Ye Zhao finally got the letter of introduction written by Principal Jia. She planned to skip classes on Thursday and go directly to the archives to look up information.
Having learned in advance that the information in the archives can only be viewed on site and cannot be taken away, Ye Zhao thought about borrowing a camera to take pictures of the information.
After asking around in the classroom, Xiaotian said that Awen had a camera at home, so she shamelessly went to Awen to borrow one. However, Awen hesitantly said that the camera was his father's treasure and was never lent out.
Ye Zhao could also understand. If it really didn't work, he could go to the photo studio and ask. With some deposit and rent, he should be able to rent one.
As a result, Zeng Xiang came back from outside that night and threw a packaging box and two or three rolls of film at her.
Ye Zhao was sitting on the sofa watching an old Hong Kong TVB drama. She opened the package and saw that it was the latest model of fully automatic camera. She exclaimed in surprise, "The latest model of camera! Where did you borrow it from?"
Zeng Xiang was a little proud to see how happy she was, but he didn't want her to notice his pride, so he could only frown and pretend to be serious: "I bought it."
This should be expensive, right? "How much?"
"have no idea."
"I wonder how much you spent on it?" Ye Zhao felt a little sorry for Aunt Qiao's wallet. Although Aunt Qiao seemed to have no shortage of money, she only rented out these few houses. Even if she had savings and dividends from the village, she was not considered wealthy.
But this prodigal son spent a lot of money on a camera which is quite valuable in this era. He is such a spendthrift.
"The price is not important. Just try it and see if it works."
Ye Zhao tried it and found it easy to use. There would definitely be no problem using it.
"Do you want to return it? I'm afraid Aunt Qiao will beat you if she finds out."
Zeng Xiang looked at Ye Zhao as if he were a monster, "Why did my mother beat me?"
"You're wasting money."
"I buy what I want, so it's not considered wasted money."
Ye Zhao glanced at him and said with a smile: "You shouldn't call me Xiang Zai, you should call me Master Xiang!"
As they were talking, Aunt Qiao came out of the shower and asked them if they wanted to have a midnight snack and she would go make it.
Ye Zhao was so scared that he quickly hid his camera. Aunt Qiao looked sharp and asked, "What did you buy?"
Ye Zhao didn't dare to speak, Zeng Xiang didn't answer, and Aunt Qiao was very tactful and didn't continue to ask questions. She just said "tsk tsk tsk" and complained: "Sneaky."
Ye Zhao stuck out her tongue cutely.
"I'll make you some midnight snacks." Aunt Qiao opened the refrigerator and asked them, "Why aren't you taking extra classes these past few nights?"
Ye Zhao explained: "I am watching him study at school, and I will give him extra lessons when he needs them."
"So you don't need to earn tuition fees?"
"I watch him study in school. Does that count as time?" Ye Zhao said, looking at Zeng Xiang. "It's most effective when I watch him during class, right, Xiangzi?"
Zeng Xiang made a "hmm" sound in his throat, which was considered as his agreement.
Aunt Qiao said with a smile, "You two are so cunning. I want to see how many points you can get in the next monthly exam, Zeng Xiang."
Ye Zhao complained at the right time: "Don't you need to give birth to a baby?"
Aunt Qiao opened her mouth but was unable to refute. Ye Zhao immediately coaxed the big customer: "There will definitely be progress. I guarantee it."
"Aunt Qiao believes you are capable, but I don't have confidence in him."
Every time this happened, Zeng Xiang would suspect that he was not his biological son.
"I'm smart too, okay?"
Aunt Qiao smiled and said, "Then prove it to me."
After Aunt Qiao entered the kitchen, Ye Zhao handed the camera back to Zeng Xiang: "Please put it in my room, Xiangzi."
Cheung babe...
Zeng Xiang glared at her.
Ye Zhao quickly changed his tone: "Brother Xiang! Please put it on for me. I'm waiting for the finale."
Boss Xiang had no choice but to take it and send her to her room.
On Thursday morning, Ye Zhao carried a camera and a letter of introduction from the principal and went to the archives to look up the information of the educated youth group A.
On the second floor of the archives, the staff pointed her in a direction and asked her to find it herself.
The huge venue was silent, with layers of iron shelves filled with folders.
