The four people turned their heads at the sound and saw the staff member walking aggressively towards them. They retreated in unison.
She deliberately exposed Ruan Xianxian, whose appearance was so conspicuous that even two eyes weren't enough to see her.
This guy had already skillfully held a cigarette in his left hand and his work ID in his right, finally sparing a sliver of attention for the newcomer.
"Hello comrade! I am a translator from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Heilongjiang Province. This is my work ID. Please verify it."
The man, Wu Xing, took the document and saw that it was stamped with the provincial government's official seal. His attitude changed completely in an instant.
"Oh, it's you translators. What brings you here?"
He couldn't understand it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had absolutely nothing to do with the scrap yard. Surely they weren't here to inspect the work?
Ruan Xianxian put away her work badge. "Hmm, every translator gets one during the exhibition," she said, offering the other person a cigarette and speaking casually.
"Hey, I heard the scrap yard is making some big moves at this exhibition in the provincial capital. You guys must be exhausted."
Wu Xing took the cigarette, smelled it, and seeing that the woman wasn't so rigid and had a place to vent, he relaxed a lot.
"That's right. Half a month ago, a document was issued from above saying that the province was going to receive important guests, and the whole province was to cooperate in cleaning up the city's appearance. Our scrap yard was the first to be affected."
He pointed to the pile of scrap that resembled a small mountain, "It's only because we've been working tirelessly for half a month to get it to this state, and we haven't seen any customers."
You said that no matter what kind of guests come, they can't visit the junkyard, right?
Ruan Xianxian nodded in deep agreement and was led into the scrap yard by Wu Xing. The old gatekeeper glanced over but did not stop them.
"That's not quite right. When I was leading foreign guests to visit the agricultural machinery factory and we passed by our scrap yard, we could see the neatly arranged piles of scrap from afar."
Foreign guests asked curiously what this place was. When I said it was a scrap yard, their surprised expressions all said that they never expected that the places in China where scrap is disposed of would be so well-organized.
Some people even thought it was a large warehouse.
Wu Xing loved to hear this. No one doesn't want to be rewarded after putting in hard work, so he boasted all the way about how much manpower and machinery he had used.
Then the agricultural machinery station was uncooperative, dragging its feet even when it came to borrowing two tractors.
Throughout the conversation, Ruan Xianxian expressed his deep understanding. When they got to the point, he and Wu Xing shared a common hatred for the enemy. When they arrived at the door of Warehouse No. 1, the two almost became sworn brothers.
"Brother Wu, what's this?" Xiao Zhang, who was guarding Warehouse No. 1, saw Dispatcher Wu leading a group of people walking towards them, chatting and laughing, and asked curiously.
Wu Xing introduced them to Xiao Zhang with a familiar expression: "These are leaders from the provincial office who came down to inspect the work. You're busy, I'll show them around."
Mu Xia silently looked up at the sky. The temporary translators were temporarily managed by the provincial office. It was no exaggeration to say that they were people from the provincial office.
The guy surnamed Ruan has already taken over the conversation with a humble expression.
"Brother Wu, you're too kind. What inspection? It's just that our station's efforts have been recognized by foreign guests. Director Jia asked us to come and extend his regards to the grassroots on his behalf."
Come and see if there's anything I can help with.
Chen Zhaodi looked down at the shoe, her toes twitching slightly...
I remember when I met Director Jia in the hotel lobby, I heard that they were going to do volunteer work at the recycling station, and I could only describe the look in her eyes.
Upon hearing Ruan Xianxian mention Jia Yongjun, Wu Xing took a light breath, and his smile became even more enthusiastic.
Nowadays, it's a source of great pride for employees to receive praise from their superiors. Unlike in later years, there aren't so many hidden complexities. If a leader praises someone in public, it's highly likely that the leader is going to punish that person.
Wu Xing, who had originally planned to bypass Warehouse No. 1, immediately changed his mind and took the lead to enter and begin his introduction:
"These items are categorized as books, newspapers, and scrap pots and iron, and they are taken away for reuse every now and then."
Inside the seven-meter-high warehouse, waste materials are sorted into large blocks according to category and neatly arranged on a huge wooden base.
Upon hearing the words "books" and "waste newspapers," Ruan Xianxian's eyes flickered subtly, and she said, seemingly unintentionally:
"I have a colleague who likes to collect comic books. I wonder if you have any here? If you do, he's willing to trade something for them."
Wu Xing glanced at her, a meaningful look in his eyes, then quickly walked away from Mu Xia and the others behind him, lowering his voice to whisper:
"Would your colleague like the 11-volume 'Journey to the West' published by Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House?"
Ruan Xianxian added meaningfully, "Of course, I think he would definitely like it. This family has some connections and they don't lack food or meat coupons."
Wu Xing's eyes lit up, and the two exchanged glances, reaching some kind of secret deal.
He thought that the leaders coming down from above were all going to take bribes and be prepared to contribute something of value, but things took an unexpected turn.
This is a business opportunity coming to our door!
Wu Xing has parents, younger siblings, wife, and children. If it weren't for the fact that he could always find some good stuff at the scrap yard to sell on the black market, how could he support such a large family?
As he left the warehouse, just as he was about to call Ruan Xianxian to wait while he went to get something, the former stopped him:
"Angkor, no rush!"
We're here on a mission, so could you assign us some work so we can experience the hardships of working at the scrap yard and then report back to our superiors?"
"Of course." Wu Xinggang, the dispatcher, wanted to assign the group an easier registration task.
Ruan Xianxian pointed to the hardworking workers on the mountain of waste, who were wearing straw hats and bending over to sort through the waste under the scorching sun.
"If I could, I would like to join them."
“This…” Wu Xing hesitated. The waste mountain was made up of unsorted garbage sent up by various waste collection stations. Not to mention how unpleasant the smell was, the work was also very hard.
He was worried that these teenagers wouldn't last long, and that if they got dirty and tired, they would complain that he hadn't made proper arrangements.
“How can we understand the hardships of workers if we don’t go deep into the grassroots? Don’t worry, Brother Wu, we will do what we can.”
Seeing her determination, and knowing that she was at an age where she hadn't yet experienced the harsh realities of society and was full of enthusiasm for her work, Wu Xing nodded.
"Then I'll go up with you. There's never enough work to do, so take a break when you're tired."
Ruan Xianxian quickly stopped him, "Brother Wu, you go ahead and do your work. We're here to help, not to make things worse. We have people up there, so we'll ask them if we don't understand anything."
Just kidding. The warehouse is full of sorted, recyclable items. Even if there are good things, they've already been sifted through multiple times. What they want is in the original waste pile.
"Alright then." Wu Xing leaped up the mountain of scrap metal in a few strides, put his hands on his hips, called out to a young man in his early twenties, and gave him instructions:
"These are leaders from the provincial office who have come down to the grassroots level. They will be involved in the sorting and classification work. Please cooperate with them."
The young man had a shrewd look on his face. Hearing this, he nodded seriously and said, "Don't worry, Director Wu, I will definitely cooperate with the leader wholeheartedly."
Ruan Xianxian turned around, took a deep breath, and smiled at her friends, "Shall we go up?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
