Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 297 Kill a Monkey
Around 7 p.m., Li Weidong and his wife carried their daughter, Daya, who was already yawning from sleepiness, from the Li family's new house back to their own home.

As soon as he got home, Li Weidong put his daughter on the kang (a heated brick bed), pinched her little face to make her laugh, which made Daya giggle.

Malay Xiao walked in carrying a basin of steaming hot water for washing feet, frowning as he said, "Stop teasing her. If she gets any more agitated, we'll have to stay up until midnight again tonight."

She placed the basin of water beside the kang (a heated brick bed), saying, "You've had a long day, soak your feet to relax, and I'll coax her to sleep."

"My wife still cares about me the most!" Li Weidong chuckled, took off his socks, and put his feet into the water. The water was so hot that he grimaced, but he also looked like he was enjoying it.

The young man climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), took off Da Ya's coat, and while tidying the bedding, said, "I have something to tell you—from now on, you're not allowed to call me 'wife' at the company anymore."

Li Weidong paused for a moment, then paused his foot in the water: "What's that called?"

“Call me Manager Ma.” Ma said confidently. “I’m the deputy manager of the HR department now, so I have to act like a manager. I can’t let the employees think that I’m still clinging to you at the company and have no manners.”

“This won’t do, will it?” Li Weidong shook his head. “You’re my wife. What husband calls his wife ‘Manager’? Besides, I always call Lao Er ‘Lao Er’, I’ve never called him ‘Boss’ or ‘Manager’.”

"How can that be the same?" Ma Lai tucked the blanket around Da Ya, then turned and glared at him. "If the second brother is capable, who in the company doesn't respect him? I just took office and haven't achieved anything yet. If I don't even have a proper title for you, no one will take me seriously."

"Once I've streamlined the HR department and achieved some results, you can call me 'wife' then."

Li Weidong thought about it and felt that it made sense. Then he asked worriedly, "Is the pressure of being the deputy manager really that great? If it really doesn't work out, just tell the second brother that we're quitting and going back to growing crops in greenhouses. That would save us a lot of trouble."

"Pah, what nonsense are you talking about! You haven't even been working for a few days, how can you give up already?" Malay glared at him. "I not only want to do it, but I want to do it well. But today I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"What's wrong? What signs have you noticed?" Li Weidong pressed.

"It's nothing, it's just that the second brother went to Beijing, and I'm worried that the employees will become lax again tomorrow, and who knows who might break the company rules..." Ma Lai said in a low voice.

Li Weidong then asked, "Honey, everyone in our company is related by marriage. What do you plan to do if someone breaks the rules?"

"Let's handle this strictly by business!" the Malaysian girl said firmly, then paused as if remembering something, "Weidong, do you think I should 'kill a monkey'?"

"What monkey?" Li Weidong didn't understand.

"Well... what's that saying again? Something like 'One chicken is watching, then the monkey gets killed.'" He wasn't very educated in Malay, and what he was thinking was "killing the chicken to scare the monkey," but he couldn't quite say it out loud.

Seeing that Li Weidong still looked blank, she changed her approach: "What I mean is, find someone to cooperate with me in staging a play. For example, you make a small mistake, I catch you, and then I give you a ticket."

When others see that I dare to punish even you, they'll know I'm serious and won't dare to break the rules so easily in the future.

Li Weidong finally understood and frowned, saying, "Your idea... well, it sounds alright, but I'm your man. If people see through our act, not only will we make a fool of ourselves, but no one will take you seriously as our supervisor anymore."

Malay thought it made sense, and then said, "How about we find someone else to work with? What do you think of Qinghe?"

Li Weidong shook his head: "Everyone knows you have a good relationship with Qinghe. Asking her to cooperate will still arouse suspicion."

“What about Xiao Hu? That kid is clever, he’ll definitely be able to cooperate well,” the Malay boy suggested again.

“Xiao Hu doesn’t smoke, and he’s always the first one to arrive at work. There’s no reason for him to make a mistake. It would be too fake to have him act,” Li Weidong said.

Malay sighed: "Then who do you think is suitable? Give me some advice."

Li Weidong waved his hand: "I can't think of anything. You can discuss it with your second brother when he comes back."

"When the second brother comes back, he might even bring back the head of the HR department. Will I, the deputy head, still have any say then?" Ma Lai snorted, his tone tinged with grievance.

Li Weidong smiled and advised, "Isn't that even better? Let the new supervisor handle these kinds of offensive tasks, and you can just assist from the sidelines. There's no need for you to be the one to charge into battle."

Ma Lai frowned, at a loss for what to do, and sat on the kang (heated brick bed) in a daze...

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Malay Xiao arrived at the canteen of the Sijiqing Company.

She took out the sign-in book from the drawer and placed it on the table by the door, watching the employees come in one after another to sign in—some rubbing their eyes, some yawning, and some even misremembering the buttons on their clothes.

The weather is hot now, so the company has adjusted its work schedule: start work at 5:30 am, have breakfast at 7:00 am, and rest from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm to avoid the hottest time of day.

At 5:30, the Malay boy picked up the sign-in book and counted. A total of 47 people had signed in, one less than the expected number.

She carefully checked the list and noticed that Li Zhensheng's name was missing, and her brows furrowed instantly.

