That night, Zeng Xiaotian and his sister didn't enjoy the meal to their heart's content, so they ordered a bunch of barbecue. Fearing that their parents would scold them for getting angry, they ran to the rooftop to eat.
Zeng Xiaotian also secretly brought a few bottles of beer. Both he and Zeng Xiang could drink them, but Awen was more obedient and only drank soda.
Flowers and vegetables were planted on the roof. The space was not very large. Ye Zhao sat on the edge of the fence, looking at the sea in the distance, which was pitch black.
In a few years, land reclamation projects will push the coastline several hundred meters further, and this place will be even farther from the sea.
There are not enough high-rise buildings now, and there is no so-called night lighting project. There are only dots of lights scattered everywhere, and further away, there are even quite a few farmlands.
Ye Zhao was thinking about the canteen bidding. The price was too hard to grasp. Unless you were determined not to make money in the early stage, it would be difficult to win.
Zeng Xiang brought her a few skewers of mutton, thinking that she was still upset about what happened during the day.
“Actually, you don’t have to care too much about those people.”
Ye Zhao was confused. She looked up at him. Zeng Xiang explained, "I also have a stepmother."
Oh, he was comforting her.
But when Ye Zhao heard him mention stepmother, her heart started pounding. Could his stepmother really be her biological mother? This was too ridiculous.
It was rare for him to bring it up, so Ye Zhao took the initiative to ask: "Have you ever gotten along with your stepmother?"
"We got along, when I was a kid. My dad and my stepmother were both in Hong Kong City. My dad is from Hong Kong City. My stepmother is even more ruthless."
Ye Zhao was surprised: "What's wrong? Did she hit you?"
"They didn't hit me." Zeng Xiang looked into the distance, "It's more terrible than hitting me..."
It cast a huge shadow on his childhood.
Ye Zhao didn't know how to respond. Her mother didn't seem like the kind of person who would abuse others.
If Jin Jingzhi really abused other people's children, then would the abuse of her own children be considered another kind of retribution
But, this is impossible.
"What's your stepmother's name?" Ye Zhao asked blurt out.
Zeng Xiang looked at her: "Is it important?"
"important."
"You want to help me retaliate?" Zeng Xiang was actually amused by her silly look. "Hurry up and eat the skewers. They won't taste good if they're cold."
Ye Zhao knew that he couldn't get the name, so he changed the way he asked: "How did she abuse you?"
"I'll tell you when I have a chance."
Ye Zhao hated people who only spoke half of their words the most, but thinking that the other party was the victim, he might have said it today just to comfort her and not really want to confide in her, so he had to give up.
"I hate her and I'm afraid of her, so I've avoided her and moved back here from Hong Kong. But it's no use. I know that one day, I will go back and get rid of her!"
Zeng Xiang's tone was very calm, but his eyes were full of sinister hostility. Ye Zhao was frightened by his look.
It seemed that he was not really comforting her, but inviting her to get rid of the "stepmother" together!
Zeng Xiang: "It's no use hiding, we can only face the challenge head on."
"What are you talking about! Come over and have a drink." Xiaotian called them.
Ye Zhao doesn't drink. She wants to keep her mind clear at all times. She is thinking about what Zeng Xiang just said, "Get rid of her!"
God, as a good citizen, she would not dare to do anything illegal.
After Li Ruixiang's parents came to Shenzhen, they started going to the vegetable markets in various districts the next day. It took them two days to basically figure out the vegetable prices in Shenzhen.
That evening, Ye Zhao and Li Ruixiang went to Gillian's hotel to find her parents.
Li Ruixiang's father, Li Zhengxin, is a chef and a great cook. Her mother, Aunt Qin, is smart and capable and is good at purchasing management. Over the years, they have worked as helpers in various canteens and restaurants in Wancheng.
It is a rare opportunity to work on one's own, and both husband and wife are very enthusiastic.
Seeing them coming, Aunt Qin took out a small notebook and calculated the costs with them.
"We went to all the markets around here, and the vegetable prices were much higher than back home. So I went to ask people where to get vegetables, and they said they had to go outside the Great Wall. This morning, before daybreak, the two of us squeezed into someone else's van and went to the Great Wall together."
Li Ruixiang was surprised: "You guys went outside the customs? I've been here for so long and I haven't been outside the customs before."
