The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 781 The Migrant Worker's Counterattack (Part 2)
The next morning, Li Guangming got up earlier than usual.

He brought his notebook to the sycamore trees on campus and studied it diligently in the morning light.

Professor Zhang, who was passing by, saw this scene and smiled with satisfaction.

Back in his dormitory, Li Guangming couldn't wait to flip through his notes.

He discovered that Wang Mei had not only compiled the key points for the exam, but also added her own insights and reflections at the end of each chapter.

For example, in the logical reasoning section, she marked in red: "For this type of question, you should first find the keywords and eliminate distractors." And next to the sample essays, she meticulously annotated the scoring points and writing techniques.

In the Suining County Industrial Park, "Suizhou Huarui Hardware Factory" received a new batch of mobile phone accessory orders from Huwei Company.

Li Youcai, the factory manager of Huarui Hardware Factory, is just a young man in his early twenties, and his entrepreneurial experience is quite legendary in the local area.

Seven years ago, Li Youcai dropped out of high school, packed his bags, left his hometown, and began his journey to work in the south.

At that time, Li Youcai's second sister, Li Fang, had been working in a garment factory in Guangdong Province for several years. She heard that the factory was short of people at the end of the year and that it might be easier to recruit workers than usual.

So, Li Youcai secretly decided to leave home before the Spring Festival.

Although his family was reluctant to let him go, they understood Li Youcai's choice.

His mother and grandmother saw Li Youcai off on the bus with tears in their eyes. Their figures gradually blurred, while he embarked on his journey south, filled with anticipation and trepidation.

Thus, Li Youcai, who had never left the county town before, first took a car to Suizhou, and then took a train from Suizhou to Guangdong Province.

Li Youcai's journey was filled with unfamiliarity and novelty, making him feel both uneasy and excited.

Upon arriving at Guangzhou Railway Station in Guangdong Province, Li Youcai and his cousin Li Youli, who had traveled with him, went their separate ways.

Li Youli went to Qiaotou Town in Dongguan City, while Li Youcai's destination was Zhongsan Dongsheng Town.

Li Youcai stood amidst the bustling crowd at Guangzhou Railway Station, gazing at the unfamiliar cityscape, his heart pounding.

He clutched the slip of paper with his second sister Li Fang's factory address tightly in his hand, afraid of losing it.

Stepping out of the train station, he was greeted by humid, sweltering air and a cacophony of Cantonese vendors' cries, leaving him momentarily at a loss.

Guided by a kind passerby, he boarded a long-distance bus bound for Form Three.

As the scenery outside the car window gradually changed from a city full of high-rise buildings to an industrial area with factories, Li Youcai's eyes kept recording these new scenes.

Three hours later, when the bus pulled into the Dongsheng Town bus station, he saw his second sister, who had been waiting for him for a long time.

"How come you've lost so much weight?" Li Fang asked, taking her younger brother's luggage with a pained expression.

Li Youcai smiled sheepishly; the instant noodles he had eaten along the way had indeed made him feel a bit nauseous.

Sitting on the back of his second sister Li Fang's tricycle, traveling through the narrow factory alleys, he smelled the unique odor of engine oil mixed with metal, and heard the constant roar of machines.

"Sister, is this your electric scooter?" Li Youcai felt that this electric scooter was really convenient, much faster than the tricycle at home.

Li Fang smoothed her hair, turned around and smiled, saying, "I can't bear to buy this thing. This 'Yanshan' brand electric bike costs more than four thousand yuan!"
However, although it's a bit pricey, it's really convenient for transporting people and goods.

This is from our factory warehouse, I'm just borrowing it for a bit..."

The Goldlion garment factory where Li Fang works is much simpler than she imagined.

The factory didn't have its own workers' dormitories, so Li Youcai's second sister, Li Fang, rented a small house outside the factory, which prevented him from wandering around when he first arrived in Zhongshan.

Li Fang was just an ordinary wire cutter in the factory and didn't have many resources to help Li Youcai find a job. However, she bought him an old bicycle and helped him settle down.