She put away the sign-in book and walked towards the directly managed greenhouse. From afar, she saw Zhu Yimin standing at the entrance of the greenhouse, assigning tasks to a group of employees: "Zhiqiang, take two people to the seedling shed and mix the potting soil for today."

Qingshan, go water the tomato seedlings in greenhouse number 43. Remember to water them thoroughly and don't miss any corners.
Tiezhu, come with me to greenhouse number 25 and finish transplanting the eggplant seedlings that haven't been completely transplanted yet. Hurry up, don't wait until the sun is high..."

After Zhu Yimin finished making the arrangements, he turned around and saw the Malay station not far away, so he walked over and asked, "Manager Ma, you're here so early, is there something you need?"

"Brother Zhu, are all the people in your production team here?" Malay asked.

"Sixteen people were expected, fifteen are present, but Li Zhensheng hasn't arrived yet," Zhu Yimin replied. "I was just about to finish arranging the work and report to you."

Malay glanced down at his watch; the hands pointed to 5:38. "I'm already eight minutes late. According to the rules, that counts as being late."

"I'm here! I'm here!" As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhensheng came running over, panting. "Yimin, Wei Dong's son, I've finally made it. I'm exhausted from all this walking."

Ma Lai frowned and said in a serious tone, "Uncle Zhensheng, the company stipulates that we start work at 5:30. You're already eight minutes late. What happened?"

"Hey, don't even mention it!" Li Zhensheng waved his hand dismissively. "The kids were making a ruckus last night, and I didn't sleep well at all. I woke up late as soon as I opened my eyes. It's only a few minutes more or less. I'll just stay a little later at noon and catch up on the work."

Zhu Yimin frowned, thinking to himself: Damn it, how many times have you been late? Every time it's the same excuse, "the kids are making a fuss." Can't you come up with something new?

He was also helpless with Li Zhensheng: the man was good at growing vegetables and worked hard, but he was always late or left early, and always wanted special treatment. But Li Zhensheng was Li Zhe's cousin, so Zhu Yimin couldn't say much.

“Uncle Zhensheng, no matter the reason, being late is being late.” The Malaysian employee’s tone was uncompromising. “If other employees all follow your example and make excuses to be late, how can the company’s rules be enforced?”

"Oh dear, Mr. Wei, I know I was wrong!" Li Zhensheng nodded perfunctorily. "I promise the old man I won't be late next time."

The surrounding employees couldn't help but chuckle secretly—Zhu Yimin had said the same thing to Li Zhensheng before when he was late, but he was still late the next time, and nobody believed him.

Li Zhensheng didn't take it seriously either, and waved his hand as he walked towards the greenhouse: "Alright, alright, everyone stop crowding around, hurry up and get to work, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest."

The employees followed him noisily into the greenhouse. Zhu Yimin shook his head helplessly. He was about to say a few words to Malay Xiao when he saw her turn and leave.

Zhu Yimin paused for a moment, sighed, and followed him into the shed.

After entering the shed, the employees chatted quietly about what had just happened while working, appearing more relaxed than usual.

Li Zhensheng, however, acted as if nothing had happened, slowly weeding with a hoe in his hand, chatting idly with the people next to him:

One moment she'd be talking about how long her child had been crying last night, the next she'd be complaining about how hot it was and how tiring it was to work, and then she'd be asking how other people's crops were growing, and her work slowed down.

Not long after, a figure strode into the greenhouse.

Everyone looked up and saw it was Malay Xiao, who had returned. She was holding a slip of paper and walked straight up to Li Zhensheng: "Uncle Zhensheng, this is your lateness fine slip."

"What!?" Li Zhensheng was stunned. He slowly took the form, squinted at it, and exclaimed in surprise, "Two yuan? Good heavens, why are they deducting so much?"

The Malaysian man calmly said, "This is company policy. I mentioned it at a previous employee meeting: the first time you're late, the fine is two dollars; the second time, five dollars; and the third time, ten dollars. If you always forget the time, I suggest you buy an alarm clock to avoid being late next time."

Li Zhensheng held the fine slip, his hands trembling with anger: "Wei Dong's family, I'm still your man's cousin, how can you be so disrespectful to me?"

“Precisely because you are an elder, you should be even more mindful of the rules!” the Malay junior high school student raised his voice.

"I set up the rules as soon as I took office, and you're the first to break them. Doesn't that make things difficult for me? I'm telling you this today: no matter who it is, no matter what connections they have with the company, even if it's my father-in-law who breaks the rules, I'll punish them the same way!"

If they repeatedly fail to correct their behavior, they will be dismissed immediately!

After these words were spoken, the greenhouse fell completely silent.

Li Zhensheng opened his mouth, but didn't dare to argue anymore—Sijiqing Company paid high wages, and if he were really fired, where would he find such a good job? He could only dejectedly accept the fine.

Zhu Yimin seized the opportunity to speak up: "What are you all standing there for? Get to work! If anyone tries to slack off or break the rules, I'll report it to Supervisor Ma. Don't blame me for being ruthless then!"

The employees then came to their senses and picked up their tools to get to work. They used to think that Supervisor Ma was "one of their own" and wouldn't really impose fines, but now that they saw that she even dared to punish Li Zhensheng, no one dared to slack off anymore. Their work was noticeably faster, and no one was chatting or fooling around anymore.

Looking at the scene before him, the young man secretly breathed a sigh of relief—this "prestige" had finally been established.

(End of this chapter)