Starting from 1950

"Wow! These two kids are so handsome!"

Only then did the others turn their attention to Su Yang and Wu Xinxue.

Seeing this, Liu Mancang's face lit up with a smug look. He grinned at Xu Hongyan and said, "Honey, haven't you always been worried that the propaganda department is short of someone to make it look good? Look! I've brought you one!"

He pointed to Wu Xinxue, who seemed somewhat uneasy.

Xu Hongyan's eyes lit up as she stood up from her chair, rushed forward, and stared intently at Wu Xinxue, saying, "Little sister, take off your hat so I can see?"

Wu Xinxue hesitated for a moment, then took off her train engine hat, revealing her jet-black hair cascading down like a black waterfall.

"Good! You look decent!"

"She has a great figure too!"

"If she were a few years older, she'd be absolutely stunning!"

Several women surrounded Wu Xinxue and began to comment on her, which frightened the little girl so much that she tried to hide behind Su Yang.

Su Yang patted her arm to reassure her.

"Come on, read a passage." Xu Hongyan handed over the newspaper.

Wu Xinxue took the newspaper and read aloud: "Wang Xuewen, a worker at Shenzhou Smelter, led his team to set a new single-day iron smelting record and was awarded the title of 'Municipal Industrial Pioneer.' At the commendation ceremony, he appealed: 'Let us workers sweat more so that our new country can become prosperous and strong soon!'"

"Great! Your voice is good too!" Xu Hongyan praised. "Although you still have a bit of a Beijing accent, it's not a big problem if you correct it."

"Old Liu! You've given me such a big surprise! How should I reward you?" She looked at her husband with a smile.

"A reward?" Liu Mancang's spirits lifted. "Then give it to me when you get home tonight..."

"You rascal! Shut up! Why do you say all sorts of things?" Xu Hongyan jumped over and reached out to cover her husband's mouth, her face flushed red.

"Oh! Section Chief, please let Section Chief Liu finish speaking!" The three female comrades from the propaganda department burst into laughter.

"Ahem!" Liu Mancang said in a serious tone, "I meant to ask your section chief to fetch me water to wash my feet tonight. What were you thinking?"

Su Yang watched from the sidelines, feeling a mix of emotions.

Who says people in this era are conservative?

This is clearly quite open-minded.

"Little sister, your name is Wu Xinxue? I'll personally take you to complete the formalities!" With that, Xu Hongyan pulled Wu Xinxue out.

Wu Xinxue broke free from her hand and looked at Su Yang with a troubled expression.

Su Yang smiled and took the bundle from her hands, saying, "Go ahead."

Wu Xinxue then left with Xu Hongyan.

Seeing this, Liu Mancang smiled at Su Yang and said, "Young man, you wait here first. Once Comrade Wu finishes the formalities, he will assign you a place to live."

Seeing Su Yang nod, he quickly went out to chase after Xu Hongyan.

"Handsome young man, what's your relationship with that girl from earlier?"

After the leader left, the remaining three female colleagues surrounded Su Yang and started asking him all sorts of questions.

Su Yang also pretended to be a normal ten-year-old child to deal with them, and secretly tried to get information out of the three of them.

He gradually gained a basic understanding of this Limin State-owned Flour Factory.

This flour factory was built more than a decade ago. Last year, after the Red Flag Army entered the city, it was confiscated by the state, and the words "state-owned" were added to its signboard.

After the government took over, it carried out sweeping reforms on the entire flour mill.

Most of the managers have been replaced by government employees, and the factory is still recruiting. Now the factory has a total of about 600 employees.

The production department has more than 400 people, and other technical, administrative and logistics departments have also been fully established.

Liu Mancang is the head of the personnel department. Because the factory is not large, there is no separate labor and wages department. Currently, both cadres and workers are under the management of the personnel department.

Xu Hongyan is the head of the publicity department, but she only manages three people. Moreover, these three people are not good at either appearance or language skills. Whenever the factory needs to host any event, Xu Hongyan has to step in.

