Big Sister's Troubles (Part 1)

  When I got home that day, there was a guest sitting on the sofa. A girl in her early twenties, with short hair and bangs, single eyelid, not big eyes but very lively, with a neat feeling in every move.

  She stood up and greeted: "Zhi Han, right? I'm Shi Lin."

  Jiang Zhihan greeted everyone and went to the kitchen to see his mother, but unexpectedly, his mother said: "This is my newly adopted daughter, she's older than you, so you should call her sister."

  Jiang Zihan's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait, isn't this a mistake? Such a big girl is running around recognizing everyone as her goddaughter?" Her mother seemed to know what Jiang Zihan was thinking and said, "I've always wanted a daughter to accompany me shopping and chatting. Would you like to go shopping with me?" Jiang Zihan immediately retreated in defeat.

  Back in the living room, Jiang Zihan and Shi Lin chatted about their days. Shi Lin asked Jiang Zihan what he had been busy with lately, laughing and saying that his mom said he was out early and back late, handling a million things, busier than the Premier.

  Jiang Zihan had a good first impression of this older sister, telling her that he was exercising and reading books, and also showed her the latest electronic products from Europe and America that he had just seen recently, personal computers, movies and songs, and they chatted enthusiastically.

  They hit it off, and Jiang Zihan gradually learned that Shi Lin's greatest interest was traveling. In the past few years, she had gone backpacking with friends to many places. Both of them had been to the famous primeval forest in southern Xinjiang, so they found a lot of common topics to talk about. When talking about where they wanted to go, Jiang Zihan said wistfully that her dream destinations were Tianyun Mountain in western Xinjiang, the sacred city of Sajin, and the source of the two rivers, but unfortunately she didn't have enough money now, and her parents wouldn't allow her to travel alone.

  Shi Lin happily said: "Heroes think alike! These three places are also where I want to go. If we have the chance, let's go together."

  Half an hour later, when the mother finished cooking and started dinner, the two had become familiar with each other, and Jiang Zhihan began to call Lin sister. Li Ruoruo was very happy. She and Shi Lin were quite different in age, but they got along surprisingly well. Shi Lin's father had just been promoted to deputy factory director, and she had graduated from university and entered the quality inspection department, which made her a colleague of Jiang Zhihan's mother. Although her father was the factory director, Shi Lin got along well with ordinary workers and employees, speaking and doing things in a straightforward way without any airs. The previous two days, they joked about recognizing each other as relatives, so they recognized each other as godmother and goddaughter. Although it couldn't be taken too seriously, after recognizing her as a goddaughter, she still had to invite her home for a formal dinner.

  While eating, Shi Lin was chatting with Jiang Zhihan about traveling and current events, while also not forgetting to discuss shopping experiences and various gossip news with Li Ruoruo, jumping back and forth between two completely different topics with ease. Jiang Zhihan was truly impressed.

  After dinner, Mother declined Shi Lin's help and went to wash the dishes. So Shi Lin and Jiang Zhihan gathered together to look at Jiang Zhihan's collection of stamps over the years. The most precious ones were a part of the late grandfather's collection from the early days of the founding of the country and the 80s, and after the reform and opening up, these years' stamps were basically collected by Jiang Zhihan.

  When it comes to spending money, Jiang Zhihan has only one hobby. So over the years, although he didn't have much pocket money, he put everything into this bottomless pit of stamp collecting. He often went alone to the city's only postal product trading market, which was actually just a group of philatelists gathering outside a post office branch, and later developed into professional stamp dealers. Jiang Zhihan had done so many price negotiations with stamp dealers that he gradually became proficient at it.

  Shi Lin saw the last high-value ticket of a set of Northeast Tiger tickets from the late 1970s, which happened to be the one she had been searching for a long time but couldn't find. Jiang Zihan just so happened to have one. It's worth noting that buying an entire set of tickets is relatively easy, but collecting them one by one can be quite difficult sometimes.

  Shi Lin said she had been searching for this stamp for a long time and couldn't find it, Jiang Zhi Han generously said: "I'll give you this one."

  Shi Lin refused and said: "No way, however much money you paid for it, I'll pay you back."

  Jiang Zihan said, "This is what my grandfather collected from the envelope." He added, "People say that Lin Daiyu fell from the sky, but today an extra Lin sister appeared out of thin air. I've always thought it's not good to be an only child, it's better to have siblings. If I had to choose one, I would choose a sister first, gentle and elegant, who can take care of me. Today when I saw Lin, she looked just like the sister I imagined, I'm very happy, this is my gift for meeting her."

  Shi Lin saw that Jiang Zhi Han's words were very sincere, and coupled with Jiang Zhi Han's honest face and young age, she naturally felt that these words came from the heart.

  She was delighted in her heart, but still smiled and said: "Sister and brother, of course it should be the sister who gives the gift to the younger brother, what kind of reason is this?"

  Jiang Zhan said: "You don't understand, do you? Today I'll give you a small gift, but another day I will definitely get 10 times more back."

  Shi Lin then accepted her brother's gift. She wasn't the type to push three and block four, and asked about Jiang Zihan's siblings: "Besides your sister, who would you choose?"

  Jiang Zihan said: "Of course it's a sister, can take care of her, watch her grow up slowly, help her drive away the annoying boys who pursue her, protect her, and it's also a great feeling. Then there's the brother, best if he can cover for me. The least desirable is a younger brother, apart from sharing parental affection, what use is he?" Shi Lin couldn't stop giggling.

