Chapter 17 I Went to the Soap Factory (Bug Fix): It's just selling soap, right?

Dr. Chen acted swiftly and decisively, taking leave the very next day to visit the Chemical Research Institute.

While Wang Xiaoren was looking at the city map, figuring out how to sell the formula to make a profit of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, he was suddenly summoned by a high-ranking leader.

The leader didn't use bureaucratic language; he asked her directly what she thought.

"Logically speaking, given your professional background, it's only natural that you have ideas about your work. So, tell me your thoughts."

The leader's face could be described as amiable, but Wang Xiao felt a chill run down his spine and could only vaguely reply, "I will follow orders and obey the overall situation, and I will follow the leader's arrangements."

Chen Yanqiu was furious with her silly daughter. At home, she's so tough, acting like a capable person. But as soon as she gets to work, she becomes a coward—a total bully at home!

She raised an eyebrow, about to speak, when the door to the leader's office rang.

Sister Miao knocked on the door and came in. When she saw Wang Xiao, she smiled and said, "Oh, perfect timing, Director. I need to apply to you. Xiao Gao is injured and hospitalized, so our project can't stop. I'm here to get people to work. Xiao Wang, come on, don't slack off. You're not that old, why are you just lazing around in the warehouse? Come with me to the testing room."

Without giving Wang Xiao a chance to refuse, she grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

Seeing this, Chen Yanqiu was overjoyed and quickly reached out to push her daughter from behind. This brat, such a good opportunity, and she's moving like a tortoise, so slow it's driving me crazy!

Poor Wang Xiao was coerced by these two career-driven women, one in front and one behind, and had no way to give up. He could only move forward with a sense of frustration.

I'm going to die, I have to run away quickly.

Her eyes darted around, and she caught sight of a figure flashing past the restroom door. She hurriedly chased after him, saying, "Sister Miao, I need to use the restroom."

Chen Yanqiu was furious: "You lazy girl, you always have to poop and pee when it's crucial."

Sister Miao then spoke up for the young man: "Oh, perfect timing, I need to use the restroom too."

Wang Xiao wasn't sure how men handled things like going to the toilet; but girls really loved to go in groups. Seeing the two "experts" following her into the toilet, she quickly said, "I'm going to the testing room. What about Comrade Gao? He's injured."

At least eight out of ten people who do scientific research are simple-minded and don't want to talk in the bathroom because of the possibility of being overheard.

Sister Miao scoffed, "He took your place; this was originally your job. You're still worrying about him? You should think about yourself first."

Wang Xiao adopted a "good guy" persona: "But he was injured on duty, it's a work-related injury. The institute can't just ignore him."

Sister Miao grew impatient: "This is something the director should worry about. Why are you meddling in it? Come on, we're at the last step. If you're any later, your name won't be able to be registered for the project."

Wang Xiao reluctantly washed her hands and left the restroom. She glanced at the departing figure in the distance, feeling slightly relieved. Director Xiao certainly couldn't abandon his good nephew. With him involved, things were bound to turn around.

Now, even if you kill her, she wouldn't dare go near the chemistry lab.

So Wang Xiao started dawdling again: "Then I'll go to the warehouse to pack things up so I can hand them over to someone later."

Miao, a senior engineer, couldn't stand the young man's clinginess: "Why do you care about that? Just come with me to the lab, that's what really matters."

Wang Xiao immediately emphasized, "That won't do. I have to stand firm at my post until the very end and not let people talk about me."

As the factory doctor, Chen Yanqiu was in charge of the entire clinic, so she couldn't neglect logistical support. At this moment, she sided with her daughter: "It needs to be sorted out properly, so that she won't be blamed if anything is missing. She doesn't have a mouth, so she can't argue with her. It's okay, Engineer Miao, I'll help Wang Xiao sort it out."

Sister Miao also said with a long face, "Fine, I'll go with you."

In reality, the three of them couldn't do any work when they returned to the warehouse.

Wang Xiao's work as the warehouse keeper was so good that even the top leaders and their offices couldn't find a single fault with it. All the supplies were neatly categorized and organized, requiring no further tidying up.

All they had to do was hand over the inventory to the next warehouse keeper, and everyone would simply check the physical inventory against the ledger.

This isn't difficult. The Chemical Engineering Institute has 165 employees, two-thirds of whom are professional and technical personnel, and the remaining third are mostly in administration and logistics. We've been talking about streamlining administration and reducing staff for years; a simple overhaul could easily find someone to oversee the warehouse.

