Chapter 70: Teaching a Disciple, Starving the Master

“Just buying a bicycle ticket already costs quite a bit, not to mention you have to pay extra for the bike itself. Altogether, it’ll cost close to two hundred yuan. My son-in-law’s pension could be gone any day now,” Cheng Hongying complained, her voice already choked with emotion.

Qiu Yinuo quickly interrupted her. “Comrade Cheng Hongying, please don’t cry. You’re like a faucet these days, turning on the waterworks just like that.”

“Well, I’m just afraid you’ll sit around and eat away everything we have. When Dabao and Erbao grow up a bit more, they’ll need more food and better nutrition. If you waste all the money now, what are they supposed to survive on later—air?”

“Mom, why don’t you get it? Money is earned, not saved.”

“You plan to rely on your twelve yuan a month salary? If you worked every single day, I wouldn’t say anything. Maybe you could save it up in half a year.”

“How long would you have to save twelve yuan a month—without eating or drinking—just to buy a bicycle? Is that really worth it?”

Of course it was worth it. She would be making more and more trips to the city in the future.

“Fine, let me think it over a bit more.”

When she went back to work, Qiu Yinuo was still thinking about the bicycle. “Jinzi, ask around during lunch and see who’s selling a bike.”

If she couldn’t afford a new one, she could still buy a second-hand one, couldn’t she?

“Sis, you’re still thinking about that bike?”

“I can’t keep borrowing from others forever.”

“I don’t think the Village Head or his wife ever complained.”

Qiu Yinuo shook her head. “It’s not the same. You can’t take everything for granted. We’ve been borrowing four times a month—what if someone else wants to borrow it too? The Village Head bought it with his own money, and now it’s practically become public property. If it were you, would you be okay with that?”

Jinzi thought about it and realized she had a point.

“How about the two of us just walk from now on?”

“In your dreams. Don’t even think about it.”

They’d have to leave before dawn and walk for nearly two hours. She’d rather be put out of her misery.

She patted her younger brother’s skinny back as he pedaled, “Go ask around at noon today. Look for one that’s sixty to eighty percent new, and keep the price under 150 yuan. If it looks good, just buy it on the spot.”

“You’re being awfully hasty about this.”

“Oh, and once you buy it, make sure you sign a sales agreement with the seller. We don’t want any unnecessary trouble later.”

“Got it!”

When Qiu Yinuo got to the factory, she went to the workshop supervisor to register her attendance, then headed to her own work area.

She looked over the work from the past week and had some technical discussions with the other skilled workers.

Only then did she bring Jinzi over to tinker with an old, discarded tractor.

“Sis, isn’t this one already scrapped?”

“I just want to see if I can fix it. Maybe I can reassemble a working tractor from these broken parts the factory doesn’t want anymore.”

If she could get a tractor for the village, even if the village head wasn’t initially interested in her proposal, he’d at least listen to her out of politeness.

And if the village head had any desire to achieve real results, he wouldn’t be able to resist the idea.

With that in mind, Qiu Yinuo felt even more motivated.

The siblings spent the whole morning working on the project, naturally drawing a lot of attention from the others in the workshop.

As the county’s top factory, the tractor plant offered decent meals.

Every time they came to work, Qiu Qianjin would skip breakfast just to eat his fill at lunch.

At night, the siblings would make sure to eat their fill before leaving. Though Qiu Yinuo felt somewhat embarrassed about it, she didn’t stop them. In these times of scarcity, having enough to eat and wear was no small feat.

Occasionally, when they found good dishes in the cafeteria, they would spend some extra money to bring some back home for the two women at home, treating them to a nice meal.

“Sis, today the cafeteria has braised pork with stewed potatoes!” Qiu Qianjin almost burst into tears from joy—skipping breakfast and going straight to work had definitely been the right choice.

“You’re so easy to please.” In those days, everyone liked fatty, greasy food. Lean meat was actually less popular.

So, when it came to braised pork, Qiu Yinuo would deliberately choose the lean parts.

Qiu Qianjin had long gotten used to his sister’s picky eating habits. Every time, he would separately pick the lean meat and put it in her bowl. “Okay, it’s all lean meat now. You can eat.”

Watching him eat the fatty meat bite after bite, Qiu Yinuo felt nauseated.

She thought about reminding him that eating too much fatty food could lead to high cholesterol.

But then she realized that in these hungry times, most people had no fat in their bellies. Who would even have to worry about high cholesterol?

“Eat slowly.”

“I’m so hungry. I didn’t have breakfast and worked all morning on an empty stomach.”

“…By the way, after you finish eating, make sure to ask around about the bike. Don’t waste any time.”

“Got it, don’t worry. You trust me, don’t you?”

At this moment, several tables not far from them were filled with people. Apart from the first day, when a few technical workers sat together to get to know each other, the rest of the time Qiu Yinuo and her younger brother ate together.

After all, as a woman, it wasn’t exactly proper for her to get too close to any man.

Apart from work, she barely interacted with others during her spare time.

“Master, I think I saw the siblings take away all the discarded parts,” one of the apprentices said.

Master Yu didn’t seem to care much. “Maybe they want to try fixing them.”

Director Liu became interested and asked, “Did they manage to fix any of them?”

“They worked all morning, but I didn’t see anything usable,” the apprentice replied curiously. “But what do they need the discarded parts for?”

Xiao Zhao sneered, “The parts that even our master couldn’t fix—do you really think they can do something with them?”

Master Yu first glanced at Director Liu, then gave his apprentice a sharp look. “Comrade Qiu is someone who’s been recognized by Director Liu, so of course she’s capable. If you go around saying this, people might think I, as the master, have issues with her.”

Director Liu smiled and said, “Alright, we all know what kind of person Master Yu is. Xiao Zhao, we understand you’re upset because they might be questioning your master’s skills, but you can’t deny that there are always people who are better than you out there.”

Xiao Li’s eyes lit up, and he whispered, “Do you think Comrade Qiu might want to reassemble a tractor?”

The others exchanged glances, and several of them felt a stir in their hearts, even Master Yu’s apprentice got excited.

Xiao Wang suggested, “Why don’t we go take a look this afternoon?”

“Alright, we’ll go check it out after lunch.”

After lunch, Qiu Yinuo first went to check the data at another production workshop, then inspected the assembly of new parts. “If you run into any issues, come find me in the workshop next door. Don’t bother Xiao Li and the others.”

This was the main reason she had been invited—Director Liu and Xiao Li were researchers, and their time was precious, so it shouldn’t be wasted here.

“Understood, Master Qiu.”

When Qiu Yinuo returned to the next workshop, it wasn’t long before a few apprentices from other workshops came over to observe, saying they had come to learn.

She wasn’t displeased. Instead, she welcomed them in.

When Qiu Qianjin returned, he saw his sister enthusiastically teaching the apprentices. He couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.

Did his sister even know that teaching a disciple could starve the master?