Chapter 83 The New Official Takes Office
Because the roads were slippery from the snow, Xie Wei didn't ride his bicycle over. He had his left hand intertwined with Lin Qingqing's in his pocket, while his other hand held a flashlight to illuminate the road ahead. Lin Qingqing's right hand carried a bag and an umbrella, her chin tucked into her scarf, and she asked Xie Wei in a low voice, "How long have you been here?"
The winter nights are silent, with no frog croaking or the snow covering all sounds. The only sound is the crunching of their footsteps on the snow, making Lin Qingqing's words exceptionally clear.
"More than half an hour," Xie Wei said.
"You've just been standing outside the whole time?" Lin Qingqing's eyes widened. "Why didn't you go inside?"
"I saw you guys were having a meeting, so I stood outside for a while," Xie Wei explained, then added, "I'm not cold."
“How can it not be cold?” Lin Qingqing said, disbelieving. “Next time you come, just go straight in. Our director won’t say anything.”
Xie Wei hummed in agreement and asked, "I heard them call you Manager Lin?"
When Lin Qingqing threw herself into Xie Wei's arms, Zhou Xiaofang and the others were hiding behind the back door, secretly laughing. After hearing this, she stepped out of Xie Wei's arms, greeted everyone, and said she was leaving. At that moment, Zhou Xiaofang smiled and said, "Take care, Manager Lin."
"I got promoted, I'm now the store manager," Lin Qingqing said. It was good news, and she didn't want to hide it from Xie Wei.
Xie Wei raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Looks like we'll have to have a proper celebration tonight."
Speaking of celebrations, Lin Qingqing remembered to ask, "Have you eaten?"
"Not yet, what about you?"
"I didn't have any either. Why didn't you eat first since you were at home?"
Xie Wei said, "Didn't we agree to make mutton hot pot?"
"It's so late..." Lin Qingqing frowned, but when Xie Wei turned around, she said, "Then let's have it as a midnight snack."
It only takes a dozen minutes to get from the Qingshan Supply and Marketing Cooperative to the staff quarters by bus, but it takes more than half an hour to walk there. So by the time I got home it was already past nine o'clock, and the staff quarters had quieted down, with many houses even having their lights off.
The lights were still on at the Chen family's house. When they entered the courtyard, Yu Xiuhong came out of the house and asked, "Why are you back so late today?"
"Something came up at the supply and marketing cooperative," Lin Qingqing said.
Yu Xiuhong said "oh" and went back to her room to sleep.
After returning to the house, Lin Qingqing and Xie Wei each poured themselves a cup of hot water to warm themselves up, and then went to the kitchen to check if the coal stove had been turned off.
Xie Wei had specially covered the stove with coal ash before leaving, and it was only now that it was burning thoroughly. Lin Qingqing added a honeycomb briquette, and the stove caught fire in no time.
Lin Qingqing washed the chopped lamb chops and threw them into a pot. She added cooking wine and water, blanched them on a coal stove, and then washed them again and set them aside. In another pot, she added oil, star anise, and cinnamon and sautéed them until fragrant. Then she added dried chili peppers, ginger slices, and fermented bean paste and stir-fried until the oil was released. Finally, she added the lamb and continued to stir-fry.
While Lin Qingqing was making mutton hotpot, Xie Wei, following his morning plan, took a bucket and a shovel and went out to build a snowman.
Many people build snowmen with a large snowdrift at the bottom and a smaller snowdrift on top, but Xie Wei is different. He directly presses out a tall and fat snowdrift, compacts the snow, and then uses a shovel to shape the snowman.
By the time Lin Qingqing brought the mutton stew to the table, Xie Wei had almost finished shaping the snowman. Although it didn't have facial features, it was chubby and round and looked very cute.
Because it was night, Lin Qingqing didn't dare to speak too loudly. She lowered her voice and walked to his side to ask, "You finished piling it up so quickly?"
"Hmm, what do you want to use for its facial features?" Xie Wei asked.
Lin Qingqing thought for a moment, then went back into the house and found a few things. She fiddled with them on the snowman's head, and soon the snowman had facial features.
The eyebrows were made of black yarn, the eyes were black buttons, the nose was a triangle made of snow, and the mouth was also made of black yarn.
In addition, Lin Qingqing used black yarn to make three strands of hair for the snowman, and greeted him by saying, "Hello, Sanmao."
"Who is Sanmao?" Xie Wei asked.
Lin Qingqing was taken aback for a moment, then explained, "It only has three hairs on its head, so isn't that just three hairs?"
Xie Wei suddenly realized: "I see."
