Chapter 849: The Corner Doesn

“Squeak-squeak-squeak~ squeak-squeak-squeak~”

At 4:30 p.m., everything and all money in the Workers’ Club had been distributed, and the printer in Factory One began squeaking incessantly, spitting out sheet after sheet of printed personnel lists.

“Comrade Wan, Comrade Lu, here is the list of all personnel who came to collect items today; those with asterisks are those who did not arrive at the appointed time.”

“We’ve also printed separate lists of their names—let’s verify the headcount. If the numbers match, the remaining details will be up to you to sort out.”

Everyone from the general factory froze.

Perhaps because of Huang Qi, there had always been people rushing to collect items without queuing in order, but since the workers already harbored resentment, Comrade Wan and others had kept the situation under control, preventing open quarrels.

Of course, Comrade Wan and the others had another motive: they hoped something would go wrong at the end, just to crush Factory One’s prestige.

In their minds, with thousands of people collecting supplies chaotically without order, the numbers would inevitably mismatch—perhaps three or five items, perhaps dozens—and then Comrade Wan and his group could make smug remarks.

【Look, look! I told you there’d be problems! Without rules, there’s no order. Workers are just lowlife scum—if they cause trouble, we won’t distribute the New Year’s goods or bonuses today, and if it gets worse, we won’t give anything at all. Let’s see who begs whom.】

During distribution, the exact scenario Comrade Wan and the others had anticipated did occur: some slippery characters slipped through, lining up twice to collect items.

But as soon as they showed their work IDs and entered their names into the computer, it immediately displayed “already issued”—not a single person managed to cheat.

Throughout the entire day, the seven or eight thousand pre-prepared items were distributed exactly, with not a single item left over or missing.

This process exhausted the people from the general factory—they kept flipping through the rosters, taking notes, far more tedious than usual.

In the past, it was unthinkable to make these people go out of their way for the workers.

Do you understand the class gap between workers and office staff? Do laborers think they can order us around?

So several traps had been planted, waiting to ambush Xiao Zhiyu and the others at the end.

But now, Factory One’s people merely tapped at keyboards, then produced a stack of personnel lists with a squeaking sound.

They’d sorted them in multiple ways—clear, precise, flawless.

The general factory staff stared, envious—how much easier would life be with such high-end equipment?

So Comrade Wan said to Li Ye: “Director Li, from what Group Leader Xiao said, these computers now contain the general factory’s personnel data, right? Could we borrow them for a few days? We’d like to learn this advanced technology.”

Li Ye gave Comrade Wan a cold look and handed him the disk prepared by Xiao Zhiyu.

“Xiao Zhiyu didn’t explain clearly—the general factory’s personnel data is all on these disks. Just open them on a computer later.”

“But the general factory doesn’t even have a computer yet! Director Li, don’t be so stingy—we just want to use one, learn a bit. You’ve got four computers; one won’t hurt.”

Li Ye smiled faintly: “One computer costs 26,000 yuan, the software 4,800. Comrade Wan, you hold the general factory’s finances—buying one should be easy. Borrowing from us? That’s a joke, a joke.”

“Oh, by the way, each disk is 15 yuan. Remember to record it in the accounts.”

“.”

Everyone from the general factory fell silent, only letting out a chorus of sharp intakes of breath.

One computer over 30,000 yuan—and four of them at once? Factory One really was a wealthy unit.

Should I take advantage of the Spring Festival to pay some visits, and try to get transferred to Factory One next year?

People climb upward, water flows downward—haven’t you seen how Huang Qi is already jumping for joy? If you’re late, you’ll miss the hot meal.

But Comrade Wan’s thoughts were different from ordinary people’s—he didn’t inhale sharply, but his eyes gleamed.

One computer over 30,000 yuan—how big a kickback would that be?

The general factory has so many departments—if each got one computer… just thinking about it made his heart race.

………………

After finishing their work, Li Ye and Xiao Zhiyu and the others returned to Factory One just before five.

Lu Zhizhang poured Li Ye a cup of tea and smiled: “Today went smoothly, right? No trouble from the general factory?”

“What trouble could there be now? Afraid the workers will snap?”

Li Ye sipped his tea and said: “But there’s a worker in Assembly Workshop Four named Huang Qi—she said she wants to transfer to our Factory One, and she argued a bit with Comrade Wan and the others.”

Lu Zhizhang paused, then said: “I know Huang Qi—she’s technically excellent but has a terrible temper, so she’s always left out of good opportunities. If she really wants to come, I think we should take her.”

Li Ye put down his teacup: “Even if we think it’s fine, it’s useless—the general factory won’t necessarily let her go.”

That’s the tragedy of being an employee: you’re unwanted at your unit, but when you try to leave, they cling to you.

But Lu Zhizhang chuckled: “You don’t need to worry. As long as we accept her, Huang Qi will handle it herself—anyone who blocks her, she’ll bring her two kids over for dinner, right at mealtime, sit down, and start eating.”

“.”

Li Ye stared, then understood.

Before, Huang Qi had nowhere better to go, so she had to endure the mistreatment—but now that she had an option, she wouldn’t take that crap anymore.

Lu Zhizhang continued: “Actually, the general factory still has many skilled technicians like Huang Qi, and we do need such veteran workers—but we need to plan carefully how to handle this.”

Li Ye nodded slowly: “You’re right—we must distinguish between gold and trash. We can’t lump them all together.”

Given Factory One’s current situation, more and more people will likely try to transfer over through connections—but some are gold, others are trash.

Li Ye didn’t want Factory One to become bloated like the general factory—few workers, too many managers.

“Ding-ding-ding~”

Just as they were about to clock out, the phone rang.

Li Ye frowned and picked it up.

“Hello, this is the gatehouse—Comrade Zheng Qiang from the general factory wants to see the factory director.”

“Zheng Qiang? Which Zheng Qiang?”

“The engineer Zheng Qiang—the one in technical.”

“Oh, bring him over.”

Li Ye hung up and said to Lu Zhizhang: “That Zheng Qiang from Jilin University—he’s coming to see us. What do you think he wants?”

Zheng Qiang was a technical talent poached from Jilin Province by the general factory, “highly anticipated” by its leadership, but after half a year, he’d produced no notable achievements.

Lu Zhizhang was uncertain: “Is it a technical issue? The general factory’s output of Product 136 has been rising too slowly—he’s visited our Factory One many times. Last time, he hoped we’d send a tech reform team to help, but the general factory’s leadership rejected it.”

Li Ye said slowly: “Factory One’s production model isn’t something you can just copy. The general factory has too many deep-rooted problems—no matter how eager one person is, he can’t move an entire factory alone.”

Over half of Factory One’s workers are young; less than a third are veteran workers transferred from the general factory, so many bad habits were easily eliminated by Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang.

But the general factory’s culture had decades of accumulated rot—it wasn’t easy to change. Even sending a tech reform team from Factory One to help would be extremely difficult.

Having Factory One “guide” the general factory would make many uncomfortable.

So unless you break it down first, then rebuild.

Layoffs and reemployment—that’s a devastating blow.

After arriving, Zheng Qiang greeted Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang, then got straight to the point: “Leaders, I’ve reviewed Factory One’s requirements for recruiting technical talent—I fully meet them. I hope to transfer here next year.”

“Comrade Zheng, the general factory solved your Beijing hukou—now you want to transfer to our Factory One? That doesn’t seem right.”

“I don’t care about the hukou. If I can’t come to Factory One next year, I’ll transfer back to Jilin Province.”

“.”

Li Ye glanced at Lu Zhizhang; both smiled.

If the corner doesn’t need to be dug, will it just fall over with the wind?