In addition to not allowing people to come in easily, the management here is very lax and the staff does not care how people who come in look up information.
Ye Zhao found the file rack for educated youth and, according to the year, found the file cabinet for educated youth who went to the countryside in 1968.
The information of Group A of the educated youth was placed at the very edge, and she saw it at a glance.
He pulled out the folder and took out the documents inside. There were five copies in total, with the words "Cards for Revolutionary Intellectual Youth Going to the Countryside and the Mountains" written on them. The names were those of Ye Dingguo, Su Yingmin, He Huiqiong, Guo Xuyan and Jin Jingzhi.
She first took out Jin Jingzhi's information. There was a one-inch black-and-white photo attached to the basic information. It showed the main family members, including father, stepmother, stepsiblings, etc. The family's financial situation was also clearly visible. The average monthly income was only 20 yuan, indicating that the family was relatively poor.
Ye Zhao took out his camera, placed the documents on the floor, and took pictures of them page by page.
She quickly checked the information of several other people. There was no special information, so she took photos of them one by one for record. Only Guo Xuyan's information attracted her attention.
Guo Xuyan's information was a few pages longer than others. The family backgrounds of others were all written as "poor peasants", but hers was different. At first, it was written as "cadre", but later it was crossed out and changed to "capitalist agent".
The difference in treatment between "cadres" and "capitalist agents" in that era was bloody. Ye Zhao could imagine the impact this gap would have on the parties involved.
According to the information, Guo Xuyan's parents were diplomatic workers in their early years. Later, because they made serious ideological mistakes, they were sent to a farm for labor reform.
Guo Xuyan is the youngest daughter. She didn’t need to go to the countryside, but for some unknown reason, she chose to do so.
The last page is a self-introduction written by Guo Xuyan when he was a student: he is fluent in Russian, has a basic understanding of French and English, loves Soviet literature, is good at piano, accordion and violin, likes Chinese painting, and loves movies...
His handwriting is elegant and vigorous, very beautiful.
Ye Zhao could imagine the pride a talented teenage girl felt when she wrote this self-introduction.
Ye Zhao recalled the words that Auntie Ho Hui-king used when she talked about her mother: "She loves literature, can play many musical instruments, is aloof, and charming..."
And Uncle Su described her mother as "spoiled from childhood, unable to endure hardship..."
Aren’t these all Guo Xuyan
She suddenly realized that the words Uncle Su and Aunt He used to describe "your mother" and "Jin Jingzhi" were disjunctive, a subconscious disjunction.
When they described "your mother", the image was infinitely close to Guo Xuyan; when they described "Jin Jingzhi", they were talking about Jin Jingzhi herself.
There is only one reason that can explain why they are so divided, and that is that her biological mother is Guo Xuyan.
Why do they use Jin Jingzhi to confuse people
Ye Zhao sat on the ground, sunlight came in through the glass window, and tiny dust particles in the air floated in front of his eyes.
Perhaps it is possible that Guo Xuyan's parents were rehabilitated around 1970, and Guo was anxious to escape from the suffering here and return to Beijing, but she was pregnant at the time and could not go back, so she could only give birth to her secretly and then leave.
Ye Zhao was given the name Jin Jingzhi when she was born, and Guo Xuyan abandoned his daughter and returned to Beijing. Otherwise, with Guo Xuyan's identity, if she disappeared, Guo's parents and family would definitely come to find her.
The original owner went to Jing City to look for her mother's whereabouts, but she was looking for Jin Jingzhi, so it was reasonable that she didn't find her. In other words, her biological mother returned to Jing City, and the missing Jin Jingzhi fled to Hong Kong.
Is that so? I feel like something is wrong.
Ye Zhao couldn't think too much here. She could only take photos of all the information and then slowly look for the truth after returning.
It was almost twelve o'clock when Ye Zhao came out of the archives. He ate a bowl of beef noodle soup outside before taking the bus back to Zengwuwei.
Before reaching the Little West Building, I saw Li Ruixiang pacing anxiously back and forth at the gate of the courtyard from afar.
Ye Zhao trotted over: "Why are you here, Ruixiang?"
"Xiao Zhao! I've been waiting for you for half an hour." Li Ruixiang said anxiously.
