Conquering the world from the Kaiser's driver

"Well, I'll be free for a while."

Letitia was a little unhappy. Having free time meant that she couldn't make any money. She was not short of money now, but she still owed 1500 marks to the man at the kitchen door.

"In that case, would you like to come work in my office?"

"Your office?"

Letitia turned her head and looked at him in confusion.

"Are you still hiring temporary workers?"

She didn't know that Lin Shangzhou had been promoted, and thought that the office of six was hiring temporary workers.

Lin Shangzhou came out of the kitchen, sat on the sofa and said to Letitia, "It's like this, I got promoted, I became the director of our department."

Upon hearing such good news, Letitia immediately put down the newspaper, clapped her hands and congratulated Lin Shangzhou: "This is a great thing, congratulations."

"Thank you."

"I'm in need of a secretary. The salary in the office is higher than that in the restaurant. If you're willing, you can go and try to see if it's a good fit for you."

Lin Shangzhou said to Letitia embarrassedly. After all, the position of secretary was as close to him as possible, and Letitia was a girl. He felt it would be difficult for Letitia not to have other thoughts.

Although he said this for Letitia's own good. (I don't believe he thinks so)

Letitia's clapping stopped. She looked at Lin Shangzhou with strange eyes, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Seeing Letitia like this, Lin Shangzhou's heart skipped a beat and he felt that something bad had happened.

"You said you wanted me to be your secretary?"

It took Letitia a long time to say this, and Lin Shangzhou nodded.

"Two days off a week, 18 marks a week, the intensity of the work varies depending on the intensity of my work."

After telling Letitia about the treatment, Lin Shangzhou continued, "If you are willing, you can go and try it first. After all, you have nothing to do these days. If you don't want to, forget it. I will find someone else."

"and many more!"

He was startled by Letitia's sudden reaction.

"You mean 18 marks a week?!"

"Well, if you do a good job, you will get a commission, and maybe a raise in the future..."

After hearing about the commission and salary increase, Letitia immediately became excited. 18 marks a week, with two days off a week. If there were commissions and salary increases, the salary would be even higher. Of course she was willing to do it for such a high salary.

Letitia coughed lightly to calm herself down, and said to Lin Shangzhou, "Since you have invited me, it would be inappropriate for me to refuse, so I am willing to do this job."

She looked calm on the surface, but in fact she was extremely happy and her eyes were full of excitement.

Lin Shangzhou had already figured out the reason why Letitia agreed. It was simple, because the weekly salary of 18 marks was almost twice what she earned in the restaurant. Since she agreed, Lin Shangzhou would not say anything more.

"Okay, then you can come with me to the office the day after tomorrow."

Lin Shangzhou nodded and said, "I plan to go to the textile factory this afternoon. I want you to go with me. Is that okay?"

Letitia looked at him in confusion.

"To the textile mill?"

"Well, I plan to go there and see how the female workers are treated. If nothing unexpected happens, I don't think there will be much change. I want to use my status to talk to the factory owner and ask her to improve the treatment of the female workers."

When Lin Shangzhou mentioned the female workers, Letitia recalled her time in the textile factory. She sympathized with the female workers. After learning that the government had dealt with the matter quickly, she thought the treatment of the female workers would be improved and she stopped paying attention to it. But now Lin Shangzhou said that the treatment of the female workers might not have been improved.

She was very angry and wanted to go to the textile factory to see what the boss was thinking.

So Letitia naturally agreed to this matter.

"Well, let's go together then."

She nodded firmly.

.

Chapter 90 The Current Situation of Women Workers in Textile Factories

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Shangzhou drove Letitia to the outside of the textile factory. The guard at the door looked at the car parked in front of his factory in confusion. When he saw the people getting out of the car, he was stunned.

Why is this man here?!

Of course he knew Lin Shangzhou, not only because Lin Shangzhou broke into the factory with the police carrying a baseball bat, but more of the impression came from the newspapers he read in the next three months. It was impossible for him not to know this man.

Lin Shangzhou got out of the car and took out his ID from his pocket to show it to the security guard. He said very kindly, "I want to meet your boss. Is she in the factory?"

The security guard was stunned when he saw the ID card Lin Shangzhou took out. How did this man become a minister?

"Hello?"

Lin Shangzhou waved in front of the stunned security guard. The security guard came to his senses and thought about what Lin Shangzhou had just said. He nodded repeatedly and turned around to open the door.

The security guard pointed to a building on one side of the textile factory and said to Lin Shangzhou, "Sir, the boss's office is on the second floor of that building, the second room after going upstairs. I still have work to do, so I can't take you there. Please forgive me."

"It's okay, just work hard."

Lin Shangzhou waved his hand gently, turned his head and said to Letitia, "Let's go."

Then the two of them walked towards the two-story building.

Walking in the textile factory, Lin Shangzhou looked around the factory. After a look, he fixed his eyes on the factory building.

Although he was sure that the treatment of the female workers had not been improved, seeing is believing, so he still had to ask the female workers in person whether it had been improved.

"Letitia, let's go to the factory first."

"To the factory?"

Letitia was a little confused.

Lin Shangzhou stopped and turned to her and said, "Well, although I am sure that the treatment of the female workers has not been improved, we still have to ask them in person. This will be beneficial to us when we find the boss here later."

"Do you have any good connections with the female workers here?"

(A female worker with whom you have a good relationship?)

Letitia thought about it for a while, and then she thought of someone: Jane. She should have a pretty good relationship with Jane.

"I know one for now. Come on, I'll take you to find her."

"Okay, let's go."

