Chapter 43

“Then, how much are you being paid?” The aunt responded with a touch of pride: “We get paid by the piece.”

As for how much per piece, no matter how they asked, the aunt refused to say. Asking the others didn’t help either—no one could find out.

Later, somehow a rumor spread that the people Lin Qingping had hired were being paid one yuan per piece.

That wouldn’t do!

The entire factory exploded in uproar!

They only made a little over thirty yuan a month! And those few people—one yuan per garment—that meant they only needed to alter one piece a day to match their monthly salary!

If someone worked fast and did two a day, that would be sixty! Add some overtime, and they’d be making 180 a month?

That money was supposed to be theirs!

How could it be earned by outsiders!

When profit came into play, true human nature was revealed. No one knew who started it, but complaints began to circulate among the workers:

“It’s all Feng Debao’s fault! If he hadn’t incited us, how would we have gone against the factory?”

“Exactly! What did we even get out of this? Feng Debao didn’t even offer us a cup of tea!”

“Right! Not even a single cigarette!”

“I’m regretting this so much. What do we do now?”

“Should we go apologize to Section Chief Fu tomorrow? Will he let us come back to work?”

“I… I want to work again too.”

Soon, beneath the basketball hoop on the lit court, a crowd of workshop workers had gathered. Everyone was muttering about this matter.

Feng Debao somehow caught wind of what was happening and rushed over.

As soon as the group saw him, they instantly recalled the image of him covered in swill, and instinctively covered their noses and scattered.

Around Feng Debao, a circle of “air isolation zone” opened up.

“You guys…” Feng Debao was so angry he raised his sleeve: “Smell me—do I still stink? Do I still stink!”

No one said a word. Everyone answered his question with the same gesture—covering their noses.

“Fine!” Feng Debao brushed the matter aside. “Let’s not talk about that. I heard you all are planning to surrender? Aren’t you all a bit too spineless, too disloyal? What happened to sharing the good and the bad? What happened to sticking together through thick and thin?”

For a while, no one responded.

Feng Debao thought he had intimidated them and felt rather pleased with himself. “I knew it! We’re all in this together! We’ll continue tomorrow! Xiao Wuzi, remember to bring your chess set tomorrow, we’ll play a couple of rounds!”

The one he called out—Xiao Wuzi—hesitated, then finally spoke up.

“Brother… I don’t want to cause trouble anymore tomorrow.”

“What did you say?” Feng Debao jumped three feet high. “Say that again.”

“I said, I don’t want to cause trouble anymore. I just want to go back to work!” Xiao Wuzi lowered his head. “My wife scolded me. Said I’m an idiot, not even earning money when I could. If I keep messing around like this, she’s going to divorce me.”

“Your wife is just a woman! What the hell does she know? You’re listening to your wife? Comrades, we need to have a big-picture mindset! We need to think about the factory’s future…”

“You’re not the factory director. What do you even know about the factory’s future?”

Just as Feng Debao was about to launch into a grand speech, someone suddenly interrupted with a sharp jab.

Feng Debao’s face instantly turned red.

“Exactly! And what’s all that about sharing the good and the bad? We haven’t even tasted the ‘good’ part!”

“Yeah! Even the sunflower seeds we eat on break—we’ve had to buy those ourselves.”

“That’s right! If I don’t go back to work, I won’t even have sunflower seeds to snack on anymore. I need to earn a bit of seed money!”

Once someone opened the floodgates, the complaints poured out like a tidal wave. The lit-up basketball court was practically boiling with voices.

Seeing he was losing control, Feng Debao stared at the few people who had always followed him.

“Ah Hua! Liu Dagao! Meizi! Are you all going to betray me too?”

Of the three people, one said: “Brother, I had no choice—my mother scolded me.”

Another said: “Brother, my wife doesn’t have milk. My baby needs milk powder, and it’s expensive.”

The last one said: “Sorry, Brother… I need to save up for a dowry…”

Feng Debao was furious. “Fine! Get lost! All of you, get out of my sight!”

It had just been a spur-of-the-moment outburst, but who would’ve thought—the basketball court cleared out in an instant. He was left standing there all alone, under the hoop, like a solitary post.

“You all… outrageous!” Feng Debao was so angry that he stormed off.

Halfway back, he looked at the nearby apartment building for factory families, slipped inside, knocked on someone’s door, and as soon as it opened, started ranting.

“I’m so pissed! None of them have any sense of loyalty. They’ve all quit—sold out for a bit of money!”

“What’s the rush?” A man’s voice came from inside. “Just change the strategy…”

The next day.

As soon as the factory’s work bell rang, the workers trickled into the workshop one after another.

This time, something unprecedented happened—every single one of them was properly dressed in their work uniforms. No one brought chess sets or poker cards, and no one had sunflower seeds stashed in their pockets. They all walked in with their faces downcast, full of unease and anxiety.

However, as they stepped into the workshop, they saw that the dozen or so temporary workers were already at their stations, hard at work.

“You all… why are you here so early?” Meizi couldn’t help but ask.

The same aunt who answered yesterday didn’t even look up. “Working! Why wouldn’t we come early? The tighter we work, the more we earn!”

“Exactly. We even wanted to do overtime tonight, but Master Lin wouldn’t let us.”

In their mouths, Lin Qingping was the one who taught them how to alter clothes. They didn’t even know what Lin Qingping’s actual position was, so they just called her “Master Lin.”

These comments made the arriving workers even more furious.

That’s right! These temps were all brought in by their Lin Qingping!

And what about them—the official employees? They didn’t even have the right to work right now!

They had to put on long faces and beg that yellow-haired girl for a chance!

The way they had humiliated her back then… now, she was going to return it all, tenfold!

As everyone quietly stewed in their own thoughts, Lin Qingping walked in. Following behind her were Gu Youlian and Du Gen.

Everyone in the workshop turned their eyes toward the three of them.

Seeing that the trio didn’t even glance their way, and instead headed straight over to check on the temp workers, a wave of nervousness swept through the crowd. They nudged each other, exchanged looks, and began to encourage one another, silently pushing each other forward.

Finally, a woman who looked rather honest and kind-hearted stepped forward with an awkward smile, and followed the others in calling out: “Master Lin.”

“Master Lin, look… we…”

Lin Qingping turned around and looked at them with a deliberately confused expression. After a moment, she suddenly seemed to understand and nodded.

“Oh, you all just go ahead and keep sitting. Chat, play chess, whatever you like.”

“But…” The woman looked troubled.

“It’s totally fine! I’ve still got another twenty or so people coming in—should arrive tomorrow. You all just take care of your own things!”

Lin Qingping spoke with a particularly agreeable and gentle tone.

What were they supposed to be busy with!

And besides, some of the more cynical ones had already started to think: She clearly understood but pretended not to, didn’t she? She’s doing this on purpose—putting on a show!

But so what? Even if she was putting on a show, they were the ones who bullied her first—could they really complain now that she was getting her payback?

The woman had no choice but to make herself clearer.

“Master Lin, it’s like this—we want to come back and work properly. Could you see if there’s anything we can do?”