Su Qing went to the supply cooperative to find Feng Yunce.
After hearing why Su Qing had come, Feng Yunce stared at her in shock.
“Su Qing, how did I not know you had this kind of talent?”
The Su Qing of the past had been weak and indecisive, and not particularly bright. She believed whatever people told her, and when they bullied her, she didn’t even know how to fight back.
The Su Qing now had changed so much that Feng Yunce hardly recognized her.
Su Qing: “…”
She couldn’t very well say that the former Su Qing had been done to death while rolling around in a cornfield with Zhou Huaijin.
She gave a vague answer. “I just tinkered with it.”
“Su Qing, it must have been hard, raising Yunzhou and Wantang by yourself all these years.” Feng Yunce looked at her with sympathy.
She had spent time in Huaxizi Village.
There were good people in the village, but there were bad ones too.
Su Qing was a woman raising two children alone. It was easy to imagine how difficult that must have been.
The hardship had even forced the once-timid woman to become not only assertive, but capable of making skincare products.
The change was a good thing.
But the process must have been painful.
Su Qing realized Feng Yunce had misunderstood, but didn’t explain.
Instead, she went along with it. “Yes. I’ve thought of all sorts of ways to support the two of them.”
“I’ll take you to see the supply cooperative’s purchasing manager right now. If he agrees to let the cooperative sell your skincare products, no one will object.”
“When we get this set up, I’ll give you a 20 percent share of the sales,” Su Qing said.
Feng Yunce shook her head. “You have two children to support. I’m only making an introduction; it’s no trouble.”
Su Qing said nothing more.
Once the skincare products were being sold at the cooperative, she would give Feng Yunce her share anyway.
In the supply cooperative office, a middle-aged man sat at a desk by the window, sipping tea from an enamel mug.
Feng Yunce led Su Qing over. “Manager Zhang, you’re here.”
Zhang Lei glanced at Feng Yunce. When his eyes fell on Su Qing, they lit up.
What a pretty young woman.
Feng Yunce frowned.
She knew Zhang Lei was a lecher, but she hadn’t expected him to be so brazen even in the office.
She stepped in front of Su Qing, feeling sick inside but smiling on the surface.
“Manager Zhang, here’s the situation. My friend makes skincare products herself, and they work very well—better than the cold cream on the market. She’d like to sell them through our cooperative. Do you think that can be arranged?”
Zhang Lei tilted his head to look at Su Qing from behind Feng Yunce. “You made them?”
“Yes.” Su Qing stepped out from behind Feng Yunce.
In her previous life, she had done business and met all kinds of people. Zhang Lei was far from the only man whose mind was always in the gutter. She wasn’t afraid of people who showed their emotions openly; the ones whose feelings you couldn’t read were the frightening ones.
Su Qing took the jars and bottles from her bag and placed them on Zhang Lei’s desk.
He frowned at the pile. “What’s all this?”
“This is day cream, this is night cream, and these are hand cream and baby cream,” Su Qing explained.
“They don’t even have labels. This is the Military District Supply Cooperative, not some street stall. We’re not selling them.”
Su Qing hadn’t expected him to reject her so outright.
She took the cooperation contract she’d signed with the supply cooperative in Huaxizi Town out of her bag.
Zhang Lei didn’t even look at it. He pushed it aside.
“I said no. Take this junk away. You think you can sell any old rubbish here?”
“Manager Zhang, how can you talk like that?” Feng Yunce was so angry her face flushed.
Su Qing shook her head at Feng Yunce, packed all the jars and bottles back into the bag, and led her out.
“Su Qing.” Once they were outside the office, Feng Yunce frowned at her. “Where’d that fire you showed when you hit Luo Wei go? Why won’t you stand up to Manager Zhang?”
Su Qing smiled. “Good relations make for good business. If Manager Zhang won’t agree, we’ll find another way. Making an enemy of him won’t do us any good.”
Feng Yunce thought it over and agreed.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,” she said guiltily.
“How did you not help?” Su Qing replied. “Today showed me where the problem lies.”
She glanced down at the pile of jars and bottles in her bag. They were just containers she’d found at random, and they looked ugly.
The supply cooperative in Huaxizi Town had been willing to accept them because people in the countryside had seen less of the world. As long as the products were good, most people didn’t care what they looked like.
But Beicheng was different.
The skincare products had to be good, and the packaging had to be attractive.
When Zhang Lei frowned at the jars, Su Qing had noticed his expression. That was why she’d taken Feng Yunce and left.
To break into the market, she first needed to design the packaging and find a printing factory and a glass bottle factory to work with.
“Go back to work for now. I’ll think of something.”
Feng Yunce nodded. “All right. In a couple of days, I’ll go talk to Manager Zhang again and try to persuade him to let your products into the cooperative.”
Su Qing gave Feng Yunce a jar of face cream. “Apply it morning and night. It works better than cold cream.”
“Thanks. I just ran out of my cold cream.” Feng Yunce waved goodbye to Su Qing and went back to work at the cooperative.
…
“Comrade Su.”
Su Qing heard someone call her from behind.
She turned around and saw Zhang Lei running toward her, panting.
He stopped in front of her and gazed at her lecherously.
He looked at her as if she were a delicious cake he couldn’t wait to devour.
Su Qing asked coldly, “Manager Zhang, what do you want?”
Out here, Zhang Lei stared at her even more shamelessly.
In all his life, he had never seen such a beautiful young woman.
He glanced around. Seeing no one he knew, he quickly held out two movie tickets to Su Qing.
“A new movie’s showing tonight at seven. I’ll wait for you outside the cinema.”
Su Qing didn’t take them. She stepped back two paces.
Her gaze was icy.
“Manager Zhang, at your age, you must be married. Does your wife know you’re asking me to the movies?”
“What do you care about that old hag?” Zhang Lei said with disgust. “Sooner or later, I’ll divorce her.”
Su Qing said, “Would you dare say that to your wife’s face?”
Zhang Lei impatiently stepped closer and tried to force the tickets into Su Qing’s hand. He also tried to touch her.
“Ah—!”
As Zhang Lei reached out, Su Qing threw him over her shoulder.
He didn’t even realize what had happened before he hit the ground hard, his face contorted with pain.
Su Qing’s high heel came down hard on his palm and ground it into the ground.
His pig-like screams rang out.
Su Qing gave a cold snort and turned away with a carefree stride.
It was nearly time for the children to get out of school, so Su Qing went to pick up Yunzhou and Tangtang.
Han Mei had come to pick up Du Nianchu too.
Their eyes met, then both looked away. Neither spoke to the other.
When the school bell rang, the children dashed off like little birds, flying toward their parents.
Zhou Wantang took Su Qing’s hand and chattered excitedly about all the interesting things at school.
Su Qing listened with a smile.
As they reached the entrance to the military family compound, a soldier from the guard post hurried over.
He spoke to Han Mei, who was behind Su Qing. “Doctor Han, Colonel Zhou called.”
“All right. I’ll go answer Colonel Zhou’s call now.” Han Mei shot Su Qing a smug look.
Du Nianchu was even more pleased with herself. She stuck her tongue out at Zhou Yunzhou and Zhou Wantang.
“I’m going to answer Dad Zhou’s call!”