Courtyard House: Starting as an engineer, crushing a yard full of poultry

Page 181

After saying that, Li Xiangdong quickly shoveled the food from his lunchbox into his mouth, wiped his mouth, and returned to the workshop, followed closely by the other three leaders.

"Everyone, stop for a moment and let me say a few words!"

Li Xiangdong stood in the middle of the workshop and shouted loudly.

“Our factory used to just coast along and never did anything particularly big. I understand that everyone is having trouble adapting to such an important task as the ‘550’ project. But I hope everyone can think about it from a different perspective: your short-term hard work will lead to a qualitative leap for our steel rolling mill.”

"As a member of the factory, as the factory develops better and better, everyone's welfare and benefits will also improve. Therefore, in the next phase of work, I plan to quantify everyone's work by adopting a commission system. Those who complete the planned amount each day will receive a bonus of one cent, and those who exceed the daily target will also receive a certain bonus according to a certain proportion. Once this equipment is completely completed, everyone's monthly salary will increase by five yuan."

"As for the recent overtime, it's all voluntary. I will inform the cafeteria to prepare relatively more substantial meals every evening, and everyone can eat there for free."

Li Xiangdong said that in this way, there is no need to deliberately set a workload for each person. In order to get bonuses and a sumptuous dinner, the workers will naturally take the initiative to work overtime to catch up with the work progress.

"Is there really such a good thing? I'd be willing to stay up all night and live in the factory!"

"I'm so tired of my wife's cooking. Working overtime at the factory gets me bonuses and good food; only a fool would go home..."

Upon hearing this, the workers immediately lost their resentment and secretly rejoiced.

"Hey, giving out bonuses is one thing, but the key is that the quality has to meet the standards, so everyone should put their heart into their work!"

"I glanced at the time. It's getting late. Most of you have families and wives, so you should all go home and rest early."

Li Xiangdong smiled and the workers then left one after another, saying goodbye to him with smiles as they went.

"I'm sorry, Director Yang, we were pressed for time and didn't have time to discuss it with you."

"But our factory shouldn't be short of this money, and we'll be even less short of it once the equipment is built."

Although Li Xiangdong acted first and reported later, Director Yang didn't dare to say anything, only smiling and nodding in agreement.

"Alright, let's go then. I'll take you home and then I'll go back."

After saying that, Li Xiangdong put his arm around Yu Li's shoulder and left the factory.

"I say you're a really strange person. Either you lie in bed and won't get up for a second, or once you finally get up, you curl up in this broken chair and won't move."

Ever since He Yuzhu visited their home, Yi Zhonghai has seemed possessed. He sits in a chair with a cup of tea, his brows furrowed as if he's deep in thought, much to the old woman's dismay.

"What do you know? Is Li Xiangdong an ordinary person? If I want to bring him down, of course I have to plan carefully!"

"We've only just been released from prison, can't we just stay home and have a peaceful New Year? Why do we have to pick a fight with Li Xiangdong?"

"Is it because I'm picking on him? Don't let his big, handsome face fool you, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Can't you see how he schemed against the three of us, master and disciples, and brought us to this point?"

"Okay, okay, nobody's going to bother you..."

The older woman, who could never win against Yi Zhonghai, threw the rag she was holding onto the table in front of him and stormed back to her room to sleep...

It was almost ten o'clock when Yu Bin, who had just left the factory, returned with a large bag of things. However, this time he did not head towards the workshop, but went straight to the dormitory building.

The dormitory building was dimly lit. Yu Bin groped his way upstairs and found He Yushui's room according to the door number he remembered.

"Come on, come on!"

"Ah... Yu... Yu Bin... It's you?"

He Yuzhu ran over excitedly to open the door, but the moment she saw Yu Bin's face, her smile froze and turned into shyness.

"Look at the question you're asking. Who do you want to come?"

Seeing He Yushui's reaction, Yu Bin also seemed a little nervous and embarrassed. He was worried that He Yushui already had another suitable candidate in her heart or even in her life.

"No, no, no, don't misunderstand. Usually, only Sister Yu Li comes over here on February 2.1st. I thought it was her coming to see me."

He Yushui quickly explained.

"You mentioned today that your sister finished the food she prepared for you, so I went out to buy some more. I'm sorry, I was working late at the factory today, did I disturb your rest...?"

After saying that, Yu Bin handed a large bag of food from behind him to Yu Li.

"This...so much...I can't accept it..."

Yu Li was clearly startled by the huge bag, which was thicker than a door frame, and took a step back in a panic.

Chapter 237 Yu Bin Confesses His Feelings

"Why can't I take it? My sister and Dong-ge can take things, so I'm the same as them! Or... do you not consider me a friend at all?"

Yu Bin asked, somewhat aggrieved.

"The main issue is that we... we've only known each other for a short time... and I know you've just started working and don't have much money. Buying so much stuff is really too expensive..."

He Yushui shook her head repeatedly, feeling embarrassed to accept Yu Bin's gifts.

