country bumpkin

Chapter 325 Entering the Factory

The food was quickly prepared and brought out. With so many people gathered around the kang table, it was a bit crowded, so the elderly couple and their son went to the living room to eat.

Bai Rui ate with the four girls. The meal was simple, home-style cooking.

One dish was braised pork with vermicelli and cabbage; another was stir-fried shredded potatoes; and the last was cucumber dipped in shrimp paste.

The steamed buns are local, made soft like bread, without any chewiness. When you squeeze one, it turns into a small lump of dough.

The steamed buns that Yunya and the others ate in their hometown were all made with leavened dough. Although they were fluffy and soft, they always had a firm texture and were very chewy.

Even if they don't like the food, they have to eat it; as long as they're full, that's fine. The fact that these kids dare to go out to work at such a young age shows that they are all hardworking and resilient.

How could they complain when there was food to eat? In fact, all four little girls were grateful to this family.

After staying here for three days, Yunya and her friends had figured out the details of the village.

This village is called Luoquanzhuang. Everyone in the village has the surname Luo. Bai Rui's boyfriend is named Luo Yunxiang.

Judging from his name, he should be a handsome young man, but in reality, he looks like a typical straight man.

The old lady, Luo Wanjun, was a local girl who married into the village. The old man, Luo Musen, was a local for generations.

The elderly couple had a daughter and a son. Their daughter, Luo Ziyan, was already married and lived in the same village.

Luo Yunxiang, her son, is only 20 years old and met Bai Rui last year. The two dated for a year, but Bai Rui never told her family.

I only told my family that I was dating someone in another city when I brought my younger sister out to work this time.

Sun Zihong naturally opposed it. She felt that although it was a big city with many large factories and many opportunities, it was still a big city.

But the family her daughter found lived in the suburbs, which was worse than their hometown, a small city called Yicheng! At least their home was close to the city.

Bai Rui was determined to follow him and even threatened her mother, "We've been living together for a year now. If you don't agree, I won't have a wedding and I'll just live with him. When I come back next year with the child, will you still disown me and the child?"

Sun Zihong was furious and waved his hand dejectedly, "Whatever! Just don't regret it. Marrying so far away will make it inconvenient for you to go back to your parents' home. If you're mistreated at your in-laws' house, we can't go there so quickly to help you get revenge."

Bai Rui's expression changed instantly. She grabbed her mother's arm in a fawning manner and said, "Oh, Mom, don't worry, Yunxiang won't bully me. I've known him for so long, and he's been so good to me!"

Sun Zihong had no choice but to compromise. Thus, the two families were tacitly agreed to be in-laws. They would wait until the child turned 22, reaching the legal marriage age, before getting married.

Luo Yunxiang's family plans to find an auspicious day in the second half of this year to arrange the engagement, and then get married next spring.

On the fourth day of Yunya's stay, Bai Rui received a message in the morning saying that around 8:30, the matchmaker would ask them to go for an interview.

She also instructed them to prepare the fake IDs she would help them obtain and the referral fee. The referral fee was different for each type of ID.

Bai Yan told Yun Ya that their introduction fee was 1000 yuan each, while Zhu Yanan and Tong Jiahui's was 1500 yuan each.

Bai Yan also told Yun Ya to keep it a secret and not tell them the truth, and to just say that she also had 1500 yuan.

Yunya thought that if that was the case, maybe it was originally 1000 yuan per person.

The extra 500 yuan from those two people, when combined, amounted to 1000 yuan. It was used to pay for Bai Yan's expenses; the older sister, Bai Rui, was making money off people from their own village.

Thinking of this, Yun Ya could only shut up and pretend she didn't know. She wasn't familiar with any of them, not even with her aunt's two daughters. Who knew if she had been tricked?

Bai Rui returned to the village and instructed Luo Yunxiang to drive a motorcycle tricycle, which then took several girls to the shoe factory entrance for a line-up interview.

When they arrived at the shoe factory, she got out first and took the money they were supposed to pay.

Then he went to a corner near the main entrance and talked to a middle-aged woman for a while. Yunya and the others were too far away to hear what they were saying.

However, Bai Rui returned empty-handed. She said, "The money has been paid. We'll call you over for an interview in a bit."

If you get into the factory and someone asks if you paid the fees, just say your parents arranged it for you, that you didn't know anything about it, understand?