"You just hide in the factory and don't know anything. There is a big agricultural wholesale market outside the customs, which sells vegetables from surrounding small towns. The prices are cheaper than back home! There is a large quantity and many choices."
Ye Zhao asked: "How much would it cost per person based on two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup?"
"The preparation of two meat dishes and one vegetable dish is very particular. The meat dishes in the cafeteria are all stir-fried meat dishes. They are seasonal dishes that are cheap and healthy. If prepared for more than 1,000 people, the cost of each meal can be controlled within 15 cents, which means that the cost of lunch and dinner is 30 cents, and the cost of breakfast can be controlled within 5-8 cents."
“Is labor included?”
“Labor costs are included.”
Ye Zhao did a quick calculation in his mind: "Our cost is between 0.35 and 0.38 cents?"
"If wholesale vegetable prices are suppressed, they can be even lower."
Li Ruixiang reminded: "The bidding requirements have a quotation limit. The factory subsidizes part of the food for the canteen, and the workers pay part of it themselves. The maximum bidding price is 50 cents per day from the factory and 50 cents from the workers themselves."
Aunt Qin: "So, all together, the maximum price limit is 1 yuan per day? That's a huge profit margin."
"Auntie, this is a bidding, the lowest bidder wins, no one dares to bid one dollar. I asked someone, now the factory runs its own canteen, the workers don't have to pay a penny, the factory pays about 50 cents per person per day. In other words, if our total price is higher than 50 cents, we will actually lose our competitiveness."
Li Ruixiang explained: "Mom, now the workers eat in the cafeteria for free, all subsidized by the factory, but the food is really bad, so the factory came up with a policy to contract out the cafeteria, with the factory paying part of the money and the workers themselves paying part of the money."
Aunt Qin: "Then how much should we quote?"
Li Ruixiang looked at Ye Zhao and said, "We offer 50 cents? The factory pays 25 cents, and the workers pay 25 cents. Each person can earn 12 cents a day. If the cost is well controlled, we can earn more."
Even so, it is still a big business that makes hundreds of dollars a day!
Ye Zhao shook his head: "With this offer, we have no advantage at all. If someone else offers 0.49 cents, we will lose."
"How about you secretly go and ask your uncle how much others have reported?"
"Of course not. I can't let him know that I'm involved in this project. And he's the boss, so it's not convenient for me to ask. I've been thinking that we must bid as low as possible to increase competitiveness, and then make the money back from other places."
Father Li was smoking nearby. He was not good at speaking and could not get a word in. Aunt Qin noticed that Ye Zhao looked like a gentle little girl, but she was very opinionated. She asked, "How do you make the money back?"
"We can set up ordinary employee meals and premium meals. The employee meals are priced at a competitive price, and the premium meals can provide better dishes for employees in need to choose from."
Li Ruixiang clapped her hands: "This is fine."
"The current quotation is for three meals a day. We can also provide midnight snacks. Don't you often work overtime? When you work overtime until 10 or 11 o'clock, you will feel hungry and always want to eat something. At that time, the gate is locked and you can't go out. You can only eat in the cafeteria."
“This one will work, too.”
"Also, the cafeteria is so big, can we open up a space for a canteen? A canteen in a factory shouldn't be hard to make money, right?"
"Yes! It's entirely possible! We don't have to go out and buy ice cream or something when we want to have it." Li Ruixiang is simply the best partner. No matter what Ye Zhao says, her eyes light up and she feels that there is a bright future ahead of him.
Aunt Qin also felt that the "money prospects" were broad, so she asked Ye Zhao: "How much do you want to bid?"
"Four cents. If the cost is well controlled, each person can make a profit of five cents per day. Although the profit is low, as long as the stall is set up, it is no problem to make two or three hundred yuan a day. Moreover, this quotation can be adjusted later as prices increase."
No one had any objections. Aunt Qin smiled and said a little embarrassedly: "Ye Zhao, how are we going to cooperate now? Some things are better discussed in advance. It's better to say the ugly words in advance, right?"
Ye Zhao: "I calculated that the deposit is 10,000, and the start-up capital is about 2,000. Auntie, you can take as much shares as you are willing to pay, okay? Then whoever does the work will get another salary."
"That's good, that's fair. Shares are shares, and wages are wages."
Mr. Li, who had been silent the whole time, smiled awkwardly and said, “We don’t have much money.”
Aunt Qin: "We don't have much money on hand. Can we give 2,400?"
