Chapter 42: Contradictions Begin to Emerge

Chapter 42: Contradictions Begin to Emerge

Team leader Wei is Wei Xuedong. After finishing his work, he finally has time to talk to Wen Jiajia.

"Are you the new guy next door?"

He took the paper from Wen Jiajia's hand and looked at it carefully, then took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth without lighting it.

Wen Jiajia: "Yes, Team Leader Wei, I just joined yesterday. The situation is like this, the production of two drugs in our team did not meet expectations, and Director Xue asked me to ask what happened."

Wei Xuedong didn't respond and just watched from the sidelines.

After a while, he nodded and said, "Finally, the office next door has hired someone decent."

It was organized pretty well. God knows how much trouble that Joe caused them when he was organizing it.

Logically, this data should have been recorded in the office, but at that time Li Haijun was the only one in the office. Not only was he forgetful, he also had trouble remembering things and even wrote the name of a medicine incorrectly.

But Li Haijun is the nephew of the deputy director of the purchasing department, and you in Workshop 6 have to give him some face.

Despite his protest, a serious technical secondary school student was finally assigned to the next door position.

But who could have imagined that Qiao He was good at writing, but an idiot in everything except writing.

I've been here for half a month and have offended half of the workers in the workshop.

As a result, after Director Xue helped him clean up the messy stall, he assigned him other work, and it turned out that he did a pretty good job.

Especially when it comes to workshop safety, it's perfect to let this more serious person take care of it.

Then there is Sha Yue, a factory worker who grew up in the family compound. How could the factory elders not know her ability? Her mother is quite capable, but she took after her father. When she was in school, she was often called "parents". You can't expect her to do anything, but you might as well expect her not to cause trouble.

In short, the office of the sixth workshop used to be a group of incompetent people, but unexpectedly they recruited someone who is quite capable this time.

Wen Jiajia didn't know that Wei Xuedong had thought so much in such a short time. Seeing that he didn't reply for a long time, she had no choice but to ask the question again.

"It's all because of the lack of raw materials, plus the blasting machine caused a blockage in the pipeline. We were just about to dismantle it. It's already good to be able to produce these. This month's quantity will be even less." Wei Xuedong frowned, returned the paper to Wen Jiajia, and said, "Well, just tell Director Xue this. Also, help me copy this data again, and then I'll give you this month's data, and you can start sorting it out."

“…”

Wen Jiajia: "Okay."

She wanted to ask, isn’t her boss Director Xue?

But her instinct told her to shut up and go back to her office.

She started copying after she sat down with a calm expression. The other three people in the office couldn't tell whether Wen Jiajia was criticized or not.

Lao Wei is a very good nitpicker. Many people in the workshop say that he must have died from a fish bone in his previous life, which is why he is so good at nitpicking in this life. He will even scold you if your handwriting is too ugly.

Wen Jiajia didn't say anything and finished copying in a few minutes. She took both copies out and Team Leader Wei took them over. She gave him the original data that was stained with smoke, and took the newly copied one to Director Xue's office.

"Director, these are the sorted data for April." Wen Jiajia placed the document and the final data on Director Xue's desk.

Director Xue took it and nodded: "What did Team Leader Wei say?"

Wen Jiajia: "Team Leader Wei gave two reasons. The main reason is the reduction of raw materials, and the second reason is the blockage of pipelines caused by the punching pot. Oh, he also asked me to sort out the data for May."

Director Xue frowned, looked at the paper, and said nothing for a long time.

"The pipe is clogged? Is it fixed now?" she asked again.

How could Wen Jiajia know whether the repair was completed or not? Her mind raced and she immediately said, "When I went there just now, Director Wei said that it was being dismantled, but I don't know the details."

"That means it hasn't been repaired." Director Xue said.

She tapped her fingers on the table, making a clicking sound.

Wen Jiajia didn't say anything, waiting for Director Xue's instructions.

Director Xue said, "Then you can continue to sort out this month's work. Wait until this afternoon...are you free this afternoon?"

Wen Jiajia: “Yes.”

“Can you write fast?”

Wen Jiajia: “Not bad.”

In fact, her typing level is just average. If you ask her if she types fast, she will definitely answer "very fast".

"Then you can come with me to the meeting at three o'clock this afternoon." Director Xue waved his hand, "Go ahead and get busy. Ask Lao Wei for the data."

Wen Jiajia nodded: "Okay, Director."