No one objected; it was just a matter of moving the tea and newspaper-reading area from the office to the warehouse. With no one making a fuss, he was enjoying some peace and quiet.

Even though Wang Xiao was slow and dawdling, her excellent preliminary work meant that she was able to complete the handover smoothly in less than an hour.

This is the tragedy of a generation of top performers; even when they want to give up, they lack sufficient objective conditions.

The poor transmigrator had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow Sister Miao toward the laboratory.

Sister Miao didn't notice the younger generation's reluctance at all, and was still assuring Chen Yanqiu: "I watched this girl join the institute and work on the projects. She's quick-witted, calm, meticulous, and reliable. She was born to work in the chemical industry."

Just by looking at how efficiently she tidied up the warehouse, you can tell this girl is capable.

Chen Yanqiu smiled broadly: "Then I'll have to trouble you a lot in the future, Engineer Miao. To be honest, when my daughter Xiaoxiao was studying chemistry, so many people made sarcastic remarks, saying that girls who study math, physics and chemistry will never amount to anything. But my daughter Xiaoxiao is stubborn, she just loves chemistry and insists on doing this job."

These words really hit Miao Jie where it hurts.

Despite the decades-long slogan "Women hold up half the sky," there are still few women working in the chemical industry, and even fewer who can achieve significant results.

Take their chemical engineering institute for example. Of the 16 senior engineers, only she and another elderly woman are women. The elderly woman is also quite old and spends at least half the year in the hospital.

She couldn't wait to mentor more female colleagues.

Now that Chen Yanqiu had made this statement, Sister Miao immediately adopted the spirit of an elder sister and took full responsibility: "Don't worry, as long as the kid is willing to settle down and do research, he'll achieve results sooner or later. Not to mention Marie Curie, the Manhattan Project would never have succeeded without Chien-Shiung Wu. We're all women, don't believe his nonsense. Girls are just as good as men at math, physics, chemistry, no, at any other field. Xiao Wang, listen to Sister Miao, and do your best."

Wang Xiao didn't even dare to look people in the eye.

It's rare for her to feel morally burdened and feel embarrassed to directly refuse such a sincere "girl helps girl" offer from a powerful woman.

She could only dawdle as she followed the people into the laboratory, then dawdle as she changed into her white lab coat, and then looked at the bottles and jars in the room with despair.

The big boss wandered over again for some reason. Seeing the situation in the room, he just rubbed his nose and said, "Alright, alright, you guys hurry up. Try to get the paper out this week. And um, hurry up and write the report, it'll be December in the blink of an eye."

Sister Miao was satisfied with her wish: "I just wanted to recruit Xiao Wang as a laborer. She is skillful with her hands and has a good pen. The articles she writes are solid."

The sound of running footsteps echoed down the corridor. Gao Weimin, with one arm in a sling and his face flushed red and pale, appeared at the laboratory door.

He looked pitifully at the people in the room and said cautiously, "Chief, Engineer Miao, um, I can be discharged from the hospital. What tasks are there? I'll do them."

Director Xiao chased after him, panting as he caught up and scolded, "You little brat, what's your hurry? It's your job, who's going to steal it from you? You've already had several bags of blood transfusions, and you're still shivering. You'd better go home and lie down and rest."

He then smiled at the leaders and colleagues in the lab, "Oh dear, Engineer Miao, look at him like this. For the places that require signatures, like reports and papers, you can sign them for him."

Chen Yanqiu was still confused when the employees of the chemical research institute present immediately understood.

Why did Gao Weimin rush over so urgently? He was anxious to secure his spot.

The number of positions in each project team is fixed. There is only one position available for new recruits this year.

Wang Xiao took over, so where does Gao Weimin's name fit in?

Everyone knows the foaming agent project is lucrative; at least a provincial third prize is practically guaranteed. Anyone involved gets a prestigious award on their resume, making it a strong criterion for promotion. It's an entity no one can ignore.

Gao Weimin finally managed to get on the bus, and now they want to kick him off? He'd never agree to that!

The director was also in a dilemma.

As a leader, he naturally paid attention to the institute's key projects and was aware of the positive role Wang Xiao played in them; otherwise, Miao Xiuli, a woman who was notoriously difficult to deal with, would not have spoken up for her time and time again.

However, government agencies have a unique characteristic: they value personal relationships and foster a family-like atmosphere.

