Chapter 72
Before Zhen Zhen left the store, Old Lady Meng came in with a basket and said that she missed Meng Nan and the other children, so she brought some eggs to see the children. Unexpectedly, Meng Li was there too, so she asked her to give half of the eggs to Dabao and Xiaobao.
Meng Li smiled and said, "Just give me my aunt's home. I won't be jealous or envious."
Mrs. Meng felt embarrassed. "I know you are a working family. Your company even provides toilet paper. You don't need these things. Your aunt has many children. She is busy in the store and can't take care of the children. So I sent some to her."
Meng Li is not a stingy person. If it were someone else, they might think that Old Lady Meng is biased. But Meng Li is a married girl after all, and she doesn't spend much money on her mother, let alone her grandmother.
Instead, it was her aunt who took care of the old couple every now and then, so it was only natural for the old couple to be nice to her.
"Okay, I'm not that stingy."
Old Lady Meng glanced at Zhen Zhen, and Zhen Zhen smiled and asked Meng Pandidi to take the eggs in. She knew Old Lady Meng, and that she came to see her grandson on the one hand, but also wanted to get in touch with her.
The old lady is old, and she is always thinking about this and that. She just feels that Daguo's father died early, and she had no relationship with the Meng family. Now she has moved out with her children. Doesn't that mean she is no longer close to the Meng family?
Old Mrs. Meng and Old Mrs. Meng's father are Daguo's father's parents, not her parents. The feelings will fade when people are far away from each other.
The old couple were afraid that if she became successful, found a man, and had children with him, they would not love their current child as much anymore, and they were also afraid that she would disown them.
Zhen Zhen saw through it but didn't say anything, and pulled her to take a shower together.
Old Mrs. Meng doesn't like taking a bath and refuses to take one. When Zhen Zhen asked her, she found out that the last time she took a bath was before the New Year. She almost looked disgusted.
She is a strong person. Old Mrs. Meng is old and doesn't want to offend her daughter-in-law, let alone a daughter-in-law who can lay golden eggs.
She grabbed the corner of her clothes aggrievedly, "I don't have any clothes to change, and I don't need to take a bath too often."
Zhen Zhen took the clothes that Jiao Huilan didn't wear and forcibly took her to the bathhouse.
She found a back scrubber to scrub Old Lady Meng's back and chat with her, being more attentive than to her own mother. The back scrubber was also a discerning person, recognizing that Zhen Zhen was the boss of a good mother-in-law, and kept saying good things about her:
"Old lady, you are so lucky. Your daughter-in-law treats you so well. If you don't know her, you would think she is your own daughter."
When Mrs. Meng heard this, she became energetic, smiled from ear to ear, and showed off to others:
"She was very good to me. She gave me meat every day, bought me clothes and snacks, and even gave me money during the Chinese New Year."
The back scrubber expressed envy.
People these days are talkative. The back scrubber kept chatting with old lady Meng, contributing a lot of emotional value.
Back scrubbers have low commissions, so in order to make a living, they secretly sell things, including toys, bath cloths, soda, candy and everything else.
Zhen Zhen bought a few things as a way of taking care of her business.
Meng Li brought a big bucket and put the two children in it. The toy duck that Zhen Zhen bought could be put into the water, and Dabao and Xiaobao had a lot of fun playing with it.
Meng Li looked at the children playing in the water and sighed:
"Auntie, how come time flies so fast? In the blink of an eye, Dabao and Xiaobao are already over four years old."
"Cherish it, you will understand when you reach my age."
"You don't look old. My colleagues at work all say you are my sister. Sometimes I really envy you, my brother. If you were my mother, I would be so happy."
It's not that Mrs. Meng is not good, she is good too, but the gap between her and her aunt is huge. If Meng Li was her aunt's biological daughter, with such a capable mother and such a family business, what would she have to worry about?
The key is that her aunt is good at planning and has arranged every aspect of the household very well.
Her aunt had planned for Meng Hua to become a college student, and she had also planned for Meng Daguo and Meng Eryong in a very specific way, not leaving out any of the daughters-in-law and grandchildren in the family.
When I had money, I improved my family life and bought an electric fan, a washing machine and a refrigerator.
Grandma Meng Li hides in the house every day and never comes out. She is lucky to have Cao's parents help her take care of the children. But when she looks at the lives of Meng Daguo and his two brothers, she feels that their lives are incomparable.
Zhen Zhen smiled. Why do all of them want to be her concubine?
It turns out that Cheng Su has this problem.
