chudaoxianren

In that sense, I was standing on the same starting line as those college graduates, wasn’t I? Just as I was thinking this, Section Chief Ma came into the room. He wanted to take a batch of lenses I had just sorted out to the senior manager in charge of production for inspection. As he had instructed, I had arranged the lenses neatly on a sheet of white paper about the size of an A4 sheet. The problem now was how to carry that sheet of paper to the manager without disturbing the arrangement of the lenses. I had long known that Section Chief Ma had earned his position through eight or nine years of experience operating injection-molding machines. In fact, he had never even finished junior middle school. Now, faced with the sheet of paper covered with neatly arranged lenses, he was clearly at a loss. He tried several different methods, but none worked, so he began asking Xiang Li for advice. Xiang Li was even more clumsy. At one point, she nearly scattered the lenses and ruined their care...

I asked her quietly, “Um… he’s not going to spend the night here, is he?” Luo Xiaohua gave me a suggestive smile. “He’s already here. What do you think? Of course he’s staying the night. Besides, whenever he’s on the day shift, he spends the night here.” Whenever? The thought of having a man and a woman sleeping in the bunk below me whenever I was on the day shift made me miserable. “Aren’t male workers forbidden from entering the women’s dormitory? It says so in the factory rules.” Luo Xiaohua gave me a cold look. “Rules are dead. People are alive. Besides, she’s not the only one in this dorm who brings a male worker in for the night.” At that, I remembered that Luo Xiaohua was married too. Her husband worked at the factory as a cleaner. I immediately fell silent. That night, lying in bed, I could not stop thinking about the young couple below me. The whole situation was unbearably awkward. I tried not to turn over. Whenever I moved, the bed below moved with me. The bed was poorly mad...

That scare drove every trace of sleepiness out of me. But I had no desire to speak to Wu Shaofen again. I felt deeply hurt. I had never imagined that someone who had been so warm and friendly to me during the first half of the night could turn so cold in the second. She had changed her attitude faster than the pages of a book could turn. I wanted to cry. I knew I was in the wrong for sneaking off to the toilet so often, but she could have simply reminded me. There was no need to lose her temper like that, let alone go running to the team leader to complain about me. The more I thought about it, the more aggrieved I felt. Then, in a moment of carelessness, I felt a sharp pain in the ring finger of my left hand. I had accidentally sliced it with the blade. I stared blankly as the blood began to flow faster and faster, not knowing what to do. Just then, Wu Shaofen handed me a piece of medical adhesive tape. I looked at her in disbelief. She said softly, “Put this on it.” Remembering how s...

That afternoon, Li Lianping taught us the factory's broadcast exercises, the same kind of routine performed by middle-school students today. Anyone who had attended middle school knew how to do them. But Jin Sanling and several others who had only finished primary school—or couldn't read or write at all—had no idea how to follow the movements. Teaching them proved surprisingly difficult. Even when the workday ended, they still hadn't learned the routine. I heard that from then on, all new employees who had been at the factory for less than a month would have to undergo military-style training and do these exercises every morning. As long as they weren't completely hopeless, everyone would eventually learn. When the afternoon shift-ending bell rang, everyone let out a long sigh of relief. My first day at Liangguang Factory was over. Tomorrow, I would officially begin work. I had no idea what awaited me. Of the sixteen girls recruited that day, the production department n...

Although the workday at Liangguang Factory began at eight, everyone had to assemble for roll call at seven-thirty. Most workers got up at 6:50, while a few especially diligent ones were already awake by 6:30. Another day was beginning in the factory dormitory compound. People hurried out of their rooms carrying their washbasins and toiletries, rushing toward the bathrooms as if being a minute late would mean disaster. Once they had washed up, they dashed off to breakfast at a sprinter’s pace. I heard that they also had to do group exercises, sing the factory anthem, and shout slogans. All of this was completely new to me. Since Liu Yuan had told us to report to the cafeteria at eight that morning, I had no reason to hurry. Without a factory ID badge or uniform, I didn't dare leave the dormitory. Even so, I could clearly hear the sounds coming from the factory grounds: the rhythmic command to “March in quick time!” followed by a stirring factory anthem and loud, forceful slogans. Th...