“What’s this? You want to buy clothes from our factory?”
The director frowned at Zhou Shengnan. She was usually such a quiet, unremarkable girl that, except for what had happened with Chen Weihua, there was hardly anything distinctive about her.
Had she been driven crazy by that and decided to follow other people into business?
Sure enough, Zhou Shengnan lowered her eyes and said that her mother needed a lot of money for treatment, so she wanted to try her hand at a small business like other people.
“Zhou Shengnan, the country may be encouraging private businesses now, but you still have to be cut out for it.
Three thousand two hundred isn’t a small sum, but it isn’t a fortune, either. It’s enough to cover your mother’s treatment this time. If you don’t know what you’re doing and spend it all on stock, how are you going to pay her hospital bills?”
The director’s tone wasn’t very pleasant, but it was clear she was trying to give Zhou Shengnan some advice.
After all, ever since the girl started working at the factory, she’d been ordinary—one might even say dull. She didn’t seem cut out for business.
“Director, I know. But for my mom, I want to take a chance!”
Zhou Shengnan cautiously raised her head, pinched her thigh to make her eyes redden, and put on a pitiful look.
“I just want to buy one batch and see how it goes. If I can’t sell it, I won’t bring it back and trouble you!”
In the Soviet Union at this time, heavy industry was advanced, but light industry was practically at kindergarten level.
Anything people ate, wore, or used would sell out as soon as you took it over there. There was no need to worry about not finding buyers.
The director studied Zhou Shengnan. She had to admit, the girl seemed a little different today.
There was a new light in her eyes, and a stubborn, undaunted air about her.
“Ah, all right.” The director turned and gestured for Zhou Shengnan to follow. “As it happens, the factory has a batch of goods going out soon. I’ll add your order to it and give you the lowest price.
“If you really can’t sell the clothes, bring them back before the New Year and I’ll refund your money.”
At that, Zhou Shengnan turned to look at the director.
She could feel the woman’s kindness. Pressing her lips together, she gave a small nod.
She had rarely encountered kindness like this in her previous life. More often, people used and undermined one another. Only the most ruthless managed to eat their fill.
How long had it been since she’d lived this freely?
While Zhou Shengnan was lost in thought, the director led her to the storeroom. Inside was a clothing catalog, with fabric swatches showing the colors of each style sewn onto the pages.
“Fleece-lined cotton jackets, twelve yuan each. Heavyweight ones, fifteen. Long ones, eighteen. Sapphire blue, rose pink, and brown—nine of each color per set.
“Men’s jackets are fifteen each, in navy, black, and gray—nine of each color per set.”
The director brought out the cotton jackets. By the 1980s, there were many more styles to choose from.
This batch was fashionable. The women’s jackets had a cinched waist that gave the waistline a soft, flattering curve, while the men’s jackets were sharply tailored and looked imposing.
They were also made with quality materials, windproof and warm. They really were quite good.
Zhou Shengnan set aside enough money for her passport and round-trip tickets. After calculating her budget, she ordered three sets of the women’s heavyweight jackets and three sets of the men’s. That came to 810 yuan.
She added ten extra-large jackets for women and ten for men. The extra-large sizes cost three yuan more each, bringing the total to 360 yuan, for 1,170 yuan altogether.
Seeing Zhou Shengnan buy more than a thousand yuan’s worth of goods in one go, the director threw in four extra-large woven sacks and some clothes hangers. At last, everything fit.
“I’ll have someone deliver them to your house in a bit—”
Before the director could finish, Zhou Shengnan shook her head. She found a length of rope and tied together the handles of all four sacks.
With a flex of her arms, she swung the four sacks—each large enough to hold a person—onto her back and walked away as if she were carrying nothing.
The cotton jackets made at factories in the Northeast were sturdy and heavy; each weighed at least two or three pounds. Seventy-four jackets came to well over a hundred pounds.
Zhou Shengnan carried them without even breathing hard, and still had enough energy to turn and say goodbye to the director.
“Director, thank you for this. I’ll bring you something nice when I get back.”
Zhou Shengnan would remember the director’s kindness, but time was short and money tight; she couldn’t afford to bring her a thank-you gift this time.
When she came back from Russia, she would definitely bring one.
