Chapter Ten Isn't That Just a Sand Turner?

  In the single dormitory of Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, Qin Hai spent his first night after crossing over. The surrounding area of Qingfeng factory was all farmland, and it was midsummer, the croaking of frogs was like a lullaby, which quickly put Qin Hai to sleep.

  In his previous life, Qin Hai was accustomed to working late at night and sleeping in until he woke up naturally the next day. However, after coming to this world, his sleep schedule had to be adjusted. Without a computer or TV, it was impossible not to go to bed early at night. And by the second day's early morning, just as the clock struck 6:30, the factory's loudspeaker blared to life without any restraint. After a rendition of "Song of the Motherland", the news and newspaper summary broadcast began, with the announcer's sonorous voice ringing out.

  "Alas, who was the first to wake up from this great dream? I have always known myself..."

  Qin Hai stretched his waist and got out of bed, reciting the poem that Zhuge Kongming had chanted in his thatched cottage when he was a vassal. He walked to the window and pulled open the dirty curtains left by the previous owner of the room. The morning sunlight suddenly filled the entire room, and Qin Hai's mood also became inexplicably clear and bright.

  When Qin Hai went to the bathroom to wash up, he met Wang Xiaochen again. The single dormitory had a shared bathroom for men and women, with over a dozen faucets for singles to wash their faces and clothes. On either side of the bathroom were the male and female toilets, people coming and going as usual, not seeing anything embarrassing. Often, male and female employees would come out from both sides of the toilet, nodding and greeting each other, no one feeling any awkwardness in this situation.

  Qin Hai just came out of the men's restroom when he ran into Wang Xiaochen. Wang Xiaochen was washing his face at the sink, and when he looked up and saw Qin Hai, he naturally greeted him: "Little Qin, did you sleep well last night?"

  "Hmm..." Qin Hai adapted to the scene for a moment, then nodded and said, "I slept pretty well."

  "I forgot to tell you, the mosquitoes here are particularly venomous. If the mosquito net is not tightly sealed, they will drill in and one bite will cause a big swelling." Wang Xiaochen said.

  Qin Hai Dao said: "I did hear the mosquito buzzing, but fortunately, I wasn't bitten... maybe it's because I'm an outsider and the mosquitoes don't like the taste of my flesh."

  Wang Xiaochen burst out laughing: "Xiao Qin, you're really humorous. By the way, didn't you buy a meal ticket yesterday? Later, go to my place and take some meal tickets to buy breakfast, the cafeteria has buns and fried dough sticks in the morning, if you go late, there will only be steamed buns left."

  "This... isn't necessary, I'll just go out and find a place to eat," Qin Hai said.

  "Where are you going to find a place to eat? We have to go all the way to the pesticide factory outside to find a place that sells breakfast, and it's ridiculously expensive. How can we afford to eat like this every day? Just take some meal tickets from me, and then return them after you've bought something. It's not like I'm giving them away for free."

  "Alright then, thanks Xiaochen." Qin Hai said.

  Wang Xiaochen smiled and said, "Xiao Qin, I found that you are really too polite. You even say thank you for small things. In the past, our factory also had technical school students assigned here, as well as college graduates assigned here, but none of them were as courteous as you."

  Qin Hai also smiled and said: "So, I'm too gentle, okay, I must change this bad habit."

  Wang Xiaochen wiped his hands with a towel and said, "This doesn't need to be changed, actually it's quite elegant. My younger brother is studying at the county school, I just hope he learns to be more refined. By the way, Little Qin, when my brother comes here next time, can you teach him?"

  "What did you teach him?" Qin Hai asked strangely.

  Wang Xiaochen said, "I don't know what to teach him either. I think you're quite cultured, take a look and see if you can give him some guidance on his studies. I only finished junior high school, he's currently in high school, and I don't even know how his grades are."

  "Ah, this is feasible." Qin Hai said with a big package, "Guiding the study of a high school student, for me... uh, it's not too difficult, right?"

  He had originally wanted to sound more impressive, but then he thought about it and realized that his identity was that of a technical school student, and technical school students are those who graduated from junior high and didn't attend high school. To say that guiding a high school student is effortless seems a bit exaggerated. Of course, this is only in terms of Qin Hai's current status, but Qin Hai's actual abilities were enough to lead several PhDs at a university.

  Borrowed Wang Xiaochen's meal ticket, went to the cafeteria to buy porridge and buns to eat, Qin Hai came to the factory department office building again, to the labor capital department to wait for work allocation.

  "Are you Qin Hai? What trade did you learn at the technical school?" The labor and personnel officer in charge of assigning jobs was a middle-aged woman who looked at Qin Hai with an eye that seemed to be scrutinizing a juvenile delinquent.

  "I learned casting and also know some heat treatment." Qin Hai replied.

  "Learning foundry, isn't that just a molder? Why did the technical school assign us another molder?" The middle-aged woman grumbled discontentedly, "What do we need so many molders for?"