2400 is 20% of the shares, and Ye Zhao will pay the remaining 80%. Ye Zhao has no objection, so the matter is settled and the agreement is signed immediately.
After Ye Zhao finished the bid, he gave it to Li Ruixiang, who bid in the name of Li Ruixiang's parents.
Ye Zhao came to pick up photos in a large photo studio in the city center.
She had taken photos of her mother and other educated youth to a photo studio and asked them to develop her mother's headshot separately. She searched all the photo studios in Shenzhen, but only this one had such technology.
She printed out four or five black-and-white portraits of her mother.
If he really couldn't find Jin Jingzhi, Ye Zhao would go to Gangcheng and put an advertisement in the newspaper to look for her when he had money.
When I came out of the photo studio, Zeng Xiang was waiting outside on his motorcycle. Ye Zhao had specially asked him to pick me up today.
"Want to know what my mother looks like?"
Zeng Xiang didn't know whether to say he wanted to know or not to know.
Ye Zhao was a little nervous. She took a deep breath and took out a photo from the photo bag and handed it to him, "This is my mother!"
Zeng Xiang didn't answer. He took a look, nodded and said "Oh".
His "Oh" just meant that he had seen it.
"Does it look familiar?" Ye Zhao asked cautiously.
Zeng Xiang took another look and said, "He doesn't look much like you."
"Indeed, he doesn't look like her." Ye Zhao was curious: "You don't know him?"
"Should I know?"
Ye Zhao quietly observed Zeng Xiang's expression. It was obvious that he really didn't know her mother. She didn't know whether to express disappointment or happiness.
The disappointment is that this clue is broken and I don’t know where to find Jin Jingzhi in the future. The happiness is that there is no bloody story between her and Aunt Qiao and her son.
She smiled innocently.
Zeng Xiang explained: "It's true that he doesn't look like you."
"knew."
"You're prettier."
Ye Zhao looked at him with a smile, "Am I prettier?"
Xiangzi blushed!
When Ye Zhao smiled, his eyes looked like a crescent moon, which was in line with the Chinese aesthetic.
She didn't pursue the matter further. She put the photo away, put on her helmet, got on the motorcycle, and put her hands naturally on his shoulders.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Irene Toy Factory."
Today is the voting day for the cafeteria bidding. The management of Irene Toy Factory, which consists of more than 20 people, will decide by voting, with one vote per person. Ye Zhao needs to find an excuse to go and watch it in person.
Arriving at the toy factory, Ye Zhao went straight to Su Yingmin. Su Yingmin was looking at documents in the office. When he saw Ye Zhao coming in, he smiled and asked, "Are you looking for me or your dad?"
"Of course I'm looking for you. Why would I look for my dad?" Ye Zhao sat opposite Su Yingmin.
“I developed my mother’s photos.”
Su Yingmin was stunned when he heard this. He put down the information in his hand and looked up: "Where did you get it from?"
Ye Zhao took out a photo bag, took out a photo of her mother, and handed it to Su Yingmin: "Isn't your technique pretty good? You developed it separately from a group photo."
"There is such a technique?" Su Yingmin picked up Jin Jingzhi's photo and seemed dazed. "What group photo did you print it from?"
"A photo of my mother, Aunt He, and another female educated youth."
“Are the group photos still there?”
"Yes." Ye Zhao took out the group photo and gave it to Su Yingmin: "You want to see Aunt He, right?"
Su Yingmin looked at the photo, and the smile on his face was a little uncomfortable. "Among the three of them, your Aunt He looks the most plain."
"I'll tell Aunt He some other day that you said she looked the most plain."
"She knows she's ordinary." Su Yingmin said, pushing the photo onto the table. "Give me this photo of yours? I'll take it back to show your Aunt He."
Ye Zhao thought about it and didn't care. "Sure, take it if you like it, but Uncle Su, you have to answer a question for me."
She has printed out several copies of this photo at home. She once lost files on her computer, which caused her heavy losses. Later, she developed the habit of making various backups.
Su Yingmin asked her, "What other difficult questions do you want to ask me?"
"Who did my mother flee to Hong Kong with?"
"Why are you still asking this? Uncle Su really doesn't know."
Ye Zhao stared at Su Yingmin. He must have known, but he just didn't want to tell her. She simply asked directly: "Is it with Hong Chengzi?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"Just answer yes or no?"
Su Yingmin took out a cigarette and lit it. "When you grow up and get married, I will tell you naturally."
