Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 252

This is an important supporting character in the story of "Man is Iron, Rice is Steel," a man who went from being a farmer to a worker and then married Ding Qiunan, the factory doctor at the machine repair shop.

But shouldn't Cui Dake be in Nantai Commune? Why is he here at his own braised meat shop?

This is a complex world, not only with courtyard houses, but also with the young woman under the Zhengyang Gate. I also learned at the beginning that there was an affiliated factory called the machine repair factory under the steel rolling mill, where Xu Zhaodi and Yi Zhonghai's two adopted sons worked.

He Yuzhu soon found out the answer.

The accountant said, "You don't need to come tomorrow. All the original workers need to come back to work."

"Yes, I understand." Cui Dake's tone was full of resentment, and then he shouted, "It's all that capitalist's fault, now I've lost my job too."

Sighing, as she counted the money, she turned around and saw He Yuzhu standing at the door with a dark face.

This startled Cui Dake, who forced out a smile that looked worse than a grimace: "Hello, Boss He."

"What's so great about me? I'm just a capitalist," He Yuzhu said irritably.

Cui Dake looked embarrassed. It's normal to talk badly about others behind their backs, but he just didn't realize that he was talking badly about them to their face.

It would be too embarrassing to be caught red-handed.

He chuckled twice to cover his embarrassment, then lowered his head and left.

Accountant Na Yuejuan, however, was different from her previous cold demeanor. She quickly stood up from her chair and said with a smile:

"Manager He is here. Please have a seat."

He Yuzhu sat down and watched her take out the finest tea leaves to brew tea, then asked, "Is Cui Da a relative of Manager Cui?"

Na Yuejuan also felt guilty and said, "They all belong to Nantai Commune."

Now He Yuzhu understood. It must be because Cui Xiangjin became the manager that some of his fellow villagers came to him looking for a job.

Cui Xiangjin used an excuse to send several workers away and then recruited his fellow villagers.

But what he didn't expect was that he had reported the matter to Director Li, and now he had to send back all the people he had hired later, and bring back all the original workers.

Now, Cui Xiangjin had hired several people in his hometown, but they were all driven away. These fellow villagers would definitely complain about Cui Xiangjin.

His life back home was going to be tough from then on; he would be talked about behind his back wherever he went.

I don't know if they received any benefits in the process. If they did, their reputation will be even worse.

Na Yuejuan said with a smile, "Manager He, your salary will be paid in full, totaling 89.5 yuan. Starting next month, you will also receive a monthly position allowance of 5 yuan."

He Yuzhu asked, "Didn't I miss twenty days of work? Does that count as absenteeism?"

Na Yuejuan was embarrassed to say further: "Manager He, it was all because we misunderstood the policy before. Preparing the seasonings every day is also part of your job. How can you say that you were absent?"

He Yuzhu was too lazy to talk to her anymore. He took out a list from his pocket, handed it to her, and said, "This is the list of ingredients for this month. You can put it in the accounts as well."

The above description is very vague, lacking specific details; it's just a code name.

Na Yuejuan asked, "But there are no names on these."

“If I had the name and the amount, others could deduce the recipe, so of course I couldn’t write it all down.”

Na Yuejuan was very unwilling; such a list could not possibly be used as proof for reimbursement.

However, in order to keep the recipe a secret, He Yuzhu could not possibly list all the seasonings and their quantities.

If they don't reimburse me, and then I have to bring Director Li over again, I'll be the one who suffers in the end.

Na Yuejuan said, "Why don't you write a few mistakes next time? It's better than having no name at all."

As she spoke, Yuejuan casually wrote down the names and quantities of several seasonings.

In this way, it doesn't look so abrupt, and if you try to mix according to this list, it's impossible to create the correct recipe.

He Yuzhu nodded, now he knew how to do it.

Na Yuejuan said somewhat ingratiatingly, "By the way, Manager He, in the future, whether you take the bus or eat out, you can bring receipts for reimbursement. There is a certain reimbursement limit every month."

"Is this still possible?"

He Yuzhu was somewhat surprised, as he had never thought of reimbursing these expenses since he was running his own business.

"Of course, leading cadres have a certain reimbursement limit."

He Yuzhu asked about the specifics and then collected his 5 yuan wages before leaving the braised meat shop.

After a period of sales, radios, watches, and other items were almost sold out.

The three of them got together and settled the accounts. Ye Qingmo's share of the goods had already been sent to her, and she was to sell them herself in Suzhou.

Chen Xueru received all the Dacron fabric, plus some cash.

Most of the cash was given to Elena, while He Yuzhu received the remaining goods and a small portion of the cash.