There are many fellow villagers from Suizhou in Dongsheng Town, and several of Li Youcai's junior high school classmates also work in nearby factories.

So every day, Li Youcai would ride his bicycle through the industrial area, going door to door asking if they were hiring.

Although it was the end of the year and many factory workers were leaving, it wasn't as easy as Li Youcai had imagined. As the year drew to a close, some factories actually started to close for the holidays.

It was Li Youcai's first time spending the Lunar New Year in a foreign land, and he couldn't help but feel lonely. Fortunately, there were many fellow villagers working at his second sister Li Fang's factory.

Every time they get off work, these fellow villagers gather in Li Fang's rented room to chat.

On New Year's Eve, Li Fang bought a small kerosene stove, and several people gathered around the stove to cook hot pot, pretending to have a strong festive atmosphere.

After dinner, everyone went to town in groups to stroll around, visit parks, and go ice skating, which helped pass the time during that lonely Spring Festival.

After the New Year, the factory finally started recruiting, and Li Youcai tirelessly searched everywhere.

However, the job search was not smooth. Several times, after submitting resumes, he became flustered and clumsy during interviews due to nervousness.

Once, I entered a hardware factory. The factory manager was from Anhui Province. However, because I was not proficient in the operation, I was politely rejected by the interviewer on the grounds of "insufficient proficiency".

Li Youcai stood alone at the factory gate, his heart filled with disappointment and melancholy, yet unwilling to give up.

In desperation, they went to the security guards to plead for leniency.

Whether moved by Li Youcai or feeling sympathy, the security guard from Hunan Province actually went to greet his supervisor.

With the help of the security guard, Li Youcai got his first factory job.

Working in the hardware factory was a hundred times harder than he had imagined. Li Youcai was assigned to the stamping workshop, where he had to stand beside the roaring machines and repeat the same actions thousands of times a day.

In less than a week, blisters formed on his palms, and he developed tinnitus in his right ear due to prolonged noise.

But whenever he thought of giving up, he would remember the jar of pickled peppers his mother had packed in his luggage before he left.

Three months later, Li Youcai, with his quick thinking and fast work, had surpassed many of the veteran employees in terms of operating speed.

This hardware factory doesn't provide food or lodging, so Li Youcai commutes to work by bicycle during the day and returns to his rented room at night.

His second sister, Li Fang, waited for him to come back for dinner in the rented room. Although the food was simple, it had a sense of warmth like that of his hometown.

Because of the large number of orders, the factory worked in two shifts when it was busy. Li Youcai gradually transitioned from a general laborer to a stamping worker and even received an "Outstanding Employee" award.

The boss often provides free late-night snacks when working overtime, and sometimes you can even get barbecue.

Although life was hard, there was hope. After sending part of his monthly salary home, he saved the rest in the bank.

That period was the golden age of manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta, with factories operating at full capacity day and night.

Soon after, Li Youcai was promoted from a handyman to a full-time worker, working in front of the punch press every day, immersed in the hum of the machinery.

In his spare time outside of work, Li Youcai likes to read books and think about how to learn some management knowledge.

Occasionally, when I have a holiday, I ride my bicycle with my second sister Li Fang and other villagers to explore the nearby towns and discover new street scenes.

The furthest they ever rode was from Xiaolan Town to Shaxi, and then back to Dongsheng Town. It was a whole day of cycling, which was tiring but also enjoyable.

The girls who were traveling together took turns sitting in the back seat of Li Youcai's car, chatting and laughing. Those days were warm and wonderful.

When Li Youcai first came to Dongsheng Town, one of his second sister Li Fang's coworkers, a cheerful "fat girl," took a liking to him.

However, Li Youcai was naive at the time, obsessed with work and making money, and did not understand her feelings.

Fatty and her second sister are colleagues and have a close relationship.

Li Fang occasionally jokingly hinted to Li Youcai that the chubby girl was "interested" in him, but Li Youcai remained completely clueless.

