Chapter 9
Zhang Lao and his four companions looked quite honest, puffing on their pipes on their mats. They were not good at speaking. But his wife was quite lively. When she heard that Zhou Jiani and the others wanted straw hats, she smiled warmly and said, "Are you new educated youth? You look like capable people."
"Yes, Auntie, I heard that your family can weave straw hats, so I wanted to ask if I could exchange something with you for a few hats!" Zhou Jiani said with a smile.
What do we exchange for? Money, of course.
These days, private transactions can easily constitute the crime of speculation and profiteering, so everyone speaks very carefully.
However, these hand-woven products are not so bad. When there is a market, they get a "self-produced and self-sold" certificate from the production team and sell them at the market to earn some money to supplement the family income.
Things that are purchased and sold by the state are no longer acceptable.
But it's always better to be cautious.
After the negotiation, we gave them the same purchase price as the supply and marketing cooperative, which was 35 cents a hat.
Just as the price was agreed upon, Sheng Hongshan came in with Qiu Zeming, and everyone looked at each other knowingly.
As a representative, Zhou Jiani followed Aunt Zhang into the house and quietly completed the transaction.
She came out and Qiu Zeming went in.
Zhang Laosi's craftsmanship is indeed good, and he knows a lot. The straw hats, baskets, and baskets he weave are all very delicate. When you touch them with your hands, they are smooth and flat, and not prickly. Zhou Jiani's eyes light up when she sees them.
But today is not the day to ask more questions.
It was too late to buy scarves, so they went home and got the filled water bottles. Zhou Jiani also took a short-sleeved floral shirt and put it on her head, tied it around her chin, and then put on her newly bought straw hat. It was a bit ugly, but it could at least protect her face and neck. Otherwise, there would be not only corn leaves like little knives, but also corn tassels that would fall on her face and neck after drying, waiting to be pricked.
Standing at the edge of the field, she saw Qiu Zeming turn away his shocked and reluctant gaze.
Before Zhou Jiani could even roll her eyes, Aunt Liu Cuiyun praised her: "Oh, your idea is also good. This way you won't have to scratch your face."
Zhou Jiani smiled and glanced at Qiu Zeming, saying, "I think so too. Whether it looks good or not is fine, as long as I don't suffer."
He snorted softly.
Qiu Zeming next to him twisted his mouth corner.
Before starting work, Zhou Jiani's palms vibrated, and her spirit was also shaken. She lowered her head and rubbed her palms.
Someone in the group is already sending out red envelopes so early?
After grabbing 15 cents, the group started posting pictures. Several tempting pictures of lobsters flashed across the screen. Zhou Jiani swallowed her saliva, and without even looking at the price, she firmly closed her palms.
You can afford it, but it's not convenient to eat, and now we have to live frugally, so it's better to put this kind of food that satisfies your craving but doesn't fill you up at the back of the queue.
She felt a little sad about missing out on the pork meatballs yesterday. Although there were other group-buying items later, none of them were something she could use now.
Next, the group was filled with good things such as a small stool with universal wheels and high rebound, a food-grade silicone mat, donkey-hide gelatin, and an all-purpose cleaning sponge.
I didn't find anything I liked, but I did manage to grab two red envelopes, earning 37 cents.
The sun rose, the temperature rising. She felt hot and thirsty, and the little she had eaten in the morning had been digested. Zhou Jiani shook her sore arms, straightened her back, took a few gulps of water, and glanced to the right.
Qiu Zeming took out a towel from somewhere, put it around his neck, and occasionally lifted it up to wipe the sweat off his face.
Sweat soaked the dacron shirt he was wearing, which stuck tightly to his back, revealing the outline of the hurdle vest underneath.
Thinking of his disdainful look just now, Zhou Jiani carefully imitated the tone of Liu Cuiyun and the others and said, "Comrade Xiao Qiu, why are you wearing a hurdle vest in such hot weather?"
Qiu Zeming's body stiffened and he turned to look over in disbelief.
Zhou Jiani raised her eyebrows at him with a curled lip, screwed the lid of the military water bottle, bent down, picked up the basket half filled with corn, hung it on her shoulder, and carried it to the edge of the field.
Halfway through the journey, her palm buzzed. While paying attention to the corn stalks under her feet, she joined the group and grabbed a red envelope of 7 cents, and glanced at the content.
[Premium snacks, 20-pack salt-baked flavored eggs, special offer! Group buy! Loved by both the elderly and children... Group buy price: 19.6/box. Click the link to grab yours, link...]
Zhou Jiani became alert and quickly clicked on the link. She clicked a few times on the '+' next to the purchase quantity, pressed the payment button, selected the change payment, and set the delivery method to temporary storage.
The message "Payment Successful" popped up on the screen, and she breathed a sigh of relief: "I got it!"
Braised eggs are great. They are easy to eat, nutritious and filling.
It seemed as if the stomach had already sensed the aroma of the braised eggs in advance and let out a series of long howls.
But now is not the time to eat, so be patient.
Zhou Jiani swallowed her saliva, dragged her heavy legs to the edge of the field, poured out the corn, hung the basket on her shoulder, and returned.
When the gong sounded at noon to signal the end of work, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Jiani was so hungry that her chest was sticking to her back.
"Hurry home and have dinner, then take a nap and have a good rest." Liu Cuiyun called everyone to go out.
