Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 281

As a cook, Xu's son-in-law also had to cook himself when eating at his father-in-law's house, preparing four dishes to serve.

He Yuzhu opened the wine and poured wine for his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, who had a displeased expression.

The father-in-law said, "Zhu Zi, you should try to persuade your brother. He won't listen to anything I say."

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "Brother, what's wrong? Is something bothering you?"

"You said you wanted to support the neighborhood committee's work through a public-private partnership, and we supported you, since there's no one else there, but..."

He Yuzhu asked, "But what is it?"

"This income is obviously much less. There are also many people in the family, and money doesn't go by quickly."

Xu Hui, the brother-in-law, did the math and realized that although he would be receiving a salary from now on, it would be significantly less than his previous income.

Although this is still much better than working as a helper in the countryside, I still feel unbalanced for a while.

He Yuzhu said, "This is the country's policy, and we should all support it unconditionally."

"That makes sense, but I still feel like I'm losing out."

Xu Hui then asked in a low voice, "Zhu Zi, do you think we can secretly brew some wine?"

"Brother, you've got guts!" He Yuzhu didn't say whether it was okay or not, but instead said something to him.

Xu Hui smiled sheepishly.

The father-in-law said, "Zhuzi, talk to your brother. I've told him what to do, but he won't listen. I wanted you to come here today so I could hear your opinion."

He Yuzhu said, "This is easy to handle. You are a liquor store and do not operate externally, so you don't need to send a general manager over."

Xu Hui nodded: "Yes, so there are several shops in this area, but we only have one general manager."

At that time, the literacy rate was very low. According to statistics, the literacy rate was only about 10%. There were also not many cadres in the streets and neighborhood committees. It was impossible to have so many cadres to send to every shop to serve as general managers.

This alley has shoe repair shops, bicycle repair shops, cotton carders, several tailor shops and barbershops, as well as peddlers, a red counter selling braised meat, and door-to-door ceiling plastering services.

Therefore, the neighborhood committee handed over the management of all the shops in this alley to a general manager.

Although most shops have not yet joined forces, this is the plan.

In other words, the brewery was still run by the father-in-law and brother-in-law.

The two of them were only responsible for brewing the wine. The neighborhood committee would deliver the grain, and the wine they brewed could only be sold by the neighborhood committee.

It's more like a processing workshop where the raw materials are provided by the street, and the workshop is only responsible for production, not sales.

He Yuzhu said, "How about this, I'll provide you with some grain-based liquor to sell to me, and I'll handle the sales from now on."

This way, the brother-in-law can earn extra income, which can be considered as making up for some of his losses.

When they were in Moscow, Chairman Qi didn't have enough goods to give He Yuzhu, so this time he asked for a lot of grain.

Take a portion and have your brother-in-law brew it into wine. We can store it for later and sell it slowly.

"Can you get your hands on food?"

"Of course we can, but we need to be careful not to let the company manager come to inspect it."

"We'll be careful." The brother-in-law was overjoyed; this extra income would make their lives much better.

After appeasing his brother-in-law, and enjoying a couple of peaceful days, trouble broke out on Qianmen Street as well.

While he was playing with Xiuer, Fan Jinyou, a temporary worker from the street, came to his door.

"Mr. He, there will be a public-private partnership meeting this afternoon in the courtyard of the street office. All of you business owners are required to attend."

“I’m not the boss anymore!” He Yuzhu said.

"Who said that? Didn't you buy the tavern next door? Just like when you found a breakfast shop, it was on your list. Besides, you also have a shop on Qianmen Street."

"Okay, I'll go this afternoon. What time?"

“You must be there before 3 o’clock.” Fan Jinyou said: “If you don’t go, you’re going against the organization and you’re a stubborn element.”

"I didn't say I wasn't going."

Fan Jinyou snorted, turned and left, as he still had to inform the others.

"Pah, he's just a temporary worker, what's with the attitude?"

He Yuzhu spoke softly, but it was only meant for Fan Jinyou, who was leaving.

He swayed with anger, but didn't stay to argue with He Yuzhu. He quickly left.

Xu Huizhen then said, "You're like an immature child, why are you always getting angry with him?"

"You forgot about your last childbirth. If I had arrived any later, wouldn't you have suffered?"

"That's all in the past. After all, he was just a street-level official. The people don't fight with officials."

