The night passed without incident. At five in the morning the next day, Li Yi woke up his third sister, and the two siblings began bustling about in the kitchen.
Since the order from the sugar factory had been completed, Li Yi now only needed to prepare the liangpi for the state-run restaurant and his third sister’s street stall—a total of about five hundred sheets.
Though not a huge amount, the workload was still substantial.
Considering that the liangpi business would eventually have to rely on his third sister on her own, Li Yi decided to teach her the method for making liangpi so he could withdraw from the business as soon as possible.
After all, compared to the mountain produce business, the profit margin on liangpi was simply too small.
Of course, this was only from Li Yi’s perspective. To Li Na, the profit from 500 sheets of liangpi—around 70 to 80 yuan—was an unimaginably huge windfall.
So she studied intently, watching every step carefully, afraid of missing any details!
By eight o’clock, all five hundred sheets of liangpi were ready, along with 300 white flatbreads—everything needed for today’s market stall was all set.
After loading the cart, the siblings were ready to set off!
However, in addition to Li Na and Li Yi, there were two extra people in the car today: their older sister and her husband.
They were heading to the sugar factory to report for duty, so they tagged along into town.
By the time they reached the county seat, it was already 9:30 a.m. Li Yi had his third sister drive the big red mule cart to the state-run restaurant to deliver the mountain produce and liangpi, while he drove the black horse cart, loaded with the market goods, straight to the sugar factory.
Most of the security staff at the sugar factory recognized Li Yi and knew he was on good terms with the factory director.
Upon learning that Li Yi had come to see Director Liang, they registered them on the spot and let Li Yi and his party in.
It was Yang Wenguang and Li Mei’s first time at such a large state-owned factory. Seeing the vast factory grounds and the bustling workers before them, they were both deeply impressed.
They were also somewhat excited—soon, they too would become full-time employees of the sugar factory, just like these workers. The thought alone made them feel a surge of excitement.
Li Yi led his sister and brother-in-law to the administrative building of the sugar factory, then headed straight to the factory director’s office on the second floor.
Upon arriving, they found the office door wide open, but Director Liang was nowhere to be seen. Inside, there was only a little girl of about seven or eight years old cleaning the room.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
The little girl was startled at first. She turned to look at Li Yi at the door and hurriedly said, “Comrade, are you here to see our factory director?”
“Uh-huh. Is Director Liang not here?” Li Yi asked immediately.
“The factory director went to the workshop. He’ll be back in a little while!”
“Oh, then let’s wait,” Li Yi said.
“Is this urgent? Should I go over to the production workshop and let the factory director know?” The young woman was quite helpful.
Li Yi smiled and said, “It’s fine, we’re in no rush…”
Just as he was speaking, a voice tinged with delight suddenly came from behind him: “Hey, isn’t that Comrade Li Yi? What brings you here?”
Li Yi turned around and saw that it was Director Ge.
“Oh, Director Ge! I’m here to see Factory Director Liang!” Li Yi replied immediately.
“Then why aren’t you going in?”
“Heh, Director Liang isn’t in his office!” Li Yi replied honestly.
Director Ge immediately walked into Director Liang’s office to take a look. Upon seeing only the young girl there, he asked, “Xiao Yun, where’s the director?”
“Hello, Director Ge. The plant manager has gone to the production workshop!”
“Go to the workshop right away and tell the plant manager that Comrade Li Yi is here!” Director Ge said.
“Yes!”
Then, Director Ge turned to Li Yi again and said, “Comrade Li Yi, let’s wait in the factory director’s office. The workshop isn’t far from here, and the factory director will be back soon!”
Li Yi didn’t hesitate. He thanked him immediately, then led his sister and brother-in-law into Liang Yukui’s office.
Director Ge knew that Li Yi and the Wang family were very close. Not only had Secretary Wang’s wife and the Wang Anguo couple attended his wedding, but even Old Master Wang had been present—proof that the relationship between the two families was truly extraordinary.
So, even though he was the office director of the sugar factory, he didn’t dare to act high and mighty in front of Li Yi.
As soon as they entered, he immediately served everyone tea and water, bustling about with great enthusiasm.
Little did he know that this scene left Li Mei and Yang Wenguang utterly astonished.
Li Mei hadn’t had much formal education, so she naturally didn’t fully grasp the significance of the position of Office Director, but Yang Wenguang certainly did.
An enterprise of the county sugar factory’s scale is generally classified as a division-level unit. Theoretically, the factory director’s rank is on par with that of the county Party secretary and the county magistrate—all are division-level officials.
Of course, this was merely theoretical; in reality, the two were worlds apart in terms of power, influence, and other aspects.
As for the Office Director of the sugar factory, he was generally at least a section-level official.
In a small place like Qing Shan County, a section-level official is by no means a minor figure; in an administrative unit, that would be the equivalent of a bureau director or deputy director.
To be honest, in the past, when Yang Wenguang encountered such people, they wouldn’t even bother acknowledging him.
Now, however, the other party was serving him tea and pouring water, acting with great deference and wearing an expression that seemed to beg for favor.
This completely defied Yang Wenguang’s expectations!
He knew that Director Ge was acting this way solely because of his brother-in-law.
This surprised him even more. Although his brother-in-law had made some money, surely that wasn’t enough to make the office director of the sugar factory grovel like this?
What on earth was going on? Yang Wenguang was suddenly at a loss!
Just as Yang Wenguang watched his brother-in-law and Director Ge making small talk, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from outside.
Immediately afterward, a boisterous voice rang out: “Hahaha, it’s Brother Li Yi!”
Li Yi immediately turned to look toward the door and saw Liang Yukui striding in, flanked by several officials.
“Brother Liang, I’m sorry to interrupt your work!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“No problem. I was just doing a routine inspection anyway—it’s no bother at all!”
Liang Yukui then noticed the two people standing beside Li Yi. He recognized them as Li Yi’s older sister and brother-in-law, whom he had met a few days earlier at Li Yi’s wedding.
Besides, Li Yi had previously mentioned to him that he planned to have his older sister and brother-in-law work at the sugar factory.
“Brother Li Yi, are you here to bring your older sister and brother-in-law to report for duty?”
Li Yi nodded immediately and said, “Yeah, now that I’m married, I don’t need my brother-in-law’s help anymore, so I brought them along!”
“Alright then, Director Ge, please take these two comrades over to the Personnel Department to register!” said Liang Yukui.
Director Ge immediately asked, “Director Liang, how should we assign their positions?”
Li Yi immediately interjected, “Brother Liang, my older sister is about to give birth, so please find her a relatively light-duty position. It doesn’t matter if the pay is a bit lower!”
“Then have her go to Logistics to look after the warehouse. There’s basically nothing to do over there, and her salary will still be calculated at the standard first-level wage!” Liang Yukui said.
Li Yi spoke up again: “My brother-in-law is a veteran and a combat hero. He lost the use of one arm in battle, so he can’t do heavy work, but he knows how to drive. Could we assign him to the transportation team?”
“No problem. Director Ge, let’s arrange it as Comrade Li Yi suggested!”
“Yes!”
“Also, clear out a room in the dormitory at the back for the couple to live in. Make sure they have everything they need!” Liang Yukui instructed again.
“Yes, sir!”
……..