When Zhou Jiani and the others dragged their legs, which felt like they were filled with lead, into the house, the stir-fried spinach was already out of the pot.
Zhang Huihui was not busy this time. The little girl got up too early in the morning and couldn't bear the sleepiness, so she went back to her room to catch up on her sleep and was still asleep.
But they still had clean water in their basins.
Zhao Mei smiled and said, "Are you exhausted? Hurry up and eat, then take a nap. Work starts at 2:30. I'll call you at 2:10. Get up and head straight to the field. You won't be late."
"Okay sister-in-law, thank you for your hard work."
"It's not hard, it's not hard. I'm used to it."
At the dinner table, the three of them wolfed down the porridge soaked with steamed bread and stir-fried spinach.
Even though there wasn’t much oil in the dish, everyone thought it was incredibly delicious.
After taking the last mouthful of porridge, Sun Ping felt her stomach, which was only about 70% full, and took a deep breath before letting out the shocking news. "Jia Ni, Wan Xia, Zhao Weiguo and the others suggested that we go to the team leader to discuss the issue. They think the tasks assigned to us newcomers are too heavy and unreasonable. They want us to have some time to adjust and adjust our work positions, or to work half a day and rest half a day."
Zhou Jiani's eyelids twitched, and she asked, "When are we going to look for it?"
It was Zhao Weiguo who proposed it in her previous life. She responded very actively, jumping up and down as if she had been injected with chicken blood.
But there would be no good results in resisting the production team, and they would be the ones who suffered in the end.
Sun Ping whispered, "They just had this idea and asked for our opinion first. If everyone agrees, we can gather at the village entrance after work tonight and go directly to the captain's house."
She lowered her eyelids and complained, "I don't think it makes sense. How can they treat us like mules right away? City workers still have a process of getting accustomed to the factory when they first arrive."
Yu Wanxia's eyes were filled with both hope and trepidation. She asked, "Is it possible? Will the team agree?" She looked at Zhou Jiani, "Jiani, are you going?"
"I'm not going! This isn't a wise move. We're in the middle of the autumn harvest, and the captain definitely won't agree." Zhou Jiani looked at Sun Ping, who suddenly burst into tears, and Yu Wanxia, who seemed a little moved, and said softly, "We're young. We can just grit our teeth and hold on for a few days. Once our bodies adapt, we'll be fine. But leaving a bad impression on the team because of this is not worth it."
Seeing the struggle in Yu Wanxia's eyes, she said, "If you really can't make up your mind, why not ask your cousins?"
In her previous life, Yu Wanxia was stopped by Qiu Zeming and others. She did not participate and even tried to persuade them, but failed to stop them. She could only watch them do stupid things coldly.
Liu Ailing also didn't participate. She fainted at the end of the afternoon and was sent back to a fellow villager's home to rest. Her fainting only intensified their resolve to protest. But when the results were announced the next day, Liu Ailing gave herself a harsh lecture and then ran around apologizing to the village on behalf of the troublemakers.
Seeing that Sun Ping seemed very determined, Zhou Jiani didn't want to say anything more. She said, "The person leading you is also a veteran educated youth, right? You might want to listen to their experiences. They must have faced the same situation we're in back then. Ask them how they overcame it. If any of them went to look for it, then you can ask about the team's attitude at the time."
Sun Ping wiped her tears and nodded.
Seeing that she was listening and not as stubborn as she was in her previous life, Zhou Jiani breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay, don't think about anything else for now. Let's get some water, wipe ourselves, and get some sleep. We have to go to work this afternoon."
They closed the door, took off their dirty clothes, wiped their bodies, heads and faces with wet towels, changed into looser clothes, and lay down to rest.
Zhou Jiani fell asleep with her head resting on the pillow, and the vibration of her cell phone didn't wake her up. She felt as if she had just closed her eyes when Zhao Mei came to call them to get up and go to work.
But after a good sleep, I regained some strength and didn't feel as uncomfortable anymore.
The three of them went their separate ways.
Before reaching the edge of the field, Zhou Jiani saw from afar that Qiu Zeming had changed into a dark cotton shirt.
She suppressed her laughter and pressed the brim of her hat.
After standing still at the edge of the field, Qiu Zeming took a step towards her. Zhou Jiani was startled: "What are you doing?"
Qiu Zeming laughed angrily. How dare you tease him?
"Has Zhao Weiguo come looking for you?" Qiu Zeming asked. "You don't look stupid to me. You shouldn't join them in causing trouble, right?"
Unexpectedly, Qiu Zeming already knew about this. She lowered her voice and said, "I won't go. I've already persuaded Sun Ping and Yu Wanxia. I'm not sure if I can stop Sun Ping, but you should be able to persuade Yu Wanxia."
Qiu Zeming nodded and said, "I'll ask Bai Haoyang to find Han Yang and work with the old educated youth to do some ideological work on them."
Looking at the angular face under the brim of the hat, the word "dog-headed military advisor" popped into Zhou Jiani's mind.
She suddenly felt that the fundamental reason why she had a shallow impression of Qiu Zeming in her previous life was not because he had worked as a farmer for a short time, but because he never took the lead in anything, and Bai Haoyang and Wang Qianjin were the ones who jumped around in everything.
Is he the one giving orders behind those two guys?
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