There was also a girl named Linzi from Hubei Province. Once, Li Youcai was giving her a ride on his bicycle. She quietly leaned against his back. At that time, she only felt a little uncomfortable and had no idea that she was thinking something.

Second sister Li Fang would occasionally laugh at Li Youcai and say, "You're such a fool."

Li Youcai's days at the hardware factory passed by one by one.

In the blink of an eye, he has been in Dongsheng Town for more than two years. During these two years, Li Youcai not only mastered the stamping technology, but also taught himself some basic mechanical maintenance knowledge, becoming a "little expert" in the workshop.

One weekend morning, Li Youcai was repairing his second-hand bicycle in front of his rented room.

Second sister Li Fang came over with a steaming bowl of egg noodles: "Eat it while it's hot, there's no rush to fix the car." Li Youcai took the bowl and suddenly noticed that there were several scars on his second sister's hands.

"Sister, what happened to your hand?" Li Youcai put down his chopsticks and asked with concern.

Li Fang instinctively hid her hands behind her back: "It's nothing, the factory has been working too hard these past few days, I accidentally cut myself while cutting the thread yesterday."

Li Youcai then noticed that his second sister looked much more haggard than usual.

He recalled hearing his second sister coughing frequently in the middle of the night recently, and a pang of sadness welled up in his heart.

That night, Li Youcai tossed and turned, unable to sleep, his mind filled with the image of his second sister's weary figure.

The next day, Li Youcai took half a day off and went to the largest bookstore in town.

He lingered in front of the bookshelf for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and buying a copy of "Introduction to Fashion Design".

On his way home, he took a detour to a pharmacy and bought several boxes of supplements with half a month's salary.

"Sis, look at this." During dinner, Li Youcai mysteriously pulled the book out of his bag. "I heard from people at the factory that if you study this, you can become a designer and your salary can increase several times over!"

Li Fang turned the pages of the book, her eyes gradually welling up with tears. She looked up at her younger brother's tanned face and suddenly said, "Youcai, actually I have some good news to tell you."

It turns out that the garment factory where Li Fang works is planning to open a branch factory in a neighboring town. The boss values ​​her hard work and wants to promote her to be a workshop foreman in the new factory.

However, this means Li Fang will have to move to live near the new factory area.

"This is great news!" Li Youcai said happily. "Sis, the workshop foreman won't have to work so hard on the front line anymore!"

Li Fang, however, was worried: "But if I leave, I won't feel at ease leaving you here alone."

"Hey, I'm a grown man!" Li Youcai patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself..."

“But you can’t cook, and you don’t know how to…” Li Fang still hesitated.

Li Youcai smiled and held his second sister Li Fang's hand, comforting her: "Second sister, I'm 19 years old in our hometown. I'll be getting married in two years."

"You're a grown man now, how can you let your older sister take care of you all the time..."

On the day he sent his second sister to the new factory, Li Youcai stood at the entrance of the new factory for a long time, reluctant to leave.

The setting sun cast Li Youcai's shadow long, just like his long and lingering expectations for the future.

Li Youcai secretly resolved that he must make a name for himself on this land.

After returning to the hardware factory, Li Youcai seemed like a different person.

He began to volunteer to work overtime and used his rest time to ask experienced colleagues for help with technical problems.

Seeing his diligence, Lao Zhang from the stamping workshop secretly taught him how to operate more precise CNC machine tools.

Three months later, Li Youcai was able to independently complete mold debugging, and even the factory director from his hometown looked at him with new respect.

On a sweltering afternoon, the factory suddenly received a batch of urgent foreign trade orders.

When Li Youcai inspected the samples, he found that the dimensions marked on the drawings differed from the actual items.

He mustered his courage and approached the production supervisor, arguing his case based on the actual measurement data he had recorded, ultimately preventing the entire batch of goods from being reworked.

After this incident, the fellow villager boss promoted him to team leader, and his salary increased by half.

On the day of his promotion, Li Youcai made a special call to his second sister, Li Fang, to tell her the good news.

