After Qin Yuanzheng left, Yang Wenyan immediately had someone call Liu Weihong over.
Liu Weihong had just been criticized during the meeting, so being called over again made her a bit unhappy.
Liu Weihong entered the factory manager's office and said, "Manager, what do you need me for this time? I'm still busy."
Yang Wenyan looked at Liu Weihong, feeling quite a headache.
Previously, when the pastry workshop needed to promote a supervisor, he had wanted to promote the experienced master of the workshop, Lao Hu.
Instead, Liu Weihong used her connections to take the spot.
Liu Weihong did have some backing. Her father was the director of the personnel department in a subordinate county. Although it was just at the county level, the personnel department held significant power, and her father had some connections in the city.
Anyway, Liu Weihong had worked in the pastry workshop for quite a few years. Her performance wasn't outstanding, but it was acceptable enough, so he let the promotion slide.
As long as she did her job properly, Yang Wenyan couldn't be bothered to micromanage her.
But now, he had to ask her, "Yesterday, the personnel department assigned three temporary workers to the pastry workshop. How did you arrange their work?"
Liu Weihong: "..."
So it was about this. She knew that shorty must have complained.
However, she felt perfectly justified and said:
"Manager, our frying team is short on people. I originally wanted to put her in the frying team, but later, seeing what a frail little girl she was, I thought it would be too hard for her. So I sent her to the pickled vegetables workshop. The people in the pickled vegetables workshop have it so easy. I treated her well enough, didn't I? That was all for your sake; I wouldn't bother with anyone else."
Yang Wenyan: "..."
Yang Wenyan's face darkened. He said coldly, "The personnel department specifically assigned a male comrade to you. Why didn't you let the male comrade go? Liu Weihong, you know very well how you became a supervisor. Work is work. Stop playing these little games with me, understand?"
Being reprimanded by Yang Wenyan like this, Liu Weihong felt a bit intimidated.
But she still tried to defend herself, saying:
"Manager, yes, I did use connections back then, but Brother Hu didn't get promoted for his own reasons too, right? His temper is so awful that he scolds and drives away three or four apprentices a month. Who would want to work under him?
If we weren't really short of people, would I have assigned a girl to him? I just thought that if a little girl went over, he probably wouldn't scold her as harshly. Look, the male comrade who was transferred there yesterday got scolded by him all day again. It's hard to say if he'll even be able to keep working today."
Yang Wenyan: "..."
Although Liu Weihong was making excuses, what she said was indeed the truth.
Brother Hu simply had a bad temper and spoke bluntly. Whenever he saw someone clumsy, he would yell at them.
Yang Wenyan looked at Liu Weihong and said, "This matter ends here. Do your job well. It's the end of the year, so don't cause any more trouble for me, do you hear me?"
Liu Weihong: "I know, I know."
She hurriedly left the factory manager's office and let out a long sigh of relief.
She thought to herself that it was fortunate Director Wei had asked her for a quota, which led her to transfer Qiao Lanshu away. Otherwise, her original intention was to just let Qiao Lanshu stay in the frying team frying dough twists forever.
Right, speaking of Director Wei, his daughter Wei Hongmei also came to the pastry workshop yesterday. Liu Weihong had arranged for her to go to the leisurely bread workshop, and she wondered how she was doing.
Liu Weihong didn't dare make any mistakes at work, especially since Manager Yang had repeatedly warned her.
Muttering to herself, she hurried to the bread workshop to take a look.
Wei Hongmei had been assigned to the bread workshop, originally in the packaging team, which involved packing the bread. It was such an easy job; others would fight tooth and nail to get such a good position.
But even with such a simple job, she managed to mess it up.
Yesterday afternoon, she packed perhaps not even ten loaves of bread, yet she somehow managed to crush four of them. The team leader of the bread team was furious with her but didn't dare to lash out because she was Director Wei's daughter.
So they reassigned her to the fermentation room to monitor the temperature.