"What happened?" "People from the office and the finance department came to trouble us, saying that we collected the deposit without permission, which was against the rules, and asked us to hand over the deposit to their finance department for safekeeping."
Finance Department of Irene Toy Factory
If there really is a problem, why did they come to us now
Li Ruixiang: "Four or five of them came and spoke very harshly, insisting that we pay the deposit immediately. I was forced into a corner by them, so I had to tell them that the money was in your custody to put their minds at ease."
Ye Zhao: "You told them that I'm a partner?"
"No, you asked us to keep it a secret, so I dare not tell you. I will just say that you are doing our accounting part-time, and the money is kept by you."
"And then? How did they react?"
"They said that they couldn't let you stay here. Even if you are the boss's daughter, it's not in accordance with the rules. My parents dare not say anything. I don't dare to offend them. From now on, the speed of the monthly payment will depend on their mood."
Ye Zhao had already anticipated that money was not so easy to earn, so she said, "Let's go. Let's go together."
They walked and talked, and halfway through they happened to meet Zeng Xiaoling's father, Uncle Ni Meng. Ye Zhao greeted him, "Uncle Wang, where are you going?"
Ni Meng saw that it was Ye Zhao and smiled, "I'm going to your father's factory to talk to Lao Su about the factory rent. According to the contract, the rent will increase after the National Day. I tried my best to help you get it. This rent increase is symbolic and small. The village should give preferential treatment to large enterprises."
The Irene Toy Factory has a large area. Only the old factory building and dormitory building on the west side were purchased by Ye Dingguo at the beginning. Most of the other factory buildings belong to the collective ownership of Zengwuwei Village.
Ye Zhaocai didn't want to help her father save money. She smiled and said, "The price should be raised as much as it should be. If we make money, we should also benefit the villagers, right?"
Ye Zhao just smiled and was too lazy to explain. Ye Dingguo was Ye Dingguo and she was her.
Ni Meng asked who the girl next to Ye Zhao was.
Ye Zhao introduced: "This is my classmate. Her parents contracted the factory cafeteria?"
"Oh, your classmate's parents took over the project? I see. They said the other day that a new contractor from out of town had come. I was thinking of finding a chance to meet him, but it seems like there's no need to bother them now."
Ye Zhao asked half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Why, you still want to collect protection money?"
Ni Meng certainly didn't admit it. He smiled and said, "No, no, let's just be friends. A society ruled by law! A society ruled by law!"
They entered the Irene Toy Factory. Ni Meng went to do his thing, while Ye Zhao and Li Ruixiang first went to the kitchen to find Aunt Qin, and then went to the office building to find the office director.
The office director’s surname is Cai. He took over after Director Zhang stepped down. He should be on Su Yingmin’s side.
Ordinarily he shouldn't have added fuel to the fire at this time, but since it was the finance and procurement departments that started it, as a newcomer he had no choice but to cooperate in order to gain a firm foothold without offending anyone.
Director Cai and Lao Yao, who was in charge of the kitchen, took them to knock on the door of the finance office. The finance office was very arrogant and did not allow outsiders in, so they asked them to wait in the corridor outside.
They waited in the corridor for about ten minutes. Ye Zhao became impatient: "Isn't he coming out yet? If not, we'll leave."
It’s just a small finance office, but why are they showing off such great authority? Who are they showing off to
Old Yao was probably also a nepotist of the Bai family. He was quite proud and boasted, "They are reconciling accounts with American clients. They will be out soon after the reconciliation."
Ye Zhao glanced at him and said, "Do you know what time it is in the United States now? Americans are staying up late to work overtime to check your accounts?"
Old Yao was slapped in the face. He was a middle-aged man and had a thin skin. His face immediately turned red. He hurriedly made excuses, "It might be that he was reconciling accounts with the customers in Gangcheng."
Director Cai asked him to stop talking, then apologized carefully: "How about we go to the conference room and wait?"
Ye Zhao didn't want to go, and Aunt Qin didn't dare to offend him, so she said hurriedly, "Don't bother, Director Cai, I have something to do in the kitchen later, so let's chat here."
After waiting for a few more minutes, two people came out from the finance office. They were all staff members, but the finance boss did not show up.
