Xie Sui brought out the negotiation demeanor of the former President Xie with a faint smile. "May I ask which of you factory leaders is such a big shot? Donglai, should we kneel down and pay our respects to welcome the leader!"
Xu Donglai was not stupid. He knew who truly cared for him, and he would naturally stand by them. Without Xie Sui, he wouldn't even know if he could have gotten out. Calling him a reborn parent was no exaggeration.
"Director Li, this is my cousin. He has the right to speak about my family's affairs. When my younger siblings were at home for more than ten days without food, gnawing on cold steamed buns and drinking cold water, did any of the factory leaders show concern for them?
Since my parents' deaths were due to work-related injuries, there should be compensation. They worked hard for the factory their entire lives and were wrongly killed. All the workers in the factory have seen it. As long as you can explain yourselves to the workers, I have nothing else to say. You handle it as you see fit."
Director Li's face turned unpleasant. "Xu Donglai, so the positions left by your parents can be taken over by your family. You are of suitable age, and your cousin can also join the factory. I will make special arrangements and process formal worker applications for you."
Xu Donglai fell silent. He still had to take over his parents' jobs, support his younger siblings, and live under the leaders' authority. The situation was difficult.
Xie Sui continued, "Director, I don't need you to arrange a job for me, and I'm not from your city. I'm just a farmer from the countryside, not blessed with such fortune."
As for what Xu Donglai would choose, Xie Sui couldn't decide for him for the moment.
Seeing that the atmosphere was tense, the deputy director stepped in. "The leaders are here today to solve problems with sincerity. How about this, Donglai, you come to the factory tomorrow, and we will discuss it further? Will that be alright?"
"Alright, thank you, leaders."
Xu Donglai nodded. Director Li and the others had no intention of staying any longer. They left without even having a cup of tea.
After they left, Xu Donglai said, "One must bow their head when under another's roof. I need a job to support my siblings and my wife. Brother Xie, thank you for speaking up for me, but I'm not a child anymore. I dare not act impulsively..."
His previous impulsiveness had almost harmed his siblings and cost him the woman he loved. He had truly grown up overnight.
Xie Sui smiled and patted his shoulder. "The fact that you can think this way shows your maturity. Temporary righteousness is not courage; learning to endure is maturity.
However, I have a better arrangement. Working in the factory, how much can you earn per month?"
"As a beginner worker, it's about thirty-odd yuan a month."
Xie Sui smiled slyly. "Do you know how much money I've spent on you?"
Xu Donglai: "I will repay Brother Xie. Don't worry, Brother Xie."
"Bail money was one thousand yuan, and hiring people to get married cost over two thousand. How many years do you think you'll have to work to repay this sum?"
Xu Donglai: "..."
Even if his math wasn't good, he knew he could only repay it if he never ate or drank for his entire life.
"Brother Xie, just tell me what you want me to do. There should be some money from my parents' funeral expenses. I'll repay you first."
"You, brother isn't forcing you to repay the money. Am I that kind of person? That sum will be no more than one thousand yuan, believe it or not.
These factory leaders have their eyes on their foreheads. Wang Fugui has controlled the workshop for so many years, don't the leaders know?
The waters here run deep. Could he embezzle such a large sum of money alone?
You, even if you join the factory, will be treading on thin ice and will never achieve anything in your life."
Xu Donglai was at a loss. "Then what do you suggest, Brother Xie?"
"Let's partner up and do business. I'll provide the capital, and you have connections in the city. Within a year, I'll make you a ten-thousand-yuan household. By then, your sister-in-law might even be pregnant. You can let her rest at home and prepare for childbirth!
I'm telling you, this child will be a money pit once it's born and will cost a lot of money..."
Lin Wanwan interrupted him. "As if you know. Our Doudou and Dingding haven't cost much since they were born. The third aunt delivered them at home, and their diapers were old clothes. My milk wasn't enough, so we added some rice soup, and they grew up fine, didn't they?"
Xie Sui felt a pang of guilt. "Wanwan, you've suffered. I was foolish back then and wasn't a good father."
Where was he when his wife needed him most?
Drinking, gambling, chasing women?
Lin Wanwan: "I'm not complaining. I'm saying there are ways to raise children when you're poor and ways when you're rich. Don't put so much pressure on them."
Xu Donglai nodded. "Brother Xie, what you said has indeed scared me. Sister-in-law, you know more. But what kind of business can we do that will make money?"
"Remove the 'can' from what you said. I can't guarantee anything else, but making money is a piece of cake for us."
Xie Sui's confidence was such that if you gave him a ladder, he could climb to the heavens.
Lin Wanwan poured cold water on him. "The footless socks business didn't work out. How else can you make money?"
Xie Sui: "Our old business, canned yellow peaches and ice cream. There are more people in the city, and their purchasing power is stronger. We have money now, so we can buy a canned production line and build a cold storage. We can start working soon.
The only troublesome thing is the paperwork, but we have acquaintances now, so it will be easy."
"What acquaintances?"
Lin Wanwan was puzzled. How come she didn't know? Sudannovel.com
"Director Gao of the Public Security Bureau, Officer Xiao He, and our mother-in-law. A mother and daughter can't hold a grudge forever. With the Su family in that state, mother-in-law must regret it. If we soften our stance and apologize now, she's still your mother."
Director Gao sneezed during a meeting. Who was thinking of him?
Officer Xiao He was dozing off. The aunt reporting the case across from him was still crying about how important her cat was. She wouldn't live if the cat wasn't found, as if the cat were her own daughter.
But if a cat ran away, and Officer Xiao He wasn't a tomcat, where would he find it? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Auntie, cats will come back when they're hungry. Please go home and wait a few days. We'll also help ask around to see if anyone found your cat, is that okay?"
"No, your attitude is not one of solving problems for the people. It's so pitiful for it to be hungry and thin without food or water. Can you bear to wait for it to starve?"
Officer Xiao He looked numb. "I feel more pitiful than the cat."
Meanwhile, Xu Donglai felt it was feasible. More importantly, reconciling with his mother-in-law would also make Yu Lili happier, and he was willing to take responsibility.
"We can't give up on the footless socks either. Sister-in-law, let's go and check the market prices. Can we find acquaintances to wholesale a hundred pairs? We can't just come back empty-handed, can we?"
It wasn't Xie Sui's style to return empty-handed.
Yu Lili said, "The factory director's daughter has a good relationship with me. I'll try asking her."
"There's no time to delay. We'll go today. We're in a hurry to go home."
Xie Sui didn't count on the T-shirt business. As long as they could bring back a few hundred pairs of footless socks, making two yuan profit per pair, it wouldn't be a wasted trip.