Chapter 42

“Wait, the director wants to see the exam papers for this recruitment?” Ning, the person in charge of recruitment, felt a sudden sense of unease.

“Why does the director suddenly want to see the papers? Normally, the director wouldn’t concern himself with the exam papers. Why this sudden interest? Could it be that the director has discovered something?”

“I’m not sure either. That’s what the director said. What do you think, Ning?” The male staff member responsible for the recruitment was also puzzled.

“I’ll take them to the director now.” Ning took out the exam papers and followed the male staff member to Director Wang’s office.

Director Wang’s office was empty except for him. When he saw Ning enter, he smiled.

“Ning, thanks for handling the recruitment. Did you bring the exam papers for the two workshop worker positions and the one for the staff position?”

Ning hurriedly took out the papers. “Yes, here they are. Why do you suddenly want to see the papers?” he asked tentatively.

“I’m considering adding another position and want to select from those who passed the exam. I want to see their performance,” Director Wang explained.

Ah, that’s why.

Ning didn’t ask any more questions. His mind was already racing, thinking about the lies he would have to tell next.

Director Wang took the two sets of exam papers. He first looked at Jiang Yunting’s paper. “This comrade’s handwriting is quite good,” he remarked briefly. Then, he looked at Yu Xiaomei’s paper. “From the answers given, it seems she has some understanding of garment making.”

When Director Wang looked at the last paper, he narrowed his eyes. The name on the paper was Ning Shu, but the character for ‘Shu’ had been crossed out and replaced with ‘Shuu,’ meaning ‘virtuous’ or ‘gentle.’

Director Wang was very familiar with the characters Ning Shu. Wasn’t this the same handwriting as the agreement Ning Shu signed yesterday?

If he hadn’t seen this handwriting yesterday, Director Wang wouldn’t have remembered it.

But what shocked him was not this; it was that this was indeed Ning Shu’s exam paper, but the name had been changed.

He hadn’t expected such audacity in the factory. If Ning Shu hadn’t come to inquire about this, her job position would have been taken by someone else.

Thinking about this made him very angry. But what kind of person was a director? Naturally, he didn’t show his anger immediately.

Instead, he pointed to the name and asked, “What’s going on here? Why was this name altered?”

Ning, the person in charge, suppressed his nervousness and calmly explained, “It’s my niece. She also took part in the workshop recruitment exam. When I saw this name, I asked her if she had written her name wrong. She said yes. I thought the girl was too nervous, so I corrected the name for her.”

Director Wang looked at Ning, observing his calm demeanor. Could he really be unaware of the situation?

Seeing Director Wang’s continued scrutiny, Ning became even more uneasy.

Finally, Director Wang sighed and said, “Ning, as cadres, we are here to serve the people. We cannot do things that would betray their trust.”

“What are you talking about, Director? I read the leadership quotes every day. I would never do anything to betray the people’s trust,” Ning, the person in charge, replied, feeling somewhat guilty.

Seeing Ning’s reaction, Director Wang didn’t say anything. Instead, he took out a contract from his desk drawer and said, “Take a look, especially at the last signature.”

Ning didn’t understand what he meant, so he opened the contract and read it.

As he read, he was surprised to see that the issue with the batch of cloth had been resolved. Well, not exactly resolved, but at least they were waiting for the results.

However, when he saw the final signature, Ning’s eyes widened.

He broke out in a cold sweat. He had never expected that the person named Ning Shu was the same person who had shown her face to Director Wang.

The handwriting of these two Ning Shus was so similar that even a layman could tell.

He couldn’t say that this was his niece Ning Shuu.

“Director, this is my fault. I didn’t clarify the situation. Although my niece pretended to be the other Ning Shu and claimed she had written her name wrong, ultimately, it was my fault for believing her without investigating,” Ning pushed the blame onto his niece and readily admitted his mistake.

In reality, this was just to save face. He knew Director Wang wouldn’t believe such an excuse.

But he had to maintain his dignity. When he saw the name Ning Shu and the exam paper, he had this idea and then discussed it with his niece at home.

They agreed that if it worked out, they would let it go. If it didn’t, they would blame it on his niece.

This way, it wouldn’t affect him, and his niece, who wasn’t a factory employee, wouldn’t come to work anyway.

Director Wang didn’t say much more. Ning had been here for over ten years, so he couldn’t say much about this incident.

But criticism was necessary. “Since you didn’t investigate properly, you should apologize to Comrade Ning Shu, return the job to her, and resolve this matter. What do you think?”

“Yes, yes, I should resolve this. I’ll go change the notice immediately. Where can I find Comrade Ning?” Ning promised hastily.

