The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 736 - 705

Chapter 736: 705

In the shop, He Tiantian generally came in the morning to help collect money and package items; in the afternoon, she would do the accounting, take inventory, and summarize.

Just when business at Sanfeng Bridge was booming, He Tiantian received a letter from Qi Xiaoyan and Niu Dajun.

Along with the letter, there was a remittance slip for twenty-six thousand yuan, as well as a stack of account books, recording everything from purchasing to sales, all well-documented.

It took He Tiantian two days to verify the accounts, and there were no mistakes.

It seemed Qi Xiaoyan and Niu Dajun’s business was doing well, within just six months, she had taken a thirty percent profit share and received a dividend of over twenty-six thousand yuan, while Niu Dajun could probably earn sixty to seventy thousand yuan from the bullwhips.

Getting rich together wasn’t so bad!

While He Tiantian was busy with the shop, finally on the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month, Huo Yingjie completed his work task.

Huo Yingjie took out a stack of data and reports and went to Chief Engineer Sun’s office.

"Yingjie is here, is there any problem?" Chief Engineer Sun asked. "If there is an issue, just say it, I know you are at the most critical stage of your work."

Huo Yingjie smiled and said, "I have finished the project, and these are the materials."

"Ah?" Chief Engineer Sun was taken aback, "So soon?"

"Yes, just that soon," Huo Yingjie said. "The experiments have been done twice, and the data correspond to the theoretical formulations. According to convention, we can submit our task now."

Chief Engineer Sun half-believed, half-doubted, he trusted Huo Yingjie was a genius, and what geniuses do best is creating miracles.

Only... only the miracle Huo Yingjie produced seemed a bit too abrupt!

Chief Engineer Sun took the materials, looked through them closely, and the more he read, the brighter the gleam in his eyes became.

"Adding this trace element can increase toughness; adding that inert gas..." Chief Engineer Sun marveled inwardly and understood why Yanjing’s research had not come to fruition in two years.

"Not bad, very good," Chief Engineer Sun smiled. "Just to be safe, I’ll give you special approval to conduct one more set of experiments. If there’s no issue, you can hand it in," Chief Engineer Sun said. "It’s almost New Year’s, there will be some benefits and bonuses."

Huo Yingjie smiled and said, "Chief Engineer Sun, as you know, what I care about most is the vacation!"

The reason Chief Engineer Sun had been silent was that he wanted to tease Huo Yingjie, who sure enough couldn’t contain his impatience, he laughed and said, "After the experiment, you can start your vacation, which will last until the twentieth of the first lunar month, enough time for you to rest at home."

An entire month!

Huo Yingjie was overjoyed and said, "That’s enough, thank you, Chief Engineer Sun."

Eager to get going, Huo Yingjie went back to start his final experiment.

The data and report were the same, varying only within the margin of error.

While Chief Engineer Sun was reporting upstream, Huo Yingjie packed up his things and prepared to head home for the New Year.

Only when leaving, Huo Yingjie found two people trailing behind him.

Zhang Aijun and Li Yunzhong, they were responsible for Huo Yingjie’s safety.

In fact, Huo Yingjie didn’t need protection, but Director Hua had demanded such arrangements, ones that couldn’t be refused.

As long as he could go home, Huo Yingjie didn’t mind these minor details.

Zhou Yuanchao also started packing his things, planning to return to Nan City with Huo Yingjie.

"Boss, I’ll go back to Nan City with you," Zhou Yuanchao said. "When are you leaving?"

"This afternoon!" Huo Yingjie said, somewhat impatient.

"Can’t you go tomorrow morning?" His wife, Wang Ying, could only take time off tomorrow; she couldn’t leave today.

"No, you and Wang Ying go tomorrow. I need to go back this afternoon. I can be home by evening," Huo Yingjie said with a smile. "By the way, what are you doing in Nan City?"

Zhou Yuanchao spoke with a hint of wistfulness, "Wang Ying is from Nan City. Before bringing Wang Ying home to my parents, I have to visit my mother-in-law first."

"Heh, that makes sense," Huo Yingjie laughed. "I won’t wait for you then, I’ll head to Nan City first. Once you get to Nan City, if you have time, you can come to my house. You know, your sister-in-law is very hospitable!"

"Sure, I’ll definitely come to visit," Zhou Yuanchao said. "I’ve always heard that the stewed meat from your family’s shop is delicious, I must try it. If it’s good, boss, you’ll have to ask the sister-in-law to prepare some extra for me to take back to Mongolia."

"That’s your sister-in-law’s shop, you should ask her," Huo Yingjie was unabashed, he didn’t have the habit of using his wife’s items for favors.

Zhou Yuanchao chuckled, assuredly said, "Sister-in-law is a very generous person, she’ll definitely prepare a lot for me."

Huo Yingjie had already packed his things, after eating lunch, he hopped on the jeep arranged by the institute and rushed to the train station.

Once on the train, Huo Yingjie only brought a small bag and some gifts from the institute, such as very sweet honey tangerines, and other rare fruits like large pomelos brought from the south.

Zhang Aijun and Li Yunzhong carefully checked the surroundings.

Only after a while did they sit down to rest.

"You can’t go home for New Year’s, you must miss it a lot," Huo Yingjie, empathizing with them, understood their feelings.

Zhang Aijun smiled and said, "Actually, it’s nothing special, there has to be someone on duty. I have twenty days of leave a year and can take my wife to visit our hometown."

"Yeah, I have time off too. But I don’t want to go home anymore. When I go there, my parents will pressure me into blind dates," Li Yunzhong said with a wry smile. "I may seem outgoing, but I’m slow to warm up. Without interaction and feelings, I don’t like any of those girls."

"Hey, haven’t you considered finding someone in the military?" Huo Yingjie asked. Since he couldn’t find anyone back home, why not look in the military?

"Forget it, in our unit, the men outnumber the women—my chances are slim!" Li Yunzhong said with a rueful smile. "I think next year I’ll probably be discharged; then I can return home and find a wife at my leisure—not in a rush."

"Discharged? Don’t you want to stay in the unit?" Huo Yingjie asked.

"I’d like to stay, but I have several sisters who are married, and I’m the only son at home. With my parents getting older, being discharged to take care of them would allow me to fulfill my filial duty," said Li Yunzhong, reflecting that he was no longer the young man who thought of nothing.

"That makes sense," Huo Yingjie said. "While your parents are still around, it’s best to honor them. What about Brother Zhang?"

"As for me, I’m the second of three brothers. My older and younger brothers take care of our parents. I send some living expenses and visit when I’m on leave," Zhang Aijun spoke, revealing his own form of filial piety.

"So, what does your sister-in-law do at the institute?" Huo Yingjie made conversation, feeling these two were decent folks, wanting to draw them in as his own people.

"She’s a fifth-grade Chinese teacher at the research institute’s elementary school," Zhang Aijun smiled. "She used to be a high school student, but her background wasn’t good, and her family kept objecting. Thankfully, we persisted, and now we’re planning to have a child."