Chapter 43: Abalone Chicken Soup

The newspaper issue was trivial; after all, it was just a minor matter.

If a quarrel had broken out, the only unreasonable one would be Li Haijun, and he wasn’t that foolish.

As Wen Jiajia’s work progressed, Director Xue assigned her more tasks. In less than a month, Wen Jiajia had established herself in the Sixth Workshop and became Director Xue’s top assistant.

In June, she took over the job of recording workshop data, which had become her main daily work.

Therefore, she had to stay in the workshop for at least two hours every day and gradually become familiar with the people there.

What surprised Wen Jiajia was that the workers in the workshop were not only busy with production but also occasionally engaged in drug research and development. Wen Jiajia had always thought that the research department was solely responsible for the entire factory’s research work.

Team Leader Wei said, “There are only a few people in the research department. Our pharmaceutical factory has 12 workshops. If we relied solely on the research department, we would starve.”

After Wen Jiajia got to know him better, he became more talkative and was no longer as indifferent as when they first met.

“How many people are there in the research department?” Wen Jiajia asked curiously.

“There are only 18, including the two who were just assigned this year,” Team Leader Wei said after thinking for a moment. “And these are the ones our factory director shamelessly begged from the Ministry of Health. Otherwise, how could we have 18 people?”

Wen Jiajia sighed, realizing there was a real shortage of talent at this time.

No wonder researchers in blue were so rare in the pharmaceutical factory; it turned out there were only 18 of them.

“For example, the flagship product of our workshop was developed by us. Although we are not college graduates, we’ve understood the basics after being on the front line for a long time.”

Speaking of this, team leader Wei was quite proud. “One of the three medicines exported comes from our workshop. But the workshop next door is also impressive. They changed the distillation method, and it has shown results recently. You should go and have a look when you have time.”

“Can we visit each other’s workshops?”

“Nonsense, of course. Otherwise, how can we communicate and improve?” Team Leader Wei glared. “The factory also advocates this. Wen Jiajia, you didn’t even read the bulletin board carefully.”

“…”

The propaganda column was created by Sha Yue. Wen Jiajia had never glanced at it, while Sha Yue copied the newspaper every day.

“Then I will communicate and learn more in the future,” Wen Jiajia immediately corrected her attitude. It happened that she had already understood the sixth workshop thoroughly and wanted to go out for a walk.

But before long, she was busy again, so occupied that she had no time to go out.

The factory needed to import a batch of new equipment, and Director Xue required her to write an application report.

If the first attempt failed, she had to write it again. It wasn’t enough to just write the report; she also had to update the status of the machines in her workshop. Sometimes, this led to arguments or even quarrels with other workshops.

A few days later, a fight almost broke out.

No matter how good their relationships were, it was useless when it came to the new machine. In the end, even a broom was involved! The security department had to intervene to stop it.

Wen Jiajia always felt that this scene was familiar. After thinking carefully, she realized it was similar to when two villages fought over water in the countryside. Workers and farmers are one family.

In short, she ended up with blisters on the soles of her feet from running around so much, and she lost more than three pounds.

By mid-June, when the rainy season began, Wen Jiajia realized how frequently it could rain.

Wei Dai’s mission took a long time, and he returned just before the Dragon Boat Festival^[1]also known as Duanwu Festival (端午节), a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar..

Being a night owl, he always got home late at night when everyone else was asleep. If he were in his hometown, he would have at least two mousetraps^[2]refers to metaphorical traps or difficulties that the person faces when they go back to their hometown. on his feet every time he went home.

It was past nine o’clock, and the lights had long been dimmed, but Wen Jiajia was not in the bedroom. Instead, she was drying clothes in the living room.

It had rained for a week straight, making the clothes at home very damp with a stuffy smell. They needed to be dried.

The old family members who had stayed here for a long time had prepared a baking basket. The one that Wen Jiajia was using now belonged to Sister Bao.

At this moment, she was still thinking that when Wei Dai came back, she would ask him to make one quickly.

