In the fiery red era of the heavens, refrigerators are refreshed daily.

The two brothers stood in front of the majestic gate of the Oriental Pharmaceutical Factory, and Yang Guangming looked up at the sky.

The sun was already high in the sky, probably not even eleven o'clock yet.

"Brother, it's still early. Let's hurry up and finish the formalities. We should have enough time," Yang Guangming said.

Yang Ximing nodded, his gaze somewhat complicated as he looked at the renowned factory in Pingyang County.

The towering chimneys, the neat factory buildings, the walls painted with slogans, and the guards standing at the gate with guns—all of this was both unfamiliar and attractive to him, a young man who had lived in the countryside for many years.

More importantly, from today onwards, his younger brother will become a member of this community.

"Let's go in." Yang Guangming patted his older brother on the shoulder and took the lead towards the guardhouse.

The two guards were the same ones from yesterday. One of them, Xiao Wang, recognized Yang Guangming at a glance and immediately put on a warm smile.

"Hey, Comrade Guangming! You're back? And who is this?" Xiao Wang's gaze fell on Yang Ximing.

"Comrade Wang, this is my elder brother, Yang Ximing," Yang Guangming introduced. "I'm here today to complete the final onboarding procedures and also to show my brother around."

"Welcome, welcome!" Xiao Wang said hurriedly. "Have you brought all the paperwork? Just go directly to the personnel department; Director Zhou should be there."

"I've brought everything, thank you, Comrade Wang." Yang Guangming thanked him and led his older brother into the factory area.

Walking once again on the wide, smooth roads of the factory area, Yang Guangming's mindset was completely different from when he first stepped in yesterday.

Yesterday was filled with trepidation and anticipation; today is filled with a sense of security and belonging.

Yang Ximing appeared somewhat reserved. He slowed his pace and curiously looked around at everything.

Workers in uniforms either hurried by or chatted in small groups, their bicycle bells ringing incessantly. In the distance, the roar of machinery echoed from the factory buildings, and a faint smell of medicine and coal smoke filled the air.

"This factory is huge," Yang Ximing couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice. "It's much bigger than our commune."

“This is a provincial-level factory, so it’s naturally large in scale,” Yang Guangming explained. “I heard there are four or five thousand workers, not counting their families.”

"Four or five thousand!" Yang Ximing clicked his tongue in amazement. "It really is a big company. No wonder so many people want to get in. It's so impressive!"

The two brothers were talking when they soon arrived in front of the office building.

Yang Guangming went up to the second floor with practiced ease and arrived at the personnel office. The door was ajar, and he could hear people talking inside.

He knocked on the door.

"Please come in," came Director Zhou's voice from inside.

Yang Guangming pushed open the door and went in. Director Zhou was talking to a clerk. When he saw Yang Guangming, he smiled.

"Comrade Yang Guangming, you're here? Have all the formalities been completed?" Director Zhou asked.

"Director Zhou, hello." Yang Guangming stepped forward. "The household registration transfer procedures have been completed. Here is the registration receipt and the new household registration card."

As he spoke, he took out all the documents he had processed at the Public Security Bureau that morning and handed them over with both hands.

Director Zhou took it and examined it carefully.

The household registration receipt was stamped with the bright red official seal of the County Public Security Bureau's Household Registration Section, and the new collective household registration card clearly showed the name "Yang Guangming" and the words "Pingyang County Dongfang Pharmaceutical Factory Collective Household Registration".

Director Zhou nodded in satisfaction, and then looked at the other materials that Yang Guangming had brought—the migration certificate issued by the commune, the receipt for the letter of introduction, and everything else was there.

"Good, all materials are complete and the process is in order." Director Zhou said, turning to the clerk, "Xiao Chen, complete the final onboarding registration for Comrade Yang Guangming and establish his personnel file."

"Okay, Director Zhou." Xiao Chen was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing glasses and looking very capable.

