Chapter 343 Goodwill
The heavy snow continued to fall.

At this cold year end, Jiangchuan City, located in the eye of the storm, has become a paralyzed island.

On January 1, Yang Jiarong, who was attending a meeting in Lizhen City, returned to Jiangchuan ahead of schedule. However, due to severe congestion on the highway, he used all available means of transportation and country roads, and the journey that should have taken only three hours took a full day and night.

When Yang Jiarong rushed to Jiangchuan during the night, the city's commercial rice inventory could only guarantee a five-day supply for nearly 50 people in the city, gasoline could only meet seven days, and liquefied gas could only meet four days. Daily necessities were all out of stock.

At this time, prices have skyrocketed!
Cabbage costs 2 yuan per catty, onions cost 6 yuan per catty, and pork is in short supply. Compared with these, candles, which are usually unpopular, are the most in-demand commodity in this cold winter. Some citizens think that 1 candles for 4 yuan are too expensive and do not buy them. One day later, the price of a candle has become 4 yuan. At the most expensive time, local candles even sold for 1995 yuan per candle in 8!
However, even with such staggering prices, the shopping malls are always crowded with shoppers who don't even look at the price tags. They just pick up the items and leave, leaving rows of empty shelves behind them.

Despite the shortage of supplies, the sales volume of Longjingyuan canned food has also grown by leaps and bounds. In the past, the three production lines of Longjingyuan Industrial Park were running at full capacity, and Liansheng's monthly sales nationwide could reach about 2500 million yuan, with a monthly net profit of between 400 million and 500 million yuan.

Zhang Yunqi knew that this situation would happen, so before New Year's Day, he asked Yunxi Longjingyuan Industrial Park to work at full capacity to increase production capacity and let Liansheng's supply chain system deliver products to all parts of the country. Now Longjingyuan Industrial Park has stopped working, and the inventory is estimated to not last long. But at this time, he received a call from Yang Jiarong begging for alms.

Yang Jiarong said it’s not easy to call you now.

Zhang Yunqi smiled. Due to heavy snow and power outages, communication facilities were severely damaged. If you were lucky, you might get through after dialing a dozen times. If you were unlucky, you would still get the answer "user busy" after dialing dozens of times.

Of course, Zhang Yunqi knew the purpose of Yang Jiarong's call. What Jiangchuan City lacked most now was money and supplies. Yang Jiarong was not having a good time. He said, "I will personally donate one million, Lianzhong will donate one million, and Liansheng will donate canned food worth three million yuan."

Yang Jiarong on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said, "Xiao Zhang, Mr. Zhang, thank you."

Zhang Yunqi said: "Do your best."

That afternoon, Zhang Yunqi held a high-level meeting at Liansheng.

The meeting had three main contents. The first was to fully guarantee the basic living of more than 700 workers at the Longjingyuan Cannery, and to distribute daily necessities such as rice, flour, and candles to specific people on a regular basis. The second was to call on all employees to actively donate money and materials in addition to the 500 million materials that Zhang Yunqi promised to the city. The third was to coordinate and cooperate with the Jiangchuan Federation of Industry and Commerce to select young and strong male workers, give full play to the transportation capacity of the Liansheng Canned Food Supply Line, purchase basic living materials, and support important transportation hubs such as the Jiangchuan Railway Station and the Bus Station.

After the meeting, Zhang Yunqi assigned responsible groups to various matters, while Li Jilin and Liao Zhiqiang, chairman of the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, drove to the railway station to prepare for setting up resettlement sites, transporting and distributing daily necessities and warm clothing, and other matters.

At present, the Hunan section of the railway artery connecting the north and the south is interrupted, causing many trains to be cancelled or stuck halfway. Hundreds of thousands of people are stuck on their way home, and the situation at Jiangchuan Railway Station is extremely critical.

When Li Jilin arrived here, standing far away, he saw the dense crowds of people like black ants after a flood, struggling and crawling on the snow-white ground.

On a day when families should have been reunited with lights on, hundreds of thousands of workers were stranded in Jiangchuan. They had nowhere to go, and their faces, covered in frost by the wind and snow, were filled with anxiety, confusion, numbness and even despair. The only response they received was a voice message repeatedly played on the train station broadcast: "Dear passengers, the railway is currently being restored, please keep order..."

At that time, Yang Jiarong was also at the train station.

Li Jilin saw him talking to a peasant woman. A group of middle-aged men stood around him and tried to reason with the woman, but it was no use. The woman was carrying a large snakeskin bag and holding a baby, and she just kept saying blankly, "I want to go home."

Come back home?

This was already the biggest luxury at the end of 1995.

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At night, Li Jilin returned home feeling tired.

His wife Xie Jing, who teaches at Xiangnan Normal University, has returned to Jiangchuan on vacation. She and her daughter Yufei have prepared dishes and are waiting for him to have dinner together.

Although the Longjingyuan Cannery had stockpiled a large amount of daily necessities, he, as the general manager of Liansheng, still had to collect them according to the approved number of registered households and the quantity and time. Fortunately, his wife Xie Jing brought back a lot of things from the provincial capital, so there was no shortage of daily necessities.

There was no light, only candles were lit, and the living room was dimly lit.