According to Sister Bao, based on previous years, this drizzle would not end until the end of the month.

The night was silent except for the sound of dripping rain and the crackling of the charcoal fire.

The door was half-open, and the east wind was blowing with a drizzle. The misty rain floated onto Wen Jiajia’s face, so she had to step back again.

The charcoal fire dimmed again. She poked it with a bamboo stick, and it started to burn brightly again.

At that moment, there was a noise at the door.

Wen Jiajia was stunned for half a second, then quickly got up and walked to the living room door.

In the darkness, Wei Dai’s figure appeared on the top of the wall. He then leaped and lightly jumped into the yard.

Since the door was half-open, Wei Dai did not see Wen Jiajia until she rushed out.

“Why didn’t you knock?”

Wen Jiajia jumped onto Wei Dai, and he quickly held her up, his heart pounding.

“Why didn’t you knock when you were talking?” Wen Jiajia’s eyes were surprisingly bright at night. When he looked into her eyes, it seemed as if his soul would be sucked into them.

Wei Dai held her up with one hand, pressed the back of her head with the other, and kissed her hard twice. “I was just about to ask you, what are you doing out here? It was raining, and I couldn’t see you.”

Having said that, he quickly carried her into the house.

The couple had been separated for a long time, and when they reunited, neither wanted to let go of the other.

Wen Jiajia stood on the ground but hooked her arm around his neck, put her cheek against his, and asked softly, “Why did you take so long this time? I thought you had to come back at the beginning of the month.”

She couldn’t sleep those nights, always feeling that Wei Dai would appear at her doorstep.

Wei Dai’s face was tired, but his eyes were gentle. He stroked her cheek with his hand. “I encountered some trouble temporarily, but it’s okay. Don’t worry, I probably won’t have any major tasks by the end of the year.”

“Really!” Wen Jiajia was pleasantly surprised, her voice suddenly rising. “That’s good. I was really worried when you left. Sometimes I had nightmares at night and couldn’t fall asleep after waking up from them.”

Especially in the past half month, Wen Jiajia’s tone was filled with grievance whenever she spoke.

Wei Dai felt very sad and held her in his arms. “I’m sorry, I…”

“Don’t say anything. I’m glad you’re back.” Wen Jiajia had decided to be with him, having naturally accepted the fact that he was often not at home. That was the nature of his job. Although she missed him, she would not ask him to stop going on missions in the future.

“Don’t worry, I’m still not injured this time.” Wei Dai felt heavy in his heart. He suddenly understood why Lao Bai chose to retire from the army.

Wen Jiajia pushed him away. “Then go take a shower first. I have to check after you finish.”

Wei Dai laughed. “Okay, check however you want.”

Wen Jiajia rolled her eyes when she saw that he was acting weird again. Just as she was about to say something to him, she moved her nose and smelled a burning odor.

“Ah, my clothes!”

The clothes were not turned over, and they were getting burnt!

She quickly turned the clothes over and touched the burnt side. Sure enough, there was a hard lump.

Wen Jiajia felt so distressed because these were new clothes that had just been made.

“It’s okay, we’ll buy more.” Wei Dai was very generous.

Wen Jiajia pushed him. “Go take a bath.”

Wei Dai went to take a shower. Before doing so, he had to open the courtyard door and bring in the luggage he had just placed at the door.

It was unclear where Wei Dai had been on his mission, but his luggage was smelly and covered with dirt and grass. Wen Jiajia refused to let him put it on the sofa, pointing to the floor. “Put it here and wash it tomorrow.”

After thinking for a while, she said, “No, you should soak it after you take a shower; otherwise, it won’t be clean tomorrow.”

Wei Dai replied, “Okay, don’t touch it. Let me do it later.”

Wen Jiajia thought to herself, I won’t touch it.

The clothes were almost dried, and since they were still hot, Wen Jiajia didn’t put them in the closet. Instead, she spread them out on the back of the sofa to dry, planning to collect them tomorrow.

As for the brazier, she decided to leave it alone for now.

Wen Jiajia sat next to the baking basket, her head lowered into it.