After leaving Director Xue's office, she went straight to the workshop to find Team Leader Wei to get the data, and then started to organize it without stopping.

The three people in the office saw her coming and going in a hurry, and frowning in silence when she came back, which made everyone else feel uneasy.

How should I put it? They were afraid that Wen Jiajia would not be able to do things, but they were also afraid that she would be too good at doing things.

If she was too capable, wouldn't it make them seem too incompetent? So the atmosphere became weird again, and everyone was silent.

Wen Jiajia doesn't have time to care about so many things.

She was really busy. The data for May was obviously more confusing. It was only at 11:30 that she sorted out the data up to May 12. She also had to accompany Director Xue to a meeting at 3:00 p.m.

"Jia Jia, do you want to go eat?" Sha Yue broke the silence.

Wen Jiajia threw the pen away and rubbed her neck: "Eat."

Man is iron and rice is steel. Only when you have enough rice can you work better.

The two of them still went to canteen No. 2.

"You still eat white rice?" Shayue was surprised.

"Yeah... I've had a bad stomach these days."

Wen Jiajia still ate white rice today. It is rare in this era for her to eat white rice five days a week.

For example, Shayue’s conditions are good enough. She has been eating brown rice these two days.

Wen Jiajia felt that she should get closer to others, as eating white rice frequently would easily lead to trouble.

Sha Yue: "Your stomach is not in good condition, so you need to eat more steamed buns and noodles."

Wen Jiajia thanked her and said she would take note of it.

What's the dish? Shredded potatoes and shredded lettuce.

Wen Jiajia was fine, but Sha Yue grumbled, "There's not a single drop of meat today. My mouth is almost dry."

"Hey Shayue, is our cafeteria open at night?" Wen Jiajia asked curiously. When she left yesterday, she saw smoke rising from above the cafeteria.

Sha Yue nodded: "Of course. We also have workers on the night shift here, and some people will work overtime, so they always have to eat."

She glanced around and whispered, "In fact, there is a small cafeteria in the No. 2 cafeteria. The leaders usually come here to eat, and the evening is no exception. Did you see the state-owned hotel yesterday?"

Wen Jiajia immediately showed a curious expression: "I saw it, what's the matter?"

"That place and the small kitchen are prepared for the leaders. Sometimes... some people go to the state-owned hotel to eat when they come, and sometimes they eat in the small canteen." Shayue said meaningfully.

She didn't elaborate, but some things cannot be elaborated.

Wen Jiajia didn't understand at first, so she mixed the two kinds of silk. She mixed them more and more slowly, and slowly, she figured out the trick.

If the leader from above is upright and does not like crooked ways, he will take people to a state-owned restaurant for dinner.

State-owned hotels are "large and spacious". If they offer four dishes and one soup, then they only offer four dishes and one soup. There is no table transaction. It is just a proper meal and the leaders can eat with peace of mind.

It's different in the canteen. What you eat is not the sweet and sour braised pork tenderloin from the state-owned hotel, but grouper freshly caught from the port, big crabs and lobsters that are still alive and kicking, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall made with pork, chicken and beef bones and all kinds of bones, made in a broth that takes a whole day and night to cook.

The pharmaceutical factory could not have expanded to this scale under the leadership of a one-track mind. So when facing different people, we need to have different places to entertain them.

I can't get used to it, but there's nothing I can do about it.

When we finished lunch, the second wave of people arrived and the second wave of dishes was served. This time the dishes contained meat, and there were a few shredded lean meat in the shredded potatoes.

Sha Yue curled her lips: "The workers in the workshop are more valuable than us."

Wen Jiajia smiled but thought to herself that in any factory, the most valuable people are the front-line workshop workers and researchers. Those working in offices are really no match for them.

She didn't plan to take a lunch break today, and continued to sort out data after arriving at the office.

Maybe it's because I ate enough, so I think faster.

It was another sunny day, the sun was scorching, so Wen Jiajia had to put a notebook on the window to block it out.

It's impossible to cover it completely, but just enough to create a shadow on the desk.

Two of the other three people in the office have already gone back, only Shayue is still here.

According to her, Li Haijun was assigned a dormitory thanks to his uncle, while Qiao He was a technical secondary school student and had his own dormitory when he was assigned to the dormitory.

Only she, although her home is in the factory, has many people at home and she would rather stay in the office than go home and listen to her brother and sister-in-law's gossip.

