It wasn't that Song Yan was judging Cheng Qianjin by his own petty standards; Cheng Qianjin was simply a mediocre person. Song Yan guessed that, like any new broom sweeping clean, if Cheng Qianjin wanted to manage the weaving group, he would need to get rid of Li Yuanzhao and control Song Yan.
It wasn't that Song Yan overestimated himself. Rather, all the samples for the knitting group were provided by Song Yan. Cheng Qianjin established his authority by using himself, which secured the stability of the knitting group.
Song Yan wanted to sigh. The reason she only produced samples and didn't manage the operations was to save herself the trouble. But trouble still came.
To avoid trouble, she needed to take some precautions. She returned late tonight, and no one in the brigade knew. Song Yanqi arrived at Brigade Leader Wu's house early. The first thing he did was make Brigade Leader Wu rewrite the leave slip. Overstaying his leave would definitely be a handle against him.
Li Yuanzhao and Song Yan both respected Captain Wu, but now that Cheng Qianjin has suddenly appeared, it's no wonder the captain is unhappy. Song Yan was confident that Captain Wu would rewrite the leave slip.
As expected.
At the brigade leader's house, Song Yan first took the initiative to admit his mistake. He hadn't expected his parents to fall ill, and taking care of them had delayed him. There was no telephone, extending his leave was difficult, and he couldn't bear to spend the money to send a telegram. So, upon returning, he first went to the brigade leader to apologize.
The brigade leader and his wife stared at Song Yan for a long time without saying a word. It was the brigade leader's wife who spoke first. "Song, our brigade has a secretary now. From now on, he'll be in charge of the weaving group. As for your over-the-top work..."
“I don’t know who will be in charge of the weaving group in the future, but I asked the team leader for leave.” Song Yan simply put the leave slip on the table. “The team leader has the final say on this leave slip. If the team leader says it’s half a month, it’s half a month; if the team leader says it’s 20 days, it’s 20 days.”
The brigade leader chuckled. He had already guessed that things would get lively in the weaving group once Song Yan returned. These educated youths had the arrogance of city dwellers, as well as knowledge and experience. It was just that they were living under someone else's roof, and if pushed too far… even Cheng Qianjin couldn't handle Li Yuanzhao and Song Yan alone.
If Cheng Qianjin had respected Li Yuanzhao and Song Yan, there wouldn't have been any drama for him. But he was too greedy; he wanted to have complete control over the knitting group.
The brigade leader took the original leave slip and tore it up. Song Yan took a pen and rewrote the leave slip. The brigade leader wrote "approved" and stamped it with the official seal. "After Cheng Qianjin became the secretary, the first thing he asked me was how many days of leave I had taken. I said half a month. When he asked me again, I said I had misremembered."
"Since the captain is dedicated to public service, I will always support his work." Song Yan meant that since the captain and the secretary were at odds, she sided with the captain.
The captain was genuinely happy.
Anyone who works hard and wholeheartedly for the team, only to have a newcomer not only take away their hard-earned achievements but also provoke them, wouldn't swallow that insult.
The women in the weaving group who were lagging behind, along with their families, spoke highly of Secretary Cheng everywhere, while simultaneously belittling the brigade leader, saying that whoever he liked was allowed into the weaving group, and that the brigade leader was unfair.
Captain Wu must be angry. He's truly tried his best to do his job well all these years. How could he not be angry after this?
Xiaoxiao wanted to talk to Song Yan about the knitting group, but she didn't know where Song Yan had gone early in the morning.
The mother-in-law also wanted to talk to Song Yan, but she wasn't there.
The two men craned their necks, waiting for Song Yan to come home.
Song Yan had just entered the house.
"Where did you go?" Xiaoxiao asked.
"Why can't I see you when I get home?" the mother-in-law asked.
Look how anxious these two are.
Xiaoxiao told Song Yan about what had happened recently.
What Mao Xuebin said was exactly right, except that he wasn't as detailed as Xiaoxiao.
Suddenly, the commune appointed Cheng Qianjin as the brigade secretary, and then put Cheng Qianjin in charge of the weaving group of Qingshan Brigade.
The weaving group certainly had no right to object to this arrangement, since it belonged to the village, and the village was under the management of the commune.
After Cheng Qianjin took over the knitting group, the first thing he did was tell Wang Wenjuan that she should either serve as the deputy head of the knitting group or continue to serve as the women's director; she was not allowed to hold any other positions.
At the time, Wang Wenjuan told Li Yuanzhao that she looked down on Cheng Qianjin, thinking he was incapable of producing anything worthwhile. She felt it would be easier for her to be the women's director.
As soon as Wang Wenjuan expressed her willingness, she took over as the head of the women's affairs department. Cheng Qianjin then arranged for her niece, Cheng Xiuyun, to be the deputy head of the group.
In just ten days, Cheng Xiuyun had taken the lead in everything regarding the weaving group. Previously, people like Widow Wang hadn't been allowed into the weaving group. Cheng Xiuyun bypassed Li Yuanzhao and went directly to Secretary Cheng. Secretary Cheng said that the team members' enthusiasm should be encouraged; the more they were rejected, the less they could improve. Therefore, Secretary Cheng agreed to allow ten women, as proposed by Cheng Xiuyun, to join the weaving group.
After these ten people joined the weaving group, the quality of their finished products varied greatly; some were acceptable, while others were truly terrible.
Li Yuanzhao disagreed that their finished product was up to standard, and Cheng Xiuyun actually argued with her in public.
Widow Wang also claimed that Li Yuanzhao discriminated against those who joined the weaving group after they were born, and that Li Yuanzhao was being unfair.
When Secretary Cheng came to adjudicate the case, he naturally favored Cheng Xiuyun, and those who were not qualified were all mixed up in the case.
These past few days, Secretary Cheng has been asking every day if Song Yan has returned, saying that Song Yan has exceeded his leave limit. Xiaoxiao is a little worried that he might cause trouble.
How could Li Yuanzhao, acting alone, possibly talk to both Cheng Xiuyun and Secretary Cheng? Besides, higher-ranking officials have absolute power; all those who weren't qualified have been kept.
Li Yuanzhao stopped insisting; she planned to quit once Song Yan returned. Li Yuanzhao came from a well-off family, who frequently sent her money and gifts, and she also received regular royalties for her writing. For her, the work points in the knitting group were truly unimportant. Her spiritual needs from participating in the knitting group far outweighed her material needs. If she was unhappy, she could simply quit.
After Xiaoxiao finished talking about her matter, her mother-in-law was eager to talk about her own. She said that very important matter couldn't be discussed now, so she would talk about another important matter instead.
Chang You's two children, Shuanzhu and Damei, are both sick. They've been to the commune hospital and the county hospital, but they can't find anything wrong. The two children are getting thinner and thinner, and they can't eat anything.
Song Yan: "Isn't Lao Han there? Didn't you ask him to take a look?" Lao Han is helping Sister-in-law Cheng with her pregnancy, so he might as well check on the baby while he's at it!
"They examined the baby and said the child's spleen and stomach were a bit weak. There were no other major problems. They prescribed medicine, but it didn't work at all. Your sister-in-law Cheng is so worried about you, she's practically dying of anticipation. If you don't come back soon, she'll have me send a telegram, hoping you'll come back to see the baby." Aunt Wei knew about Song Yan's efforts to save Cheng's pregnancy and knew that her daughter-in-law was quite skilled in medicine.
Old Han couldn't cure the illness, so he made me treat it? If Old Han's students found out, they'd either beat me to death or drown me in their spittle.
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