Chapter 032 Criticism and Commendation Conference
"A small poplar tree grows beside the outpost, its roots deep and its trunk strong—"
It was another sunny morning. Along with the sunlight shining through the window and into Shi's house, there was also the sound of music playing from someone's radio.
Shi Qiu Shui sat up with messy hair. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock with a little confusion. It was six fifteen. It was almost time to get up.
She put on her clothes, jumped off the bed with her nimble little legs, and walked into the main room. She shouted towards Shi Yue's room, "Dad, get up!"
"I'm up!" After hearing Shi Yue's answer, she took the toothbrush cup and washbasin to wash up with confidence.
As soon as she opened the door, the sounds of voices, birdsong, the clatter of pots and pans, bicycle bells and distant pigeon whistles all came into her ears.
Of course, what she heard most clearly was the discussions among the households in the yard about Song Chunsheng and the human traffickers.
As Shi Qiushui washed up, he listened to Aunt Gao beside him, cursing Song Chunsheng, "Fuck you!" "Fuck you!" Human traffickers were truly detestable; even the usually good-tempered Old Lady Yang couldn't help but hurled a few harsh words.
Accompanied by the sounds of birdsong and flowers around her, Shi Qiu Shui finished washing up. When she turned around and was about to go home, she saw Li Juan and Song Nan, mother and daughter, standing next to her.
Looking at the pale-faced Li Juan and Song Nan, Shi Qiushui opened his mouth awkwardly and called out, "Aunt Li..."
Hearing Shi Qiushui's voice, Aunt Gao turned around and saw Li Juan and her daughter. She noticed Li Juan's uneasiness and comforted her, "Juan'er, don't overthink it. We all know that you and Nannan are innocent. It was Song Chunsheng and Old Mrs. Ding who were responsible."
Even though everyone was scolding Song Chunsheng, Old Mrs. Ding, and even Song Chunsheng's father who had died early, no one really implicated Li Juan and Song Nan. After all, everyone knew that the mother and daughter were really innocent. After all, wasn't Song Nan almost sold out by Song Chunsheng before?
On the contrary, after knowing this matter, Li Juan and Song Nan's family were already very distressed, and they felt even more sorry for them. It was really unlucky for them to have a husband and father like Song Chunsheng!
Li Juan and Song Nan both breathed a sigh of relief in the warm eyes of the people in the compound. She tried her best to ignore the discussions about Song Chunsheng in her ears and led Song Nan to wash up as if nothing had happened.
Aunt Gao noticed that Li Juan was still somewhat concerned about this matter, so she took the initiative to change the subject and chat with Old Lady Yang about the department store's promotions and discounts: "Hey, Old Yang, do you know that the department store has been having these past few days..."
Old Lady Yang agreed, "Oh, really? Are you having a discount during an event?"
"Yes, it's quite cheap to buy things, and..."
Shi Qiushui blinked, and when he returned to the house, he said to Shi Yue, "Dad, I found that Grandma Gao is not such a bad person."
She told Shi Yue what happened outside. Shi Yue raised his eyebrows and smiled, and asked, "Could it be that you originally thought she was an unforgivable villain?"
Shi Qiushui rubbed perfume on herself while mumbling, "That's how it is. She was so fierce before and always fought with the people in the courtyard. Didn't the people in the courtyard have a bad relationship with her..."
Shi Yue smiled. He had the memories of his original body and knew that although Gao Cuifen was stingy, mean-spirited, and competitive, she was not an unforgivable bad person.
He touched Shi Qiushui's head and said, "That's why I told you before not to define people casually. You may think you know that person well enough, but in fact, you only see her surface. You should look at the people around you with equal eyes to avoid bias."
Shi Qiu Shui pursed her lips and nodded seriously.
"Dad, I understand."
Shi Yue touched his daughter's growing hair and asked, "Are you ready? If you are, let's go out for dinner."
Shi Qiushui: "Well, it's packed, let's go."
As usual, the father and daughter went to the breakfast stall at the entrance of the alley to have breakfast. The breakfast stall was doing a brisk business. Shi Qiu Shui quickly grabbed the last empty table and sat down, while Shi Yue found the boss as if he was familiar with the place and said.
"Two bowls of tofu pudding and three beef buns."
After Shi Yue ordered and paid, he returned to his seat and waited for the boss to bring the food. It was the time for people to go to work or school, and the breakfast stall was doing the best business. There were too many customers, so the food was served slowly. Shi Yue and Shi Qiu Shui waited for a long time, but the food was not served yet. However, it was not just their table that did not receive the food, as the tables next to them received the same treatment.
The people at the nearby tables were chattering about the latest gossip while waiting for their food to be served. Yes, they were talking about the abduction of children from the machinery factory. That's why they say there are no secrets in the machinery factory. What happened yesterday had already spread throughout the area this morning.