After Wen Jiajia learned that Sha Yue had three older brothers, she roughly guessed her situation.

As I said, how big can a house be at this time? The Sha family must be crowded, and with more people, there will be more things to do.

Moreover, Shayue's mother gave the job to Shayue. I don't know whether the other family members agree or not, but they must be unhappy. There is only one job, and no matter who gets it, the others will think it is unfair.

Furthermore, even if Shayue's salary is handed over to the family for public use, her salary cannot be compared with her mother's, which is another contradiction.

Wen Jiajia was puzzled: "Is it difficult to apply for a dormitory in our factory? There are many people in your family. If you want to apply for a dormitory, the factory should understand."

Sha Yue twitched her lips and said, "My brother and sister-in-law won't let me. If I live in the dormitory, how can I give money to my family?"

"Why don't you just give me a fixed amount every month? You don't have to pay dormitory fees if you live in the dormitory."

"They want to take it all! I'm lucky enough to have two dollars left for pocket money every month." Shayue pouted. Before she had a job, she could get two or three dollars from her mother every month as pocket money, but now that she has a job, she has even less.

Wen Jiajia looked puzzled: "Do your brother and sister-in-law have jobs?"

Sha Yue held her face and said, "Yes, my eldest brother works in the first workshop, my second brother is an electrician in the factory, and my third brother works at our street scrap collection station. As for my sisters-in-law, my eldest sister-in-law works in a textile factory, but she has to give half of her salary to her parents' home. My second and third sisters-in-law don't have jobs."

Wen Jiajia sighed. She wanted to suggest Shayue to try to live in the dormitory, otherwise the family conflict would deteriorate sooner or later. But she also felt that it was better to talk about things with a shallow friend.

It turns out that every family has its own problems.

Sha Yue fell asleep on the table, but Wen Jiajia was still working.

The pen tip kept moving, making a rustling sound on the paper.

When the sunlight moved, she would get up and move the papers on the window. Time passed quickly as she wrote and moved.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the bell for work rang.

Wen Jiajia only had the last two days' worth of data left to sort out, so she worked hard to finish sorting the data, even as she held her urine.

Finally——

Wen Jiajia opened the drawer with a "swish" sound, stuffed a stack of papers and notebooks into the drawer, closed it, and hurried to the restroom.

"Jia Jia, where are you going?" Sha Yue had just woken up, with two red marks on her face.

"Go to the bathroom!"

"I'm going too."

She woke up and ran out.

Wen Jiajia felt something was strange. She seemed to have passed the stage where she had to hold hands with her little sisters when going to the toilet.

Sha Yue asked: "You didn't sleep all afternoon?"

Wen Jiajia nodded, and after using the restroom, she scooped up some cool water from the faucet and splashed it on her face, rubbing her face and saying, "Yes. But it's okay, I'm not that sleepy, I go to bed early at night."

Sha Yue really envied such an ambitious person, "You will become Director Xue's first assistant sooner or later."

Wen Jiajia shook her hands to shake off the water droplets: "Not necessarily, it's only my second day." If she thought so, Director Xue would definitely look down on her bloated self.

Three o'clock was approaching, and Wen Jiajia took the sorted data to see Director Xue.

Director Xue was very satisfied with her work speed and it was obvious that she was someone who could get things done.

"Have you been to our pharmaceutical factory?" Director Xue sounded amiable, which was rare for him.

She was less serious once she left the office, or rather the confines of Workshop 6.

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "The pharmaceutical factory is too big. I have only visited the southeast part of it and have not been to other places."

Director Xue nodded: "I'll visit the whole place when I have the chance."

She brought Wen Jiajia to a small red building. Wen Jiajia walked and looked, guessing that this was where the senior leaders were.

But as soon as she walked in, she realized she was wrong. The first floor of the Red Building was the library, the second floor was the data room and archive room, and the third floor was the conference room.

There were three conference rooms, the largest of which was similar to the university lecture halls of a few decades later.

Today's meeting is held in the conference room.

At this time, there were already quite a few people in the conference room. Wen Jiajia saw several employees wearing blue work uniforms, and they were all sitting in the first row.

"They are researchers," Director Xue said. "Please be polite when you meet them in the future." They are the ones who control the production lifeline of their own workshop.

Wen Jiajia nodded: "Okay."

