That evening, the Jia family hosted a dinner party. The news that Sha Zhu coveted Huai Ru's beauty spread like wildfire, reaching beyond the courtyard, the streets, and the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.
The fact that Sha Zhu was both silly and clueless, and that the beautiful and gentle Qin Huairu were already well-known figures in the area, coupled with the image of Sha Zhu being beaten into a pig's head, further increased the accuracy of the information.
"Silly Zhu, I heard you're eyeing Qin Huairu?"
"Have you heard? Sha Zhu tried to hit someone's wife but failed, so he tried to, and ended up getting beaten up like a pig's head."
The constant stream of rumors and gossip was incredibly annoying for Sha Zhu and his friends, who were at the center of the discussion.
A hot topic can only be covered by another hot topic. Whether in the future or now, this is a principle that anyone in charge of propaganda must understand. Sha Zhu doesn't understand this principle, but sometimes even a blind cat can stumble upon a dead mouse, right?
Lately, the most high-profile person in the courtyard has been Jia Dongxu, but the person who has changed the most is Jia Zhangshi. She used to always prefer to act alone and secretly, but lately she always likes to hang out in crowded places, not for any other reason than to praise her eldest son.
Any conversation topic in Jia Zhangshi's mouth will turn into "My Dongxu is now a team leader, managing about 10 people, and he's going to be a big leader in the future" in less than three minutes.
This caused the other old women to scatter like birds when they saw Jia Zhangshi approaching; they were genuinely afraid of her. You might praise your own son, but Jia Zhangshi was different. Once she started, everyone had to wait until she finished speaking before leaving, otherwise she would definitely get angry.
Jia Dongxu has been enjoying himself lately, but he's found himself penniless. Now that he's a leader, Jia Dongxu needs to smoke higher-end cigarettes and occasionally go out to eat with his friends of similar status. As a newcomer, it's normal to treat others, right?
Fortunately, time flew by and it was time to collect my salary at the end of the month.
The steel rolling mill has tens of thousands of employees, and everyone lines up to collect their wages according to their own schedule to avoid long queues. In the afternoon, when they arrived at the fitter's workshop, Jia Dongxu was finally able to fill his empty pockets with his fellow workers.
The finance department opened five windows to distribute wages, four for workers and one for cadres. Even so, there were long queues at each of the four worker windows, while there were only a few people at the cadre window.
"It's so unfair! When I become an official, I'll get to enjoy the privilege of not having to wait in line."
Jia Dongxu recently became a team leader and has been feeling quite good about himself. In addition, all the apprentices in the workshop treat him with great respect, which makes him feel like he's the boss of the world and looks down on everyone else.
But when he arrived at the finance department, all his previous positive feelings vanished. Nobody cared about him, a temporary team leader; he was just an ordinary worker.
While the workers were chatting and joking, Jia Dongxu saw Xu Damao approaching. Last time they drank, Sha Zhu had made advances towards his wife and got beaten up, but Xu Damao was also partly to blame. However, Xu Damao was also a team leader, so Jia Dongxu maintained a respectable facade and didn't cause him any trouble afterward.
"Xu Damao, you're so unlucky you can't even catch the hottest shit. You're a projectionist, why can't you get your salary earlier instead of squeezing in with everyone else in our workshop?"
Jia Dongxu now feels he has the opportunity to have an equal dialogue with Xu Damao, and speaks without restraint.
"Hey sir, you're here too. Dongxu, can you at least speak politely? According to you, getting paid is like eating shit, and then going back to eat dinner. Doesn't that make you disgusted?"
Xu Damao never expected to run into Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu at this time. He was already in the administration building and was receiving a salary as a cadre, so it didn't matter when he came.
After being reprimanded by Xu Damao, Jia Dongxu realized how disgusted he had been by his own words. After a moment, seeing Xu Damao chatting with Yi Zhonghai at the edge of the line, his petty bureaucratic mindset resurfaced.
"Xu Damao, stop standing there aimlessly. Come on, move behind me, I'll let you cut in line. Er Gouzi, move back a bit, make room for Team Leader Xu."
Jia Dongxu yelled at an apprentice behind him. The apprentice had been tormented by Jia Dongxu recently and didn't dare to say anything, so he immediately took a step back.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Jia Dongxu felt very pleased. He even nodded to Er Gouzi, imitating the big boss, meaning, "Well done, I'm very satisfied."
Seeing Jia Dongxu making a fuss over there, Xu Damao could only wave his hand.
"No need, no need, I'll go over there later." Xu Damao pointed to the cadre window.
"Are you really stupid or just pretending? That's the cadre window. Even though you're a group leader like me, you're still a worker. Don't get your identity wrong."
When Jia Dongxu saw that Xu Damao wasn't coming over, he assumed Xu Damao didn't want to come to his side, and he became a little unhappy. "If you don't come over, how am I supposed to show off in front of the apprentices down there?"
“Da Mao, why don’t you queue up with Dong Xu? This area is all our workshop staff, you can cut in line without any problem. Even if you’re in a hurry, don’t go to that window, they won’t process your application if you do,” Yi Zhonghai added.
Today, he noticed that his apprentice, Jia Dongxu, had matured, showing a broader perspective and helping his neighbors—exactly what he hoped for. "If even a neighbor is willing to help, then I, as his master, will definitely have no problem supporting myself in my old age."
Xu Damao was surprised that Jia Dongxu was so enthusiastic today, coming over to pat him before he even agreed.
"It's alright, I'll go take a look. If it doesn't work, I'll come back," Xu Damao said with a smile.
Then, Jia Dongxu watched as Xu Damao walked towards the staff window, one step, two steps, three steps. Jia Dongxu silently counted down in his mind, preparing to see Xu Damao get a good scolding from the staff at the window and then slink back in disgrace.
The expected scene did not occur. Xu Damao went to the cadre window, exchanged a few words with the staff member, signed the form, and then returned with his salary.
"This art style is totally wrong!" Jia Dongxu internally complained.
Xu Damao received his salary of 62 yuan, more than 20 yuan more than before, and he was overjoyed. In those days, this income level was considered high among ordinary people.
"Uncle, Dongxu, I have some things to do in my office, so I'll head back first." Xu Damao was too lazy to explain to them. He took his salary and went straight home, not giving them a chance to ask questions.
"Team leader, how come Xu Damao can collect his salary at that window?" an apprentice asked Jia Dongxu.
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Jia Dongxu thought to himself, annoyed.
"Team leader, is it possible that all of you team leaders can collect your salaries at that cadre window? Although you're not officially cadres now, you're still team leaders, which is almost the same as cadres. Will the factory treat you like cadres?" a seemingly clever apprentice asked.
"Hey, what you said makes a lot of sense, that's right. I'll go over there and collect my salary too. It's the treatment the organization gives me, and it would be disrespectful to the leaders if I didn't go."
Jia Dongxu broke away from the group and tiptoed toward the cadre window.
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