After dealing with Zhengkang's affairs, Qian Shulan prepared to go to the provincial capital.
Wang Shouren was touched to see that his mother was so worried about his wife and wanted to go with her, but Qian Shulan stopped him, "There are so many people in the provincial capital, and you will have to spend money if you go again."
In fact, Qian Shulan went to the provincial capital for important business, not as Wang Shouren guessed.
But she didn't tell anyone else except Qian Minghua, otherwise it would be so embarrassing if she boasted so much but failed to do it.
Qian Shulan took the wicker basket she had woven at home and got on the car. Her family thought she was bringing it to Xiaowu to sell.
Qian Minghua looked at his aunt, still a little worried, "Aunt, how about I go with you? I'm really worried about you going alone. What if you get lost?" By then, his father would scold him to death!
Qian Shulan waved her hands, looking confident, "Don't worry, I won't lose it. I'm here to do something important."
Qian Minghua didn't know where this old lady got her confidence from. Before, she went to the provincial capital with her father. Now there was no one to follow her. How could she know where to follow? The provincial capital was much bigger than their county town, and the alleys were winding and twisting...
The more I thought about it, the more worried I became. But there was nothing I could do about the old lady.
He waited until the old lady entered the bus station before he drove the carriage away.
After getting on the bus, Qian Shulan was worried that the passengers would have objections to her placing such a large wicker basket on the bus.
So she asked the car driver to help her put the wicker basket on the roof of the car.
The driver smiled and said, "No, no, just go sit in the back. There aren't many people in this car."
Qian Shulan was very surprised.
She thought there would be many people in the car.
The bus driver smiled and explained, "Not many people want to go out in the winter, so it's good enough if this bus is half full."
Qian Shulan couldn't help but sigh in her heart, times have really changed.
Because it was just a rattan basket, Qian Shulan didn't worry about it being stolen. In fact, it wasn't that she couldn't put the rattan basket into the space, but she always had to find a reason to talk to people, so she didn't put it in.
Throwing the wicker basket directly on the last chair, Qian Shulan started chatting with the driver.
The key point is how to learn to drive. Although she had never learned to drive in her previous life, she thought she was a pretty smart person. She asked curiously while sitting next to the middle-aged driver.
Because it was not yet time to drive, the driver was very patient in chatting with her. What made him even more satisfied was that the other party was willing to give him fried cicada monkeys to eat.
Qian Shulan found the operation very convenient, and after he explained it to her, she wanted to try and see if she could drive it herself.
The car driver hesitated.
Qian Shulan stuffed the whole bag of cicada monkeys in her hand into his arms and said, "Just sit next to me. If you say stop, I will immediately step on the brakes."
The car driver looked down at the bag of cicada monkeys in his hand and finally gritted his teeth and agreed.
However, I kept reminding her to step on the brakes if anything went wrong.
Qian Shulan also agreed to it again and again with good temper.
Finally Qian Shulan started the car, stepped on the clutch, and shifted gears. Although she was not very familiar with driving, she did it exactly right.
The car drivers had to admire the old lady's cleverness.
Qian Shulan was just having fun, showing off her intelligence and giving the other party the illusion that her son was as smart as him, so she smiled and asked, "My son also wants to learn how to drive, are you interested in taking me in as an apprentice?"
Hearing this, the car driver looked at her in surprise, and then immediately shook his head.
Qian Shulan was not angry. "I just asked casually. How about this, if you want to take in an apprentice in the future, come to my house to find me. My home is in the Wangjia Village Production Brigade in Wanghe Town."
Seeing that she didn't force it, the driver breathed a sigh of relief and nodded perfunctorily in agreement.
Qian Shulan took out a round fan from the rattan basket at the back and handed it to him. "If you have any problems in the future, you can come to my house to find me. This is a small gift for you. Please accept it."
The driver took it and said, "It's winter, auntie, you're giving me a fan?"
Qian Shulan smiled and said, "This fan is perfect for summer. By the way, there is our village address on the fan, take a look."
The driver immediately looked down. On the round bamboo fan was a layer of small words painted with paint: "Wangjia Village, Wanghe Town, Liuguan County"
He was full of admiration and gave Qian Shulan a thumbs up.
Qian Shulan smiled and waved her hand, then asked about the other party's situation. When she learned that the other party had to raise five children, Qian Shulan couldn't help but admire the fertility of people in this era. Qian Shulan also revealed her family background, emphasizing her son and grandson, as well as the ability of their team.
After the train started, Qian Shulan returned to the back. She looked out the window and thought about the news she had heard before.
The four most popular professions in this era are: driver, salesperson, doctor and labor and personnel section chief.
Qian Shulan felt that if Wang Shouren and Wang Shouyi didn't have any skills, they could only do hard labor, but she wanted to make their careers worth 10 points for the rest of their lives, so she could only let them learn a skill. Driver was the best job, and it also suited their personalities.
But these drivers would not easily accept apprentices, so she could only cast a wider net to catch fish. When the famine comes, the living standards of the whole country will decline, and the drivers are no exception. At that time, maybe someone will be willing to contact her. Of course, if no one contacts her, she will just give her a fan.
When they arrived in the provincial capital, it was around two o'clock. Qian Shulan did not go to the hospital first. Instead, she asked passers-by for directions and found the nearest department store.
"I want to talk to your manager about something. Where is he?" Qian Shulan went to the cigarette counter and asked the salesperson.