A few minutes later, the meeting began quickly. The conference room was already full of people. Wen Jiajia roughly counted and there were at least 150 people.

She sat next to Director Xue, and she had to start taking notes as soon as Director Xue pointed to the table.

Memorizing doesn't have to be word for word. Wen Jiajia will write down the key words.

But because the person on the stage didn't speak Mandarin very well, Wen Jiajia had a headache during the recording process.

She finally understood why Director Xue didn't remember it himself. The speaker had an accent and Director Xue was sitting at the back, so anyone with a slight hearing impairment wouldn't be able to hear clearly!

Director Xue is almost fifty years old, and his hearing is certainly not as good as it was when he was young, so it is normal for him to ask someone to help record.

This time, I am talking about next month's work.

There were production targets and export targets, and the research progress was urged, and the foreign language team was asked to prepare... Only then did Wen Jiajia realize that the pharmaceutical factory's drugs would also be exported abroad.

Finally, he emphasized safety, which includes worker safety and machine safety. Director Xue asked her to remember this part carefully.

"If you don't remember clearly, Qiao He won't be able to finish his work next month." Director Xue said helplessly.

“…”

No wonder the older generation always says that work is not difficult. Well, the work they did when they were young was indeed not that difficult compared to the young people who were struggling at that time.

Anyway, at least 50% of the workers are living comfortably now, and this phenomenon will become more and more serious.

This was especially true in the 1980s, when the wave of layoffs had not yet arrived, wages were still being paid, and the factories were already beginning to show signs of decline but were not in financial difficulty.

The entire meeting lasted an hour and a half, and the trip there and back took another half an hour. By the time we got back to the office, it was already five o'clock.

"Jia Jia, what were you doing just now?" Sha Yue asked.

Li Haijun and Qiao He couldn't help but prick up their ears to listen.

Wen Jiajia put the notebook into her backpack, thought for a moment, and stuffed her lunch box back in. She looked up and said to Sha Yue, "Let's go to the big conference room in the Red Building with Director Xue for a meeting."

Sha Yue understood: "The meeting at the end of the month."

Wen Jiajia was curious: "Does it have to be opened every month?"

"Yeah, I almost forgot about it. Hey, did Director Xue ask you to take notes?"

Wen Jiajia was surprised: "You know?"

Sha Yue smiled and quietly pointed to her ear, but Wen Jiajia didn't understand what she meant.

But when she went out with her bag and umbrella, Sha Yue secretly followed her and whispered, "Director Xue served in the army when she was young. Her ears were injured by artillery fire, so her hearing is not that good." Her mother and Director Xue were old friends, so she knew about this.

Wen Jiajia paused slightly, it turned out there was this reason.

Sha Yue left again after she finished speaking. Wen Jiajia stood there for a while before going to the carport.

She put her backpack on the bike basket, unzipped it, took out the lunch box and tucked it aside.

When she passed by the state-owned hotel, she stopped and walked in with her lunch box: "Hello, comrade, I want a portion of sweet and sour pork tenderloin."

I took a peek when I passed by yesterday. It smelled so good that I dreamed about it that night.

"Package?" the waiter asked.

Wen Jiajia handed over the lunch box: "Yes, pack it up."

"Give me the money."

Wen Jiajia skillfully took out the bills she had prepared long ago.

That is to say, she is working now and Wei Dai has been promoted, otherwise she could not have done this.

"Sit over here and wait." The waiter pointed to the seat next to him and went into the kitchen with the lunch box.

Soon, the sweet and sour pork tenderloin was ready, and the waiter handed her the lunch box: "Open it and take a look."

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "No, I'm afraid I won't be able to resist eating it right there."

Waiter: "Haha, you are so funny."

She thought this man was very interesting. He bought eight big steamed buns yesterday and packed a portion of sweet and sour pork loin today. He must be a big customer.

Wen Jiajia left with the hot lunch box in her hand, and immediately stuffed the food into the lunch box when she got back to the car.

Then there was another burst of rapid pedaling, and I managed to get home just as the sunset was still shining brightly.

Today I was a little late. When I got home it was a little after six o'clock and Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had already returned.

Wen Xuan's dog nose smelled something the moment Wen Jiajia opened her backpack, and she hurried over to ask expectantly, "Is it sweet and sour spare ribs?"

Wen Jiajia put the lunch box on the table: "Wrong, it's sweet and sour pork loin. I'll punish you by making you eat one less."

