Chapter 33 The Gloomy Little Poor Boy of the 1970s
"Mom, look at you!"
"I already told them I wasn't coming, how could they possibly want us? But you insisted on coming, and now look what happened!"
Wang Layue rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law with dissatisfaction. As a stepmother, she should have been extra careful about her reputation. Usually, she would let her husband and in-laws play the bad guys. She shouldn't have come!
For her, anyone could take advantage of this, but she couldn't ask for it herself. What would people think of her as a stepmother?
"Hey, hey, don't go! You can't even tell the difference between four and six! I'm trying to find you some work, and you don't even appreciate it!"
The young wife was shy, and Old Mrs. Zhou, exasperated, chased after her. With so many people gossiping, even someone as thick-skinned as Old Mrs. Zhou felt embarrassed to stay any longer.
With the brigade leader overseeing things and bodyguards watching over them, the villagers wouldn't go out of their way to cause trouble, and the recruitment went exceptionally smoothly. Before leaving, the brigade leader even specially brought over a basket of local eggs.
“If you don’t mind, you can take it. This wasn’t raised by me alone; it was raised by the people in the village who were selected.”
Our village is poor and we don't have anything good to offer. We don't know if you'll like these eggs, but they are a token of our appreciation from the villagers.
I know you are all good people; otherwise, this kind of opportunity would never have come to our village.
Xiao Huai, you've had a tough life before, but things are better now that your mother is back. Don't worry, as long as I'm the village head, I won't let anyone in the village say a bad word about you.
Don't worry about your grandparents. Although they are your elders, they have elders above them. Just be good to them from now on.
The brigade leader's words were a kind of promise. Shen Ci and Shen Huai had given the village an opportunity to prosper. As long as someone was selected for the job recruitment, it would be equivalent to a leap in social class, a leap from the peasant class to the working class.
In this era, they could be described as extremely wealthy and prosperous, with no worries about food or drink.
People are grateful to the mother and son who gave them this opportunity, and naturally they will stand on their side, while they dislike Zhou Dayou's family.
"How could I dislike it? This is the taste of home."
"The captain is very thoughtful. Are the bicycles you sent before working well?"
After having someone take the eggs, Shen Ci asked a question, and then nodded at the brigade leader, who seemed to be a sensible person.
Very pragmatic.
"Oh dear, speaking of this, I haven't properly thanked you yet. It's so useful, so incredibly useful! With this bicycle, things in our village are so much more convenient!"
Shen Huai, thank you so much, and thank you to your mother too, we are so grateful to you both!
"Come back to the village whenever you have time. Come stay at my house and I'll kill a chicken for you!"
The captain's smile became even more genuine; with the captain there, it was as if Zhoujia Village had been equipped with surveillance.
This time, unsurprisingly, Zhoujia Village escaped the fate of being burned down. This time, Shen Huai won't be so heartless as to burn so many people down again, will he?
Even if it's just for the sake of work, the people of Zhoujia Village will still be grateful to Shen Huai. Even if only one out of 100 people is grateful and kind-hearted.
Most of the factory's problems have been resolved, and the most important issue is funding. The 5 million yuan can cover the garment factory's expenses for at least a few years. Transportation is also not a problem; from now on, their goods will only use Haitong Shipping. As long as Shen Ci is still around, no one can block this route.
There were no problems with the workers either. These days, factory jobs are highly sought after. As the saying goes, if you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will. The old hands in the factory, relying on their experience, looked down on the new factory manager and were fired by Shen Huai's sweeping reforms.
Garment factories don't tolerate idlers. With confidence, Shen Huai will only do better and better, and will have more courage.
After finishing these tasks, the work-study period was over, and Shen Huai had to return to school to attend classes. However, he was still mainly responsible for the work at the garment factory. The deputy factory manager would report to him, and Shen Huai would make decisions. If he was unsure, he would report to Shen Ci.
A qualified successor must learn the basic steps and make decisions. Now she has done what she could and taught what she needed to teach. The rest is up to Chen Huai to put it into practice. She has other things to do.
After their work-study program ended, the exhausted students returned to school. After this period of hardship, everyone's bones felt like they were about to fall apart. Working in the factory, they were so tired that they couldn't even straighten their backs.
When I returned to school, I saw that 99% of the students were exhausted, with aches and pains, and even many injuries. Only Shen Huai remained impeccably dressed, sitting upright like a flower on a high mountain. This kid has never lost in terms of demeanor.
He possesses innate elegance, an innate refusal to bow his head or bend his back; at a glance, he is always the one with the straightest back.
"Shen Huai, where have you been learning engineering all this time? How come you haven't had any problems?"
"I really envy you. Your mom just talked to the teacher and you didn't have to do any labor. I wish your mom was my mom."
"Sigh, it's obvious they've gone home to enjoy their retirement. Next time, I'll have to tell my parents to tell the teacher I'm not participating either!"
"Tch, what's so enviable about capitalists? A few years ago, they were universally reviled. Your awareness is so low! Labor is the most glorious thing!"
"Hmph, you can be envious all you want, I'm not envious at all. Labor strengthens my body and tempers my spirit, I love labor the most!"
Different voices came from all sides, and everyone was waiting for his answer: Why should we work ourselves to the bone while you can still be so leisurely?
“I also participated, but I didn’t go with the school’s factory; I found a factory myself.”
Shen Huai spoke these words as if they were perfectly reasonable. He had indeed gone to the factory and had been working very hard during that time, losing several pounds in the process.
The students are physically exhausted. They don't eat or sleep well, and they have to do a lot of physical labor every day. They look like they've been cursed by a ghost.
Shen Huai's exhaustion was mostly mental; the mental work was too strenuous.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Who are you trying to fool? Look at yourself, do you look like you're going to do manual labor?"
"I've disliked you for a long time. You rely on your rich mother to look down on your classmates."
I'm not having it. Why do we all have to do manual labor, but he doesn't? Is it just because his family is rich? Why?
I'm going to protest to the school! Raise your hand if you want to join me! It's time to play cards and beat the big shots!
Living in a group, it's impossible to be liked by everyone. Shen Huai said calmly, "What era are we living in? Still playing cards? But the students' emotions are so easily stirred up."
"I'll join too!"
"Then I'll join too. Maybe the school will make it so we won't have to do any more labor."
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