Chapter 175 Professor Making Bags
So Ziyi and Yike went home to get busy, and soon the captain's wife came over with her two daughters.
This time, I made a backpack. The sides, front and small bag inside the bag were made of scraps of cloth. There was no zipper, so I sewed it with long strips of cloth to fasten it. Although it is not as good-looking as the backpack in my previous life, mainly because it is not stiff enough and is soft, it is practical.
The captain's two daughters, Jinxia and Caixia, are very smart. They can learn something after being taught only once. Not only did they write down the numbers, they also helped Yi Ke divide and tie the packages one by one, so that he could just give them directly to the production team leader when the time came. When they returned home, Yike gave them five kilograms of fine rice and five kilograms of flour. The captain's wife said she didn't want anything, but finally she said in a fierce manner that if they didn't accept her, she would not ask them to work anymore, so they had to accept her.
In the afternoon, the captains of each team came with money to collect the cloth, and then delivered it to each household after taking it back. After dinner in the evening, the women gathered at the brigade headquarters. The men, who usually acted like manly men, changed their usual habits of lying down after eating, or bragging and chatting with their buddies, and stayed at home to help take care of the children. The mother-in-law urged her daughter-in-law to go to the team headquarters quickly and get a good position. I don’t want my daughter-in-law to wash the dishes at home, I wash them myself…
Ziyi accompanied Yike to the brigade headquarters, where the conference room was packed with women. Fortunately, Yike had requested early on that only one person from each family be allowed to come, otherwise the meeting room would have been too crowded.
"Ziyi's wife, you're here. Come on, everyone, make way and let Ziyi's wife go to the front." The women's director helped to maintain order and led Yike to the front of the meeting room.
There is a small blackboard in front of the conference room, just big enough for drawing. So Yike drew the pattern of the backpack, marked it with numbers, and taught them how to sew it according to the numbers. Every woman of that era knew how to sew clothes, so they understood immediately after Yike explained it. Yike even regretted that she didn't have enough desire to be a teacher.
"Honey, do you think they will be ready tonight?" Yi Ke asked worriedly.
"Of course, so we have to work overtime when we go back and cut out the remaining fabrics at home. We will send them to make after they deliver the goods tomorrow. This way, everyone can make money every day and won't go hungry." Ziyi added, "I will call Brother Tang tomorrow morning and ask him to take this batch of goods and distribute them to the brothers to sell."
"Tell him to bring some food here. If the villagers are willing to exchange for food, we will give them the food directly without having to buy it on the black market." Yi Ke said.
Ziyi nodded: "Yes. We are a little more expensive than the grain station, but cheaper than the black market. It's already very cheap if we don't ask for grain coupons. Alas, we are all poor! Now that we are here, we can't change the whole society, but we must do our best to help the people in front of us."
Yi Ke sighed, "It's this fabric that's hard to come by. Thanks to cousin Bao'er, I was able to get so much fabric this time. What should I do next?"
Ziyi put his arm around Yike's shoulders, waved the flashlight around, and whispered, "I'm going to use the excuse of selling bags this time to go to those fabric or clothing factories. I believe I can buy cheap fabrics there."
"Then why don't you not sell the bags first, but sign a contract with the factory before selling them." Yi Ke also whispered.
"Yes, I went to the factory to buy the fabric and then sold it. We signed a contract. Although we don't have a factory and it's a private transaction, signing a contract has no effect. But the factory manager is afraid, haha, he's afraid that we will report it with the contract. Besides, we only want their processed fabrics and some scraps of fabric, so they can't raise the price much, unless they make bags themselves and sell them."
"That's what I'm worried about." But when I thought about the shining eyes of those women and the fact that I wouldn't be able to do this job in the future, I felt a little bit reluctant.
"We can't set up factories in the countryside. This is only temporary. It's good enough to make some money to solve the current difficulties. Don't be too greedy. Have you forgotten what era it is now?"
Yike and Ziyi went home in a bad mood to work overtime.
Early the next morning, Yike had just opened the door when he was frightened by the person at the door and screamed. Ziyi quickly came out of the kitchen and asked in surprise, "What's the matter?"
Outside the courtyard, several production team leaders were standing with backpacks on their backs. The secretary, team leader and accountant were also standing outside the door.
Ziyi touched Yike's head and said, "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!" He also patted Yike's back gently. Yi Ke's face turned red in an instant and she quickly pushed away his hand that was touching her head.
"Hahahaha, oh, I didn't expect that our Ziyi has such a side. You treat Yike like a child, hahahaha." The captain laughed.
"Secretary, team leader, accountant, and captains, why are you here so early?" Yi Ke greeted them awkwardly.
"Hey, let's go inside and talk. Come on, let's go. Why don't you invite us in?" The secretary took the lead and walked towards the main room.
Ziyi and Yike followed the other cadres into the main hall. Yike quickly went to the kitchen and poured a bowl of sugar water for everyone. Fortunately, I cut the fabric too late last night, so I boiled water and put it in the thermos, otherwise where would I get boiled water so early in the morning.
"It's so sweet, thank you very much. We are very hungry, and this sugar water is just right to relieve our hunger." The secretary picked up the bowl and drank it in a few sips.
"Ziyi, Ziyi's wife, can you please take a look at these bags?" After drinking the sugar water, the captains took out the bags from their backpacks and showed them to Yi Ke.
Ziyi and Yike checked carefully and found that women of this era were really dexterous. The hand-sewn bags they made were as good as those made by machines in the past.
Yike calculated in his mind the price of the cloth he bought. Scraps of cloth were one cent per pound, and the prices of processed cloth varied, so the average was five cents per foot (good plain cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative was 0.15 yuan per foot, and twill cloth was 0.25 yuan per foot). The cost price was about twenty cents, and he didn't know how much this bag could be sold for. The school bags at the supply and marketing cooperative were one yuan each, so the estimated price of the bag he made was at least two yuan each. After deducting the cost, he could make at least one yuan and eighty cents.
Yi Ke said to the secretary and the team leader, "Secretary, team leader, accountant, and team leaders, I bought defective fabrics this time, so the price is relatively cheap, and the cost price this time is not high. If there is no defective fabric to buy in the future, the cost will definitely be high, and then the calculation cannot be based on this time. If you have no objection, we can continue to make it if we can still buy fabric in the future. If we can't buy it, there is nothing we can do. Everyone knows that this fabric is hard to buy."
"This is normal, prices are subject to change. We will explain it clearly to the members. In fact, if you don't tell us, no one will know that the fabric this time is defective. You two can't be so honest, or you will suffer in the future." The secretary taught.
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