After distributing the cash, He Yuzhu raised his glass and said, "Let's drink to the successful completion of our business."

"Cheers." Both women raised their glasses and drank the red wine in one gulp.

Elena remarked with some emotion, "Time flies so fast; in the blink of an eye, we've completed a major international business deal."

“Yes, I didn’t expect business to be so simple,” Chen Xueru said.

He Yuzhu and Elena exchanged a glance, both recalling the tense and complicated feelings they had after the goods were lost in Moscow.

Fortunately, every cloud has a silver lining, and the goods were recovered quite smoothly.

However, he didn't tell Chen Xueru any of these things, so as not to worry her.

Chen Xueru said with some disappointment, "A leader has already spoken to me, and I can't do the silk and cloth business next year."

He Yuzhu was surprised: "I already told you this?"

"Just a couple of days ago, a leader from the Commerce Bureau informed me that the export of silk and cloth products can only be carried out in the name of the state; private individuals cannot trade them in this way."

Silk is relatively easy to deal with, as it is a high-end raw material and not very relevant to ordinary people.

Fabrics are all cotton products, and there are not many available nationwide at present. Whether they can be exported and how much can be exported are both subject to regulation.

So they directly informed Chen Xueru that this kind of business could no longer be done.

"That's a shame. I thought I could do business again and make more this time."

Elena was very disappointed. This time, everyone made several times the profit. For example, He Yuzhu invested a total of 2 yuan, which turned into more than 7 yuan on the surface, tripling his investment.

It was less than expected, mainly because there were a lot of expenses involved. We needed to go through the embassy to get the wagons, and after arriving in Russia, we had to bribe some people, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get the wagons at all.

He Yuzhu's money tripled, and Chen Xueru, Elena, and Ye Qingmo also earned three times their original profit.

However, He Yuzhu also had an extra source of income: Andrei's family property and surplus goods in the warehouse.

These are all being sold slowly, and not all of them can be realized immediately.

Chen Xueru laughed and said, "You money-grubber, you've already made quite a bit of money this time. If you can't do it, then don't do it."

Chen Xueru runs a shop and has a stable income every day. Even if she can't do international business, it's not a big deal.

In her mind, what good could such a thing possibly do? It wouldn't matter if it didn't happen.

He Yuzhu said, "Actually, if we don't do the fabric business, can we do other businesses?"

Chen Xueru was already familiar with silk fabrics, so the two of them started their trade from there.

Elena asked excitedly, "Pillar, what are your ideas? What kind of business should we do?"

“I’ve been thinking about what we could do if the silk business couldn’t continue.”

"Have you thought of anything?" Elena asked excitedly, shaking He Yuzhu's arm.

Seeing the two so intimately together, Chen Xueru couldn't help but feel suspicious. They were being too close; had they crossed the line from friendship to something more?

The more you look at it, the more it resembles He Yuzhu, especially the way Elena looks at him, which is full of tenderness and admiration.

Eager to make money, Elena quickly realized something was amiss; Chen Xueru was still there. Embarrassed, she released He Yuzhu and then asked seriously:

"What business is it?"

He Yuzhu said, "I inquired around there for a while and found that there are relatively few fruits in Moscow, and they are all ridiculously expensive."

"Yes, we're located in the north, where fruit is scarce and expensive, so you want to start a fruit business?"

After asking, I couldn't help but say, "Your idea is not feasible; the fruit will spoil before it even gets there."

Before He Yuzhu could answer, Chen Xueru understood and couldn't help but say, "Elena, are you stupid? Fruit can't be transported there, but we can put it in cans and transport it there."

Elena suddenly realized, "That's right, we can go into the canned fruit business."

He Yuzhu said, "It's still late summer and early autumn now, which is perfect for making canned goods."

Then they asked, "The most important thing is whether we can get a wagon after we finish making it."

Unfortunately, this business is quite a big deal, so it can't be done privately. Otherwise, I would have just taken it away from my space.

Elena was the most enthusiastic, saying, "There shouldn't be any problem with the wagons; I'll coordinate it."

Chen Xueru, however, had more to think about: "Zhu Zi, can you guarantee you'll get enough canned goods with this business?"

The canned goods business is different from the silk business. Ye Qingmo organized the supply of silk, and she easily obtained all the goods in Suzhou City, so He Yuzhu and Chen Xueru didn't need to worry about it at all.

But canned food is different; none of the three of them had that kind of resource.

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "This time I'll organize it. You can provide the funding, and the rules will remain the same: we'll split the profits equally."

This time, Chen Xueru and Ye Qingmo didn't contribute anything, so they were actually dispensable. It wouldn't have been a problem even if they weren't involved in making this money.