The second floor of the County Textile Company’s office building.
Li Bin took out his key and unlocked the door. After entering the office, he asked, “What did Xiao Dejin send you here to see me about?”
Xiao Hongyao carried the chair into the office. “The approval slip from last time wasn’t stamped.”
“At this hour, the colleague in the administrative office who keeps the official seal has definitely gone home. Is it urgent?”
“It was pretty urgent just now, so I asked Sister Ping to help me get it stamped.”
Quite clever.
Li Bin couldn’t help glancing at her again. Since she had already gotten the approval slip stamped but hadn’t left, she obviously had something else to ask him.
Sure enough, Xiao Hongyao took a cloth bag from her shoulder bag and placed it on Li Bin’s desk.
“My uncle asked me to bring this to you.”
Li Bin opened the cloth bag and took a look before setting it aside.
“Why has Xiao Dejin suddenly become so generous? Does he need something from me again?”
Since he had already brought it up, Xiao Hongyao immediately handed him the completed form.
“There’s an approval slip that I need Uncle Li to sign.”
Li Bin carefully examined the completed form and hesitated slightly.
“Xiao Dejin’s business keeps getting bigger. He’s quite the busy man now.”
He was asking someone for a favor without even coming personally.
Xiao Hongyao understood what Li Bin was thinking, so she quickly helped Xiao Dejin flatter him.
“My uncle often tells our family that it’s all thanks to you. Otherwise, how could he have made this much money? He’d still be working at the glass factory and putting up with all kinds of trouble. But his business is also quite difficult, with so many things to deal with. He’s going to Guangzhou again soon and really can’t get away. He said that when he comes back from Guangzhou, he’ll personally come and thank you.”
Hearing Xiao Hongyao address him respectfully twice, Li Bin looked up and smiled.
“Your Mandarin is pretty standard.”
Compared with the locals, her Mandarin was indeed unusually good.
Xiao Hongyao smiled modestly. “I learned it by listening to the radio.”
“Xiao Dejin is going to Guangzhou again?”
“Yes, he’s going there to buy supplies.”
“The tea he brought back from Guangzhou last time was pretty good. Ask him to bring me another tin.”
As he spoke, Li Bin took the fountain pen from his breast pocket and quickly signed the approval slip.
“Come back during working hours tomorrow to have it stamped.”
“Thank you, Uncle Bin.”
Looking at the signed approval slip, Xiao Hongyao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she suddenly remembered that tomorrow was November 1. She would have to go to work and wouldn’t have time to come back, so she hurriedly said, “I have to work tomorrow. Can I ask my brother to come and get it stamped?”
“Sure. Just have your brother come and see me.”
After thanking Li Bin again, Xiao Hongyao happily went downstairs. She rode her bicycle to Sister Zhen’s clothing store first to give her the good news.
Liang Zhen hadn’t expected the young girl to get things done so quickly. She immediately said that she would go to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau tomorrow to ask about the procedures. Once the approval slip was officially stamped, they could proceed with the registration.
Just then, Liang Tian came home from work.
He was surprised to see Xiao Hongyao.
“Xiaoyao, what are you doing here?”
Liang Zhen praised her.
“Xiaoyao is really capable. She got the County Textile Company’s approval today. Once it’s stamped tomorrow, she can go to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to complete the registration.”
Liang Tian asked how she had managed to do it.
Of course, Xiao Hongyao couldn’t tell him the truth.
She simply said, “Song Kuoyang’s good friend helped me take care of it.”
“Tong Weiqiang?”
“His uncle has connections.”
Xiao Hongyao remembered that she needed to deliver an approval slip to Zhang Dabao’s house. Zhang Dabao had seen her at Xiao Dejin’s house at noon, and he also knew that Xiao Dejin had asked Tong Weiqiang to help get the approval stamped. Now that the stamp had been obtained, it would be awkward for her to go there herself.
“Brother Tian, are you free? If you are, could you help me deliver this approval slip to Zhang Dabao?”
As his future sister-in-law was asking for a favor, Liang Tian naturally wouldn’t refuse if he could help, especially since it was such a small matter.
Zhang Dabao’s house wasn’t far from there. It would only take a few minutes to deliver the document and come back.
When Liang Tian returned, Xiao Hongyao unexpectedly learned that he knew Zhang Dabao’s son.
“His eldest son is my classmate.”
That was how things were in small towns. Everyone was connected somehow.
