"no!"
It was Sun Xiaoyu who coldly interrupted him, her brows furrowed slightly as she said seriously, "Comrade Chen, don't forget you promised to deliver the black market goods at eight o'clock."
Chen Jing then remembered the promise he had made to someone last night and couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh.
Just as he was about to speak, a young girl suddenly rushed in from outside the door, angrily shouting, "Team Leader Sun, you've gone too far! Brother Chen is already exhausted from working all day, can't he even relax by watching a movie at night?"
Ji Xia raised an eyebrow, her ambiguous gaze shifting between Chen Jing and Liu Xiaojiao.
Chen Jing, oblivious to her gaze, turned around with disgust and glared at Liu Xiaojiao upon hearing this: "You were eavesdropping on our conversation? What are you trying to do?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaojiao bit her lower lip in grievance: "Brother Chen, I just feel that you work too hard, running around for the workshop every day."
"Whom am I busy with all this for? Isn't it because of you?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jing became even angrier. He had been working for several days in a row and still kept consuming the drug every day, refusing to listen to anything anyone said.
He pointed at Liu Xiaojiao and scolded her angrily, "I only gave you this opportunity because of your brother. Let me tell you, if you keep wasting fabric like this every day, not even the Emperor himself can save you. Get out—"
Liu Xiaojiao's face flushed red from the scolding, and seeing the other two looking at her coldly, she lowered her head, covered her face, and turned away.
Ji Xia quietly took his hand and shook her head at him: "Don't be angry. Watching a movie is not okay. Let's go out for dinner instead?"
"Okay, let's have dinner."
Chen Jing suppressed his anger and tossed the children's clothing draft to Sun Xiaoyu: "It's yours now. Prepare those goods for me. I'll come back to pick them up after dinner."
Sun Xiaoyu responded, and Ji Xia smiled slightly at her before walking out of the small workshop side by side with Chen Jing.
I rode my bike to the state-run restaurant, which was already more than half full.
However, there weren't many people queuing at the counter; most people had already finished eating by then.
Ji Xia leaned over to look at the blackboard on the wall. The scallion oil chicken hadn't been erased yet, and she quickly asked, "Is there any scallion oil chicken left?"
"One last one," the sales clerk replied casually without looking up.
Ji Xia smiled more: "Great, one serving of scallion oil chicken, one stir-fried bok choy, and one pork offal soup."
As she spoke, she took out her grain coupons and money. The clerk quickly took the money, wrote her a receipt, and said, "Find a place to wait. I'll call you when it's ready."
Chen Jing had already found a table by the window. Two diners had just finished their meal and, seeing Chen Jing standing guard nearby, readily stepped aside to make room for them.
Chen Jing cleared away the bowls and chopsticks they had used and put them aside. He then took a rag and wiped the table before bringing over two cups of tea.
Seeing that he still had a dark expression and looked unhappy, Ji Xia smiled and said, "Still angry?"
"Hmph, you have no idea, that Liu Xiaojiao is as stupid as a pig. Her brother even said that she works quickly and doesn't care about quality at all."
Chen Jing gritted his teeth in anger, while Ji Xia looked at his face calmly, but what she was thinking about was Liu Xiaojiao's sweet voice.
This "Brother Chen" thing, always hanging around the small workshop, the two of them seeing each other all the time, isn't that a bit dangerous?
It's fine if he loses to a rich girl from his past life; at least that rich girl can help him out and make him successful for half his life.
A country girl who only pretends to be stupid and causes trouble is not as good as her. If someone like that gets his hands on her, she will be laughed to death.
After Liu Pianran stole Lin Haodong from her, some people were already mocking her behind her back, not to mention Liu Xiaojiao.
She lowered her gaze and quietly reached out to hold Chen Jing's hand: "I'm sorry, it's all because of me. I didn't care about anything and made you busy with everything and suffer from all sides."
Chen Jingben was furious, but upon hearing this, his anger immediately subsided. He sighed and said, "How could I blame you! It's not a big deal, why are you angry? A few idiots aren't worth getting angry over. At worst, I'll just send her back and get rid of her."
“That won’t do. The people they’ve brought in are either relatives or family members of friends and brothers. We had a good agreement beforehand. If we send them back now, it will only make things difficult for you and you won’t be able to explain it to your brothers.”
"What am I supposed to explain to them? That bastard Xiaogang, I told him I needed to be capable, and he actually betrayed me, it's outrageous."
Chen Jing grew increasingly angry as he spoke, but Ji Xia shook her head at him.
In fact, Liu Xiaojiao was from the same brigade and they were about the same age, so Ji Xia was not unfamiliar with her.
She remembered that she wasn't so clumsy in the past. She didn't know if she was really clumsy now or if it was a way of trying to get closer to him.
After all, Chen Jing was tall and handsome, and his father was a brigade leader, so he had some family wealth.
He used to say he was irresponsible and unreliable, but now he's a supervisor in a small workshop.
Outsiders may not know that Chen Jing is cooperating with them to run a small workshop, but they do know that he is now the biggest manager of the workshop, so it is normal for him to have some ulterior motives.
However, it's about time it came to an end.
Just as she was about to speak, the sales clerk called for someone. Ji Xia shoved the receipt in front of Chen Jing and said, "Bring the food over first, and I'll tell you later."
Chen Jing responded, grabbed the receipt, and went back and forth twice, bringing over two dishes, a soup, and two bowls of rice.
"Let's eat and talk things out slowly."
Ji Xia set out the bowls and chopsticks, then picked up a chicken leg with the most meat on it for him before whispering, "I was thinking, our little workshop is full of relatives, friends, and brothers. This has its advantages and disadvantages."
“If you say that the work is not going to be done and you send the person back, it will offend people too much and easily expose our small workshop.”
“When problems arise, it’s hard to manage them. You have to give them some face, right? But if you don’t manage them, everyone will follow her example, only seeking quantity and not quality. Our little workshop won’t last long before it goes out of business.”
As Chen Jing listened to her slowly explaining her reasoning, his mind was preoccupied with the dream he had the previous night.
Lately, he has been having a lot of dreams in which an arrogant and willful city girl criticizes him and the Chen family as worthless.
He also had to travel around doing business, experiencing all sorts of hardships on his entrepreneurial journey. The consequences that Ji Xia mentioned were ones he had actually encountered in his dreams.
Although she is not yet a college student, Ji Xia's vision and talent are by no means lacking.
After listening for a while, he asked in a low voice, "Then what do you think should be done?"
Ji Xia put down her chopsticks and looked at him seriously: "Here's what I'm thinking. Since you can't manage these people and are prone to offending them, then leave the factory management to Sun Xiaoyu. You just need to take care of the business, delivery, and finance."
"Although Xiaoyu is a girl, she is conscientious and responsible, and she does a good job in management and work arrangement. We should give her more authority and let her do things on her own."
“She has no relation to those people, so there’s no need to show them any favors. Just be fair and just, and focus on the issue, not the person. Of course, if someone comes to you for help, don’t back them up and make things difficult for Xiaoyu.”
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