Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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“Ye Ning, this way.” Li Xiulan waved to Ye Ning, “Are you okay?”
“Okay, what’s the matter? I just saw several colleagues who were having difficulty walking.” Ye Ning couldn’t help but think of the scene just now, and want to laugh.
Li Xiulan shrank her legs. She had done the same thing when climbing the stairs. She didn’t feel it when she got home yesterday. But when she woke up, she found that her legs no longer seemed hers.
“I feel pain too, why don’t you feel pain?”
“I rubbed the tendons when I went back yesterday, so I’m fine today.” Ye Ning stretched out her hand and squeezed Li Xiulan’s thigh, and she almost cried out in pain.
Not only was it painful and sore, but it was also indescribably uncomfortable.
“I’ll give you a couple of squeezes, and you’ll feel much better in a while.” Ye Ning glanced around, “Yang Wanqing and the others didn’t come?”
“Many people got up late today, and Bai Xue and Yang Wanqing simply called in sick and didn’t come.” Li Xiulan was glad that she was wearing Jiefang shoes.
Thinking that one of them had high heels and the other leather shoes, it was understandable that they were on sick leave today. Ye Ning gave Li Xiulan a few pinches with a little force. Seeing her twisted face, she asked her to stand up and try.
“Hey, it really doesn’t hurt that much anymore. I’ll get off work at noon, then I’ll ask my mother to squeeze it for me.” While eating, Li Xiulan told Ye Ning about some things in the factory.
Ye Ning said she was an assistant, but she was not from the office. She belonged to the production department, but she was not in the workshop below, so she was neither above nor below. She didn’t know what was going on in the office, and she didn’t know what gossip was going on in the factory, so there was severe message blockage.
Li Xiulan was different. She worked in the Propaganda Department, which was the starting and end point of gossip. Any notices that the factory leaders needed to issue must go through the Propaganda Department.
Now that she knew her, she knew everything about the factory, and Ye Ning also knew all the gossip.
Yesterday she went hiking to make friends, mainly because she wanted to go out for a walk. It was an unexpected surprise to be able to make friends with Li Xiulan.
“Ye Ning, if you have something to do, try your best to go to the purchasing department. It’s not good to stay in the production department all the time.” Li Xiulan glanced around, leaned close to Ye Ning and whispered, “Do you remember when you went back to Nancheng?”
“Of course.” It was her first business trip to the factory, how could she forget it.
“Last time, they actually went to meet a big shot, but they just used another name as a cover. If you can get into the purchasing department, you might be able to go abroad.” Li Xiulan’s family connections were average, so there was no hope of getting into the purchasing department, but when she saw Ye Ning had such a good relationship with Wang Yao, she couldn’t help but remind her.
“What’s going on?” Ye Ning had been abroad before, so her interest was average, and she didn’t have the eagerness to hear about the opportunity to go abroad.
“The biggest competitor of our factory is Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical in Xijiang Province. I heard that their factory has imported a batch of imported equipment that can produce higher-end drugs. They have taken away a lot of our market share. Then the factory director also wants to introduce high-end equipment, but the foreign exchange is tight and we have never been approved. The time you went to Nancheng was actually to meet with the supplier. Through the efforts of the leaders, the supplier agreed to sell us the equipment and pay in installments.” Li Xiulan said.
This kind of mood was something Ye Ning did not possess. After all, she was from a later generation and could not understand the emotional bond between a worker and the factory in this era.
“The installment also requires foreign exchange. Has the superior agreed?” Ye Ning asked with a smile.
“Yes.” Li Xiulan nodded excitedly, “It has been approved. The technicians will go to the supplier’s head office to learn technology. I heard that people in the purchasing department also have opportunities, so I asked you to find a way to get in and then find connections, and go abroad.”
Ye Ning shook her head. She and Wang Yao were classmates and friends. Wang Yao had already done her a huge favour by helping her get into the factory. There was no need to owe another big favour for an opportunity to go abroad.
“I won’t join in the fun. There will always be opportunities to go abroad in the future.” In fact, Ye Ning felt that any country was inferior to her own. Li Xiulan sighed regretfully. If she had Ye Ning’s connections, she would definitely want to grab a place to go abroad.
On this day, Ye Ning had just returned to the office from the workshop when the phone rang.
“Who is it?”
“Hello, does Comrade Ye Ning work here? Oh, I’m her relative.”
From the sound of his voice, she knew it was Director Liu who had sold her a shop in the mall. Ye Ning smiled and said, “I am.”
“That’s really the best. Our shopping mall has been built. The boss has informed us to come over this weekend to draw lots. Are you free?” Director Liu had a good impression of Ye Ning.
“I’m free, weekend morning or afternoon? What time?” Ye Ning remembered that Director Liu also wanted to talk about the order of the draw.
“It starts at nine o’clock in the morning. I personally suggest that you come early.” Director Liu thought of the group of aunts. With Ye Ning’s small body, she might not be able to beat them if she came late.
“Actually, it’s okay to come later. The shop’s price varies, so you won’t necessarily buy the one you get.”
“I understand.” Ye Ning understood what he meant. She had used tickets to buy things and had seen the fighting power of the aunts. She was not sure whether she could beat the aunts, she never had confidence.