Xiao Hongyao then asked Liang Tian to find out, when he had time, how much money Zhang Dabao had paid Xiao Dejin to arrange the County Textile Company approval slip.
Xiao Hongyao returned home at around six-thirty.
The family was just getting ready to eat dinner.
Her eldest brother vaguely knew that Xiao Hongyao was helping Song Kuoyang with something, but since the family hadn’t told him about it, he pretended not to know.
He simply asked his third sister, “Where did you go?”
“I went to Brother Tian’s sister’s clothing store to look at some new clothes.”
That wasn’t exactly a lie.
Xiao Yuanyang was rather unhappy that Liang Tian had quietly and effortlessly worked his way into the Xiao family’s life. He couldn’t help glaring at Xiao Hongmin, who was carrying dishes out of the kitchen.
Xiao Hongmin was speechless.
“Why are you glaring at me? Third Sister asked me to take her there.”
Xiao Yuanyang said nothing more and changed the subject. Turning to Xiao Hongyao, he said, “I bought a pound of lard candy and a pound of orange candy at the food station. Take them to work tomorrow and share them with your coworkers.”
Xiao Hongmin said, “Why bring so much? A pound of orange candy is enough. Third Sister, just stick with me tomorrow.”
With her second sister looking out for her, Xiao Hongyao wasn’t worried.
She smiled and nodded.
“Okay.”
After dinner, Grandma Xiao Ganju secretly asked how things had gone.
Xiao Hongyao answered vaguely, “It’s almost done. Song Kuoyang’s friend helped take care of the paperwork.”
“That pack of Soft White Sand cigarettes wasn’t cheap. It must have cost at least ten yuan.”
Xiao Hongyao understood what Grandma meant.
“When the time comes, we’ll have Song Kuoyang pay us back.”
Xiao Ganju said, “Don’t ask him for it. See whether he offers to pay on his own.”
At the very least, that would reveal what kind of person Song Kuoyang really was.
Grandma really knew how to deal with people.
Unfortunately, Song Kuoyang was only a cover.
Xiao Hongyao smiled and nodded.
“I know.”
Early the next morning, Xiao Hongyao first went to return Tong Weiqiang’s bicycle.
Tong Weiqiang was already waiting at the place they had agreed on.
“How did it go? Did you get it done?”
Tong Weiqiang yawned, looking as though he hadn’t fully woken up yet.
Xiao Hongyao briefly told him what had happened at the County Textile Company the previous day, then handed him the approval slip that needed to be stamped.
“Just say that you’re my brother and also Uncle De’s nephew.”
Tong Weiqiang nodded.
“Okay. Leave it to me.”
“Section Chief Li asked Uncle De to bring him another tin of the tea he gave him last time when he goes to Guangzhou. It should be the same tea Uncle De made for us yesterday. I’ll pay for the tea. When you go to Guangzhou with Uncle De, bring back two tins. If Uncle De asks, just say they’re gifts for someone. We’ll give one to Section Chief Li later.”
Tong Weiqiang thought about it.
“If Section Chief Li happens to talk to my uncle someday, we could easily be exposed.”
“I know.”
“Even if we get exposed, it’s no big deal. At worst, my uncle will yell at me. I’ll take the blame. I can handle it.”
Tong Weiqiang was quite loyal.
Xiao Hongyao smiled.
“I’m the mastermind, so if someone has to take responsibility, it should be me. I’ve already thought about it. Rather than getting exposed accidentally, I’d rather reveal the truth myself. But now isn’t the right time.”
At the very least, she had to wait until they had obtained the business license and the first batch of corduroy.
“How are you planning to reveal it?”
“We’ll see when the time comes.”
She hadn’t figured it out yet.
“All right. We’ll talk about it then. Don’t worry. I can handle it.”
Xiao Hongyao smiled gratefully.
“Luckily, Brother Qiang, you’re willing to lead the way for me.”
“Of course. We’re going to work together and make big money.”
Tong Weiqiang grinned happily.
He still hadn’t realized that he had already become Xiao Hongyao’s unofficial sidekick.
At seven fifty, Xiao Hongyao followed her second sister into the factory compound and headed toward the tube-making workshop.
Apart from the office building, the other workshops in the factory were large buildings made of red brick and gray roof tiles.
The packaging workshop was at the very front. Large white slogans were painted across its red brick walls.
“Safety First, Production Second, Earn Foreign Exchange Through Exports, Bring Honor to the Country.”
