novelslam Chapter 2 Tang Yuwei
Chapter 2 Tang Yuwei
Around ten o'clock, Director Lin Kaidong returned, and surprisingly, a woman followed behind him.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't a "woman" at all; she was more like a girl.
Her skin was a deathly pale white, completely different from Lin Chen's healthy white with a hint of blood; it looked like a sheet of paper soaked through with water.
He was quite handsome, with a pair of shallow dimples and eyes that had an indescribable pale blue hue, like the petals of the benevolent tree in the town that were about to fall.
She is beautiful, but her chest is still flat. By the standards that the masters privately use to measure "potential," she is considered "promising for the future."
Lin Chen is rather superficial; he only looks at a woman's breasts.
"Come here, all of you!" Lin Kaidong's voice boomed, his eyes gleaming with an almost boastful smugness, as if this wasn't a task assigned by a superior, but rather trophies he had hunted with his own skills.
"Tang Yuwei, the college graduate who just joined the bureau, will be working in our station from now on!"
"Hello everyone." Tang Yuwei's voice was soft and slightly shy, though it was quite pleasant to hear.
Almost every year a college student comes, but they leave faster than anyone else, and this one will probably be no exception.
Monkey (Liu Shenghui) was the first to jump up, his eyes shining: "Oh my Linsuo! Our monastery of Balusuo has finally got a woman! Congratulations, congratulations!"
Since Sister Ying retired two years ago, this water supply station has become a fermentation tank of male hormones, resulting in a serious imbalance of yin and yang.
Chen Jiasheng (the "butthole") grinned from the side, his gaze sweeping over Tang Yuwei several times without any attempt to hide it: "That's right! And this woman is really something, Chief, you really have... hehe, good taste!"
Lin Kaidong laughed and playfully kicked, "Get lost! You two damn dogs, you can't even walk past a female, can you? Your little thing in your crotch can't even hold it in, huh?"
He turned his head, adopting a serious tone as if assigning tasks: "Yuwei, from now on you'll be working under our class monitor, Lin Chen. He's a college graduate, very capable. Learn from him, you won't regret it. Lin Chen! Mentor the newbie!"
"Oh." Lin Chen didn't even look up, his fingers flying across the keyboard, just like every year, nothing new.
Moreover, Lin Chen doesn't want women right now.
After that heartfelt relationship that ultimately failed due to reality, he finally realized: poor people don't deserve love.
No matter how handsome you are, you can't fill your stomach in reality.
Tang Yuwei looked in the direction of the sound and saw Lin Chen.
Her pale blue eyes slowly focused, as if she had discovered something unexpected. A strange look flashed across her eyes, and a thin blush quietly crept onto her originally pale cheeks.
She was secretly surprised: this small Baru Institute actually had such a distinguished and handsome person in it. Although she had heard that Baru Institute's squad leader was an absolute heartthrob, she really didn't expect him to be this handsome.
After uttering a few brief, meaningless words, Director Lin Kaidong retreated back to his private office.
The experienced workers resumed their tea-drinking and boasting, while Lin Chen continued to struggle with the spreadsheets and the system. The crappy computer was incredibly slow; it took five seconds to open a single spreadsheet. Damn it.
Tang Yuwei stood there, unsure of where to go or what to do. After hesitating for a while, she walked over to Lin Chen and whispered that there was nothing she could do to help.
Newcomers should take initiative, as her father said.
Lin Chen looked up from behind the screen, sized her up, and asked, "Do you know how to make PowerPoint presentations on a computer?"
Tang Yuwei said earnestly, "I've never done it before, but I can learn."
"Why don't you familiarize yourself with it first?" Lin Chen nodded approvingly, and then... nothing more.
The tasks from above are being pushed so hard they're practically death knells. By the time this newbie starts learning from scratch, it'll be too late, and probably even spoiled.
"Everyone come here for a moment, put on your work clothes, we have a short meeting."
The director came out and said that when he came back, he would usually hold a meeting to talk about trivial things and show his authority.
The experienced workers muttered things like, "What kind of stupid meeting is this again?" and "They were just getting to the crucial point," but their bodies betrayed their intentions as they moved closer, symbolically putting on their reflective work jackets.
Lin Chen glanced at their shorts and slippers and didn't bother to argue. It was pointless; when taking photos for record-keeping, the camera would only focus on their upper bodies. They'd been doing it this way for years.
The meeting content was nothing more than the same old stuff: reading out documents from higher authorities, talking about safety in production, water fees, pipelines, and of course, chanting Xinhai Group's slogan: "Let the people all have access to safe drinking water."
Finally, the director mentioned that there were several users who had defaulted on their water bills this month, and demanded that Lin Chen and his team collect the bills this week, no matter what method they used. Lin Chen asked the workers for their reasons for defaulting on their water bills.
Rhino: "Wang the Scoundrel from Plum Blossom Village has lost his mind. He claims that the water we used last month was discolored and smelled bad, and that it made him sick. He refuses to pay the water bill and even wants us to compensate him. I'm at my wit's end."
Monkey: "Tang Dazui from Rose Village said our tap water poisoned his fish. That bastard said our water supplier tampered with it. He's a real troublemaker. I'm not very capable, so I'll send some high-level experts to collect it."
Pheasant: "Liu Agou from Xinghua Village said his water meter is spinning fast. Damn it, I went to check it, and it's spinning like crazy. I think he needs to be taught a lesson. Anyway, if they don't cut off the water, I can't do anything about it."
Lin Chen listened expressionlessly. He knew that these veteran workers always liked to embellish their stories. Much of what they said was true, yet also false. If it were a few years earlier, if someone didn't pay for water, the company could have simply cut off the water supply.