She took the documents handed to her by Director Zhou and smiled at Yang Guangming, saying, "Comrade Yang Guangming, please come with me here to fill out a few forms."

Yang Ximing followed Xiao Chen to a desk next to him, while Yang Ximing stood quietly to the side, looking around the spacious and bright office.

Xiao Chen took out several forms from the filing cabinet and placed them on the table.

"This is the employee information registration form. We need to add some basic information." Xiao Chen pointed to the form. "And this is a supplementary page to the cadre resume form. Please fill them out neatly."

Yang Guangming nodded, pulled up a chair, sat down, and picked up a pen to start filling in the form.

The table was not complicated, mainly containing basic information such as family situation, social relationships, and educational and work experience. Yang Guangming wrote carefully and meticulously, stroke by stroke.

Standing behind his younger brother, Yang Ximing looked at the complicated forms and his brother's steady handwriting, and a feeling of indescribable pride welled up in his heart.

Once upon a time, this younger brother was considered a "good-for-nothing" by the villagers, a "spendthrift" who made the whole family lose face.

But who could have imagined that he would undergo such an amazing transformation in just a few days?

Not only did he recover the money he was swindled out of, but he also received huge compensation. Now, he has risen to prominence and become a state cadre at Dongfang Pharmaceutical Factory.

The changes were so dramatic that Yang Ximing, the eldest brother, sometimes felt like he was dreaming.

But he knew this wasn't a dream. His younger brother had truly succeeded, and succeeded in ways that were unbelievable.

Yang Guangming quickly filled out the form, checked it once, and handed it to Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen took it, quickly glanced through it, and nodded: "No problem. I'll check the other materials again."

She picked up all of Yang Guangming's documents, checked and categorized them one by one, then stamped "archived" on several documents that needed to be archived, and made a record in a thick register.

The whole process took about ten minutes.

"Alright." Xiao Chen looked up and said to Yang Guangming, "All the formalities are complete. Your file will be officially established from today, and your salary will be calculated from today as well. You can collect this month's salary on the 5th of next month."

She paused, then added, "The grain coupons are distributed by the logistics department. Newly hired employees are a special case and need to go through the procedures. I've already given you the labor protection supplies coupons; you can pick them up from the logistics department anytime. If you need anything else in your daily life, you can buy it at the employee cooperative."

"I understand, thank you, Comrade Chen," Yang Guangming said.

Xiao Chen smiled and handed a stamped "Confirmation Form for Completion of Employment Procedures" to Yang Guangming: "Keep this safe, consider it proof."

Yang Guangming took the confirmation slip and felt reassured as he looked at the bright red official seal of "Pingyang County Dongfang Pharmaceutical Factory Personnel Department".

From this moment forward, he officially became a member of the Oriental Pharmaceutical Factory.

"Director Zhou, all the formalities are complete," Xiao Chen reported to Director Zhou.

Director Zhou walked over and patted Yang Guangming on the shoulder: "Comrade Guangming, welcome to Dongfang Pharmaceutical Factory! From now on, you're one of our people. Work hard and strive to achieve results as soon as possible!"

"Thank you, Director Zhou. I will definitely do my best," Yang Guangming replied solemnly.

"By the way, your work ID. We'll make the official ID after you submit the photo. You can use the temporary work ID for now." Director Zhou then asked with concern, "Has your dormitory been arranged yet? If you have any difficulties with your living arrangements, you can contact the department or the labor union."

"The dormitory has been arranged by Director Yu himself, and the conditions are very good," Yang Guangming said. "I can handle my own living arrangements and won't cause any trouble for the organization."

"That's good." Director Zhou nodded in satisfaction. "Go and get busy, and try to report for duty as soon as possible."

"Yes." Yang Guangming replied, thanked Xiao Chen, and then left the personnel office with his older brother.

Stepping out of the office building and standing in the bright sunshine, Yang Ximing let out a long sigh of relief.

"Finally finished." He touched his forehead and realized that he had been sweating profusely.