It's really inappropriate for a section chief to be doing the work of a host, especially since the factory has just added broadcasting equipment but hasn't been able to find a decent broadcaster.

After listening to the women's stories, Su Yang couldn't help but feel happy for Wu Xinxue.

The propaganda department will have a cadre position in the future, which is much more promising than working in the workshop.

He chatted with the women for half an hour, and Wu Xinxue finally returned with Xu Hongyan.

Her face was radiant, and she was carrying a bunch of things in her arms. As soon as she came in, she exclaimed like she was showing off her treasures, "Su Yang, hurry up and help me with these things!"

Seeing this, Su Yang went to greet them, and saw that there were quite a lot of different kinds of things, including:

A snow-white towel, two precious bars of pig pancreas soap, two sets of thick indigo work clothes, and a pair of knitted work gloves.

On top of it was a brand new enamel basin, with the words "Shenzhou State-owned Limin Flour Factory" printed in bright red on the bottom.

Seeing that Su Yang had taken everything, Wu Xinxue proudly pulled out a small wad of bills, her face flushed with excitement. "Su Yang, I have money!"

Su Yang took the stack of papers and examined them carefully. They were all brand new. He counted them again.

There are 26 banknotes with a denomination of 10000 printed with warships, and 4 banknotes with a denomination of 1000 printed with a tractor plowing a field.

"264,000?"

The current banknotes have relatively large denominations, mainly due to the actions of the bald man, whose currency caused economic collapse and severe inflation.

The newly printed currency by the government sounds like it has a large face value, but its purchasing power is not strong. It costs more than 1000 yuan to buy a pound of rice or noodles!

However, a few years later, when the second token is issued, its face value will be reduced, and the exchange rate with the first token will be 1 to 10000.

Su Yang knew the value of money, but after a moment of hesitation, he muttered, "Isn't the supply system in place now?"

He recalled that when Wang Cui was in the reformatory, she was paid a rationed wage.

"Wow! You're quite knowledgeable for a kid!"

Xu Hongyan glanced at him with some surprise, but perhaps because she was in a good mood, she didn't look down on Su Yang for being a child and patiently explained to him:

"I don't know what it's like in other places, but in Shenzhou, the supply system only applies to veterans and retired cadres. Newly recruited employees are subject to a 'salary points' system."

She patted Wu Xinxue on the shoulder and said with a smile, "I managed to get the highest salary points for new employees for Xinxue, 88 points per month!"

"According to regulations, new employees receive one month's salary to settle down. Based on the prices in Shenzhou over the past five days, each salary is worth 3000 yuan, so Xiaoxinxue received 264,000 yuan!"

Su Yang then understood, and felt a little excited.

Coming to Shenzhou was definitely the right decision; the salaries are surprisingly high.

Previously, in the reformatory, Nguyen Su Mai worked as a helper, with food and lodging provided, and only received a subsidy of 30000 a month.

Even for Wang Cui, who enjoys the supply system, her monthly allowance would never exceed 8 yuan.

"Are you laughing your head off?"

Seeing Su Yang in a daze, Xu Hongyan smiled and teased him, then handed Wu Xinxue her work ID, a note, and a key.

"Keep your documents safe; you'll need them to enter and exit the factory. I already showed you the direction to the staff quarters. Now that you have the money, get whatever you need as soon as possible. You and your siblings can rest and settle in tomorrow, then come to work early the day after!"

"Yes, thank you, Section Chief Xu!" Wu Xinxue nodded gratefully.

"Why are you calling me Section Chief? Just call me Sister Xu!"

"Okay, Sister Xu."

......

"Su Yang, pinch me." Wu Xinxue suddenly said after walking a few steps down from the office building.

Su Yang chuckled and reached out to pinch her cheek.

"Hey! I told you to pinch my hand, why are you pinching my face? No way! I'm going to pinch you back!"

"Hehe! Catch me first!"

"Don't run! Let me pinch you back!"