Zhao Li ran crying to her brother-in-law's office. Minister Liu knew what was going on when he saw his sister-in-law come in crying, and gave her a faint glance.
“I don’t want to repeat what I said last night. If you don’t want this job anymore, just go home! I’ll personally apologize to Lao Yang later.” Minister Liu’s words made Zhao Li freeze instantly.
Wiping away her tears, she pointed incredulously at Minister Liu. "Brother-in-law! Why did you join them in bullying me!"
"I was too lenient with you before, which is why you've become so unruly," Minister Liu said calmly, his eyes filled with detachment and indifference.
Unable to accept such indifference, Zhao Li ran crying to the deli counter. Sister Yang had already learned everything from Xia Lan. Seeing Zhao Li coming over, she threw the oilcloth in her hand at Zhao Li.
"Clean the counter; the goods will arrive soon!"
Sister Yang's words made Zhao Li stiffen. Looking at the greasy rag, Zhao Li's whole body screamed resistance.
Sister Yang ignored her and continued doing her own thing as usual, waiting for the cooked food to be delivered.
Zhao Li desperately wanted to leave, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot. The thought of losing her respectable job if she left made it impossible for her to take the first step.
If she loses this job, she will never find such a good one again. Although she is spoiled, she is not ungrateful.
She knew how hard it was to find a job at a department store before; if it weren't for this opening, she wouldn't have been able to get in at all.
Torn between work and self-esteem, Zhao Li obediently picked up the greasy rag and began wiping.
Seeing that she had gritted her teeth and persevered, even though her face was full of disgust, Sister Yang still took action.
Unbeknownst to Sister Yang, Zhao Li, while holding the greasy rag in her hand, was blaming Xia Lan for the incident.
Xia Lan didn't know Zhao Li. She followed Xiao Ling to the propaganda department, but there was no one there. Xiao Ling was also confused.
"Where is everyone? There's no one here."
"Oh, are you looking for the publicity department? They're all over there by the big white wall at the entrance..." someone from the next office said to Xiaoling and Xialan with a smile.
"The big white wall?" Xiaoling asked, puzzled, but still led Xia Lan over there.
Several comrades stood in front of the large white wall next to the factory area, their faces filled with melancholy and confusion.
"We don't know what guidelines the higher-ups are asking for... What kind of content should we prepare for such a large wall?"
"Old Li, can you give us some advice? What requirements did the higher-ups give us? What content should we prepare? You didn't give us any. You just gave us a task: to write something on this white wall. What should we write?"
"That's right, writing slogans? Now all the empty walls in the factory are covered with slogans."
"There's really nothing left to write! We've already used up everything like 'Strengthen discipline, and the revolution will be invincible,' 'Hold high the great red banner of Mao Zedong Thought and carry the revolution through to the end,' and 'Everything is for the revolution'..."
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?!"
Li Jianmin, standing at the very back, also looked dejected, but he had only received this order from above, saying that a leader was coming to inspect, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Think about it quickly! We need to finish the task within a week, and the leaders will be coming to inspect in a week."
"……Ouch."
A man stepped back and bumped into Xiaoling's foot. Xiaoling quickly grabbed his clothes to prevent him from falling.
"Who are you?" The man glanced at Xiaoling and quickly got up and stood up straight.
"Hello, I'm Xia Lan, who was temporarily transferred here." Xia Lan stepped forward and explained to everyone when she saw that they were all looking at her and Xiao Ling. "This is Comrade Xiao Ling, who brought me here."
"Hello, my name is Liu Ning." Liu Ning's eyes were fixed on Xiao Ling.
Xiaoling nodded indifferently. "Hello."
"You must be Comrade Xia Lan, welcome, welcome." Li Jianmin greeted her happily and shook hands with Xia Lan.
"Here's the thing, we just received a new task to decorate this big white wall. A leader will be coming to inspect it next week. Do you have any good ideas?" Li Jianmin got straight to the point without saying a word.
He knew Xia Lan's name because she had arranged the event that made Lao Yang famous. He went to see Xia Lan's arrangements and found them quite novel.
So this time, he immediately thought of Xia Lan, wondering if she had any thoughts.
"Was there a theme?" Xia Lan asked.
“No,” Li Jianmin sighed. “If there were a theme, we would have a direction, but they didn’t say anything and just told us to figure it out ourselves.”
"The titles are all written!" The other comrades also spoke up about the current problems.
“This wall is too big; it would be too empty to just write slogans on it.”
"Comrade Xia Lan, do you have any good ideas?"
Seeing Xia Lan's outstanding appearance, several men were tempted.
Xia Lan looked at the large white wall in front of her. It had been specially painted snow-white and was now completely empty. The surrounding area was a factory area, and the houses were all factory staff housing.
"How about we paint?" Xia Lan thought for a moment and suddenly had a good idea.
"What should I draw?" Li Jianmin had also thought about drawing, but what should he draw?
"Praise the hardworking people who have become wealthy through their diligence," Xia Lan said with a smile.
"The people living around here are hardworking people who work tirelessly day and night for the country and for their livelihood. They are the greatest and most lovable working people."
"Great!!!" Xia Lan's words made everyone's eyes light up, and they felt extremely proud.
"Let's go with Comrade Xia Lan's suggestion and stick to this theme!"
Li Jianmin made the decision immediately.
What could be more fitting than this?
"So what should we draw?"
Someone asked again.
Everyone looked at Xia Lan in unison. Xia Lan thought for a moment. "Let's draw those workers who are working hard!"
"Everyone can scatter and find workers they think are good to draw, and then decide whose work to use!" Li Jianmin clapped his hands and smiled at everyone.
"Old Li's idea is good. Let's go get paper and pens."
Someone immediately agreed and ran back to the office to get paper and pen.
They brought over paper and pens, and the man even brought Xia Lan a new sketchbook and pencils.
"Comrade Xia Lan, hello, my name is Luo Tianming. Here are your new sketchbook and pencils!"
Xia Lan was taken aback, not expecting that she would get a share, and smiled at Luo Tianming.
"Thank you, Comrade Luo."
Luo Tianming was dazzled by Xia Lan's smile, his earlobes turned slightly red, and he scratched his hair in embarrassment.
"No wonder you ran so fast, you were trying to curry favor with Comrade Xia Lan!" Luo Tianming returned to the men's side, where he was immediately pinned down and secretly humiliated by them.
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