Chapter 141: Bring Your Significant Other To Meet Us
This private room was one of the best private rooms in the Oriental Red State-run Restaurant.
It was for some leaders to entertain guests.
At this time, beside the round table covered with a clean white tablecloth sat two men in military uniforms and a female soldier about thirty-something years old.
“Sorry to keep everyone waiting.” Qin Hengzhi gave a standard military salute.
One of the men in his forties with a resolute face smiled and pointed to the seat across from him: “No outsiders here, no need to be so polite, sit down quickly.”
Then he seemed to casually say: “I was just standing by the window and saw you walking in with a very pretty young woman, who is she?”
The coolness between Qin Hengzhi’s brows faded in an instant, and his voice softened frankly: “My partner!”
Several people looked at each other, seemingly none of them expecting Qin Hengzhi to admit it so straightforwardly.
For a moment, the room became somewhat quiet.
Qin Hengzhi continued unhurriedly: “Introduced by the organization, her name is Lu Qiaoge, she works at the neighborhood committee.”
The female soldier’s glance flickered; she had come with a bit of a task, and that task was Hengzhi’s partner.
Aunt Qin, that is, Qin Hengzhi’s grandmother, was very concerned about her eldest grandson’s marriage.
When she heard that her most beloved grandson had found a partner at the military factory, she couldn’t sit still, but since it was introduced by the factory organization, her character and background must certainly stand up to scrutiny.
But the old woman was still worried, saying that Qin Hengzhi had never had a partner before and rarely interacted with young women; she was worried her grandson would be deceived.
But in fact, who could deceive a young man like Hengzhi?
But now, Qu Xiao wasn’t sure anymore.
She knew Hengzhi; when he was very young, his grandpa had taken him to the barracks.
The young Qin Hengzhi was extremely smart, feeling that everyone around him was stupid, and he rarely played with peers his age; when he grew up, he restrained his sharpness and edge, but his temperament remained very cold and hard to approach.
Even though many young women liked him, seeing his icy demeanor, any amount of liking and enthusiasm would be frozen into ice shards.
But at this moment, what did she see?
When speaking of that young woman, Qin Hengzhi’s tone was actually so gentle?
At this moment, Qu Xiao even felt a bit horrified.
Was it really true that even heroes falter at the beauty pass?
Then Aunt Qin’s worry was very necessary.
After thinking for a bit, Qu Xiao said: “Hengzhi, there are no outsiders here; do you want to introduce your partner to us to get to know her?”
Qin Hengzhi looked up at Qu Xiao.
Introducing Lu Qiaoge to his relatives and friends to meet, he didn’t mind, and Qiao Ge certainly had no problem with it.
This was only natural.
But he didn’t like this kind of occasion and atmosphere.
He knew they had no ill intentions.
But he also didn’t want Qiao Ge to be secretly scrutinized and then have them tell his family how Qiao Ge was.
Instinctively, he felt such a meeting would be an imposition on Qiao Ge.
Qin Hengzhi refused: “She’s very busy today; over there she has her sister-in-law and colleagues, and after dinner she still has to go sign a contract with the department store, some other day.”
This meant he didn’t want to call the young woman over.
Qu Xiao wasn’t angry; the other was with her sister-in-law, so calling the young woman over alone seemed inappropriate; it was her who hadn’t thought it through.
But at the same time, she felt even more that Qin Hengzhi was serious.
She smiled and said: “Hengzhi is right; I was too hasty, just curious what kind of young woman Hengzhi would take a liking to.”
The other man said to her: “You really are too hasty; rashly calling the young woman over, what would that be like? We’re three elders regardless of age, and we don’t even have a meeting gift; is that proper?”
Qu Xiao smiled: “Leader, your criticism is right.”
The other person laughed heartily: “Actually, I’m quite curious too and was thinking of saying the same, luckily Hengzhi has his own ideas.”
And just then, the waitress began serving the dishes.
So several people all tacitly shifted the topic.
The dishes on Lu Qiaoge’s side also arrived: braised pork with potatoes, stir-fried eggs, spinach tofu, braised eggplant; the head chef’s cooking skills were very good, and just the smell when served made one swallow saliva.
Su Hui was tough; perhaps women in this era were all pretty tough when pregnant.
She was only uncomfortable for a week, then recovered to normal.
Lu Qiaoge still said: “Sister-in-law, you’re now the team leader; work that consumes too much strength can be done by others; you need to be responsible for things like technical guidance for food and the development and research of new products.”
Su Hui said: “Yeah, I know, but everyone is pretty good and has been taking care of me.”
Meng Qingshan knew Lu Qiaoge wasn’t saying this for him to hear; it meant she didn’t treat him as an outsider.
He also said in a cordial tone: “Qiao Ge, just rest assured.”
Lu Qiaoge smiled: “This afternoon we’ll sign the contract with Team Leader Song; in a bit, let’s calculate how much goods we can supply and how many new foods we can develop.”
Su Hui nodded repeatedly beside her, saying she was still figuring out how to bake bread and biscuits using local methods.
But the idea was good, only fearing that raw materials wouldn’t be supplied sufficiently.
Actually, this was the big problem.
Even if they sold really well, raw material shortage meant even the cleverest housewife couldn’t cook without rice.
After eating, Lu Qiaoge and the others went to the department store, first signing a simple agreement; once the food factory’s account was set up, then sign the formal contract.
But Team Leader Song also said that currently the southern summer grain was being harvested, but several places had suffered flood disasters with reduced production; it seemed unrelated to them, but actually it did have a relation.
She guaranteed: “Our food group has a total of thirty counters; as long as you can produce them and keep the taste at the current level, we’ll take them all.”
Lu Qiaoge, Meng Qingshan, and Su Hui returned to the factory.
Shao Le was also here; he told her Director Hu had asked him to come help.
He also said Director Hu and the accountant Xiao Liu had gone to the bank.
Shao Le quietly told her: “Xiao Liu feels our food factory is increasing her workload; her attitude isn’t very good.”
Lu Qiaoge glanced at Shao Le.
Shao Le immediately said: “We entered the work unit together; we’re naturally on the same side; I’m definitely on your side.”
Lu Qiaoge smiled and thanked him, telling Shao Le to go to the office to help Hu Ze set up a simple accounts for the food factory.
All incoming and outgoing regarding people, money, and materials had to be recorded well.
Handing this to Hu Ze, she was the most reassured.
Then she held a meeting for everyone, confirming two things: first, starting tomorrow, the food factory would open for business.
Although simple and without factory leader for ribbon cutting ceremony, we still needed to strictly require ourselves, work hard, produce grades to show those who don’t look favorably on us.
The second was that in a bit, someone from the foreign trade section and the district government responsible clerk for handicrafts would come to acquire.
Because of raw material shortage, the food factory currently had no conditions to expand.
So just relying on selling flaky pastry and corn cakes couldn’t support more than a dozen people.
Lu Qiaoge advocated developing handicraft side business; the raw materials for this were basically free and easy to obtain.
So cooperating with the foreign trade section and Elder Sister Su was imperative.
