Chen Guizhi lowered her voice and gossiped, "I also heard that she hadn't let anyone get close to her even after being married for over a year. She didn't know at first, but found out after the divorce. Her ex-husband's parents were so angry that they scolded her for being too arrogant and brought a bunch of relatives to the factory to ask the leaders for help."
Fang Qiao was stunned: "Such a thing happens? Isn't this a matter of conduct? Shouldn't the factory be in charge of this?"
"Of course they care. She's a perfectly good girl, now a divorcee and still a virgin. The manager made her pay fifty yuan in damages. But even with the compensation, she's still fined. With our neighbor Liu Dongliang's affair as a precedent, her case is considered minor. The factory won't fire her; they'll just transfer her and lower her salary. Otherwise, why would a high school graduate like her be working odd jobs in the canteen?" Chen Guizhi explained, "She used to be a factory worker, earning half again as much as she does working odd jobs in the canteen."
"I see." Fang Qiao nodded.
She finally understood that the pharmaceutical factory's rules and regulations were very tolerant of issues related to work style.
After all, an employee with such conduct issues would probably be fired in a stricter factory.
At Heshan Pharmaceutical Factory, she knew of at least two people with misconduct, and both of them received very minor punishments.
Sun Shuyi was simply transferred and had her salary reduced.
One of Li Dan's neighbors to the west is Liu Dongliang, her husband.
The factory's handling of Liu Dongliang was rather lenient, because his ex-wife's family were landlords and had a bad class background. So even though his extramarital affair was exposed a few years ago, it did not affect his work. At most, he could forget about the deputy factory director position he had originally wanted to compete for.
However, he knew in his heart that even without this incident, he would not have been promoted.
Because his ex-wife was a landlord, her class background was a shackle for him as a husband, and divorce was a relief for him.
Therefore, the affair had no impact on him.
Fang Qiao didn't understand at first why the factory's rules and regulations were so tolerant. But when Cheng Baidong came back and they talked, she learned that there were many talented researchers in the factory, but their political backgrounds were not very good.
The factory has made many efforts to cultivate talent, and its lenient rules and regulations are one of them.
Even when things were at their worst outside, the factory tried its best to maintain a peaceful working environment and to minimize the impact on these valuable talents.
After Cheng Baidong explained it this way, Fang Qiao understood.
Overall, it's tight on the outside but loose on the inside.
In such a special period, lenient rules and regulations are more beneficial than harmful.
*
After that day, Fang Qiao and Chen Guizhi's relationship improved.
Although Chen Guizhi is a bit of a opportunist, Fang Qiao doesn't dislike her because she has other good qualities besides this one flaw.
For example, she is very kind-hearted.
She often asks her daughter Tingting to take Tiantian out to play. Thanks to Tingting's guidance, Tiantian is now able to get along well with other children of the same age in the residential compound.
Knowing that Xiaojing is introverted and shy, Fang Qiao would also invite Xiaojing to go grocery shopping with him.
Xiao Jing couldn't refuse, so after going together a few times, although she was still quiet, she gradually started to smile in public.
She originally wanted to introduce Xiaojing to a potential partner, but Fang Qiao quickly stopped her with an excuse.
After all, Xiaojing's current state is not suitable for finding a partner!
Sunday arrived in the blink of an eye. Cheng Baidong had worked for six consecutive days, and on Sunday he finally had a chance to relax, so he took his family to Mingyue Lake Park for a spring outing.
Fang Qiao prepared a bento box at home in advance and put it in a thermos to take with her, so that she could eat something to tide her over when she got tired of shopping.
On weekends, Mingyue Lake Park is crowded with people, including children flying kites, young people fishing by the river, and elderly people strolling and enjoying the scenery.
Fang Qiao also saw young couples pushing their five- or six-month-old babies in bamboo carts.
Fang Qiao thought it was pretty good and said to Cheng Baidong, "This bamboo cart is nice. When An'an is a little older and can ride in it, we'll buy one too."
“Okay,” Cheng Bodong said, “but it seems there’s no supply and marketing cooperative near the family compound? I didn’t see it when we bought things last week.”
"No, I didn't see it either." Fang Qiao shook her head.
Cheng Baidong: "The department stores in the city center should have them. I'll check them out next time I go to the city center."
"No need to rush. An'an is only two months old now. It will take at least six months before she can sit up steadily. There are still more than four months. We can just pick a date to buy her in the meantime."
"good."
At noon, the family had lunch at a state-run restaurant near Mingyue Lake, each person having a bowl of noodles with soybean paste.
The noodles with soybean paste are rich in flavor, and you can even taste whole chunks of meat with each bite of noodles.
The diced meat was fried until almost crispy, fragrant but not greasy, and extremely delicious.
The family ate with gusto, their mouths greasy with food. After they finished eating, Fang Qiao noticed that a state-run pastry shop had opened next to the state-run restaurant.
The small storefront was inconspicuous. Fang Qiao pushed the door open and discovered that it didn't sell traditional Chinese pastries, but rather Western-style pastries.
Not only does it have toast, but also various pastries and even cream cakes.
The price is a bit high, though. A small cream cake, barely bigger than the palm of your hand, costs two yuan, plus half a jin of grain coupons.
If this were replaced with Chinese cabbage, it would last for half a month.
Xiao Jing glanced at the price on the wooden sign and couldn't bear to part with it.
Fang Qiao asked her what she wanted to eat, but she waved her hands repeatedly: "Sister-in-law, I just ate, I don't want anything."
Fang Qiao knew she was worried about the money, so she took it upon herself to buy a small cream cake for the family to share, four butterfly cookies, and a large slice of buttered toast.
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