Chapter 90: Not Eager To Clock Out? Something’s Wrong With You!
Lu Qiaoge nodded.
Actually, according to the information she had obtained, Old Woman Liu taking the money was a done deal.
But she wouldn’t admit it.
Actually, the best method was to force Old Man Wei and Old Woman Liu to admit in front of her and Deputy Director Huang that they had taken the wallet.
At worst, Huang Juan could harshly criticize them again.
However, Huang Juan wanted family harmony for Zhang Quan and was prepared to give them face, letting them go to the hospital on their own to explain clearly to their son.
It was just that Old Woman Liu was used to controlling her youngest son, and even though she was a bit afraid, she actually didn’t take Wei Qiang seriously at all.
Old Woman Liu had two sons and a daughter, and Wei Qiang was the youngest, but he was the most filial. He had started as an apprentice worker at twelve, and from the day he got his salary, he handed every cent over to Old Woman Liu without fail.
After marriage, though he didn’t hand over the full amount, he unfailingly gave half every month.
Then the old couple would frequently go to Wei Qiang’s home, and that half was pretty much eaten back.
However, Wei Qiang’s older brother and older sister were different, especially the eldest, who even needed subsidies from the old man and old woman.
Such a selfless Wei Qiang would always put his parents first.
Lu Qiaoge didn’t refute Huang Juan and nodded softly: “Mm, Aunt Huang, I understand your good intentions. I hope Granny Liu can understand too.”
Then she changed the topic to talk about the service station.
Lu Qiaoge’s idea was to establish a food team under the name of the neighborhood committee, with the nature of a collective enterprise.
Huang Juan looked at Lu Qiaoge in shock: “Do you know that the neighborhood committee has set up several factories before, and they’re all disbanded now?”
Lu Qiaoge certainly knew.
Meng Xia, before she had a job, had been a worker at the neighborhood committee’s honeycomb briquette factory. Later, the city established a dedicated gas company, and the small honeycomb briquette factory was directly disbanded.
After all, the tools for making honeycomb briquettes were very simple, so disbanding it was no big deal. The remaining honeycomb briquettes wouldn’t pile up, and the cost wasn’t high. Mainly, the personnel were all laid off and went home unemployed.
So Huang Juan said again: “The department store’s food group pastries have always been supplied by the First Food Factory in the city, with many varieties that everyone is used to in terms of taste. Your family’s flaky pastries are indeed delicious, but just one variety won’t do. Plus, if the department store changes its mind and doesn’t want them, who will you sell your flaky pastries to? And besides, will the cost funding be easily approved?”
Lu Qiaoge knew Huang Juan was considering things correctly, but she probably didn’t know that in just a few more years, Dragon Country would undergo reform and opening up.
Whether it was the First Food Factory or other small workshops, whoever made things that tasted good would have competitiveness.
As for varieties and flavors, those weren’t issues for her.
The issue was that she now needed a platform.
Lu Qiaoge said: “Aunt Huang, you’re considering things correctly, but this small workshop we’re about to establish consists of volunteers. As soon as they have job opportunities, they’ll leave at any time, and it won’t affect anyone’s future. As for the department store, we’ll definitely need to sign a supply and sales contract, but whether we can sign it depends on if this workshop can be set up successfully.”
Huang Juan felt a bit of a headache, but Lu Qiaoge’s abilities were obvious to all, and she was at an age full of passion. She didn’t want to dampen Lu Qiaoge’s enthusiasm.
And now it was already after work hours. She told Lu Qiaoge to think it over carefully that evening, and come report to Director Hu tomorrow morning when going to work—ah, no, tomorrow was Sunday, a day off. So she told Lu Qiaoge to report to Director Hu on Monday.
Lu Qiaoge agreed.
She wasn’t in a hurry about this. She planned to go find Meng Qingshan and take him to Zhou Li’s home to see if they could weave a bicycle basket using willow branches and reeds together.
All natural materials, guaranteed to look nice, and as for durability, being able to last two years would be fine.
There were no weekends these days. Today was Saturday, and Shao Le had made up with his partner, planning to go see a movie tonight.
