Chapter 84: Arrangements 4.0

"Brother Daniu," Si Jie said, coming over from inside after hearing the commotion while eating.

"Oh, it's Lanhua."

"Xiaochen, this is the eldest uncle from your second great-uncle's family; you've all met him before."

"Eldest Uncle," the four of them said. Li Ze and Li Cheng had already gone to work at the Rolling Mill.

"Hey."

"You all keep eating; I'll take Brother Daniu to see where he'll be staying."

"Alright, Uncle."

"Brother Daniu, this room is for you to stay in. If your wife gets bored at home, you can bring her along too."

The courtyard Zhang Ping'an bought was a large two-section compound, and the side rooms were also of an oversized specification, each being nearly twenty square meters.

"That, Ping'an, I think the room by the entrance just now was quite good. How about I stay there?"

"That is the gatehouse; the lighting isn't good."

"It's fine, I don't mind. Staying there, I can also hear the movement in the warehouse at any time."

"This... alright then. Once spring comes, I'll have someone cut a window, otherwise the light inside is too dim."

"No need to go to the trouble; it's just for sleeping anyway."

"Fine, we'll talk about it then. Let's tidy this place up first."

The gatehouse consisted of two rooms connected north to south, totaling about thirty square meters. It had been renovated last year, but having been empty for a long time, it was likely quite dusty.

"Done."

The two of them took brooms and gave it a thorough cleaning. Zhang Xiaohua and Tan Cuicui arrived as well.

"Ping'an, what are you all doing?"

"San Jie, Daniu-ge and I are sweeping up the dust."

"San Jie."

"Oh, Daniu is here. Why aren't you staying in the side rooms?"

Zhang Daniu repeated what he had just said to Zhang Ping'an.

"Good, good, good. Daniu, to be able to consider things so thoroughly before you've even started work, you really take after Second Uncle's temperament."

"Hehe," Zhang Daniu chuckled honestly.

"Xiaocui, you take the children and head over first. I'll stay here and lend a hand."

"Done."

The three of them quickly cleaned the two rooms. Fortunately, a heated brick bed had been built at the time, otherwise this winter would have been hard to get through.

"Brother Daniu, you can make the bed yourself. Spend the morning familiarizing yourself with the surroundings, and in the afternoon I'll take you to the fabric store for procurement."

"Good."

Zhang Ping'an left the courtyard. He wanted to buy a tricycle, but after wandering around the vicinity for most of the day, he found that while there were tricycle sales points, they were all under unified allocation. It would have been better if he had bought one two years earlier.

Helpless, Zhang Ping'an had no choice but to go to the Rolling Mill to see if he could get one for free.

"There aren't any spares. There are some discarded ones, but they're rusted beyond recognition. If you want them, just take them."

"Alright."

Zhang Ping'an ran to the warehouse and took one look, instantly dumbfounded. Even the frames were rusted through, let alone the wheels.

It seemed he would have to craft one by hand. Zhang Ping'an loaded the pile of junk onto a cart, found an alleyway, and entered his space.

Using the properties of the space, he recorded the dimensions one by one. A simple design drawing appeared on paper. The rest would be left to San Jie Fu, Lao Jia. Of course, the main parts would still need to be bought.

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping'an took Zhang Daniu back and forth between his own shop and the fabric store, covering two routes. Afterward, they switched so Zhang Ping'an was on the cart and Zhang Daniu led the way. They finally memorized it, though Zhang Ping'an would still take him to procure supplies a few more times later.

"Brother Daniu, let's try to do our procurement in the morning, or before five in the afternoon. There are hoodlums in the city after dark. There are steel pipes on the side of the tricycle; if anyone blind tries to block your way, don't hold back. Your own safety comes first."

Having had the precedent of Si Jie, Zhang Ping'an would only be more ruthless toward hoodlums. Besides, there was basically no such thing as "excessive self-defense" now; if you dared to block the road and rob, you deserved it if you were beaten to death.

"Done." Zhang Ping'an knew his strength. Since he said that, he wouldn't need to hold back his force.

In the evening, Zhang Ping'an deliberately removed parts from the tricycle and found a repair shop.

