Chapter 838: Director Li Is a Good Man

The controversy over the temporary suspension of housing allocation at Plant One did not end with Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang’s assurances; after returning to work the next day, all kinds of rumors began spreading among the workers.

Zhang Jing excitedly told Ge Qian: “You know what? Last night, several people from headquarters got beaten up.”

“Oh~”

“And more! This morning, two families had rice and feces smeared on their front doors—so many people gathered around staring!”

“Oh~”

Seeing her best friend answer listlessly, Zhang Jing grew annoyed: “What are you ‘oh’ing for? Don’t you care at all? Who’s standing up for our worker brothers?”

Seeing her friend upset, Ge Qian stopped her work and replied half-heartedly: “Oh, then tell me who did it?”

Zhang Jing squinted, grinning slyly: “How would I know? It was pitch black, couldn’t see a thing—just a sack thrown over their heads and a good beating. Totally satisfying.”

“You don’t know?”

Ge Qian could tell from Zhang Jing’s expression that she knew perfectly well.

When someone gets bagged and beaten, the victim always stays silent out of shame—so how could you possibly know the details?

Ge Qian sighed and said seriously: “Xiao Jing, stop talking about this with others. This isn’t a small matter—it could have serious consequences.”

Zhang Jing glared at her: “What’s it got to do with me? I didn’t lift a finger, didn’t smash any windows. You’re just a coward—always worrying about this consequence or that. Boring.”

“.”

Ge Qian paused, then couldn’t hold back: “But if you keep causing trouble like this, you might drag Deputy Director Li down with you. A few years ago, when workers rioted so fiercely, the higher-ups hated mass disturbances most—what if they transfer Deputy Director Li away?”

“Deputy Director Li won’t be transferred,” Zhang Jing cut in firmly. “All of us support him. If they try to punish him, all three thousand of us will go petition together.”

“.”

Ge Qian stared at her best friend, radiating righteous fury, and finally stopped arguing—she just lowered her head and returned to her work.

Though they were the same age, their life experiences were utterly different.

Zhang Jing was a classic little beauty—her family wasn’t rich, but her parents and siblings doted on her; she grew up happy and carefree, never truly knowing hardship.

Ge Qian was the opposite: she lost both parents as a child and grew up relying solely on her sister; her happiness paled in comparison to Zhang Jing’s.

So Ge Qian’s understanding of society was far deeper than Zhang Jing’s.

For instance, when Zhang Jing spoke of “the masses supporting Deputy Director Li,” Ge Qian saw it as meaningless.

When workers are fired up, their energy is immense—like yesterday, when they stormed headquarters and terrified everyone.

But that passion is fleeting. Once it fades, the boss will divide them, bribe some, suppress others, and family pressures will drag them down—eventually, they’ll scatter like sand.

First time you petition the boss, he tells you to wait.

Second time you pressure him, he pays some workers first, then fires the ones with the heaviest family burdens.

By the third time, only a fifth of you will show up. First strike, second fade, third exhausted—you won’t achieve anything.

Just before lunch, new news arrived.

“Did you hear? This morning, technical inspection staff came to check our new worker dormitory—Director Lu and Director Li really meant what they said, no delays at all.”

“Buddha bless, Bodhisattva save us—please let the inspection pass! I’m waiting to get married in my new apartment!”

“Hey, why are you mumbling prayers? How could the building have problems? The problem’s people—evil people. Praying to gods won’t help!”

“.”

Ge Qian silently kept working, silently praying inside.

【Deputy Director Li is a good man—I hope he really has connections, please don’t let them transfer him away!】

Though Ge Qian knew the new dormitory had nothing to do with her, she sincerely hoped Li Ye would “hold on”—don’t get transferred or demoted to some marginal department.

For one thing, her monthly wage was now 140–150 yuan; if Li Ye left, she feared she’d be demoted too.

After all, many veteran workers at headquarters with over a decade of service still earned less than 140–150 yuan!

