Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 760 - 384: Xu Nuo (Part 5)

Xu Nuo led Wang Gen Sheng quickly around the factory courtyard. He wasn’t lying; he was indeed a celebrity in the textile factory, to the point where everyone knew him. Whenever people saw Xu Nuo, they could accurately call out his name and then ask who the young man beside him was.

It would be even better if, when people asked this question, their eyes weren’t full of: "which unfortunate soul has Xu Nuo fooled now, this young man is done for" inner thoughts.

Xu Nuo was very familiar with the people in the factory. He didn’t stop talking the entire way, always introducing the factory’s various departments, relevant leaders, and the interpersonal relationships that Wang Gen Sheng, as a new accountant in the finance department, needed to understand.

If this were an induction training, Qin Huai could give Xu Nuo a full score for it.

Wang Gen Sheng was just a bit shy as a workplace newcomer. Compared to normal people, he was a bit taciturn and his emotional intelligence wasn’t that high, but that didn’t mean he was stupid.

In this era, anyone who could get into college was smart, and not just smart but diligent too. Wang Gen Sheng kept nodding and listening, remembering everything Xu Nuo said, evidently aware that Xu Nuo was helping him by talking so much.

After making a round in the factory, Xu Nuo took Wang Gen Sheng to logistics to pick up everything he hadn’t collected yet, letting Wang Gen Sheng happily receive a basin, an enamel cup, two towels, three bars of soap, and some scattered money vouchers.

Xu Nuo casually asked how much money Wang Gen Sheng had on him, learning that Wang Gen Sheng’s family wasn’t well-off and that he had several siblings. His family lived frugally to put him through college. Coming to Gusu for the job report, he only had five yuan in his pocket, which was very poor.

Upon hearing how poor Wang Gen Sheng was, Xu Nuo immediately took the newly equipped Wang Gen Sheng back to logistics to cry poverty, and under Wang Gen Sheng’s dumbfounded gaze, secured two more bars of soap for him and got a month’s salary in advance.

Xu Nuo handed one of the additional bars of soap to Wang Gen Sheng, while pocketing the other: "New employees starting work can advance a month’s salary if they don’t have money to buy things."

"Of course, if you’re still too poor to afford food before completing your probation, you can apply to advance half a month’s salary again. You apply at your finance department, you’ll know the procedures once you start."

"These money vouchers should ideally be collected from your finance department, but your finance department..." Xu Nuo showed a disdainful expression and shook his head, "There are many people in your finance department, but few who can actually do work. They often toss unfinished tasks to other departments, and logistics really dislikes the finance department."

"Otherwise, my dad wouldn’t have gone to Jinling to recruit you, a college student majoring in finance."

"Luckily I’m the one who took you to logistics to collect your things today. If it were Director Li or someone else... don’t even mention getting two extra soap bars or advancing your salary, they’d probably cut a corner from the soap and give you 1/4 less, even if Sister Hu at logistics is in a good mood today."

Wang Gen Sheng was cautiously folding money vouchers into the fabric, then slipped the fabric bundle into his pants pocket. He quickly realized the pants pocket was insecure, hurriedly stuffed it into his shirt’s inner pocket, keeping it close.

The inner pocket was clearly sewn on additionally, with neat stitches.

Xu Nuo was already accustomed to Wang Gen Sheng’s quietness, as he had another spirit friend, Shi Dadan, who also didn’t talk much.

After Wang Gen Sheng carefully stored his money, Xu Nuo spoke: "Now you lead me to your dorm to put away your stuff, and then I’ll take you to the department store for a stroll?"

"Alright." Wang Gen Sheng nodded, leading the way, taking Xu Nuo to his dorm.

Wang Gen Sheng’s dorm was similar to the one Qin Huai had previously seen of Shi Dadan’s, except Shi Dadan, being personally introduced by Xu Nuo as a super-connection, had a single small room, while Wang Gen Sheng lived in a double room with two single beds.

Putting away things wasn’t just putting away things for Wang Gen Sheng; he also categorized everything and even swept the floor.

Xu Nuo had no intention of helping with chores, half-leaning on the door watching Wang Gen Sheng work, while keeping his mouth busy with a barrage of questions.

"You’re from Shan City, and went to college in Jinling, why did you decide to come to our Gusu cotton spinning factory?"

"The money’s good, the cotton spinning factory gives me three yuan extra subsidy every month."

"Your college entrance exam score was so high, why did you decide to study finance and accounting? If it were my dad, he’d definitely have me study physics, mathematics, or chemistry."

Wang Gen Sheng almost answered every question: "I like accounting. My mom said I was born an accountant; when I was a kid, my older brother once stole money from home, and my mom noticed the money was short but couldn’t figure out where it went."

"At that time, I was in third grade, watching my parents audit the ledger all night, and eventually tracing it back to the money going missing the day before, and after thorough inspection, they found it should have been my brother who moved the money."

"Everyone thought I was sure to become an accountant in the future, so I studied finance and accounting in college."

Xu Nuo was quite thoughtful: "Knowing what you want to do from a young age, that’s good."

Wang Gen Sheng was a bit surprised, paused his sorting: "You don’t know?"

"I don’t." Xu Nuo shook his head, "My dad wants me to go to college, my mom wants me to join the army, my grandma hopes I stay close even if I become a good-for-nothing."

"My brother thinks I’m quick-witted, sharp-tongued, also good at reading people, well-suited for sales. My sister-in-law thinks my snacks taste great, being a chef at a State-owned Restaurant would be good too, but she’s always been afraid to mention it, fearing my parents would scold her."

"I feel those are not what I want to do."

"On one hand, I feel I shouldn’t just stay in Gusu, I should visit other places. But without a decent job, roaming around could get me arrested for vagrancy."

"Yet, on the other hand, I feel staying in Gusu is important because many of my family and friends are here, people who matter to me."

"I feel I have something I must do, but I don’t know what that is."

"My dad says I’m just idle, life’s too easy, eating and playing around with cronies and not working, go to college and it’ll be better."

Wang Gen Sheng didn’t know what to say, realizing Xu Nuo seemed nice enough, already being so open even though they just met, leading him around and sharing insights.

Yet he also felt as an ordinary employee, he shouldn’t gossip about Xu Nuo’s dad with him, given his dad was the factory director.

Wang Gen Sheng could only say: "Policies are always changing, maybe one day you’ll be able to travel around the country freely without official work."

Xu Nuo laughed: "You’re worthy of being a university student, when I talk about this to my other friend, he usually just nods and then asks me what’s for dinner."

Wang Gen Sheng smiled too, rummaging through his luggage to find a jar wrapped in cloth, opening it to reveal a jar of chili sauce. He stole a glance at Xu Nuo hesitantly, thought for a while before standing up to hand the jar to Xu Nuo.

"This is the chili sauce my mom made," Wang Gen Sheng said, "I know you folks don’t often eat spicy food, if you don’t eat this, I... I didn’t bring much else, if you don’t like it, I’ll write home to ask my mom if we have any cured meat."

Xu Nuo accepted the chili sauce without hesitation, eyes almost lighting up: "Chili sauce, I love it."

Wang Gen Sheng breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as you like it."