Awaken: I See Tags, I Rewrite My Life-Chapter 28: Keep a Low Profile

Tian Xiang saw that it was still early and went to the theater troupe to practice for a while before returning at noon.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, she caught the aroma of stewed meat.

Oh, whose family is having a feast today?

Tian Xiang glanced around and saw Tian Chuying standing in front of the coal stove, adding salt to the large pot.

Obviously, the meaty aroma was coming from over there.

Pan Yuzhen, like a ghost, sidled up to Tian Xiang and whispered, "Came back past eleven this morning, bought ribs and beans at the market, looks like she’s planning to send them over to Lu Feng."

The courtyard was small, without separate kitchens and toilets for each household.

The toilet was next to the water pipe, with about twenty households sharing it in one lane.

The stoves were two coal burners under the eaves, one for cooking rice, the other for frying dishes. What each family ate was plainly visible.

Did Tian Chuying not come home last night?

Tian Xiang really didn’t know about this.

Pan Yuzhen: "Tsk tsk tsk, she’s getting involved with a widow, how does she have the nerve to go after a man, even stewing tonic soup, your cousin, I don’t even know what to say about her, she’s really bringing shame to the Old Tian Family."

Who says she’s not?

Tian Xiang: "Let her be."

She couldn’t meddle in other people’s business.

Tian Xiang went to park her bike.

Pan Yuzhen quickly chirped away with others.

Not long after, the entire courtyard knew that Tian Chuying didn’t come home last night and was competing with a widow for a man.

At noon, while Tian Xiang was slurping noodles, sounds of a quarrel came from next door again.

It looked like He Cuifen was back.

Tian Xiang ignored it, tidied up her dishes, took a short nap, then went back to the theater troupe.

In the afternoon, seeing the time was about right, she went to buy vegetables for dinner at the market. As she walked into the courtyard, she happened to run into Tian Chuying.

The latter was also pushing a bicycle, but her expression was not good, her face was injured, looking like it had been scratched by someone, and she hung her head in embarrassment.

At first, Tian Xiang didn’t recognize her because Tian Chuying had let down her hair to cover her embarrassment.

When she was bending down to pick up a lunch bag that had fallen off the bike handle, Tian Xiang recognized her.

Got in a fight with Widow Jiang, huh!

Serves her right.

Tian Xiang walked straight past her and entered the courtyard first.

Behind her, the always observant Pan Yuzhen exclaimed, "Oh dear, Tian Chuying, who did you fight with?"

How could Tian Chuying face anyone, she ran back home covering her face and slammed the door shut.

Before long, it spread throughout the courtyard that Tian Chuying fought with a widow for a man and almost got her face ruined.

Hu Honglian heard about it after work and laughed while humming a tune.

But when she heard that her daughter’s job required a trial period, her good mood was cut in half.

"Why does it still require a trial period?"

Tian Xiang explained the overstaffing situation to her.

Just hiring two people?

Such positions are usually internally decided, how did it become overstaffed?

Hu Honglian felt something wasn’t right.

Tian Xiang: "Maybe someone is targeting Chairman Jiang."

She had thought about it seriously, and it roughly seemed like the reason, it wasn’t hard to guess who.

Hu Honglian was a bit worried, "Then if you get in, won’t they start targeting you!"

Tian Xiang: "Mom, if I’m upright, I fear no shadow. If I do my job well, what mistakes can others find?"

That’s the way it is.

But still...

Hu Honglian, knowing how tough the workplace can be, called her husband to finish making noodles, then took her daughter to the room to thoroughly teach her a hundred points on how to get along with the leaders and how to deal with unexpected situations at work, how to fight back against colleagues who gossip or backstab...

The next day.

Tian Xiang packed her large lunch box, her tea mug with red peonies, her personal little notebook, a bigger one for work notes, her pen, ink, a small piece of tea cake, and the hard-boiled egg specially prepared by Hu Honglian for her, ready to go to work.

She pushed her bicycle in front, with Hu Honglian seeing her off from behind.

Pan Yuzhen, seeing Tian Xiang’s bulging cloth bag, asked her where she was going today?

Hu Honglian smiled sheepishly and said, "A trial period, found a job on Red Fifth Street."

"A position on Red Fifth Street! Which factory?"

"Oh, the Mechanical Factory."

"Oh my, that’s the top among the five big factories! How capable Xiangxiang is, she’ll soon be someone from Red Fifth Street!"

Nowadays, it’s all about gender equality, and married female workers also qualify for housing allocation.

Hu Honglian: "Keep a low profile, it’s just a trial period, whether she gets in or not is still uncertain..."

Even though it was uncertain, Hu Honglian couldn’t help but boast a little.

In the past, she had thought of marrying her daughter off to Red Fifth Street and then finding a way to solve her employment.

Now, her daughter had her own pathway, no need to climb up through marriage, it truly was a qualitative leap.

Although it was just a trial period, the news of Tian Xiang going to work at the Mechanical Factory quickly spread around Sanli Lane while she was out shopping for groceries.

Those two Tian Family sisters, one went to work on Red Fifth Street while the other was still fighting a widow for a man, how could there be such a big difference!

On the other side.

As Tian Xiang approached the factory gate, she put on her temporary work badge.

During work hours on Red Fifth Street, there was a never-ending stream of bicycles.

Now, she was one of them.

Tian Xiang felt excited, even greeted the old guard at the gate upon entering.

The old gatekeeper chuckled.

Youthful and energetic.

Today, Tian Xiang arrived early, and when she got to the office, only Director Li was there.

Li Huai assigned her a seat.

Once Tian Xiang had set everything up, Tao Huilan and Chen Yong came in one after the other.

Tao Huilan still had the same arrogance from the day before, looking at Tian Xiang with sideways glances.

However, her face somehow had a scratch today, matching Tian Chuying’s face from the day before quite well.

Chen Yong, who had knocked against an iron gate and was sent to the hospital the previous day, seemed fine today, except for a bruise on his nose.

Looks like he’s prone to fainting at the sight of blood.

With everyone present, the three completed their induction procedures. Jiang Qin came and, along with Li Huai and two original members from the Internal Affairs Department, held a simple welcome meeting for them, letting everyone introduce themselves and then talking about work.

Jiang Qin gave a brief introduction to the situation of the Lixin Machinery Factory’s trade union,

Lixin Machinery Factory employed over 4,800 people, making it the largest factory in the city.

The factory was formed through consolidation after liberation, with retirees, employees’ families, and children adding up to over 16,000 people, with the family quarters occupying one-third of the residential area, also the most among the five big factories.

Their factory’s trade union had four departments: the General Affairs Department focusing on management and personnel, the Internal Affairs Department prioritizing clerical affairs and workers’ lives, the Organization Department coordinating production and safety, and the Publicity Department handling cultural, sports affairs, and various contacts and arrangements.

Excluding positions nominally held by factory committee leaders here and self-initiated interest groups within the cultural division, the number of staff currently employed was eighteen.

This time, the new clerical team established in the Internal Affairs Department was mainly to meet the rising demand for clerical work and to organize and lead retired individuals and housewives to learn and progress, coordinating effectively with street offices and neighborhood committees.

Yesterday, when Director Li introduced the work, the three felt it was just a handyman role.

Now that Chairman Jiang explained it, Tian Xiang suddenly felt she had transformed from a jack-of-all-trades to a valuable factory employee, gaining the awareness and foundation to serve purposefully.

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com