Chapter 44 Entering the Factory

Chapter Forty-Four: Entering the Factory

Finally, New Year's Eve arrived. Li Yue put up couplets on the front door and even cut out paper-cuts to paste on the windows. Her watercolor painting hung on the wall, which Ling Jianwei had specially framed. Although he had always praised the work, Li Yue knew that her skill level was far from exceptional.

Ling Jianwei was in charge of cooking the New Year's Eve dinner. To be fair, his cooking skills are actually quite good; some of the dishes look good and taste even better.

After lunch, they went to the camp for their New Year's Eve dinner. Li Yue and the other women made dumplings in the canteen.

During the entire Spring Festival, everyone was quite idle, and there were no relatives to visit. Cadres took turns on duty, and the women in the family compound often organized card games. Some of the women would call Li Yue over, but Li Yue wasn't interested in playing cards, so she just watched them play.

When I got home at noon on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Ling Jianwei was cooking. He had already made a delicious stir-fried cabbage with vinegar.

During the meal, Li Yue asked him, "You don't like playing cards, so you occasionally go to the commander's or deputy commander's house to have tea with him. Did you spend the Spring Festival like this before?"

He said, "I was on duty at the camp during the previous Chinese New Year, not in the family compound."

"So what did you do in the camp?"

He glanced at her and said, "If you have work to do, do it. If you don't have work, sleep or practice shooting and fire blanks."

"Okay." Li Yue glanced at the calendar. "Today is the third day of the Lunar New Year. When can I go back to work?"

Ling Jianwei: "March 1st."

"So late!"

"It's late, but the Spring Festival is already late this year. It's already been agreed that the county ceramics factory will start work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. If you report for work two days later, the weather will be warmer then, and it will be easier for them to calculate your wages."

Li Yue nodded: "That works too."

"But are you really planning to work so far away?"

"I don't think it's that far."

Ling Jianwei said helplessly, "If I have enough time, I can pick you up and drop you off."

Li Yue said, "It's not on your way either, so I can just take the bus. I've already found out the best time. I'll take the earliest inter-county bus in the morning, and then walk a bit to the Ru Porcelain Factory in the neighboring county. If I miss the bus on my way back from get off work, I'll take a public bus for a while and then walk back."

He asked, puzzled, "Why don't you want to ride a bicycle?"

“Riding a bicycle is quite tiring, especially since the road into the county is uneven.”

He could only sigh when these things were mentioned, but since it was going to rain and his wife had to go to the factory, Ling Jianwei had no choice but to agree.

The other women initially didn't understand either, thinking there were many more and better jobs to choose from. But when they saw that she could draw and was good at handicrafts, they realized that her interests and talents were there, and they all expressed their understanding.

One sunny day at noon, everyone brought out tables and chairs and sat in the sun to play cards. Li Yue, having nothing to do, watched them play cards while eating sunflower seeds and listening to their conversation.

One of my sisters-in-law said, "Yueyue, I never knew you could draw so well. You're like an artist."

Li Yue replied, "I figured it out myself."

"If you have talent, you can succeed through self-exploration."

Someone else said, "Yueyue, is that why you want to work in the ceramics factory? Do you want to become a craftswoman?"

Li Yue said, "I'll go in and learn first. My main goal is to master this art."

“Look, this is what it means to be down-to-earth and hardworking. I don’t even want to talk about my sister-in-law.” The speaker was Xu Lamei, the female protagonist of the book, and she was referring to her husband’s younger sister.

Someone chimed in, "Hey, by the way, Lamei, how did her blind date go last time?"

"What else can we do? It's a lost cause."

"What about her job? Did she quit?"

"Her brother scolded her that night, saying that if she quit her job again, he would send her back to her hometown to farm. She didn't dare to quit."

A middle-aged woman said, "Her brother has to talk to her. If you try to talk to her, she won't listen."

“I don’t want to get involved in her affairs anymore,” Xu Lamei said.

...

On March 1, Li Yue officially reported to the ceramics factory.

Ling Jianwei escorted her there.

Sitting in the car, Li Yue asked, "Did you go to the ceramics factory?"

“I’ve been there. I talked to the factory leaders and did some research, otherwise I wouldn’t feel at ease. Although the factory only has about a hundred employees, it is the largest ceramics factory in the area. They received the task from the state to restore the production of Ru porcelain and produced Ru porcelain as a tribute. Therefore, the county also focuses on supporting this factory.”

Li Yue: "Oh."

Although the owner of the porcelain shop said that the commemorative porcelain could not compare with the real ancient Ru porcelain, the craftsmanship was at least similar, which shows that they had at least achieved some results.

After getting off the car, Li Yue, along with Ling Jianwei, met the deputy factory director.

Deputy Factory Director Feng Xiaonian said, "The factory director has something to attend to, so I've come to receive you."

Ling Jianwei handed the other person a cigarette and then gave him the letter of introduction issued by the group.

Feng Xiaonian sized up Li Yue: "Your name is Li Yue?"

"Yes, Deputy Factory Director, just call me Xiao Li."

"Hmm, Xiao Li, have you ever worked with ceramics?"

Li Yue said, "I haven't done it formally, but I understand the beauty and greatness of Ru porcelain, and I also know that making porcelain involves seventy-two processes."

Feng Xiaonian nodded: "It seems you know a little."

Li Yue said directly, "My goal is to restore the firing process of ancient Ru porcelain, but I want to start by learning the most basic step of selecting clay."

Ling Jianwei looked at her in surprise; she had never mentioned this to him before.

