As soon as Qian Shulan left the family quarters, she headed straight for a nearby guesthouse. However, when she inquired, she was shocked to learn that the price was 1.5 yuan per night.
A pound of rice is only 1.4 cents, but it costs 1.5 yuan to stay for a night. That's more than ten pounds of rice. It's a rip-off, it's so expensive!
Therefore, Qian Shulan changed her mind and wanted to find a house nearby for a few days. Anyway, it was still early, and if she couldn't find a suitable place to live, she could come back later.
Liuguan County is a small county town, and the guesthouse is rarely crowded, so Qian Shulan is not worried about having no place to live.
However, she was unlucky. She asked several families but they all said that their houses were too crowded and they had no rooms for rent.
Qian Shulan was a little disappointed.
Just when she had nowhere to go, she suddenly thought of the scalper Zhang Shitou whom she had met before. He should know a lot of people. After all, he must know a lot of things when he walks around the streets.
After making up her mind, Qian Shulan immediately went to the alley where Zhang Shitou often stayed to look for him.
Who would have thought that Zhang Shitou was not there at all.
Qian Shulan could only go to the Hongqi Hotel to ask Boss Du. When she learned that Zhang Shitou would not come until the afternoon, Qian Shulan asked Boss Du if there was anyone who wanted to rent a house nearby.
Du Dahai tilted his head and thought for a long time, and finally he thought of a place, "It just so happens that I know a girl who lives alone. I'll ask her if she can rent a room for you."
Qian Shulan's eyes lit up and she immediately thanked him.
Du Dahai waved his hand, "It's not worth it."
It just so happened that it wasn’t time for dinner yet, so Du Dahai asked his apprentice to do some work while he went out to look for someone.
Qian Shulan felt that she and Du Dahai were just nodding acquaintances, at best acquaintances, not even friends. Qian Shulan felt that she should show some appreciation for his help, so she went to the department store to buy something as a thank you gift for Du Dahai, which was also a way of returning the favor.
She thought that Du Dahai was a cook, and giving him a knife might be just what he liked.
You didn’t need industrial coupons to buy knives at the time, so Qian Shulan bought three at once.
She had already bought two of them before, and also bought five large iron pans.
Why buy so many? Actually, it is also just in case. If the family is divided in the future, it will be difficult for the sons to buy iron pots. After all, how can they get industrial coupons in the countryside
Now she bought it in advance, just in case.
When she returned to the hotel, not long after, Du Dahai came in with a girl.
Qian Shulan didn't expect that it was an acquaintance.
"Comrade Jiang? Why is it you?"
Jiang Yuying didn't expect that the person Uncle Du was talking about was actually this old lady, and she was very satisfied. These days, her eldest aunt has been bringing people to her house to make trouble. She has changed the door locks, and they can't get in. They had to knock on the door in the middle of the night to make her sleep poorly. She came to eat in this listless manner for several days in a row, and was naturally seen by Uncle Du. She complained to Uncle Du, but she didn't expect that he would introduce someone to live with her. With someone living together, her eldest aunt will definitely not dare to come and make trouble again. After all, the other party has nothing to do with her eldest aunt, and it is not a relative dispute, and the street office dare not smooth things over. This is also the reason why she has to rent the house to others even though she is not short of money.
Du Dahai was a little surprised, "Do you know each other?"
Jiang Yuying and Qian Shulan laughed happily, and Qian Shulan explained to Du Dahai how they met.
Du Dahai sighed towards Jiang Yuying, "Why don't you find a man to marry? With your husband's family backing you up, you'll suffer less!"
But after hearing this, the smile on Jiang Yuying's face faded. She shook her head stubbornly, "Uncle Du, no need. I won't get married!"
Du Dahai also knew her concerns, so he didn't say anything. Instead, he talked about renting a house. He smiled at Qian Shulan and said, "You said you want to stay for ten days. I thought you can bring your own food and just pay two dollars."
Because it is a short-term rental, it is twice as expensive as a long-term rental.
Qian Shulan could understand and nodded in agreement.
Qian Shulan gave the knife she bought to Du Dahai, but he refused to accept it.
Qian Shulan insisted that he accept it, and at the end she said with some embarrassment, "Boss Du, actually, I want you to do me a favor. If you don't accept it, I'm embarrassed to ask for it."
Hearing this, Du Dahai asked, "What's the matter?"
Qian Shulan didn't have anything to say, she just said it casually, so she pretended to be embarrassed and looked at the people around her, "I'll tell you later."
Du Dahai thought that the favor she wanted from him might be a little difficult to express and not easy to tell other people, so after thinking about it, he accepted it.
I was still thinking that if I couldn't help, I would just return the things.
Jiang Yuying helped Qian Shulan carry the package, and the two left the Hongqi Hotel one after the other.
When Jiang Yuying and Qian Shulan walked to the gate of their home, they suddenly heard a burst of beating and scolding from next door.
Jiang Yuying smiled helplessly, and Qian Shulan was a little puzzled, but she didn't go over to look curiously.
The room arranged by Jiang Yuying was spacious, with a bed, a desk and a wardrobe.
Qian Shulan was very satisfied. Jiang Yuying then introduced the issue of eating to her, "You can use the earthen stove here. You can also use other things."
She charges twice as much, so oil, salt, sauce and vinegar are all included.
Qian Shulan was very satisfied and started chatting with her about family matters.
It turned out that Jiang Yuying was an orphan and her entire family died in the war.
Because her father was a martyr, her superiors took pity on her and arranged a job for her.
It is this job that many relatives covet, and they come to harass her every now and then.
Jiang Yuying has a rather aggressive personality, but she is also quite smart.
Therefore, they always return empty-handed.
Qian Shulan wanted to ask Jiang Yuying about her job.
