Uses of fifty-six women

Zhang Tong's words were surprising. Li Wei was slightly excited inside, but she didn't show it on the surface. However, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "The third floor is mainly for some of the finance staff and all the designers. Which job do you want to do?"

Zhang Tong also felt that her request was a bit excessive and was a little guilty: "I think I can do that designer's job well." It's just about taking a piece of fabric and trying it on a mannequin to see how it looks good, and then making a garment.

Hearing her say that, Li Wei looked Zhang Tong up and down. The style and color scheme were very common. It was only because she was pretty and had a good figure that the clothes looked good. They were quite pleasing to the eye, but Li Wei couldn't see anything special about them. She couldn't help but ask, "What makes you think you can do a good job as a designer? You've never done it before."

Zhang Tong wasn't as nervous around Li Wei as she was around Cheng Fei; she just lacked confidence. In fact, anyone would feel a bit insecure facing such a young boss. Zhang Tong spoke frankly: "I like pretty clothes. I've made sleeve protectors before. I'm actually quite skillful with my hands, really."

"Sister, no woman dislikes pretty clothes, okay? And those arm sleeves? Even a primary school student—no, a kindergarten kid—could make those!" Li Wei sighed inwardly, at her wit's end. Just then, Rosa called to Li Wei through the glass partition, "The phone's been ringing for ages, answer it quickly." She then winked at Li Wei, who understood and told Zhang Tong to sit for a moment while she went to the office to answer the phone.

The call was from Cheng Fei, asking Li Wei how Zhang Tong's work was going and if she had any ideas. Li Wei replied irritably, "My idea is simple: she wants to come to our third floor to have clothes made. She's made sleeves before." Cheng Fei was really in a bind; this girl was so arrogant and naive. She asked Li Wei if she had any ideas.

Li Wei thought for a moment. Zhang Tong's only visible advantage was her good looks, and placing her on the third floor wouldn't pollute the environment. Since Blind Qian and Grandpa had such a close relationship, out of respect for the old man, they should at least give her a chance. What if she really had talent but just hadn't had the opportunity? But initial training was unavoidable. Having figured this out, she said to her aunt, "How about letting her intern in Li Na's department for a while and see how it goes? If it doesn't work out, she can do odd jobs on the third floor..."

Finally, Cheng Fei and Li Wei agreed that Zhang Tong would first work as a general helper on the third floor. They secretly instructed Li Na, the head of the design department, to let Zhang Tong get acquainted with their work and observe her performance. If Zhang Tong was truly willing to work hard and put in the effort, she could be formally transferred to their department after a while. Otherwise, if she was just overconfident and unrealistic, making her do menial tasks again might be too much of a letdown, and she might complain to her father, Blind Qian, which could damage the old man's relationship with his friends.

Specific details regarding salary, benefits, and job duties will naturally be handled by the office staff in charge of that area. Li Wei led Zhang Tong to the office director and then left. Anyway, her aunt had already spoken to Supervisor Wang, so she didn't need to worry about it.

After handling some official business, Li Wei had lunch with her aunt and went out for a stroll, intending to visit the piano boy's music store. Since their second meeting, Li Wei had visited several times on her way, but had never actually met him. His mother was also not easy to approach, which frustrated Li Wei. She wondered if the boy had graduated from high school and what he was doing now.

When Li Wei arrived at the street, she couldn't find the music store anywhere. She thought she had gone to the wrong place, since she wasn't good at remembering directions. She asked a vendor selling cigarettes and ice cream by the roadside and found out that she hadn't gone to the wrong place. It was just that the music store had closed down a few months ago and the shop had been turned into a snack bar.

Li Wei felt a pang of disappointment. "Auntie, you should have at least given me a heads-up last time. All that buying stuff from you was for nothing. That's so unfair!"

Li Wei returned to the company dejectedly. She glanced at her textbook for a while, hoping her backpack wouldn't have been a complete waste. After less than twenty minutes, she became drowsy. She simply put down the book, lay down on the office sofa, and fell fast asleep, using the cushions as a pillow. She didn't get home until Cheng Fei finished work that evening, and only then did she groggily ride home in her aunt's car.

The advantage of not being in the same class as the twins is now showing. No one is coming home to complain. Mom Cheng Min hadn't even noticed Li Wei hadn't gone to school all day. She glanced at Li Wei, who was riding her bicycle home later than both of her twins, and thought Li Wei's leisurely pace seemed normal. She casually asked, "Did you go to Grandma's? Have you eaten?"

Li Wei readily agreed, saying, "Put the schoolbag back first. I'll come over to eat in a bit." Actually, she mainly wanted to change her clothes. She always changed at home and even did her homework before going to her grandmother's house. Luckily, she didn't have to do homework today.

Li Wei took a quick shower, changed into shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed an outfit for school the next day, and rode her bike to the old house. Her aunt's bike was parked in the yard, its dark color making it very conspicuous. Li Wei parked her own bike to the side and glanced at Wu Feng's house before going inside. The four of them were having dinner around a small round table in the yard. Wu Feng's mother wasn't there; she was probably working inside. Wu Feng's mother was currently making hair accessories for Li Wei and the others. Cheng Fei would send a car to collect the finished products every week. Now that the volume was large, she had outsourced more work. Wu Feng's mother earned more than her husband each month and was quite assertive at home.

Wu Feng also saw Li Wei. She stood up and called out to Li Wei, "Why didn't you come to school today? Are you really sick? You were fine yesterday!"

Li Wei replied without any hesitation, "Oh, it's nothing serious, I just felt unwell all over, so I didn't go. How was your experience working at the nursery today?"