Liu Weihong came over, took a walk around the workshop, asked a few questions, and then went to check the fermentation room. The fermentation of the dough required two people to monitor, so even if Wei Hongmei slacked off, there was someone else to keep an eye on things. This job was easy and the least likely to go wrong.
Liu Weihong immediately felt relieved and didn't bother with Wei Hongmei any further.
...
Meanwhile, over in the pickled vegetables workshop, Qiao Lanshu was truly getting addicted to chopping radishes. Every day when she went to work, she would change into her protective suit, put on her hat, mask, and gloves, pull up a stool to sit down, and start chopping radishes.
Qiao Lanshu and Wang Xue were in the same group. The two sat facing each other, chopping together, and could chop hundreds of pounds of radishes in a single morning.
Wang Xue had a cheerful personality and loved to talk. The two of them chatted while they chopped, and the morning passed quickly.
While chopping radishes, Wang Xue whispered to Qiao Lanshu, "Xiao Qiao, weren't you in the pastry workshop before? Being suddenly transferred here, were you pushed out by someone?"
Wang Xue had a knowing look on her face and said, "I heard all about it. As soon as you came over here, that Wei Hongmei went over there."
Originally, Wang Xue's partner was Wei Hongmei, but Wei Hongmei refused to do the work and ran off. That morning, Wang Xue had to do all the work by herself, and she remembered it well.
Qiao Lanshu smiled and nodded. "Yes, I was frying dough twists over there before."
Wang Xue scoffed coldly and said, "Is Director Liu out of her mind, making a little girl like you fry dough twists... Oh, right, I heard something."
She leaned in mysteriously and smiled, "As soon as Wei Hongmei went to the packaging team, she ruined several loaves of bread. The matter was hushed up; they just made her pay for them and then transferred her to an even easier job, watching the fermentation room."
Currently, in the food factories around Longcheng City, due to limitations in processing technology, people still preferred eating steamed buns, momo, flatbreads, and the like.
The prices for those were also relatively cheaper.
But bread was also supplied, specifically the pillow bread currently made by the food factory. The ingredients were simple: wheat flour, eggs, yeast, and sugar.
Once baked, the pillow bread was wrapped in greaseproof paper, placed in baskets, and delivered to major state-owned restaurants, supply and marketing cooperatives, as well as the cafeterias of certain work units.
Pillow bread was very expensive. A four-tael loaf of bread sold for twenty-five cents. You have to understand, at this time, a pound of potatoes was only four cents.
Precisely because it was expensive and produced in scarce quantities, pillow bread was considered a luxury item for ordinary people to improve their lives during holidays and the New Year, holding a status on par with canned goods.
As a result, as soon as Wei Hongmei started working, she ruined four of them.
She had to pay a whole dollar in compensation right away.
Even though Liu Weihong and the others tried to suppress the matter and keep it from spreading out of fear of being held accountable.
But the factory was only so big, and everyone were veteran employees who had worked there for years. They were all familiar with each other, so who could they really hide it from?
Wang Xue gloated, "I'm just waiting to see her make a mistake. It'll be hilarious when it happens."
Qiao Lanshu knew that Wei Hongmei was Sun Mingyong's wife, and the two even had a child together.
However, Qiao Lanshu felt that Sun Mingyong was a fraud who had tricked people into marriage, and Wei Hongmei had likely been deceived by him as well. Because of this, she didn't hold any prejudice against Wei Hongmei.
She merely gossiped in a hushed voice, "Isn't Wei Hongmei's father the director of our factory? I bet he will cover for him, right?"
Wang Xue scoffed, "Let him try! We'll see if he has enough money to cover this mess! Before Sun Mingyong left, he saddled them with over a thousand in unpaid debt. Oh, this family is going to put on quite a show for everyone."
Qiao Lanshu: "..."
As Wang Xue continued chatting, the topic eventually drifted back to Qin Yuanzheng. She winked at Qiao Lanshu and whispered, "Hey, Comrade Xiao Qiao, tell me the truth. That Commander Qin... is he actually capable?"