Speaking of Cheng Su, I haven't seen her for a long time. During the Chinese New Year, Cheng Su sent her a letter and also sent her a sweater and scarf she had knitted. Zhen Zhen sent her a few bags of snacks and stuffed fifty yuan into the snacks.
Cheng Su's mother died early, and her father married her stepmother and couldn't take care of her. Zhen Zhen was afraid that her life would be difficult, so she always wanted to take care of her.
After taking a bath, Zhen Zhen invited Grandma Meng to have dinner. The family cooked braised pork with kelp, pickled cabbage with vinegar, and pork ribs stewed with radish. They also ate Grandma Meng's free-range eggs and made a steamed egg.
Old Mrs. Meng likes to eat at the second son's house because the food there is good and oily. Unlike Mrs. Meng, who cooks even more frugally than she does, reluctant to use oil or salt, her dishes are always bland.
I didn’t think it was bad at first. I was used to eating it at my second brother’s house, so I was always not full when I went back.
After eating and drinking, Zhen Zhen originally wanted to let the old lady stay overnight, but there were many children in the house and no extra beds, so she had to go home and stay.
Before leaving, she packed some food in a lunch box and took it back to Grandma Meng's father, and asked Meng Daguo to ride his bicycle to take her back.
Old Mrs. Meng was very happy. When she arrived at the entrance of the village, the villagers stuck their heads out to greet her:
"Aunt Meng went to the second son's house again? Daguo sent your grandma back? Oh, this grandson is really filial."
Rural people love to compare this. Old Mrs. Meng was very happy. She showed off the lunch box in her hand and said that her daughter-in-law asked her to bring it back for the old man.
Tao Aihong was very tired these days. She took the initiative to ask to work in the fabric store, in order to supervise Jiao Huilan.
She was afraid that the money from Jiao Huilan's shady store would affect her share of the profits. Coincidentally, the two stores were connected in the middle, so she could tell how much money the clothing store made just by looking up.
Yes, it was exactly what she wished.
But how could she know that the fabric store was so busy?
Isn't it said that people in county towns are poor?
When asked, they all said they had no money. As soon as the door opened, there was a queue. Dacron is cheaper than in the mall, but even if it is cheaper, it still costs 8 yuan per meter!
This group of people were particularly crazy when buying things, squeezing forward as if their lives depended on it.
Tao Aihong was too busy to drink water or go to the toilet.
She did make a lot of money, but all the money was in the public accounts. She wanted to use her brain and be a little smart, but her mother-in-law knew everything clearly.
There is not a foot more or less of this fabric, and the accounts have to be reconciled and calculated every night, leaving no room for cheating!
After half a month, Tao Aihong had lost a lot of weight due to fatigue. Her chin became pointed and the fat she had worked so hard to gain was gone.
Tao Aihong looked in the mirror and almost cried, "Why have you lost weight again?"
Sanwa was holding a toy gun. He saw Tao Aihong swaying in front of the mirror and said, "Mom, are you being conceited again?"
"Little bastard, I'll just look in the mirror."
"Mom, where's my grandma?"
"You keep saying 'nurse' all day long. Who gave birth to you? Your mother is standing in front of you, and you just keep looking for her."
Sanwa nodded and held out his hand, "Okay, then give me 50 cents to buy the picture book."
Tao Aihong's expression changed immediately, "I don't have any money. Ask your grandma for it."
Sanwa rolled his eyes, asked Zhen Zhen for 50 cents, and bought two sets of picture books. Meng Nan and Meng Xi, who had just finished their homework at Song Qiao's house next door, also leaned over to read.
Zhen Zhen is generous in giving pocket money because the child does not spend money indiscriminately. Our family sells snacks, and the child has no shortage of food and does not care much about food. Other children need money to buy snacks, but they spend it on books and toys.
It has been less than a year since I came to the county town, but my bookcase is already full of new books as well as old books I bought from Wang Ling.
The children were all quite smart and asked Wang Ling to keep any picture books they found that were in good condition for them.
They think it's a good deal because they can buy three old books with the money they spend on the new book.
On Monday at noon, Zhen's second wife came over. She had bought plates and a wok and wanted to make the rice that Zhen Zhen had mentioned, but she didn't know how to make it.
Zhen Zhen said: "After it's done, just scoop a spoonful of it, pour it over the rice, and pair it with other dishes."
"So what's the difference between this and the food in the cafeteria?"
"It looks the same, but rice with lid is a combination of rice and dishes. It doesn't require too many tableware. You just need to pour the dishes onto the plate. Your restaurant is surrounded by students. Students are busy and don't want to waste time when they go out to eat at noon. Isn't it convenient to eat rice with lid?"
