A whirlwind marriage with a high-ranking official: Lights out, don't force me to take the initi

"I plan to visit the university again when I go to Harbin." Ye Wenxi also briefly mentioned to Lu Weidong about their previous visit to the department head.

Zhang Yunxia frowned after hearing this: "That kid has a rather sinister personality. Tell Wei Hua to be careful; he might launch a last-ditch counterattack."

"Okay." Ye Wenxi nodded, then turned to Ding Jiahe, "Jiahe, how about we go to Harbin tomorrow?"

"No problem. I'm still on vacation, I'll just let my supervisor know." Ding Jiahe agreed readily.

The next morning, the two hitched a ride with the logistics department to Harbin. The ride was very bumpy, and Ye Wenxi leaned against the window, watching the trees outside rush past one after another.

"Why don't you stay at my place?" she said, turning her head.

Ding Jiahe waved her hand: "I wouldn't dare. I can't sleep if I stay at the commander's house."

"It's okay! We're both out all day, so we can just close our eyes and sleep at night," Ye Wenxi continued to reassure her.

"No, no, I beg you, please let me go, I'm staying at the guesthouse across the street," Ding Jiahe shook her head frantically.

"That's so expensive, why waste that money?" Ye Wenxi said.

"It's not expensive! I have proof of being a combat hero in the military region, so I can get a 50% discount on the room rate. I'm begging you, otherwise I'll go back." Ding Jiahe pleaded with her eyes.

"Alright, then come over for dinner."

"Um...we'll see."

At the Lu family home, Liu Xiuyun prepared a table full of dumplings. In Northeast China, there's a tradition of eating dumplings before boarding a train and noodles upon arrival.

But Ye Wenxi came back, and Liu Xiuyun changed the order to dumplings for both boarding and disembarking. Today is Sunday, and the Lu family is all at home.

Lu Xiaojun stuffed dumplings into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out: "Second Aunt, can you come back as often as you do now? Our meals have improved since you came back, and I'm benefiting from it all."

With a "smack," Liu Xiuyun slapped him: "You brat, you make it sound like I don't give you any good food."

Lu Xiaojun rubbed the back of his head, with half a dumpling still in his mouth, and mumbled indistinctly, "That's different. When Second Aunt comes back, there will be two more dishes."

Liu Xiuyun rolled her eyes at him and put two more dumplings into Ye Wenxi's bowl: "Eat yours."

"Wenxi, how many days are you staying this time?" Lu Zhenghua picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks.

"Maybe two days. I'll be visiting a few textile factories and printing and decoration factories, and I'll have to come back in a few days." Ye Wenxi lowered her head and took a bite of a dumpling.

"Then can Wei Dong come back with us again?" Liu Xiuyun's eyes lit up.

Lu Zhenghua glanced at her: "Tsk, why do we always have to send him back? It's such a hassle. Didn't we just see that a while ago?"

Liu Xiuyun sighed and didn't reply. It wasn't her who asked him to come back; that brat was so clingy to his wife that she, as his mother, could only benefit from it.

Ye Wenxi looked up: "It depends. Mom, if you miss him, have him make more frequent trips here."

Liu Xiuyun smiled: "It's alright, it doesn't matter whether he comes back or not. Let him do what he needs to do."

Ye Wenxi didn't say anything more and lowered her head to eat dumplings. Across the table, Lu Weihua was quiet, picking up a dumpling with his chopsticks and eating it one by one, unlike his usual chattering self.

Ye Wenxi kicked her under the table.

"Hmm?" Lu Weihua looked up.

Ye Wenxi: "Have you finished eating?"

"Um."

"Come on, come upstairs to my room."

The door closed. Ye Wenxi leaned against the table, watching her.

"Are you still in contact with that kid lately?"

"That's it. I didn't look for him, and he didn't look for me either," Lu Weihua said calmly, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Ye Wenxi stared at her for a while.

"Hiss... something seems off about you."

"Huh? Really?" Lu Weihua looked up and smiled. The smile was so quick it didn't even reach his eyes.

"Is everything really alright?" Ye Wenxi asked, arms crossed and head tilted.

"What could possibly be wrong? It's really nothing." Lu Weihua picked up Ye Wenxi's new coat and looked it over inside and out.