Ye Zhao remembered one of them. When they tore Bai Yunlian apart last time, they were having a financial meeting and this woman was sitting next to Bai Yunlian.
It seems that they are all direct descendants of the Bai family.
The woman's name is Sister Zhong. She has short curly hair and a slightly swollen face. She smiles when she speaks, like a smiling tiger.
"We in the finance department always deal with the matter, not the person. As an outsourcer, you took the workers' deposit without authorization, which violated our factory's rules, so we have to stop it."
Is there a system for collecting deposits from suppliers? That's impossible.
Ye Zhao asked: "Which of your rules has been violated? Please bring out the rules and regulations so that we can study them."
It was obvious that they couldn't come up with it, so Sister Zhong smiled and said, "This is the rule we set in the previous meeting."
Ye Zhao sneered: "Can't take it out?"
After being criticized just now, Lao Yao doesn’t dare to speak nonsense now, for fear of being criticized again.
Sister Zhong continued to practice Tai Chi with them: "We should be reasonable, right? I calculated that the deposit you collected is about 40,000 yuan, which is not a small amount. What if, I mean what if, what if one of you runs away with the money? Who will protect the interests of the workers?"
When Aunt Qin heard that someone was going to run away with the money, she became anxious: "It's not this comrade. We signed the contract and deposited 10,000 yuan in the factory. How could we run away?"
Sister Zhong: "Just in case something unexpected happens. Our boss said that this deposit must be kept in our finance office for safety."
Aunt Qin: "The deposit is in Xiao Zhao's hands. She does our accounting part-time. She is your boss's daughter. We are assured that the deposit is with her. Don't you feel uneasy?"
Sister Zhong said with a fake smile: "The boss's daughter is still a student, and we shouldn't put so much pressure on her."
Ye Zhao immediately retorted: "The money is in the bank, I have no pressure."
Sister Zhong was speechless. Another financial officer next to her said, "We are all following the rules. Please don't make things difficult for us."
Ye Zhao was speechless: "We are back to the same old story. Where are your rules? Can you come up with them? Even if you can come up with the rules now, why should we follow them? Irene Toy Factory is Irene Toy Factory, and Aunt Qin is Aunt Qin. Aunt Qin is an outsourcer, not your employee. Why should she follow your rules?"
Sister Zhong had seen how good Ye Zhao was at dealing with people during the last incident. She paused for a few seconds after listening to Ye Zhao's long speech without taking a breath. She was not as smooth as before. She said, "But the people who have to pay the deposit are workers in our factory. You use a worthless card to ask the workers to deposit 10 yuan in cash. This is risky in itself. Our goal is to help workers avoid risks."
"We collect a deposit not because the card is valuable or not, but to prevent someone from taking advantage of the situation and bringing in outsiders to eat a free meal for 1 cent. There are 4,000 people in the factory. If we sell 5,000 meal tickets, will the factory pay Aunt Qin 49 cents for each of the extra 1,000 tickets?"
When asked this question, the finance staff had no way of answering it.
"You can't settle the bill, right? Then how can we prevent this from happening? We can only use meal cards to check and balance it. You must use meal cards to buy meal coupons. One card, one coupon. No one can take advantage of the loophole."
"Then you don't have to deposit as much as ten yuan in cash."
"Is ten yuan in cash a lot? If two or three people go out to eat, they can't order many dishes, right? If we charge too low a deposit, the resigned employees may not come to return the deposit, but choose to give the meal card to others. This kind of meal card that is given away only costs 1 cent to eat, and the factory will not pay the other 49 cents, which means that the entire cost is borne by Aunt Qin, so of course you won't feel bad."
Sister Zhong was confused by Ye Zhao. Why did she feel that what Ye Zhao said made sense
Seeing his people being led into a trap, Lao Yao immediately said, "Now it's not a question of whether ten yuan is too much or not..."
Ye Zhao retorted: "This is what you just said. You think that the ten yuan deposit is risky for the workers, so I refuted it."
Lao Yao was frustrated and quickly changed his words: "The main problem is the deposit storage issue. We think the deposit should be placed in the finance department of our factory to ensure the safety of the funds."
"Is the money safe if it is kept in your finance office?"
Sister Zhong: “Yes.”
"Safer than in my hands?"