  After Li Ruoruo finished packing, Shi Lin invited her and her mother to sit in her home, which was actually just across the unit building, only a few steps away. Shi Lin said she wanted to show Jiang Zihan her stamp collection, Li Ruoruo thought for a moment and then happily agreed, so the three of them got up and walked towards Shi Lin's house.

  The unit where Shilin lives, above the third floor is allocated to middle-level cadres in the factory. The house type is different, it's a three-bedroom and one-living room, which has an extra room compared to Jiang Zhanchi's ordinary worker's house type, and the living room area is also much larger. Shilin's father was originally the workshop director, technical backbone, and was promoted to deputy factory manager in charge of production last year. In theory, the housing for factory leaders should be in another location, which is said to have a much larger area and an environment that can't be compared. After Director Shi took office, he didn't rush to ask for treatment, and has been living in the dormitory area for half a year. People in the factory think that Director Shi is a down-to-earth and hardworking cadre who doesn't love money, with a good reputation. Director Shi has a son and a daughter, his son got married and moved out, leaving only his daughter and parents living together.

  She arrived at Shilin's home, her mother had gone out to play mahjong, and her father was sitting on the sofa watching a news program. Shi Changzhang was not very particular, his daughter had acknowledged an ordinary clerk as her godmother, he didn't have any opinion about it, and was even very polite, chatting with Lishi Rong about some factory topics. Shilin and Jiang Zihan were sitting on the corner of the sofa looking at her stamp album, casually chatting about everything under the sun.

  Lai Rongrong quickly turned to the hottest topic in the factory, a pay raise. In those years, state-owned enterprises had few bonuses and no medical or housing subsidies because these were all reimbursed by the state or allocated by the government. Therefore, wages were the main source of income, affecting not only current income but also retirement pensions, so naturally it was everyone's top concern.

  In terms of financial situation, the salary increase is once a year or every two years, but for individuals, it may take several years to have an opportunity. This time is the factory's reform pilot, to adjust workers' income, so each worker can increase at least one level of salary, but there are a small number of quotas that can increase two levels of salary or even three levels of salary. Middle-level cadres (workshop leaders) and factory-level cadres have different rules, of course.

  Regarding the issue of wage increases, there was no clear principle at the time in Zhongzhou's First Printing Factory, and it wasn't transparent either. To put it bluntly, it basically boiled down to four words: "leaders decide". Of course, leaders also had to consider various factors, such as seniority, performance, and the fact that everyone had an iron rice bowl, so wage increases were generally rotated among people and couldn't be taken lightly for anyone.

  Lisi didn't have any ideas, she estimated her own situation this time, and could only follow the crowd to upgrade one level. After all, last time when salaries were adjusted, she was one of the 30% who got promoted. Good things won't always come to you every time, no matter how hard you work, this is an unwritten rule in state-owned units.

  Every time it's payday, the factory is in an uproar, with many farcical scenes being played out.

  First of all, rumors were flying everywhere. Before the results were announced, for several weeks or even one or two months, various rumors were spread everywhere, involving almost everyone. As a result, the factory was in a state of anxiety for a long time, and people were too distracted to work.

  This is the second one, every time before and after the results are announced, many people find leaders to make trouble, especially some of the more outspoken female employees, who are very difficult to deal with. The proportion of female workers in the printing factory exceeds 60%, finding a leader is a trick of making a big fuss, you really can't do anything about it.

  In this era, a crucial point is that if you don't break the law, state-owned enterprises generally can't fire employees. You can change her position, you can not reuse her, but no matter how she makes trouble, you have no way to dismiss her.

  The last time the wages were processed, a famous farce was made. A notorious shrew in the fourth workshop did not get her salary increase and went to find a certain secretary to make trouble. First, she went to the office to cry and complain, but each time she was pulled away by the security personnel with half-persuasion and half-coercion. Then, when she realized it didn't work, she stopped going to work for a whole day, following the secretary everywhere to demand an explanation. Wherever the secretary went, she followed, even waiting outside the toilet, and once directly entering the men's toilet to demand an explanation. It is said that at that time, all the male colleagues inside were frightened away.

  She followed for more than half a month, and then she stopped. According to people from the fourth workshop, the secretary couldn't take it anymore and quietly gave her a quota. Although only a few people can do such things, the impact is very bad. Everyone has been saying that those who are shameless are not afraid of death, but the factory leaders are not willing to die, so as long as you can do extremely shameless things, you can conquer them.

  The first-level salary was only 18 RMB, but at that time, 18 RMB was indeed very valuable. With everyone's income not being high, the tragicomedy performed on the stage of wages is enough to fill a big book.

  Although Li Ruoruo herself had no extravagant hopes, since she had acknowledged Shi Lin as her goddaughter, she naturally felt that she was close to the Shi Changzhang family and wanted to find a way to solidify their relationship.

  Li Jiongjiong said to Shi Changzhang, "Now it's all over the place, this time is your last chance to decide who has the qualifications to add and how much. This isn't a good thing. To put it bluntly, it's unprofitable. Most people who get added to their salary think it's only natural, while those who don't will feel they've been treated unfairly, and who knows, maybe they'll even gossip behind your back about how much bribe you took."

  The factory director puffed on his pipe, silent and uncommunicative.