And when it came to wages, some leaders’ sense of “fairness” was terrifyingly rigid—they absolutely wouldn’t tolerate any inequality.

“Ding ding ding~”

The lunch break bell rang. Ge Qian lingered behind, taking ten extra minutes before heading to the canteen.

Workers ate quickly; by then, half had finished. No crowds, quiet—perfect for Ge Qian.

But when she reached the canteen entrance, she saw two small figures—a boy and a girl—crouching timidly in a distant corner, watching her with hopeful eyes.

Ge Qian froze, then hurried over: “Xiaohong, what are you two doing here? What happened?”

The girl named Xiaohong’s eyes filled with tears: “Auntie… today no one was home. Xiaokai was starving, so we came to find you…”

Ge Qian asked in surprise: “No one home? Didn’t Jiang Chunyan cook for you?”

Xiaohong shook her head, voice trembling: “No… she didn’t cook this morning either. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come to you.”

“Didn’t eat this morning either?”

Ge Qian immediately grabbed the two children and headed for the canteen, scolding as she walked: “If she doesn’t cook, why don’t you buy food? Didn’t I give you ten yuan last time? Already spent?”

Xiaohong burst into tears: “Last night, my stepmother went through my backpack and took the money… and didn’t feed us.”

“Didn’t eat last night either?”

Ge Qian’s eyes filled with tears.

The two children had gone three meals without food—only now, starving beyond endurance, had they come to her.

“Don’t cry. You’re the eldest—if you cry, what will your brother do?”

Ge Qian wiped her tears, pulled out a handkerchief to clean their faces, borrowed a bowl from the canteen cook, and served three full portions of meat dishes for the two children.

Watching them wolf down the food, Ge Qian’s heart ached beyond words.

After her parents died, she and her sister had relied on each other. Luckily, her sister took over their father’s job, married while still caring for her, and supported Ge Qian through high school—until she became an unemployed youth. Even when jobs were scarce in recent years, her sister never let her lack food or clothing.

Though life wasn’t easy, her sister remained optimistic: “A lifetime of suffering has its limit—everything will get better.”

But even after her sister passed away, Ge Qian still hadn’t been assigned a job.

For years, she lived with her brother-in-law, truly understanding loneliness and seeing the countless dark, cruel sides of human nature.

Later, her brother-in-law remarried, and Ge Qian endured double cruelty. Had it not been for the factory recruitment drive, and her own effort to pass the exam and enter Plant One, living in the factory’s single dormitory, she didn’t know if she could have survived.

But Ge Qian couldn’t understand: after she left, why hadn’t that double cruelty vanished? Why had it now clung to her sister’s two children?

Her stepmother, Jiang Chunyan, brought a daughter of her own—showing blatant favoritism, constantly scolding and beating them, withholding food—yet her biological father, Liao Minjie, did nothing.

Ge Qian had argued with them several times; each time, they said: “If you care so much, take them away.” But Ge Qian was an unmarried young woman with no home—how could she raise two children alone?

After the children finished eating, Ge Qian pulled out ten yuan and handed it to her niece Liao Xiaohong: “Hide this under your shoe insole. If there’s no food at home, buy something outside—don’t be stingy. When it’s gone, come back to Auntie for more.”

But Liao Xiaohong shook her head: “No, Auntie. Yesterday, they went through our shoe insoles again. But Father only gets angry for a day or two—we just apologize and it’s fine.”

Her nephew Liao Xiaokai nodded vigorously: “It’s okay, Auntie. Father won’t let us starve to death…”

“.”

Watching the two children hurry away, Ge Qian finally broke.

On Liao Xiaohong, she saw her sister’s shadow.

When their parents died, the two sisters had bowed to everyone, always apologizing, always afraid.

But back then, her sister—a young unmarried girl—had still carried her through.

Ge Qian wiped her nose and turned toward Plant One’s office.