"Okay, you'd better let me know if anything comes up. I'm going out to take care of some errands now."

"Okay~ Go ahead."

Ye Wenxi went to the guesthouse to call Ding Jiahe, and they prepared to go to a printing and decoration factory that they had already arranged to visit.

These days, there aren't many factories that can do both printing and packaging; you usually have to go to two different places.

Ye Wenxi wanted to handle everything from start to finish to avoid any hiccups, so he booked a new factory in the south of the city. The equipment was imported from Germany, with offset printing machines and box gluing machines on the same production line, which reportedly cost tens of thousands of foreign exchange. The color and registration precision were significantly better than the old factory, and the technicians were skilled workers poached from a large factory.

The two rode a bus, crossing half the city. The old bus bounced so hard it felt like their bones were cracking; Ding Jiahe gripped the handrail, her bottom bouncing up and down several times.

"Where did you find all this information?" Ding Jiahe asked.

"The Light Industry Bureau," Yeh Wen-hsi said.

"It's convenient to ask them anything," Ding Jiahe chuckled.

"Hehe." Ye Wenxi patted her chest, her stomach churning. "Let's go see a doctor first, if it doesn't work, we'll try something else... Ugh~~"

Twenty minutes later, the two finally got off the bus, supporting each other.

Ye Wenxi squatted half-dead by the roadside, her stomach churning. She missed the subway, the asphalt roads, and the days of convenient transportation.

"That's it." Ding Jiahe pointed to a row of dusty factory buildings in front of her.

The two men strolled into the factory area. The security guard checked their identification, made a phone call, and asked them to wait. Less than two minutes later, a middle-aged man strode out and reached out his hand from afar:

"Comrade Ye? This is Factory Director Zhou. Hello, hello, please come in."

The two followed Factory Director Zhou into the office. The room was small, with several samples hanging on the wall and paper patterns and color swatches spread out on the table. Ye Wenxi took out design drafts from his canvas bag and spread them out one by one: packaging box unfolding diagrams, paper bag structure diagrams, after-sales card and hang tag designs, each marked with dimensions and process requirements.

Factory Director Zhou picked it up and looked at it, flipping through it one by one, a smile slowly spreading across his face: "Comrade Ye, you're quite professional."

"I'd like to improve efficiency," Ye Wenxi said. "Could you please describe the materials used in these samples?"

Factory Director Zhou called out towards the door, and a technician came in carrying several pieces of cardboard, which he lined up on the table.

"This is 250g white cardboard, the most common type on the market. It's cheap, but not white enough, so the printed colors look dull." Factory Manager Zhou picked up the first piece and tapped it with his fingernail.

The two listened to the factory manager's introduction and then chose one they liked.

"This is a 350g single-sided coated paper, made by Tianjin Paper Mill. The surface coating has high whiteness and smoothness, resulting in strong dots and bright colors when printed. The back is the base paper, which won't peel off when mounted on E-flute corrugated paper. This thickness is sufficient for making flip boxes, ensuring they are sturdy and won't collapse at the edges," the factory manager explained.

Ye Wenxi took it and ran her thumb across the paper. It was indeed smooth, and a subtle sheen could be seen in the light. She then weighed it in her hand; it was quite heavy.

"Is anyone using this paper now?" Ye Wenxi asked.

"This is used for packaging light industrial products in Shanghai," said Factory Director Zhou. "Our factory just started this production line this year, and it's not common in other factories. First, the paper is hard to get, and second, the machine can't press it flat."

"What about printing? Is the color registration accurate?" Ye Wenxi asked.

"The offset printing machine can handle three or four colors without any problem. Your marking color is fine," Factory Manager Zhou said, glancing at the technician.

Yeh Wen-hsi: "What about overprinting? How many millimeters should it be controlled within?"

Factory manager: "We control the overprinting to within half a millimeter."

Yeh Wen-hsi: "Could I see a few samples with different color values, different screen rulings, and gradient overlays?"

Factory Director Zhou was taken aback, clearly not expecting Ye Wenxi to ask such a professional question, and then turned to look at the technician.

Factory manager: "Go and retrieve the set of standard samples that we made for Shanghai Light Industry last month."

Throughout the entire process, Ding Jiahe's eyes widened in astonishment. Color matching? Overprinting? Gradient transitions? What on earth were they talking about?