Chapter 57: Small Sparrow, Fully Equipped
Everyone couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
No welfare but there could be rewards?
Efforts would all be rewarded?
Was it the meaning she was thinking of?
But Lu Qiaoge didn’t continue this topic, stopping there. These twelve people weren’t stupid; they would surely understand the meaning in her words.
Xiangyang Night School was a bungalow located in the old housing area, abandoned for seven or eight years already.
It used to be a literacy class, later became the night school. When the factory was first established, the workers were either retired soldiers or advanced elements recruited through recruitment; their education levels were generally very low. They basically all obtained primary school or junior high school diplomas here.
It was such a waste to leave it like this.
When Lu Qiaoge had wandered around the courtyard with the calico cat back then, she had taken a liking to this place.
But she hadn’t expected it to collapse on a night of heavy rain.
However, it wasn’t serious—just the west side room had collapsed.
Lu Qiaoge carefully walked through it once and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. The house was built really well, with no corners cut at all; it was too sturdy.
As for the collapsed part, it was caused by the big tree next to the house being blown down by the wind and pressing on the roof.
The big tree had already been dealt with, placed in the corner.
Lu Qiaoge didn’t plan to hire outside help. The service station had just been established; they needed to achieve some results to build a reputation.
Lu Qiaoge, together with Wang Dafei who had a lot of experience in construction, recorded the areas that needed reinforcement, then returned to the neighborhood committee. While hoping for a bicycle, she reported the work to Director Hu: “The collapsed areas have all been cleared out. The big tree that was blown down has been moved to the corner. The volunteers have already made three hundred adobe bricks, using yellow mud and chopped grass dug from the mud pond north of the night school. This will be used to reinforce the night school wall. As for the roof tiles and bricks, we’ll use the broken bricks and tiles piled on top of the night school wall. In another week, the roof and wall should basically be renovated.”
Although Director Hu felt that repairing the roof of the unused night school now was a bit wasteful of manpower and materials, he didn’t want to see houses in his jurisdiction collapse and be left unattended. He had been worried about what to do when he saw it back then. Now it was good—Qiao Ge had organized people to start work. These past few days, though Xiao Ze came home covered in dust and dirt, he hadn’t complained of hardship or fatigue; he seemed full of energy.
Old Hu believed all these volunteers were like that.
He was moved, of course not because he was reluctant to let his son work hard, but because the volunteers got no benefits at all, and their selfless contribution made his conscience uneasy.
“Qiao Ge, no need to rush. We must balance work and rest. No matter what, these people have no salary or official positions, which means no work injury compensation if injured, no reimbursement for medical expenses if sick. We still need to be careful.”
Lu Qiaoge had been waiting for Old Hu to bring this up.
However, she didn’t immediately propose her own idea. Instead, she pondered thoughtfully for a moment before sincerely saying, “Director Hu, you’re still the one thinking more comprehensively. We were just full of enthusiasm wanting to do a good job at the service station, not letting down the leaders’ encouragement and support, but we hadn’t considered this aspect. Your reminder is too timely.”
Old Hu smiled contentedly, feeling very pleased, but he still praised Lu Qiaoge: “I heard from Xiao Ze that you made the steady and reliable Meng Qingshan the team leader, Wang Dafei as something like a technician, Zhou Li was a barefoot doctor in the countryside, so you had her in charge of hygiene and medical affairs at the service station, and Hu Ze writes good calligraphy, so he’s in charge of recording your work content… Qiao Ge, I really didn’t expect that this service station, though small, has all the vital organs.”
Lu Qiaoge humbly downplayed it again, then said, “Director Hu, I’ll think about the issue you raised earlier when I get back. This service station needs to continue long-term, not be a flash in the pan. After all, everyone is volunteering, and it’s normal for them to find jobs and leave the service station later. But as long as we persist, new volunteers will continuously join. I’ll think it over carefully at home and report to you tomorrow morning.”
Director Hu nodded satisfiedly.
Lu Qiaoge already had plans in mind, but she needed to report to Old Hu tomorrow. She couldn’t stand out on everything, especially as a newcomer.
If it weren’t for the Lu Family’s poor conditions and survival pressing urgently, she wouldn’t be in such a hurry.
But Lu Qiaoge still had one thing to tell Old Hu: “Director Hu, about the plan I mentioned to you a few days ago to organize our Xiangyang Neighborhood Committee to serve the people, did you report it upward?”
Old Hu slapped the table: “Qiao Ge, I was just about to tell you. Brigade Leader Lin from Guzi Village called the neighborhood committee, asking if we still need leafy greens. Not just Guzi Village—another batch has come down from there, and other villages have a lot too, now adding water radishes, asking if we can exchange for some supplies urgently needed by the members.”
Lu Qiaoge knew Brigade Leader Lin wouldn’t stop there, but she hadn’t expected him to wait over half a month before following up.
What she didn’t know was that Old Lin had wanted to come earlier. That day he went back and drove the horse-drawn cart to Director Zhu’s house, giving the rain boots Meng Xia had given him to Director Zhu.
Director Zhu accepted the rain boots but gave his own raincoat to Old Lin.
Old Zhu’s rain boots had long been leaking, no different from not wearing them. The raincoat was half-worn but still usable. Old Zhu also gave Old Lin a can of tea leaves for him to use for hosting.
This exchange made everyone happy.
Mainly, Old Zhu envied the cartload of things and gave Old Lin a round of praise, hoping he could continue with renewed efforts.
One must know, the military factory was Jiangcheng’s largest factory, directly under the country’s management. Now that they fancied our leafy greens, let alone exchanging things—even giving away the worthless leafy greens to the military factory, they would be willing.
Because this factory was for safeguarding the people and building national defense.
So, everyone was waiting for Lu Qiaoge to go again.
But Lu Qiaoge was too busy.
With no other choice, Old Lin called Old Hu.
Old Hu said, “I’ll go apply for the market day right away.”
This could be organized by Xiangyang Neighborhood Committee, as long as the authorities agreed.
Currently, the neighborhood committee was still the military factory’s neighborhood committee, logically a government dispatched institution, but in recent years it had been directly taken over by the military factory leadership.
Old Hu’s superior was the factory office comprehensive department.
Lu Qiaoge said, “Director Hu, let’s prepare on two fronts. If internal transaction market days for supplies are not allowed, we’ll do another leafy greens exchange for supplies. This time, no need to borrow a cart from the transportation team; just have the brigade leader provide the horse-drawn cart.”
Old Hu glanced at Lu Qiaoge, remembering that Captain Jin had privately asked him when they could go exchange for more leafy greens.
At that moment, Shao Le’s voice came from the corridor: “It’s nothing, no need to go to the hospital. I’ll just apply some medicine myself.”
Huh, what happened?
Lu Qiaoge picked up her diary and put it in her shoulder bag, standing at the doorway to look over.
She saw Shao Le covering his face and grimacing as he walked in from outside. When he saw Lu Qiaoge, his eyes lit up: “Xiao Lu, you’re at the work unit. That’s great.”
When he let go of his hand, Lu Qiaoge saw two bloody scratches on Shao Le’s right cheek…