Wen Xuan pouted: "This is beyond the scope, this is food I have never eaten before."

Wen Jiajia laughed out loud, "You even know about super outlines." Such a small child, but he has so many things to say.

She stopped teasing Wen Xuan and hurried to steam the rice.

After the rice is steamed, go to the yard to pick some vegetables.

There were not many vegetables left in the yard. The eggplants and two kinds of beans had not yet grown. She had to find some free time to go to the vegetable patch to pick them.

By the time the rice was cooked, the sunset had already disappeared into the sky.

The nights in early summer always come suddenly, as if the connection time between day and night is infinitely shortened.

The sweet and sour pork tenderloin was a really big portion, and the three of them only finished half of it. After finishing, Wen Chun wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and said, "Can we eat the rest tomorrow?" She thought the sweet and sour pork tenderloin tasted better than sweet and sour spare ribs.

"If it's not bad, you can eat it." Wen Jiajia was also in a dilemma. It was really inconvenient without a refrigerator.

I have to work overtime at night, but luckily there is light.

Wen Jiajia needs to organize the content of today's conversation, otherwise Director Xue will not understand it.

The curtains are not drawn, but you can see the night outside by looking up.

With the arrival of early summer, the cicadas that have lived in the soil for five or even fifteen years finally mature. They climb up the trees, shed their shells and emerge from their pupae, trying their best to make the “cicada cicada” calls of courtship.

Because there were not many cicadas at this time, Wen Jiajia did not feel annoyed. She even felt that the arrival of the cicadas added a bit of fun to this summer night.

She was thinking about waiting for Wei Dai to come back and letting him take her to catch cicadas. It just so happened that there was pepper salt and chili powder at home, and stir-frying cicadas with pepper salt and chili powder in a pan was also a rare delicacy.

At nine o'clock, the lights went out without hesitation.

Wen Jiajia paused with the pen in her hand and lit the kerosene lamp helplessly. She was still a little way from finishing the work.

It was already half past nine when she stopped writing again. Wen Jiajia was so sleepy that she kept yawning. She fell into a deep sleep in less than half a minute after lying on the bed.

The next morning, Wen Jiajia handed the meeting content to Director Xue at the time she went to work. She said she had to finish it as soon as possible yesterday.

Director Xue's impression of Wen Jiajia has really changed at this time. Two days ago, he just thought that she was a capable person, but now... maybe he could have higher expectations of her.

"Well, not bad." Director Xue nodded, a look of satisfaction on his face. "Let Qiao He take care of the safety aspect and let him prepare for next month's work."

"Yes, Director."

After receiving the task, Wen Jiajia left and returned to the office, leaving the meeting content related to security on Qiao He's desk.

She was quite surprised that she was the first person to arrive at the office today.

At this moment, Qiao He has not arrived yet.

"That's weird," she muttered.

She picked up today's newspaper and started reading it without paying much attention until five minutes before eight o'clock when George hurried into the office.

Qiao He glanced at the papers on the table and said nothing.

Wen Jiajia took the lead in breaking the ice: "Comrade Qiao, what's on your table is the content of yesterday's conversation about safety."

After about three seconds, he finally spoke: "Okay, thank you."

Wen Jiajia was a little surprised that she could actually hear the word "thank you" from his mouth.

The third person to arrive at the office was Shayue.

Sha Yue arrived on time, but Li Haijun did not arrive until 8:05.

Now an embarrassing problem arises - the office only has three new newspapers every day, and they are in the hands of Wen Jiajia and others. Li Haijun didn't notice it at first. When he packed up his things and went to the door to get the newspapers, he came back empty-handed and with a gloomy face.

Sha Yue just glanced at him and ignored him.

She is a child of a pharmaceutical factory. Her parents are old employees of the pharmaceutical factory and made great contributions in the early days of the pharmaceutical factory. Maybe Director Xue will be wary of his uncle, the deputy minister, but she will not.

As for Qiao He, he looked down on Li Haijun, but he did not dare to show his emotions like Sha Yue, so he just pretended not to see it.

After all, he felt that he was the second one to arrive, and it was none of his business if there was no newspaper.

As for Wen Jiajia?

Wen Jiajia snorted in her heart. She was so cautious in the past two days because she was unfamiliar with the situation, but now... she couldn't always be a wimp.

Besides, she was admitted through the exams without any backdoor, so she stands tall.

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