This is Qiao Jinling's first visit to the leather shoe factory.
On a summer afternoon, over the quiet and peaceful back alley of Fangzhai, the flowing clouds change shapes, and the sun is hot and bright, reflecting on the five bright golden characters of "Anqing Leather Shoe Factory" on the top of the factory gate.
This street is called Fangzhai Back Alley.
It is said that this street got its name from a Bagua house built here by a Guanglu doctor named Fang during the Qing Dynasty. However, during the Republic of China, the Fang family fell into decline and sold off their properties. Anqing Leather Shoes Factory was built on the original site.
The shoe factory's courtyard is a little further away, on a street behind, where the small restaurant Qiao Xiangxiu previously opened is right there.
Qiao Jinling looked at the mottled brick and stone exterior walls of the factory. Time was like water, coming and going silently. In the booming 1980s, there was always a sense of decline here.
"Dad, let's stay at the door for a while."
Qiao Jinling said softly.
"Why are you waiting at the door on such a hot day?"
Qiao Xiangqian didn't understand.
"We can first inquire with the people around us. Lingling knows a saying: know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles."
Qiao Jinling's little face was flushed from the sun, and her eyes were squinted, showing a strong and vigorous vitality.
"Oh, it's really different if you win the poetry championship. You even know such learned words."
Joe revealed his surprise to the front.
"Dad, I am the runner-up, I am the second place~"
Qiao Jinling bluffed, this father is really capable of bluffing things.
"What second place? Who can be better than my daughter? Most likely she got it through cheating. I don't believe it. Anyway, in my father's mind, Lingling is the first place and the top scholar."
Qiao Xiangqian finally regained some vitality.
Qiao Jinling didn't want to argue with her father about this at this time. She pointed to a watermelon stall at the gate and said, "Dad, let's go eat watermelon."
"Okay!"
The melon seller was a fat old man. He was round everywhere, with a shiny bald head. He had a white towel hanging around his neck, holding a straw hat in his hand, and fanning it vigorously, but it was so big.
Sweat beads still slid down my face, and I had to wipe it away from time to time.
He was pushing a tricycle. There were more than a dozen large black watermelons in the back compartment. There was a glass cover on top of it, which contained more than a dozen pieces of cut melons. The red pulp and black melon seeds showed fresh water.
"Brother, how do you sell melons?"
Qiao stopped his motorcycle and politely asked the price.
"Brother, 2 cents per pound, in terms of pieces, it's 1 cent."
The fat uncle hurriedly greeted him. There were not many people around at noon. Customers had finally arrived, but he couldn't let them leave.
Black-skinned watermelons are generally very big, weighing twenty or thirty pounds each, so some people cannot eat one. The most important thing is that they are expensive, with a melon costing 5 yuan, so more people buy them based on the piece.
"Come on five bucks."
"Okay, there's a matza over there. You and your daughter can sit down and eat slowly. Our melons are sweet!"
The fat uncle brought five pieces of watermelon on a small tray. Qiao Jinling was not polite and took a big bite. It was so beautiful. She had eaten thin-skinned, seedless and sweet watermelons in her previous life, but none of them had such thick-skinned, black-skinned watermelons with many seeds.
Tasty.
"Brother, would you like a cigarette?"
Qiao stepped forward and took out a cigarette from his pocket, which scared the fat man and waved his hands repeatedly. After selling melons for so many years, this was the first time someone was so polite to him.
Qiao pushed it forward for a long time, and the fat man reluctantly took it, clamped it on his ear, took out his dry tobacco bag, took a puff of smoke with the help of the fire Qiao handed him forward, and then exhaled a long puff of smoke.
"Young man, this cigarette of yours is not very exciting. You are still used to my old cigarette pot."
The fat old man squinted his eyes, showing moisture. Taking this sip, his soul relaxed.
"Brother, it seems that you have been selling melons here for some years, and you must have a close relationship with the leather shoe factory."
Qiao stepped forward and took a bite of the melon, pretending to ask casually. Qiao Jinling really wanted to give her father a thumbs up, her words came out so naturally.
"Of course, there is no one in this area that my fat man is not familiar with. It started popping up through the streets and alleys from a young age. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, this leather shoe factory has been slowly growing. It must have been around thirty years."
The fat uncle has affection in his eyes. This piece of land is like a pole, carrying the nostalgia of his youth on one end and the regret of his loss on the other.
"This place was originally the Anqing Shoe Production Cooperative. In order to rush to produce military shoes for the People's Liberation Army to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, it brought together small shoe workshops from twelve villages. During the cooperative period, it became a state-owned factory again, and then the factory director failed to act
, it’s getting worse and worse. Wasn’t it bought by the current factory director Ji and turned into a private enterprise?”
The fat man finished smoking a pot of cigarettes, knocked the "bang bang" on the cloth sole a few times, put it back into his waistband, and quickly collected the skin of the melon.
"Dad, all my classmates are wearing the small leather shoes made by this company, so I want to buy them too."
Qiao Jinling shouted to blackmail people.
"Little girls just like stylish goods. I can't help it. The new leather shoes are really good-looking. Even my little granddaughter insists on buying them, but I won't buy them for her."
The fat uncle was mysterious, curling his lips and shaking his head.
"Why? Fat grandpa, the shoes are so nice, just buy them for her."
Qiao Jinling heard the clue and continued to ask.
"What's the point of being good-looking? It's all about face, not appearance. It looks good, but in fact there are a lot of tricks."
The fat uncle looked like he had inside information.
"I don't believe it. You must be lying to me. You are afraid that I will blackmail my father and insist on buying it. You adults are like this. I also heard that these leather shoes are excellent. The teacher said that excellent is the best, and we are the best in homework.
All rated excellent, you must be afraid of spending money."
Qiao Jinling deliberately found trouble and provoked the fat uncle.
"You kid, this excellent student is different from the excellent students in your school. My son makes shoes in this leather shoe factory, and he is very familiar with it. Now that it is open, people are all about money, and their hearts are starting to get dark. What is the title of provincial excellent student?
, it’s not just using connections to deceive the people through the back door to put money on their own faces, all good leather shoe factories have been disrupted by this group of people.”
The fat uncle became more and more angry as he talked. He was heartbroken that his ancestors had built a solid foundation and were being ruined like this.
"Hmm, then I won't buy it. The cloth shoes made by my mother are the most comfortable. Dad, let's go?"
Qiao Jinling felt that it was almost time to ask questions, so she called Qiao to go forward.
Sure enough, there is something wrong with Ji Shijie's provincial excellence mark. If he can catch his pigtail, he might still have bargaining chips.
"Hey, what are you doing? This is a leather shoe factory. This is not a place where you can just go in. Come on, go on. There are distinguished guests in the leather shoe factory today."
When a short man at the doorman saw Qiao moving forward, he spat out the melon seed skin with a "bah" sound, scattered the melon seeds in his hand, poked with his finger, rolled his eyelids, and looked impatient.
This man, who holds his hands tightly and does not show his body, is not tall and has a lot of arrogance.
Qiao Qianqian was about to reason when he felt someone tugging at the corner of his clothes. He looked down and saw Qiao Jinling shaking his head gently, his eyes flashing as if he wanted to say something.