Lin Qimo naturally had no objection.
“Then call me Brother Qi. Calling me ‘Manager Qi’ makes me feel awkward.” After saying that, Qi Dapeng nervously broke into a cold sweat and looked away, not daring to meet her eyes.
“Brother Qi just arrived in Xiangyang, right? Your accent sounds southern,” Lin Qimo asked casually.
“You’re really sharp. I’m from Haicheng. Have you been there?”
“No, I just have a few friends there,” Lin Qimo replied lightly, a flash of realization passing through her eyes.
From her expression, it really did seem like she had never been there.
“You should visit Haicheng when you have time. You can see the sea there.”
Lin Qimo lowered her gaze.
He was wrong there was more than just the sea. There were also small islands. The scenery there truly was beautiful.
It’s just that she was only at the beginning right now and didn’t yet have the qualifications to go back and take revenge.
“Alright, I’ll go see it when I have time.”
After signing the supply contract and, under Qi Dapeng’s introduction, confirming the future supply quantities with the restaurant’s kitchen manager, Lin Qimo finally left the restaurant.
“Xiao Mo, think again when you go back about my suggestion bigger scale, bigger growth.”
Qi Dapeng always spoke with a cheerful smile. Lin Qimo didn’t have a bad impression of him and nodded with a smile.
“I’ll go back and discuss it with the villagers. Since it’s large-scale supply, I’ll come back and tell you after we’ve made a decision.”
Qi Dapeng was overjoyed to hear this and was already imagining what clothes he should wear for their next meeting.
Making money seemed to be going smoother than she had imagined.
The state-run restaurant only took a daily supply of ten jin, which was twenty yuan. After deducting five yuan in costs, plus the wages of the seven villagers selected by the collective five mao per person per day, totaling three yuan and five mao and the Li brothers’ combined wage of one yuan and five mao, what remained in her hands was five yuan.
Because this was a collective village business quota, there was also a one-yuan village dividend deducted from that five yuan. In other words, she only earned four yuan a day.
Calculating it this way wasn’t too bad at least 120 yuan a month.
That was still acceptable.
The five-spice dried tofu processing factory finally began official operations.
The village committee selected seven women. Except for Aunt Qiu, the others were all capable women chosen from different production teams in the village.
In Lin Qimo’s view, they were all neat and efficient workers who didn’t cause trouble.
During this time, Grandma Tan came twice, saying that Uncle Yao had used connections at the factory to find an easy job and wanted to send Tangtang to work at the steel factory where he worked.
Lin Qimo refused on the spot.
“No.”
Grandma Tan gritted her teeth. “Your uncle is doing this for your own good. If someone in the family has a formal job, you won’t have to starve.”
These little bastards born from a “seductress,” expecting her to provide food? Not a chance.
“Before, when we had no food, we didn’t starve to death. A few days ago, Grandpa even returned 800 jin of grain. Now we definitely won’t starve. Grandma can rest easy.”
It would’ve been fine not to mention it, but the moment the 800 jin of grain was brought up, Grandma Tan felt a sharp pain in her liver.
“Your uncle really is kind. When we were eating corn porridge every meal, he didn’t help your sister find a job. Now that your sister can earn money to support the family, who needs him to play the good guy?” Lin Tangtang said sarcastically from the side.
“You think factory jobs are so easy to find? Like buying cabbage at the market?”
“Not cabbage. Not even radishes. I don’t care for it anyway.”
Grandma Tan’s face turned ashen.
Lin Tangtang felt secretly pleased.
Her eldest sister had said the uncle had bad intentions and wanted to sell her off for money. At thirteen, she was underage even factory jobs wouldn’t hire child labor, let alone random work.
Seeing this, Lin Qimo smiled and said, “We appreciate Uncle’s kindness, but Tangtang won’t go. She still has to go to school.”
Unable to convince them, Grandma Tan pointed at Lin Tangtang and scolded, “You’re just stubborn! Believing everything your sister says you’ll regret it one day!”
Lin Tangtang rolled her eyes. “My eldest sister said she’ll send me back to school. If I don’t listen to her, should I listen to you instead so you can beat me every day? I bumped my head, not my brain.”
“You have money to send her to school but not to repay debts,” Grandma Tan snapped again.
Lin Qimo sneered inwardly so she was really here to demand money.
In many families in the village, children couldn’t go to school because there wasn’t enough money. Their situation was special, so Tangtang had already been out of school for half a year.
“You’re wrong, Grandma. School only costs a little each year. If I work hard, I can still earn thirty yuan a year even if it’s tough, I can manage. But a debt of one thousand yuan? No one can earn that back in a year.”
Grandma Tan was momentarily speechless.
Something felt off, yet it also sounded somewhat reasonable.
Just as Lin Qimo turned to go into the kitchen to help cook tofu, Grandma Tan suddenly blocked her path.
“Don’t go. Today you must hand over however much money you have!”
Thinking of how her youngest son had been struggling over this matter, she couldn’t bear it.
Lin Qimo was still holding a basin of cold water. Seeing the arm blocking her way, she tilted it
and poured the entire basin of water down.