Among all the competitors, Third Brother Zhang stood out by virtue of his rich shameless experience and succeeded in winning the upper position by flattery.
After all, Ji Changze was looking for a younger brother who was willing to lose face (thick-skinned), and Third Brother Zhang was a perfect live interpretation; he meets these conditions.
After hearing that Ji Changze promised to let him work with him, his face was full of smiles, and waved at the others:
“Disperse, everyone, disperse, my Brother Changze has just returned; he must be exhausted from the journey, let him rest.”
No, they haven’t figured it out yet. Isn’t Ji Changze a deadbeat? Why is he suddenly so impressive?
They don’t get along, don’t they?!
However, Ji Changze had just returned home, and they were too embarrassed to ask questions, so they all dispersed in succession.
At that time, Ji Changze, the Ji parents, and Third Brother Zhang were left in front of Ji’s house.
Father Ji and Mother Ji were still confused and unresponsive.
It’s a good thing that their son had made great achievements.
But the promising son was Changze. Why did they feel that it was too magical?
If Ji Changguang were a promising person, the Ji parents would certainly be shocked, but it wouldn’t be like right now.
They couldn’t believe it at all!
How could Changze be promising!?
Ji Changze also knew that they would be confused, so he simply cleared the scene first. He looked at Third Brother Zhang, “You go back first. “
Third Brother Zhang tried to maintain the setting that ‘Brother Changze asked me to go east so I would never go west, and Brother Changze asked me to go home, so I would never stay here,’ and he ran out with a smile.
Halfway through, he turned back and asked, “Brother Changze, do you have any instructions so that I can prepare in advance?”
He waved to Third Brother Zhang: “Yes, come here, and I’ll tell you.”
Third Brother Zhang hurriedly came running, Ji Changze whispered in his ear:
“Xiaolu and I are going to get married. When we are doing the wedding, you will mix in the crowd and say that Xiaolu and I are perfect for each other. I earn money, and Xiaolu has a good education. I am handsome, and she is beautiful. We are kind-hearted, hardworking, simple, love the party, love the country, love the people, and will be happy and prosperous.”
“Remember, be sure to mix in the crowd, and make all kinds of voices, making people think that different people shouted these words.”
Ji Changze knocked him on the head. “Are you stupid? Of course, it’s useful. It makes me look good. “
He didn’t dare to disobey his new source of food and clothing, so he could only look at Ji Changze with a strange look on his face: “Brother Changze, is this really necessary? Isn’t that a little weird?”
Ji Changze looked serious, “You think I’m making you do this for myself!?”
Third Brother Zhang, “… isn’t it?”
Ji Changze took his shoulder and analyzed it with him: “Did I just tell you that I’m looking for someone who has to be smart-mouthed and not afraid of strangers?”
Third Brother Zhang nodded blankly: “Yes.”
Ji Changze: “How do I know that you really meet the requirements? What if you say you are, but you actually not?”
Third Brother Zhang, “But we grew up together, and you know what kind of person I am. “
Ji Changze smiled with a grin.
“Is it? Then why do you always lose every time you talk to me?”
Yes, it seems that every time he meets Ji Changze, it would end badly.
“But I really can talk. Really, if you don’t believe me, you can ask others; they all know.”
(TNote: Xiao San / Little Third = he is calling him in a friendly manner, but Xiao san actually means ‘mistress/the third woman’ too, so he’s actually mocking him.)
Ji Changze smiled like a gangster, “Whether you can follow me or not isn’t about what people say about you, it’s about what I see you doing.”
“How am I supposed to believe you if you don’t confirm it in front of me? How could I give you this good job for 20 yuan a month?”
Third Brother Zhang thought about it, nodded: “Yes, Elder Brother Changze, you are right.”
Ji Changze continued: “And ah… do you think that purchasing is easy? What if I take you there, and you end up too thin-skinned to say anything and lose the job?”
With his words, Third Brother Zhang’s expression immediately turned tense.
He can’t lose his job even if he loses his mind!
Ji Changze: “We at least grew up in the same village together, so of course, I can’t just watch you lose this job, therefore!!”
He clapped his hands, “I’m just trying to be nice and train you to practice your eloquence, and then practice your resilience so that you don’t have to follow me to Shanghai and be driven back in disgrace.”
Third Brother Zhang suddenly realized: “Brother Changze, I didn’t expect you to have such good intentions.”
Ji Changze nodded affirmatively, “I’m glad you understand.”
Third Brother Zhang thought clearly, shame bubbled up in his heart.
He did this to please Ji Changze for money. Before, when Ji Changze hadn’t come back, he didn’t gossip less in the village. Ji Changze was a liar; saying that he was going to Shanghai was probably lying to people.
As a result, when Ji Changze came back, he not only didn’t bother with him and gave him a job but also helped him exercise his eloquence.
He couldn’t believe the guy still uses his own wedding, an important occasion, to train him.
Neither of his brothers were as kind to him as Ji Changze was.
The more he thought about it, the more he was moved. For a moment, Third Brother Zhang looked at Ji Changze with gratitude.
Ji Changze patted him on the shoulder. “Good Brother, go, go home and practice how to make different people’s voices, and think of more words to praise Xiaolu and me.”
Third Brother Zhang was full of fighting spirit, “Brother Changze, you are so kind to me, I will not betray your trust!!”
He left with a fighting spirit, ready to go home and practice a hundred ways of praising someone, for paying back Ji Changze for being so nice to him.