Xiao Gao worked diligently from beginning to end. Even if he didn't achieve anything, he still put in a lot of effort. Moreover, he suffered a work injury and almost lost his life.

It's incredibly inhumane to throw someone out at the moment when the project is being finalized and the rewards are being distributed.

Gao Weimin pretended to suddenly realize something, staring at Sister Miao: "I need to sign something, Ms. Miao. Where do I sign it? Sister Miao, it's okay, I only injured my left hand, I can sign with my right hand."

Sister Miao's face was extremely pale. She didn't reply, but looked at the director: "I'm really short-staffed here. How can I use Xiao Gao in his current condition?"

Director Xiao replied in a lighthearted tone, "Xiao Gao, go home and rest. We're short-staffed, so we can call Xiao Wu over to fill in for a couple of days. Their oxidant project has finished, so he can come over and learn a bit. These days, everyone's saying we need to cultivate interdisciplinary talents."

Sister Miao was speechless. She couldn't say that Xiao Wu was incompetent; after all, he was a proper chemistry graduate, and although his intelligence was average, he was reliable in his work.

Moreover, he was already listed in the oxidant project, so there was no need for him to rush to add his name to the foaming agent project at this point.

The director had also thought of this and quickly agreed: "Okay, let Xiao Wu come over. The young man is conscientious and deserves to be trained. Xiao Gao, don't worry about work, go back and get some rest. Health is the foundation of everything."

Chen Yanqiu was furious when she heard this. So, all of Xiaoxiao's business was suddenly over? Her Xiaoxiao was going to have to do odd jobs in the warehouse? Forget about all that nonsense about being a "brick in the revolution." Wasting talent is wasting national resources!

Director Xiao smiled and said, "Oh, my dear sister, our Chemical Engineering Institute has always cherished talent, especially young talent. Xiao Wang is a promising talent, everyone can see that, how could we not give her more responsibilities? She's working on the foaming agent project, which is perfect for a soap factory. The Xin County Soap Factory has asked us for help, wanting to improve its soap-making process so they can use the new product to open up the sales market. Xiao Wang is young, and she knows the preferences of the younger generation, so she's the perfect person to be their technical advisor at the soap factory."

Sister Miao was so angry she laughed: "If you had said it was a shoe factory, I would have accepted it. Making soap with AC foaming agent? How did you even think of that? You make one and show me!"

Even Gao Weimin, a college slacker, felt ashamed. His uncle was so ignorant; AC foaming agent is used in rubber and food processing, and this was the first time he'd ever heard of it being used to make soap.

Be a ghost.

Ha, my uncle has the nerve to call him ignorant and incompetent. My uncle, a worker-peasant-soldier college graduate, is even less capable than him.

Director Xiao was embarrassed for less than half a second before his expression returned to normal: "What I mean is that Xiao Wang's skills are there, and he'll definitely be fine as a technical advisor at the Xin County Soap Factory. I'm really thinking about Xiao Wang's future development. To transform scientific and technological achievements into productivity, we must combine them with enterprises and with production practices. Since we don't have our own factory, we need to cooperate closely with factories even more. Only by knowing what technologies enterprises need can we provide the corresponding technologies."

He was still talking non-stop, and Chen Yanqiu tried to interrupt him several times but couldn't find a chance. On the contrary, Wang Xiao slayed the whole room with one sentence: "I'm going to the soap factory."

"Cough cough—" Director Xiao choked. He stared at Wang Xiao with wide eyes, suspecting that this woman used all her intelligence on chemical research and was a complete idiot in other areas.

He hadn't even had a chance to fully utilize his abilities when she actually agreed to go to Xin County to provide some kind of technical support.

Is the Xin County Soap Factory's problem a lack of technical support? They lack equipment and processes; their outdated, rudimentary methods are simply no longer viable. If they had simply invested 900,000 yuan to import a set of Swedish equipment, like the No. 2 Chemical Plant did, all their problems would have been solved.

You can't expect a horse to run without feeding it. You can't just throw money at it; what good is it to expect the chemical engineering institute to improve their technology? Technological application requires equipment support.

This girl is incredibly arrogant and thinks she's something special.

Wang Xiao remained expressionless and repeated, "The Xin County Soap Factory, right? I'll go."

She really knows nothing about chemicals, but she's good at sales.

The soap factory's problem now is that it can't sell its soap, so why doesn't she just sell the soap?

So easy, no problem!