He Yuzhu pursed his lips. Becoming a cadre wasn't something he could just do with a nod. He just didn't want to become a cadre at this time.

While many open-minded people would agree to public-private partnerships, there are still quite a few who oppose them.

They badmouthed these officials behind their backs.

He Yuzhu did not want to become a street-level cadre at this time and participate in persuading people from all walks of life to engage in public-private partnerships.

It's too easy to get scolded.

At 3 p.m., He Yuzhu arrived at the courtyard of Qianmen Street two minutes early.

Fan Jinyou was guarding the courtyard gate, and as soon as he saw He Yuzhu, he complained:

Why are you only arriving now?

He Yuzhu raised his wrist and glanced at his watch, saying, "Isn't it only 58? You said before 3 o'clock, there are still two minutes to go."

Fan Jinyou hurriedly said, "You should go in quickly. So many people have arrived, we're just missing two or three troublemakers like you."

"Who are you calling a troublemaker? Is this something a cadre should say?" He Yuzhu's voice gradually grew louder.

A crowd gathered in the courtyard to watch. He Yuzhu shouted angrily, "How can there be an official like you in Qianmen Street? You're just spouting vulgarities and you're really bringing shame to the street."

Fan Jinyou wished he could strangle He Yuzhu. He had only made a comment, so why was it necessary to make such a big deal out of it and keep nagging?

An awkward plea: "Brother, please keep your voice down. I admit I was wrong, okay?"

He Yuzhu shouted, "What do you mean by saying you're wrong? Wrong is wrong, and not wrong is not wrong. As a cadre, you can't even figure out whether you're wrong or not in this matter?"

"what happened?"

The neighborhood director rushed over upon hearing the commotion and said, "Mr. He, please calm down. It was our neighborhood committee that failed to do its job properly. I apologize to you."

"Director, you're too kind. It was my fault for being late and getting a few words of criticism from Cadre Fan." He Yuzhu humbly shook the director's outstretched hand.

The neighborhood director raised his wrist and looked at it: "It's only 3 o'clock now, that's perfect. You've arrived early, how can you be considered late!"

Then he turned to Fan Jinyou and said, "Xiao Fan, quickly apologize to Boss He."

Fan Jinyou was furious, but the boss spoke up, saying to He Yuzhu, "I'm sorry, Boss He."

"To err is human, to forgive divine. Just be stricter with yourself in your work from now on."

Seeing that the matter was over, the street director pulled He Yuzhu inside, chatting as they walked: "Boss He, you must support the work of our street office."

"Of course I support the leader's work. Please rest assured, Director, I will follow the arrangements."

"Good, good, if all bosses were as open-minded as Mr. He, our work would be much easier."

The two could only exchange a few words before He Yuzhu was seated in the front row.

The bosses on both sides were people I knew, and after exchanging greetings, we started talking about the public-private partnership.

It was clear from their tone that most of them were in a wait-and-see phase and did not want to be the first to speak out.

Of course, no one explicitly opposes this system; that would be foolish.

A moment later, the street director coughed twice and began to preside over the meeting, first introducing the decision of the higher-level leaders.

From now on, we must fully promote the joint venture system and strive to register all shops and handicraftsmen of all sizes in this street and complete the public-private partnership within this year.

Upon hearing this decision, the people below began to whisper and discuss it again.

After they finished discussing, the neighborhood director began to explain the details.

The main purpose of this meeting was to explain the policies. After clarifying all the policies, the business owners present were asked to raise their concerns, and the street director personally provided answers.

The meeting lasted from 3 p.m. until after 5 p.m., when the street director announced that the meeting was adjourned.

As soon as He Yuzhu got up, he saw Chen Xueru looking at him and blinking, and he knew that she wanted him to go to her place.

Just as I was about to leave with the crowd, I heard the neighborhood director call my name.

He Yuzhu had no choice but to stop and was called into the director's office.

"Mr. He, you used to own a breakfast shop, and you also bought the small tavern next door?"

"Yes, but my wife is pregnant and I have to go to work, so neither of the shops is open."

"Does Mr. He have some misunderstanding about our policies? Does he not plan to continue operating?"

"There is no misunderstanding. I am very positive about the policy. There is still a shop on Qianmen Street. I will make that shop a joint public-private enterprise."

"Thank you, Mr. He, for your support of our work."

"Thank you, Director. It's what I should do."