“I didn’t expect you to be a sent-down youth who came to help build the country. Which brigade are you from? We will definitely strengthen our requirements for internal staff.”
“Uncle, you seem like a reasonable person. My surname is Ye, my name is Ye Cai’e. I’m currently with the North Wind Brigade. Since you’ve said so much, today I’ll give you some etiquette training for free.”
Wasn’t this walking straight into her area of expertise? In her previous life, her main job had been as a counter attendant. Anyone who failed etiquette training wasn’t allowed on duty, and there were frequent performance assessments that included posture and conduct.
She walked straight to the counter and began demonstrating. A full set of etiquette movements she had practiced countless times in her previous life flowed smoothly one after another.
Bai Lili and Hu Miao were both stunned.
Director Zhuang’s eyes lit up again and again. How did she come up with these movements? If everyone in the supply and marketing cooperatives followed this standard, then Lianhua City would definitely stand out nationwide.
Bai Lili curled her lips. “This is a new society. Your movements look like a maid serving her master. Aren’t you just deliberately causing trouble?”
Liu Gang snapped, “Enough. Shut up. No one asked for your opinion.”
Ye Cai’e shook her head. “I’m only demonstrating. Actual application in daily work would be different. There are so many state-owned stores and cooperatives across the country. Why do all the good supplies go to Shanghai? It’s because of the attitude in Shanghai’s state-owned stores. If you think this is all dross and don’t want to improve, I don’t need to waste words on you. It has nothing to do with me anyway.”
Director Zhuang felt as if a blockage had suddenly been cleared. Shanghai was so far away, and he didn’t know how they progressed—but Ye Cai’e did. Although she was young, her movements showed clear training. Her family must have some background.
“Comrade Ye, I’m Zhuang Ming, director of the municipal supply and marketing cooperative office. Your demonstration was excellent. Would you be willing to teach our cooperative staff? Of course, you would be paid.”
When Ye Cai’e left the cooperative again, she had already picked up a part-time role: etiquette training instructor for the Lianhua City supply and marketing cooperative—self-titled.
Fine. She would treat it as contributing to the country.
Checking the time, there was still more than half an hour before her appointment with Tong Xin. She hurried to the only state-owned department store in Baibai Town.
Although it couldn’t compare to Shanghai, it was well stocked, with many product styles, and several times larger than the small cooperative earlier.
After browsing for another twenty minutes, she found a quiet corner and loaded daily necessities into her backpack, adding a fresh hind leg of pork. She had discovered earlier, while bored on the train, that Duoduo Space had fresh food hidden away in a discreet corner—always extremely fresh, though more expensive.
The two jin of pork cost one hundred Duoduo coins.
When Ye Cai’e arrived, Tong Xin was already waiting by the ox cart. Her bag looked almost empty.
“It’s noon. Let’s go eat something,” Ye Cai’e said, placing her bag onto the cart. It was noticeably larger than Tong Xin’s.
Grandpa Niu was lying on the cart, napping. Hearing the sound, he opened his eyes. “You’re done shopping? Go eat. There are still several hours left. Who knows when the others will be back.”
He figured the two loudest ones would definitely dawdle and might even miss the ox cart.
At that very moment, Qi Jiahui sneezed loudly on the other end of a phone line.
His mother immediately grew anxious. “You child, you ran off so far without saying a word to be a sent-down youth. Do you have any idea how serious this is? Is it too cold? Did you catch a cold?”
“Mom, don’t worry. Xiao Lan is with me.”
“With you? It’s you who’s accompanying her. Do you know how much effort your mother put into finding that job for you? You just up and left. If it weren’t for her, you’d still be sleeping at home right now.”
She wasn’t wrong. Qi Jiahui loved sleeping in. If he didn’t sleep until noon, he couldn’t get up, and he snapped at anyone who tried to wake him. His job had taken enormous effort to arrange—a position that didn’t require working mornings.
Qi Jiahui’s mother wiped the corners of her eyes and continued, “It’s good that you left. Things have been tense lately. Our house was burglarized a few days ago—several boxes of valuables disappeared. I heard several households in Shanghai were robbed too, and those thieves were all caught one after another. We’re jumpy at the slightest hint of trouble now.”
“What? Someone dared to steal from the Qi family? They must be out of their minds!”
“Enough! Since you’ve already gone, behave yourself. For now, don’t contact home. When things calm down, I’ll write to you.”
She was about to hang up when Qi Jiahui hurriedly stopped her. “Mom! I’m out of money. Send me some, and tickets too. Preferably from Hei Province. Nationwide tickets are fine as well.”
She didn’t refuse. After agreeing, they hung up.
After paying the phone bill, they had even less money left.
“Brother Jiahui, what did Auntie say?” Yao Yulan was extremely anxious. Her money had been stolen, and Qi Jiahui hadn’t brought much either. They were nearly broke.
“Don’t worry, my mom will send money in the next couple of days. You don’t need to worry about your family either. I asked my mom to let them know you arrived, so you won’t need to make calls anymore.”
The two used their remaining money to eat.
The place was small, with pitifully few options. They had spent the whole morning shopping, especially Qi Jiahui, who had brought nothing and needed to buy everything from head to toe.
There was only one state-owned restaurant near the department store, and lunchtime business was booming.
When Ye Cai’e and Tong Xin arrived, a long line had formed at the steamed bun window.
Both of them were short on cash. After discussing it, they decided to buy two buns each just to fill their stomachs.
Honestly, Ye Cai’e really wanted to try the braised pork from a state-owned restaurant. Those period novels always claimed it tasted completely different from later generations, so good it made your eyebrows fall off.
It was hard not to be tempted. Unfortunately, even if she had tickets today, the canteen wasn’t serving it. The largest piece of meat she saw was the thin shreds in vermicelli stir-fried with pork—no chunks at all.
“Bad luck, we can’t even eat in peace without running into you two. Are you following us?”
Yao Yulan was in a foul mood. They were already forced to buy buns because they couldn’t afford dishes, and now they were standing right behind Ye Cai’e and Tong Xin in line.