Chapter 161 News
Although arranged marriages are now prohibited, the social atmosphere is not yet open enough for young men and women to walk intimately together on the street without any psychological pressure.
Even married couples have to keep a certain distance when walking on the street. When Song Lubai and Wei Yang walk on the street, there is enough space between them to fit two people.
Wei Yang asked her about her recent situation, and when she talked about the cafeteria food with great joy, he also smiled.
He could tell that she was genuinely satisfied with her life now, and he felt it was good too.
"Don't just talk about me, tell me about what's been going on with you lately."
She inquired about his situation, and Wei Yang was naturally pleased, recounting in detail his life and all the work he could talk about.
Song Lubai then asked, "How long have you been here to study this time?"
Wei Yang said, "About half a month."
"Do you want to know about Zhang Jian and Lu Shuangshuang?"
Song Lubai was naturally curious.
"Zhang Jian was originally supposed to be shot, but his father went to ask for help and now he's gone to the Tianshan Mountains with the labor camp to build a highway. As for Lu Shuangshuang, she's also been put into a labor camp and is still in the Sixth Division."
The two walked and talked until they arrived at Chunlai Restaurant, the closest restaurant to the business department.
This restaurant is a company under the Commerce Department. It's considered one of the larger state-owned restaurants in Shicheng. The girls in the dormitory all want to work here as waitresses because they've heard the food is very good.
Song Lubai had just eaten not long ago and wasn't hungry at all.
Since I started working in the business department, I've only felt hungry a handful of times lately.
But with nowhere to go in the freezing weather, she had no choice but to go into the restaurant with him.
It was midday, not quite lunchtime yet. They were serving leftover meat buns from breakfast, as well as pre-made wontons and dumplings. There was also a good variety of stir-fried dishes, including pan-fried tofu, stir-fried pork slices with wood ear mushrooms, winter melon and pork rib soup, stewed chicken with potatoes, and braised pork belly…
The waiter, noticing the couple's attire, reminded them, "The winter melon and pork rib soup and the stewed chicken with potatoes will both take at least half an hour to prepare."
Since he had nothing else to do, Wei Yang wanted to spend more time with Song Lubai. After asking for her opinion, he ordered a bowl of rice, a pan-fried tofu, a stewed chicken with potatoes, and a serving of sweet pumpkin sticky rice.
"The rice and vegetables will be served after the chicken stew is done."
After taking notes, the waiter said, "Half a jin of meat coupon, five liang of grain coupon, one yuan and thirty-five cents."
After the waiter finished speaking, the two men took out their tickets and the woman paid.
The waiter asked, "What's your relationship? Are you a couple?"
Almost all the men and women she saw dining at the restaurant were couples, and one person paid for both the food and the fare.
These two don't look like a couple.
If these two are in a relationship, this guy has really opened her eyes...
Song Lubai handed over the money and said, "We're from the same hometown, and we both want to eat something good. I don't have any tickets, but he does, so let's split the bill. Comrade, is this restaurant hiring?"
The waiter was immediately drawn to her question. He raised his chin slightly, looked her up and down, and said with a sense of superiority, "We don't just hire people randomly at our restaurant. Even our manager's word doesn't count. It has to go through the business department. Asking me is pointless."
It's not a problem for the manager to assign an apprentice or temporary worker to the kitchen, but for permanent employees, it has to go through the business department. It's not so easy to arrange permanent employees with official positions.
Song Lubai had simply tried to distract her from asking too many questions, and had successfully diverted her attention. She smiled, picked up the number plate, and went to find an empty table.
The waiter's attitude was already quite good. All the waiters and salespeople I've encountered in the past have been arrogant; they all have this common problem of being condescending.
The restaurant was quite large, and there weren't many people there yet, with plenty of empty seats. The two of them found a quiet spot.
Wei Yang poured her a glass of hot water and asked, "Do you want to work at this restaurant?"
Song Lubai shook her head and said truthfully, "I want to stay in the ministry and work in an office. Although the food at the restaurant may be better, I feel that I have a better future in the ministry."
Wei Yang nodded, agreeing with her statement.
In a restaurant, a head chef can be promoted to manager and manage the entire restaurant, but a waiter will always be a waiter. Although they are permanent employees with a formal position and seem glamorous, their promotion opportunities are very limited. Staying in the department office, no matter which department, offers room for advancement.
Remembering the contents of the letter his sister sent, he said, "It's best to stay at headquarters, but don't try to stand out in the future. Just do your job conscientiously."
Song Lubai's brows twitched slightly, recalling that a special year was about to begin, and the situation would start to become turbulent...
The book didn't describe those events in much detail, so Song Lubai wasn't sure if the unrest would begin at the start of the year, or in the middle or at the end.
She asked, "Why? Do you know something?"
Wei Yang truthfully replied, "I received a letter from home saying that things might not be very stable in the future, and it's uncertain what might happen. They told me not to act impulsively or take risks, and not to follow the crowd or do anything radical."
He wasn't sure if she could understand, so he instructed her, "Once your job is settled, just do your job well. Don't get involved in things you don't want to get involved in. Observe for now."
Song Lubai nodded. "I understand."
No one had told her any of this. Based on what she had read in the book, she felt that working under Director Wang was not very reliable. Now it seemed that staying in any office was also unreliable. It would be more peaceful to work as a waitress or sales clerk in a restaurant or department store.
She couldn't control the future, and thinking too much would make her hesitant to act rashly. Her former ambition had diminished somewhat, but then she thought that she was just an ordinary person, not a big deal anywhere, and that evil wind wouldn't blow her down first.
Thinking about it this way, she realized that she should focus on securing a good job first, and then wait and see once her job was stable.
The two then fell into a long silence.
Song Lubai's mind was full of work-related matters, while Wei Yang was thinking about his sister in the capital and his brother-in-law, whom he couldn't bring himself to call out.
More than him, he is worried that if something happens, his brother-in-law will be the first to be affected.
As the two sat in the corner, each lost in their own thoughts, several people sat down at a table not far away.
"I heard that Li Hua has been going to the tobacco and alcohol company a lot lately, and he's already made contact with the manager there."
"Would it be of any use talking to the manager? Our assignments are decided by the personnel department. We're currently in a merger phase, and the former department head recently went to Urumqi. I heard the department head is going to be replaced."
"Are you stupid? If the managers of the lower-level companies ask for people, the HR department will have to consider it."
"There are over eighty of us, and I heard that only half of us can stay in the city. Whether it's Urumqi or Shijiazhuang, it's better than the farms below. We still need to find a way. If we don't act now, we'll be assigned to farms later."
"Easier said than done, how do we find them?"
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