Chapter 039 Selected Pharmaceutical Factory
The test is actually very simple. Simple here means that there is no over-the-top syllabus and all questions are strictly within the high school level.
The questions were not as bizarre as the civil service examination questions a few decades later, which made people wonder in what state the question setters were thinking of when they came up with the questions.
Wen Jiajia did the test quite smoothly. There were indeed a lot of people there, and because the weather was good, they all sat in a large open space to do the test. There were also many people patrolling nearby, which eliminated the possibility of cheating.
There is only one exam, so math, Chinese, politics, history, physics, etc. are all on the same paper. As for whether to take the history or physics exam, it all depends on your choice.
Wen Jiajia writes no slower than others.
She has the memory of her previous life, as well as the memory of the original owner, plus she has been reviewing non-stop for the past two or three months, so she feels pretty good about herself.
Soon, she finished the test paper.
At this moment, half of the people in the room had left. She packed up her things, handed in her paper, and waited.
In order to prevent people from taking backdoors as much as possible, the factory's recruitment process has always been revised during the examination.
For example, right now, there were several people grading papers. Wen Jiajia glanced at them secretly and saw that it was almost her turn.
As the end of the exam approached, many candidates became increasingly anxious.
Some even cried while doing the questions.
It wasn't tears flowing silently, but tears that were so intense that the emotions got out of control and I was almost beating my chest and stamping my feet.
Wen Jiajia could actually understand it, because in those days there were educated youth, and young people without jobs had to go to the countryside.
It's not the 1950s or 1960s anymore. Everyone knows how hard life is in the countryside. How can we not be devastated?
Wei Dai didn't know who he had gotten close to, but he actually entered the pharmaceutical factory when the exam was over.
"Wow, you almost scared me." Wen Jiajia's shoulder was patted by him, and she almost jumped up in fright, "Why are you here?"
Wei Dai: "You haven't come out yet, I'm worried about you."
He was getting anxious waiting outside, so he tried to strike up a conversation with the security guards. Since the exam was over, it was normal for him to go inside to look for his wife who was taking the exam, so they let him in.
Wen Jiajia whispered to Wei Dai, "I did every question, but I don't know if I did it right."
She felt right anyway.
Wei Dai kept his eyes on the people grading the papers and said, "They are definitely all correct."
After waiting for five or six minutes, Wen Jiajia yawned.
The sun is so warm that it makes people feel sleepy.
The marking was almost finished and all the candidates were staring at the marker. When the marker started to mark the last paper, Wen Jiajia could even hear the rapid breathing of the candidate next to her.
Finally——
After the marking was completed, several markers took out five papers and gave them to the deputy director in charge of recruitment to check them again.
The check here is actually a check on political answers.
Wen Jiajia only seeks stability in politics. She has not read newspapers in vain in the past month or so. Now she is no longer Wu Xia Amon in politics.
After checking, the deputy factory manager took out one of the papers and then looked at the names on the four papers in his hand.
"Deng Guoan, Zhang Qing, Li Jingwei, and..."
She flipped through the test paper, and Wei Dai's breathing stopped at that moment. Everyone's eyes were focused on her.
"And Wen Jia."
Wen Jiajia's breath that she had been holding in suddenly burst out, and her eyes instantly became sore.
That’s great! From now on I can get paid again.
Even though Wei Dai had a lot of savings, she was happier and more comfortable when she could earn money on her own.
Wei Dai was obviously more excited than her and pulled Wen Jiajia towards the deputy factory director.
The deputy factory manager looked at the four people one by one and said, "You should report to the Personnel Department on the first of next month and try to get your graduation certificates in advance. As for the positions, we will talk about them when the time comes."
The four of them nodded heavily.
Wen Jiajia had her diploma with her, while the other three were probably students who needed to go back to school to complete the formalities and collect their diplomas in advance.
There are many trees inside the pharmaceutical factory.
The wide road is lined with ginkgo trees on both sides, and you can also see a few camphor trees that are so big that two or three people can't hug them.
The building of the pharmaceutical factory is also quite unique, with gray-white walls and a somewhat Western-style appearance. The tallest building is five stories high and is surrounded by ginkgo trees. I think the scenery will be even more beautiful in autumn.
Wei Dai took Wen Jiajia for a walk around the pharmaceutical factory, and took the route from the factory gate to the personnel department specifically to prevent her from having trouble finding the place when she reported in.
When we're done, it's time to go back.
