Wen Jiajia nodded. After using the toilet, she scooped up some cool water from the faucet and splashed it on her face, rubbing her face and saying, “Yes. But it’s okay, I’m not that sleepy. I go to bed early at night.”

Sha Yue really envied such an enterprising person. “You will become Director Xue’s first assistant sooner or later.”

Wen Jiajia shook her hands to shake off the water droplets. “Not necessarily. It’s only the second day.” If she felt the same way, Director Xue might think she was being too ambitious.

Three o’clock was approaching, and Wen Jiajia went to see Director Xue with the sorted data.

Director Xue was very satisfied with her work speed; it was clear that she was someone who could get things done.

“Have you been to our pharmaceutical factory?” Director Xue was unusually amiable.

She was not so serious when she left the office or the confines of Workshop 6.

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, “The pharmaceutical factory is too big. I’ve only visited the southeast part and haven’t been to other areas.”

Director Xue nodded. “I’ll visit the whole place when I have the chance.”

She brought Wen Jiajia to a small red building. Wen Jiajia walked and looked around, guessing that this was where the top leaders were.

But as soon as she walked in, she realized she was wrong. The first floor of the Red Building was the library, the second floor was the information room and archives room, and the third floor was the conference room.

There are three conference rooms, the largest of which is similar to the university lecture halls of several decades later.

Today’s meeting is being held in the large conference room.

At this time, there were already quite a few people in the conference room. Wen Jiajia saw several employees wearing blue work uniforms, all sitting in the first row.

“That’s the researcher,” Director Xue said. “Be polite when you see him in the future.” They are the ones who control the lifeline of production in their own workshops.

Wen Jiajia nodded. “Okay.”

A few minutes later, the meeting started promptly. The conference room was already full of people. Wen Jiajia roughly counted at least 150 attendees.

She sat next to Director Xue and had to start taking notes as soon as Director Xue pointed to the table.

Memorizing doesn’t have to be word for word. Wen Jiajia wrote down the key points.

However, because the people on the stage didn’t speak Mandarin very well, Wen Jiajia had a headache during the recording process.

She finally understood why Director Xue didn’t remember it himself. The speaker had an accent, and Director Xue was sitting in the back, so people with even slight hearing loss wouldn’t be able to hear clearly!

Director Xue, who was almost fifty years old, had poorer hearing than when he was younger, so it was normal for him to ask someone to help record.

The speech covered next month’s work.

There were production targets, export targets, research progress updates, and the foreign language team was asked to be prepared. Wen Jiajia realized that the pharmaceutical factory’s drugs would also be exported abroad.

Finally, the speaker emphasized safety, including worker safety and machine safety. Director Xue asked her to remember this part especially.

“If you don’t remember clearly, Qiao He won’t be able to handle his work next month,” Director Xue said helplessly.

“…”

No wonder the older generation always says that work is not difficult. The work they did when they were young was indeed not as challenging compared to the struggles of the younger generation.

Anyway, at least 50% of the workers are living comfortably now, and this phenomenon will become more pronounced.

This was especially true in the 1980s when the wave of layoffs had not yet arrived. Wages were still being paid, and the factories had begun to show signs of decline but were not in financial difficulty.

The entire meeting lasted an hour and a half, and the trip back and forth took another half hour. By the time they got back to the office, it was already five o’clock.

“Jia Jia, what were you doing just now?” Sha Yue asked.

Li Haijun and Qiao He couldn’t help but prick up their ears to listen.

Wen Jiajia put the notebook into her backpack, thought for a moment, and stuffed the lunch box into it. She looked up and said to Sha Yue, “I went to the big conference room in the Red Building with Director Xue for a meeting.”

Sha Yue understood. “The meeting at the end of the month.”

Wen Jiajia was curious. “Does it have to be held every month?”

“Yeah, I almost forgot about it. Hey, did Director Xue ask you to take notes?”

Wen Jiajia was surprised. “You knew?”

Sha Yue smiled and quietly pointed to her ear, but Wen Jiajia didn’t understand what she meant.

When she went out with her bag and umbrella, Sha Yue secretly followed her and whispered, “Director Xue served in the army when he was young. His ears were injured by artillery explosions, so his hearing isn’t that good.” Her mother had an old relationship with Director Xue, so she knew about this.

Wen Jiajia paused slightly. It turned out there was this reason.

Sha Yue left after she finished speaking. Wen Jiajia stood there for a while before going to the carport.

She placed her backpack on the bike basket, unzipped it, and took out the lunch box, placing it next to her.

When she passed by the state-owned restaurant, she stopped and walked in with her lunch box. “Hello, comrade. I’d like a serving of sweet and sour pork tenderloin.”

She had peeked when she passed by yesterday and it smelled so good that she dreamed about it at night.

“Package?” asked the waiter.

Wen Jiajia handed over the lunch box. “Yes, please pack it.”

“Give me the money.”

Wen Jiajia skillfully took out the banknotes she had prepared.

It was only because she was working now and Wei Dai had been promoted that she could afford this.

“Sit over there and wait.” The waiter pointed to a seat and went into the kitchen with the lunch box.

Soon, the sweet and sour pork was ready, and the waiter handed her the lunch box. “Open it and take a look.”