"Sanmao, this is Mom, and this is Dad!" Lin Qingqing bent down and introduced them in a serious manner.
Upon hearing this, Xie Wei fell into deep thought as he watched Lin Qingqing pat the snowman's head.
Should we name our child Sanmao?
Isn't that too casual?
As someone who had changed his name, Xie Wei felt it was necessary to have a serious talk with his wife.
...
The next day, when Lin Qingqing and Xie Wei went out, they ran into their neighbor across the street. Sister Qian saw them and asked, "Did you eat mutton last night?"
Lin Qingqing looked surprised: "How did you know?"
"It really is!" Sister Qian suddenly realized. "I was half asleep yesterday when I suddenly smelled the aroma of mutton, which made my mouth water. I even dreamed that I was eating mutton." After she woke up this morning, she kept thinking about whether she really smelled the aroma of mutton or dreamed about it.
Lin Qingqing explained, "We worked overtime at the supply and marketing cooperative last night, and I got home late without eating. It just so happened that a sheep came into the market yesterday, and Xie Wei bought two jin (1 kg) of it. I figured it was just sitting there anyway, so I stewed it for dinner."
Sister Qian knew about the sheep that had been brought to the market, but it was too late for her. The state-run restaurant had already bought a small portion, and then people in the residential compound were sharing the meat, so by the time she got to the market, it was all sold out. Even if it were available, she might not have been willing to buy it because it was too expensive. She sighed and said, "Two pounds of mutton? That's not cheap."
"It's the end of the month, we just received our bonuses," Lin Qingqing explained.
Sister Qian became curious upon hearing this: "Oh, your supply and marketing cooperative even offers bonuses?" She had been working at the supply and marketing cooperative in the family compound for several years, and her bonus was always 28 yuan a month without fail.
Actually, Sister Qian had heard about Lin Qingqing winning the bonus before, but the news had already passed through several hands, and she was too embarrassed to ask Lin Qingqing directly, so she remained skeptical. Only now, hearing Lin Qingqing mention it herself, did Sister Qian finally ask her about it.
"Not everyone gets it; it's based on performance, and the top three get the bonus."
As the three of them arrived at the cafeteria, Lin Qingqing habitually went to the window where the older sister was. The older sister, who usually went to other windows, followed behind Lin Qingqing to ask, "How much bonus do the top three get?"
"The monthly bonus is eight yuan for the first place, five yuan for the second place, and three yuan for the third place. The quarterly bonus is fifteen yuan for the first place, ten yuan for the second place, and five yuan for the third place."
Hearing about the eight, five, fifteen, and ten yuan notes, Sister Qian was a little dazed: "So much? How much bonus did you get yesterday?"
"I received twenty-three yesterday," Lin Qingqing said, then explained to Sister Qian that it was a new policy to encourage everyone, so the bonuses were distributed in quarters from September to November.
But Sister Qian ignored her subsequent explanation, her mind only focused on the number "twenty-three".
Twenty-three! That's almost a month's salary!
After getting breakfast, Sister Qian went straight to the table where Lin Qingqing and Xie Wei were sitting. She sat down opposite them and asked, "Sister, does your supply and marketing cooperative need any more people? I've been with our supply and marketing cooperative for four years, and I haven't made a single mistake in the accounts or lost a single item."
Lin Qingqing explained that the reason for giving out bonuses was to avoid people thinking they lived extravagantly, buying two jin of mutton at a time when it only cost a few yuan. She thought that by using the bonus as an excuse to celebrate by buying mutton, people would at most say they didn't know how to manage their money, and nothing more. However, she didn't expect the gossip to escalate to the point that Sister Qian even considered quitting her job.
Lin Qingqing said, both amused and exasperated, "I haven't heard of them needing more people yet."
Sister Qian didn't make things difficult for Lin Qingqing and said, "If you get a job, just let me know, okay?"
"It's no problem to say something, but there are some things I need to make clear to you. Our supply and marketing cooperative has ten counters, and only the top three salespersons in terms of sales volume receive bonuses. So even if you join our supply and marketing cooperative, I can't guarantee that you will definitely receive a bonus."
Upon hearing this, Sister Qian sighed and said, "Of course I understand." But before she finished speaking, she couldn't help but ask, "How much is your monthly turnover?"
This is a rather sensitive issue. Lin Qingqing didn't mention her monthly sales, but instead said, "My sales yesterday were over a hundred, but that's because a group of people came and bought more than ten pieces of clothing. It's not usually that high."
"So high? That means you must make three or four thousand a month!" Sister Qian exclaimed in surprise.