“She’s at the guardhouse,” Director Wang replied.

Upon hearing this, Ning hurried off to find her.

Director Wang shook his head as he watched Ning leave. More and more people were forgetting their original intentions as cadres, which disappointed him.

If it hadn’t been for Ning Shu this time, if not everyone had the courage and insight to inquire about things like Ning Shu did, wouldn’t this opportunity have been lost?

Considering Old Ning’s dedication over the past decade, he decided not to pursue this matter further.

Even if he did, it would only result in criticism. He hoped this would be a lesson for Old Ning.

Ning, still bustling, arrived at the guardhouse. Inside, he saw Mr. Wang chatting with a female colleague. When he entered, both of them looked at him.

“Ning, what brings you here? Is there something wrong?” Mr. Wang asked.

Ning nodded, “Old Wang, I’m here to find Comrade Ning Shu. Is this Comrade Ning Shu?”

He looked at Ning Shu. She was the only female colleague here, so she should be Ning Shu.

Mr. Wang nodded, “Yes.”

Ning looked at Ning Shu, “Hello, I’m Ning, what can I do for you?”

Ning observed Ning Shu for a moment. In this era, people judged others by their clothes.

Ning Shu liked to wear old cotton clothes, which were cheap in this era. Her white and tender skin revealed the kind of life she led.

Thinking that this person knew Director Wang, Ning had a plan.

He spoke kindly, “Yes, I am in charge of the recruitment this time. My surname is Ning, you can call me Director Ning. I have something to discuss with you privately. If it’s convenient, can we go outside to talk?”

“Of course,” Ning Shu said. When she heard the surname Ning, she suddenly remembered the name Ning Shuu. Was there any connection between the two?

Then, Ning Shu followed Ning outside.

Ning Shu didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. Since the job was going to be sold to someone else, and Director Ning’s family needed it, she asked directly, “Director, is your family interested in buying this job?”

Director Ning was surprised by Ning Shu’s question.

He had thought that if the job was given back to Ning Shu, the matter would be settled.

Although they might feel awkward when they met again, he could pretend nothing had happened. “Are you selling this job?”

Director Ning asked in a softer tone.

It’s hard to find a job now, not to mention a formal one—even temporary jobs are hard to find, and it’s difficult to buy one even with money.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have used this method to find a job for his niece. But he didn’t expect Ning Shu to want to sell the job.

Ning Shu said, “Would Director Ning accept a price that is 200 higher than the market price?”

Director Ning frowned. If it was according to the market price, he would certainly accept it.

He would also accept a slightly higher price than the market price. After all, it’s hard to buy a job now, and many jobs exceed the market price.

But not by 200. Then, he seemed to understand something. “Okay, a price that is 200 higher than the market price.”

The extra price wasn’t because the job couldn’t be bought, but it was a hush fee for this matter, or his apology fee.

Although he was a bit unhappy about the extra 200 yuan, he also agreed with Ning Shu’s way of handling things.

This way, they wouldn’t meet in the factory in the future, saving each other from embarrassment.

Otherwise, they would be reminded of this matter as soon as they met, feeling like they were being held by the tail.

In fact, the reason why Ning Shu dared to talk like this was that she was sure that Director Ning would buy this job.

She just wasn’t sure if he would accept a price 200 higher than the original one.

She thought that at most, they would negotiate later. Unexpectedly, Director Ning agreed readily.

Ning Shu said, “But I don’t know the price of this position. Shall I go and ask? Or do you know?”

Ning didn’t take Ning Shu back to his office. He didn’t want others to know about this matter, so he took Ning to a secluded corner of the factory.

Seeing that there was no one around, Ning said directly, “Comrade Ning Shu, I apologize for the recruitment matter.”

Since Ning knew Director Wang, Ning didn’t dare to be arrogant. “I have a niece named Ning Shuu, also a lady-like ‘Shu,’ who also participated in the recruitment for workshop workers. When I saw the exam paper with your name ‘Ning Shu,’ I thought it was hers. After asking her, she confirmed that it was indeed hers, but her name was written incorrectly. So, I made the decision to correct the name.

But I didn’t expect that this girl lied to me, and it turned out to be your exam paper. I’m truly sorry. Now, on behalf of the factory, I inform you that you have passed the recruitment.”

Ning Shu didn’t know if others would believe Ning’s words, but she didn’t.

However, that didn’t matter now.

The issue was that Ning had apologized to her, returned the position to her, but she couldn’t do this job.

If she sold it to someone else, would that person be targeted by Ning? After all, Ning had given her niece’s position to someone else.