Chapter 17 Reporting to the Factory
The fan factory is quite far from Liuan Hutong.
Yao Fanghua hadn't bought a bicycle because she might be living in a dormitory. Everyone in the family except Yao Fangyuan, who hadn't started school yet, had to work.
Wu Peng volunteered to escort Yao Fanghua.
The next day, Wu Peng dressed up specially. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was the one going to work for the first time.
The two headed to the fan factory early in the morning. They had even arranged to pick her up after work.
The fan factory received a notice before the Lunar New Year, knowing that a deputy director-level official, a young college graduate, would be parachuted in after the holiday.
The factory was mostly staffed by the children of its own workers, or those who had gotten in through various connections. There were also some parachuted-in employees, but they were all brought in through connections or connections. People like Yao Fanghua, who came in through a novel and exceptional means, were inexplicably ostracized, as if they weren't part of the factory's inner circle. And to top it off, she was already a deputy director! Tsk, who wouldn't feel uncomfortable?
The personnel department is located on the second floor at a corner. Three people are sitting in the small office, and two others are cleaning with brooms and rags.
"Quality Inspection Department?" Yao Fanghua was a little puzzled. She studied technology, not quality management.
“Yes.” Director Zhao refused, but the factory had already decided to send him to the Quality Inspection Department. What could he do? The head of the Personnel Department was getting old, and he had two deputy directors and two staff members under him. They usually didn’t do any work except give orders. “Xiao Lin, put aside your work for now. Take Deputy Director Yao to get the work clothes, and then take him to the Quality Inspection Department to familiarize himself with the place.”
As for the dormitory, Yao Fanghua has been temporarily assigned to an eight-person room. There are currently no vacancies in the two-person rooms for department heads. If Yao Fanghua wants to stay in the dormitory, she can only stay in an eight-person staff room or a large room for more than twenty people.
Yao Fanghua has decided to buy a bicycle. She'll keep the one the dormitory provided, just in case she needs it someday.
The quality inspection office was on the first floor. I picked up my work clothes and went inside, but the room was empty.
"They're probably all in the workshop. Wait here for a while," Lin Qiuning said as she saw them off and then returned.
Director Zhang was indeed in the workshop, holding a pre-shift meeting. It was the first day back to work after the New Year holiday, and the first pre-shift meeting required everyone in the quality control department to attend, so naturally there was a lot of rambling. Once he had finished speaking, he took the three quality control staff members back to his office.
Zhang Hua pushed open the door to the quality inspection department and saw someone sitting inside. He felt uneasy; after all, they had come. The technical department didn't even have a deputy director, so why did they have to force this person on him? That Zhao guy was too domineering. As for this new deputy director, he didn't believe he could cause any trouble under his nose. Only someone like Zhao, with so many ulterior motives.
Zhang Hua reluctantly vacated the table opposite him. "This is our new deputy director, Comrade Yao Fanghua. Zhihui, please put these things on the table into the cabinet."
In addition to Director Zhang, the Quality Inspection Department office also has two men and one woman, as well as two shift leaders and a dozen or so quality inspectors from the workshop.
Two male colleagues would accompany Director Zhang to the workshop, while the female colleague was responsible for handling some trivial matters in the office and managing daily quality reports.
After drinking tea in his office for a while, Director Zhang led his men to the workshop.
Yao Fanghua placed her bag on the empty desk, wiped it inside and out with a rag, and after tidying up the desk, only she and Li Lian, who was heavily pregnant, remained in the room.
Li Lian had already taken out the yarn and started knitting, and even asked Yao Fanghua where she lived with a smile.
Then he took out a bag of dried apricots to eat, and shared some with Yao Fanghua.
...Relaxed, strangely relaxed. Coming to this small factory was probably the right decision. A side business can start now. It's a pity I didn't bring any books today. Yao Fanghua picked up a newspaper from the cluttered table and chatted with Li Lian for a bit to get to know the situation.
Knowing that a new person had joined the quality inspection team, there were an unusually large number of people visiting the team today.
Yes, visiting someone's home—in Yao Fanghua's view, it was pretty much the same as visiting someone's home: chatting, gossiping, and joking, but hardly anything related to work. What else could it be but visiting someone's home? Some even brought a handful of sunflower seeds. As they talked, their eyes would frequently glance at Yao Fanghua.
Yao Fanghua would look down at the newspaper. If someone asked her a question, she would answer it if she could, and if she didn't want to answer, she would just smile and remain silent.
The quality control department is next to the technical department, and the production department is across the street. After everyone else left, one of the production ladies stayed behind.
Since Li Lian became pregnant, this older woman has been coming over frequently, talking to Li Lian about pregnancy every day. She always says unlucky things, like pregnancy is gambling. That's ridiculous! Like the neighbor next door, she gave birth to a mentally challenged child; his life is ruined. And my niece told me that their hospital delivered another disabled baby; the child had a leg problem and would be lame for life. The parents ran away the next day, leaving the child alone in the hospital. Actually, that's better than having a mentally challenged child. Look at Xiao Dong next door, how much he suffers! You really need to go to the hospital for checkups frequently, early detection and treatment are crucial, otherwise it will be too late after birth. There are so many birth problems these days, blind, deaf, mentally challenged children are all possible…
When Li Lian saw that Sister Li was about to start nagging her again, her face turned pale. The first time she heard Sister Li nagging about these things, she just listened and moved on without taking it seriously. But the second time, and then almost every day after that, she felt a lot of pressure. Touching her belly, she would always think of these bad things and was always afraid that there would be a problem with the baby in her belly. Recently, she had been having nightmares.
