Chapter 1524: Development Qualification

Zhao Guifen stood in the courtyard and cursed for more than ten minutes, and no one paid any attention to her, but her mood was much better.

She turned back into the room, took off her shoes, got on the kang, and shoveled a mouthful of sorghum rice into her mouth with her bowl.

Zhou Xiaode glanced at Zhao Guifen; he really couldn't eat this clear, watery stewed cabbage.

If it were normal times, he could barely eat a few mouthfuls, but this was the New Year, and eating this stuff always made him feel like he was losing out.

"What?" Zhao Guifen raised her head: "Don't want to eat?"

Zhou Xiaode sighed: "Today is the first day of the New Year, we didn't even wrap dumplings in the morning, and we're eating this at night. Can our future days be good?"

"Don't eat and starve to death." Zhao Guifen stopped paying attention to Zhou Xiaode, ate her meal, and looked very satisfied.

Zhou Xiaode put down his chopsticks and pondered: "Do you think the second one went to the capital?"

Zhao Guifen, who was shoveling rice into her mouth, stiffened, then blinked her small eyes.

"That's really possible."

Zhou Xiaode tapped the dining table with his fingers: "I think Erlei is going against us, it must be that little brat Zhou Andong making trouble in the middle."

Zhao Guifen put down her rice bowl and turned her small eyes: "If that's really the case, that fat woman with a 'drag-along' must also be arranged by that little brat Zhou Andong beside Erlei."

"No!" Zhou Xiaode said with determination: "We must go to the capital to see what the youngest one is doing."

"Right!" Zhao Guifen slapped the table: "And Erlei's matter, that little brat Zhou Andong must give us an explanation."

Zhou Xiaode picked up his bowl and started eating: "We'll leave tomorrow."

"Leave tomorrow?" Zhao Guifen hesitated: "The capital is so big, where are we going to find them?"

Zhou Xiaode, whose blood had already started to burn, heard Zhao Guifen's words and immediately extinguished.

"Then what should we do?"

Zhao Guifen snorted: "Erlei opened a steamed bun shop, he can't not come back. When he comes back, we'll just ask him."

"That's all we can do." Without the passion, Zhou Xiaode couldn't eat anymore.

Zhao Guifen was in a good mood, got off the kang, and put on her shoes: "I'll go stir-fry two meat dishes for you."

Zhou Xiaode laughed, got off the kang to find the wine, and then got back on the kang.

……………………

February 11, 1994, the second day of the Lunar New Year!

Zhou Xianyong didn't come back last night, and no one knew where he went. Only Zhou Andong could guess a little; he should be at the Jinwan Hotel.

After breakfast, Zhou Andong played with Su Su for a while: "Su Su, are you going to see Great-Grandpa with Dad?"

"No!" The little girl shook her head violently: "I want to play with Little Aunt and the others."

"If you don't want to go, then don't." Seeing Jian Qiu said: "In case they start fighting, it would scare the child."

Zhou Andong laughed; they definitely wouldn't start fighting at the old man's place.

However, if someone didn't like the look of him, cold sarcasm was certain.

The two of them didn't go that early, but went after lunch.

When they arrived at Courtyard No. 6, except for the old man, no one else was at home, not even the old lady.

"Where did everyone go?" Seeing Jian Qiu asked the old man sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Went to RT-Mart." The old man pointed to the sofa: "Sit down. Since there's no one at home and it's quiet, I happen to have something to tell you."

Zhou Andong sat down, grabbed an apple from the coffee table, and took a bite with a crunch.

"It's the New Year, is there anything that can't wait until the fourth when work starts?"

Not having a holiday on New Year's Eve started at the beginning of the founding of New China. It was stipulated that the Spring Festival holiday was from the first to the third day.

However, when time came to 1967, the Spring Festival, as part of traditional culture, became the object of revolution.

Someone proposed the initiative of not going home for the Spring Festival, and the People's Daily complied with the requirements of the broad masses.

It issued a notice to break old customs and not have a holiday for the Spring Festival, while suspending family visit leave.

Just like that, the Spring Festival, which was originally a statutory holiday, was suddenly canceled. Major train stations and bus stations used broadcasts to play the notice of no holiday for the Spring Festival in turns.

Many people who had originally bought train tickets and bus tickets intending to go home for the New Year, after hearing this notice, went to the ticket office one after another to return their tickets and returned to their work posts to continue working.