Lin Qingqing chuckled: "As I just told you, yesterday was a special case; we don't usually have that many cases."
Sister Qian thought to herself, "Normally, I can only make fifty or sixty yuan a day at most, right? This month's turnover is over a thousand yuan, which is almost as much as the entire monthly turnover of their supply and marketing cooperative!"
Thinking about this, Sister Qian understood why Lin Qingqing was able to receive the highest-level bonus. If someone in their supply and marketing cooperative could achieve such results, the cooperative director might also be willing to award that bonus.
But because of this, Sister Qian's feverish mind gradually cooled down.
Although she and Lin Qingqing were not in the same supply and marketing cooperative, she did not believe that Xingfeng Women's Clothing went from being unknown three months ago to now being a source of pride for military dependents who all owned a piece of Xingfeng brand women's clothing, simply because the clothes were well-made.
Leaving aside other places, in the family compound, everyone Sister Qian knew who bought Xingfeng clothes would specifically add, "This style of dressing was taught to me by Commander Xie's wife; she said I look good in it." It's less about them liking the clothes themselves and more about them liking the outfits Lin Qingqing created for them.
Sister Qian doubted her own abilities and lost confidence in receiving a bonus for switching jobs to the Qingshan Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
...
On his way back after breakfast, Xie Wei picked a branch from a dead tree by the roadside and took it back to stick on the snowman.
They had just finished setting up the snowman when Yu Xiuhong from next door got up and came out. She opened the door, looked at the yard, and asked in surprise, "Is this the snowman you built? When did you build it? I didn't even know."
“I piled them up last night,” Lin Qingqing replied.
Yu Xiuhong recalled that Lin Qingqing didn't get back until after nine o'clock last night and couldn't help but sigh, "You two really have a lot of leisure time."
"It didn't take much time," Lin Qingqing said.
Yu Xiuhong wasn't saying it was a waste of time; it was just that in the dead of winter, she didn't even want to take her hands out of the house. But these two, who were building a snowman late at night, were now tinkering with it again early in the morning.
Yu Xiuhong couldn't understand Lin Qingqing and her husband's behavior, but Chen Jianbang couldn't move when he saw the snowman outside and asked Lin Qingqing, "What's its name?"
"What kind of name can a snowman have?" Yu Xiuhong said impatiently. "Hurry up and let's go. You still have to go to school after you finish eating."
Chen Jianbang pouted and refused to leave. Lin Qingqing saw this and said, "Its name is Sanmao. Why don't you go eat? You can play with it again when you come back at noon, okay?"
Will it still be there when I come back at noon?
"Of course, it'll still be there when you come back tonight," Lin Qingqing said with a smile. Today looks like a cloudy day; the sun won't come out and the snow won't melt.
Chen Jianbang waved to the snowman and said, "I'm leaving now, see you tonight, Sanmao."
After Yu Xiuhong and Chen Jianbang left, Xie Wei was also about to leave. Lin Qingqing, however, had some time before going to work, so she went back inside and dozed off for a while before getting up to go to work.
...
Good morning, Manager Lin!
When Lin Qingqing entered the supply and marketing cooperative, the sales clerks who had already started work called out to her. She smiled and nodded, then went upstairs back to her counter.
Despite her promotion, Lin Qingqing remained at her post until further notice. She started by taking inventory of the stock as required, then began organizing the counter. The customers who came yesterday afternoon had bought over a dozen items, leaving a large empty space on the wooden board behind the counter; she needed to fill it with the empty clothes as soon as possible.
While arranging the clothes, Sister He came over, forcing a smile as she asked, "Manager Lin, do you need any help?" Over this period, her way of addressing Lin Qingqing had changed from "Comrade Lin" to "Qingqing" to "Comrade Lin," and finally to "Manager Lin."
"No need, I'm almost done. You go ahead and do your own thing," Lin Qingqing said calmly.
Helpless, Sister He returned to the fabric counter. As she sat down, she heard Miao Hui snort coldly, and her face immediately darkened. But remembering that she only had less than one chance left to receive a demerit, she ultimately remained silent and swallowed her anger as she sat down.
After being reprimanded yesterday, Miao Hui was not as arrogant today. She only expressed her disdain with a cold snort, and then fell silent after receiving no response.
As Lin Qingqing hung up the last piece of clothing, Director Gao came up the stairs. She went to the watch counter first to ask about Lao Zhou's injuries. Actually, she didn't need to ask to tell that although Lao Zhou's marks were still there, they weren't swollen and had scabbed over a bit, but she still had to ask.
