Chapter 105 Divine Soldiers Descend From the Sky No one knows more about textiles than me. ...
On an auspicious day, Feiyan Textile Factory officially started operations. Factory director Qin Xiangxiang personally went down to the workshop and returned to the spinning workshop to work as a textile worker for a day, setting an example for others.
At that time, all factory managers required that cadres who came from the workshops have experience working in the workshops.
Even if the factory manager doesn't have to go to the workshop on ordinary days, he still has to stay in the workshop to work on important occasions.
Qin Xiangxiang was truly convinced.
What's even more impressive is that her skills haven't diminished at all. When she returned to being a textile worker, she was still incredibly quick and agile, cutting off an astonishing number of heads per hour.
The surrounding workers all exclaimed in admiration, "Factory Director Qin is truly amazing!"
"No wonder this family member surnamed Qin was able to become the factory director."
"Without this family member surnamed Qin, this textile factory might not have been able to be established."
"Amazing! Amazing!"
Hearing the praise from those around him, Master Li was greatly encouraged and whispered to them, "This is the apprentice I trained."
"Master Li, you're really amazing!"
"A good teacher produces outstanding students!"
As Qin Xiangxiang walked out of the workshop, she wondered to herself if she was destined to be inextricably linked to textile factories for the rest of her life. In the future, opening a private garment factory would be more economically profitable.
Textile factories have poor profitability, and many textile factories will suffer losses and go bankrupt in the future. In contrast, garment factories are a high value-added industry. The same piece of fabric can be made into two different garments, and even if the amount of fabric used is the same, the price can differ by five to ten times.
When people can afford clothes in the future, they will become more discerning about clothing styles and be willing to pay higher prices for clothes with attractive designs.
The textile industry will decline sooner or later.
However, since people can't even afford clothes now, textile factories are of course more important.
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Since I'm the factory manager, I need to make some reforms, especially for the female workers in the workshop. In the future, when a machine has a problem, they can call the mechanic instead of hitting the machine hard. Instead, they should all hold up signs."
"Raise a red card if there is a malfunction."
Qin Xiangxiang found this quite annoying when she was in the workshop. The machines in the workshop were already noisy, and the female workers would bang on the machines even harder to get the mechanics' attention, making a huge, ear-piercing noise that made everyone uncomfortable.
"Director Qin, why are you changing the rules? I heard from my teacher that we should knock. It's so much more convenient to knock this way. You can hold up a sign for ages and no one will notice."
"Yeah, it's still more convenient to use a machine."
"Actually, holding up a sign is good. After being in the workshop for a long time, you can't hear anything, especially the noise from knocking on the machines is too loud."
Qin Xiangxiang: "It's also to protect everyone's ears."
In particular, she wanted to protect the ears of her factory director, Qin Xiangxiang, as she didn't want to hear those harsh machine-banging noises every time she went down to the workshop.
"From now on, we should produce in a civilized manner and not damage the state machinery. Some of our machines are imported, so we can't just smash them."
In addition to stipulating that female workers should not knock on machines and should instead raise red signs to report errors, Qin Xiangxiang also required that masks be worn in many positions to avoid inhaling dust and lint into their noses, which is very uncomfortable.
"With less machine noise, my ears are definitely more comfortable all day long..." Master Li didn't say something else, but the machine wear and tear was also reduced. "It's fortunate that our factory is newly built, and most of the female workers are new. If you go to an old textile factory and ask the old people to reform, even if you are a god-like factory manager, you can't change a single thing."
“The old worker has formed a habit, and she can’t change it.”
Qin Xiangxiang said, "If you want to change it, you can definitely change it."
"The more senior someone is, the less you can do anything about them, even if you're the factory manager." Master Li shook her head with a smile. She wasn't a conservative person; on the contrary, she liked to make changes.
Master Li patted Qin Xiangxiang on the shoulder: "It's only when young people like you are in charge that the factory has 'life'."
"They are all young people, full of vitality."
Qin Xiangxiang smiled and shook her head, thinking that Master Li's idea was too good. These new factories also had many problems. She was a lazy bum, and as a lazy bum herself, she knew what a lazy bum was thinking. The military family resettlement department had a good idea; opening a textile factory could create more jobs for military families.
However, the wives of female factory workers from poor families didn't put in as much effort. Many of their husbands earned enough to be willing to endure the hardships of factory work. Being a housewife also had its advantages. Aside from being financially dependent on others, one had to admit that life was relatively comfortable. Of course, this depended entirely on the conscience of her husband.
Not many women from the naval compound were willing to work in the textile factory. Only those from poorer families came to earn money to supplement their household income. Those who were better off were unwilling to work so hard, and the men wouldn't allow them to come out and earn money.
Qin Xiangxiang guessed that several of the family members who had signed up wouldn't be able to stay for more than a few days.
She has to play the bad guy.
"Director Qin, I can't work the night shift, please schedule me for the early shift."
“Me too. We all have to work the early shift. Can you think of a way to separate the workers into three shifts: early, late, and night? Let the night shift workers work the night shift. Everyone can’t stand staying up all night.”
Qin Xiangxiang said, "There's nothing I can do about this. Nobody wants to work the night shift all the time. We can only share the workload. If you can't stand it, then you can switch to the long day shift."
"The day shift positions are full."
Qin Xiangxiang shrugged: "There's nothing I can do. If you can keep working, then keep working. If you can't, you can go to the personnel department, register, and leave."
The family members looked at each other, all hesitant. Some were even considering giving up, but when they thought about the extra fifty yuan a month, which amounted to at least six hundred yuan a year, and the frequent supply of fabric as factory benefits, many were reluctant to leave.