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, “No, I’m afraid I’ll eat it on the spot.”

Waiter: “Haha, you are so funny.”

She thought this man was very interesting. He bought eight big steamed buns yesterday and packed a portion of sweet and sour pork today. He must be a big spender.

Wen Jiajia left holding the hot lunch box and immediately put the food into the lunch box when she got back to the car.

Then there was another burst of rapid pedaling, and she managed to get home just as the sunset was still shining brightly.

She arrived home a little later today, a little after six o’clock, and Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had already returned.

Wen Xuan’s keen nose smelled something as soon as Wen Jiajia opened her backpack, and she hurried over to ask expectantly, “Is it sweet and sour spare ribs?”

Wen Jiajia put the lunch box on the table. “Wrong, it’s sweet and sour pork. As a punishment, you’ll have to eat one less later.”

Wen Xuan pouted. “That’s not fair. This is food I’ve never had before.”

Wen Jiajia laughed out loud. “You even know something beyond the syllabus.” Such a small person, but she had so many things to say.

She stopped teasing Wen Xuan and hurried to steam the rice.

While the rice was steaming, she went to the yard to pick some vegetables.

There weren’t many vegetables left in the yard. The eggplants and two kinds of beans hadn’t yet grown. She would have to find some free time to go to the vegetable patch to pick them.

By the time the rice was cooked, the sunset had disappeared below the horizon.

The nights in early summer always come suddenly, as if the transition between day and night is infinitely shortened.

The sweet and sour pork tenderloin was really generous, and the three of them only finished half of it. Afterward, Wen Chun wiped his mouth with his handkerchief and said, “Can we eat the rest tomorrow?” He thought the sweet and sour pork tenderloin tasted better than the sweet and sour spare ribs.

“If it’s not spoiled, you can eat it,” Wen Jiajia said. She was also in a dilemma. It was really inconvenient without a refrigerator.

She had to work overtime at night, but fortunately, there was electricity.

Wen Jiajia needed to organize the content of today’s conversation; otherwise, Director Xue would not understand it.

The curtains were not drawn, and the night scene outside the window was visible.

With the arrival of early summer, cicadas that have lived in the soil for five or even fifteen years finally mature. They climb up the trees to shed their shells and emerge from their pupae, striving to make their mating calls of “cicada cicada.”

Because there were not many cicadas at this time, Wen Jiajia did not feel annoyed. She even thought that their arrival added a bit of fun to this summer night.

She was thinking of waiting for Wei Dai to come back and letting him take her to catch cicadas. It just so happened that there was pepper salt and chili powder at home, and stir-frying cicadas with these seasonings would make a rare delicacy.

At nine o’clock, the lights went out without hesitation.

Wen Jiajia paused with her pen and reluctantly lit the kerosene lamp. She had almost finished organizing the work.

By the time she stopped writing again, it was already half past nine. Wen Jiajia was so sleepy that she kept yawning. She fell into a deep sleep in less than half a minute after lying on the bed.

The next morning, Wen Jiajia handed the meeting content to Director Xue as soon as she arrived at work. She had said yesterday that it needed to be done as soon as possible.

Director Xue was impressed by Wen Jiajia’s efficiency. A few days ago, he just thought she was capable, but now… he had higher expectations of her.

“Well, not bad.” Director Xue nodded, a look of satisfaction on his face. “Leave the safety part to Qiao He and let him prepare for next month’s work.”

“Yes, Director.”

After receiving the task, Wen Jiajia left and returned to the office, leaving the meeting content related to security on Qiao He’s desk.

She was quite surprised that she was the first person to arrive at the office today.

But Qiao He had not arrived yet.

“That’s strange,” she muttered.

She picked up today’s newspaper and started reading it without paying much attention. It was not until five minutes before eight that Qiao He rushed into the office.

Qiao He glanced at the papers on the table and said nothing.

Wen Jiajia broke the silence. “Comrade Qiao, what is on your table is the content of yesterday’s conversation about safety.”

After about three seconds, he finally spoke. “Okay, thank you.”

Wen Jiajia was surprised to hear the words “thank you” from him.

The third person to arrive at the office was Sha Yue.

Sha Yue arrived on time, but Li Haijun did not arrive until 8:05.

An awkward situation arose—there were only three new newspapers in the office every day, and they were now in the hands of Wen Jiajia and others. Li Haijun didn’t notice it at first. When he packed up his things and went to the door to get the newspapers, he came back empty-handed and with a gloomy face.

Sha Yue just glanced at him and ignored him.

She was a child of a pharmaceutical factory. Her parents were old employees who made significant contributions in the early days of the factory. Although Director Xue might be wary of his uncle, the deputy minister, she wasn’t.

As for Qiao He, he looked down on Li Haijun but did not dare to show his emotions like Sha Yue. He just pretended not to see it.

After all, he was the second one to arrive, and he felt it wasn’t his responsibility if there were no newspapers.

Wen Jiajia?

Wen Jiajia snorted inwardly. She had been cautious in the past few days because she was not familiar with the situation, but now… she couldn’t always be a wimp.

Besides, she had been admitted through honest exams, not through any backdoor channels, so she held her head high.