The group nodded in unison. After a while, a man at the shoe factory gate waved in their direction.

Bai Rui saw this and waved her hand in response, saying urgently, "Hurry up, you four go over there!"

Bai Yan led the way, and the four of them followed the example of those who were going to the factory for interviews, lining up and walking in.

The interviewer was a tall, thin, middle-aged woman from the personnel department. She looked at the four girls who walked in through the door.

He asked, "How old are you? Do you have ID cards? Show them to me."

The four girls took out their pre-prepared ID cards from their pockets and handed them over.

The middle-aged woman took them and looked at the photos on the ID cards one by one, comparing them to the faces of the women.

After checking, I confirmed that they were all the same person. Then I looked at their birth dates, and yes, they were all 18 years old and of legal age.

Then she returned their ID cards to them and waved her hand, "Go inside!"

The four of them put their ID cards back into their pockets, then lined up and followed the queue to the dormitory building to be assigned rooms.

The line ahead was very long; everyone had come with the Labor Bureau. The woman assigning dormitories was a section chief in the management department, specifically in charge of accommodation.

The first group of 48 people went into the second floor of Building B. After the second floor was full, another 24 people went up to the third floor.

Bai Yan was the last one, the 24th, so she was separated from Yun Ya and the others. She was assigned to room 302 on the third floor of Building B.

Yun Ya, Zhu Yanan, and Tong Jiahui were all assigned to Room 201 on the second floor of Building D.

Each floor of the dormitory here has 10 rooms, and each room has 3 bunk beds facing each other, which can accommodate a total of 12 people.

Yun Ya chose the lower bunk near the door; she dared not sleep on the upper bunk. Back at the garment factory, she had fallen off the upper bunk in the middle of the night once.

Fortunately, it was winter, and she was wrapped in a blanket because of the cold, so she wasn't seriously injured, but it left her with psychological trauma. She never dared to sleep in a bed again.

Zhu Yanan was on the upper bed, and next to her on the upper bed was Tong Jiahui. Below Tong Jiahui was a tall girl named Chao Fangfang.

The new girl, Zhang Yuyan, got off at the next bed to the north; her bed was empty. Opposite her, Jiang Yuqing got off at the next bed, which was also empty.

The middle bed is occupied by a newcomer, Ge Chuling, and below her is the dormitory head, Qi Qiaodi, who is older than all of them.

The bunk beds opposite Nan Yunya's were occupied by newcomers, but they weren't very talkative.

The one above is called Shi Shuyue, and the one below is called Yang Tiantian. Yunya only remembered these names later.

After being assigned to their dorm rooms, they put their luggage on their beds and went downstairs to line up to enter the workshop.

We began dividing the workshops.

The three girls were assigned to the same workshop, which was good, as it gave them some company.

They were assigned to the workshop where shoe soles were made. The air was thick with heat and the smell of glue.

There are 10 production lines in the workshop. Each production line has three electric ovens for baking glue in the front, middle and back.

The group of people who joined together started a new assembly line. The foreman and team leader were veteran employees.

They were older workers selected from other assembly lines, but they were not very old; they were all 20-year-old girls.

The team leader began assigning them workstations and distributing protective equipment, including masks, gloves, razor blades, tape, and brushes.

Tong Jiahui was at the front applying a clear disinfectant, which was both pungent and stinging to her eyes. She was also given a pair of goggles, and after putting on all her protective gear, she began to work.

The team leader demonstrated for her, and she learned it after just two tries. After that, she was allowed to do it on her own, and soon the team leader moved on to the next position to teach the next person.

The first three positions were assigned to people, and next to a large oven was the second station on the assembly line.

Zhu Yanan was assigned here. She also put on her protective gear and learned from the team leader, mastering the skills in just two sessions.

After learning how to do it, the team leader continued to demonstrate and teach the new workers. After another two people, it was Yunya's turn.

Yunya's job is to brush the entire sole of the shoe. This job covers a much larger area than the previous ones, so speed is crucial.

If the assembly line is run too fast, it will be difficult to keep up. At the beginning, they were all newcomers, so the foreman started the assembly line slowly. Once they were proficient, he started accelerating.

There are three more stalls behind Yunya, followed by ovens. Behind the three ovens are inspectors checking the products to ensure they are up to standard.