The other counters were crowded with people, but this counter was empty. The salesperson was alone, leaning over the counter, moving cigarettes around.
The salesperson was also bored to death. Seeing her asking questions, he didn't act arrogantly. He looked at her and enthusiastically offered to help, "I'll go call someone for you. You wait here for a moment!"
Qian Shulan quickly thanked her.
Soon, a middle-aged man with bald hair was called by the salesperson. He looked at Qian Shulan with a smile and said, "Auntie, you called me?"
Qian Shulan put her rattan basket directly on the counter and showed it to him. "I am from the Liuguan Village Production Brigade. This is the box woven by our production team. Manager, can you see if I can sell it in your department store?"
The manager was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting the other party to come to sell new things.
"Isn't our country closing mountains for afforestation now? We are not allowed to cut down trees. Many families can't even get 36 legs together for their weddings. With this, can't it replace boxes and wardrobes? And it's much cheaper. And it's rectangular, so it can be stacked layer by layer without worrying about taking up space. I heard that the houses in the city are very crowded. With this, you can put in as many clothes as you want. Isn't it very space-saving?"
The manager was stunned by her eloquence. He carefully observed the wicker basket. It was beautifully woven, about 60 cm long, 40 cm wide, and 40 cm high. I had never seen anyone weave a rectangular basket with wicker before. Everyone weaves it into winnowing baskets, baskets, and the like. This thing can really replace boxes and wardrobes. And it has a lid. When he opened the lid, he found another one inside, but it was one size smaller. He opened it again and found another one. Just like a Russian nesting doll.
The smallest one actually contained a few fans. They were round and delicate, with a line of small red words on them.
The manager saw that this thing was indeed very good. He smiled and asked, "Are you an individual or a production team?"
Seeing that he had decided to take it, Qian Shulan immediately took out the letter of introduction from her bag and said, "Manager, I'm here in the name of our production team. If your supply and marketing cooperative wants it, can you place a purchase order for our production team?"
Seeing that she made sense, the manager took the letter of introduction and believed that she was indeed not a person, so he could order a larger quantity. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "OK."
Seeing that he hadn't mentioned the price yet, Qian Shulan coughed lightly to remind him, "Let's talk about the price. The biggest one is 5.6 yuan, No. 2 is 4.4 yuan, No. 3 is 3.8 yuan, No. 4 is 2.6 yuan, and the smallest one is 2 yuan. The fan is 50 cents. Is that okay with you?" The price she quoted was a bit high, but who can blame the county town for having so many workers.
The manager thought for a moment and asked, "How many units can you provide?"
Qian Shulan avoided answering and asked, "How many do you want?"
"200 of each, too few to be worth the trip."
Qian Shulan immediately nodded and agreed, "Okay, no problem."
When she came, she had already asked Qian Minghua, and the team had enough willow branches to make five or six hundred of each kind of rattan baskets.
"I can give you the price you want, but you have to get the goods early. Is the 20th okay?"
There were still five days left. Qian Shulan thought about it and felt that with more than 1,000 people in the team, there was more than enough time, so she agreed immediately.
The manager took her to his office to get the order.
Qian Shulan took the list and confirmed it was correct, then carefully put it away. She looked at her baskets and said with a smile, "Manager, I can't take these baskets back with me, can I exchange them for something else?"
The manager looked at her in surprise. This old lady was really shrewd. She didn't even need a ticket to exchange things.
But he didn't refuse. Department stores like theirs would have defective products for internal consumption every once in a while, and he could just use them as a favor. "Okay, auntie, what do you want to exchange?"
Qian Shulan smiled and said, "Can I exchange it for cloth? Or shoes? We country folk have very few cloth coupons, not enough to wear."
The manager did not refuse. There were three textile factories in the province that supplied goods to their department store, and he just happened to have some in reserve.
The manager took Qian Shulan to the warehouse and got three kinds of fabrics for her to choose from. To be honest, Qian Shulan had never seen good fabrics in this era. Every time she touched the fabrics, they were very rough, just like the inferior goods sold at street stalls in her previous life. She thought it was because the technology was not up to standard in this era, but she didn't know that the good ones were all consumed internally!
She touched the fine cloth and found it soft and delicate, a bit like the comfort of Modal, but it was definitely not Modal, it was probably just fine cotton!
"If you like it, take some! However, this one is very expensive, 54 cents a foot. The other two are only 36 cents a foot." Seeing that the old lady liked the cloth very much, the manager explained the situation.
Qian Shulan opened her mouth in surprise. She wanted to say, "It's not expensive, I'll take them all," but she didn't say it. She couldn't just think about herself. She couldn't be too greedy. The amount she could take was limited. She might as well take the good one. She smiled and said, "Give me two zhang!"
The manager was a little surprised to see that she wanted such an expensive item, but he nodded and agreed anyway.
Then he took out a pair of rubber shoes at 4.5 yuan a pair and a pair of Liberation shoes at 8 yuan a pair. These two kinds of shoes cannot be bought in the countryside even if you have money.
Qian Shulan exchanged all the remaining money for matches. Although the quota of matches for each household in the city and the countryside is the same, the city people rarely use matches because they use coal stoves. The department store can't sell out all the matches.
But it's just the opposite in the countryside, because what is burned is grass, and you have to light a fire every time, so more is used.
After making the purchase, Qian Shulan left the department store and went straight to the hospital.
The author has something to say: Today's stock price rose a lot, thank you for your support, muah...