The machine roared on the other end of the phone, but Li Fang's voice was exceptionally clear: "I knew our family's Youcai would be the most promising!"

After hanging up the phone, Li Youcai touched his employee badge on his chest and straightened his back for the first time in front of the mirror in his rented room.

He would be twenty next year, and his family began to worry about his marriage. According to the custom in his hometown, people start talking about marriage around the age of eighteen.

Li Youcai's cousin's wife even introduced him to a girl and brought her to Li Youcai's rented house for a meal.

During the meal, his cousin's wife tried her best to bring them together, but Li Youcai was focused on working hard to earn money so that he could go back to find Tan Wenwen, the female class monitor he had a crush on in junior high school.

This "unrequited love" sustained Li Youcai, keeping him motivated for the future.

After Li Youcai was promoted, he became even busier, but he still maintained the habit of calling his second sister every week.

One rainy night, he had just hung up the phone in the phone booth when he suddenly heard a startled exclamation behind him, "Li Youcai?"

Looking back, I saw Wang Qiang, my junior high school classmate whom I hadn't seen for many years, standing by the phone booth, soaking wet.

"Youcai! It really is you!" Wang Qiang excitedly patted his shoulder. "I work in an electronics factory in the next town. I heard from a fellow villager that there was a fellow villager named Li Youcai working in a hardware factory, and I guessed it was you!"

A long drought brings sweet rain, and old friends meet in a foreign land.

That night, the two talked all night in Li Youcai's rented room.

When Wang Qiang talked about the recent situation in his hometown, he suddenly lowered his voice: "Do you still remember Tan Wenwen? She graduated from high school but didn't get into university and started working. I heard she even has a boyfriend, but I don't know if it's true or not." Li Youcai's teacup shook violently, and the scalding tea splashed onto the back of his hand without him even noticing.

The next day at work, Li Youcai was unusually distracted while operating the machine tool.

Old Zhang, who was Li Youcai's mentor, noticed something was amiss. During lunch break, he pulled Li aside to the back door of the workshop for a smoke: "Hey kid, something's on your mind?"

Looking at his master's graying temples, Li Youcai finally revealed his innermost thoughts.

Old Zhang laughed heartily after hearing this, and the cigarette butt left a charred circle on the cement ground: "When I was your age, I also thought I would marry no one but a certain girl."

Later I realized that life is like the conveyor belt in our factory—what's meant to happen will happen.

On the weekend, Li Youcai, almost out of his mind, rode his bike to the small park where he and Fatty used to frequent.

On the swing set, a girl with a ponytail is playing with several children.

Sunlight filtered through the banyan leaves, casting dappled patterns of light on her face.

She looked up and saw Li Youcai, and stood up in surprise—it was Linzi, who had worked at the garment factory back then.

"I heard you're the class monitor now?" Linzi handed him half of the peeled orange, her fingertips still carrying a faint orange scent.

On the way back to the factory, the evening breeze carried the song from someone's radio: "Fate is like a gear turning and turning." Li Youcai's pedaling rhythm gradually became lighter.

When passing the post office, Li Youcai stopped his car and sent money home for the month.

Everything seemed to be predestined.

Several years ago, during the National Day holiday, Li Youcai went to a gathering of his fellow villagers and unexpectedly met his female class monitor, Tan Wenwen, in Dongsheng Town!
It turns out that Tan Wenwen, like Li Youcai, gave up her studies due to family circumstances and went out to work, becoming an assembly line worker.

This reunion brought them closer together.

Being in a foreign land, Li Youcai felt a natural sense of closeness.

On evenings when I don't have to work overtime, I go to find Tan Wenwen and we go ice skating together.

Once, when I saw Tan Wenwen holding hands with another boy, I felt a pang of jealousy.

To get closer to Tan Wenwen, Li Youcai even moved his rented apartment to a place near her home.

Tan Wenwen's younger brother, Tan Xiaodong, also works in Dongsheng Town. In order to build a good relationship, Li Youcai treats Tan Xiaodong like his own brother.

(End of this chapter)