Chapter 531: Gossip Survival System (30)

"Factory Director, were you looking for me?"

Near the end of the workday, Xie Yang was called to the Factory Director's office.

"Xiao Xie is here, sit down quickly."

Factory Director Yang rose from his seat, personally brewed a cup of tea, placed it in front of Xie Yang, and said with a chuckle: "I know you're thinking about home and rushing back to cook the New Year's Eve dinner, so I'll keep it brief. It's like this: after the New Year, there's a mechanical industry seminar you're scheduled to attend, right? They hope you can give a report on the lathe improvement technology. You just need to briefly talk about the contributions you've made to the factory in the second half of the year; no need to prepare anything special."

Xie Yang nodded.

She had heard the Factory Director mention this a few days ago. It was just attending a meeting, and since it was right here in Beijing, going and returning on the same day, there really wasn't anything to prepare.

"But, well..." Factory Director Yang rubbed his hands together, "After the meeting ends, there's no guarantee that brother units won't come to try and get close to you. You must hold firm and don't leave our factory."

"..."

So he was worried about her being poached.

"Ahem, after the New Year, go take an exam. Regardless of whether you pass or not, I will recommend you for the March 8th Red Banner Holder next year."

"..."

This was him dangling a carrot in front of her.

"If you pass the Engineer exam, and next year you complete the foreign exchange targets for the export business you brought to our factory, then the year after... No! Before the end of next year, I guarantee I'll let you take the Senior Engineer exam."

Xie Yang: "..."

She would take this carrot!

Seeing her readily accept, Factory Director Yang happily slapped his palm: "Then it's settled! Come, come, take these; consider them a New Year's gift from me to your family. Give my early New Year's greetings to the old lady!"

Factory Director Yang casually grabbed a few boxes from the pile of gift boxes against the wall and stuffed them into Xie Yang's hands.

She took a quick glance; one box seemed to be tea, and another was Moutai.

Seeing the Moutai, Xie Yang's eyes lit up.

She knew what specialty to hoard in this plane.

Sunflower Moutai! Typical cellar-aged craftsmanship, sauce-fragrance flavor!

She heard it cost 8 yuan a bottle and required coupons to purchase.

"Factory Director, I will continue to work hard! I'll strive to obtain the qualification for the Senior Engineer exam next year!"

Having accepted someone's favor, naturally, she had to give them a carrot in return.

Factory Director Yang was all smiles: "Good, good, good! With those words from you, Xiao Xie, I can rest easy!"

Having finally unearthed a treasure with technical talent, he was truly afraid that she would be snatched away by a brother unit at a meeting.

Xie Yang: Rest assured, even if you chased her away, she wouldn't leave!

Unless Zheng Miaomiao stops living here in the future, she would be retiring at the Mechanical Factory.

Speaking of which, after getting into the rhythm, she found that this job as a Technician at the Mechanical Factory was actually quite good.

The salary would rise year by year according to the level achieved: an Engineer's salary was seventy or eighty, and a Senior Engineer's salary alone was over a hundred, not to mention various allowances, which could add up to one hundred and twenty or thirty.

In '79, when Moutai was 8 yuan a bottle, this was truly a high income.

In addition, there were various coupons and benefits for the three major festivals of the year.

The factory's living area also provided a Canteen, bathhouse, barbershop, and employee hospital. For Mechanical Factory employees, consuming at these places was not only cheaper than outside, but there were also fixed monthly free coupons.

Moreover, unlike Workshop Workers who often had to work three shifts, rotating between night and morning shifts, she only had to work overtime when the machinery and equipment broke down.

Eight to four, with half an hour for lunch and half an hour for a nap—in the Modern Plane, what an enviable job this would be!

Xie Yang carried the two boxes of New Year's gifts from Factory Director Yang home to celebrate the New Year.

The off-duty time for major factories on New Year's Eve was about the same; at the latest, everyone was released by 3:30.

Xie Yang rode her bike home, not feeling it was desolate; on the contrary, the road was very lively.