The fact that Wen Jiajia was going to work at the pharmaceutical factory soon became known to many people, because she had to get a certificate from the army, and the job at that time also needed to be reviewed.
This proves that once you hit someone, you can't hide it.
The first person to come was Sister Bao. Her husband worked in logistics and was the most well-informed.
"Are you going to work at the pharmaceutical factory?" Sister Bao rushed into the hospital. "I was wondering today why you and your wife went to the city so early in the morning. It turns out you were going to the pharmaceutical factory to take an exam."
"Oh, you are so amazing. You passed the exam on the first try." Sister Bao came closer and said enviously.
Most of the families in the family home hope to have a job.
But just as most soldiers come from rural areas, most of their families also come from rural areas.
At that time, the literacy rate in rural areas was not high, and many soldiers had to take extra cultural courses after joining the army. As for the wives of soldiers, it was considered amazing if they could recognize some common characters and read elementary school textbooks by half-guessing.
This is the general environment, which makes it extremely difficult for military wives to work.
Wen Jiajia smiled and poured her a cup of tea: "It's also good luck. I have been preparing for the exam, but I'm not sure whether I can pass it or not, so I haven't said anything."
Sister Bao sighed, "For a family like yours where both husband and wife have jobs, life will be easier in the future. Apart from anything else, you have money to earn from your job."
What is grain capital? It is actually a quota for non-rural households, including grain and oil.
This notebook sometimes has more purchasing power than cash, as it allows you to go to designated grocery stores to buy food and cooking oil.
Wen Jiajia: "Anyway, our troops are not short of food right now, so it doesn't make much difference whether we have food or not."
The troops would not starve anywhere. As far as she knew, there would be no famine in the next few years as the area had always been a land of plenty.
That's true.
Soon, Sister Hong also came.
"You are really a fast runner. No one can run faster than you." Sister Hong said this to Sister Bao, and then said to Wen Jiajia, "If we talk about who in our family compound loves to join in the fun the most, Sister Bao must be on the list."
Sister Bao rolled her eyes and scolded with a smile: "I was only a few minutes earlier than you. Your home is farther away than mine. If you really count, you came faster than me. Who is the faster one?"
Sister Hong ignored her and pulled Wen Jiajia's hand with a little excitement and asked, "You, who passed the exam, will work in the office directly, right?"
Wen Jiajia: "...I don't know yet. I have to wait for the report to be distributed."
Anyway, she was certain to be assigned to an administrative position, but she actually wanted to switch to a technical position.
Not for any other reason, just because she can always learn something in the technical position and can also test out her golden fingers.
Secondly, technical positions pay more.
Compared to administrative positions, technical positions at similar levels always pay a few more dollars per month, and it is said that the annual festival benefits are also more generous. If you reach the position of researcher, you will also receive a meal allowance every day.
Of course, Wen Jiajia didn't even dare to think about being a researcher.
Sister Hong said, "I have a niece who works in the workshop, the one that produces red medicine. If you have any problems, you can go find her. Her name is Liu Sihua."
Wen Jiajia nodded to indicate that she would remember it.
Sister Bao and Sister Hong left after not staying for long. After all, Wei Dai’s meal was almost ready, and they couldn’t disturb the couple while they were eating.
To celebrate passing the exam, Wei Dai bought a lot of food today.
Many of them were reserved by him yesterday. Wen Jiajia leaned against the door frame of the kitchen and said with a smile: "You knew I would pass the exam. You even bought the food."
Since he had already passed the exam, Wei Dai was no longer as cautious as before and said bluntly: "That's not the case. If you passed the exam, it's a celebration. If you didn't pass the exam, it's just consolation."
“…”
The smile on Wen Jiajia's face disappeared.
This person's words are so honest and so choking.
She snorted: "Since it's a celebration, you have to prepare all the meals today."
As he said this, he went to pick up the vegetables piled up in the kitchen.
Wei Dai was really amazing. He got a palm-sized piece of beef from somewhere. Wen Jiajia took it in her hand and weighed it. It must weigh more than half a pound.
Wen Jiajia wanted to eat fried beef with coriander, but after thinking about it, she was shocked to find that she didn’t even grow coriander!
This is impossible.
She is a staunch believer in coriander.
"Oh!" Wen Jiajia was extremely sorry. She was depressed for a moment and asked Wei Dai disappointedly, "How are you going to eat the beef?"
Wei Dai: "I learned how to make stir-fried peppers from Lao Li. He is very good at making stir-fried beef with peppers."
