Chapter 81 Slaughtering the New Year Pig: It's almost Chinese New Year.

This was probably the most painful New Year's Day Qin Xiangxiang had ever experienced.

Her mother, Zhou Aodong, was a model worker when she was young, and she is still the same now that she is older. She grabs her daughter early in the morning and teaches her whenever she has a spare moment. "When a new factory starts, the most difficult thing is when it comes to debugging the machines. Many workers learn and fix them at the same time, which can take several months because they are not familiar with them."

Holding the thick brochure about the spinning machine in her hand, Qin Xiangxiang strained her eyes and said wearily, "Mom, all I can think about now is the spinning machine. I even dream about spinning. I feel like one of those seven fairy maidens, you know? Now I finally understand why fairies secretly descend to the mortal world."

Zhou Aodong: "The Queen Mother still forced the fairies to weave cloth."

"The fairy has nothing, but you, at least you're a factory manager."

Qin Xiangxiang: "..."

That damn factory manager.

Zhou Aodong: "If a textile machine of model A513 malfunctions, what is the first thing to think of?"

Qin Xiangxiang: "..."

Three words are on her mind right now—pretending to have a broken leg.

"This book, 'Maintenance of Automatic Fabricating Machines and...,' is simple in content but easy to understand. I've added a lot of supplementary information to it. Take a closer look later. The main focus is on troubleshooting the 1511 model... There are many things you can learn from it."

Qin Xiangxiang felt dizzy from listening and wished she could start labor as soon as possible so she could move to the delivery room.

Zhou Aodong: "You really are something else. Actually, the most important things are inspecting and repairing the fabric. There are no practical standards for inspecting the fabric. In the past, it all depended on the experience of the master craftsmen to feel it. But you, Qin Xiangxiang, are truly a genius. You are more capable than your mother in this respect."

“You’re a seasoned craftsman, the fabrics you inspect are never bad.”

As he spoke, Zhou Aodong revealed a slightly gratified smile. His daughter was indeed lazy, but sometimes she was more meticulous than others. When it came to inspecting or repairing fabric, she was more capable than anyone else. With that mischievous spirit, she was more sharp-eyed and able to find flaws than anyone else.

Qin Xiangxiang's crochet skills are unmatched, and her ability to fold cloth into bolts is even more admirable.

In a typical new textile factory, the biggest problem would be a lack of experienced workers who can't control the quality and produce defective products without being noticed. But this won't happen at Qin Xiangxiang's place.

"My sister-in-law and my aunt are really amazing." Li Jinling stood by the kitchen, secretly listening to her sister-in-law and mother-in-law chatting in the living room, and felt extremely impressed.

Although she couldn't understand it, she still wrote it down in a small notebook. Li Jianzhi glanced at it and saw that the writing was a mess. This younger sister was semi-illiterate, on par with Xiao Yanzi. She could recognize a few characters, and read the ones she didn't know, but when she wrote them down, they were all just scribbles.

Given the current level of knowledge among people, no one could have imagined that education would be so complex fifty years from now.

Listening to them talk about all sorts of mysterious looms and incomprehensible fabric structures and patterns, Li Jinling felt intoxicated and mysterious, and couldn't help but look up at her "learned and talented" sister-in-law and aunt with starry eyes.

“Our family is no match for you, brother. You’re too good for us.”

Li Jianzhi glanced at her expressionlessly. Oh well, he couldn't be bothered to argue with the illiterate little sister. It was a good thing for her to take Qin Xiangxiang and her mother-in-law as role models.

"Your sister-in-law is very good."

Li Jianzhi felt sorry for his wife who was forced to study. After finishing his classes at night, he would cook her a bowl of "loving husband noodles" as a late-night snack.

After leaving the family building, Zhou Aodong and his wife returned to the guesthouse. The living room, which had been used as a classroom all day, finally quieted down, free from Zhou Aodong's melodious voice.

Qin Xiangxiang lay on her side on the large bed in the master bedroom, feeling utterly hopeless. Li Jianzhi brought in noodles, but she didn't even bother to lift her eyelids. Her pretty face was deep and depressed: "Li Jianzhi, right now all I can think about is spinning machines. I'm afraid I'll dream about weaving cloth."

"Come and eat some noodles." Li Jianzhi felt heartbroken. He went over, put the noodles down, and kissed the woman's hand.

Qin Xiangxiang looked at him pitifully: "I don't want to move at all now. You feed me, you hold me, you help me sit up."

Li Jianzhi felt his heart melt as he looked into her watery eyes. He thought to himself that his mother-in-law was ruthless, and that he was too "kind" and ultimately not ruthless enough.

He helped Qin Xiangxiang sit up and placed a few pillows around her to make her more comfortable.

Qin Xiangxiang's eyes were filled with numbness from being tormented: "...Working in the workshop is so tiring and hard."

"I know, I know."

Qin Xiangxiang suddenly changed the subject and questioned, "Why didn't you beat your wife back then?"

Li Jianzhi: "?"

"I wanted to pretend to be a cripple. If you had slapped me back then, I would have immediately fallen to the ground and pretended to be a cripple. Hmph, I would never work in the workshop or become some damn factory manager. I would sit in a wheelchair and pretend to be a cripple." Qin Xiangxiang hugged her pillow and sobbed pitifully.

"Think about it, you've really gone mad from studying." Li Jianzhi was both annoyed and amused. She even went so far as to stage an accident and pretend to be a cripple. How could she even come up with such a thing?

This little drama queen.