That won't work now. The company is now following the mass line, and its political stance is different. Anyway, the rule is that cutting off a resident's water supply requires the deputy director's approval.
That sounds good, but its implementation is another story.
Lin Kaidong: "Lin Chen, you have a lot of ideas. Why don't you take some time this afternoon to handle this?"
"Oh," Lin Chen replied. Paying for water is only natural.
Lin Chen had no reason to refuse.
Tang Yuwei sat up straight, took out her notebook, and listened attentively to the director, squad leader, and experienced workers.
Before coming, she prepared herself mentally, and her father also gave her a heads-up, saying that conditions in the township were harsh and the quality of people varied, so she should relax and integrate herself into the community.
Listening to the experienced workers and the director speak, every word they uttered was laced with profanity, which made her feel a tightness in her chest. Fortunately, Squad Leader Lin was unlike them; not only did he speak politely, but he was also handsome...
As the meeting drew to a close and everyone was about to disperse, Lin Chen spoke up calmly: "Wait a minute, let's take a group photo. The higher-ups need to inspect it, and the materials are due this afternoon."
This is the norm now.
The teachers were very adept at this, quickly stubbed out their cigarettes, and like puppets, swiftly arranged themselves into neat rows at the back of the meeting room, their faces instantly displaying standardized smiles.
"Lin Chen, Elephant is on annual leave and not here. Is this okay?" Lin Kaidong asked.
Lin Chen, without looking up, held the camera and said, "It's okay, I'll go out and find a stranger to fill in. Anyway, the higher-ups only care about the number of people; whether they're familiar with the faces doesn't matter."
Lin Kaidong immediately beamed: "You really do have a way."
A short while later, Lin Chen pulled over an uncle selling sweet potatoes and corn from the street. The uncle was still wearing an apron and looked bewildered as he was placed in the middle of the second row. Lin Chen even put a work uniform on him.
"Uncle, smile naturally. You're a full-time employee of our company now."
The uncle laughed, a laugh more genuine than the veteran workers', as if he were truly an employee of the water supply station. Little did they know, he sold sweet potatoes at the entrance of the water supply station every day and envied the employees of the unit the most.
The shutter clicked repeatedly. Against the same background, with the same smiles, everyone kept changing positions under Lin Chen's direction, taking off and putting on their coats again and again, taking more than a dozen photos.
It covers all four seasons, and in just ten minutes, you can gather enough material for a whole year.
"Alright, let's call it a day."
After the filming was finished, the uncle seemed reluctant to leave, and Lin Chen saw him out.
The middle-aged man grinned and pulled Lin Chen along as if he were his son, saying, "You cultured people are really different. I really envy your jobs. I wish my son could be as successful as you."
Lin Chen didn't know if he was being sarcastic or praising, so he bought a few more sweet potatoes from him. When he came back, he saw Tang Yuwei standing in the corner, staring at him with wide eyes, so he handed her the sweet potatoes.
"Eat."
Tang Yuwei paused for a moment, then quickly accepted the gift, saying, "Thank you, class monitor."
Lunch was served at the institute. It was a large pot of rice, with only one dish: minced meat and tofu. We only saw tofu and no meat.
After lunch.
The director briefly explained things to Lin Chen and then drove out of the county town, saying there was a meeting in the afternoon. You don't know if he actually had a meeting, but he probably didn't; it's impossible for him to have meetings every five days of the week.
Others dared not ask, and Lin Chen would not ask either; he would only learn.
As soon as the foreman's car started running, the foremen all smiled knowingly. After watching the car drive away, they all reported to Lin Chen one after another that they were going out to "get to work".
The experienced workers at the water supply center are each responsible for a water tower and the business of several villages. Their work includes collecting water fees from users within this area, applying for water meter installation, and repairing pipeline malfunctions.
Lin Chen wouldn't ask any more questions. If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. They couldn't possibly be doing any real work. Most of them were probably just looking for a place to play mahjong or unclogging sewers for some woman.
As long as you can find someone when you need something, that's fine.
Lin Chen also had to ride his motorcycle out to collect water fees. The director had instructed that if the water fees weren't collected, the bureau required the water supply stations below to pay for them out of their own pockets first. Lin Chen had already paid over a thousand yuan for it.
These households that don't pay their water bills aren't doing it for the first time; they're mostly repeat offenders and notoriously difficult to deal with.
For example, Wang Biesan from Meihua Village, whose real name is Wang Guisheng, was charged 300 yuan per household for pipework fees when the village was to get running water. This pipework fee covered the water tower leading to the village, which was more than ten miles away.
Everyone else agreed, but he disagreed. When everyone else had their tap water connected, he started clamoring to have it connected again. The water supply company asked him to pay 300 yuan for the pipework, but he refused, saying that the pipework had already been laid and why should he have to pay for it?
He has explained all the reasons.
But if he doesn't pay, the other villagers won't let him get water; if they do, they cut off his water supply.
Later, this guy started causing all sorts of trouble, even going so far as to the county government and the county company leaders.
Everyone tried to persuade him, but in the end they still got him hot water.
Now his mother isn't paying the water bill, it's really messed up.
When Tang Yuwei saw Lin Chen about to leave, she jumped up and said that the director had told her to follow him.
Lin Chen thought she was quite attractive, so he took her along.
It's so boring in rural towns.
Women are the best way to relieve fatigue, as the old masters say.
The country roads were rugged, with ups and downs and various cliffs. Lin Chen drove very fast, and Tang Yuwei was very nervous. At first, she grabbed the hems of his clothes, and then she hugged him tightly.
Lin Chen was unaware that the girl behind him had already gone through several world wars in her mind; he only felt that the temperature behind her was a bit scalding and the shape was very strange.
It should be an empty cup.