Bored out of his mind, Zhang Feng had a big fight with his wife after being fired from the factory, so he simply slammed the door and wandered back to the factory.

He looked around, suddenly finding himself without a source of income and unsure of what to do next. Just then, he looked up and saw two figures on the stairs of the factory dormitory.

"Isn't this Yu Bin?"

"This girl is 26... isn't she Zhu Zi's sister?"

The lighting was so dim that Zhang Feng had to rub his eyes hard before he could see clearly. His initial dejection and helplessness suddenly turned into joy, as if he had made a major discovery. He hid in the corner and continued to observe silently.

"Don't worry about money. Steel rolling mills are different now than before. As long as you work hard, money won't be a big problem."

“You’re still in school and don’t have much of a source of income. Besides, this is the time when you’re growing, and you can’t afford to lack nutrition.”

After saying that, Yu Bin stepped directly into He Yushui's dormitory and put the big bag of food on the table in the inner room.

"Good heavens, they've come right into the house in the middle of the night! Yu Bin, Yu Bin, it seems you're just like your brother-in-law, a beast in human clothing!"

Zhang Feng sighed, realizing it was getting late, and hurried home, worried that getting home too late would upset his wife again.

"Well... thank you... I'll treat you to dinner another day, and invite Sister Yu Li and Brother Dong to join us."

He Yushui said very embarrassedly, her hands fidgeting with her trouser legs.

"Alright, it's getting late, so I won't bother you any longer. Get some rest!"

After saying goodbye, Yu Bin hummed a little tune and ran happily home.

"stop!"

"What are you doing, sis? There aren't even any streetlights here. You scared me half to death. I thought I'd encountered a ghost!"

As soon as Yu Bin turned into the alley leading to his home, his sister Yu Li blocked his way.

"You brat, how dare you talk like that! Tell me honestly, where have you been gallivanting around so late?"

"They're working overtime at the factory, didn't you know? Didn't you even go and deliver food to Dong-ge?"

"Of course I know the factory is working overtime. Dong Ge and I left the factory two hours ago. Comrade Yu Bin, why are you only coming back now?"

"I... Oh dear, I'm so old, how come I don't have any personal freedom at all?"

"Tell me honestly, are you in a relationship? Is it with He Yushui?"

Yu Li was too lazy to waste any more time with Yu Bin and asked directly.

"Sis...you...you weren't following me, were you?"

"Looks like you've confessed without being asked!"

"No, no... I do like He Yushui... but she's still young and in school, and we've only met two or three times so far, we're not very close..."

Yu Bin scratched his head and said that he was never very good at lying, so he simply didn't want to hide it from his sister Yu Li.

"Rain is a simple girl. If you've really thought it through, then you should take it seriously."

"I...of course I wouldn't hurt her!"

"Okay, I'll help you!"

It turned out that Yu Li was waiting there to tell Yu Bin that if he really fell in love with He Yushui, he should treat her well. The siblings smiled at each other and went home together.

The next morning, Li Xiangdong arrived at the workshop entrance early to see if the workers' enthusiasm for work had changed under his commission policy.

Li Xiangdong arrived about half an hour earlier than his work start time. The workshop was already 80% full, and there were hardly any people chatting at their workstations like before. The workers were all engrossed in their blueprints. The 550 project made Li Xiangdong very happy.

To avoid her meddlesome mother-in-law, Qin Huairu has been very proactive at work these past few days, getting up early, taking her two children to eat breakfast, and then heading straight to the neighborhood office.

Seeing this, the naturally sensitive and suspicious Jia Zhangshi couldn't help but become curious about Qin Huairu's work. As far as she knew, the factory didn't start work until eight o'clock every day, but Qin Huairu had to leave home at a little after six o'clock every day. It was only a ten-minute walk from home to the factory, so she felt that Qin Huairu must be doing something bad behind her back.

This morning, after seeing Qin Huairu leave, Jia Zhangshi immediately put on her coat and followed him out.

"Xiao Qin, I've noticed you haven't been working very diligently lately. I know you come in very early every day, but we also need to pay attention to efficiency. Supervisors frequently give feedback during spot checks about the poor cleanliness of our streets, which directly affects the overall appearance of our neighborhood!"

"You can't entirely blame me. Some people have low moral standards. They keep throwing things away while I'm cleaning. There's nothing I can do about it."

As soon as Qin Huairu entered the street office, he was criticized by the director.

Chapter 238 Qin Huairu was discovered sweeping the street.

Qin Huairu, who is usually extremely careless at work, seemed particularly unconvinced when faced with criticism from the street director.

"Xiao Qin, how can you have such an attitude? You were the one who asked me to find you a job, and now you don't appreciate the opportunity."

"Cleaning is the most basic job. If you can't even do this well, how can we trust you in the future?"

"If you keep failing to correct your behavior, I'll have someone else do this job."

The neighborhood director said somewhat angrily.

"That's not what I meant... I'll just be more careful next time..."

Qin Huairu abruptly changed the subject and hurriedly grabbed his cleaning tools and ran to the road.