Wen Jiajia nodded and said that was fine.
She dug around and found some wild rice stems, so she asked again, "Do you want to use the wild rice stems to stir-fry the meat?"
Wei Dai: "Stir-fry. Do you see the Dutch beans? You like Dutch beans, right? Let's stir-fry the meat with the Dutch beans."
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "Don't Dutch beans ripen in May?"
Wei Dai: "Someone will always plant early."
Plant early and sell early to make money. As long as I can sell it at a high price, I am willing to grow vegetables in the house.
Wen Jiajia also saw a half-dead duck. She recognized it and said, "This is the duck I bought some time ago. I bought it because I wanted to eat ginger duck."
Actually, I wanted to eat beer duck at first, but I couldn’t buy beer at the moment.
However, ginger duck is also delicious, so she specially prepared enough old ginger and some essential spices.
Wei Dai thought for a moment and said, "I originally wanted to make soup... never mind, let's make ginger duck."
Wen Jiajia looked at him suspiciously: "You can?"
Wei Dai snorted and laughed: "When I succeed, you will know whether I can do it or not."
I'm full of confidence. It seems I can do it.
Wen Jiajia immediately made an inviting gesture: "Come on, you're in charge of the kitchen today." She then waited to eat.
The lunch was ready, a plate of fried eggs with leeks and a plate of fried pork with wild onions.
The leeks are newly grown tender leeks. I won’t complain about their strong taste, but the key point is that they don’t get stuck in your teeth. They are good leeks.
Wen Jiajia found that the vegetables at this time really tasted better than they would in a few decades.
Most leeks after a few decades will not have much leek flavor, unless you spend a lot of money to buy high-altitude leeks or organic leeks.
And wild onions are now everywhere.
Even at the gate of the yard and on the open space next to it, one could see wild onions growing wildly, which made Wen Jiajia wonder if she had made a mistake by planting onions in the yard. She could have saved the space for planting onions.
It’s time to pull them all out and then plant coriander!
After lunch, the couple lay down in the yard to rest.
Perhaps because she had been living too stressful recently, Wen Jiajia actually fell asleep on the bamboo chair.
Wei Dai had no choice but to carry her into the house and then go back to the yard to carve building blocks for the two sisters.
The sun moved westward and the sunlight gradually left the yard.
After Wei Dai finished making the building blocks, he picked up a hoe and reclaimed another half square meter of land next to the vegetable patch.
What? To plant coriander. Although he disliked it, he had to plant some since Jia Jia liked to eat it.
It's almost evening.
Today's sunset is as brilliant as the sunrise.
Wen Jiajia slept until the evening. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the light outside the window had dimmed.
There it came again, that familiar, overwhelming feeling of loneliness.
Taking a nap too late always makes her feel panicky and lost, but when she thinks about the fact that she has officially got a job in the country and is eating public food, joy gradually prevails.
Wen Jiajia took a deep breath: "It smells so good."
It’s the scent of ginger duck!
She couldn't wait to open the door and go to the kitchen: "Is the ginger duck almost cooked?"
Wei Dai opened the lid of the clay pot and picked up a piece of duck meat with chopsticks: "Here, let me give you a taste first."
Wen Jiajia opened her mouth wide: "Ah——"
The next second, his eyes lit up.
The duck used to make ginger duck is Muscovy duck, the meat is tender and not dry, and the soup is fresh and fragrant with the unique spiciness of ginger.
Wen Jiajia savored it carefully: "Did you add sesame oil?"
"I used all the sesame oil left at home." Wei Dai nodded and added, "I heard that the authentic ones cannot have a drop of water in them, but since it was my first time making it, I was afraid it would be ruined, so I added some pork bone soup."
It just so happened that what he was cooking today was pork bone soup.
Wen Jiajia doesn't necessarily have to eat authentic dishes, but she should adapt to local conditions. It will still taste good anyway.
The golden crow falls to the west, and the tired birds return to the forest.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan learned a new song today, and the two sisters returned home skipping and happy.
The Xie family next door heard someone opening their door. Wen Jiajia, who was washing bitter vegetables, ran over and said happily, "Teacher Shen, don't cook dinner at your house today. Come to my house for dinner."
Shen Xunzhen was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile: "I almost forgot, today is the day of the exam, right? Did you pass the exam?"
Wen Jiajia: "Yes, Wei Dai is cooking again, and he is much older. You also have your brother-in-law and Xiao Yi brothers, please come over."