  Qin Hai remained silent, knowing that the best approach with a middle-aged woman going through menopause was not to argue with her, otherwise he would only end up getting himself into trouble. This half-old lady probably didn't have any particular opinion about him, maybe she was just upset because she had spent five cents more on vegetables in the morning or her child's report card from yesterday had a few more red crosses than usual, and so she vented her frustrations inexplicably at this newcomer. All he could do was wait.

  As expected, after grumbling for a while, Xu Nang's mood gradually improved. She looked up at Qin Hai and said: "I've arranged for you to go to the foundry workshop as a sand-turning worker. Do you have any opinions?"

  "There isn't." Qin Hai replied without hesitation.

  "Really?" Xu Nang was somewhat surprised by Qin Hai's prompt response. She remembered that the technical school student who had been assigned to her last year had been very reluctant to do the sand-turning work. Because sand-turning workers in the factory were considered to be the most tiring and dirty, dealing with the blast furnace every day, and getting off work every day covered in sweat and coal dust. Although this type of work paid 3 yuan more per month than other types of work, few young people were willing to do it.

  "I am a brick of the revolution, wherever the Party needs me to go." Qin Hai said with a smile, uttering a somewhat outdated heroic phrase, which served as an answer to Xu Niang's question.

  "Ah, now there are not many young people with your kind of thinking." Xu Niang was in a great mood, she took out a notebook and wrote an introduction letter to Qin Hai with flying dragons and phoenixes. Then she tore off a couplet and handed it to Qin Hai, saying: "You take this introduction letter, go to the casting workshop and find Director Miao Fusan, let him arrange work for you. Work hard, as long as you perform well, it's also possible to transfer you up here to replace workers in the future."

  What is meant by "replacing cadres with workers" is to do cadre work as a worker, which was the best prospect for a worker in that era. Xu Niang made such a promise to Qin Hai, but it didn't mean she really had the power to transfer Qin Hai to an official position, it was just casual talk to praise Qin Hai's honest attitude.

  Qin Hai thanked Xu Niang and left the factory department with the introduction letter, heading to the workshop. His predecessor in technical school indeed studied casting, and he had practiced enough to have some physical strength, so he didn't mind going to the workshop as a worker. As a traverser, Qin Hai wasn't worried that being a worker would mean having no prospects for himself; he believed that changing one's life circumstances was an easy matter, as long as one was willing.

  "Qin Hai, how come you've been assigned to our workshop?"

  As soon as Qin Hai walked into the casting workshop, he ran into Ning Mo and Miao Lei. As soon as they saw Qin Hai coming in, they were overjoyed and pulled him into a warm conversation.

  "What a coincidence, you two are also from the foundry workshop?" Qin Hai asked with a smile.

  Ning Mo said, "That's right, I'm a blacksmith, and Lui is a locomotive worker. No choice, his dad is the workshop director, so he gets assigned to good jobs, and all I can do is work hard."

  What is called a traveling crane is an overhead crane that can move back and forth on the top beam of the workshop. The job of operating it is a technical one, relatively easy, so it's considered a good job. Upon hearing Ning Mo say this, Miao Lei said discontentedly: "Fatty, what are you talking about? Your dad is the old factory director, if he wanted to put in a word for you, you could sit in an office without any problem, let alone operate a crane. But your dad insisted that my dad assign you to be a blacksmith, what could my dad do?"

  Ning Mo let out a silent sigh and said, "Alas, my old man says I'm too impulsive and not steady enough, so he's having me do some tempering work to calm down. But I also like being a blacksmith, it's fun. If I had to sit in an office with those old men and women, I'd be bored to death."

  "Haha, just the two of you in the casting workshop, what about Haitao?" Qin Hai asked again.

  Miao Wei said: "Haitao is working as a statistician in the warehouse, living comfortably. By the way, Qin Hai, what kind of job were you assigned?"

  "Sand digger." Qin Hai spread out the introduction letter in his hand for the two to see, then said: "The big mom in the labor department asked me to find Director Miao, Pui Tze, isn't Director Miao your dad?"

  "Ah, Big Ma? Haha! Qin Hai, I found out that you're really good at talking. You're referring to Luan Suqin from the Labor Union, right? She's indeed a Big Ma, always looking down on everyone. Let me tell you, in the entire Qingfeng Factory, I'm most afraid of her, and secondly, my dad."

  "It's enough to make you feel scared, this life of Director Wan is already colorful." Qin Hai smiled and responded with a sentence, then asked Miao Lei: "Lei, where is Director Miao now? I'll go find him to report first, then come back and chat with you guys."

  "The head of the production department has arrived, and my dad is talking to him now. Look, aren't they coming over there?" Miao Lei pointed with his hand to the other end of the workshop, where two middle-aged men wearing blue work uniforms were walking shoulder to shoulder in their direction.

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