Yan Jiacheng was in a very good mood today.
After the few months of temporary work ended, he had saved 15 yuan himself, after giving some to Yan Bugui.
Besides that, yesterday, following Yan Bugui's reminder, he made a special sacrifice, spending 1 yuan to buy a large crucian carp from home and delivering it overnight to the temporary worker supervisor.
Sure enough, Yan Bugui was Yan Bugui; after the fish was delivered, the supervisor just called him aside and promised to immediately arrange for him to be a temporary worker unloading coal at the Steel Rolling Mill.
Seeing Lin Xiaoman approach, Yan Jiacheng happily shared his upcoming work.
Dressing in fine clothes at night was not the style of his Lao Yan family.
Seeing the strange look on Lin Xiaoman's face, Yan Jiacheng thought he was unhappy with his independent actions, so he smiled and explained to Lin Xiaoman.
“Xiao Man, finding a job isn’t playing house; it costs money. If you want to find a good job without spending a penny, it’s like waiting for a rabbit by a stump – it’s hard!”
“Hey, you’re still young and don’t understand the tricks of the trade. You’ll understand after you hit a few more walls.”
Looking at Yan Jiacheng's pretentious manner, Lin Xiaoman gained a deeper understanding of this era.
Lin Xiaoman had also experienced the harsh realities of society in later generations, so he was naturally not naive.
But before, in TV shows and movies, he had always thought that people of this era were generally simple and honest, and that the Siheyuan Courtyard was just a strange combination of people.
But now, after experiencing it firsthand, he gradually understood that the human nature of the Chinese people has been largely the same for thousands of years, with no significant changes.
What it was like in later generations, it was pretty much the same in this era.
Feigning a moment of panic, Lin Xiaoman had a convenient excuse and hurriedly left.
Seeing Lin Xiaoman leave, Yan Jiacheng's jealousy, stemming from Lin Xiaoman being better looking than him, was greatly satisfied.
“Idiot, what’s the use of going to find someone now? Besides, how can you go empty-handed when looking for someone!”
He spat fiercely on the ground, and Yan Jiacheng repeated what Yan Bugui had said to him to a few people nearby, receiving their enthusiastic support.
Leaving the construction site, Lin Xiaoman went directly to the bulletin board next to the Canteen to check the situation.
Thankfully, their construction site was already within the factory premises, making it convenient to move back and forth; otherwise, even entering the factory would be very troublesome, requiring multiple checks.
Sure enough, a recruitment notice was indeed posted on the bulletin board in the corner.
The content was very clear: due to the factory's development needs, 10 Security Guards were being recruited, all as permanent employees.
Just as Lin Xiaoman was carefully studying the announcement, two young men came up behind him. They were a bit surprised to see Lin Xiaoman looking at the announcement, but they didn't care and immediately tore it down.
Seeing such a bizarre move, Lin Xiaoman became even more convinced that he had to participate in this 'carrot pit' examination.
The only difficulty now was, how deep was this 'carrot pit' exactly?
Were all the positions already pre-determined, or were most of them set, with a few remaining for others to compete for?
However, based on Lin Xiaoman's experience from later generations, for positions with many openings like this, a few positions would usually be allowed for fair competition among others.
This was certainly not out of kindness, but because if others reported it, these few positions would become the most powerful evidence to promote fair competition.
Lin Xiaoman knew the Personnel Section was in the administration building, but he didn't know which specific General Office.
When he reached the three-story building in a corner of the factory, he was about to find an General Office to ask for directions when a familiar voice sounded behind him again.
“Lin Xiaoman, why are you over here? Aren’t you working as a temporary laborer?”
Lin Xiaoman turned his head and saw a long-faced man already close to him.
This fellow's eyes were shifty, and he had a slicked-back, powdered face, looking like a typical villain from a movie.
“Xu Damao, why are you here again?”
Lin Xiaoman was also surprised to see the newcomer. This person was Xu Damao from his Siheyuan Courtyard's backyard, whose father, Xu Fugui, was the factory's projectionist.
However, at this moment, Xu Damao, like him, was not a factory employee, so he shouldn't technically be here.
Hearing Lin Xiaoman's question, Xu Damao's eyes darted around, and he mumbled and stammered for a long time, unable to form a complete sentence.
Finally, he had a sudden thought and said, “I’m here to find my dad.”
Coincidentally, no sooner had Xu Damao finished speaking than Lin Xiaoman saw Xu Fugui coming up from the stairwell.
After exchanging greetings, Xu Fugui, somewhat cautiously, asked Lin Xiaoman his purpose again.
“Xiao Man, which department are you looking for? Uncle Xu will tell you if there’s anything you’re unclear about.”
Lin Xiaoman had already thought of an excuse by this time, so he explained to the two men, “Uncle Xu, you know I’m working as a temporary laborer at the factory. Now that the project is finished, our supervisor asked me to come here to deliver the settlement statement.”
After he finished speaking, he feigned taking out a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to the two men.
Hearing this, the Xu father and son both breathed a sigh of relief, and Xu Fugui even enthusiastically offered to take Lin Xiaoman to the finance department to hand in the settlement statement.
Lin Xiaoman couldn't really go to the finance department; he just asked the other party to point out the location, then waved his hand and headed in the direction of the finance department.
“Dad, do you think Lin Xiaoman might also be coming to sign up?” Xu Damao asked his father quietly after Lin Xiaoman walked away.
“No!”
Xu Fugui patted his chest and said very calmly, “Very few people know about this exam. I overheard it last time when I was showing a movie to the Factory Leaders.”
“Ah, it’s a good thing we have this opportunity, otherwise I would have had to leave the Steel Rolling Mill for you to take my place.
Now it’s good, you go to the Security Department, and in a few years, when I retire, you can come back here to show movies.”
Xu Damao, however, disagreed with his Old Man's idea; he was excited at the thought of becoming a Security Guard soon.
“Dad, what’s the point of showing movies? Hauling machines all day, either serving leaders or going to the countryside. How is that as impressive as being a Security Guard?
Hehe, in the future, with a gun in my hand, if that bastard Sha Zhu dares to provoke me, I’ll use this thing to deal with him!”
Xu Fugui didn't expect his son's thinking to be so childish, still wanting to fight Sha Zhu with a gun, and immediately scolded, “You must not have such thoughts, otherwise it’s too dangerous!”
To prevent himself from running into Lin Xiaoman, Xu Fugui told Xu Damao to follow him to his General Office first. On the way, he seemed a bit worried as he shared the news he knew.
“Although not many people know about this time, there will definitely be more than 10 people signing up, so you need to study hard and try to get a good score.”
Xu Damao was quite speechless with his Old Man. Didn't his Old Man know his own situation? Relying on him to study diligently was not as good as spending money to smooth things over.
“Dad, you know me; I already gave all the knowledge I learned to Third Uncle. Why don’t you try to find the leaders again? Spending some money is fine too!”
“Nonsense, if I could spend money, would I still be counting on you?”
Seeing no one around, Xu Fugui whispered, “This time, because the news is confidential, only those with some connections can sign up.”
“I heard the leaders were worried about not being able to handle it, so they already said that heroes would be judged by their scores. If you don’t do well, don’t blame anyone else!”