"Hey, do you know who's helping human traffickers kidnap children? It's Song Chunsheng, who lives in our area!"
"Oh, please don't mention this. I'm terrified just thinking about it now. I live in the same alley with Song Chunsheng. We see each other every day and always say hello. Who would have thought he would actually work with human traffickers to kidnap children?"
"Well, that's what they call judging a person by his appearance but not his heart! Didn't they say his mother, a fifty-year-old lady, was also involved in kidnapping children? Who would have thought that a lady of such age could do such a cruel thing?"
"That's right!"
"Emma, are you talking about that old woman Ding? I know her. She's a vicious old hag. Not to mention other people's children, she can even be cruel to her own children. She even sold her own daughter before!"
"Hiss, how cruel!"
"Oh my god! I heard before that Song Chunsheng even wanted to sell his own daughter, and I thought he was outrageous. I didn't expect that he was so cruel, right? Is that what his mother inherited?"
"Yeah! Isn't it like her mother's roots? I heard that the Old Ding family, that is, Old Ding's mother's family, started selling their daughters in the old society!"
"Oh my god, that's disgusting!"
Everyone was talking about the gossip they had heard. Shi Qiu Shui pricked up his ears and listened for a while, then opened his mouth in surprise. These people knew so much!
She originally thought that she knew enough information, but she didn't expect that there were still things she didn't know!
At this moment, the shop owner, who had arrived late, finally brought the food that their table had ordered. Shi Yue picked up his chopsticks, picked up a beef bun, and stuffed it into Shi Qiushui's mouth, urging him, "Eat quickly."
"good!"
Shi Qiu Shui ate his breakfast with relish while listening to the gossip nearby.
Although listening to gossip is important, eating is the real thing!
Slurp, slurp, Shi Yue and Shi Qiu Shui buried their heads in eating and quickly finished the breakfast in front of them.
I don’t know what’s going on with the breakfast stall today. The father and daughter have finished eating, but the food for the tables next to them hasn’t been served yet. But seeing that the people at those tables are still chatting animatedly, they probably don’t care too much about this.
Shi Qiu Shui stood up and glanced at the table next to her reluctantly. She really wanted to stay and continue listening to the gossip, but she couldn't because she had to go to kindergarten.
She couldn't help but sigh.
If only I didn’t have to go to kindergarten!
No matter how much Shi Qiu Shui didn't want to go to kindergarten, Shi Yue still sent her in. After sending the child away, Shi Yue turned and walked towards the machinery factory.
The impact of the children being abducted from the machinery factory was quite significant. On Shi Yue's way to the machinery factory, almost everyone he passed by was discussing the matter. He couldn't help but frown as he listened to everyone talking.
The impact of this incident seems a bit too great?
If the factory leaders knew about this, they would definitely have a headache again.
Shi Yue was right. The leaders of the machinery factory were indeed having a headache because of this matter.
Director Wu pressed his aching forehead and thought, there was an accomplice of a human trafficker in the factory, and there were also a series of employees who were deceived by the traffickers and sold their children casually. No matter what, as the factory director, he must be responsible for this matter and must be punished.
The higher-ups haven't imposed any punishment yet, hoping to see how he handles the aftermath. If he handles it well, perhaps he'll reflect on himself and the matter will be over, but if he doesn't, he might face disciplinary action.
But the question is, how can he handle it well?
Director Wu pondered for a long time, then called in Secretary Li, who was outside. "Xiao Li, yesterday I asked you to instruct the Security Department to contact the Public Security Department for a lecture. Did you give that order?"
Secretary Xiao Li: "I've given the order. Shi Yue took people to the Public Security Bureau yesterday."
Director Wu: "So he has contacted the Public Security Bureau, right?"
Secretary Xiao Li: "Yes."
Director Wu said, "Okay, since we've already contacted the right people, let's hold this legal education lecture this afternoon. You can arrange it later. Have all employees stop work this afternoon and go to the auditorium to attend the lecture."
His face was dark. "Yes, and those employees who almost sold their children, find them all. After the lecture, have them come up to the podium one by one to review and reflect on their actions. If they don't review seriously, I'll deduct their wages!"
Secretary Xiao Li: "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
"Hey, wait a minute." Director Wu suddenly thought of something and called Secretary Li over, asking, "Um, was it one of our employees who discovered something fishy about Song Chunsheng?"
Secretary Xiao Li: "What?"
Director Wu asked impatiently, "Didn't they say that someone went to the police first, and that's how they discovered Song Chunsheng's abnormality? Was the person who went to the police from our factory?"
Secretary Li: "Ah, yes. Comrade Ma Yulan, who is looking for the police, works in our factory's logistics department. In fact, you should remember her. Her husband is Lao Niu, the boss of our factory's finance department."
