The next day, Fan Hongying's voice was broadcast throughout the factory:

"Comrades, good afternoon! This is the radio station, and we are now broadcasting a message about Dragon Boat Festival benefits!"

"Under the call of the great leader to 'grasp revolution and promote production,' all the workers in the factory are working with great enthusiasm, and the cause of socialist construction is thriving! In order to reflect the organization's deep concern for the vast number of working-class brothers and sisters and to better serve everyone's production and life, after fully considering the opinions of all the workers, the factory's revolutionary committee has carefully decided to adjust the employee welfare for this year's Dragon Boat Festival!"

“In previous years, we distributed rice candy, sweet potato candy, and peach shortbread produced in our own factory for the Dragon Boat Festival. This year, the Dragon Boat Festival benefits are a high-quality towel produced by the ‘Jiangcheng No. 1 Cotton Mill’ and a set of sturdy and durable work clothes!”

"We hope that all employees will understand and support this new initiative, which is full of revolutionary camaraderie! Let us put on our brand-new work clothes, wipe away the sweat of our hard work, and throw ourselves into the new wave of production with even greater political enthusiasm, so as to make greater contributions to our motherland!"

"Finally, I wish all the factory workers a revolutionary and meaningful Dragon Boat Festival! This concludes the broadcast."

This notice sparked a heated discussion throughout the factory. Many long-time employees said that they had been receiving the same three items since they joined the factory, and they had been hoping for a change every year. This year, they finally changed to providing work clothes and towels.

Zhan Chunlan, Li Xiuxiu, and Fan Hongying were each praised by their respective section chiefs. Because of them, the logistics, finance, and publicity departments gained a lot of prestige in the factory.

After this incident, the three girls' status in the factory quietly changed. They were no longer the unknown newcomers they had been when they first joined the factory, but were now recognized by their leaders and coworkers as "promising young people".

One evening, the three of them were walking along the sycamore-lined path outside the factory area. Fan Hongying suddenly said, "Have you noticed? We've had so many more people coming to see us lately, and a lot of the older women in the factory want to introduce me to potential partners!"

Li Xiuxiu gently tidied her wind-blown hair and said in a serious tone, "You don't even realize how much attention you've made. Zhan Chunlan and I are fine, many people don't know about us, but you broadcast that news, so everyone saw you."

As Zhan Chunlan listened to her friends' laughter and chatter, and gazed at the wisps of smoke rising from the factory buildings in the distance, her heart was filled with anticipation for the future.

As the sun sets, the figures of three young women gradually disappear into the distance, nestled among the sycamore trees, leaving behind a trail of laughter and joy. This unique Dragon Boat Festival is destined to become a beautiful memory for them.

Three days before the Dragon Boat Festival, a three-wheeled truck loaded with boxes of pastries drove towards the cotton mill. That same afternoon, a truck from the cotton mill also drove into the pastry factory compound and unloaded boxes of work clothes and towels.

On the day the welfare benefits were distributed, the factory was filled with a festive atmosphere.

"At least this year it's not the same old three items!" Sister Wang from the packaging workshop beamed as she received her brand-new work clothes and towel. "These work clothes are made of thick fabric; they'll be perfect for altering a pair of pants for my eldest son."

Another older worker touched the towel and praised it repeatedly: "This towel is even better quality than those sold at the supply and marketing cooperative. The cotton mill's products are truly high-quality."

At the cotton mill, workers were delighted to find that this year's benefits were exceptionally generous.

"The peach shortbread from the pastry factory smells so good! It's wrapped in parchment paper and not broken at all," a cotton mill worker said carefully, holding up a handful of shortbread. "I'll take it home for my child to try."

What's even more interesting is that the unions of the two factories exchanged thank-you letters.

The letter of thanks from the pastry factory was personally written by Fan Hongying. Her clear and melodious voice rang out on the cotton mill's radio through a cassette tape: "To our dear colleagues at the cotton mill: On the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, on behalf of all the employees of Jiangcheng Pastry Factory, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to your factory..." The letter was filled with the affection between the employees of the two factories.

The cotton mill's letter of thanks was written in beautiful regular script on bright red paper and personally delivered to the pastry factory by Fan Hongying's second brother, Fan Xingyi. That same day, Fan Hongying read the letter aloud at the broadcasting station. Furthermore, the publicity department posted the letter on the factory's bulletin board, and passing workers would stop to take a look.

"Look at how impressive the signs are written at that cotton mill!" The old workers, wearing their reading glasses, read aloud, word by word.

"This shows that our factory's welfare reform has been recognized by our sister companies!" The young workers were even more proud.

Of course, this Dragon Boat Festival collaboration between Jiangcheng Pastry Factory and Jiangcheng No. 1 Cotton Mill quickly stirred up even bigger waves within Jiangcheng's industrial system.

First, the chairman of the machinery factory's labor union came to our door, half-jokingly and half-seriously complaining: "You, Xie Baoguo, why didn't you include us in the cooperation between the pastry factory and the cotton mill? You secretly pulled this stunt, and now our factory's workers are asking us every day, why can other factories innovate their benefits while ours is still the same old thing?"

Following this, union cadres from chemical plants, canneries, aluminum product factories, and other units also came to "learn from our experience." During that period, the phone in the logistics department of the pastry factory rang non-stop, and Zhan Chunlan even received a call from the municipal federation of trade unions, inquiring in detail about the specific procedures for welfare exchange.

"That's great," Li Xiuxiu said in a low voice during her lunch break, "I heard that the higher-ups are going to issue a notice requiring all factories to learn from our experience."

Fan Hongying's eyes lit up: "The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, about three months away. If we could gather all the supplies from all the major factories in the city..."

Zhan Chunlan immediately understood her meaning: "For example, soap from a chemical plant, canned fruit from a cannery, lunchboxes from an aluminum products factory... if these could be allocated in a coordinated manner, the employees would have even more choices!"

The three girls were thrilled by this bold idea, but it was still too early to rush into it.

Zhan Chunlan returned home with excitement, where her family of four was waiting for her at the dinner table.

"I've already come home from get off work and cooked dinner. Why are you only coming back now?" Xu Lixia looked at her youngest daughter, who hadn't done any housework since she started working, and openly expressed her displeasure.

"Mom, your work is so close, just turn right after you leave the house, while I have to walk for half an hour. How can you compare me to that?" Zhan Chunlan knew why she was angry. It was because she was now cooking for her. Who told her to be the closest to home?

"Why don't you hurry home after get off work? Even just helping me start a fire or pick some vegetables would be helpful. All you do is eat ready-made meals at home every day."

"No, there are so many people in the family waiting for me to help you start the fire and pick vegetables. Zhan Hongyu is such a big boy, he gets out of school earlier than all of us, what's wrong with letting him wash rice? When my sister and I were his age, we could cook a whole table of dishes by ourselves. Look at what you've raised him to be. He's all grown tall but not smart."

"You!" Xu Lixia was so angry that she pointed at Zhan Chunlan for a long time without saying a word.

"Alright, stop arguing." Seeing that the two of them hadn't gotten to the point for a while, Zhan Zhiqiang had to step in and take charge: "We have important business to attend to today, so sit down and talk things out."