"Boss, my chain was stolen. This is a factory vehicle; can you see if you can replace it with a new one?"

"Done."

"Boss, my chainring was stolen by someone."

"Boss, my bearings were stolen by someone."

"Boss, my wheel was stolen by someone."

"Boss, my seat was stolen by someone."

"....."

Zhang Ping'an visited six or seven repair shops in a row and finally gathered everything, although the repair shop owners looked at him with strange expressions.

That night at the Jia Family, Zhang Ping'an gave the drawings to Lao Jia.

"San Jie Fu, take a look and see if it's easy to make."

"It's possible. As long as these frames and screws..." Lao Jia understood after one glance.

"Right, I need two sets." He wanted to get an extra set ready while the Public-Private Partnership hadn't happened yet.

Workers at the Rolling Mill also took on private jobs. As long as you didn't affect production and turned in the material costs, no one would really care.

"Fine, I'll have it done for you this week."

"San Jie Fu, there's no rush. It'll be fine if it's done by the end of next year." Zhang Ping'an was afraid Lao Jia would work himself to exhaustion from overtime. In any case, it just needed to be done before the Public-Private Partnership.

"....."

"Alright then, since there's no rush, I'll take my time making it for you. It should be done by the New Year at the latest."

"Mm, good."

It is now mid-December, with nearly two months left until New Year's Eve, so there is plenty of time, and Lao Jia will not be overworked.

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping'an had Zhang Daniu buy another Sewing Machine, and the previously listless Zhang Daniu instantly perked up.

"Ping'an, this work is too easy; I have all this energy with nowhere to use it."

Look at that; if this were today, this is the kind of job so many people dream of—good pay, little work, just a bit far from home.

"Brother Daniu, you only need to go out for procurement once or twice a month; most of the time you're just moving things around here."

However, there really aren't any heavy objects to move; it's mostly just taking clothes from the studio to the warehouse, and then to the shop.

Zhang Ping'an intends to finalize everyone's job descriptions before the New Year, so that when they participate in the Public-Private Partnership later, there will likely be no major changes; of course, a Public Manager will be inevitable.

Li Mei and Li Qing are Salespersons, Li Chen is the Shopkeeper—the future Private Manager—and Li Jing is the Accountant; this is mainly because Li Jing has a talent for accounting, while Li Chen has a silver tongue.

Zhang Lanhua is the Workshop Director; Xiaohua, Tan Cuicui, Qin Pandi, and Qin Huairu are Workshop Staff; and Zhang Daniu is the Procurement Officer and Warehouse Manager.

When the time comes, we'll set up a small canteen and have Zhang Daniu's wife, Liu Xiaoli, come over to be the Chef; she has truly mastered the Sichuan Cuisine from our second aunt, making dishes that are numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant—suitable for all ages—simply perfect.

Moving the Sewing Machine into the studio, there are now four; on the day off, I'll have Li Ze or Li Cheng go buy another one so that everyone can have their own.

In the future, we might even be able to take on some work from the Street Office, or even develop further and perhaps become a clothing factory under the Street Office.

In the evening, Zhang Ping'an gathered everyone together to talk about his ideas for the positions discussed during the day.

"San Jie, Si Jie, and everyone else, please speak your minds; let's pool our wisdom."

"Ping'an, haven't we always been doing it this way?"

"That's right, Ping'an."

"Ahem, alright then, let's settle it this way for now; Xiaojing, you focus on learning accounting properly from Teacher Yan."

"Understood, Uncle."

On the way back, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly asked:

"Ping'an, will there be some changes after the New Year?"

Zhang Ping'an looked at San Jie in surprise, not expecting her political intuition to be so sharp.

"Uh, you could say that, but it's for the year after next; San Jie, just keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone else."

"Understood, San Jie knows what to do, I won't even tell Lao Jia."

Zhang Xiaohua assumed it was something Zhang Ping'an's grandfather had mentioned; after all, she had seen Dong Laotou's aura that day, which clearly looked like that of a high-ranking official.

"Mm."

In the blink of an eye, it was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year in the north, and Lao Jia had also finished making the frame for Zhang Ping'an's tricycle.