"Oh, oh, oh, Lao Niu is her husband!" Director Wu really remembered Lao Niutou. As soon as Secretary Li mentioned him, he knew who he was. "Okay, you should go find her later."
He said, "Comrade Ma Yulan's ability to remain skeptical of even the smallest anomalies in life and to promptly seek help from the police is excellent, and we should reward her. We should allow some comrades who have performed poorly to accept criticism and reflect, while also commending those who have performed well. Don't you agree?"
Secretary Li hesitated whether to explain that Ma Yulan went to the police because she suspected that Song Chunsheng was being abused at home, but seeing the satisfied look on Director Wu's face, he decided not to mention the matter.
He simply said, "Director, the first people to discover Song Chunsheng's abnormality included Comrade Li Xiuying and Comrade Yao Honglian from the cafeteria, Comrade Shi Yue from the security department, and Comrade Gao Cuifen, who used to work in Workshop 1."
"Oh? So many people discovered this anomaly together?" Director Wu asked casually. Then, with a wave of his hand, he said, "Since so many comrades discovered this anomaly together, let's commend them all!"
When he heard Secretary Li say that so many comrades discovered the abnormality together, his mood obviously improved.
He had originally thought it was shameful that several employees at the machinery factory had been tricked into selling their children. Now, although some of their employees were rather stupid, they still had some smart ones!
Only with these smart employees here can we prove that the stupidity of those idiots is due to themselves, not to the management problems of their machinery factory!
Director Wu, in high spirits, waved his hand and said, "Give these employees the same recognition as last year's model workers, and give them a month's salary bonus after the recognition period!"
Their machinery factory is profitable, so giving them a little bonus is no big deal!
"Okay, Director."
Secretary Xiao Li received the order from the factory director and took action quickly. Shi Yue also quickly learned from Secretary Xiao Li that he was going to be commended.
Listening to Secretary Li's congratulatory words, Shi Yue raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Thank you, Secretary Li, for taking the trouble to inform me about this matter."
Secretary Li waved his hand. "Nothing, nothing. Well, Chief Shi, I still need to notify others. I'll be leaving first."
"Okay, Secretary Li, take care."
After Secretary Xiao Li left, Shi Yue hid in the stairwell and laughed silently.
In fact, he doesn’t care much about being commended. What he cares about is the bonus of that month’s salary!
A month's salary! This is real money!
Shi Yue's eyes were full of happiness. He felt that the 1990s were really prosperous for him. It had only been less than half a month since he traveled here, and he had already made a fortune twice in succession!
And they all became rich by accident!
Could it be that this is the unstoppable fortune?
Shi Yue touched his chin and thought to himself, I must find a temple to burn incense to the God of Wealth someday.
The God of Wealth takes such good care of him, so he can't treat him badly, right?
Shi Yue stayed outside for a while, and only returned to the office from the stairwell after calming down his excitement. When the people in the office saw him coming back, they asked curiously, "Brother Shi, why did Secretary Li call you? Is there any new notice from above?"
Shi Yue raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Well, Secretary Li just informed me that we will have a legal education lecture this afternoon, and there will be a criticism and commendation meeting after the lecture."
"Oh! Then we won't be working this afternoon, right?"
Shi Yue: "You're overthinking it. If the people in the workshop don't work, we still have to go. Even if we go to the auditorium to attend a lecture, we still have to work and maintain order. And those on duty still have to patrol as usual."
"Oh, I see..."
Shi Yue: "What else do you think?"
"Hehehe, I thought we could take a break..."
"Hey, Brother Shi, what's the point of that criticism and commendation meeting after the lecture?" Xiao Wang scratched his head and said, "I've heard of criticism meetings and commendation meetings before. What's the point of a criticism and commendation meeting?"
Shi Yue: "It means first the criticism meeting and then the commendation meeting."
"Oh, so what's the point of criticizing, and what's the point of praising?"
Shi Yue: "Criticize those employees who were so foolish as to believe in human traffickers and sell their children, and praise those who are vigilant against any abnormalities."
Having said that, he couldn't hold back his joy and laughed out loud.
This smile immediately made the security staff realize that something was wrong, and everyone looked at Shi Yue with puzzled eyes.
Shi Yue cleared his throat and said, "Well, I was also among those being commended this afternoon."
By the time of the commendation meeting in the afternoon, everyone would know about this matter, so he didn't hide it and spoke frankly.
"Wow! Really? Brother Shi, you're amazing!"
"Brother Shi, you're awesome! You've been commended just two weeks after arriving. You're truly worthy of being a retired soldier!"
"Hey, Brother Shi, tell us what you did and why you were praised for it!"
"Yes, Brother Shi, please tell us about it and we will learn from you!"
"Okay, then I'll tell you." Shi Yue couldn't resist everyone's enthusiasm, so he had to stand up and tell the story of how he waited for Song Chunsheng that day.