After hearing from Lao Zhou that he was alright, Director Gao patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's good that you're alright."
After speaking with Lao Zhou, Director Gao walked to Lin Qingqing's counter and said, "Come up with me for a bit."
Lin Qingqing quickly agreed and asked Miao Hui to watch the counter for her. Miao Hui was taken aback when she was called upon, but quickly responded, "Okay, okay."
After Lin Qingqing and Director Gao went upstairs, Gao frowned slightly, wondering what Lin Qingqing meant. Wasn't she at odds with him? Why was she asking for his help? Was that asking for help just now, or giving him orders?
While Miao Hui was speculating about Lin Qingqing's intentions, Sister He was also lost in thought, wondering why Lin Qingqing had instructed Miao Hui to do things but not her. Hadn't they agreed that she wouldn't blame her? Did she still hold a grudge?
Lin Qingqing, who followed Director Gao upstairs, did not try to guess what He Miao and the other person were thinking. After sitting down in the office, she asked directly, "Director Gao, is there something you need me for?"
Director Gao asked, "How does it feel to be a store manager?"
"I was very happy yesterday, but today, after calming down, I feel the pressure."
"Pressure is good; it's what drives us," Director Gao said. "What are your plans for the future?"
Which aspect are you referring to?
“Everything related to the overall development of the supply and marketing cooperative,” Director Gao said after thinking for a moment. “Let’s start with the position of store manager, because this is a new position with no precedent to follow. So after you were promoted, I was thinking about whether to let you continue to stay at the Xingfeng counter and take on the responsibility of managing the store, or to let you be completely dedicated to management.”
Lin Qingqing didn't rush to express her opinion: "Which arrangement do you prefer?"
From a profit perspective, Director Gao naturally hoped that Lin Qingqing would stay at the Xingfeng counter, knowing that her individual sales revenue was equivalent to the entire supply and marketing cooperative's monthly revenue. Although Xingfeng Clothing had gained a good reputation, Director Gao felt that if someone else took over, the sales revenue would likely decline.
However, Director Gao was worried that if Lin Qingqing stayed at her counter, she wouldn't have enough time to manage the other counters. The development of a single counter is always limited, and only when all counters develop together can the supply and marketing cooperative achieve good development.
After a moment of contemplation, Director Gao asked, "If you are no longer in charge of the Xingfeng counter, who do you think would be more suitable to take over your job?"
“That depends on what you expect. If you just want its turnover to stay in the top three, you can send anyone.” Xingfeng’s reputation is already established, and even if you change people, you won’t have to worry about customers. But… Lin Qingqing said, “If you want it to maintain its current turnover, or even go further, I don’t think anyone in the store department can do that right now.”
Director Gao nodded; this was precisely what troubled her: "What solutions do you have for this?"
"If we don't have talent, we can cultivate talent."
Director Gao's eyes lit up: "Do you have any good ideas?"
...
At 5 PM, Xu Fangfang went downstairs to ask everyone to close the doors early and to notify all members of the supply and marketing cooperative to attend a meeting. Hearing that there was another meeting, everyone began to murmur amongst themselves:
"I get dreaded just thinking about meetings now. Could it be that someone has gotten into trouble again?"
"Yes, we just had a meeting yesterday, and we have another one today."
"Yesterday was Director Gao's meeting, but today... Hmph, a new broom sweeps clean!"
Amidst the murmurs, everyone gathered on the first floor. Once everyone was assembled, Director Gao led Lin Qingqing down the stairs. She walked up to them, pointed at Lin Qingqing, and said, "You all know Comrade Lin Qingqing, our newly appointed department manager of the supply and marketing cooperative's store."
"I know him." Everyone laughed. After working together for several months, how could they not know each other?
Director Gao's face also lit up with a smile: "This meeting will be chaired by Manager Lin. Let's give him a round of applause."
Everyone raised their hands and applauded. Amid the applause, Lin Qingqing walked to the center, and when she saw that it was about time, she raised her hand to signal everyone to stop and said, "I called you all here for a meeting today to announce two things."
"First, after discussing with Director Gao, we decided to increase the number of people receiving rewards from three to five. The top performer will receive a monthly reward of ten yuan and a quarterly reward of twenty yuan. The second-best performer will receive eight yuan and a quarterly reward of fifteen yuan... The fifth-best performer will receive one yuan per month and three yuan per quarter."
After hearing Lin Qingqing's words, the people who had been complaining about the meeting forgot what they had said and cheered. Because Lin Qingqing, Sister Zheng, and Sister He had been in the top three for two consecutive months, many sales clerks felt hopeless and had given up.
