Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Yi Zhonghai was demoted because he helped him change jobs. No matter how thick-skinned Bang Geng was, he was too embarrassed to complain in front of Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi about having to work as a porter in a workshop.

Yi Zhonghai was a man who cared a lot about his reputation, and he didn't want to tell Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi that he had been demoted.

So the two of them spent the whole night in a daze.

Early the next morning, Banggengliu went to the deputy director of the workshop to report reluctantly at the urging of Yi Zhonghai.

When he saw Bang Geng, the deputy director looked at him deeply.

Yesterday, Yi Zhonghai asked the director to open a backdoor for Banggeng, which caused a big uproar. No one in the workshop likes someone like Banggeng who wants to break the fairness.

Especially the deputy director who manages these apprentices and porters.

He would rather give money to the director and use the back door than be a porter in a workshop, as if being a porter was a shameful job in his hands.

Even the deputy director started to have complaints about Bang Geng.

Decided to give him more burden during the moving work later.

"Everyone come closer to me. I have a few things to tell you before we get to work."

"Our work is difficult, but also simple."

"It means sending the raw materials in the warehouse to the workshop, and then sending the qualified products and waste materials processed by the workshop back to the warehouse separately."

"Everyone has to make 10 trips between the warehouse and the workshop in the morning and afternoon to complete the task."

"We can help each other, or we can ask regular workers who have some free time to help. Anyway, we can leave work only after we finish our own tasks."

"Let's not waste any more time. The workers in the workshop are all waiting for us to deliver the raw materials to them. Get moving..."

"Go back and forth and get a note here. If you have ten notes, your morning mission is complete."

"Two apprentices work together, so two round trips count as one trip."

"For those heavy materials weighing more than 70 or 80 kilograms, which require two people to lift, they are charged separately. You can get one ticket for each trip."

Banggeng had the support of his stepfather Yi Zhonghai, and Yi Zhonghai had served as a temporary team leader for a period of time. Although he was still an apprentice, he behaved very arrogantly from the moment he entered the workshop. He even looked down on many lower-level fitters, let alone those apprentices of the same level.

It was almost difficult to look at them straight in the eye.

We are all apprentices in the factory and have the status of workers. No one is superior to anyone else.

If you don't look at others straight in the eye, no one will bother to pay attention to you.

After hearing the deputy director say that we can form a team freely and two people can transport raw materials and products together.

Everyone started to form teams as if they had discussed it beforehand.

Whether it is the raw materials needed by the workshop or the finished products that have been processed by the workshop, they are all packed in wooden boxes.

Even though it only weighs thirty or forty kilograms, it is very difficult to carry a large wooden box back and forth between the workshop and the warehouse.

But it would be much easier if two people worked together to transport those wooden boxes.

With a wooden stick and a rope, two apprentices carried it on their shoulders and could run without any problem.

Whenever there is an opportunity to form a team, apprentices basically work in pairs to transport raw materials and processed parts.

Only Banggeng was standing there alone and no one came to form a team.

The apprentices formed a team and rushed into the warehouse immediately, picking up the lighter boxes first and heading straight to the workshop. By the time Banggeng realized what was happening, the lightest boxes in the warehouse had already been moved away, so he could only pick up a box weighing more than 40 kilograms.

She gritted her teeth, held him in her arms, then moved slowly towards the workshop.

When they were halfway there, the apprentices, working in groups of two, were already running toward the warehouse with wooden sticks and ropes, ready to move the second box of parts.

They were talking and laughing, and there was no sense of pressure from being porters at all from them.

At 11:30 in the morning, most of the workers involved in transporting the raw materials had finished their work and were sitting in the workshop rest area, waiting for the announcement to signal the end of get off work.

Only a few apprentices were still working hard to transfer the parts that had just been processed in the workshop, including the stick stems.

He was the slowest among all the apprentices in moving parts, and as of now there were still three boxes of parts that needed to be delivered to the warehouse.

Other apprentices who had not completed their tasks had at most one box of parts left to be delivered to the warehouse.

The announcement for lunch soon sounded in the workshop. The workers were already extremely hungry, so as soon as the bell rang, they picked up their lunch boxes and ran to their favorite canteen.

Although the food in the cafeteria is much better now and there is more oil in the dishes, there is basically a meat dish every day.

But if you go too late, all the meat and vegetables will be taken away, and you can only get some watery soup, which is not only dry but also not tasty.

Watching his co-workers disappearing quickly in the workshop, Banggeng really wanted to take his lunch box and queue up in the canteen for food like them, but he still had two boxes of processed parts that had not been delivered to the warehouse.

According to the rules set by the deputy director, one must complete all morning tasks before leaving get off work to eat, otherwise there will be the risk of salary deductions.

He is now an apprentice and earns only 18 yuan a month. Even if the workshop leader only deducts 50 cents, it will be a huge loss for Banggeng.

Therefore, Banggeng would never risk having his salary deducted by going to the cafeteria to get food without completing his work.

"Banggeng... aren't you done yet?" Banggeng, who is usually more anxious to eat than anyone else, didn't rush to line up today. Then I saw the sweat and tired expression on his face, and immediately realized that he hadn't finished his work in the morning.

As Banggeng's stepfather and master, he couldn't just watch Banggeng do hard labor in the workshop while he went to the canteen to eat.

Although I was very reluctant, I still asked.

After getting Banggeng's affirmative answer, Yi Zhonghai could only sigh, put down his work, walked to Banggeng and said, "I'll help you..."

"The two of you should hurry up and then go eat."

Even with Yi Zhonghai's help, the two of them still worked for nearly half an hour before they could rush to the cafeteria with their lunch boxes.

Every time I came to the canteen, there was always a long queue at the food windows, but now there was no one queuing. Only one or two windows were left and a few workers could still be seen getting food.

Looking inside from the window, although there were still vegetables in the dish, more than half of it was filled with soup.

The meat and vegetables had been eaten up long ago, and the remaining steamed buns in the box were the ones left over by others, and were much smaller than usual.

Although Yi Zhonghai was helpless, he couldn't possibly work on an empty stomach the entire afternoon.

I can only spend the same money and tickets as usual to buy food that is obviously 20% to 30% less than usual.

Looking at the two dishes with almost no oil or water in the lunch box, Yi Zhonghai and Bang Geng both lost their appetite.

Yi Zhonghai used to be an eighth-level fitter with a high salary. Even in order to save money for his retirement, he usually ate better than other workers, basically eating one meat and one vegetable.

Although Banggeng's conditions were not good, he was the only grandson of the Jia family, so basically all the delicious food in the house went into his mouth.

I was used to a good life, and suddenly I had almost no appetite when I saw two vegetarian dishes without any oil or water. (End of this chapter)