In the ten-plus years since then, not having a holiday for the Spring Festival became a norm. Every time the Spring Festival arrived, whether it was government cadres or factory workers, as well as service staff in shops, supply and marketing cooperatives, and restaurants.

None had a holiday, none went home, and they actively participated in productive labor. Winter was originally a slack season for farming, but farmers also had to participate in labor, turning winter slack into winter busy.

Since there was no holiday for the Spring Festival, the New Year customs passed down for thousands of years were also logically canceled. Folk activities such as setting off firecrackers, worshiping ancestors, lion and dragon dances, and purchasing New Year goods disappeared from the Spring Festival.

Drinking and playing cards were even banned as bad customs. The only traditional custom that could be preserved was pasting Spring Festival couplets.

Even pasting Spring Festival couplets was very different from before. They were all battle slogans like "No truce on the 30th, keep working on the 1st." And the most common activity for a family at that time was eating "bitterness-remembering and sweetness-thinking" meals.

What is a "bitterness-remembering and sweetness-thinking" meal? There were two types. One was porridge made of rotten vegetable leaves, taro flowers, pumpkin flowers, radish greens, wild vegetables, rice bran, and dried sweet potatoes. One was steamed buns made of corn flour, dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato flour, bran, etc.

The biggest characteristic of these two types of food was that they were very hard to swallow, and this was exactly the purpose the organizers hoped to achieve. They hoped that through these foods common in the old society, everyone would remember the evil old society and love the new society.

Such days lasted for more than ten years. When the 1979 Spring Festival arrived, there were signs of loosening. The People's Daily published two more letters from readers, both proposing suggestions to restore the Spring Festival holiday.

The general meaning was that not having a holiday for the Spring Festival, engaging in fatigue tactics, meant the masses couldn't have a good New Year, weren't happy in their hearts, and couldn't put effort into their work.

These two letters had an immediate effect. A few days later, some provinces began to announce the restoration of the Spring Festival holiday. By 1980, the Spring Festival holiday system was fully restored.

Then in 1999, the national holiday and memorial day holiday measures were revised for the first time.

The statutory Spring Festival holiday was still the first, second, and third day, but with four days of compensatory leave, totaling seven days.

It wasn't until the revision in 2007 that the Spring Festival holiday was adjusted to New Year's Eve, the first day of the first lunar month, and the second day.

The old man didn't pay attention to him and said to himself: "The framework of the China Grain Reserves Corporation has already been set up, but when can the five hundred million US dollars you promised to lend be in place?"

"Oh my!" Zhou Andong looked troubled: "Grandpa, since I promised you, I should fulfill it as soon as possible. But something suddenly happened recently. Other shareholders of Xiangjiang Qiudongfang are a bit dissatisfied, so this money might not be able to come over for the time being."

The old man frowned: "Xiangjiang Qiudongfang, isn't it just you and Qiuqiu? Where did other shareholders come from?"

"Of course there are." Zhou Andong said: "The management of Xiangjiang Qiudongfang all have shares. Although not many, they have areas of dissatisfaction, and I can't ignore their emotions."

The old man looked at Zhou Andong suspiciously but didn't ask deeply: "Tell me, what exactly is the matter that made the management of Xiangjiang Qiudongfang dissatisfied."

"Isn't it because of that high-end residential project in Chaoyang." Zhou Andong sighed: "Yuxi Real Estate is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiangjiang Qiudongfang, but it was scammed out of thirty or forty million by an affiliated company on this project. You tell me, who could be happy if this happened to them?"

The old man laughed: "Tell me, what do you want so you can happily give me the five hundred million US dollars."

"Grandpa, what you said is wrong." Zhou Andong said very seriously: "It's not what I want, but to plug the mouths of the Xiangjiang Qiudongfang management, to make them satisfied, so they can happily lend the money to you."

"Fine!" The old man didn't argue with Zhou Andong: "Tell me."

"Actually, it's very simple." Zhou Andong smacked his lips: "Just get the development qualification in the capital for Yuxi Real Estate. Avoid being affiliated with other companies and getting scammed again.

This way, the management of Xiangjiang Qiudongfang will be able to feel the attitude of the mainland and will definitely happily lend the money to you." ===== CHAPTER 1525 =====