From Robinson Crusoe

At the prime of his life, and having been hungry for a full day and night, Chen Zhou ate non-stop.

The barbecue stall owner served only him, and the speed at which the skewers were grilled could hardly keep up with the speed at which he ate.

With his stomach full, Chen Zhou's hunger was greatly relieved, and he finally slowed down his eating speed, and his eating manners were no longer so terrible.

After eating until he was about 70% full, Chen Zhou remembered that his phone battery was low and worried that he wouldn't be able to pay after finishing his meal, so he quickly stopped eating, took out his phone, and prepared to pay.

At this moment, the auntie selling grilled cold noodles and the uncle selling hand-pulled pancakes had finished packing up their stalls. Seeing that things were not getting worse and Chen Zhou did not seem like a mentally ill person who would suddenly lose control, they felt much more at ease and were about to leave.

Even if the food is cold or leftover, you still have to pay for it if you eat it.

Don't be fooled by Chen Zhou's seemingly thick-skinned manner when he stopped the stall owner. He was just starving and that's why he resorted to such a desperate measure. Even if he were an ordinary cement factory worker, let alone a billionaire, he wouldn't be tempted by such a small gain.

The key is--

Thinking of the real gold, silver and gemstone artifacts he brought back, Chen Zhou felt particularly confident.

"We're not short of money!"

Seeing the uncle and aunt get out of the car, Chen Zhou quickly took out his phone and waved it.

"Boss, where's the QR code? How much does it cost? I'll scan it for you."

The two men originally didn't intend to take Chen Zhou's money, but seeing that the young man insisted on taking out money and acted as if he wouldn't leave without paying, they had no choice but to reluctantly take out the QR code.

When it came time to scan the QR code, Chen Zhou's speed in operating his phone made them doubt his intelligence again.

Are there any young people in the 21st century who don't know how to use a mobile phone? Why does it take so long to scan a QR code?
Fortunately, to make it easier to pay, scanning a QR code to pay is much simpler than taking a taxi, so Chen Zhou eventually paid the stall owner.

……

After leaving the park entrance and having filled his stomach, Chen Zhou put his phone back in his pocket and stood by the roadside, feeling somewhat lost.

His 28 years of island life came to an abrupt end, and modern society felt both familiar and strange to him.

He definitely won't continue working at the cement factory. Even if he did need to earn money now, he's basically lost the ability to work.

Those machines now seem like products of another world to him, and it's both difficult and troublesome to retrieve the knowledge he once learned from his memory.

Moreover, his physical condition has been somewhat problematic since his return, which will inevitably affect his use of tools.

From any perspective, leaving the cement plant is a good choice.

As for what to do after leaving the company, Chen Zhou didn't have a definite plan.

He lives and eats at the factory and has virtually no expenses. He currently has over 30,000 yuan in his account, enough to live on for a while.

If you don't make any large purchases, there's no rush to liquidate your gold and silver; just make sure to withdraw all the precious metals within the specified period.

In the early stages of the challenge, he thought about many ways to spend money and consumption methods, and had many things he wanted to buy and places he wanted to go.

Now that those desires have faded, he suddenly feels even more lonely than when he was on the island.

……

Standing blankly under the streetlight, staring at his own shadow for a long time, until there were almost no pedestrians on the street, Chen Zhou finally had a thought—

Go home and visit.

He hadn't seen his parents for 28 years, and even with the memories integrated into his body, his impressions of his relatives and friends were still very vague.

Let alone those people you don't usually interact with, even close relatives like your father and mother, it's extremely difficult to conjure up their images in your mind.

But Chen Zhou still remembers his warm childhood and his grandmother's courtyard, which was one of the driving forces that kept him living on the island.

He thought that if he felt he didn't belong to the 17th century or the 21st century, then he should choose one of those worlds to live in.

At the very least, he should try to integrate into this world, after all, this is his home.

……

After filling his stomach, Chen Zhou felt less anxious and, recalling the location of his home, took out his phone to hail a taxi.

Unexpectedly, the phone, whose battery was already low, shut down automatically after several attempts.

Looking at the nearly deserted streets, Chen Zhou sighed helplessly, turned to look at the cement factory behind him, and finally decided to go home tomorrow.

……

In the early hours of September 1, Chen Zhou practiced walking on the street for two hours until he felt that his walking was no different from that of a normal person before returning to his dormitory.