Zhen Ersao was half-believing and half-doubting.
The next day at noon, she prepared dinner and called Zhen Zhen over.
Zhen Zhen put a portion of rice on the plate, scooped a spoonful of braised pork and poured it on the rice, then poured another spoonful of hot soup, some vegetables, and half an egg.
This one is for Zhen Xiangyang. He has been busy opening a shop recently, so he came to Zhen Ersao's shop to eat at noon.
Zhen Xiangyang took the rice pouring from Zhen Zhen. He didn't know why, although it was the same food, when it was all piled together, he had the illusion that there was more. After pouring the soup on it, he felt fuller and it felt much more delicious than if it was placed separately.
Men who have a big appetite can just add an extra serving of rice and some soup, and they don’t need to order another serving of rice.
It is a good choice for men who have no money.
Zhen Xiangyang thought it was a good idea. Men don’t like to eat messy snacks, they just like to eat rice and meat with big mouthfuls.
It is convenient to eat rice with water, does not require much thought, and is filling at only a few cents.
For those who think pickled vegetables are expensive, you can also order tofu, potatoes, and eggplants with rice, which is cheap and affordable.
"Mom, my aunt is right. This rice is better than going to the cafeteria to eat."
As soon as the high school bell rang, some people rushed out of the campus to eat. Some came to get their own steamed rice, while others saw that there was rice dumpling today and the price was not expensive, so they just ordered one portion.
The students who ordered the rice became more and more addicted as they ate, and they always felt that the rice was particularly delicious.
Several dishes were mixed together, stirred, and mixed with the fragrant soup, and not a single grain of rice was left.
The first time she made gai jiao rice, Zhen Ersao didn’t dare to make too much. She only made four dishes: braised pork, braised tofu, braised eggplant, and shredded cabbage. In less than half an hour, they were all snatched up by the students.
It doesn't look like much, but after some calculation, I can make about 5 yuan from these four dishes, which is almost as much as the profit from steaming rice.
At noon, he sold rice porridge, and at night, he made some rice porridge, some flatbreads, steamed buns, and flower rolls as his aunt asked him to do. He also prepared egg fried rice, making a big plate of it and heating it with hot water under the plate, so that he could earn more.
Wang Ling can make more than ten yuan a day selling second-hand books. If she can make twenty yuan here, the two of them can earn ten thousand yuan a year.
Zhen Ersao is very energetic. She sells food near the school. Not only does she want the food to be cheap and large in size, but she also has to ensure hygiene.
You must not be careless about the food you feed the children. You must wash the dishes thoroughly, sweep the house, deworm and catch mice regularly, and make sure the students do not get diarrhea after eating.
You should also have a good attitude towards students and greet them with a smile.
Business needs to be managed. As long as they work hard, becoming a household with a revenue of tens of thousands of yuan will not be a problem.
Zhen Zhen suggested that she add some mapo tofu and chicken or pork chops to the rice.
Mrs. Zhen had never made chicken and pork chops before. After hearing Zhen Zhen say that they were fried, she had a general idea and agreed to try making them tomorrow.
On the way back, Zhen Zhen bought a newspaper, which said that the cultivation of sunflowers had been expanded in the north this year, and the output was expected to be 4-5 times that of last year. She closed the newspaper and savored the news.
As production increases, the purchase price of raw melon seeds will definitely fall.
Zhen Zhen took the newspaper to the backyard and heard the rustling sound of a shovel from afar.
Qiao Dazhuang and Sun Ying are frying melon seeds.
These two people are hardworking. They can work for 12 hours in a large iron pot weighing more than 40 kilograms and filled with melon seeds, using shovels.
This job is quite strenuous and most people cannot endure the hardship. The right arm exerts a lot of strength and the muscles are often strained, so Qiao Dazhuang has to apply a plaster from time to time.
But Zhen Zhen was also very nice to him. He specially added a hard mattress to his iron bed so that he could lie more comfortably when resting.
They also gave each of them an extra 3 yuan salary.
In the 1980s, melon seeds sold very well. Not only did they sell well in the fall and winter, but as spring approached, the sales of melon seeds increased instead of decreasing.
"Boss Zhen." Qiao Dazhuang called out.
He was sweating profusely while busying himself. Zhen Zhen nodded at him, "Da Zhuang, what did your father do originally?"
Qiao Dazhuang was stunned, and wiped the sweat off his face with the towel around his neck. "My father used to be a worker in the mine. Although he is quite old, he is very good at work and can endure hardships. After I came to work here, he has been the only one who planted the crops in my hometown. He rides back and forth every day, carries water and manure, and plants and pulls rice."