Then the two men walked towards the factory, and when they arrived outside the factory door, they were stopped by the female foreman. Even though Lin Shangzhou showed his ID and said he was here for inspection, the female foreman was unwilling to let him in.

Lin Shangzhou frowned as he looked at the female worker who was standing in front of him. She wouldn't let him in, so he couldn't force his way in, right?

Breaking in by force is feasible, but after thinking about it, he decided not to.

He turned to Letitia and said, "Letitia, could you please bring out the female worker you know? I have something to ask her."

"Ok."

Letitia nodded and told the female worker that she wanted to go in to find a female worker named "Jane". Seeing that it was Letitia who was going in, the female foreman hesitated for a few seconds, and finally nodded and took her into the factory.

After entering the factory, Letitia found Jane under the guidance of a female worker. Jane was very surprised by Letitia's arrival. After briefly explaining the situation to Jane, Letitia took Jane out of the factory.

After seeing Jane coming out, Lin Shangzhou walked up to her, stretched out his hand and greeted her.

"Hello, Ms. Jane, I'm Fritz Hipper."

Jane looked at the man's right hand in front of her at a loss. She had never experienced anything like this before - a man took the initiative to extend his hand to her to show his friendship.

Jane raised her hand and looked at the stains on her right hand, not knowing whether she should shake it. She was afraid that her hands would dirty the man's hands.

Lin Shangzhou saw from Jian's movements what she was hesitating about, and said with a smile: "If you feel your hands are too dirty, why not just wipe them?"

After saying that, he put away his right hand, took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Jane.

"Will it be fine after just wiping it off?"

Jane took the handkerchief in a daze and wiped the stains on her hands with it. After wiping the stains, the white handkerchief was stained with black stains, and Jane's hands became much cleaner.

Jane looked at the dirty handkerchief in her hand and didn't know whether she should return it. She didn't know whether the man in front of her was willing to have it.

Seeing that Jian had not returned the handkerchief to him, Lin Shangzhou chuckled and asked, "Ms. Jian, do you want this handkerchief? If you want, I can give it to you."

"No...sorry..."

Hearing Lin Shangzhou say this, Jian hurriedly returned the handkerchief to Lin Shangzhou. He took it, folded it, and put it in his pocket.

"Then let me introduce myself again. Hello, Ms. Jane, I am Fritz Hipper."

Lin Shangzhou extended his right hand to Jane again. This time, Jane looked at Letitia after hesitating for a few seconds. Letitia signaled her with her eyes that she didn't need to be afraid. With Letitia's encouragement, she extended her right hand and held Lin Shangzhou's hand together.

"Hello, Mr. Hipper, I'm Jan Bergenas."

After shaking his hand a few times, Lin Shangzhou released his hand and asked Jane, "Ms. Jane, I would like to ask how the female workers are being treated now?"

“Have the textile factory owners increased your salaries since the government inspection three months ago?”

Jane hesitated when she heard this question.

"I hope you can answer my questions truthfully. After all, I am here to solve the problem of the treatment of female workers."

Lin Shangzhou said very seriously.

Jane looked at Letitia again. Letitia nodded and encouraged her, "Jane, just go ahead and tell me. Only after Fritz knows how the female workers are treated can he better discuss this matter with the boss."

After receiving encouragement from Letitia, Jane hesitated for a few seconds and finally nodded.

She looked up into Lin Shangzhou’s eyes and said, “Our treatment went up a bit after that inspection, but now it’s back to the original level.”

Although he already knew this would happen, Lin Shangzhou still felt angry after getting confirmation from the female worker.

(Damn capitalists...)

Letitia on the side was also very angry. She clenched her fists and said angrily: "That boss is too mean!"

Lin Shangzhou asked Jian, "Jane, can you tell me in detail about your current treatment? Like hourly wages, working hours, etc."

"Ah."

Jane nodded and continued, "Our hourly wage is 7 pfennigs an hour, and we work 12 hours a day. We have no time to rest except when we are sick and have to take leave. We haven't been paid in full for a long time."

(Sure enough, this is worse than the treatment of workers..)

Lin Shangzhou felt very sympathetic towards the treatment of the female workers. He remembered that the boss of this textile factory was a woman... women exploit women...

"What if a female worker is injured in an accident at work? Will the textile factory just fire her or give her some compensation?"

"compensate?"

Jane looked at Lin Shangzhou in surprise, then shook her head.

"There is no compensation at all. If you are injured on the job, if it is a minor injury that does not affect your work, you can continue to work, but if it is a serious injury, you will be kicked out of the factory."

Jane's words made Lin Shangzhou's impression of the factory owner even worse.

"How are the women's meals?"

Jian complained to Lin Shangzhou: "If you go to the cafeteria early, you can have a full meal. If you go late, you will be hungry."

"The food is not good either..."

Lin Shangzhou whispered to himself that this was completely different from what Letitia had said before, everything would remain the same.

"Jane, do you know where the women workers in the factory come from? Do they live in the city or come from the surrounding villages and towns?"

Lin Shangzhou asked, it would be helpful for him to understand this aspect.

"I'm from a nearby town. I'm not sure about the rest of the people. Sorry."

"It's okay, no need to apologize."

Lin Shangzhou waved his hand and then asked, "What is the attitude of the female foreman towards the female workers? Are there still cases of bullying of female workers?"

"Female foremen still often bully female workers, but it happens less than in the past."

Jane said without hesitation.

(A little less than in the past, but I can still describe it as often...)

Lin Shangzhou thought to himself that he had asked all the questions he should ask, so he said to Jane, "Well...thank you for answering these questions for me, Jane. I have asked all the questions I should ask, and you can go back to work."

"Oh... um..."