“Who was it?” Director Yang took off her mask and asked.
“It’s a relative of mine who asked me to go to his house for dinner on the weekend.” Ye Ning didn’t intend to let anyone in the factory know about her shop purchase, including Director Yang.
No matter in which era, buying a shop was a major event in life. As a little girl who had lost her parents, she bought four shops easily. This would definitely attract the attention of outsiders. She was afraid there will be a lot of rumours by then. It was best to just not tell anyone, just keep silent and get rich.
“Yes. Please hurry up and sort out the document I gave you this morning. I’ll need it later.” Director Yang was just more rigorous about her work. She didn’t care about personal issues and didn’t have the time to do so.
This was also what Ye Ning liked. Some leaders were very gossipy and always wanting to get to the bottom of things. She hated to lie to people for a long time.
The weekend came soon. Ye Ning talked to Ye An and asked him if he wanted to go draw lots with her.
“Sister, you can just go. I have to wash the vegetables and pickle the pickles tomorrow.” If Ye Ning didn’t say anything, Ye An would have forgotten the matter about buying a shop.
The children of the poor grew fast, and they learnt the concept of money very early. If it were not for money, their father would not go out to work, and he would not die outside, so he knew very well that money was a very important thing, but compared to his sister, money for him was not that important.
“Okay, I’ll tell you when I get back.” It felt good to be trusted wholeheartedly. It was not that Ye Lan didn’t trust her, it could only be said that her thoughts went in a different direction. Even though Ye An was sensible, he didn’t know everything. He also didn’t think comprehensively enough. Ye Lan had more to think about. If the eldest sister lost, she would say that sister still had a lot of money on hand, so the family would not be unable to uncover the truth.
Unexpectedly, a lot of people came. Ye Ning took a look and saw that there were at least sixty or seventy people. There were so many shops being sold. When she walked in, she realized that they were all from one household, or two or three from one household. No wonder there were so many people.
Ye Ning was young and beautiful. So, as soon as she came in, she attracted a lot of people’s attention, especially the eyes of the aunts, who looked at her openly.
“You also bought the shop here?” One of the aunts glanced at the document bag Ye Ning was carrying. Knowing that they were inseparable, she immediately became more enthusiastic, “You are the only one to do such a big thing. Where are your parents?”
“They have to work overtime, so I came for drawing the lots.” Ye Ning lined up, nodded to her, quickly took out the document bag, took out the contract and looked at it carefully, avoiding the questioning of the aunts.
She thought she could escape this way, but she didn’t know that it attracted more and more attention from the aunts.
“Do you understand the contract? What does it mean? Tell me about it!”
“That’s all the contract is about. My son said this mall was built by the government. It’s true. Girl, where do you work? Are you dating?”
The topic changed unexpectedly, and Ye Ning coughed and smiled shyly without saying a word.
“Hey, I’m sorry. It looks like you haven’t found anyone yet. Your parents are really relieved even when you have to draw lots for such a big thing. What if the draw goes wrong?” Another aunt looked Ye Ning up and down, asked with a smile: “How many shops did you buy?”
“The leader is out.” Ye Ning pointed at Director Liu and did not answer any of their questions.
Director Liu directed people to move a large table out and block the door. Someone came to the office carrying the bucket and apparently went inside to smoke.
“Sorry, something has been delayed for a while. After intense discussions among the leaders, the rules may need to be changed slightly. Today, lots will be drawn according to the order of purchase.” Seeing many people arguing there, Director Liu raised his hand to suppress it. “I know some uncles and aunts came to line up very early, but what the leaders said is right. What about those who were the first to trust us and buy shops in the mall? Don’t worry, everyone, there are many shops, and you will definitely be able to get the position you like.”
After that, he took out a list, which was ranked according to the order of signing the contract.
“Humph, how fair is it? I think someone came late and then asked the leader to reschedule.” The aunt standing next to Ye Ning mocked.
Ye Ning glanced at her and said nothing. Anyway, she was at the back of the queue or in the order of signing the contract, so it didn’t matter.
The lottery was much slower than Ye Ning imagined. Many people had to discuss which location to choose. The prices of each shop was different. Some people felt that it was okay to be closer to the inside, while others felt that they would rather spend more money to be closer to the outside. This led to differences, and it became difficult to make a decision.
According to this progress, Ye Ning felt that the draws would not be completed until next year. There were problems with the rules themselves. There was no way they could be changed after the draws. However, in the early stage of reform, it was difficult to demand perfection.
Not long after, Director Liu was called to the office. After a while, he came out sweating profusely.
Then a new rule was announced. All those who drew lots could only choose the shop above. After everyone drew lots, those who had drawn lots before could choose to change among the remaining shops, but there was only one chance.
In this way, the speed increased. Almost an hour later it was Ye Ning’s turn. She drew four bamboo sticks, all in good positions, two in front and two in the middle.
“Congratulations to Comrade Ye Ning, would you choose the first floor or the second floor?”
Ye Ning: “?” Was there still such a choice?
“First floor.”
“The two outer rooms on the first floor need to be paid 200 yuan each.” The leader said with a smile.
“That’s no problem.”
Ye Ning asked directly, “Can you replace the one in the middle of these two with the one outside?” The difference was only two hundred, so of course she chose the outside.
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