Chapter 5 "Performance Maniac"
At the warehouse entrance, an elderly warehouse keeper wearing oil-stained overalls was squatting on the ground mending a tattered burlap sack.
Shu Ran quickly stepped forward and greeted him politely: "Hello, senior! I'm Shu Ran, the new guy, I was just assigned to the company."
The old custodian looked up and sized her up, recognizing her as the Shanghai lady with the "bad class background." His brow furrowed, and his tone was impatient. "What is it? Let me tell you beforehand, without a note from above, I can't give you anything!"
Shu Ran handed over the slip of paper directly. "Storekeeper, thank you. Officer Chen Yuanjiang approved this, asking me to come to the warehouse to pick up some things."
"Approved by Officer Chen?" The old custodian was clearly taken aback, and suspiciously took the slip of paper. He leaned closer, carefully deciphering the contents of the paper word by word. When he saw the signature "Chen Yuanjiang," the impatience on his face disappeared, and he looked at her with a probing gaze.
He flipped the note over and over again, staring intently at the words "Interim Measures for Temporary Hardship Subsidies for New Employees" and "Ensuring Teaching Work" for a long time before saying, "Oh...oh...I see."
He even added a touch of politeness, "Ensuring teaching is a big deal, a big deal! I know the regulations!" After saying that, he stood up briskly and picked out a brass key from a large bunch of keys at his waist.
"Come with me." He gestured for Shu Ran to follow, and walked to a wooden door on the side of the warehouse. This door was also locked with an iron lock.
With a click, the lock opened. The old custodian pushed open the wooden door, and a whiff of dust mixed with a musty smell rushed out. The interior was dimly lit, with only a few beams of light filtering in through a small vent high up.
There weren't many items piled up here, but they were covered in a thick layer of dust. Shu Ran saw several rolls of military felt, a few bundles of spare rope wrapped in tarpaulin, some tools and accessories, and some bulging things in thick burlap sacks, which looked like cotton bales.
The old storekeeper walked to a stack of burlap sacks and pointed to one that looked relatively intact: "Look, cotton. Reserve supplies, registered." He then pointed to several bolts of cloth stacked on the shelf next to him, "The cloth is here too."
You can tell that the coarse cloth is a dull gray color, and it looks like the cheap, thick, and stiff kind.
The old storekeeper took out a register, flipped to a certain page, and then pulled out a half-burnt pencil. "Come on, Comrade Shu, register this. Name, name of the materials received, quantity, purpose, approver..." He pointed to the forms in the register one by one.
Shu Ran leaned closer and, under the guidance of the old custodian, carefully filled out the form:
Name: Shu Ran
Receive supplies: 10 catties of coarse cotton and 1 zhang of coarse cloth.
Purpose: Work safety
Approver: Chen Yuanjiang
Signature of recipient: Shu Ran
Date: [Date]
After finishing writing, she neatly signed her name in the "Recipient's Signature" column. The old custodian picked up the register and carefully compared Shu Ran's signature with the signature on the approval slip to confirm that they were correct.
He then walked to the stack of burlap sacks and untied the rope binding the sack. Inside, as expected, was tightly packed raw cotton. He took out an old steelyard balance and skillfully weighed out ten pounds of cotton. The cotton was old, yellowish, hard, and even had a slightly brittle smell.
Then, he walked to the cloth, measured out a length of coarse cloth, and cut it off cleanly with a pair of large scissors.
"Here you go, take it." The old storekeeper handed the cotton and coarse cloth to Shu Ran, and at the same time put the approval slip into the register.
"You've received the items, and their intended use is clearly stated. They're for proper use, so don't waste them," he said, his tone carrying a hint of caution.
"Thank you, custodian! Don't worry, it'll be used for the right things!" Shu Ran hugged the hard-won pile of cotton and coarse cloth tightly as she walked out of the storeroom. The old custodian locked the door behind her, muttering, "The things in the spare storage... a note personally approved by Director Chen... this new teacher definitely needs a place to lie down..."
