Wen Jiajia was amazed and looked forward to learning more about Yun Province Medical College after returning.

Soon, staff from relevant departments arrived—high-ranking leaders.

In such situations, even Director Gao had to stand aside and remain silent, let alone Wen Jiajia.

After a while, Wen Jiajia was assigned to communicate with other factory representatives and then moved to a meeting room, leaving her little time to observe anything. Her brow was slightly furrowed as she continued writing with a pen in hand.

During the meeting, she took a bathroom break.

She realized why so many people had to be brought along—it was evident there was a lot to manage. Before her arrival, she had thought her role was merely to bolster the team’s appearance.

In the afternoon, Wen Jiajia spent most of her time walking back and forth in the exhibition hall, introducing her factory’s situation and products to hospital and government representatives. She spoke for an entire afternoon, her mouth dry and sore.

“…Our factory is planning to build a pharmaceutical glass processing and packaging factory, as well as a comprehensive accessories factory. This will greatly enhance our independent research and development capabilities, and we will also be able to export pharmaceutical machinery accessories. Additionally, having a port gives us a transportation advantage…”

Wen Jiajia stood before the crowd proudly, having recited these lines numerous times in the factory. Director Gao had requested several revisions, and she knew them by heart.

A leader asked, “How many employees does your factory currently have?”

Wen Jiajia’s heart skipped a beat. This was a weak point for their factory.

Employees can’t be bought or moved like machines from other factories. Recruiting and training new workers takes time, and the factory’s greatest asset is its employees.

Wen Jiajia smiled and responded, “Since our factory was founded in 1974, we have 586 employees, including 46 engineers and technicians, and 2 senior engineers.”

The reform-through-labor inmates brought back by Director Shen from the countryside were not included in this count. They were highly capable, solving many problems and even repairing a production line. Director Shen had arranged for their daily care.

Upon hearing this, the leader frowned. “That number isn’t very large.”

Wen Jiajia quickly explained, “That’s true, but we’ve been actively recruiting workers for the past two years. If we weren’t concerned about their lack of experience, our factory would already have over a thousand employees.”

The leader nodded. “Indeed, you can’t rush this process. Safety in production is paramount. Given that your factory has grown to this scale in just two years, it is quite remarkable.”

He then asked, “How many devices do you have?”

Wen Jiajia replied, “We have a total of 42, including tube drawing machines, furnaces, bottle-making machines, and other equipment.”

“How many ampoules do you produce?”

“Last year, we produced 56 million ampoules, 64 million retorts, and 62 million yellow vials. We aim to match last year’s production figures by October this year. We have made some progress so far.”

“That’s quite good.”

The leader nodded as he left, though it was unclear if he was fully satisfied.

Wen Jiajia felt her hands and feet go numb, with sweat running down her back. The intense concentration had drained her energy. More importantly, she had just interacted with a ministerial-level leader, a first for her.

“Are you okay? Do you want me to take over?” Chen Sihua offered, supporting her. “You did great. I would have stumbled if I were in your place.”

Wen Jiajia nodded, stepped back, and sat in a chair in her booth, taking a big gulp of water from the kettle.

She rested for over ten minutes before getting back to work, finally feeling a sense of relief as the exhibition neared its end.

The next day, the group prepared to return with the orders they had received.

The bus was scheduled for 9:30 in the morning, so Wen Jiajia got up early and went to Daoxiangcun in Qianmen to buy cakes.

The aroma was incredibly enticing, stronger than that of bakeries decades later. It was the pure scent of pastries, not masked by flavors or additives. Wen Jiajia, who hadn’t had breakfast, was already drooling.

She didn’t buy the cakes immediately. Instead, she first had two pieces of meat patties and a bowl of fried liver.

Fried liver isn’t actually fried but rather boiled and thickened with starch to create a very thick soup.

Wen Jiajia hadn’t liked this taste before, and it took several tries before she got used to it.

Now, her tongue still struggles with the unusual taste. The strong smell of fried liver and internal organs was difficult to endure, but she managed to finish it.

In this era, anyone who left leftovers in their bowl faced criticism.

However, the taste of the meat pie was quite good—meaty, juicy, and delicious.