Zhen Zhen nodded. Roasting melon seeds is hard work, and muscle damage is irreversible. But Zhen Zhen is a businessman, not a philanthropist. She has paid Qiao Dazhuang a high enough salary, and she can't just stop him from working because she sympathizes with his hard work, right?
After the food factory got started, more people were needed to roast the melon seeds.
Meng Pandi, Tao Aihong, Jiao Huilan and others are considered family members, but Qiao Dazhuang and Sun Ying are hired servants. The relationship between employers and employees is very sensitive these days, and if the number of servants exceeds 8, it is considered capitalism.
Roasting melon seeds is a job that not everyone can do.
If the good mother-in-law only sold loose melon seeds, she would have no work for half a year in the summer. Now she has to make bagged melon seeds, and she has work all year round. During the dog days of summer, the factory is like a hot steamer, and she has to use a spatula to fry the melon seeds in a hot pan.
Zhen Zhen just wanted to find someone who was reliable and capable.
Although Old Man Qiao sounds quite old, he is actually less than fifty years old. People of this age are good at work. Zhen Zhen thought that instead of looking for someone from outside, it would be better to ask Old Man Qiao and Old Lady Qiao to come.
Old man Qiao roasted and sieved the melon seeds, while old lady Qiao weighed and sealed the seeds.
Sun Ying was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect that Boss Zhen would think about her parents-in-law.
Boss Zhen pays them high salaries and even gave them a raise this year. Sun Ying and Qiao Dazhuang can earn forty or fifty yuan a month.
If my parents-in-law come over, even if their income is not as high as theirs, it will still be much better than farming.
My workplace is near my home, so it is convenient for me to work and I can occasionally look after my children.
Her children are grown up, but she still needs to give them a few words of advice occasionally. Isn't it better to look after the house than to go out?
After hearing this, Mrs. Qiao and Mr. Qiao stood up happily and asked, "Did Boss Zhen really say that?"
"How could this be false?"
Sun Ying laughed from the bottom of her heart.
Boss Zhen is kind to people and provides good benefits. He gave them so many gifts during the Chinese New Year and never delayed their wages.
I'm so lucky to meet such a boss.
Old Mrs. Qiao and Old Man Qiao have wanted to find a job for a long time, but at their age, they don’t know what else they can do except farming.
Old Mrs. Meng and her father can still sell vegetables, eels and other things, but Old Man Qiao's hometown only has eight mu of land. After growing crops, there is no place to grow vegetables, so he has no way to generate income.
Fortunately, Qiao Dazhuang and Sun Ying both have formal jobs, and the good mother-in-law will help them when there are leftover vegetables from the store. The old couple's life is getting better and better, and they dare not dream of anything else. Who would have thought that Boss Zhen would take the initiative to offer to hire them.
"But roasting melon seeds is hard work. My father is old now..."
Father Qiao was unhappy. "I may be old, but I am also strong. I work just as well as Da Zhuang. I have no problem roasting melon seeds."
Sun Ying smiled and said, "Boss Zhen said that your salary is lower than Da Zhuang's, 20 yuan a month. My mother's job is simple, sealing melon seeds, sitting there doesn't require much effort, and her salary is 16."
Old Mrs. Qiao is very satisfied. This salary is higher than what the factory offers to temporary workers. Last year, a factory recruited temporary workers and more than a thousand people applied. The boss thought that Old Mrs. Qiao was too old and offered a salary that was not as high as this one.
After Old Man Qiao came, he could roast hundreds of kilograms of melon seeds every day, but it was still not enough.
Zhen Zhen has no trouble selling melon seeds, but the supply is insufficient. The reason is that there are too few people roasting melon seeds.
Jiao Huilan said, "Mom, why don't you bring some people from your hometown? There are many strong people in our village. After the busy farming season, everyone has nothing to do. Let them roast melon seeds for you for half a year. They will definitely be willing to do that."
Zhen Zhen shook her head and refused.
People in the countryside talk the most. She gets along well with Gou Zi Niang and Zhang Cuihua, so she helps them.
She is related to Meng Pandi. Meng Pandi is efficient and smart, so Zhen Zhen hired her.
The people who came from his hometown are related to the Meng family, and they all want special treatment and privileges. Zhen Zhen is tired enough running a store, so how can he have the energy to deal with these people?
If she brought the intelligence center at the entrance of the village here, who knows what these people would do to her behind her back.
If she said anything to a man, she would be accused of being caught cheating in bed.