Although he didn't say anything in the office just now, he was on edge the whole time. The solemn and serious atmosphere, the complicated forms and official seals, all made this rural youth feel an invisible pressure.

"Okay, everything's done." Yang Guangming carefully put away the confirmation slip. "From now on, I'm a full-time employee of the factory."

"Guangming, I'm so happy for you." Yang Ximing patted his younger brother's shoulder hard, his eyes getting a little hot. "If our parents knew that the procedures went so smoothly, they would be so happy."

Yang Guangming smiled and said, "Come on, brother, I'll show you around the dorm so you can get familiar with the place."

The two brothers left the office building and headed towards the living area.

On the way, Yang Guangming introduced the main buildings of the factory area to his older brother: which was the production workshop, which was the warehouse, which was the boiler room, and which was the administration building.

Yang Ximing's eyes kept darting around, as if trying to imprint everything in his mind.

"Your factory is really impressive," Yang Ximing couldn't help but exclaim again. "It's even more impressive than the commune compound."

"After all, it's a provincial-level factory, so it's high-level and requires a lot of investment," Yang Guangming said. "I heard that when the factory was being built, the province allocated special funds and invited experts from Suzhou and Lianyungang to provide guidance."

"Expert Su Lian?" Yang Ximing's eyes widened. "That's incredible."

As they talked, they arrived at the front of Building No. 4.

The four-story building, constructed of red bricks, was considered quite a nice building in the county town at that time. Several rows of poplar trees were planted in front of the building; although they hadn't sprouted yet, their branches were upright and straight.

"This is the building where I live, Building 4," Yang Guangming pointed. "The single dormitories are on the fourth floor."

"The fourth floor, it'll take some effort to climb up." Yang Ximing looked up.

"To exercise," Yang Guangming said with a smile, leading his older brother into the building.

The hallway was dimly lit, but fairly clean.

Arriving on the fourth floor, the corridor was quiet; at this time, most people were at work.

Yang Guangming walked to the end of the corridor, took out the key that Director Yu had given him yesterday, and opened the door.

"This is the room." He pushed the door open and went in.

Yang Ximing followed him into the room and carefully examined the place where his younger brother would be living in the future.

The room wasn't large, about eight or nine square meters, but it was fairly tidy. There were two single wooden plank beds side by side. One of them was already made up, so it was obviously occupied. The other bed was bare, with only a straw mat on it.

There was an old wooden table and two chairs by the window, and a washbasin stand in the corner with a gray towel draped over it.

The windows were very clean, and you could see the street below and the factory buildings in the distance through them.

"The conditions are not bad." Yang Ximing walked around the room. "It's better than ours. It's just missing a trunk to store clothes."

"We'll add these gradually," Yang Guangming said. "The factory only provides beds and tables and chairs; we have to prepare everything else ourselves. I plan to go to the supply and marketing cooperative in the next couple of days to buy some essential daily necessities."

He sat down on the bare bed and patted the bed frame: "This bed is a bit hard."

Yang Ximing sat down and felt the firmness of the bed board: "It is a bit hard. I'll ask Mom to sew you a thicker mattress later."

The two sat for a while, then checked the time; it was almost 11:30.

"It's almost lunchtime." Yang Guangming stood up. "Big brother, let's go eat."

"Eat at your factory canteen?" Yang Ximing asked.

Yang Guangming shook his head: "I don't have any food coupons yet, so I can't exchange them for meal coupons. Director Yu treated us to dinner yesterday, so I can't trouble him again today."

He thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to a restaurant. I'll treat you."

"Go to a restaurant?" Yang Ximing was taken aback. "That's too expensive. Let's just grab something to eat."

"It's nothing, I'm just happy today," Yang Guangming laughed. "It's also a celebration of my official start date. Let's go, I remember there's a small restaurant nearby, let's go and try it out."

Yang Ximing wanted to say something more, but seeing his younger brother's resolute attitude, he stopped objecting.