"Then I'm leaving. I'd rather stay at home. I'm too old to work night shifts."
"I'm leaving too."
A few young women stayed behind, looked at each other, and decided to persevere. They were motivated by two things: money and fabric. They were all young and wanted to earn more money to make themselves more beautiful clothes.
The textile factory machines began running 24 hours a day.
Gao Rong worked three consecutive night shifts, which was quite strenuous for her. However, she had plenty of time to catch up on sleep during the day, and she also had a day off after each of the three shifts, so she felt it was manageable and she could grit her teeth and persevere.
A cycle lasts twelve days, with only three night shifts, which is manageable.
On her day off, Gao Rong poured out her grievances to Lin Xiuqin: "Working in the workshop is really hard. I'm in the fine spinning workshop, which has the highest technical content. Oh, I'm exhausted. The only thing that can keep me here is the sixty yuan salary I get each month."
Gao Rong complained with a hint of pride. Her salary of sixty yuan was at least twice that of Lin Xiuqin. She was the highest-paid person in the family besides her father-in-law.
Lin Hsiu-chin: "Aren't you an apprentice?"
"Yes, but I can earn forty this month. I work in the spinning workshop. If I become a full-time employee, I will earn sixty yuan. My supervisor said I'm doing a good job and I can earn more money."
Lin Xiuqin's lips twitched, a subtle mockery hidden in her eyes. This Gao Rong was truly an extreme case. She loved to take advantage of others and was a Voldemort. You might say she was lazy, but she claimed she could be rated as an outstanding employee in the factory.
This is truly a reversal of the natural order.
Not to mention Lin Xiuqin, even Qin Xiangxiang found Gao Rong to be a very strange person. Before, she complained that she couldn't stand working the early shift and that the workshop was hard, but she worked very hard in the workshop and didn't slack off. Even Qin Xiangxiang couldn't find anything wrong with her.
In this respect, Qin Xiangxiang admires Gao Rong. Gao Rong is not hasty in her work, but meticulous and conscientious. In terms of quality, she belongs to the upper-middle level of female workers. If it were to be evaluated as an outstanding female worker at the end of the year, she could really compete for it.
Lin Xiuqin: What problems are you having at your factory right now?
Lin Xiuqin herself majored in textiles, and she felt that she was definitely better than everyone else in this era. No one was more suitable to be the director of a textile factory than her, even if the textile factory had no future.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a large number of textile factories went bankrupt.
Qin Xiangxiang's textile factory was originally intended to produce military cloth, so it was highly likely that it would not be able to continue operating in the 1980s. Due to the impact of the massive reduction of the military, the demand for military cloth was decreasing. Even though Qin Xiangxiang was a very successful factory director at the time, he would eventually be laid off and have to find new employment.
Lin Xiuqin had heard many stories about old textile factories in the past. In the 1980s and 1990s, a large number of state-owned textile factories went bankrupt due to poor management. The factory directors would take people to shine shoes on the roadside, and some female workers would sell herbal tea nearby, which was heartbreaking.
But all of this happened ten years later. At least in 1972, the state-owned textile factories were doing very well, and the textiles they produced were still highly sought after. Cloth coupons on the black market were even more valuable than pork coupons.
Gao Rong: "There are no problems in our factory. Xiao Qin upstairs has excellent management skills. I used to complain that the older female workers were banging on the machines and it hurt my ears, but now they all hold up signs instead. It's really much quieter."
"Holding up a red card saves energy."
Gao Rong said enviously, "Qin Xiangxiang is really lucky. She's beautiful, comes from a good family, and married a very good man. She's a woman that everyone envies."
Lin Xiuqin said, "You can't judge things by appearances alone. Some people may seem to have a harmonious family, but that's not actually the case."
"But we can't find any fault with our factory director Qin. She really is a good catch. She married a military officer, and her husband is very handsome."
Lin Xiuqin suppressed the upward curve of her lips: "What if her man has that kind of problem?"
As the author of the original book, Lin Xiuqin was confident that Qin Xiangxiang's husband, Li Jianzhi, was not a normal person. Even if the real military officer "Li Jianzhi" was almost forty years old and still couldn't get married, and had a very "refined" lifestyle, such a man was most likely a homosexual.
He is neither gay nor sexually frigid.
Qin Xiangxiang was essentially a "wife of a gay man," and her life was only superficially good. Who could know the resentment in her heart?
Gao Rong asked curiously, "Which aspect are you referring to?"
Lin Xiuqin said, "Be more careful when you meet a man who is good-looking. He may be a homosexual, he may not like beautiful women, he may like men."
Gao Rong: "Huh???!!"
Lin Xiuqin's voice was deafening, startling Gao Rong so much that her jaw dropped. She found it unbelievable and couldn't quite understand Lin Xiuqin.
She thought Lin Xiuqin wanted to marry into a military compound and become a military officer's wife, so she used Qin Xiangxiang as an example, intending to make Lin Xiuqin envious of Qin Xiangxiang, so that Lin Xiuqin would try to please her more.
What is Lin Xiuqin saying now? Is she implying that Qin Xiangxiang's husband likes men?
Lin Hsiu-chin: "If you observe carefully, you will definitely understand the subtleties involved."
Gao Rong shook her head numbly. She couldn't understand it. How could two men get together?
But then she thought about it and found it a little exciting.
Lin Xiuqin: "If there are any problems in your textile factory, you can come to me for advice."
"No one knows more about textiles than me."
When problems arise at the textile factory, her presence is like a divine intervention, turning the tide.
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