Struggle Life in the 1970s

Chu Ye walked to the door. Sister Zhao had been waiting for a long time. After seeing Chu Ye, she glanced at him from top to bottom, then raised her hand and stared at the silver watch silently.

Chu Ye mixed into the crowd. After a few minutes, several girls came out of the dormitory together. Sister Zhao looked at the time, clapped her hands and shouted, "Okay, it's time. I'll take you to the cafeteria for dinner."

After that, he led everyone to the depths of the factory. From the dormitory to the cafeteria, they would pass by several factories in the middle. When the iron gates of those factories were opened, one could see from afar that they were filled with people in gray work clothes, working busily.

"I will take you to the work stations in the afternoon. You can familiarize yourself with the working environment in advance. I will arrange a supervisor for you tomorrow. The work here is simple and you can basically learn it in one day." Sister Zhao saw the curiosity on the girls' faces and explained kindly.

The appearance of the canteen is no different from those factory buildings. It can accommodate thousands of people for meals at the same time. There are three aisles when you enter from the gate. There are neatly arranged dining tables on both sides of the aisles. There are six food serving points at the end of the aisles. The chefs are wearing white hats, waiting for the arrival of workers.

"Today is your first day in the factory. It's not easy for young girls to come here from far away, so lunch and dinner are free for everyone." Sister Zhao walked in front, leading everyone to the window, and turned back to explain with a smile.

As soon as these words were spoken, someone immediately started praising the factory for its generosity. Then someone took over the conversation and changed the topic to praising Sister Zhao for her beauty and kindness. Sister Zhao was so excited by what she said that she praised them for being as sweet as honey.

When they arrived at the window, everyone looked over one by one. The chef serving the food also had a smile on his face and enthusiastically introduced the flavors to everyone.

There are rice, noodles, rice vermicelli, steamed buns, etc. The food sold in each window is different, which can be said to cover the tastes of different people.

Sister Zhao casually ordered a portion of rice, and asked for a braised pork and a dish of fried shredded potatoes as side dishes. After she finished, she took the plate and sat aside. The other girls followed suit, choosing their dishes and sitting at the table near Sister Zhao.

However, there were a few brave ones who walked carefully to Sister Zhao's table, and after getting Sister Zhao's nod, they quickly sat down and chatted while eating.

Chu Ye ordered a bowl of noodles in an open enamel bowl. Inside was white noodles with a layer of bright red pork and radish sauce on top. It looked particularly tempting. The auntie who served her the meal also said that she could have more if she didn't finish it.

She took the bowl and found a table where two people were already sitting. When she sat down, the two girls looked up in surprise. Chu Ye curled the corners of her mouth and smiled friendly. The two girls didn't say much and continued to eat.

A few minutes later, a crisp bell rang outside, and the sound was echoed even in the cafeteria. The girls looked at each other, Sister Zhao didn't even raise her eyelids, and at the food window, the chefs were on standby.

Soon, a thunder-like sound fell from the sky, and after a crackling sound, dozens of people rushed in from the door, men and women gritting their teeth and running towards the window.

"Is this... stealing food?" The girl sitting next to me was stunned and asked this question after a while.

Chu Ye was not that shocked. When he was in school, there were often students rushing to buy meals at mealtime. They were not necessarily that hungry, but more often they wanted the pleasure of eating before other students.

"It's not surprising that they do this. Although we have to pay for the food in the cafeteria ourselves, some delicious food will be gone if you come late. So if you want to eat something in the future, you have to come earlier to buy it." Sister Zhao spoke calmly and raised her voice so that everyone could hear.

The first group that rushed in had already gotten their food and sat down, and following them was a crowd of people with relaxed looks on their faces, going in groups of three or five to get their food.

Sister Zhao finished her meal and took her plates to the unified recycling area. When she came back, she looked at everyone and said, "Take your time to eat. Put the plates away after you finish eating. You can go back to the dormitory and rest for a while. We will meet at the dormitory entrance at 2 o'clock. I have something to do and I have to leave first."

Everyone waved and Sister Zhao turned and left.

Chu Ye exchanged names with the two girls sitting at the same table. It turned out that they had just met each other in the morning. When they were fighting for a bed, their beds were next to each other, so they decided to travel together.

Now that one more person has joined, they naturally have no objection.

After dinner, the three of them returned to the dormitory. Chu Ye had packed his luggage in a hurry in the morning and did not get to know his roommates carefully. Only when he arrived at the dormitory did he realize that these two people were in the same room with him, but their beds were not on the same side as his.

There were not many people in the dormitory at this moment. Some girls went to explore the garden after dinner. Chu Ye returned to his bed, took out his things, and went to the sink to wash.

"Hey, Chu Ye, I'll go with you." Sun Jiao spoke in time. Chu Ye paused as he was about to open the door. While waiting, he asked Li Xiaoya again, but she waved her hand and said she didn't want to go.

These two people were the girls Chu Ye met at the dinner table. At this moment, Sun Jiao quickly got out of bed with her things, and her high ponytail drew an arc in the air.

"Let's go."

The two came to the washbasin, which was no different from the one Chu Ye had been in school before, with three rows of large sinks against the wall with faucets on top.

There were already three or four girls bending over to wash things here. They were wearing work clothes. When they saw Chu Ye and the other man, they didn't even raise their eyelids and continued working on the things in their hands.