Ji Changze stood and watched him walk away. Behind him, Mother Ji asked him, “Changze, what did you say to him?”
He turned and smiled at Mother Ji, “I saw that he was silly, so I lied to him. “
Mother Ji didn’t hear the words either, so she just dragged her son inside quickly and closed the door, and asked:
“Changze, tell Mom, what’s going on? How did you earn your money??”
Ji Changze blinked. His face was innocent. “I just went to Shanghai to earn it.”
“Don’t you dare coax me! How could I not know you? You know how to eat and drink, but you can’t work. How can somebody else’s factory director introduce you to work in the big city? I told you to tell me clearly before, but you turned and ran away.”
Ji Changze still looked confident.
He didn’t lie either. He did earn money by going to Shanghai.
Nowadays, only Shanghai isn’t known for being profiteering. Of course, we have to go to Shanghai.
Ji Changze worked very hard to buy goods in Shanghai and then went to other cities to sell goods like a thief.
After that, it was deemed too hard. Each time he would stock up first, then go to another city and pretend to buy something, squatting after the person came to sell it, and then persuade them to come and buy from him.
As for the thing about selling your capital at twice the price…
The stuff that comes out of there was certainly expensive.
Mother Ji took her son to the yard and pulled Father Ji, who was smoking cigarettes, and said, “In front of your father and me, tell me clearly how this money was earned!”
She was very keen. She looked around first, then asked in a low voice, “You didn’t do anything illegal, did you??”
Ji Changze didn’t change his face. “Mom, what are you talking about? How can you say that about your son?”
He sat his butt on the bench and righteously said, “It’s my good character that got me here today.”
Father Ji: Puff puff puff…
Ji Changze: “Here’s the thing, didn’t I go into the factory before? I am so kind. I saw other workers obviously have rest time but don’t rest. I am kind, so I will rest for them. When eating, I saw that everyone only holds a bowl of rice. I have a good heart, so I eat three bowls at a time because I am afraid of wasting food. “
He clapped his hands, “Then, our factory director said that his factory was small and didn’t have enough rice, but he was grateful to me. So, he recommended me to the big factory in Shanghai, where the rice could be eaten freely.”
Father Ji: Puff puff puff…
She translated Ji Changze’s words.
That means, after he entered the factory, he didn’t work and ate so much. The factory director was embarrassed to fire him because he had helped him before, so he was sent to Shanghai’s big factory.
Sure enough, it was something her son could do.
She looked at her youngest son who was sitting in front of her, and this precious baby still looked very righteous, “Mom, don’t you think I’m relying on my own personal efforts to get to Shanghai’s state-run company?”
Mother Ji, “Probably … should … sort of …”
Father Ji smoked his cigarette: Puff puff…
Mother Ji asked again, “Then even if you went to Shanghai, why did you earn so much money at once? Are the wages of Shanghai workers so high?”
Ji Changze was a man of principle; he never told lies that would be unraveled.
He replied, “Mom, your imagination is too beautiful. The salary in Shanghai is higher than ours, but it is not as high as that. But after I went to Shanghai, the factory director told me to go shopping and then take charge of sales.”
“There is a commission on these sales.”
Mother Ji was dumbfounded, “What’s a commission?”
Father Ji, who has been quietly smoking a cigarette, said: “It’s just that he sells one item for one yuan, people pay him one cent, and two items gain him two cents.”
Ji Changze: “Yes, that’s it.”
The look on Mother Ji’s face immediately dropped in panic, “Selling something? You sell things privately? Isn’t that profiteering!? Changze, don’t let anyone catch you. Mom wants you to be well, even if you don’t have money!”
“Aiyo…” Ji Changze explained: “Now that the national policy has changed again, selling your own stuff isn’t considered speculation, but it’s only on a trial basis in Shanghai, and we don’t have it here yet, so in Shanghai, it’s all legal.”
Father Ji puffed on his cigarette, “Even if he is profiteering, he wouldn’t be caught.”
Mother Ji understood and then felt something wrong after relenting, “So you sold a lot of them? No way, where do you get that.”
Why is she so unbelieving of her son? He can sit, but you can’t believe he could stand, lie down but definitely not sit down?
Is it impossible to sell goods diligently after being so lazy all the time?
Ji Changze laughed, looking as if ‘ah… you saw through that lie’ and waved his hand:
“I didn’t want to sell it either, but they said I couldn’t keep working there if I couldn’t sell a certain amount. Then I came up with an idea. I gathered a few people and told them I’d give them the commission to help me sell it, and they’d take half, and wouldn’t the other half be mine.”
Mother Ji ran the words around in her head and still didn’t get it: “What does it mean?”
Father Ji put down his cigarette: “That is to say, he told others that there was a commission, and then they sold it for him, he gave them half of his own commission. If they sold one, it was the same as if he sold one. He took a commission, gave half to the others, and left half for himself.”
“So, our Changze doesn’t work and still makes money.”
Mother Ji was dizzy from hearing this but still managed to find the point: “Really? So Changze is taking advantage of a loophole?”
Shouldn’t you be working hard?!
Father Ji puffs on his cigarette: “He’s not exploiting loopholes, he’s being clever.”
Ji Changze nodded, “Yes! I am clever!”
Father Ji exhaled a mouthful of smoke, revealing a gratified smile:
“The boy follows his Dad.”
Mother Ji returned to her senses and immediately slapped her thigh: “My son, of course, follows me! My Changze is obviously smart like me!”
Ji Changze glance at Father J.
“Your Mom is right; you follow her.”