Everywhere there was the jingling of bicycles and the sound of acquaintances wishing each other a "Happy New Year," with festive smiles on everyone's faces.

However, before she even entered the Number 8 Compound, she heard a burst of hysterical wailing.

"There's no justice! The daughter-in-law of this family has ruined my son! She caused my son, the pillar of the family, to be sent down to the Nongchang for labor reform! Leaving behind a mess for the family, how are we supposed to live! Oh, my..."

"Some people have black hearts! They caused others to be unable to reunite for the New Year, and not only do they not apologize, they even scold us for begging like beggars. So what if I came to beg? You caused our family to end up like this, and you still think you're in the right?"

"Oh, Heavens! Open your eyes and look! The real culprit who should be doing labor reform is enjoying life at home, while my unlucky son is punished to suffer at the Nongchang! Heavens—"

As soon as Xie Yang heard this performance by several women, she knew the families of those three petty thieves had come knocking.

But it didn't sound like they were coming to cause trouble for her family, but rather had their eyes on Lou Xuefang?

"Grandma, these people didn't come to make a scene at our house, did they?"

"They came, how could they not come."

Seeing her granddaughter return, Grandma Xie hurriedly opened the door curtain and stepped aside to let her granddaughter push the bicycle in.

Since there was a three-day break, she wouldn't need the bike for a while, so she parked it in the corner of the main room to wipe it down when she had time.

"Not long after lunch, those people came. Miao Miao was originally going to go to the factory to call you, but she ran into the public security comrade who came last night at the entrance of the alley. He gave those people a harsh lecture, saying that if they made any more trouble, he would extend their sons' labor reform period, so they didn't come back. But they still wouldn't give up, and now they're chasing after the new daughter-in-law of Auntie Niu's family to make a scene. Sigh, this whole affair..."

From Grandma Xie's rambling, Xie Yang understood: it was Bureau Chief Gu who personally came to lecture those people, which was why they didn't dare to come and make trouble again.

She raised an eyebrow: A dignified Bureau Chief personally responsible for the aftermath? He was quite responsible.

【Host, perhaps the 'dish' he is responsible for is you.】

"..."

Xie Yang changed into loungewear made from an old, patched padded jacket, put on sleeves, and wore an apron to start making the New Year's Eve dinner.

While the little grandson was asleep, Grandma Xie had washed the vegetables and rolled out the dumpling wrappers.

Xie Yang took over the remaining work and told the old lady to go rest for a while.

She first set the old duck soup to stew, then prepared the filling for the dumplings.

The slab of pork belly she brought back yesterday was split in two.

The smaller portion would be for red-braised pork; the larger portion would have the fat trimmed off to render lard cracklings, to make a batch of pork crackling and cabbage dumplings.

Mince the lean meat, then mix it separately with chives and pickled cabbage to make batches of chive Pork dumplings and pickled cabbage Pork dumplings.

A total of two bamboo trays were wrapped, with exactly 99 dumplings on each tray, signifying the meaning of "endless blessings for a long, long time."

After the dumplings were wrapped, they were covered with a cloth and left on the back windowsill for half an hour to freeze solid, then stored in the cold-storage-like pantry to be boiled whenever needed.

With the dumplings wrapped, the next step was to prepare tonight's Reunion Dinner.

There were plenty of ingredients available in the house, but there were only two and a half people eating—the little cousin counted as half at best.

Moreover, this era advocated frugality and opposed extravagance, so she deliberated and made four dishes, one soup, and one dessert.

The white-cut chicken, essential for the New Year, represented great luck and prosperity; the equally essential braised Fish symbolized abundance year after year; next were the Four Joy Meatballs, which implied Tuantuan, and the vibrant braised Pork; the final dish was a rich bamboo shoot and ham old duck soup.

The dessert was red bean paste with osmanthus and glutinous rice balls.

Stay up until midnight and have another serving of the three-flavor dumplings, and it's all set!