Wu Feng said helplessly, "Don't even mention it, I'm exhausted. Some of those trees were hard to pull out, I pulled for ages and still couldn't get them out. Look at my hands, they're all blistered. If it weren't for Luo Jianhua's help, I wouldn't have been able to finish the task. My arms still hurt now. It's really killing me, and there's still another day to go."

Li Wei inwardly groaned: Is this ever going to end? Are they forcing me to take another day of sick leave? This is testing my nerves! This is killing me!

Li Wei really wanted Wu Feng to ask her to take another sick day tomorrow, but then she thought better of it. Her aunt had once said, "Just because others can do it doesn't mean you can't." She could do it, but she was absolutely unwilling. If she really had to do it, she'd be lucky to escape with her life. She wasn't even as good as Wu Feng; at least Wu Feng had trained in kung fu with Luo Da and the others, and her nickname could be "Heroine."

Li Wei wasn't a diligent person at heart, and a more practical reason was that her health wasn't as good as Li Lin's and Wu Feng's. She had been frail and sickly since childhood, and although she took good care of herself after her rebirth and rarely caught colds or fevers, she hadn't deliberately exercised. Her basketball playing was casual, her only goal being to grow taller. Therefore, she couldn't compare to Li Lin and Wu Feng, and she knew this herself. Looking at her small, delicate hands, she wondered if they were capable of doing physical labor.

Li Wei hadn't forgotten that in her past life, even working hard, she couldn't finish her tasks. Her homeroom teacher had to get a few boys to help her, making her feel like a burden—a truly unpleasant experience. Especially the old man who taught physiology and hygiene, who said she was anemic, which was incredibly frustrating.

After having dinner with my maternal grandparents' family, I saw that the three of them were chatting happily, so I decided not to join in. Instead, I went next door to find Wu Feng to ask about the specific arrangements for the class activities tomorrow. We will continue with normal classes in the morning and go to work at the nursery in the afternoon.

After leaving Wu Feng's house, Li Wei went straight to Old Luo's house in the front yard.

Grandma Luo was sitting under the grape trellis in the yard, fanning Luo San and watching her three grandsons eat watermelon around the round table. When she saw Li Wei arrive, she quickly invited Li Wei to come and eat some watermelon.

Li Wei didn't want to eat it at first, but seeing how much the three boys were enjoying it, she took the watermelon that Grandma Luo handed her and started eating it too. And sure enough, the watermelon was really sweet.

After eating watermelon, Li Wei chatted with Grandma Luo for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, she got up to say goodbye. As she left, she casually called to Luo Da, "Come here, I have something to discuss with you." Seeing Luo Da's slow and reluctant manner, she felt annoyed. "I haven't even said anything yet, and he's already acting like this!" she thought. She grabbed Luo Da's arm and pulled him away. She didn't even notice Luo Da's obvious discomfort; Li Wei seemed completely oblivious to the difference between men and women.

Speaking of which, at their age, can they still be called men and women? Shouldn't they be called children? Li Wei has always subconsciously thought so.

After leaving Luo's yard, Li Wei stopped at the corner and said to Luo Da, "Um, you know we're going to work again tomorrow, right?"

Luo Da nodded.

Li Wei said sincerely, "Tell me, how have I treated you since we were little? Through studying, practicing martial arts, and every time we drank that goat milk that makes you stronger, haven't I always been thinking of you?" Li Wei already knew why Luo Da didn't mind drinking goat milk.

Luo Da thought for a moment and nodded.

Li Wei was somewhat dissatisfied. Was there even a question? She pressed on, appealing to his emotions: "Look how good I am to you, shouldn't you be nicer to me too?"

Luo Da seemed to have sensed something, but this time he didn't nod and just stared at Li Wei without saying a word.

Li Wei was displeased. "You only know how to enjoy the benefits, but now that I'm asking you to do something, you're pretending to be mute. That's too heartless!" Li Wei was full of dissatisfaction and had nowhere to vent it when Luo Da spoke up: "Speak, what is it?" Luo Da wasn't stupid at all.

Li Wei felt a little disappointed that her carefully crafted explanation had been seen through by a mere child, but now was not the time for sentimentality. She composed herself and revealed her true purpose: "Here's the thing, we need to pull up trees tomorrow afternoon, right? You see, I've never practiced martial arts and I'm not as strong as you. I heard from Wu Feng that you're incredibly good at pulling up trees, like weeds. Could you help me pull up the saplings tomorrow?"

After saying that, he stared at Luo Da's expressionless face, having made up his mind. If Luo Da dared to say no, he would pretend he never knew this ingrate, and the goat milk would be considered dog food. It was a pity his martial arts skills wouldn't be crippled, otherwise...

Before she could finish her daydreaming, Luo Da spoke up: "Is this trivial matter worth you nagging about for so long?" He then turned and walked into his own yard.

Li Wei opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. Really... really, the one who can do the work is the boss! What's so great about you, a manual laborer? You brat! Right, did he agree to help or not? Judging from his tone, it seemed like he agreed, but from the words, it wasn't quite certain. Li Wei went all out: "Hey, Luo Jianhua, are you going to help or not? Can you be clear about it?" We need to get this straight, lest we go to the construction site tomorrow only to be disappointed and come back exhausted.

Luo Da felt he had made himself perfectly clear. He was speechless, rolling his eyes at the heavens. "What are you yelling about? If I didn't help you pull those weeds, I'm afraid you'd call me an ingrate!" No wonder his father said women were only good for giving birth.

hastily?

Is that considered an agreement? Probably. Why can't he say nice things properly? When did Luo Da's language arts become so good? He even knows how to use rhetorical questions and metaphors!

Feeling looked down upon, Li Wei went back to sleep, feeling dejected. She hoped that Luo Da would keep his word, otherwise she'd be in big trouble. Oh well, so be it; she was very magnanimous and wouldn't hold a grudge against a child.