These days, she has repeatedly thought about the differences between Wang Shouzhi and Wang Shouren.
The idea of a good mother is different in each person's mind.
Wang Shouren felt that a good mother was one who cared for, loved, encouraged and loved her children. That was enough.
But Wang Shouzhi had one more thing: he had to be assigned a job.
This is also the fundamental reason why she has been cooking for him, caring for him, and guiding him, but she has not been able to increase his filial piety.
Therefore, she needed to help him find a job now. As long as she could help him find a job, he would be able to stand up straight and stop tolerating Li Caiying.
Speaking of which, Li Caiying obviously can't tell good from bad. She did her duty to play the role of a good mother-in-law, but she didn't react at all. She didn't get any filial piety points.
Therefore, the only people who can change Li Caiying now are Li Guocheng and Wang Shouzhi.
Li Guocheng, she had no hope at all. Before, she had repeatedly reminded Li Guocheng several times, but Li Caiying was getting more and more excessive. It was obvious that he did not teach Li Caiying. Come to think of it, if he could teach Li Caiying well, he would not have cultivated her into such a character.
So, only Wang Shouzhi was left.
As long as Li Caiying wanted to live with Wang Shouzhi, she had to change her attitude. That's why she didn't go back to the countryside. She stayed in the city, buying food and looking for work information.
When Jiang Yuying heard Qian Shulan asking about work, she lowered her head and thought for a while.
Seeing that she seemed to have something to hide, Qian Shulan hurriedly said, "Comrade Jiang, don't worry about the money. I have plenty of it!" At the end, she added, "A temporary job is fine."
It might be difficult to be a regular employee, but being a temporary employee is not impossible. As long as Wang Shouzhi can stand up straight, he probably doesn't mind being a temporary employee.
Seeing that Qian Shulan had misunderstood, Jiang Yuying waved her hands and said, "In fact, most factories now only recruit children of internal employees. It's the same for temporary workers."
Although Qian Shulan had long known that it was difficult to find a job in this era, she still couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when she heard the conditions were so harsh.
It seems that she took it for granted. If it was really that easy to find a job, Wang Shouzhi wouldn't be so depressed.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuying then said, "Recently, our grain and oil store is recruiting buyers. I heard that there are interviews and written tests, and not many people know about it. But I heard from the leader that whoever can get 1,000 kilograms of rice will be admitted."
Qian Shulan's heart almost jumped out of her chest.
One thousand kilograms of rice
She was overjoyed, but Jiang Yuying curled her lips and said, "The leader above is a stingy person. He only wants good quality rice out of a thousand kilograms of rice. I heard that this rice was specially assigned for employee welfare." The grain and oil store has a quota of rice. Apart from the quota allocated to each street, there is not much left, which is not enough to provide employee benefits. That's why the leader came up with an idea this time to test the new employee's work ability.
Qian Shulan thought this was a good idea. She grabbed Jiang Yuying's hand, her eyes sparkling, "How do we sign up? I'll sign up for my son."
Seeing her eyes were frighteningly bright, Jiang Yuying was stunned for a moment, but she still reminded her, "We are in the north, and it is difficult to buy rice." Did Aunt Qian have to go to the south to buy rice? How to get a letter of introduction? How to transport the rice
Qian Shulan nodded confidently, "I definitely have a way."
Seeing that she seemed confident, Jiang Yuying nodded and agreed, "I'll take you to sign up tomorrow. If you have a city hukou, you may still be able to become a regular worker. If you have a rural hukou, you can only be a temporary worker." It is not easy to change your hukou nowadays, because this hukou is linked to grain and oil, and the procedures for agricultural to non-agricultural conversion are very complicated. The inspections from above are particularly strict now, and the conversion procedures are delayed again and again. The quota is very tight, and it usually takes five or six years to successfully transfer.
Qian Shulan didn't expect such a good thing to happen. Wang Shouzhi has a city hukou, so he can be a regular employee. Qian Shulan was so excited that she ran to her room, took out ten kilograms of rice in a sack, and brought it to Jiang Yuying, "Comrade Jiang, this is a thank-you gift for you. If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known about it."
Jiang Yuying waved her hands to decline. Rice was 1.4 cents a pound now, and there were already ten pounds here. How could she feel comfortable doing that
Qian Shulan insisted that she accept it, and said sincerely, "Compared to what you have helped me with, this little bit of rice is nothing. If you don't accept it, I would be embarrassed to ask you to take me to register."
Jiang Yuying had no choice but to accept it after hearing her say that. She reached in and grabbed a handful of rice, and was surprised to see the rice in her palm. The rice grains were uniform, bright in color, mellow and long-lasting, and full of fragrance. There was not a single half-grain left.
Jiang Yuying couldn't help but praise, "Good rice."
In those days, there were relatively few machines, so most production teams still used the primitive threshing method, using a stone roller to crush the rice ears and then putting them into the machine to shell them.
Because of the process of using the stone roller to crush the rice ears, the rice grains will inevitably be crushed and broken into two pieces.
Therefore, it is rare that there is no half piece, and there are even three pieces, or some that are directly crushed into powder.
However, there was not a single half-broken grain of rice; all of it was intact. It was obvious that the rice had been carefully selected after a sieve was used to filter out the crushed ones.
Just because of this quality, Jiang Yuying felt that this job might really fall to Aunt Qian's son.
Qian Shulan felt a little proud when she heard her praise.
Initially, she regretted choosing rice without thinking. If she had chosen corn or sweet potato, would she have gotten more food? But then she thought about it again, and realized that those immortal cultivation worlds might not have these things.
The reason why they don't have to worry about having no food to eat is that they don't need machines. A spell can make the rice threshed automatically.
Now, what she didn't expect was that this rice could actually have such a great use. She was simply overjoyed.