Shu Ran pretended not to hear. By fighting within the rules, she won her first small victory in this place.
Now, she'll conveniently go to report to Production Director Zhao Weidong and get her job settled. Obtaining the "teacher" title—a protective shield and a foundation for her livelihood—is crucial for her to establish herself in this world.
Following the directions given by the company commander yesterday, Shu Ran wandered around the company with her belongings. The layout of the livestock company was very loose; apart from a few functional adobe houses, most of the dormitories were dugouts half-buried underground.
Stacks of hay were piled up in the open space, and several mules and horses were tethered there. A few men carrying tools walked by and looked curiously at Shu Ran, who was carrying bolts of cotton cloth.
Finally, behind the mud-brick houses, she saw a building with a wooden sign that read "Production Office" hanging on the door. The door was open, and a man's voice came from inside, as if giving orders:
"...That's settled then! The machines are broken down, we're short-handed, the kids are either herding sheep or gathering firewood, who has the manpower to manage schools? Teaching them to read? Can reading put food on the table or produce grain? The most important thing right now is to open up the irrigation canals! To clear the wasteland! If we don't complete the land reclamation tasks from above, everyone will starve! We can talk about the kids' affairs after the autumn harvest!"
Shu Ran stopped at the door. The owner of that voice was clearly Zhao Weidong, the production director.
She cleared her throat and raised her voice: "Report! Shu Ran, the newly arrived youth sent to support the border region, is here to report to Director Zhao Weidong!"
The sounds inside the room abruptly stopped.
A moment later, a figure appeared in the doorway. He was about forty years old, with skin that was a reddish-brown from years of exposure to the elements, and wore a pair of glasses with a broken leg that was taped up.
His face held no smile, only the impatience of being interrupted from his work. This was Zhao Weidong.
Seeing Shu Ran and the cotton fabric she was holding, Zhao Weidong frowned, his eyes filled with scrutiny and aloofness.
"Oh, Comrade Shu Ran? Come in." He stepped aside, adopting a businesslike attitude.
The office was very simple, with old wooden tables almost completely covered by various reports and production schedules, and pickaxes and shovels in the corner.
Behind the table sat a middle-aged man with a dark red face, engrossed in rolling a cigarette. He glanced at Shu Ran, looking down on her.
“Technician Ma, this is the new teacher trainee,” Zhao Weidong introduced, then turned to Shu Ran, “This is Technician Ma, who is in charge of aircraft maintenance.”
Zhao Weidong didn't offer Shu Ran a seat, nor did he sit down himself. He picked up a crumpled document from the table, examined it against the light, and then put it down. "Comrade Shu Ran, the company knows about your situation. Being educated is a good thing. But right now, the company's top priority," he tapped his finger on the production progress chart on the table, a red circle marked "lagging behind" particularly glaring, "is to meet the targets set by the higher-ups! Land reclamation, canal digging, water diversion, alkali drainage, sand stabilization... which one doesn't need manpower? Which one can wait?"
He turned his gaze to Shu Ran, “The kids? The older ones are twelve or thirteen, already half-laborers, herding sheep, collecting manure, helping in the kitchen, delivering water—they can all do it! The younger ones are running around everywhere, who’s going to take care of them? Who has the time to sit inside and listen to lectures? Literacy? Enough is enough! Being able to write their names, recognize the numbers on the work point book, and do addition and subtraction within ten won’t hinder their future work and bookkeeping—that’s enough! As for those…”
He curled his lip in disdain and incomprehension. "Writing, painting, singing, and dancing are just icing on the cake! We haven't even grown any crops on the Gobi Desert yet. What's the point of all that fancy stuff if not a waste?"
He paused, his tone lecturing: "Survival on the frontier comes first, production comes first! Education? That's something for after you've had your fill! Doing this now is just competing with production for labor and hindering the whole company from completing its tasks!"
