Su Ye borrowed a thermos from Li Xianjin, "I'll ask Xiulian to return it to you someday."
Li Xianjin sent Su Ye out with a smile on his face. After returning to his office, he took out some dried pork and ate a few pieces.
It was fragrant, delicious, and chewy. It was made from high-quality pork belly, with even fat and lean meat, and a hint of fat. Xiang Qian's wife's cooking skills were really good, and she made it even better than the chefs at state-owned restaurants.
…
Gu Xiangqian was turning the steering wheel to return when Su Ye suddenly called out, "Wait, stop at the paper box factory ahead."
He knew that Su Ye had been going to the paper box factory frequently during this period. She and Feng An jointly made a set of tea box packaging, which was very beautiful. Although people are proud of using imported foreign goods now, and packaging with English is considered fashionable. But in Gu Xiangqian's eyes, tea gift boxes are no less impressive than imported high-end foreign goods.
Gu Xiangqian stopped the car. He thought Su Ye went to the paper box factory to get boxes, but he didn't expect her to take out a thermos from the car and walked into the paper box factory carrying the thermos.
Su Ye had been to the paper box factory several times in the past few days, and the security guard was familiar with his face. But this time he discovered that Su Ye had got out of a high-end car.
He was shocked, and his careless mind suddenly became clear. Oh, how high an official must be to be able to afford a car
It's not his fault that he's a country bumpkin with no knowledge. Riding a 28-style bicycle these days is enough to make people envious, let alone a car. It's estimated that if you search the entire county, you can't even count the number of cars on your palm!
"Director Chen, the Su Ye who ordered 500 boxes from us is here."
Director Chen suddenly sat up straight.
During this period, he was afraid of Su Ye when he saw her at the paper box factory. She only ordered a few hundred paper boxes, but she went to the factory several times, repeatedly negotiating the details once, twice, three or four times. Someone who didn't know even placed an order worth tens of thousands for her. She really had the ability to make people angry to death!
Director Chen usually turned his head away when he saw Su Ye and didn't like to communicate with her, but today was different. He saw Su Ye getting out of a car. Not many people could afford a car these days, not even their factory director could afford one!
What kind of background does this Su Ye have? A while ago, he got a government approval to make tea boxes, and now, he drives a car directly to the factory!
Su Ye went to find Director Chen with a smile and personally poured him a bowl of tea from the thermos.
"Don't worry, Director Chen. I'm not here to talk to you about the paper box today. I just stopped by to buy you a cup of tea."
The paper boxes that Su Ye ordered before were not regular ones, and she had been arguing with him for a long time just about the raw materials. Originally, the paper box factory did not accept her order, but it happened to be the quarterly performance assessment of the paper box factory, and there was still a gap in the task indicators set by the state.
What is the labor quota? The labor quota is an explanation to the country that must be completed even if it costs one's life! Director Chen gritted his teeth and spent several days with Su Ye, rushing to make 300 boxes overnight.
When Director Chen heard the words "drink tea", he said, "I don't deserve it. Teacher Su is usually very busy."
Su Ye handed the tea to Director Chen and said, "Try it. I ordered the box from your factory to store it."
Director Chen's attention immediately fell on the bowl of tea. This bowl of tea was really good and made his mouth water. Compared with it, the broken tea bricks distributed by the workshop suddenly tasted bitter and sour.
Director Chen looked at Su Ye carefully. He hadn't noticed it a few days ago, but now he found that she was pretty and likable, with a ruddy complexion. She looked like a child from a wealthy family. She came here in a car today. It's true that comparing goods is useless, and comparing people is frustrating.
Su Ye said slowly, "It's called Gold Inlaid Jade, a specialty of our City C. It's currently a special tea supplied to the government, known as the silver needle of silver needles. It's sold in bulk on the market for nine yuan a pound, and in the guesthouse for three yuan. Director Chen ordered a lot, so I'll sell it wholesale to you for two yuan."
Factories are the biggest consumers of tea, because there are many people in factories, the workers have high wages and good welfare benefits, and it is one of the most popular jobs in the world. When you are tired from work, you drink some tea to quench your thirst. Drinking a bowl of tea every day will increase the consumption. It is not difficult to order hundreds of kilograms at a time.
Smiling, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her bag and stuffed it into Director Chen's pocket.
A whole line of production! Director Chen's heart beat fast. This brand of cigarettes costs 3.2 cents per box. Although it is not expensive, it needs to be purchased with tickets because of the shortage of materials. Only leading cadres have tickets for it. Each person can only have one box per month. Ordinary people can't even smoke it if they want to. Even Chairman Mao smoked this kind of cigarettes.