The director watched until Zhou Shengnan disappeared from sight. Only then did she close her mouth, which had been hanging open, and exclaim in surprise,
“Well, I’ll be! Since when did that girl get so strong? Could that have been her father, Zhou Ren’an, in disguise?”
Zhou Shengnan didn’t give a thought to the director’s wild speculations. She carried all the clothes home and dropped them on the floor with a thud.
When she straightened up, she saw her father and Big Brother staring at her, dumbstruck.
Zhou Ren’an knew his daughter was strong, but she’d deliberately held back over the years. And her family had never wanted her doing hard labor. It had been ages since he’d seen her show her real strength.
She’d carried four enormous bags of stuff back all by herself?
Zhou Ren’an had just heard his son say that his daughter planned to go to Russia as a shuttle trader. But the place was unfamiliar, and it wasn’t somewhere you could simply decide to go.
His wife was in the hospital. If anything happened to his daughter too, how could he go on living?
“Shengnan, I’ll find a way to pay for your mother’s treatment myself. You just keep going to work!”
“Too late.” Zhou Shengnan shrugged. “I sold my job and used the money to buy these clothes.
“If you won’t let me go, our whole family can get ready to starve!”
Zhou Ren’an felt his vision go black. This news was even more devastating than the eight hundred yuan the family had been swindled out of.
No one in Zhou Ren’an’s family knew the first thing about business. How could this stubborn girl be so determined?
“You sold your job?” Zhou Ren’an asked, unwilling to believe it. “You really sold it?
“You won’t be able to get another job afterward!”
Zhou Shengnan had barely nodded when Zhou Ren’an raised his palm, broad as a fan.
He wanted to slap his daughter a few times for making the decision without telling him, but when he looked at her pretty little face, he couldn’t bring himself to hit her.
He took a couple of angry, heavy breaths, then slapped Zhou Jihong hard on the back.
“You big idiot! You couldn’t keep an eye on your sister and stop her wasting money?
“She said she was selling her job—couldn’t you have gotten down on your knees and begged her not to?”
The slap staggered Zhou Jihong. His back burned, and as he listened to his father’s reproaches, he had no way to defend himself.
Waaah, he’d tried to stop her too. Waaah, his sister had picked him up and he’d been scared!
Zhou Shengnan knew that no normal person could accept their seemingly frail, helpless daughter going abroad to be a shuttle trader.
Especially since the journey was far from safe.
But thinking of her mother’s illness and the fleeting chance to make a fortune, Zhou Shengnan had no choice but to double down.
She turned and went into the kitchen, took a whetstone, and began sharpening a knife with a rasping scrape right in front of Zhou Ren’an.
“Daughter, what are you doing?”
Seeing the frost on his daughter’s face, Zhou Ren’an asked in a voice full of caution.
“Nothing. We’re out of money. If you won’t let me go sell goods in Russia, I’ll rob people on the road.
“With skills like mine, it’ll be either the death penalty or life in prison. Dad, you can look forward to visiting me in prison!”
With that, Zhou Shengnan brandished the knife, got to her feet, and headed for the door.
Zhou Ren’an felt his vision go black again, as if a pig’s trotter had kicked him square in the chest.
He looked at his daughter’s resolute back and her superhuman strength.
In his mind, he saw his daughter in prison clothes, wearing heavy shackles as she was led to the execution ground to be shot. He surrendered on the spot.
He lunged forward and grabbed Zhou Shengnan by the ankle, wailing.
At over 180 pounds, Zhou Ren’an was dragged along behind Shengnan like a plastic bag.
“I agree, daughter! You can go! Don’t scare your dad like that!”
Zhou Ren’an was so frightened that tears welled in his eyes. In his heart, he cursed Chen Weihua and his ancestors for eighteen generations.
That pretty-boy had upset his daughter so badly she wasn’t acting like herself anymore. Waaah, he wanted his sweet, soft daughter back!
Hearing her father give in, Zhou Shengnan smiled triumphantly. She bent down and slipped her hands under his armpits.
With a single effort, she lifted him into the air.
“Oh, Dad, it’s freezing out. Why are you lying on the ground? Come on, get up.
“Come on, let’s hurry and pack. I’m taking the train to Huole tomorrow. It’ll take time to get a passport and buy the ticket, too.”
Zhou Ren’an was still staring blankly as his daughter lifted him up.
Before he could react, Zhou Shengnan carried him into the house.