The two brothers locked the dormitory door, went downstairs, and left the factory area.

Yang Guangming led his older brother along the street outside the factory area for a few minutes until they arrived at a small restaurant with a sign that read "Chunfeng Restaurant".

"That's it."

The restaurant's facade wasn't large. Sunlight lifted the curtain and went inside.

Yang Ximing followed behind him. It was his first time stepping into a restaurant in the county town, and he couldn't help but feel a little reserved.

There were seven or eight square tables in the restaurant, and two or three tables were already occupied. Behind a counter against the wall sat a woman in her fifties, using an abacus.

Yang Guangming chose a table by the window and sat down. Yang Ximing sat down opposite him and subconsciously straightened his back.

"Let's see what we want to eat." Yang Guangming pointed to the small blackboard next to the counter.

Yang Ximing turned his head and saw several lines of words written in chalk on the small blackboard:
Today's supply:

Braised ribbonfish (8 mao)
Stir-fried cabbage with vinegar for 12 cents
Stir-fried shredded potatoes cost one cent.

Cabbage and tofu stew, 15 cents.
Staple foods: rice, steamed buns

The variety of dishes is limited; apart from braised ribbonfish, which is a meat dish, all the other dishes are vegetarian.

"Guangming, let's just order a cabbage and tofu stew and two steamed buns," Yang Ximing said in a low voice. "Let's save money where we can."

Yang Guangming smiled and didn't answer directly. Instead, he said to the woman behind the counter, "Comrade, I'd like a braised ribbonfish, a cabbage and tofu stew, and two bowls of rice."

"Okay!" the woman replied, then called out to the kitchen, "One serving of braised ribbonfish, one serving of cabbage and tofu stew, and two bowls of rice!"

“Guangming, you…” Yang Ximing wanted to say something.

Yang Guangming waved his hand dismissively and said in a low voice, "Brother, listen to me. There are certain rules to follow when eating at a restaurant."

He lowered his voice: "Look, the staple foods in the restaurant, rice and steamed buns, all require grain coupons. Grain coupons are precious, so we should save as much as possible."

"But the food is different. At restaurants, you only need money, not coupons. Although it's a bit more expensive than cooking at home, you don't need coupons."

Yang Guangming explained, "Some people in the city with high salaries have done the math. If they often eat out, they can order more dishes and less staple food, since dishes are filling enough, which saves their families food stamps."

In these times, food coupons are incredibly valuable, so everyone tries to save them. Therefore, eating out is actually more economical for them.

Yang Ximing was stunned. He had never imagined that there were so many intricacies involved in eating out.

"But..." he hesitated, "If people find out I eat out often, won't it have a bad influence? Won't they say I have a hedonistic mindset?"

“Brother, you’ve hit the nail on the head.” Yang Guangming nodded. “That’s why people who know the ropes don’t come every day. They just come occasionally to improve their meals, and no one can say anything about it.”

He paused for a moment, then said, "I'm treating you to dinner today, firstly to celebrate, and secondly to let you try some restaurant food. We won't order much, just one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and two bowls of rice, which will cost about one yuan in total. It's not extravagant to do this once in a while."

Yang Ximing then understood his brother's intention and felt somewhat ashamed.

This was my first time eating at a restaurant, and it was quite an eye-opener. I realized that even as the older brother, I'm less knowledgeable than my younger brother.

"Guangming, you know so much," Yang Ximing said sincerely. "I really don't know these intricacies."

"I only heard it from someone else," Yang Guangming said vaguely. "Brother, you should come to the city more often. The more you see, the more you'll understand."

In fact, these life wisdoms were the accumulated experience of his several lifetimes. In this era of scarcity, how to make the most of limited resources to improve one's life is a skill in itself.

As the two were talking, the dishes began to arrive one after another.

First came a steaming plate of stewed cabbage and tofu. The white tofu, tender green cabbage, and rich broth looked very appetizing.