So, he knew it. Ye Zhao kept asking, "Why did you wait until I got married to tell me?"
"You are still young. Even if I tell you a lot of things, you won't understand them."
"You are just trying to fool me, treating me like a three-year-old. When I get married, you will say, "Wait until you have a baby, and then tell me." When I really have a baby, you may come up with other excuses!"
Su Yingmin smiled helplessly, "I'm not being perfunctory, Uncle Su promises you."
"Then I will find someone to marry now, and you tell me the truth."
"How old are you? Getting married now? Be careful your father will break your legs."
"He doesn't care."
"Why don't you care? This big factory will be yours in the future, so you have to be very picky when choosing a son-in-law."
"Times are changing very quickly. Now, looking at the scale of the Irene Toy Factory, such a large factory, maybe in the future, except for this piece of land, everything else will be worthless."
Su Yingmin retorted: "You don't understand. Of course the factory is valuable. No matter where the Ailin Toy Factory moves to, the factory is valuable. It has nothing to do with the land."
Ye Zhao didn't want to explain to him what the limitations of the times were, he just shrugged, smiled and nodded.
Su Yingmin probably wanted to change the subject, so he asked, "Do you know how much money our factory can make in a year?"
“How much can you earn?”
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Anyway, there are a lot of them. You won't have to worry about having no money to spend for the rest of your life."
Ye Zhao smiled, "Every year when my dad comes back to Wancheng, he stays at my second uncle's house. If he is really that rich, he should live in the best hotel."
"What kind of concept is this? When I return to Wancheng, of course I should live in my own home. There is no reason to live in a hotel. But the factory spends a lot of money every year. Now we plan to invest in other factories. I have limited energy. If I really want to build another factory, what should I do here?"
Su Yingmin opened his heart to her and said, "Although Bai Yunlian is no longer in the factory, her relatives are still there. She has people in every department. You should grow up quickly. When you grow up, come and take over. You are brave and can directly and drastically eliminate those nepotisms that are involved."
"Isn't it easy for you to kill those people? Is it because my dad is protecting you? It's hard for you to do it?"
Su Yingmin smiled and tapped the table with his finger, "You... what do you think Uncle Su can do?"
"If it were me, I would just kill these people and not care what my dad thinks."
"Only you can do this kind of thing."
Knock knock knock!
Secretary Liu knocked on the door and came in with two colleagues. One of them Ye Zhao recognized, it was Feng Zhiyuan, and the other one was a bald guy, whose identity was unknown.
They have to report on their work regarding the canteen bidding.
Su Yingmin did not avoid Ye Zhao and asked them to speak directly.
Feng Zhiyuan said: "There are a total of eight teams participating in the bidding this time. Three of them do not meet the requirements, leaving five. Here are the bidding documents for the other five."
"Where's the price tag?"
"In order to be fair, the price bids will be opened at the meeting this afternoon."
"Director Zhang, have you looked at the information of these five companies?" Su Yingmin looked at the bald man.
The bald man immediately said, "I've checked them out. They're all very good teams with experience."
"Just keep a close watch on it."
Ye Zhao sat beside him and listened. He soon understood that the other three companies were rejected because they did not provide health certificates for their chef teams. They were directly disqualified because of incomplete information.
The documents she prepared did not include a health certificate, because there was no such requirement in the public notice of the tender at that time.
This is definitely a backup demand. People with connections saw the notice, while people without connections were screened out by this hurdle.
Ye Zhao listened silently without saying anything. Soon, they finished their conversation and went out.
Su Yingmin: "The bald guy who just reported on his work is called Zhang Qiang. She is Bai Yunlian's cousin. Did you see any clues about the canteen bidding this time?"
Ye Zhao pretended to be stupid and shook his head: "Any clues?"
"They deliberately eliminated teams without background. No matter how low the other party's price was, they had no chance to participate in the bidding. The remaining few were all people with connections that they had arranged. This is called bid rigging. The piece of meat had already fallen into their mouths in advance."
"You don't care?"
"How can I manage it? Can I investigate it thoroughly? If I have evidence, I can manage it. But if I manage it rashly without evidence and still can't find out what's going on, can I still keep my position?"
Ye Zhao stood up and said, "Uncle Su, wait a minute. I will go find evidence for you."
Su Yingmin didn't expect Ye Zhao to be such a hornet's nest. He could catch anything he wanted. He said, "What do you want to do? Don't mess around."