But now, hearing that the top five will receive a prize, many disheartened people have rekindled their hope.
Although the top three performers are far apart, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh performers are quite similar. Even though the fifth-ranked performer only earns one yuan a month, every little bit counts, so we have to keep working hard!
After giving everyone enough time to process the good news, Lin Qingqing coughed to signal everyone to be quiet. However, she had only recently taken over the position, and although everyone knew she was the manager, they didn't fear her like they feared Director Gao because they knew she was easygoing. So even though they heard her cough, they didn't stop talking.
Lin Qingqing observed this, but her smile remained unchanged. She simply said in a half-joking tone, "If you want to talk, then I won't announce the good news next?"
Upon hearing that it was good news, everyone immediately quieted down, and someone even said, "Manager Lin, you say it, and we promise not to say a word."
Lin Qingqing looked around at everyone and said, "The second thing is that in the future I will focus on the management of the store and will not have much energy to take care of the Xingfeng counter. So, in half a month, I will select a salesperson to specialize in selling Xingfeng women's clothing."
If Lin Qingqing hadn't stopped talking for fear of causing a commotion, everyone would definitely have started gossiping again. Even so, someone couldn't help but tentatively ask, "Manager Lin, who do you plan to choose for the Xingfeng counter?"
This question really resonated with everyone.
That's Xingfeng Women's Clothing counter! If I could transfer there, I could at least be in the top three, if not the top performer, right? The third-place performer gets a five-yuan monthly bonus and a ten-yuan quarterly bonus, which is twenty-five yuan extra per quarter.
For a moment, everyone's eyes lit up as they stared at Lin Qingqing.
"In two weeks, I will arrange an exam, and the person who comes in first place will become a sales clerk at Xingfeng counter."
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but start chattering: "There's going to be an exam? What will it be about?"
"I haven't been to school for years, I'm no good at exams!"
After the initial discussion, everyone snapped out of their daze and quickly quieted down, refocusing their attention on Lin Qingqing. Lin Qingqing smiled and said, "Don't worry, everyone. This time, we won't be testing Chinese, math, or politics; we'll only be testing your major-related knowledge."
Some people are confused: "Then what is meant by 'professional content'?"
"First of all, it's about service attitude. I believe everyone has noticed that we've had more customers since we improved our service attitude, haven't we?"
"yes."
"So our first assessment is on service attitude," Lin Qingqing said. "Finally, since we're selecting sales clerks for the women's clothing counter, the candidates must have a certain aesthetic sense and be able to coordinate outfits. This is our second assessment item. Finally, as sales clerks, we may encounter all sorts of questions from customers, so we must have a certain level of adaptability. This is our last assessment item."
When it comes to service attitude, everyone is quite confident. Looking around, there aren't any salespeople in the entire city with such good service. As for adaptability, everyone feels that after so many years as salespeople, they've dealt with countless customers, so their adaptability must be excellent.
The difficulty lies in the aesthetics.
Zhou Xiaofang asked, "Aesthetic sense is subjective; everyone has their own. How can you assess that?"
“It’s simple, just get me to approve of your aesthetic sense,” Lin Qingqing said.
This was the result of a discussion between Lin Qingqing and Director Gao. Director Gao believed that since Lin Qingqing had been able to make Xingfeng Women's Clothing a success, it meant that customers trusted her aesthetic sense. Therefore, the aesthetic sense of someone she approved of was likely to be approved of by customers as well.
It's easier said than done, especially for those whose aesthetic sense differs from Lin Qingqing's. They started to worry, wondering what to do.
Lin Qingqing's next words gave everyone hope: "Of course, don't be too discouraged. For the next two weeks, I will set aside one hour each day to teach you about these three exam topics. The classes will be held from six to seven o'clock in the cafeteria. Anyone who wants to compete for the Xingfeng counter sales position can sign up."
Some people felt the timing wasn't good: "What if we have to go home and cook?"
"Yes, I need to go back to take care of my family."
Lin Qingqing still had that same smiling face, but her words were exceptionally cold: "Those who want to participate in the assessment but can't find the time to attend classes can directly take the exam, as long as they don't complain in the end that it's unfair because they didn't attend any classes."
Those who had already decided to attend class quickly said, "That's right, no one is forcing you to go to class."
"I think whether or not to attend classes is a matter of personal choice. As long as you don't pass the final assessment, don't say it's unfair."
Listening to everyone's discussion, Lin Qingqing clapped her hands and said, "Interested colleagues, come and sign up with me tomorrow morning. Okay, meeting adjourned!"
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