Li Jilin is extremely busy at work, and Xie Jing also teaches at Southern Hunan Normal University. It has been a long time since their family sat down together to have a good meal. Now, there is no TV, no lights, no water or electricity at home. The outside world is filled with the sound of wind and snow raging, but the family of three just have a simple dinner with candlelight, and there is an indescribable warmth.

Halfway through the meal, Xie Jing suddenly said, "After the Chinese New Year, Yufei will go to the High School Affiliated to Xiangnan Normal University to study."

Li Jilin stopped picking up food with his chopsticks and looked up at Li Yufei.

Li Yufei smiled and nodded.

Li Jilin said nothing more. Xiangnan Normal University Affiliated High School is one of the four famous schools in Xiangnan. The teaching staff and environment are naturally much better than Jiangchuan No. 1 High School. However, his daughter is only one semester away from the college entrance examination. If she transfers now, she will have to integrate into the environment again. He personally disagrees, but is willing to respect his daughter's opinion.

What he couldn't understand was that in the past few years, his wife had wanted many times to transfer their daughter to the Affiliated High School of Xiangnan Normal University. Her grandparents had also been urging this matter, but Yufei herself had always disagreed, and the whole family respected her personal opinion. But why did she take the initiative to propose a transfer now when the college entrance examination was approaching?
After dinner, Li Yufei returned to her bedroom.

Li Jilin smoked a cigarette on the balcony and saw his wife Xie Jing doing housework in the kitchen. He put out the cigarette and turned to go to Li Yufei's room.

Li Yufei had changed into pajamas and was sitting on the bedside, holding a book in her hand. When she saw Li Jilin coming in, she smiled sweetly: "Dad, is there something wrong?"

Li Jilin nodded: "I want to talk to you."

Li Yufei said: "You are so busy, how can you have time to talk to me? Are you here to ask me why you want to transfer schools? I can't give you an answer, but you have to trust my decision."

Li Jilin sat on the bed and smiled: "Of course I will respect your decision, but I want to know the reasons and consequences of your decision."

Li Yufei was silent for a moment, then said, "Can I put it this way? There is nothing worth remembering about No. 1 Middle School."

There was a lot of personal emotion in these words. Li Jilin rarely saw his smart daughter like this: "The place is still the same place, it will never change. The only thing that is not worth your nostalgia is the people. Daughter, did you make this decision because of Zhang Yunqi?"

Li Yufei hesitated for a moment, looked at her father's calm yet powerful eyes, and finally nodded.

Li Jilin's tone became more serious: "Before, your mother wanted you to transfer schools, but you were unwilling to go because of Zhang Yunqi. Now you took the initiative to transfer schools because of Zhang Yunqi. So, can I assume that there is a problem between you and he hurt you?"

"no!"

Li Yufei blurted out this sentence: "He is very good."

After a pause, she said calmly, "Dad, I'm fine too. I don't want to say anything else. You have to believe me."

Li Jilin opened his mouth, but finally nodded and said with a smile: "Go to bed early. You are old enough to make your own choices, but you must consider the consequences carefully. Mom and I will always support you."

Li Jilin touched Li Yufei's head, got up and left the bedroom. When he closed the door, he saw his daughter's pretty face still looking at him with a smile, so he smiled and reached out to close the door. However, he felt a little heavy in his heart, so he turned around and went back to the balcony.

It was windy outside the balcony and the snow was raging.

Li Jilin's thoughts were always on the negative emotions that Li Yufei had just shown. Although she had a calm smile on her face and nothing seemed to have happened, he could sense something was wrong from his daughter's words and expression.

As a father, Li Jilin usually cares little about his daughter, so it is impossible for him not to worry at this time. In fact, even if he decided to transfer schools, he hoped that his daughter could make this decision calmly and calmly, rather than making an impulsive choice under emotional stimulation. However, his daughter is very smart and precocious, and he doesn't need to explain many reasons.

My daughter likes Zhang Yunqi.

He had already noticed this, but never asked about it.

In this regard, he may not be without selfish motives. If a boy from an ordinary family wants to be with his daughter, it is not easy to get past him, let alone let her do whatever she wants.

So why did he never interfere with his daughter's relationship with Zhang Yunqi?
Are you greedy for Zhang Yunqi's money?

Li Jilin always felt that it was a humiliation to him to judge whether a young man like Zhang Yunqi was excellent and worthy of his daughter's relationship based on money, status and ambition.

In fact, since working with Zhang Yunqi, Li Jilin has been impressed by Zhang Yunqi's strong judgment and foresight, and has also been moved by what Zhang Yunqi has done for the Longjingyuan Canning Factory, the Red Star Electronics Factory, and thousands of farmers in Yunxi Village. But these are not important. He has known Zhang Yunqi for nearly two years, and in every matter, he has seen Zhang Yunqi's commitment and sense of responsibility. The most valuable quality of this young man is that he seems to not believe in the kindness of the world, but he has kindness towards the world.

It just seems that there is a big problem in the relationship between his daughter Yufei and Zhang Yunqi. Li Jilin also has many questions, but as a father, it is really difficult for him to talk about emotional matters. However, no matter how difficult it is to talk about them, there are some words and some things that he must say at this time.

Li Jilin looked at the dark night and thought for a long time.

Then he turned and went to the study, picked up a pen, spread out the letter paper, and slowly began to write in the dim light of the candle.

(End of this chapter)