Ordinary people had to try their luck to buy it on the black market. Gu Xiangqian didn't smoke, and he gave his monthly cigarette coupons to others, so Su Ye got it for only three dollars and two cents.
Director Chen thought quickly: It was midsummer and the heat was unbearable. The factory was still drinking last year's old tea or boiled water. The buyer was going to buy new tea, which was also good tea... Although he had no real power, he could still make the decision on such a small matter as buying tea.
The image of Su Ye getting out of the car flashed through his mind. He didn't know where she came from, but she had a government approval document in her hand, so he decided to make friends with her.
He said cheerfully, "Okay, I'll order 500 kilograms from you. When you deliver the tea, I'll ask the finance department to pay you."
Su Ye was escorted out of the factory by Director Chen with a smile on her face, and she was confident about negotiating a big order.
This time, Su Ye used the boss's car to "borrow the power of the tiger". He sat in the car with his chin in his hands, smiling and thinking: I hope that doing business in the future will be as easy as today.
The smile was so bright that even Gu Xiangqian couldn't help but look at it a few more times.
…
The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, and Su Ye is very busy.
She bought bamboo leaves to wrap zongzi, and it was impossible to cut a few pounds of pork to make zongzi. It was better to take the pork from the live broadcast room, because the texture and taste of the meat were different from ordinary pork.
Secondly, the Dragon Boat Festival is one of the three major traditional festivals. There are many relatives in the compound, and Suye's tea sells very well, especially the traditional tea gift box, which is sold out in the family compound. Although it is complained about being expensive, the more people complain, the more they buy.
After all, tea is not a consumable. Drinking a cup of tea every day, one pound of tea is enough for a month. Two pounds of tea is enough for the family to drink until the end of the year.
Fang Xiulian was extremely envious when she saw other military wives carrying tea boxes as gifts. Later, she heard that they were bought from Su Ye, so she rushed to Su Ye with her eyes wide open...
Bought five boxes of tea.
When Yao Chunyu heard that Su Ye was selling tea in the compound, he was stunned at first, wondering: Is Su Ye crazy because of lack of money? She dared to sell tea in the compound. Selling tea secretly from fellow villagers was already considered a high-voltage line behavior, let alone such a high-profile sale
Yao Chunyu was a person who had survived the ordeal of the Communist regime, and was particularly sensitive to such things. Although it was not yet that decade, it was not far away. Her behavior was enough to get her dragged out to the streets and subjected to the most brutal fighting.
As for the other people in the compound, although they did not think the same as Yao Chunyu, they also felt that Su Ye was after money. Many of the military wives from the city around Fang Xiulian were discussing Su Ye's purchase of tea in private. Only those from the countryside would be so eager to make money.
When Mr. Fang heard everyone carrying tea boxes, his eyes lit up. Without saying anything disrespectful, he quickly asked his cousin to buy a box for him. "I don't mind. It takes a very clever pair of hands to make such a beautiful box! I'll bring one box for your grandfather to drink."
Others criticize it because they don't know its value.
Bringing it as a gift during the Dragon Boat Festival is a great way to show off your wealth and dignity. Secondly, buying expensive candies at department stores is not as cost-effective as buying tea. Tea does not require coupons, while candies are expensive and must be purchased with coupons. If they can't afford candies, can they afford tea? Besides, the best thing for older people is a cup of tea.
No matter what others said about her behind her back, Su Ye breathed a sigh of relief that her boxed tea was selling well, and urged Feng An to catch up every day. She also wanted to find another helper for Feng An, but the paintings always lacked a bit of flavor, so Su Ye thought about it and decided to continue to shamelessly bother Feng An.
Feng An painted tea boxes every day. His hands ached from painting. At the most frantic moments, he trembled slightly when lifting heavy objects. But when he remembered that each box cost only fifty cents, he gritted his teeth and continued painting.
Feng An completed the task ahead of schedule before the Dragon Boat Festival. Su Ye settled Feng An's salary before the festival and gave him 250 yuan.
Su Ye skillfully picked out 25 big black tens and handed them to the college student, patting him on the shoulder and saying, "Study hard and strive for greater progress. I'll come to you again if there's work like this in the future."
Feng An was so excited that he was speechless. He held the ten big black ten notes in his hand, feeling them hard. The slight sweat on his hand wet the RMB.