When Yao Fanghua heard Sister Li bring up this topic, especially the constant mention of deformed children, she frowned. Whether intentional or not, Yao Fanghua felt that Sister Li had ulterior motives for talking about such things in front of a pregnant woman. She secretly remembered Sister Li and decided to avoid her in the future.
Let alone pregnant women, even those who aren't pregnant feel uncomfortable hearing this, and it gives them a phobia of pregnancy.
Yao Fanghua got up, intending to take a walk around the workshop.
"Where are you going?" Li Lian asked hurriedly.
"I'll go to the workshop to check on the situation."
“You’re new here and not familiar with the area, let me show you around.” Li Lian was eager to get rid of Sister Li and quickly got up. “Sister Li, I’ll accompany our director to the workshop.”
Both of them were about to leave, and Sister Li couldn't stay any longer. "It's better to be a leader. Xiao Lian, you keep the leader company. Director Yao, you're busy, I have to go back too, I still have a ton of work to do. Our department is the busiest among all these departments." She had long resented that Li Lian's work was easier than hers, and she even earned 50 cents more than her. Why was that!
Yao Fanghua hesitated. Li Lian was heavily pregnant and looked pale. She didn't want to cause trouble by going into the workshop.
"The doctor said that a little exercise would help with labor." Thanks to Sister Li, she's been going to the hospital frequently lately, going at the slightest discomfort and undergoing all sorts of unnecessary tests and screenings, spending a lot of money, but for peace of mind. As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry, and now she just hopes the baby will be healthy.
Yao Fanghua nodded, and the two walked out side by side.
Seeing Li Lian's anxious expression and the fact that she kept touching her belly, Yao Fanghua said, "Don't overthink it. The probability of those things happening is extremely low. You have to believe that you will definitely give birth to a healthy baby."
Upon hearing this, Li Lian's face lit up. "Really?"
She had been hoping someone would say those words to her, to put her mind at ease, and to give her confidence. Then, as if remembering something, Li Lian's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I've been crying a lot since I got pregnant. You know, I've been having nightmares lately, I'm so scared." Her family lived far away, and she had no one to comfort her. She was always afraid that there was something wrong with the baby in her womb, and also afraid that something might happen during childbirth, resulting in the death of both mother and child.
Yao Fanghua patted her and said, "Don't think about these messy things. Just focus on your pregnancy."
Several workers passing by noticed that Li Lian's eyes were red and seemed to have tear stains, and by the afternoon the news spread throughout the factory: the new Director Yao was not someone to be trifled with; he had just arrived and had already made Li Lian cry.
The workshop wasn't big, and they walked from one end to the other without seeing Director Zhang or his group. Only a few people were slacking off at each process; the others were nowhere to be seen.
“It’s winter now, so our fan factory isn’t too busy.” The two walked back side by side. Seeing that no one was around, Li Lian said, “There are quite a few fans piled up in the warehouse. I heard that our factory is going to transform, and the leaders at the top argue fiercely every time they have a meeting. They’ve been discussing it for more than half a year but haven’t come to a decision.”
"Transformation?"
"Well, it's not a secret. They said they'd add a production line to produce washing machines, refrigerators, or air conditioners, but they haven't decided which one yet. They also said they'd hire some experts for guidance."
According to the technical department, their director advocates producing washing machines. The implication is that air conditioners and refrigerators are more difficult and require greater investment, making them less reliable, but they don't dare to completely abandon the project for fear of liability. However, the factory bought several washing machines from the market and disassembled them for Director Zhao to study.
Yao Fanghua realized that the factory was not only small, but also not very profitable.
The two returned to the office, but Zhang and the others were still nowhere to be seen.
I went to the cafeteria with Li Lian for lunch, but we didn't see her until we got off work in the afternoon.
Yao Fanghua spent the afternoon reading the newspaper, feeling somewhat uneasy, sensing that the class was somewhat lacking in quality.
When Wu Peng picked up the person, he was quite puzzled, "What time do you guys get off work? I've seen people leaving get off work quite a while ago."
Yao Fanghua: ...
Li Lian was picked up by her husband and taken home. Inevitably, she was scolded by her mother-in-law, who complained that she came home late and that she, as the mother-in-law, had cooked all the meals by herself. She was also told that she shouldn't not help at all just because she was pregnant.
She had already explained it to her husband on the way, and now she couldn't help but repeat it again. The new director always sat in his office, and she couldn't very well slip away. It was his first day on the job, so she wanted to at least figure out his temperament before making any moves. She had been knitting all day, and her back was aching.
Li Lian's husband laughed and said, "I guess the new guy hasn't figured things out yet. He'll understand after a while. Many people in your factory leave after lunch, so this can't be kept secret. There's no reason for us to make things difficult for you alone."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com