Sun Weiguo looked at her serious expression, considering her skill at blocking cars, and the anger in his heart finally subsided a bit.
"Do you promise not to cause trouble again?"
"I can swear to the heavens, if I..."
As soon as she raised her hand, Sun Weiguo impatiently interrupted her, "Shut up. This is the New Society; the old customs of cursing and swearing have long been eliminated. Feudal superstition is unacceptable; be careful what you say, lest disaster follows."
Everyone had come through the difficult years; now that the policies were a bit looser, people were speaking without restraint.
Li Xiangqin quickly covered her mouth and shook her head, "I swear to the Great Leader, to be loyal to the people and loyal to the Party, and I promise not to hold anyone back again."
"Since that is the case, starting tomorrow, you will follow the shift schedule and officially take up the Position."
It just happened that she could fill in for the Position where there was a problem.
"I will emphasize this one last time: if you dare to let me down at a critical moment, I will fire you directly."
"Rest assured, Foreman, I will exert myself to the utmost until death this time." Li Xiangqin stood straight and saluted the Foreman, expressing her determination.
It was fortunate that she had the nickname Iron Lady when she was young, striving to be a Model Worker, a capable hand, and a labor model, leaving the Foreman with many good impressions.
To be fair, the Foreman had treated her more than kindly. Considering she had shamelessly feigned illness and persistently requested Sick Leave, the Foreman always thought she had unavoidable difficulties, and although he was extremely annoyed, he still approved it for her.
Watching the Foreman stride away, Li Xiangqin let out a long breath. Turning her head, she saw Accountant Song Ying standing behind her with a smile.
"Sister Li, you can consider this a blessing in disguise. If the Workshop hadn't had a quality accident, there truly wouldn't have been an open Position."
"Accountant Song, was this accident very serious?" Although she had heard something, she didn't know the specifics.
Li Xiangqin was still very curious. Supply currently exceeded demand, and this was a critical period for strictly controlling production; how could such a major loophole have occurred?
"Alas, a whole batch was returned by quality inspection. The machine malfunctioned and wasn't repaired in time, resulting in scattered machine oil and a large amount of broken weft threads.
The Foreman has been called into meetings constantly these past few days, being pointed at and told he was derelict in his duty and responsible by the Workshop Director and the Quality Inspection Director... Speaking of which, they still don't know how to deal with this batch of substandard cloth."
Accountant Song spoke softly, looking at Li Xiangqin.
"Zhou Sufeng repeatedly left her Post during work hours, resulting in a major error, and has been placed on Suspension. You are taking over her Position."
"Thank you for the reminder, Accountant Song. I will strictly guard the quality and absolutely not cause trouble for the Foreman." Hearing Accountant Song's pointed reminder, Li Xiangqin blinked and immediately promised.
"It's good that you understand. Our Foreman has a bad temper lately, but he's still quite decent to you." Accountant Song glanced at her and walked away with her folder.
Li Xiangqin sighed, picked up her Cloth Bag, and left the Factory. She was in Shift B, so following the shift schedule meant she would switch to the Afternoon Shift tomorrow.
On the way home, Li Xiangqin bought some groceries and carried them back.
The house was quiet. Who knows where Fifth Child and Lao Liu ran off to play?
Looking at the haphazardly placed Bowls and chopsticks in the Kitchen, it was clearly Lao San's handiwork.
Li Xiangqin turned to look at the door of Third Brother and his wife's room, and anger immediately flared up in her heart.
Lao San really found himself an Old Mother-in-law; not only was she the only idle person in the whole family, but she didn't do any housework at all, always looking like she couldn't be bothered to live. Just looking at her was annoying.
If she guessed correctly, Zhao Meijuan was currently lying motionless in bed.
Li Xiangqin washed her hands, returned to her room, and started rummaging through cabinets and drawers to tidy up her things again.
Unused items were repacked and stored separately.
She kept busy until dusk, when Fifth Child excitedly pushed the door open and shouted,
"Mom, I'm back! Is there anything to eat? I'm starving to death."
Li Xiangqin walked out of the room, glanced at the new clothes on Fifth Child, "You deserve to starve. You're already so old, yet you only know how to run around wildly instead of helping with chores?"
"Mom, I just got my vacation; you have to let me relax for a few days, right?"
Fifth Child pouted, turned toward the Kitchen, broke off half a Steamed Bun, spread some white sugar on it, and plopped down into a Chair.
"Are you a pig? The moment you get back, you only know how to eat, sticking to a Chair like you're lying down. Your flesh is soft; just be lazy to death."
Li Xiangqin got angry seeing her listless posture.
"Aren't you going to school tomorrow to get your acceptance letter? If you don't test well, watch out for your legs."
"Don't worry, Mom, I promise I'll test better than Lao Liu."
When Zhang Jianli talked about studying, her eyes showed smugness. With Lao Liu setting the bar low, she never worried about getting hit.
"Tattling while I'm not here, traitor." Little Lao Liu happened to push the door open and heard this, immediately giving her a dirty look.
Unfortunately, Fifth Child just tilted her neck and didn't care at all.
Li Xiangqin couldn't be bothered to deal with them, turning to the Kitchen to make a sweet Egg soup, stir-fry the Eggplant and Potato that Er Ying gave her, and heat up a few Steamed Buns; dinner was settled.
Halfway through cooking, Fourth Child got off work and returned.
"Mom, I'm back."
"Good, wash your hands, it's time to eat." Li Xiangqin glanced at her and called Fifth Child over to serve the soup.
The food had just been placed on the table when Lao San also returned. "You came back early, or rather, you came back at the right time; you made it just in time for dinner."
"Useless at everything except eating. You thick-skinned thing, you clearly got off work at three-thirty, but you deliberately dragged it out until six-thirty to come back, dragging your lazy butt. You come back just to eat—am I your Old Mother who owes you something?"
Hearing the Movement of Lao San returning, Zhao Meijuan had just opened her room door when her Mother-in-law's cursing voice reached her ears, and her steps paused.
Lao San saw his Wife and chuckled sheepishly.
"The Factory had to ship goods today, and they needed a few loaders and unloaders, so I volunteered to help; that counts as a half-day's work."
Seeing his look of seeking praise, Li Xiangqin couldn't bear to look, snorting, "With that much fat on you, you should have been exercising long ago. Those who only eat and don't work are pigs."
Zhao Meijuan: "..."
That old hag, she was the only Outsider in this house now; was she going to keep picking on her relentlessly?
"Wife, why are you standing there? Hurry up and come eat."
Lao San called out, then turned to wash his hands. Zhao Meijuan walked over lightly, looking at the soup bowls on the table, her face tightening—there wasn't even a bowl for her.
Sure enough, this whole family despised her.
Li Xiangqin sat down and took a bite of a Steamed Bun, only to see Zhao Meijuan's resentful gaze, which instantly made her furious.
"Why are you standing there? If you want to eat, can't you serve yourself? What, you won't cook, you won't help with housework, and you expect Old Mother to feed you? Are you the supreme ruler or the grandmother of this house?"
"Mom, I felt a bit unwell today, so I accidentally fell asleep." Zhao Meijuan's Complexion stiffened, and she explained Softly.
Was it her fault?
Everyone disliked her; why should she come out and suffer?
"Old Mother worked hard all afternoon and didn't wake you up, but the moment the food was on the table and Lao San pushed the door open, you woke up. What, are your ears special? Can they selectively go deaf?"