Next up is braised ribbonfish, with the ribbonfish pieces coated in a dark brown sauce, emitting an enticing savory aroma.

Finally, there were two bowls of white rice, each grain distinct and steaming hot.

"Eat up, brother." Yang Guangming picked up his chopsticks. "Try the restaurant's cooking."

Yang Ximing also picked up his chopsticks and first took a piece of cabbage stewed with tofu and put it in his mouth.

The tofu was tender and smooth, the cabbage was sweet and refreshing, and the soup was delicious and flavorful. It was definitely better than what I make at home.

He picked up another piece of ribbonfish. The ribbonfish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a perfectly balanced sweet and savory sauce. Paired with rice, it was absolutely delicious.

"It smells delicious!" Yang Ximing couldn't help but praise. "This ribbonfish is cooked perfectly."

"The chef at the restaurant is very skilled," Yang Guangming said as he ate. "When we cook at home, we can't be stingy with the oil, and we can't get the same flavor."

The two brothers ate and chatted, and Yang Guangming told his older brother some common sense about city life.

Yang Ximing listened attentively, nodding occasionally. He realized that his younger brother had truly stepped into another world, a world completely different from the countryside.

As the eldest son in the family, I should broaden my horizons so that I can better support the family in the future. My second brother was able to go to the city, so perhaps he will have the opportunity to go to the city in the future, even though the chance is slim, it's not entirely hopeless.

With his younger brother as a role model, he felt that he could give it a try too.

The meal took more than half an hour, and the two of them finished all the food and rice.

Yang Guangming got up and went to the counter to pay.

"Braised ribbonfish is eight mao, cabbage stew with tofu is one mao and five jiao, two bowls of rice is one mao, totaling one yuan and five fen," the woman calculated. "Four liang of grain coupons."

Yang Guangming took out one yuan and one jiao and four liang of grain coupons from his pocket and handed them over.

This meal cost a bit too much, mainly because meat was so expensive at this time of year; otherwise, it wouldn't have cost so much.

The woman gave him five cents in change and put the grain coupons into the drawer.

Yang Guangming put away the change and returned to the table.

"One dollar and five cents." Yang Ximing repeated the number softly, still feeling it was a bit too expensive.

But thinking about the delicious meal I just had, I feel that it's definitely worth it to eat it once in a while.

The two brothers walked out of the restaurant, their stomachs warm from the sunshine, and they were in a good mood.

"Brother, let me see you off," Yang Guangming said.

"No need, I know the way myself." Yang Ximing waved his hand. "You have things to do this afternoon, don't be late."

Yang Guangming thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay. It's settled then, I'll go home tomorrow afternoon to get my bedding and luggage. You can ask Mom to prepare it for me."

"Don't worry, Mom started preparing a long time ago," Yang Ximing said with a smile. "When she found out you got a job yesterday, she started rummaging through her things, saying she wanted to make you a new quilt."

Yang Guangming felt a warmth in his heart: "No need for new ones, the old ones are fine."

“That won’t do,” Yang Ximing said seriously. “You’re a government official now. What kind of talk is it to use old bedding? Mom said she’ll take out the best cotton in the house and make you a thick, warm new quilt.”

Yang Guangming no longer refused. He knew this was his mother's way of expressing love.

“Then I’ll go back tomorrow afternoon,” Yang Guangming said. “Tonight, I’ll stay in the city for another night to handle some follow-up matters. Most importantly, I need to deliver the banner to Captain Lin tomorrow morning to put this matter to rest.”

"It's only right." Yang Ximing nodded. "Captain Lin has helped us a lot, and we should thank him properly."

The two brothers exchanged a few more words and then parted ways at the restaurant entrance.

Yang Ximing walked towards the city gate, while Yang Guangming stood still, watching his elder brother's figure disappear around the street corner.

Only after he could no longer see them did he turn around and walk towards the direction of the Eastern Pharmaceutical Factory. (End of Chapter)