Farther inside were various other safety slogans, such as:
“No Smoking or Open Flames—Violators Will Be Severely Punished.”
“One Moment of Carelessness Can Bring a Lifetime of Pain.”
“Caution Prevents Major Accidents; Carelessness Creates Serious Problems.”
Groups of workers from the different workshops were walking around the factory grounds.
The original Xiao Hongyao had grown up in the countryside and hadn’t been working at the factory for very long. She also wasn’t particularly sociable, so she didn’t have many friends. Not many people took the initiative to greet her.
Only one person came running over excitedly.
“Xiaoyao, you’re back at work today?”
It was Huang Peiqin, Xiao Hongmin’s classmate and childhood friend. As soon as she came over, she reached out and pinched Xiao Hongyao’s cheek.
“I heard you went on a blind date with Song Kuoyang? After your sister broke off her engagement with Song Kuoyang, Aunt Liu somehow convinced my mother to secretly take my photo and use it for a blind date. Luckily, I found out in time and got the photo back. Otherwise, I would have been the one suffering.”
Xiao Hongyao glanced at Huang Peiqin.
She couldn’t remember whether this person had appeared in the original novel, but the fact that Huang Peiqin had immediately pinched her cheek made her instinctively dislike her.
So she merely smiled without saying anything.
At that moment, Xiao Hongmin was very protective of her younger sister.
She said sharply, “How do you know Song Kuoyang would even be interested in you? The only thing you have over my sister is that mouth of yours.”
Huang Peiqin was unhappy, but she merely laughed and playfully pinched Xiao Hongmin’s arm.
Even while joking around, she still couldn’t resist continuing the previous topic.
“Song Kuoyang is in the mountains. He’s only been there a few days, and he already succeeded on his first test firing. He’s getting so much attention that plenty of people are jealous.”
“How do you know?”
Xiao Hongmin’s footsteps slowed slightly.
Xiao Hongyao also listened carefully.
Huang Peiqin lowered her voice.
“My brother went to the mountains to deliver raw materials a while ago. He told me about it when he came back. Their Second Factory had been trying to solve this problem for so long without success, but Song Kuoyang came along and solved it. How embarrassing is that for them?”
“The entire competition working group is made up of people from the Second Factory, and none of them are happy about it. Just wait and see. There are still several more test firings. If Song Kuoyang succeeds every time, the Second Factory will lose all face. They’ll definitely make trouble for him.”
This part of the story had never appeared in the original novel.
The original story only mentioned that after Song Kuoyang returned from abroad, his relationship with the factory became strained, laying the groundwork for his eventual resignation and move south.
As they continued chatting, Huang Peiqin looked at Xiao Hongyao again and quietly asked, “Xiaoyao, you know that Pan Yunsong is together with Wang Jing now, right? You two grew up together. Are you still going to keep in touch with him?”
Xiao Hongmin was getting impatient.
“What’s there to keep in touch about? Can the Wang family and our family even associate with each other? Aren’t you tired of asking?”
“All right, all right. I won’t talk about it.”
While they were talking, they had already arrived at the tube-making workshop.
The workshop consisted of two large buildings. One was a new, semi-automated workshop, while the other was an old workshop where everything was done by hand.
The two workshops stood one behind the other, right next to each other.
Xiao Hongmin and Huang Peiqin worked in the new workshop, while Xiao Hongyao worked in the old one.
Xiao Hongmin brought her younger sister around, handing out orange candies to the workers. Before long, an entire bag of candy had been reduced to just a few pieces.
Two more workers came in afterward.
Xiao Hongyao took the remaining orange candies in her hand and offered them to them.
Before she could even say anything, a woman with two thick braids glared at her with obvious disgust.
“Move! Stop pretending to be kind.”
The workshop, which had sixty or seventy workers, instantly fell silent.
Xiao Hongmin, who was usually not someone people dared to provoke, quickly grabbed her younger sister.
Surprisingly, she didn’t talk back.
Xiao Hongyao immediately guessed that the Xiao family must have had some kind of conflict with this woman—and probably one in which the Xiao family was in the wrong.
Otherwise, Xiao Hongmin wouldn’t have swallowed such an insult.
As Xiao Hongyao was thinking about it, the woman with the thick braids walked farther inside.
“Move aside. A good dog doesn’t block the road.”
As she spoke, she shoved Xiao Hongyao toward the nearby tube-pulling machine.
Fortunately, Xiao Hongyao reacted quickly and managed to dodge the woman’s outstretched hand in time.