But there will never be such a cheap thing again.
…
The day before the Dragon Boat Festival, Su Ye happily bought a bunch of ingredients for making zongzi. She bought a few handfuls of large bamboo leaves, ten pounds of glutinous rice, three pounds of pork belly, and some chestnuts, red beans, mung beans, red dates, and peanuts.
Glutinous rice and beans should be soaked overnight to soften the rice and make it stickier. Peel the chestnuts and boil them in boiling water for a while to avoid them being half-cooked when wrapped in zongzi. When Suye was making zongzi, Fang Xiulian happened to come to Gu's house to buy tea.
There is a custom of making zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival. In the countryside, the fat zongzi leaves are always rolled clean at this time. However, this is different from the past. In the past two years, food has been extremely scarce and glutinous rice is not easy to get. It is impossible for every household to make zongzi.
But those who could afford it still managed to scrape together some glutinous rice, and it was said that only wealthy families could afford to make zongzi at this age. Even if they only made zongzi out of glutinous rice, they would still be envied.
However, Su Ye secretly gathered a bunch of ingredients, and still felt it was not enough, so he bought a few pounds of pork.
Fang Xiulian saw the three pounds of pork that Su Ye put in a basin. Although her family was not short of money, she was still deeply hurt by this scene. The eyes that were weighing the pork, after looking at it for a long time, unconsciously revealed longing and desire.
There was a pot of meat on Su Ye's left, a pot of glutinous rice on her right, and colorful red beans, mung beans, and candied dates on the table. She was as rich as a landlord. People who knew her thought she was celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, while those who didn't thought she was celebrating the Chinese New Year!
Su Ye planned to make 15 kilograms of rice dumplings, so he borrowed a big pot and a wood-burning stove from Grandma Zhou, asked his neighbors for chopped firewood, and set up a big pot at home to steam the rice dumplings.
After the dumplings were steamed for half an hour, a strong aroma of dumplings wafted out of the pot. Fang Xiulian seemed to swallow her saliva and said, "Sister-in-law, can I stay and cook for you?"
Su Ye looked at Fang Xiulian, who was even more delicate than herself, and doubted how she could be so mean. It was good enough that she didn't make things worse...
However, Su Ye did not drive people away. Thanks to the publicity of Fang Xiulian, a wealthy woman, she and her relatives and sisters bought a lot of tea with Su Ye. Thanks to her, Su Ye made a lot of money.
Su Ye was not doing his work. While wrapping the rice dumplings, he ate some chestnuts and candied dates, checked the heat, and kept an eye on Fang Xiulian to prevent her from wasting the food.
The only person doing real work here is Gu Xiangqian. He has a strong learning ability and is very good at wrapping the zongzi. He is about to replace Su Ye and become the main force in making zongzi.
Su Ye taught Gu Xiangqian how to make zongzi. He made a messy zongzi, but from then on he made neat and round zongzi, as if each zongzi was carved from the same mold. His movements were very skillful. When Su Ye made one, he had already made three or four. Soon there was a small mountain of zongzi around him.
Every bag Fang Xiulian made was torn, wasting a lot of bamboo leaves, which made Li Maogang feel embarrassed to stay there. He wanted to pull his wife out of the door.
After the pot of rice dumplings was cooked, Su Ye opened one and tasted it. It tasted pretty good.
Fang Xiulian peeled a green rice dumpling and couldn't wait to take a bite. She found the meat filling in one bite.
Look how much filling there is!
The glutinous rice was steamed until it was soft and sticky. The bamboo leaves and glutinous rice mixed together and exuded a wonderful fragrance. The chestnuts were fragrant, sticky and sweet. The pork belly was evenly fat and lean. The fat was completely absorbed by the glutinous rice. The fat was sucked and burst, and it didn't taste greasy at all. Fang Xiulian gasped because of the heat, but she ate several mouthfuls in a row. The more she ate, the more delicious it became. Zongzi with generous ingredients is really delicious!
She actually envied Gu Xiangqian, who had delicious food every day at home. He had been on leave for a month to recover from his injury. He looked smooth and shiny, and his serious and cold expression made people dare not look directly at him.
Su Ye picked up a few large pieces of oil paper to wrap the zongzi, and gave two pounds to Li Maogang and his wife, two pounds to his uncle, two pounds to the Ning family, and one pound to Feng An as a reward. Grandma Zhou was old and it was easy for her to have indigestion after eating zongzi, so she only picked a big fat zongzi for her to taste.