Of course, he certainly didn't tell the truth that he was staking out people because his daughter insisted on watching the fun. He embellished his behavior and said that he also had doubts about the mysterious man, so he staked out people with a few aunts.
After hearing this, no one present doubted him. They all expressed admiration for his spirit of maintaining a high level of vigilance. Even Sun Guodong rarely looked at Shi Yue directly.
Okay, okay, he admitted that besides luck, Shi Yue was indeed a little bit powerful.
But just a little!
It’s only as big as the little finger nail!
Shi Yue was only thinking about his bonus and didn't bother to care what Sun Guodong was thinking.
Last time, his bonus was given to him by the finance department on the same day the leader approved it. So this time, he will probably get his bonus today as well, right?
Hehe, after getting the bonus today, he has to take Xiaoqiu out for a nice meal to celebrate!
Well, why not go eat some barbecue skewers? The day before yesterday, when he took Xiaoqiu to eat cold noodles, he smelled a super delicious aroma of barbecue skewers!
Actually, the braised lamb sold at the shop next to the kebab shop seems to taste pretty good too. How about trying some braised lamb?
There was also the donkey meat hot bread a little further away, which was said to be quite good. Actually, he and Xiaoqiu had never eaten donkey meat before! Raising donkeys wasn't popular in the Dayu Dynasty, and eating donkey meat wasn't common either. They were quite surprised to see the donkey meat hot bread.
"Broadcast an announcement. This afternoon, our factory will hold a lecture on legal knowledge, in cooperation with public security officials. Employees from all departments are requested to attend the lecture in the factory auditorium in the order arranged by their department leaders. All employees are requested to attend the lecture in the order arranged by their department leaders as soon as possible..."
Shi Yue was still thinking about what to eat when the loudspeaker of the factory radio station rang. The comrades at the radio station repeated three times in succession, asking the employees to go to the auditorium as soon as possible to attend the lecture.
After hearing the notice, Shi Yue quickly waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the auditorium!"
"Oh, okay!"
Shi Yue followed the security department to the auditorium. They were the first group to arrive. When they arrived, only Secretary Xiao Li and the comrades from the Propaganda Department who organized the event were at the door of the auditorium. He greeted Secretary Xiao Li and then led the security department to stand at the door.
When more people come, they will have to go on stage to maintain order.
There were several thousand people in the machinery factory, and even with the best organization and discipline, it took quite a while for everyone to get to their seats in the auditorium. By the time everyone was finally seated, it was time for the police officers to take the stage.
This lecture was held because of the issue of child trafficking, so the public security officer who took the stage began by introducing the definition of the crime of child trafficking: "my country's criminal law clearly stipulates that trafficking in women and children is for the purpose of selling them, and includes deceiving, kidnapping, buying..."
The public security comrade, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a green uniform, looked as serious and dignified as the clothes she was wearing. Listening to her speech, the employees in the audience didn't dare to breathe, let alone speak.
Comrade Gong'an spoke for more than two hours in one breath, and only stopped when the sun was starting to set.
"That's about all I have to say. Does anyone here have any questions?"
The employees in the audience waved their hands and said, "No, no!"
The problem is that there really isn’t one!
"Okay, that's it for today's legal education lecture. Thank you for your cooperation, comrades. Goodbye!"
After the public security comrades left, the criticism meeting began. Because Director Wu threatened to have their wages docked, the employees who came on stage to reflect expressed more sincere feelings and deep remorse than each other. Two of them even burst into tears on the stage.
Hearing them crying out, "Director, I was wrong, please don't deduct my salary," Director Wu's face inevitably darkened again. He waved his hand, drove these people off the stage, and proceeded to the last item of the meeting - commendation.
As soon as the few people headed by Ma Yulan and followed by Shi Yue came on stage, Director Wu's expression eased.
Look, look at the mental outlook of these employees, look at the cautious attitude of these employees, look at these employees...what is it, right?
This is the image that the workers in the machinery factory should have!
Director Wu gave each person on the stage a certificate of "Enthusiastic Employee" and a bonus in an envelope, then he sent these people off the stage with a smile on his face and began to speak.
"We should learn from these comrades' spirit of attentive observation of every detail of life, their courage to question the unusual, and their..."
While Director Wu was still chattering away on the stage, Shi Yue had already quietly opened the envelope, taken out the bonus money inside and counted it. In fact, there were only three hundred-yuan bills in total. You could tell the difference just by looking at them, and there was no need to count them.
But Shi Yue still counted them carefully: one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, hehe, three hundred...
After counting the money, he stuffed it directly into his trouser pocket. Not only him, but also Gao Cuifen, Yao Dazui, Li Xiuying... all did the same thing.
Honor is indeed important, but that doesn’t mean money is unimportant!
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