Shen Xunzhen did not refuse: "Okay!" This is a good thing that makes people happy.
Wen Jiajia ran back home to continue washing vegetables.
Dandelion is actually just a general name. The real dandelion has longer leaves, but what she is washing now is the dandelion with oval leaves.
In fact, its real name is 敗醬草, but the locals call it 苦齋.
Wei Dai picked the basil near his home in the afternoon. It was tender and crisp at that time, and he picked a full pot of it, leaving many aunties who came here from their family's building to pick basil back empty-handed.
"The vegetables are washed!" Wen Jiajia asked Wen Chun and Wen Xuan to bring the vegetables in.
He wiped the water off his hands, put the two tables together, and removed the clutter on the tables.
The beef is probably being stir-fried in the pot now. The spatula and the iron pot keep colliding, and the friction sound continues to ring out. A spicy smell comes from the kitchen, so spicy that it is a bit pungent.
There were more wild vegetables at home today than just the black mustard greens. Wen Jiajia also saw half a basket of bracken in the bamboo basket next to it.
Wen Jiajia counted on her fingers and realized that she hadn't eaten bracken for seven years.
The last time I ate it was in the countryside during a spring outing in high school. I was almost stung by a bee while picking bracken.
Wen Jiajia was delighted and asked Wei Dai hurriedly, "Do you want to wash the bracken?"
Wei Dai had finished stir-frying the beef and was now pounding the garlic and frying the soy sauce. The sound of pounding the garlic was accompanied by the sound of pounding the garlic, and he said, "Let's put it aside and fry it tomorrow. It won't go bad."
Wen Jiajia was unhappy when she heard this, and ran to the kitchen window, looking at him eagerly: "But I want to eat today."
As for that, Wei Dai couldn't stand her look: "...then do it."
Wen Jiajia went to wash the bracken again.
The sound of picking bracken is soothing, the sound of the crackling sound is very crisp. After picking it into small pieces, she personally sent it to the kitchen and reminded me, "I want to eat bracken fried with wine lees."
"OK!"
"Oh, and add some green onions to enhance the flavor."
"good."
"By the way," Wen Jiajia added, "remember to blanch the fish before frying, otherwise it will taste bitter."
Although bracken would taste more special if it had a bit of bitterness, it would be weird if it was too bitter and mixed with the taste of sake lees.
Wei Dai was speechless: "...How about you come?"
Then he handed her the spatula.
"That's not necessary." Wen Jiajia hurried away.
While the sun was still shining, dinner began.
The dinner was very sumptuous. Several children were lying on the edge of the table, staring at the dishes on the table.
There are stir-fried beef with chili, stir-fried meat with Dutch beans, stir-fried wild rice stem, duck with ginger, stewed pork ribs with kelp, as well as stir-fried bitter greens with garlic and stir-fried bracken with wine lees.
Tea was used instead of wine on the table, and people were toasting each other, creating a lively atmosphere.
Since there weren't many people, a few children could sit at the table.
Teacher Shen’s husband, Xie Yang, is a strong man with a sturdy body, but surprisingly, he has a baby face and is the type who smiles whenever he sees anyone.
When Wen Jiajia first met him, she always felt that he was strange. The two temperaments mixed together made people feel very strange.
Wei Dai was not familiar with him at first, but they gradually became familiar with each other after they became neighbors.
Wen Jiajia learned from Wei Dai that Xie Yang was a real native of the capital, and his ancestors had been from the capital for four or five generations.
But what was puzzling was that she couldn't hear any capital accent in him.
Wen Jiajia sometimes couldn't help but wonder if this man was a specially trained special forces soldier who often had to go out on special missions.
There's nothing I can do. I've watched too many military movies in my previous life.
But Wei Dai would not tell her about this. Wei Dai was very good at keeping secrets and would never mention anything about the mission to her at home.
After knowing that Xie Yang was from the capital, Wen Jiajia had something to talk about. She asked Xie Yang, "Brother Xie, have you people from the capital lived in courtyard houses in alleys since childhood?"
Xie Yang laughed: "How is that possible? The capital is not full of alleys and courtyard houses."
"But I am." Xie Yang said again.
Wen Jiajia felt so jealous that her heart was sour, even sourer than a lemon.
As a person who traveled back to the 1970s, who doesn’t have the dream of buying a courtyard house in the capital?
In a few decades, the price of a courtyard house will be sky-high.
However, Siheyuan houses are not so easy to buy, even now.