Chen Zhou had a good night's sleep and remembered to charge his phone. He was woken up by a phone call at 11:9 a.m. on September 1st and got out of bed.

In a daze, without checking the caller ID, he pressed the answer button.

As soon as the call connected, a gruff male voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Engineer Chen, are you going to quit or not?"

The crusher is broken, where are you going instead of coming to fix it?

The man's voice was extremely loud, and his tone was filled with anger. Judging from his attitude, he probably wanted to crawl through the phone and grab Chen Zhou by the collar to question him.

Chen Zhou's hearing is much sharper than before, and he frowned upon hearing the sound.

Nevertheless, considering that his unexcused absence was indeed problematic, Chen Zhou was about to tell the leader that he wanted to resign when the person on the other end of the phone started talking again before he could even speak.

"I also heard that you not only missed today, but you were also absent yesterday."

Yesterday, no one was in charge of the crusher room all day. If it causes losses to the factory, can you afford to take responsibility?
At such a young age, how can you work like this?

Let me tell you, don't let your high level of education fool you. Our factory doesn't really need people like you. These days, society is short of everything, but it's not short of college graduates..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Zhou hung up the phone and pulled up the covers to continue resting.

……

Chen Zhou's sleep lasted less than an hour when he heard hurried footsteps in the hallway, followed by a heavy knock on his dormitory door.

When Chen Zhou finished dressing and opened the door, he was greeted by a large, round, balding head.

"Xiao Chen, you've been quite short-tempered lately. You even dared to hang up on me?"

"I heard from General Manager Liu that you don't even respond when he greets you now. What, do you think our factory is too small to support someone as important as you?"

The person speaking was the same one who had just been hung up on. He was the deputy general manager of the cement plant's production technology department and Chen Zhou's direct superior. He had a close relationship with the current head of the cement plant, but he himself was not very capable. Every time he held a meeting to formulate a production plan, he would talk nonsense, and he always made a mess of inspecting product quality.

Calling him a good-for-nothing is an understatement. If it weren't for Boss Liu's connections, the factory would have to consider whether to hire him even if he wanted to be an ordinary worker.

Ironically, the less capable a person is, the more they like to seek attention. Deputy General Manager Wang usually loves it when people flatter him, especially when others "speak the truth after drinking," offering him a toast with a strong smell of alcohol and then slurring those nauseating words.

Chen Zhou hated this kind of socializing the most, and he disliked lying against his conscience even more. Although he was capable of doing the work, he was the least favored by Deputy General Manager Wang.

Unfortunately, he was highly educated and young in the factory, so he was always needed for testing and repairing equipment.

Although Deputy General Manager Wang had grievances against him, he had nowhere to vent them. These past two days, Chen Zhou's unauthorized departure from his post without permission gave him a handle to use against him. In addition, General Manager Liu mentioned it, which made him even more confident. He took the opportunity to vent his long-accumulated dissatisfaction.

……

Chen Zhou looked down at the man in front of him who was almost a head shorter than him, and it took him a while to remember who he was.

Although he didn't have much of an impression of General Manager Liu, this guy, as his direct superior, had annoyed him quite a bit during their work period.

Chen Zhou still has a fairly deep memory of Deputy General Manager Wang.

When Chen Zhou first started working at the factory, he didn't have much social experience. He always found it difficult to deal with these seasoned veterans in the workplace. They often used their seniority and seniority to put him at a disadvantage.

The situation would be even worse at dinner parties and banquets, which is one of the many reasons why Chen Zhou disliked working at the cement factory.

As an engineering student, he wanted a clean, direct, and simple work environment, like a blueprint where horizontal lines are horizontal and vertical lines are vertical, with clear distinctions between them.

In his mind, even spending a whole day discussing mechanical structures with an old repairman would be more enjoyable than exchanging a few words with someone so focused on scheming.

……

Chen Zhou didn't speak while recalling the events, so Deputy General Manager Wang thought she had the situation under control. Despite being heavily pregnant, she tried to squeeze into the dormitory, continuing to criticize and ridicule Chen Zhou, her words seemingly righteous.

It is said that those who are right will not forgive, and those who are wrong will make trouble.

This "backbone" of the cement factory had finally gotten a chance to show off, so he naturally wanted to teach Chen Zhou a lesson so badly that he would have to admit his mistakes in a humble manner before he would pretend to be magnanimous and let him off the hook.

