Chapter 279: with translation of chapter title

In the whistle signaling the start of work.

Qin Huairu ran to the workshop, making it just in time.

If it were the usual days.

The workshop supervisor would just turn a blind eye.

Showing up at this time in the workshop really couldn't be considered late.

But now things are different from before.

In the past, out of respect for Yi Zhonghai's status as a Level 8 Technician, they pretended not to see Qin Huairu's various slacking behaviors.

Yi Zhonghai is no longer here.

The depression that Yi Zhonghai had kept in check suddenly erupted onto Qin Huairu.

As soon as he opened his mouth, he launched into a scolding.

"Qin Huairu, everyone else has arrived, only you are late—look at the time, do you still want to work properly? Your skill level is already lacking, you've dragged down all sorts of metrics for our Section Nine workshop, and you still slack off, coming late to work? What's the point?"

Qin Huairu knew the other party was giving her a warning to assert authority.

The situation was unfavorable to her.

She could only obediently admit defeat.

A habit formed over many years.

Her face unconsciously showed a miserable, pitiful expression, staring with her eyes fixed on the workshop supervisor who was loudly scolding her.

Tears also welled up.

She presented the demeanor of a weak woman.

"Qin Huairu, wipe away your tears—what time do you start work? What time do you finish? You've held this position for three years, don't you know? Being late—really, you've got the nerve to still cry."

He turned his head and instructed the statistician responsible for recording attendance nearby.

"Qin Huairu's attendance record today is marked as late."

Many people secretly felt relieved.

They were all very happy to see Qin Huairu suffer a setback.

"Qin Huairu, Qin Huairu, I never expected you to have a day like this."

She deserved it.

"And you all, be sure to remember Qin Huairu's lesson about being late, strive to be outstanding individuals who treat the Nine Workshop as family, keep your dignity—don't be like Qin Huairu, who has dragged down our Nine Workshop for three years without any progress, you shameless lot, I still care about face, I feel embarrassed."

His gaze fell on Qin Huairu once again.

He dropped harsh words.

Initially, out of respect for Yi Zhonghai, they agreed to let Qin Huairu work in the Nine Workshop, hoping to leverage Yi Zhonghai's skill to raise the workshop to a higher level.

They miscalculated.

Qin Huairu is nothing but a stinking pile of dog shit.

A typical case of someone who can't be helped up.

It's been three years.

Do you know how I've gotten by?

Thirty‑six months—even a dimwit would have become a regular first‑grade worker, yet Qin Huairu is still a provisional first‑grade worker receiving a widow's subsidy.

It caused the Nine Workshop to slide from being a top‑ten excellent workshop down to last place—product pass‑rate, excellence rate, product scrap rate, material usage rate, workers' skill composite rate—over three years it has stubbornly occupied the bottom spot, with no workshop‑ranking bonuses, and it has cut off the Nine Workshop chief's path to promotion; a workshop chief who has ranked last for three straight years still dreaming of improvement—just go dream.

With Yi Zhonghai present, out of respect for him, he would swallow these grievances even if it meant breaking his teeth.

The hypocrite died, and even after death he left a stinking reputation.

The workshop chief couldn't be bothered to pretend; he wanted to vent all three years of pent‑up anger at Qin Huairu all at once.

"Qin Huairu, I'm laying down the rule: in our Nine Workshop you must follow our Nine Workshop's rules—I'm saying this to everyone present in the Nine Workshop. I don't want our Nine Workshop to keep staying at the bottom, so I want you all to pull your weight, put in extra effort, and shift our workshop ranking up a notch. You don't know how other workshop chiefs describe our Nine Workshop—they say that with Qin Huairu in the Nine Workshop, the workshop never has a good day. Qin Huairu, brush up your skills—can't you stop dragging down our Nine Workshop? Your coworkers have gone three years without a bonus because of you."

"I will work hard."

"Just talking won't cut it—you need to show real results. As I said, if you don't want to stay in our Nine Workshop, you can apply for a transfer; I guarantee I'll sign your application slip swiftly."

Qin Huairu felt another wave of bitterness in her heart.

They really thought she didn't want to be transferred.

It's not that no workshop wants her; even the Cleaning Section that handles toilet cleaning, she doesn't want to go there.

She can't rise higher.

She can't fall lower.

"The head of the cafeteria, He, lives right in your Siheyuan; out of neighborly ties of over ten years, go beg him to transfer you to cafeteria work—it's definitely better than suffering in our Nine Workshop."

Qin Huairu sighed again in her heart.

She had looked for Shazhu yesterday.

Shazhu ignored her.

"Help Qin Huairu, improve her skills."

This remark of the workshop chief.

It made the coworkers feel as if they had received an imperial decree.

They directed Qin Huairu in every aspect.

"Qin Huairu, you still have the nerve to rest? The chief once said, make full use of your time and strive to improve your skills."

These are all good words.

Put it bluntly.

That's just scolding.

"You still think you have a Level 8 Technician backing you up? At this point, you still want to slack off? Qin Huairu, if you won't improve, we still want to progress—and it's because of you that we've gone three years without a bonus. Can't you show some decency and go cause trouble elsewhere? Can't you give the workers of our Nine Workshop a way to survive? We all have elders to care for and children to raise."

It got people talking.

They all began to talk back to Qin Huairu.

"Qin Huairu, it's not that we won't give you face, but we've endured you for three years; in these three years, if you had even a little ambition, you wouldn't be in this state now."

"We won't talk about others; just take Liang Larui from the welding workshop, who entered the Yagangchang at the same time as you, she's also a widow with a child, and she's now a third‑class welder, about to push for fourth‑class, while look at you—the workpieces you produce have no smoothness, no precision; how do you expect us to help you? Are we supposed to hand out money to support your Jia Family like Yi Zhonghai does?"

"Qin Huairu, if I were you, I'd have realized to apply for a job transfer; don't stay in Workshop Nine, switch to another workshop—you might get used to it."

Opinions were divided.

It all amounts to the same.

They were pushing Qin Huairu to leave.

They were coworkers who had worked in the same workshop for three years.

They saw Qin Huairu's true character.

Pure mud—cannot be held up on a wall at all.

As long as she remains in Workshop Nine for a day, these people cannot have a good day.

As for improving skills,

That depends on the person.

I heard Qin Huairu's family has a lazy, gluttonous mother‑in‑law; she works a full day shift, then returns home to cook, do housework, wash and mend clothes.

There is simply no spare time to study.

Inside the factory.

Scheming about this man, calculating that man—either trying to squeeze a bit of meal ticket from this person, or plotting to get a lunch from that person.

If a person does not act for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him.

Given that Qin Huairu's skills cannot improve, if the people of Workshop Nine want to avoid being held back by her, either they transfer out or she transfers out.

A workshop of hundreds of people, transferring out hundreds is unrealistic, and the factory leadership would not agree either.

The only option is for Qin Huairu to leave.