the leaders of the Friendship Store, and her expression was very natural.
The other photo was taken of Zhou Jiani standing in front of the counter.
Zhou Jiani pointed at this picture and introduced it to him: "Captain, look, this is a woven handicraft. I heard from Director Zou that it sells very well and many foreigners like it. Take this photo back and show it to Uncle Si and the others to inspire them. Once our system is improved, we will establish an innovation award. If a product is selected, we can reward it with an extra bonus or even work points..."
Zhang Baosheng nodded and treasured the photo in his hand very much. It was not just a photo, but also precious information.
That day, Zhang Laosi went home and said that his trip to the provincial capital had broadened his horizons. He also praised the provincial capital business trip as a particularly good reward and asked Xiao Zhou to bring a full bowl of grain next time. In short, the craftsmen in the processing workshop all came to visit, and as Xiao Zhou had just said, they were inspired.
Zhang Baosheng continued to look at the photos. It was a photo of Zhou Jiani walking in the aisle, looking sideways at the counter next to her, with the leaders of the Friendship Store and Section Chief Wang following beside her.
Behind them, there was a foreigner who served as their background.
It’s a pity that there are not many views of the interior of the Friendship Store. We can only see every corner through these photos taken by Comrade Xiao Zhou.
After looking at the photo, he handed it to Zhou Jiani as if it were a treasure and said, "I'll make a bigger one later and hang it up when our factory is built."
The formal contract was signed smoothly. Section Chief Wang looked at the hollow woven basket that Zhou Jiani had sent him. After a moment of surprise, he shook his head helplessly and said, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, if you have such beautiful woven baskets, why didn't you bring them here earlier? Are you afraid that I won't place an order?"
Zhou Jiani shook her head and said seriously, "No, Chief Wang, this one is different. This is our village's reserve fund, reserved for the villagers to support their families, so I didn't discuss it with you at the time."
The contract stated that those items were prohibited from private sale, but this one was because she had promised to give it to me that day. Of course, there were also selfish motives.
After all, an order of 200 yuan has been placed, so it would be inappropriate not to place an order on the First Department Store!
But she didn't take the initiative out of selfish motives, so when she took it out today she just said it was a gift, but she didn't discuss the transaction with Section Chief Wang.
Of course, she was not lying, after all, she did agree to keep the money for the village.
Section Chief Wang nodded at Zhou Jiani with a smile and said, "You, my little comrade,"
Still retaining the money, this is clearly a reference to his proposal to prohibit private transactions, Comrade Zhou!
He looked at the basket over and over again, and liked it more and more. At the same time, he also placed an order for 100 pieces, which was not stipulated in the contract.
Zhang Baosheng was so happy that he almost jumped when he went out. It was not because he had taken a new order, after all, this was not the first order. He was happy to take photos to commemorate the signing process.
In the future, even when he retires, this honor will always remain on the weaving factory's wall of glory.
Well, he signed the first official contract!
Zhou Jiani sent Zhang Baosheng away and asked him to go back first with the photos of the Friendship Store and the sample drawings she had carefully edited. She had to pretend to stay here for a few more days, "sell" the storage stools, and then return to the Qianjin Brigade.
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