Sister Qian knew what she was thinking and supported her decision not to look for her relatives in her old home. "If that doesn't work, I can take a look for you."
Sister Qian is a know-it-all. She had worked in the street office for a few years and was very good at organizing things. When she saw Zhen Zhen taking care of Qiao Dazhuang, she hesitated for a moment and asked her if she was willing to employ a disabled person.
"What kind of disability?"
"When I was working at the neighborhood office, I visited some disabled people at their homes. Some were born unable to speak; some had a fever as a child and became deaf due to medication; some had polio and their legs were not very useful; some had dwarfism and were very short."
Sister Qian was quite hesitant to say this, fearing that Zhen Zhen might look down on disabled people and think she did it on purpose.
In fact, she also had good intentions. When she visited disabled families that year and saw their plight, she thought that if there were companies that could take care of these people and provide more employment opportunities, disabled people would definitely not have to live with such sensitivity.
Zhen Zhen didn't say anything. Sister Qian smiled awkwardly. "I just said this for no reason. I have good intentions. I think working in a food factory is not difficult. They can do this kind of routine work. Many disabled people have good abilities, but they just lack opportunities. They will cherish the opportunity to work more than normal people and are more hardworking and persevering."
Zhen Zhen smiled and said, "I don't have any problem with that, but I can't lower my standards for their thinking just because they have a disability. I still have to find someone with good character."
"That's for sure. I would have told them even if you didn't tell me."
Sister Qian was overjoyed. "Can you really agree? If you really agree, I will go and inform them. If they know they have found a job, they will definitely be very happy."
Zhen Zhen has no problem with this, she has made money herself and is willing to help more people.
"First, find a few strong men to help Qiao Dazhuang. As for the others, we will have to wait until my Eryong comes back to know how many workers we will need."
"no problem!"
Sister Qian was so happy that she found four strong men for Zhen Zhen that day.
Zhen Zhen told them the precautions and asked Qiao Dazhuang to teach them how to roast melon seeds.
The people recruited by Sister Qian were indeed dedicated and worked carefully and thoroughly. Perhaps because they were afraid that Zhen Zhen would be dissatisfied with them, they voluntarily worked overtime, which made Zhen Zhen laugh and cry.
With more people, we can produce two to three thousand kilograms of melon seeds a day. We sell as many as we can, so we naturally make a lot of money.
However, the loose melon seeds can only be sold in these two months. After June, not many people eat melon seeds. It will take until October, when autumn comes, for them to sell better.
In mid-May, Meng Eryong returned with his repair skills, and with him also the machines from Qingshan Food Factory.
Meng Daguo called a few people over to help unload the machine.
These machines are simple in type, small in size, easy to operate, and mostly manually operated, and cannot compare to the automated machines of later generations.
There was no other way. The conditions were insufficient. In those days, the large machines in state-owned factories were all allocated from the light industry department. Good machines were expensive, and state-owned factories had no right to buy and sell them independently.
The machines Zhen Zhen bought were all small machines purchased by the factory itself.
For example, this sealing machine has a device similar to a manual gate. You place the packaged food horizontally on it and manually lower the gate to seal it.
Can seal 4-5 packages of food at a time.
It is no problem for one shift to produce one to two thousand packages. When it is busy, they can work in two shifts. Zhen Zhen thinks that considering the scale of her food store, this machine will be enough for a while.
"Mom, let me show you how to do it?" Meng Eryong asked enthusiastically.
It's no wonder that after more than two months of further studies, Meng Eryong has matured and grown. He is much more steady in his work and his facial features are more distinct.
Among the three sons, Meng Hua is the most handsome.
Meng Hua is handsome, has a good temperament, and has the temperament of a romantic and cultured person.
Meng Daguo has a muscular body and a tough appearance. He is a tough man who fits the current aesthetic.
As the second oldest, Meng Eryong was neither as capable as his elder brother nor as handsome and educated as his younger brother. He was stuck in the middle and had no advantages. In addition, after marrying Tao Aihong, he was infected with cunning temperament, so Zhen Zhen always had reservations about him.
This time Zhen Zhen was impressed.
He was very patient in explaining the machine while operating it, and his criticisms and sentences had a certain cultural flavor. At first glance, he really looked like an employee sent on a business trip by the machine manufacturer.
After Meng Eryong finished his explanation, all the new employees brought in by Sister Qian applauded him and praised him highly one by one.
It was the first time that Meng Eryong was praised as a positive character and his face turned red.
Zhen Zhen teased with a half-smile:
"People say that serious men are the most handsome! My Eryong went out for further studies and he is more handsome than before."
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