Chapter 76

Lin Xiangrong went to the police station to pick up the person and then sent him back to the Labor Bureau. In this era, although factories could not fire people, sending someone back to the Labor Bureau was a way for the factory to indicate that they did not want this person. The Labor Bureau could only reassign this person to a new job, but it was uncertain when that would happen.

The older young worker was completely stunned, never expecting that a few casual words would lead to such serious consequences! He had elderly parents to support and young children to raise. If the factory kicked him out, what would he do in the future! When the older young worker walked out of the Labor Bureau, he was in a daze.

Lin Qiangsheng was at home, calculating his earnings and occasionally chuckling. Since the watches were put on display, the sales over half a month had earned him a substantial amount of money, nearly 30,000 yuan!

When he calculated the total, Lin Qiangsheng almost couldn't believe his eyes. He counted several times to confirm it!

The watch factory started formal production in mid-December last year. Although the workers were not yet skilled, if each person could assemble 2 qualified watches per day, after about 30 days of production, the inventory had accumulated to a considerable amount.

The factory had 150 watch assembly workers, each producing 2 watches per day. Over 30 days, they produced a total of more than 9,000 qualified watches!

These watches were in high demand since they were put on display. Lin Qiangsheng had lowered the price to 80 yuan per watch, which was the lowest price in the city. The biggest reason was that he didn't require ration tickets to buy the watches!

This made many people who had money but no tickets eager to buy the Guoxi brand watches! After word of mouth spread, people flocked to Lin Qiangsheng's small department store. In half a month, he sold more than 350 watches, earning him nearly 30,000 yuan! 30,000 yuan was a huge sum of money in those days! Considering that a family's monthly living expenses were less than 30 yuan, 30,000 yuan was equivalent to 3 million yuan in modern times! Selling watches and other large items was incredibly profitable in those days!

Now, Lin Qiangsheng's small department store mainly sold watches. The few girls in the watch shop were so busy they couldn't keep up! So Lin Qiangsheng removed other products from the store.

Counting the money, Lin Qiangsheng was overjoyed. He opened his clothes box, moved the clothes aside, and revealed a hidden compartment. Under the compartment, stacks of money were neatly arranged.

Currently, the currency in circulation was the third set of Renminbi, issued in 1962. The 10-yuan note had a front design of "People's Representatives Leaving the Great Hall of the People," with a black main color; the 5-yuan note had a front design of "Steel Workers in Production," with a dark brown main color. Lin Qiangsheng remembered the 2-yuan note with a female tractor driver design, the blue 50-fen note with a textile factory production design, and the 1-fen and 2-fen notes with designs of the Great Liberation and airplanes.

Lin Qiangsheng had stacks of 10-yuan, 5-yuan, and 2-yuan notes. He sorted them by denomination, then covered them with the compartment and put the clothes back, feeling relieved.

"Knock knock"

At that moment, Chen Yao opened the door, mimicking the knocking sound.

Lin Qiangsheng turned around abruptly, looking awkward at Chen Yao, and said, "Xiao Yao, why didn't you knock?"

Chen Yao giggled, "I did! 'Knock knock'!"

Lin Qiangsheng looked at Chen Yao and laughed, "That doesn't count! What if I was changing my underwear?"

Chen Yao pouted, her face turning red, "How could that happen so coincidentally!"

She walked into the room, looked at the red box behind Lin Qiangsheng, and asked, "What are your plans after the exam?"

Lin Qiangsheng pulled Chen Yao to sit down and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Chen Yao asked, "Can I help in your small store? Will you pay me?"

Looking at Chen Yao's wide eyes, Lin Qiangsheng laughed, "I can just give you the money directly."

Chen Yao shook her head, "No! I want to earn it myself!"

Lin Qiangsheng asked, "Why do you want to earn money? Is there something you want to buy?"

Chen Yao lowered her head, blushing and fidgeting, and said softly, "I just want to earn some money!"

Lin Qiangsheng thought for a moment and said, "Do you want to buy dance clothes and dance shoes?"

Chen Yao was surprised, "How did you know?"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "I saw you always looking at other people's clothes and shoes when you were learning to dance at the dance troupe, didn't I?"

Chen Yao's face turned red, and she said shyly, "Why did you say that! I won't talk to you anymore!" She tried to stand up and run away.

Lin Qiangsheng quickly hugged Chen Yao and said, "Don't run! I have something to give you!"

Chen Yao struggled against Lin Qiangsheng's hands but couldn't break free. She was pulled back to sit down.

Chen Yao turned her head and said softly, "Qiangsheng, what are you doing? Let me go!"

Lin Qiangsheng let go and said, "Wait, I have a gift for you."

He took out a cloth bag from the box and pulled out a set of black tight-fitting dance clothes and a pair of white dance shoes, placing them in front of Chen Yao.

Chen Yao looked at the dance clothes and shoes, her face full of joy, and said, "Ah! How did you get these?"

Lin Qiangsheng laughed, "Of course, I bought them for you. Do you want to try them on to see if they fit? I think they should be about right, but if they don't fit, we can exchange them."

Chen Yao nodded happily but quickly looked at Lin Qiangsheng and said, "I won't change them here! I'll take them home to try on!"

Chen Yao picked up the clothes and shoes, stubbornly said to Lin Qiangsheng, "Also, if I work for you, I will definitely pay you back!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said with a smile, "Okay, when you pay me back, the dance clothes and shoes will belong to you! Otherwise, I can take them back anytime! Hehe..."

Chen Yao wrinkled her nose and huffed, "I won't pay you back!"

Lin Qiangsheng laughed, took Chen Yao's hand, and walked her out, sending her home.

...

The next morning, Lin Qiangsheng brought Chen Yao to the store. He looked at the girls in the store and said, "It's less than half a month until the Spring Festival! Our watch sales are not very high. I think we should take the initiative to go out!"

Zhang Tianjiao said, "This isn't much? We sold hundreds of watches in half a month! What more do you want? We've been busy every day, and we've talked more in the past half month than we did before!"

Lin Qiangsheng glared at Zhang Tianjiao and said, "I'm the boss, and you're the employee. If I say it's not much, it's not much! Listen to me!"

Zhang Tianjiao huffed and muttered, "Capitalist! Exploiting the poor masses!"

Lin Qiangsheng continued, "Today, I plan to send you to the city center to promote