Chapter 41: Su He Gets a Salary
Su He touched the red mole at the corner of her eye and summoned the shopping interface of the Exchange.
Sure enough, she saw the Qing Nang Book listed under ancient texts—but the price was eye-popping: one million.
Su He was suspicious. Wasn’t this book supposed to be lost to history? Could it be a fake?
Exchange: [Our exchange values credibility above all. All items sold are guaranteed to be genuine!]
Su He blinked. “Give me a few pages of convincing excerpts. I’ll let Old Man Ge authenticate it. If it’s real, I’ll definitely work hard to earn the money and buy it—help boost your KPI!”
Exchange: [Heh.]
Su He: “…”
This thing’s getting cheeky.
Still, Su He figured the Qing Nang Book was probably real—she just couldn’t afford it yet.
Time to hustle and make money.
Looking at the basket of medicinal herbs in front of her, an idea struck. She asked Old Man Ge, “Is there a place in our county that buys medicinal herbs?”
Old Man Ge shook his head. “Nope. All these herbs were picked by that Gu kid. The provincial capital has a medicinal herb purchasing station, but why are you asking?”
Su He blinked. “These herbs were picked by Gu Chi Yan?”
Old Man Ge gave her a look. “Why do you get so fired up every time I mention him? Let me warn you, that boy may look proper on the outside, but he’s not your kind of people. Don’t go getting any ideas.”
Su He lied with a straight face, “I was just making conversation! You’re blowing this out of proportion. I’ve only met him once and barely exchanged a few words. I’m not thinking about anything weird.”
Seeing that Su He didn’t seem to be lying, Old Man Ge relaxed. “I’m just looking out for you. So why are you asking about the purchasing station?”
Su He sighed. “I was thinking—if there was a purchasing station, I could organize the villagers to collect herbs and hand them over to the commune. The commune could then sell them to the purchasing station. But looks like that won’t work for now.”
Old Man Ge scoffed. “Nice idea, but not very practical. There are all kinds of herbs in the mountains, and the villagers can’t tell them apart. Plus, harvesting herbs has its own techniques. If done improperly, it ruins the medicinal properties. Better drop that plan.”
Su He realized he had a point and temporarily shelved the idea.
After chatting a while longer, she climbed back over the wall and returned home.
As soon as she walked in, Cao Hongmei said, “Xiao He, your second uncle and I have talked it over—we’ve decided to go to night school. We won’t be the ones dragging the Su family down.”
Su He nodded. “Great. I’ll get your official work status processed as soon as possible.”
Both Cao Hongmei and Su Yongshi beamed with joy and were all smiles, fawning over her.
Cao Hongmei even brought Su He a foot bath.
Even Su Jinbao was ordered to give Su He a shoulder massage.
Su He: “…”
*
The next morning, Su He arrived at the textile factory warehouse.
Since the truck driver hadn’t shown up yet, she started making friendly conversation with the warehouse manager.
To her surprise, she discovered an old connection: the warehouse manager, Fu Li, turned out to be the aunt-in-law of Zhou Dayong—Zhou Dayong being the big-hearted, bearded guy from the factory’s family housing.
Su He played right along, flattering Fu Li so much that the older woman was beaming.
“You really know how to talk! I’ve lived half my life and never met such a bright young girl like you!”
“You’re making me shy! I meant every word. Da Yong is my lifesaver, and you’re his elder—so you’re my elder too!”
…
By the time the truck driver, Zhang Quansheng, arrived, Su He was already calling Fu Li “Auntie.”
Fu Li ordered the workers to start loading the truck.
There were different grades of fabric scraps, and since Su He kept sweet-talking her “auntie,” Fu Li naturally chose the best ones for her.
Once the truck was loaded, Su He climbed into the passenger seat and waved at Fu Li, “Auntie, I’ll come visit you in a few days!”
Zhang Quansheng chuckled, “You and Sister Fu are relatives?”
Su He quickly replied, “We’re god-relatives! Uncle Zhang, sorry to trouble you with a delivery on Labor Day.”
“Holiday or not, we go where the superiors say,” he replied.
Su He smiled and pulled out two packs of cigarettes from her bag, handing them to him. “Uncle Zhang, take these to stay alert on the road!”
Zhang Quansheng politely declined at first but eventually accepted.
This girl is young, but she really knows how to treat people. Not that he cared about the cigarettes—it just made him feel good.
Su He asked, “Uncle Zhang, you truck drivers must make decent money, right?”
Zhang sighed, “Well, compared to average folks, it’s okay. But even in our transport division, there’s long-haul and short-haul. I do short-haul.
The long-haul drivers get travel stipends and several days off after a trip—way better than my gig.”
Su He smiled, “Every job has its pros and cons. At least with short-haul, you get to go home every day—your family won’t worry.”
“True enough.”
…
By the time they arrived at Huaishu Commune, Su He and Zhang Quansheng were already chatting like old friends.
“Xiao Su, if you ever need anything, just holler. I might not have many skills, but I can always lend you a truck.”
The commune leadership had just arrived too. After unloading the goods, they invited Zhang Quansheng to lunch at the commune cafeteria.
Before he left, Director Luo handed him ten jin of grain coupons and a few polite words.
Zhang left with a great impression of Huaishu Commune and went back praising it as “a land of outstanding people.”
Later, Director Luo called Su He into the office.
“Xiao Su, you’ve done a lot lately—both in labor and results. We had a meeting and decided that even though you’re not officially on staff, we can’t have you working for free.
We’ll pay you the same as a first-year apprentice: 17 yuan, 8 cents, and 4 mil per month. We’ll also reimburse your travel and social expenses.”
Su He’s eyes reddened instantly. Choked up, she said, “Director Luo, I won’t say anything else. Just watch my actions. Even if I cough up blood from exhaustion, I will finish the task of getting the branch factory built!”
Director Luo was deeply moved. He even felt that the pay they gave her wasn’t worthy of such a good comrade.
He silently resolved that if Su He brought in more deals, he’d make sure to raise her compensation no matter what!
