Chapter 26: Becoming a Soap Factory Worker

The next day.

Luo Yaqing got up excitedly.

She quickly got dressed and rushed out of the inner room, only to find the outer room empty. On the small dining table sat a plate of buns.

Staring at the still-steaming buns, her emotions stirred, but she quickly suppressed the sentiment.

Luo Yaqing sat at the table and ate two buns with hot water.

Just as she finished rinsing her mouth, Zhang Guiqin pushed open the door and entered the house.

“Yaqing, have you eaten breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

Zhang Guiqin urged, “Then let’s get going. It’s the first day—we can’t be late.”

Then she remembered something and quickly reminded her, “Your lunchbox—don’t forget to bring it.”

Luo Yaqing grabbed her canvas bag, locked the door, and pedaled her bicycle with Zhang Guiqin riding along.

Chen Xiaomin was already waiting at the gate of the residential compound. When she saw them, she also hopped on her own bike.

The two bicycles rode side by side.

“Xiaomin, I really have to thank you for helping us get jobs at the soap factory,” Luo Yaqing said while riding.

Chen Xiaomin smiled, “No need to be so polite. We live in the same compound. Besides, it’s just a temporary position.”

Zhang Guiqin chimed in, “Even temporary workers are still workers.”

The three of them arrived at the soap factory before 8 a.m.

As the referral, Chen Xiaomin brought Luo Yaqing and Zhang Guiqin to report to the leadership.

The scent of mild soap lingered in the factory air as they reached the workshop director’s office.

“Factory Director, Director.”

Chen Xiaomin hadn’t expected that not only was Workshop Director Wei Jiang present, but so was Factory Director Jin Shuishan.

Jin Shuishan sat on a chair to the side, looking down at a production sheet.

Wei Jiang glanced at the two standing behind Chen Xiaomin. “These are the ones you brought?”

“Yes,” Chen Xiaomin nodded.

Wei Jiang looked over them again, examining Luo Yaqing and Zhang Guiqin. “Send them to the printing workshop—”

Ahem!

Before he could finish, Jin Shuishan coughed and set down his form. “The packaging workshop is more short-handed than the printing workshop.”

Wei Jiang was stunned.

Clearly, the printing workshop was more short-handed.

But, well, if the factory director said so…

He complied.

He pulled a temporary worker form from the drawer. “Write your names.”

Luo Yaqing picked up the pen on the desk and swiftly wrote her name.

Zhang Guiqin struggled—she was illiterate—so she carefully followed the strokes Luo Yaqing had taught her, clumsily scribbling her name.

As they walked out of the office, Zhang Guiqin complained, “My parents, why did they give me such a hard-to-write name?”

Luo Yaqing laughed. “Auntie, your name sounds nice.”

Chen Xiaomin smiled, “You two got lucky—assigned to the packaging workshop.”

“Is there a difference?” Luo Yaqing asked.

Chen Xiaomin replied, “Packaging is easy. Printing requires you to run back and forth to the soap production line, haul the big soap blocks, cut them into smaller ones, print the factory label, then send them to packaging.”

Luo Yaqing nodded repeatedly.

Packaging workshop.

Chen Xiaomin handed the two over to the shift leader and went back to the printing workshop.

The shift leader’s surname was Shen. She had a loud voice, but a cheerful personality and always wore a smile.

She handed them their uniforms:

A white apron and a pair of white arm sleeves.

Just like Chen Xiaomin had said, the work in the packaging workshop was light and simple.

Luo Yaqing and Zhang Guiqin were assigned to long table #3.

Each table sat six or seven people, with a pile of unpackaged soap stacked on top.

Shift Leader Shen diligently showed them how to wrap the soap: one bar, one paper printed with peonies, demonstrating the packaging process before going off to her own tasks.

It was easy work.

Practically no skill involved.

Luo Yaqing was very quick. She could finish an entire box of soap in just over ten minutes.

By the end of the morning, stacks of finished boxes piled up behind her—she felt hopeful about the future.

At lunch, more than thirty workers poured out of the packaging workshop, heading to the staff canteen.

The canteen was crowded and lively.

Workers from different departments queued up with lunchboxes at the food counter.

Luo Yaqing got her food and looked for a seat, spotting Chen Xiaomin waving at her.

She went over and sat down. Chen Xiaomin asked, “How’s it going so far?”

Luo Yaqing smiled, “It feels great.”

Chen Xiaomin said, “Shift Leader Shen praised you—said you’re fast.”

Luo Yaqing was pleased to hear that.

Zhang Guiqin eagerly asked, “What about me? What did she say about me?”

Chen Xiaomin took a bite of her whole grain bun and said, “She said you’re meticulous.”

Zhang Guiqin beamed with joy. In her forty-plus years, she had never worked a job, and now on her first day, she was being praised by a leader.

Chen Xiaomin, chewing on her bun, said, “Just keep working hard. You might get a permanent spot.”

Luo Yaqing lowered her head to eat. A permanent position meant a salary raise and benefits.

But it wasn’t easy for temps to become permanent.

Long-term temps had a chance. Short-term ones could be let go whenever things slowed down at the factory.

Chen Xiaomin noticed Luo Yaqing only had vegetables in her lunchbox. “Yaqing, why did you only get vegetables?”

Luo Yaqing looked up, “I’m dieting.”

Vegetables cost 3 cents. Meat—carrot stir-fried with pork—cost 12 cents.

She was saving money. She couldn’t bear to splurge.

Besides, she didn’t like carrots.

It was the first time Chen Xiaomin had heard someone say they were dieting. With food being scarce, gaining weight was hard enough—why would anyone want to lose it?

“Hey, you’re not even fat. Why diet? If Commander Han finds out, he’ll feel awful,” Chen Xiaomin advised.

At the mention of Han Zhixu, Luo Yaqing suddenly found herself thinking of him—just a little.

Just a pure, fleeting thought.

After all, on paper, she was still his wife.

No one was home to cook for lunch. What was he eating?

At that moment, Chen Xiaomin added, “Being too skinny isn’t good. When a man holds you in his arms at night, he won’t feel anything. Men don’t like skinny girls.”

Luo Yaqing looked at her in shock.

In this era, saying something like that in public—she was bold!

Chen Xiaomin leaned closer and lowered her voice, “Being too skinny makes that thing uncomfortable. That’s what Jianguo’s dad told me.”

Luo Yaqing: “…”

She hadn’t expected Chen Xiaomin to be so bold and unfiltered.

Chen Xiaomin nudged even closer. “So, for Commander Han’s sake—and your own—don’t lose weight.”

“…”

Yes, they were all married women, but Luo Yaqing was different.

She was still a virgin.

So after hearing that, her face turned bright red.

Zhang Guiqin, who had been quietly eating, put down her chopsticks and sipped from her enamel cup. “What are you two whispering about? Yaqing, why is your face so red?”

Luo Yaqing stammered, “Uh… it’s hot… the food’s too hot.”

5 p.m.

On the way home from work, Luo Yaqing pedaled as fast as she could, the cold wind whipping her face.

Zhang Guiqin clung tightly to the seat with one hand and held onto her wind-blown scarf with the other.

Watching Luo Yaqing race ahead like her bike was smoking, Chen Xiaomin couldn’t stand it.

She caught up. “Yaqing, slow down!”

“Why so rushed?”

“We’re going home, not rushing to work.”

But Luo Yaqing didn’t slow down, her legs pumping hard on the pedals. “I need to hurry home and cook.”

Chen Xiaomin burst out laughing. “What? If you’re late, is Commander Han gonna beat you?”

Luo Yaqing didn’t reply—she was using all her energy to pedal.