But who could have imagined that Chen Zhou, who was standing at the door, looked no different from the two days ago, but was actually a ruthless character who had controlled the lives of nearly 10,000 people and had taken dozens of lives?

As soon as Deputy General Manager Wang took a step forward, his shoulder bumped into Chen Zhou's large hand.

Although his bulky 180-pound frame was clumsy, his weight gave him some impact, and when he put his strength into it, it was difficult for one or two people to stop him.

Although Chen Zhou was tall, he was rather slender and looked like a quiet scholar. He didn't seem strong at all, but when he reached out, it was as if he had built a wall, firmly blocking Deputy Manager Wang outside the door.

"Deputy General Manager Wang, I would like to remind you that it is best not to squeeze in, this is a private space."

Chen Zhou looked displeased and raised his phone as he spoke.

“I didn’t ask for leave to leave my post. You should handle it as it should be. You probably have no right to lecture me on other matters. Please go back to where you came from.”

Also, please be more polite when you speak; I'm recording you on my phone.

"Ho!"

What Vice General Manager Wang hates most is when people address him with the word "Vice" before "General Manager." Of course, what annoys him the most is Chen Zhou's attitude.

Normally, it would be fine if Chen Zhou just finished his assigned work, but now that he's in the right and is Chen Zhou's boss, it's understandable that this guy doesn't ask him for help, but why is he speaking so arrogantly?
Wang, the deputy general manager, glared fiercely at Chen Zhou, intending to force his way into the dormitory to demonstrate the leader's dominance.

But Chen Zhou's statement that "the phone was recording" still made him wary.

The internet is so developed now, especially among young people who readily expose others online. They have questionable backgrounds and are most afraid of being taken advantage of in this regard.

Moreover, given how things have developed, he is still in the right. If he makes the first move, he will be in the wrong. If the police are called and the matter goes to the police station, it will not be good for him or his superiors.

Besides, they are not locals. Although their investment in factories here has created some jobs, it has also generated a lot of pollution. Many local residents have complaints about their factories, and some even file complaints with the government from time to time.

If things really escalate, the local police will definitely side with the locals, and they won't get any advantage.

In a split second, many thoughts flashed through Deputy General Manager Wang's mind. He took a step back, stared intently at Chen Zhou who was holding up his phone, and suppressed his anger.

"Okay, then we'll handle it however we want, right?"

According to our factory rules, leaving your post without permission will result in a deduction of three times your salary. You've been away for two days, so you'll have six days' pay deducted. Any objections?

"Heh, why bother deducting six days' wages? I might as well just quit."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou remained completely unmoved, and even felt a slight urge to laugh.

Their cement factory is a fairly large enterprise, and the procedures and contracts they went through when they joined were all very formal.

While charging his phone last night, he thought about leaving the cement factory and specifically looked up how to resign.

I found that leaving the factory was a real hassle. Not only did I have to submit a written resignation letter in advance, but I also had to hand over documents and equipment information, and return my work clothes and ID card.

When settling accounts, you have to check salaries, reimbursements, and handle social security and housing provident fund matters. You also have to notify your direct supervisor and go through the human resources department before you can officially leave the company.

This series of troublesome matters was far too tedious for this 53-year-old man.

He was struggling with how to write a formal resignation letter, worried that the HR department's process would be too slow, when Deputy General Manager Wang delivered it to him himself.

With the "help" of this influential leader in the factory, his resignation procedures will definitely be completed very quickly.

As for the six days' wages—

Who cares?

"You said it yourself!"
"You're quitting, huh? Fine, write your resignation letter right now, and believe me, I'll kick you out of the factory today."

Deputy General Manager Wang thought Chen Zhou was angry when he heard that six days' wages would be deducted, and he was secretly pleased. He immediately tried to provoke the young man.

Sure enough, Chen Zhou fell for it immediately upon hearing this. He left the doorway, went to his desk, picked up a pen and paper, and began writing his resignation letter.

Just as they were about to kick this unpleasant guy out of the factory, Deputy General Manager Wang, fearing that Chen Zhou would realize his mistake halfway through writing his resignation letter, added a sarcastic remark.

"The current situation is not good, young people should not be too arrogant. It is not easy to find a job with the same benefits as our factory."

You'd better think it through before you quit. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and other factories won't tolerate you like this...

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Zhou had already put away his pen and thrown the paper on the table at his face.

This "resignation letter" was very brief, containing only one line—

"The world is so big, I want to go see it." (End of Chapter)