Chapter 122: I Want Them All
Qin Hengzhi, while speaking, had already taken the watch out of the box. He gazed at Lu Qiaoge with burning eyes, his voice very gentle: “Shall I put it on for you?”
Lu Qiaoge didn’t hesitate. She put down the comic book and extended her left hand toward Qin Hengzhi.
Qin Hengzhi held the watch in his hand. At that moment, he was stunned for a bit.
Lu Qiaoge’s wrist was incredibly slender. Qin Hengzhi felt that his thumb and index finger could encircle it.
Her skin was so fair it was almost transparent. This must be what the ancient books meant by a wrist as white as jade.
And her fingers were long and elegant, with nails trimmed neatly into rounded shapes, showing a faint pink hue.
“Raise your hand.” Qin Hengzhi’s voice was a few degrees lower than before.
Lu Qiaoge glanced at him and smiled as she raised her hand a little.
Qin Hengzhi calmed down and carefully put the watch on Lu Qiaoge.
His fingertip accidentally touched Lu Qiaoge’s wrist. In that instant, he felt as if he had touched the finest silk, warm and smooth.
He also smelled the faint fragrance from Lu Qiaoge’s body, fresh like morning dew.
“All done.” His voice was a bit hoarse.
Lu Qiaoge raised her wrist. The golden watch chain stood out strikingly against her fair skin.
“Very pretty, thank you, Representative Qin!” she said with a smile, her eyes curving into crescents.
Qin Hengzhi looked at it and was very satisfied. He didn’t correct her form of address.
He even thought this form of address was quite good.
Lu Qiaoge, however, was thinking about what gift she should give him.
A big gold chain?
Qin Hengzhi and Lu Qiaoge left the military representative office together.
He had called Uncle Lin ahead of time and unexpectedly found him right at the Swan Hotel. He made an appointment with Uncle Lin, then dropped Lu Qiaoge off at the neighborhood committee. Before he could even get out of the car, Lu Qiaoge spotted Su Hongmei standing at the doorway talking with Huang Juan from the car window.
Lu Qiaoge let out a soft “Eh.”
Qin Hengzhi’s voice was gentle: “What’s wrong?”
Lu Qiaoge: “That’s Elder Sister Su from the district government.”
Qin Hengzhi knew this was someone she knew.
Lu Qiaoge opened the car door. Qin Hengzhi said: “I’ll let you know if there’s any news from Uncle Lin.”
Lu Qiaoge nodded and headed straight for Su Hongmei after getting out.
Qin Hengzhi also had things to do, and he didn’t want to be teased. The moment he started the car, he saw Comrade Su Hongmei beaming with joy upon seeing Lu Qiaoge.
It seemed she had come to find Qiao Ge.
This girl was starting to expand her territory!
Qin Hengzhi smiled faintly and drove away.
At the Swan Hotel at this time, Old Lin and Deputy Director Lin were talking.
Old Lin frowned, his expression not very good.
Deputy Director Lin looked at him worriedly and said: “Dad, how about I take you to the hospital?”
Old Lin stared blankly out the window. Then he saw a swallow fly over and land on the window sill. It seemed unafraid of people at all and was looking right at him.
He didn’t move, afraid of startling the swallow, and only said softly to Deputy Director Lin: “Junfeng, don’t worry about me. You go take care of your business.”
Lin Junfeng frowned. His father had barely slept last night, hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, and only drank some water. How could that be okay?
Lin Junfeng said again: “Dad, you’re just thinking about him day and night, so you dream about him. I think… Little Brother is definitely doing well. After all, he’s a boy. No matter whose family he’s in, he’ll be valued. Who knows, he might already be married with kids and living happily.”
Old Lin’s face darkened, and he murmured: “Yeah, after all, it’s the new society. Whether in the rural area or the city, he should be doing well. But last night I dreamed of him…”
At this point, Old Lin paused, his voice carrying a slight choke: “I dreamed of him as a little child, maybe four or five years old. A woman beat him with willow branches, beat his back until it was bloody, didn’t give him food, and made him kneel on the ground to be a horse for a three- or four-year-old kid. He…”
Old Lin couldn’t continue. He pounded his chest hard, tears streaming down his old face: “It’s all my fault, all my fault. If I had gone to pick up your mom back then, your little brother wouldn’t have been taken away. I harmed your little brother and your mom. It’s my fault, all my fault…”
Lin Junfeng’s eyes also reddened. He held Old Lin and comforted him: “Dad, it was just a dream. People all say dreams are the opposite, right? I think Little Brother is definitely doing well.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Tao Tao, who had been listening intently from the window sill, saw that the person coming in was Qin Hengzhi and flew away with a whoosh.
Qin Hengzhi, entering, didn’t see Tao Tao fly off because Uncle Lin was sitting in the chair covering his face, shoulders shaking. It was clear he was crying silently.
Tao Tao flapped its wings, flying past tall buildings and over bridges, soon arriving above the military factory.
At this time, Lu Qiaoge and Su Hongmei were walking toward the food factory while chatting happily.
Su Hongmei: “I didn’t expect you to have a handicraft weaving group either. The district government just issued new documents, mainly advocating side businesses to increase income.
The rural area now faces limited income from collective labor, low living standards for members, while the city faces difficulties in employment due to increasing return to the city youth and unemployed youth.
Factories aren’t expanding production, so it’s impossible to recruit workers from outside. That’s why there’s this document.”
She paused and continued: “Actually, I came to find you today for two things. First, to see if we can cooperate. Second, we now have a policy: there are rewards for foreign exchange earnings.
For example, if you can persuade Chairman Zhen, who returned to his hometown, to invest or buy our products, it’s 100 yuan reward per 10,000 in foreign exchange, and so on. For 100,000, it’s 1,000 yuan, paid by the local finance.”
Lu Qiaoge’s eyes lit up.
The military factory was different from local factories; it had no sales problems, as all factories and enterprises served the military industry.
So there wouldn’t naturally be sales-related difficulties or such rewards.
Lu Qiaoge knew Su Hongmei was thanking her for the help that day. Knowing she worked at the neighborhood committee, dealing with grassroots masses, she naturally faced such difficulties too.
Lu Qiaoge smiled and said: “Elder Sister Su, thank you, but you should first take a look at our handicraft weaving. I hope you can give some guidance.”
This was certainly expected.
When Su Hongmei saw all those items woven from willow branches, reeds, wheat stalk, and corn husk, she was truly stunned.
They couldn’t exactly be called handicrafts, because most were highly practical, like straw hats woven from wheat stalk, candy jars and insoles from corn leaf weaving, etc.
After Chang An joined, Lu Qiaoge had them take the high-quality products route.
Except for the willow baskets, which were rough items, the others were all very exquisite.
Su Hongmei was an expert in this area and could tell the value of these things at a glance.
She picked up the straw hat, looked at it again and again, and straightforwardly said to Lu Qiaoge: “I’ll take all the straw hats.”
Meng Qingshan, standing at the doorway, clenched his fists excitedly and turned back to look at his partners.
Zhou Li, Du Shuang, Hu Ze, and the others standing outside the storage room door also heard this and widened their eyes in excitement.
But they didn’t make a sound, all waiting for Lu Qiaoge to speak…
I want to kneel and thank every treasure who cast monthly passes and follow-up reading for me, especially since monthly passes are so precious now. It’s really, really hard to ask for them. Looking at the voting list in the backend makes me so happy!
Also thanks to caroletu treasure for the daily reward, thanks to Starting Point’s treasures!
Love you all so much!