Feng Xiaonian was also somewhat surprised and asked, "You want to start learning by selecting ceramic clay?"

“Yes,” Li Yue replied, “Understanding the entire porcelain-making process is more conducive to restoring Ru porcelain.”

Feng Xiaonian nodded and said, "That's true. It's rare to have such an idea and be willing to start learning from scratch. In that case, I'll find you a mentor first."

"Okay, thank you, Deputy Factory Director."

Ling Jianwei also pleaded, "It would be best to find an experienced mentor to guide her."

Feng Xiaonian said, "Commander Ling, don't worry."

After seeing Ling Jianwei off, Li Yue carried a net bag containing the lunchbox she had prepared the night before and went into the factory area with Feng Xiaonian.

Feng Xiaonian led Li Yue to a workshop where layers of flat shelves held unfinished bowls, teacups, and saucers made by machines. These unfinished pieces had already been air-dried and were ready to be fired in a kiln.

Feng Xiaonian glanced at the clay frame and called out, "Master Wang."

A worker who looked to be in his fifties, wearing a blue cloth coat, arm sleeves, and a military green hat, came over: "Deputy factory director, you called me."

Feng Xiaonian said, "Here, I'll give you an apprentice. She's a family member introduced by the army and wants to learn from scratch. You're the workshop foreman and have a lot of experience in all aspects, so you can mentor her."

Wang Yuanshan looked at Li Yue and readily agreed, "Okay, no problem."

Li Yue immediately greeted him politely, "Hello, Team Leader Wang."

"Just call me Master Wang, that's what everyone calls me."

Li Yue: "Master Wang."

As arranged by Wang Yuanshan, Li Yue placed her personal belongings in an office next to the workshop, and she officially began her apprenticeship.

Wang Yuanshan first showed her around the factory, from the warehouse where kaolin and clay were stored, to the industrialized clay production line, and then from the clay blanks being glazed and fired a second time after they came out of the kiln... Master Wang explained the whole process to her.

Li Yue asked, "Master, does our factory mainly produce porcelain for civilian use now?"

"Yes, otherwise the factory wouldn't be able to make a profit and wouldn't be able to support everyone."

"Is the ancient Ru porcelain still being studied?"

"There is a research group that specializes in studying ancient Ru porcelain, but to be honest, it is very difficult to completely reproduce it. Our factory also fired it countless times before we were able to basically reproduce one type, which has earned us national attention and awards."

"..."

After making her way around, Li Yue returned to her office, where an older woman named Sister Li asked, "Do you want your food heated up? I can put it next to the kiln to heat it up for you."

"Okay, thank you." She handed her lunchbox to Sister Li.

At lunchtime, Li Yue and everyone else gathered around the kiln, some standing, some squatting, and some sitting on a brick to eat.

This kiln is a coal kiln. The factory also has a wood-fired kiln, but it is only used when firing Ru porcelain.

It was still warm by the kiln. Li Yue opened the lunchbox, and Sister Li came over and said, "Not bad, Xiao Li, it's a very generous meal."

The lunchbox contained rice, as well as braised pork with dried bean curd and Chinese cabbage that Ling Jianwei had made last night. He said, "Tomorrow is my first day at work, so I need to eat well."

Li Yue gave Sister Wang a piece of braised pork, then carried the lunchbox to Wang Yuanshan and said, "Master, have a piece of braised pork."

Seeing that his lunchbox contained a few steamed buns and some pickled vegetables, Li Yue, without saying a word, took her chopsticks and put three pieces of braised pork into his lunchbox.

Master Wang said, "Don't eat them all, you'll have none left."

“No, there’s more.” Li Yue said, and sat back down in her original seat.

Sister Li smiled and said, "Xiao Li, you're quite sensible. I heard you're a military dependent?"

"Yes."

Where is your hometown?

"The capital city."

"Oh, you came all the way from the capital? Where's your partner?"

"It's also in the capital."

These two words held a strange attraction for people of this era, and everyone started asking questions about them one after another. Li Yue told them everything she could, and glossed over the things she couldn't say.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, Li Yue felt that she had already become part of the workshop.

When Li Yue finished get off work at five o'clock, she took off her sleeves, packed her things, and walked out of the workshop with her net bag.

In the open space outside the factory gate, Ling Jianwei was chatting and offering cigarettes to the gatekeeper.

Li Yue was a little surprised: "Why did you come here? Didn't you say I was taking the bus home?"

He looked over and said casually, "Nothing much is happening at the camp. I came to pick you up. It's your first day."

Sitting in the car, Ling Jianwei asked, "What did you do today?"

"I am familiar with the entire process. In the afternoon, I even helped my mentor pick out the cracked blanks and watched them send the qualified ones into the kiln."

When the topic of work comes up, Li Yue becomes very talkative: "Tomorrow I'm going to learn how to sift soil, and I'm really going to play in the mud."

"I need to change into an older jacket so it won't be a big deal if it gets dirty."

Ling Jianwei gripped the steering wheel, glanced at her, hesitated, and finally said in a joking tone, "I didn't know you were determined to restore Ru porcelain."

Li Yue paused, afraid that he would misunderstand, and explained, "Mainly, after coming here, I heard a lot about Ru porcelain, and I felt that restoring Ru porcelain was quite meaningful."

“It makes sense.” He nodded. “No wonder you always wanted to work in the porcelain factory.”

Li Yue smiled awkwardly, worried that she would give herself away if she kept talking, so she stopped answering and changed the subject: "What are we having for dinner? I need to bring my own lunch tomorrow."

...