Shu Ran rolled her eyes inwardly. This Zhao Weidong was just like her former school leader—a complete "performance maniac." But she was also acutely aware of her situation. She wasn't there to be a saint; she was there to survive.
“Director Zhao,” Shu Ran said calmly, “education is not just for show, nor is it about teaching poetry, painting, singing and dancing.”
She met Zhao Weidong's gaze. "For the company to develop, strength alone isn't enough. If they can read, at least they can understand pesticide labels and know how much water to add so they don't burn the seedlings! They can also calculate their own work points and keep simple accounts to avoid making mistakes and suffering losses! Take the blueprints for this row of irrigation canals, for example. If our company's own kids can understand some of them in the future, wouldn't they be able to help the technicians and save us from waiting for the division headquarters?"
She pointed to the farm tools outside: "Take these tools for example. We can't even understand the instructions. How are we supposed to fix them if they break? Are we just going to guess? Wait for the maintenance team? Isn't the time cost a loss?"
Zhao Weidong felt his authority was being challenged, and he raised his voice: "That's for the future! The important thing now is to get the land planted! Without food to eat right now, what's the point of talking about the future? You can do all that when the Gobi Desert is turned into a grain-producing region!"
“Director Zhao,” Shu Ran knew that continuing to argue would be futile, so she softened her tone, “I understand that the company has heavy production tasks and is short-handed. But assigning me to be in charge of education is a job assigned to me by the organization, and it is also the most direct and appropriate contribution I can make to the company. Moreover, education does not necessarily have to take up large blocks of working time. We can arrange it flexibly, for example, by moving the classroom to the edge of the fields…”
"Move to the field? Humph!" Zhao Weidong interrupted her. "Comrade Shuran, you have plenty of ideas, but the company has its own rules! Production has its own order! You think we can just move it like that? Who will be responsible if there are safety issues? Who will be responsible if work hours are delayed? What will everyone think? If everyone is as 'innovative' as you, will we still be able to concentrate our efforts on major tasks?" He emphasized the word "innovative" with a derogatory and wary tone.
The atmosphere became somewhat tense. Technician Ma, standing nearby, exhaled a smoke ring and chimed in, "Old Zhao is right! It's good that the kids are learning to read, but the timing is crucial! Now? It's just a waste of time!"
Shu Ran sighed, her tone laced with self-deprecation and implication: "Director Zhao, I'm a teacher trainee, and teaching is the only thing I'm good at. If I can't even make use of this one thing while bearing the label of 'capitalist's daughter,' then my staying in the company would probably be a problem for everyone and for myself."
Zhao Weidong stared at Shu Ran for several seconds, seemingly assessing the potential risks in her words.
"Fine, fine, fine!" He waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, with great reluctance. "Behind the company headquarters, by the wall, there's a dilapidated tool shed. It's been abandoned for a long time, drafty on all sides, and half the roof has collapsed. If you don't mind the dilapidated state, go and fix it yourself! The place is yours, but let me make this clear upfront!"
His eyes were stern: "First, absolutely no time off work! The kids have to do all the work they're supposed to do; second, safety first! You'll be fully responsible for any problems that arise; third, no disruption to the company's normal order! If you cause any gossip or delay production, I'll take you back immediately!"
"As for the rest," he pointed towards the empty shed, "there's nothing here! Figure it out yourselves! The company doesn't have that kind of budget! Every penny of production funds must be used wisely!"
"Thank you, Director Zhao!" Shu Ran immediately agreed. No matter how harsh the conditions were, getting the location was a victory. She didn't dwell on the details and decisively left the office, heading towards the dilapidated tool shed.
Behind them, Zhao Weidong's complaints to Technician Ma could be faintly heard: "...All this useless stuff! Wouldn't it be better to clear a couple more acres of wasteland with this effort?"
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