Chapter 56: Just Keep Protecting Her
After work in the evening, Su He walked home with Qian Huifang.
When they got back, she was surprised to find that Old Man Ge’s house was actually locked.
She was puzzled—although Old Man Ge would go out to buy groceries now and then, it was usually in the morning. She had never seen him go out in the evening.
Where had he gone?
Just as Su He entered the courtyard, Cao Hongmei came out to greet her.
She now admired Su He to no end!
She had originally worried that Su He would be manipulated by Lin Bo, but in the end, Lin Bo was the one being publicly condemned by everyone.
“Xiao He, come tell Second Aunt—why did the broadcasting station have you read that commentary?”
Cao Hongmei was dying of curiosity!
Su He didn’t hide anything and briefly explained the situation.
Cao Hongmei looked completely dumbfounded. That works too?
At that moment, Su He heard the sound of a door opening from the eastern side of the courtyard and quickly stepped out of the house.
Su He peeked over the wall and asked, “Old man, where did you go?”
“Just out for a stroll.”
Su He frowned, “But you’ve never had the habit of evening strolls before!”
Old Man Ge snorted, “That was before. This is now. Do I need your permission to do anything?! You nosy girl, stay out of my business!”
With that, Old Man Ge went back inside.
Cao Hongmei rolled her eyes and lowered her voice. “Xiao He, see? I told you that old man is eccentric. You try to help and he treats your kindness like garbage. Don’t waste your time with him anymore!”
But Su He didn’t take it to heart. Talented people usually had tempers.
Besides, Old Man Ge was old. A couple of harsh words from him didn’t mean much.
—
The next morning, Su He went to the textile factory to ask Director Gao about the progress of the hair accessories.
Director Gao poured Su He a cup of tea before speaking: “The higher-ups have agreed in principle to start the project. But since we’re a textile factory, we can’t put too much effort into something like hair ornaments. For now, we’ll start on a small scale. If it goes well, we’ll consider expanding.”
Su He wasn’t surprised. In this era, many people still had a narrow mindset. The fact that the factory was willing to do a trial run already showed a lot of openness.
After a few well-placed compliments, Su He said, “Director Gao, since things are good on your end, I’ll bring our Director Luo over tomorrow to sign the agreement. Sound good?”
“Sure.”
Su He rubbed her hands. “Would it be alright if I borrowed your phone?”
The State-owned Mall’s Sales Department of course, had a phone—they needed it to contact clients.
Director Gao smiled, “Go ahead!”
—
At the same time, Director Luo was hosting a visitor.
Director Shen from Xiangyang Commune sipped his tea and said, “Old Luo, that girl Su He is really something!
I heard yesterday she went to the county broadcasting station to read a piece, and took a jab at that Lin Bo from the county theater troupe while she was at it.
She’s clearly just waving around borrowed authority. I bet the Women’s Federation will take issue with it sooner or later.”
Director Luo smiled, “You’re overthinking it. The girl just spoke from the heart.”
Director Shen sneered, “Keep protecting her if you want! But I’ll say this—she’s impulsive and reckless. Sooner or later she’ll cause a big mess!
Anyway, enough about her. Let’s get to business.
The patrol team recently discovered damage to the embankment at Liu River. Probably due to thawing and settling after the spring season.
That embankment lies between our two communes, so I came today to discuss repairs.
I’ve got good ties with the transportation company and can borrow a small truck. So our Xiangyang Commune will handle transporting sand and gravel—you guys at Huaihua Commune can provide the manpower. How’s that?”
Director Luo was furious. Wasn’t this blatant bullying?!
They’d just provide a truck, and Huaihua Commune had to do all the manual labor? Did they think the people of Huaihua were fools?
Director Shen chuckled, “Come on, Old Luo, no need to get upset. If you can borrow a truck, we at Xiangyang can also provide manpower.”
Director Luo was speechless—he really couldn’t get his hands on a truck.
Riiiing, riiing. The phone on the desk rang.
Director Luo picked it up and heard Su He’s crisp voice: “Director Luo, it’s Su He. I’ve just secured a new business deal with the textile factory. If it’s convenient, could you come tomorrow to sign the agreement?”
Director Luo: “…Alright.”
The phone wasn’t well soundproofed, so Director Shen had heard everything. His heart instantly filled with envy.
That girl got another deal?
He was baffled. The textile factory had so many workers—why couldn’t they handle it themselves? Why did they have to collaborate with Huaihua Commune?
And besides, wasn’t Xiangyang Commune better than Huaihua in every way? Why did all the good stuff keep landing on Huaihua’s lap?
Seeing the smile on Director Luo’s face, Director Shen set down his teacup and said coolly, “Well then, Director Luo, I’ll be heading back. Once I’ve secured the truck, you guys can start assigning people for the job.”
Seeing Director Luo’s smile freeze, Director Shen felt much better.
Sure, that girl Su He is capable—but so what? One person alone isn’t going to flip Huaihua Commune’s fate!
At most, they’ll move from dead last to second-to-last!
With that thought, Director Shen left humming a little tune.
Director Luo’s good mood immediately soured.
It was clearly a shared issue between both communes, yet Huaihua was the only one doing the hard work.
Once the work orders went out, there’d definitely be complaints from all the teams.
—
Meanwhile, after leaving the textile factory, Su He went straight to Teacher Yuan’s home.
When Teacher Yuan saw Su He, he grumbled, “You really live the life, huh? Showing up once in a blue moon. It’s hard to even catch a glimpse of you.”
Su He chuckled, “I told you from the start that I could only help out in my spare time. If you think I’m not up to the job, you can settle my pay and hire someone else.”
Teacher Yuan: “…I was just saying. Let’s get to work!”
He handed Su He a stack of translated documents for her to organize.
When Teacher Yuan did his translations, he often scribbled notes for related research topics. So the materials were a mess, and Su He had to cross-check them with the original English versions to organize them properly.
While working, Su He noticed Teacher Yuan frowning and asked, “Teacher Yuan, are you stuck on something?”
He sighed, “I ran into some problems with the array quadrants. The nliac IV developed by country M in 1972 would be very helpful for reference. Unfortunately, that kind of data is blocked from us in Huaxia. If we had access, our research would be much further along…”
Su He only half-understood, but she caught one key piece of info: data on the nliac IV.
She gently touched the red mole near the corner of her eye and opened the Exchange Market platform interface.
She quickly found the related materials—all in English. But only one of the books had a publication date before 1975.
The key issue now was: how to make this book “appear” without raising suspicion?
She found an old book on the shelf—one Teacher Yuan had once criticized as flashy but empty. She swapped out the inside pages with the newly acquired one from the Exchange Market System, then pretended to accidentally drop it on the floor.