Sister Zhong: "That's not the way to compare. You are an individual, and we are an organization. We are different."
"Of course we are different. We collect this deposit to protect Aunt Qin's personal interests from being violated. According to the law, this deposit should be kept in Aunt Qin's hands, just like the deposit given by the tenant is also given to the landlord. Our government has not asked the finance department to say that it is not safe to keep the deposit in the hands of the landlord and the money must be put in the finance department, right?"
The three people on the opposite side were once again unable to refute.
"Your actions, to put it nicely, are meddling in other people's business! To put it crudely, it's meddling in other people's business! To put it even more crudely, it's the dog trying to catch the rat with ulterior motives."
This was true, but it sounded a bit harsh to the other party. Director Cai hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: "It's mainly a communication problem. If the communication is good, it won't be meddling in other people's business."
Sister Zhong explained: “We are doing this entirely for the workers’ sake.”
“Who will protect the interests of outsourcers?”
"The deposit is safer in our hands."
"Who knows? What if something goes wrong in your finance department, and someone embezzles the deposit or it's stolen? Then the worker will take the deposit slip to Aunt Qin, not you."
"Put it in the finance department. The factory will back it up. You can rest assured."
Ye Zhao felt that he had explained himself clearly enough, so he became a little impatient. "You keep your mouth shut and you think the factory will cover the loss? Even if the factory covers the loss, why should we give you the deposit that should belong to us? Your rules can only regulate you, not restrict others. Do you understand? Before doing anything, you should first find out whether the law allows it! Don't stick your hands in your hands so long!"
This time, even Director Cai didn't dare to respond, for fear that if he did, he would be criticized again.
But it's not a good idea to just wait like this, so Director Cai gave the Finance Department a way out: "Why don't you just sign a disclaimer? Boss Qin will keep the deposit in the future, but if something goes wrong, our factory will not be responsible for compensation, okay?"
Aunt Qin thought this method was acceptable. "I can sign it. The deposit will definitely be returned to me, not you."
Faced with a well-reasoned and powerful talker like Ye Zhao, the people in the Finance Department didn't dare to force it. Sister Bai was taken to the police station, and they valued their lives.
Sister Zhong no longer smiled, she raised her head slightly, as if giving a favor: "Then sign a disclaimer."
Originally, Ye Zhao didn't agree to sign the disclaimer, but she didn't want to stop it in person. As a result, Sister Zhong's tone annoyed her again.
"Aunt Qin, we won't sign it." Ye Zhao looked at the other party and said, "You just randomly asked me to sign an agreement with any department. Is there any end to this?"
Just a random department? Sister Zhong was speechless. Their Finance Department was the God of Wealth in the factory. Who dared to say that they were just a random department? But Ye Zhao said he would not sign. She had no way to deal with it and could not be arrogant.
It's hard to be a peacemaker. Director Cai was completely helpless. He could only be annoyed in his heart. The people in the Finance Department were usually arrogant and their faces were indeed ugly. This time they met a tough opponent and they deserved to be punished.
Seeing that they were silent, Ye Zhao said, "Also, when you settle accounts every month, do it honestly and don't try to make trouble."
Sister Zhong wanted to explain: "How could we..."
How could it be impossible? Ye Zhao stared at Sister Zhong and asked, "Auntie, what is your name?"
Being asked her name suddenly, Sister Zhong subconsciously felt that the other party was going to cause trouble for her. Her voice was weak, "What's wrong?"
Ye Zhao nodded and smiled, "Sister Zhong, huh? I'll remember you."
Sister Zhong's swollen face suddenly became deflated: "..."
The words "I'll remember you" ended today's dispute.
When they came out of the office building, Aunt Qin said worriedly, "The canteen is too lucrative, and everyone is watching it. If we take it down, we have to take care of all the departments, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to keep it for long."
Ye Zhao: "Forget about the others. Everyone knows that you and I know each other, so no one would dare to take advantage of you. We just need to do our job well and not make any mistakes. We can try to win over Director Cai."
Aunt Qin: "I'll take my time. I'll try my best to win over those who I can."
Just then, Ni Meng came down after finishing his work. Ye Zhao greeted him: "Uncle Wang, are you free these two days? I have something to talk to you about."
"You can find me anytime, I'm always available."
(End of this chapter)