"Don't worry. If you don't make trouble, I won't show up."
Since it concerns her interests, she has to make a fuss.
When Ye Zhao went out, she just happened to catch up with the crowd of people getting off work. Everyone was heading towards the cafeteria, so she had to stand in a conspicuous place at the gate and wait. Logically, Li Ruixiang had to pass by the gate to go to the cafeteria.
Sure enough, when Li Ruixiang was walking towards the cafeteria after get off work, she saw her from a distance.
Li Ruixiang and Gao Yueyue squeezed over and asked her, "Xiao Zhao, are you waiting for me? Is there any result?"
"Yes, I'm waiting for you. Let's go and talk somewhere with fewer people."
They walked to a small alley outside. Ye Zhao didn't know how to say it in front of Gao Yueyue, so he just said, "Your family's bidding qualification has been eliminated."
Li Ruixiang was surprised: "Why?"
"One piece of information is missing. I guess they secretly posted a notice in an inconspicuous place asking for additional information. Only people with connections know about it. The remaining companies are all teams they set up to bid in a bid-rigging way."
Hearing that she was disqualified from bidding, Li Ruixiang almost cried, "How could this happen? This is so unfair! It's so unfair!"
Gao Yueyue comforted her: "This society is so cruel. You have no power and influence, so it has to be like this. Don't be too sad."
Ye Zhao: "It's not that there is no other way. It's not time to give up yet."
"What method? Tell me quickly."
"Let's start with Feng Zhiyuan. Feng Zhiyuan is in charge of collecting bids. He must be aware of this, but he is just a small fry. The benefits he gets won't be that great. As long as he turns against us, there is hope."
Gao Yueyue volunteered: "I am familiar with Feng Zhiyuan, I will go and get his advice. If the matter is successful, I will be given one share of the canteen's dividends in the future. Is that okay? If yes, I will go."
When it comes to this highly technical and difficult job of asking questions, Gao Yueyue is indeed more reliable than Li Ruixiang. 1 share is only 1%, and with someone like Gao Yueyue, it is always more appropriate to talk about money than feelings.
She had a very bad impression of Gao Yueyue. In her heart, this person was not even as kind and reliable as Zeng Xiaoling.
But on the road ahead, if she has no choice, she can temporarily compromise and cooperate with people she doesn't like.
Ye Zhao exchanged glances with Li Ruixiang, who immediately said, "No problem, I'll give you one share if it's done."
"Then I'll go find him." Gao Yueyue was also a man of action, and she turned around and wanted to leave immediately.
"Don't leave yet. Let's discuss how to get the truth out of her first." Ye Zhao knew that Gao Yueyue was the announcer at the factory radio station. She asked, "Can the loudspeaker at your radio station be controlled individually?"
"Sure. There are eight speakers in the factory area, all with individual control switches. For example, before going to bed at night, I can just turn on the two speakers in the dormitory area."
"I have an idea. You call Feng Zhiyuan to the radio station to get some information. Then you turn on the loudspeakers in the cafeteria and office building in advance..."
Gao Yueyue understood immediately. The cafeteria and office building were far enough away from the radio station, and Feng Zhiyuan in the radio station would not hear the broadcast outside. It was indeed a good idea.
She had to look up to Ye Zhao. He came up with such a "harmful" and efficient trick in such a short period of time.
Li Ruixiang didn't understand, so Ye Zhao said, "You don't need to understand this. Just eat in the cafeteria normally. If Feng Zhiyuan reveals the bid rigging, you should immediately encourage everyone to make a scene with you. Your task is to speak loudly and demand a re-bid. All workers should have one vote each, and the bid should be selected openly! Choose the bid with the lowest price and the most favorable to the workers."
"I have no problem with loud voices. I will have dinner with the people in my group later. They will definitely support me."
After a brief discussion among the three of them, Gao Yueyue went to find Feng Zhiyuan.
Ye Zhao walked back to the office building to find Su Yingmin. Su Yingmin was not in the office, probably having gone out to eat.
She stood in front of his desk and looked at the strange color of the ash in the ashtray. She moved closer and found a small piece of white debris on it, which was a corner of burnt photo paper.
Su Yingmin burned the photo of her mother and Aunt He and others taking a group photo together.
He thought there was only one photo left.
Ye Zhao didn't touch the ashtray, but his thoughts were already wandering uncontrollably in his mind.
(End of this chapter)