After eating, Wen Jiajia went to buy some cakes.

She had a lot of cake tickets, so she bought two boxes of Beijing Eight Pieces and also brought five boxes that others had asked her to pick up when she mentioned she was going to Daoxiang Village last night.

Fortunately, the people in the capital are quite informed and have seen many big scenes. Wen Jiajia was carrying only seven bottles from Daoxiangcun, so she didn’t attract much attention.

It was almost eight o’clock when she arrived at the guesthouse. The luggage was already prepared, and they set out on time at 8:10.

Once on the train, Wen Jiajia kept a tight grip on the pastries.

This time, Director Shen “showed his power”—probably because the hard seats had been uncomfortable, he had purchased a few sleeper tickets.

“There are only four tickets, but the advantage is that they are all in the same carriage. We can split into two teams and take turns sitting when needed,” Director Shen explained.

Wen Jiajia was quite happy. After all, sleeper tickets were hard to come by, let alone four of them. Compared to the hard seats on the way here, she felt like she was living in luxury.

She first sat in a hard seat for the entire day, then moved to the soft sleeper car with several female team members.

The soft sleeper was much more comfortable, and Wen Jiajia’s efficiency in memorizing improved significantly. When night fell, she took a nap, and when she woke up, they were almost in Linhe.

Arriving in Linhe City, the group disembarked and headed straight for the hospital.

Wen Jiajia had enjoyed a refreshing sleep and felt rejuvenated. However, several male comrades looked exhausted, clearly having been uncomfortable in the hard seats.

“Do you want to go home first? You can take the information home and sort it out, but please make sure to give it to me by tomorrow morning at the latest,” Director Gao offered.

She was very considerate, knowing Wen Jiajia had children at home, and wanted to accommodate her.

However, Wen Jiajia shook her head. “The information I have is incomplete, and I need to sort it out with Sihua.”

Director Gao nodded. “Okay, then. You can go home after the operation. Make sure to rest up because the upcoming tasks will be demanding.”

Wen Jiajia knew this would be the case and wondered how many orders they would receive this time.

She and Chen Sihua found a meeting room and began sorting out the materials. They reviewed everything together, taking two hours to complete the task.

“Are we heading home now? Why not grab a bite before you leave? There might be some leftovers in the cafeteria,” Chen Sihua suggested as they walked out of the meeting room.

Wen Jiajia shook her head and glanced at her watch. “It’s past one o’clock. I’d rather go home and eat the leftovers from the cafeteria.”

“Alright then, see you another day.” Chen Sihua waved goodbye, and they parted ways at the road fork.

Wen Jiajia handed the sorted information to Director Gao and then rode her bike home.

Last time she came by bicycle, she had left her bike with Sister Lu before boarding the train and asked Sister Lu to help return it to the hospital’s bike shed when she had time. Today, she found her bike in the shed.

Since she got off work early, Wen Jiajia was in a good mood and even hummed a little tune.

However, the afternoon sun was scorching, making it feel like her head was on fire. She touched her head and found her hair was so hot it burned her hands.

The road was nearly empty. The hot weather had driven the nearby villagers to either fetch water from the fields or stay indoors.

Wen Jiajia rode quickly, sweat pouring down her face, and soon her hair was drenched, looking like it had just been washed but not dried.

Eventually, she reached the army gate.

“Jia Jia, you’re back! Wei Dai said you were on a business trip these past few days?” someone asked.

Wen Jiajia encountered an acquaintance as she passed by the farm.

She smiled and replied, “Yes! I just returned. Auntie, you’re still working in this heat?”

“Oh! Don’t mention it. The chickens on the farm got sick, and many of them died! I tell you, don’t buy chickens from outside recently. I suspect there are sick chickens being sold by unscrupulous sellers,” the aunt warned.

Wen Jiajia nodded. “I definitely won’t buy any.”

With that, she frowned and rode her bike back home.

At home, only Zhong Huisheng and Xiaomei were there. Zhong Huisheng had just managed to coax the baby to sleep when he heard some noise outside and went to the door.

“Auntie, I’m back!” Wen Jiajia called out as she entered the yard.

Zhong Huisheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, she’s back. Anyone who takes care of a baby all day knows how challenging it can be!