Her hair was slightly wet, so she could only use a dryer to dry it. Without a hair dryer, this was how Wen Jiajia usually dried her hair in the winter.

Wei Dai took a quick shower, and within five or six minutes, she heard the door open.

“Have you washed your hair?” His hair was still dripping when he walked in. There were clumps of hair on his forehead. Wen Jiajia felt it was a little long and needed to be trimmed.

Wei Dai nodded.

Wen Jiajia pointed at the baking basket and said, “Then you should come and bake it too. Don’t think you can bake as much as you want just because you’re young. You’ll have enough headaches when you’re older.”

Wei Dai smiled and said, “Okay.”

He thought to himself, It’s you who complains of headaches every day, not me, so I have to be on guard against headaches when you get old.

But Wen Jiajia didn’t like hearing this. She didn’t like to be reminded that she was getting old.

It was almost eleven o’clock by the time they finished drying their hair. Wei Dai soaked his backpack in the wooden barrel, closed the doors and windows, and entered the room.

Tomorrow was the weekend, and Wen Jiajia didn’t need to go to work. Wei Dai hadn’t been home for a long time and was full of enthusiasm, so the two of them couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t until the birds chirped outside that they realized it was already two in the morning.

Wen Jiajia was so sleepy that she kicked off the quilt, hugged her new pillow, and fell asleep.

Wei Dai was still excited. He didn’t know what he was thinking about, but his thoughts slowly calmed down. After a long time, he fell asleep with steady breathing.

The next day, Wen Jiajia didn’t wake up until half past ten, and Wei Dai did the same. When she drowsily glanced at her watch, she suddenly woke up and shouted, “Oh no!”

She immediately threw back the quilt, opened the door in her slippers, and ran to the next room.

However, the children’s rooms were empty.

Wen Jiajia came to the living room and found that the door was open and there was a simple breakfast on the dining table: rice porridge and soy sauce poached eggs.

She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Wei Dai had gotten up in the morning to cook for the children.

There are no weekends in the Yuhong class. Some time ago, Wen Jiajia had to get up and cook even on weekends. Thinking about it, she was grateful she could sleep until she woke up naturally this morning.

Wei Dai also came out. Wen Jiajia scratched her hair and said, “I don’t even know when you got up to make breakfast for them.”

“I was woken up by Chun’er and Xuanxuan,” Wei Dai said as he lit the stove and put the porridge in the pot to warm it.

Wen Jiajia had slept too late the previous night and now only felt dizzy and headachey, without her usual refreshed feeling.

Even breakfast was tasteless.

“You should take a rest tomorrow,” Wei Dai suggested.

Wen Jiajia nodded. “This week is a big week, so we can take two days off.”

It was strange that the big and small week system existed at that time. She didn’t know about other places, but the pharmaceutical factory implemented this system, and Wen Jiajia was very satisfied with it.

Wei Dai said, “Then I will go pick some leaves for the rice dumplings, and we can make zongzi^[3]refer to traditional Chinese rice dumplings made of glutinous rice stuffed with various fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, reed leaves, or other large flat leaves. tomorrow.”

Wen Jiajia suddenly perked up. “Yes, tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival!”

She quickly added, “I still need to soak the glutinous rice. Oh, and I also need to buy some meat… Oh, then I have to go to the city again!”

Wei Dai laughed. “You really don’t want to go into the city?”

Wen Jiajia was depressed, her shoulders drooping. “Who would want to go back to the city if they only stay there five or six days a week?”

She almost felt sick from traveling that road.

She even suspected that she had PTSD^[4]stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a mental health condition that can develop after an individual has been exposed to a traumatic event. caused by going to the city, as she felt a little panicked whenever she entered the city.

Wei Dai felt distressed. “It’s okay, I’ll go. You can wash the rice dumpling leaves at home.”

He thought about buying more things to nourish Jia Jia. It was dark last night, and he was so excited that he didn’t notice it. But now he saw her and realized that Jia Jia had lost a lot of weight in just a short time.