Qin Xiangxiang sobbed for a long time before falling asleep against Li Jianzhi. Li Jianzhi adjusted her sleeping position and kissed her forehead.

"It's already great to think about, who told you to have such a hardworking mom."

The next day, Li Jianzhi was on leave. He was still in the bedroom when Qin Xiangxiang opened her eyes and glanced at him. She felt quite embarrassed when she remembered her dazed confession the night before. Why did she just blurt out that she wanted to fake a limp?

You know, this man used to praise her for being virtuous and good at managing the household, blah blah blah, but now he knows Qin Xiangxiang's true colors.

She's always been this capricious and lazy; she's never changed.

However, she still felt a subtle sense of melancholy, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

The man in front of her was just like always, standing in front of the full-length mirror, fastening the buttons of his military uniform, and sitting down beside her when he saw she was awake.

Qin Xiangxiang said fiercely, "Did you hear what I said last night?"

Now she doesn't need to pretend anymore.

"Hmm." Li Jianzhi chuckled. "Wife, we need to save up more money."

Qin Xiangxiang was stunned: "Why?"

“I bought you a watch, I bought you a piano, and we’re saving up to buy you a wheelchair.”

"If you feel tired, just pretend to be lame in your wheelchair."

Qin Xiangxiang was stunned: "Really?"

"Yes, if you feel tired, take a good rest." Li Jianzhi gently touched her cheek. "I feel sorry for you because you're tired. Going to the workshop is hard work, being pregnant is hard work, and now you're studying with a big belly, it's even harder. You deserve to rest, you can rest."

"After your mother-in-law leaves, you should lie down and rest properly."

In this era, hardship is considered an honor. Elders teach that "only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above others," emphasizing that labor is the most glorious thing. In Li Jianzhi's view, labor is glorious, but rest is not wrong either.

Only machines in factories can run 24/7. There's nothing shameful about wanting to rest, nor is there any need to feel guilty.

Qin Xiangxiang was silent for a while, then said, "I'd better study hard. After all, it's not easy for my mom to come all this way, and I know she's doing it all for my own good."

"After she leaves, I'm going to hug you and wail for ages."

Li Jian smiled; his wife was just too adorable.

Qin Xiangxiang sighed with worry, thinking, "I'll just take it one day at a time and live it to the fullest."

After three days of cramming, Qin Xiangxiang felt like a student cramming for the college entrance exam. She seemed to understand a lot, yet also seemed to understand nothing. Her mind was filled with a flood of overwhelming knowledge, stuck there, unable to be swallowed.

"I understand. I know how to calculate it, and I know how to maintain the machine. If any problems arise during machine installation and debugging, the first thing to consider is..."

On the evening when she was sending her parents to the port to catch a ship, Qin Xiangxiang answered weakly.

Qin Wutong sighed. He had been having a great time on the island with his grandson for the past three days, while his wife, Zhou Aodong, refused to go anywhere and stayed at home teaching their daughter.

Even more insane was Li Jianzhi, because he discovered that his son-in-law wasn't just pretending to listen; he was actually taking it all in! It was terrifying.

Qin Wutong patted his grandson on the shoulder: "I'm relieved to have you in your father's care. It would be hard for you not to succeed."

Fatty: "?"

"Mom is leaving." At the last moment before boarding the ship, Zhou Aodong told her daughter, "When Mom is here, Mom is your support, but in the future, you will be the factory director, you will be the support of others, and everyone will have to listen to your decisions and give your orders."

Qin Xiangxiang tried to persuade her mother not to think too much, as she felt that she probably wouldn't be the factory manager for long.

She hoped that divine intervention would arrive and take her place as factory director.

The family compound is slaughtering pigs for the New Year. Several pigs, which are usually kept in pigsties near the public toilet, are very fat and each household can get ten catties of meat.

The courtyard becomes lively once the pig for the New Year is slaughtered.

Little Fatty: "I want to see the pig slaughter, Auntie, I want to see the pig slaughter!"

"What's so interesting about slaughtering a pig? The squeals of a pig being slaughtered are awful. Just stuff some cotton in your ears. The most interesting thing is watching them go up the mountain to catch wild boars."

Zhong Li from next door came over and said to Qin Xiangxiang, "Little Qin, I want to talk to you about something. After we distribute the meat today, I want to smoke some cured meat in the corridor. There will be smoke, but don't mind. I'm using lychee wood that a friend gave me. It smells nice when it burns. If you want to smoke it, I'll help you smoke it. I won't charge you for the firewood."

Qin thought for a moment: "Why do we have to smoke it upstairs? Let's just put an oil drum downstairs and smoke it."

"You're right, I'm just worried people will complain about the amount of smoke."

Qin thought for a moment: "Let's find a wide open space so the children can keep an eye on things and prevent cats and dogs from stealing the meat."

Zhong Li smiled, "That makes sense."

After slaughtering the pig, their family received a large basin of meat, which Li Jinling packed back. Among the meat was some pork fat, which she quickly extracted into cracklings. She filled an enamel bowl with the clear, shiny lard, and after it cooled, it solidified into a white paste.

The other bowl of fried pork cracklings was soft and slightly crispy, and it was quite a large bowl. Little Fatty immediately stole several pieces.

Li Jinling: "Little Fatty is stealing food again."

"My aunt also stole some food."

Qin Xiangxiang: "I'll have some rice with lard later!"

The aunt and niece cheered together.

The pig for the New Year has been slaughtered; the New Year is approaching.