First of all, you must have a hukou in the capital, and secondly... secondly, houses were not allowed to be bought and sold at that time.
Yeah, it's fucked up like that.
You can't buy it even if you have money.
However, there are always more solutions than problems. If you can’t buy the house, you can “give” it away. Many people rely on “giving” houses away to make transactions.
For example, after negotiating the sale of a house with the homeowner, a deposit is given privately, and the homeowner then goes to the Housing Authority to "give" the house to the distant relative who is buying the house. This is a well-known unspoken rule, and the people at the Housing Authority will not care about this behavior.
Shen Xunzhen gently pinched Xie Yang, then turned to Wen Jiajia and said, "He does live in a quadrangle, but it's more like a large compound than a quadrangle."
Wen Jiajia understood, the kind of courtyard house where several families lived together.
Wei Dai, a true southerner, didn't quite understand: "Aren't quadrangle courtyards and large mixed courtyards the same kind of place?"
Xie Yang said: "Well, there are some differences. There are many types of Siheyuan. Generally, rich people live in the complete Siheyuan with one entrance. As for the two-entry and three-entry Siheyuan, they were all occupied by officials in the past. Now some have been converted into schools, some have been converted into offices, and some have been allocated to streets and factories as housing reserves."
"As for the large compound buildings, many of them are converted from quadrangle courtyards, and some are self-built. These buildings can easily become dangerous buildings."
Wei Dai nodded. He couldn't imagine what such a house would look like.
Wen Jiajia asked curiously, "Are there still quadrangle courtyards with four or five courtyards?"
Xie Yang laughed again: "Now there are none. The ones with four, five or six courtyards are where the princes and officials live. They are either demolished or broken up and converted into two or one courtyards. It's good enough to keep a three-courtyard house intact."
Wen Jiajia felt a little regretful.
But on second thought, she had no reason to regret.
Her family’s savings are not enough to even buy a house.
The cheapness of Siheyuan at that time was only in the amount of price compared to later generations.
But discussing house prices without considering commodity prices and wages is just rogue behavior!
The average wage of workers is now more than 30 yuan, but a courtyard house with a relatively good location, relatively well preserved and an area of about 400 square meters will cost at least 5,000 yuan.
Moreover, this kind of complete and not too narrow courtyard house is priceless. If you want to buy it for 5,000 yuan, the owner probably won’t be willing to sell it.
The sumptuous dinner ended with a discussion about the house.
The children had finished their meal long ago and were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone to Xie's house to listen to the radio.
When the sun set and the moon rose, and the bright moonlight shone into the yard, Teacher Shen and his wife also left the yard.
Wen Jiajia accompanied Wei Dai to clean the kitchen.
The new lamps were so bright that they crowded out the moonlight that came through the windows.
The evening breeze is as gentle as willow branches brushing against your face, and occasionally you can hear the chirping of unknown insects.
Wei Dai suddenly asked her, "You really want to go to the capital."
Wen Jiajia asked back: "Don't you want to?"
Wei Dai paused. That was true. He thought about it too.
But for some reason, he could feel that Wen Jiajia was very familiar with the capital.
Wen Jiajia didn't dare talk more about this topic and stayed in the kitchen for a few minutes, suppressing her guilt.
At night, I took a bath and lay in bed.
She had nothing to do after the exams and was so bored with books that she didn't even want to touch them.
But Wen Jiajia couldn't fall asleep after sleeping too long in the afternoon.
Wei Dai came back from drying his hair, then lay on the bed and combed Wen Jiajia's hair with his fingers.
After talking for a while, he said, "Those two vacant lots are going to be used for building buildings again."
Wen Jiajia chuckled and said, "You haven't given up yet." It's strange, is the building really so fragrant at this moment?
Wei Dai pinched her face and sighed, "Alas! Give up, I've given up a long time ago. Anyway, it's impossible for us. Those houses are too small to be changed, but we can't change the bungalow we live in."
Wen Jiajia patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you'll have a place to stay in the future."
Wei Dai hugged her and said, "That's not what I want to talk about. The logistics staff said that the team will set up a breeding farm."
"Jobs for family members?" Wen Jiajia turned sideways and responded immediately.
Wei Dai nodded: "Didn't you say last time that you wanted to order milk? Then ask if you can raise a few sheep and order some for Chun'er and Xuanxuan."
Wen Jiajia said hurriedly: "I will order one when the time comes!"
She was weak, so she wanted to drink what the child drank.
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