Chu Ye and Sun Jiao found two empty seats. Chu Ye put his toiletries there and prepared to wash his face first.

"Oh! Chu Ye! What is this? ... Pearl powder facial cleanser?" Sun Jiao's voice was so loud in surprise that it attracted the attention of others. Chu Ye's face was covered with foam and he couldn't open his eyes for a while. He nodded after hearing her words.

Then, "Can I use it?" Sun Jiao said this, and her hand quickly opened the bottle cap. Chu Ye heard a slight "pop" sound, and she frowned, a little unhappy. But thinking that they had just met, she held back the words and nodded in agreement.

When Chu Ye finished washing her face and took back the facial cleanser, she saw milky white colloid overflowing from the bottle cap. She tilted her head and saw a thick layer of foam on Sun Jiao's face.

This facial cleanser was bought by Mu Jiajun before. Although I can afford it myself, the meaning is different.

She wiped the spilled colloid clean and looked at Sun Jiao's face which had been washed twice but still not clean, and finally didn't say anything more.

In the afternoon, everyone followed Sister Zhao into the factory. The huge room was filled with neat rows of machines. There were workers sitting in front of each machine, all of them busy with their hands and feet. The air was filled with a strong smell of burning plastic.

Perhaps they were used to seeing new people, so there was not much novelty on their faces. Sister Zhao called the person in charge of this area and led everyone to introduce the new people.

"We are mainly stamping out artificial flowers here. Come and have a look. There is a large basket of artificial flowers next to each person. Take one and put it here, and the machine will automatically process it. Although this job is simple, you have to be quick-eyed and quick-handed, otherwise your hands will get burned." The person in charge stopped in front of a machine, watching the female worker's fingers flying as she introduced the job to everyone.

After the girls had looked at it, the person in charge found an empty machine and asked everyone to try it out. Everyone was very careful the first time and no one got burned.

"It's good. We are all quick and skillful, unlike the last batch. There was a girl who got burned after trying it once. She cried and said she didn't want to work here anymore." After the person in charge said this, Sister Zhao led everyone out and walked into the next factory area.

The Wucai Flower Factory is a factory that specializes in making artificial flowers, which involves various processes such as cutting flower shapes, pressurizing and shaping, and dyeing. The work content of each factory is different, and she wants to show everyone through it so that they can get started immediately no matter where they are assigned.

After visiting four more factories, I finally got a general idea of ​​the place. Sister Zhao randomly assigned people to different factories.

"We have bells to remind people in our factory. We will start work on time at 8 o'clock every day and get off work at 12 o'clock. In the afternoon, we will work from 2 to 6 o'clock. No one will care if you go back to the dormitory or go to town during the rest of the time." Sister Zhao explained the matters to everyone.

"We pay by the piece every day. You all work slowly at the beginning, but you can still earn two dollars a day if you work non-stop. After a while, if your work speed improves, you can probably earn three or four dollars a day."

Wow! Not to mention the other girls, even Chu Ye couldn't help but stare wide-eyed. She only earned more than 40 yuan a month as a teacher, but here she could easily earn much more than before.

Sister Zhao looked at everyone's surprised eyes with satisfaction, and the next second her tone became stern, "Of course, our factory does not allow cheating or laziness. You have to work hard. We will randomly check the work results every night. If anyone is found to be sloppy in their work, they will be fired without explanation!"

"We don't have a probation period. We will all start work tomorrow. Salaries will be paid next month. If anyone doesn't have money to eat this month, you can come to me and mortgage your ID card to get an advance."

As soon as he finished speaking, some girls held up their ID cards to exchange for money, while some who had extra money on them stood there without moving.

Chu Ye thought about it, then took out her ID card and handed it to Sister Zhao. Sister Zhao looked at her in surprise, then took it and took out twenty yuan and handed it over.

"Chu Ye, do you still need to collect money?" Sun Jiao's tone was exaggerated, attracting the attention of people around.

Chu Ye's expression remained unchanged. "I don't have any money on me. If I don't get an advance, I won't even have food to eat."

Sun Jiao didn't know what she was thinking, and her face showed disappointment. Li Xiaoya gently touched Chu Ye's arm, raised the twenty yuan in her hand, and whispered, "It's okay, I also paid in advance, you see."

Chu Ye was stunned for a moment, then he curled his eyes when he realized that she was comforting him.

The next day, everyone got up early, packed up, and went to their respective factories after dinner.

Chu Ye was assigned to the stamping and forming area yesterday. There were seven or eight other people in her group. As soon as everyone stepped in, the person in charge yesterday came over and arranged seats for several people. Some of them couldn't wait to get started.

Chu Ye also tried it. This job was actually not difficult, but if he wanted to make more money, he had to speed up his hands, which would put him at risk of getting burned.

While a few people were trying, workers came in one after another. After finding their seats, they sat down with expressionless faces and continued to repeat their mechanical work for the day.

The person in charge checked the work made by several people and then left. The rest of the people looked at each other, but thinking that there was really nothing to teach about this job, they buried their heads and started to work.

After three days of this kind of life, Chu Ye completely adapted to this place, but there was only one troublesome thing.

"Sun Jiao, you obviously have soap, why are you using my facial cleanser?" Chu Ye couldn't help but speak out beside the sink. Everyone looked at her, and Sun Jiao's face turned red instantly.

(End of this chapter)