The military factory had its own cultural palace.
The cultural palace handled tasks like movie screenings, theater, and various cultural activities.
It wasn’t far from the factory department, basically the center of the family courtyard.
It was said that in the 1950s there had been a big dance hall, but it hadn’t hosted dance parties for many years.
The thought of seeing a movie flashed through Lu Qiaoge’s mind, but she didn’t react much, though the others were very excited.
Sister Qiao and Ren Xiaocui both wanted to go see the movie and asked if Lu Qiaoge was going.
Lu Qiaoge couldn’t say she still had work to do, so she just smiled brightly: “I’m not going.”
She didn’t say why not, anyway, she just wasn’t going.
Considering that Lu Qiaoge’s engagement cancellation wasn’t long ago, plus there were rumors that Shen Yun and Liang Aishu were engaged—though it was just hearsay, it was probably nine times out of ten true.
This movie wasn’t anything worth watching anyway.
But just as they were about to leave, Officer Li called, saying that the neighborhood committee leaders and Cadre Liu from the public security office should come to the hospital. As Lu Qiaoge expected, the straightforward Wei Qiang, who trusted his parents greatly, didn’t listen to Zhang Quan’s advice. Plus, Old Woman Liu hadn’t gone to the hospital to proactively reveal the wallet’s whereabouts, so Wei Qiang went to the police station to report the case.
Once reported, they naturally had to first investigate how much money was in the wallet and where it had been placed before.
The first stop was naturally Old Man Wei’s home. Officer Li was an old public security officer and spotted something off right away. Without even asking many questions, Old Woman Liu was scared into confessing.
It was her who took it. Old Man Wei had seen it too but didn’t stop her, even telling her to keep it safe.
Wei Qiang had gone back to the hospital after reporting the case, so Old Woman Liu had to go to the police station too.
But Old Woman Liu refused to go no matter what. She even said Wei Qiang knew what was going on and that she had explained it clearly to him at noon, but as soon as he got back to the hospital, he reported the case—definitely instigated by Zhang Quan, just to vent for his wife. So she was going to sue Wei Qiang and Zhang Quan instead…
Huang Juan took the call, and she was so angry her face flushed red, feeling slapped in the face. This Wei Qiang was an idiot, and Old Man Wei and Old Woman Liu deserved it too.
“Deputy Director Huang, Wei Qiang has withdrawn the case now and says he remembered wrong, but the problem is Old Woman Liu won’t let it go. Not only did she beat Wei Qiang, she insists on suing her son and daughter-in-law for slandering and framing her. Zhang Quan passed out from anger and was sent to the emergency room.”
Officer Li also felt this matter was too troublesome. You mother and son can make a fuss however you want, but why trouble Zhang Quan?
Huang Juan had no choice but to say: “Officer Li, wait for me a bit, I’ll go right away.”
Lu Qiaoge heard the call too. She thought for a moment and then volunteered: “Aunt Huang, I’ll go to the hospital with you.”
Huang Juan’s expression improved a lot. At this point, all the cadres from the neighborhood committee had left.
Cadre Liu from the public security office had also gotten off work early due to something.
Sigh, not eager to get off work—there’s a problem with the mindset. It seemed she and Lu Qiaoge both had mindset issues.
Lu Qiaoge didn’t pay attention to that. She just felt Old Woman Liu was quite a character, controlling her youngest son like controlling a little ant.
In her mind, she called out to Little Fly: “Are you there?”
After a few breaths, a voice came: 【I’m here! I’ll come find you right away, wait for me!】
Lu Qiaoge: ……
This had been waiting a long time, huh.
Lu Qiaoge wanted to ask Little Fly mainly about why Old Woman Liu and Old Man Wei were so biased.
She hadn’t expected that Little Fly actually knew!
Thanks to reader 202103017400531478, Xia Ye, and caroletu for the rewards. Thanks to Zi Da 3114 for the 11 monthly passes. Thanks to every one who voted monthly passes. Last two days of the end of the month, continuing to ask for monthly passes!
