Chapter 232: Su Lai Di Reports for Duty

Chapter 232: Su Lai Di Reports for Duty

Early the next morning, Su Zhaozhao took a day off and rode her bicycle, bringing the well-prepared Su Lai Di to the machinery factory.

At the factory gate, they encountered Wang Chunhua, who had arrived earlier than them.

"Sister Wang," Su Lai Di touched the hair at her temples that had been blown by the wind and greeted with a smile.

Wang Chunhua looked her up and down, nodding, "You look sharp! Keep this up every day at work, and the leaders will surely like it."

Su Lai Di nodded.

Su Zhaozhao locked her bicycle at the bike shed near the gate and asked Wang Chunhua, "Are you free this morning?"

"I'm free. When you go to the cafeteria later, I'll go with you. I know the people there well. I'll go over to say hello, so no one thinks our sister has no backing and tries to exclude her."

Even though temporary jobs in the machinery factory cafeteria don't require much skill, the position is quite good, especially during these tough times. While others might go hungry, the cafeteria staff won't. The higher-ups may not value this position highly, but those below would love to get their family members into the cafeteria.

Su Lai Di stepping in to take this temporary position would surely upset some people.

Wang Chunhua has some connections in the machinery factory. Everyone from top to bottom knows her husband is the regiment commissar (a high-ranking political officer in the military) of the military district, so they only try to curry favor with her and dare not offend her easily.

At the grassroots level in the machinery factory, this 'local powerhouse' is more useful than Su Zhaozhao, who is a relative from an outside unit.

Su Lai Di knew better and quickly thanked her, "Thank you, Sister Wang."

Wang Chunhua waved her hand, "No need to stand on ceremony, it's just a small matter."

Su Zhaozhao said, "Then I'll take her to the personnel department first."

Wang Chunhua nodded, "Go ahead, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Su Zhaozhao then took Su Lai Di to the personnel department. The finance department had already informed the personnel department, so Su Zhaozhao could go directly to handle the formalities.

At the personnel department, Su Zhaozhao ran into Lei Ming.

"Classmate Su!" Lei Ming was quite surprised to see her, "What brings you to the personnel department?"

Su Zhaozhao smiled, "Here to take care of some business."

Lei Ming glanced at Su Lai Di behind her, "Here to handle the onboarding, right?"

"Yes."

Lei Ming smiled, "Come with me, I'll handle it for her."

Su Zhaozhao raised an eyebrow, "Are you working in the personnel department now?"

"Yes, I was transferred to the machinery factory, but not in the personnel department, in the factory office (a key administrative department). I'm currently on rotation, and this week it's the personnel department. You know, working in the factory office, you need to get familiar with all departments."

Su Zhaozhao nodded. She had heard from Zhu Chunyan that Lei Ming's wife was the daughter of the deputy factory director.

The machinery factory is a large factory, and the position of deputy factory director is not low. If someone like Gu Heng, a regimental cadre, were to transfer to a local position without entering the system, they would likely be assigned to a factory like the machinery factory as a factory manager.

Working in the factory office has a promising future. It seems Lei Ming's father-in-law is grooming him as a successor.

With Lei Ming's help, the onboarding process was completed quickly. When filling in the contact person section, Su Zhaozhao gave her own name, listing their relationship as sisters.

Lei Ming wrote while saying, "Classmate Su, so this comrade is your sister."

Su Zhaozhao: "...She's my younger sister."

Lei Ming paused for a moment with the pen in his hand, feeling slightly awkward, but quickly recovered, "It must be because you look so young, Su Zhaozhao."

You sure know how to give a compliment, but you can't exactly say someone looks old.

Su Zhaozhao smiled, "Then I thank you for the compliment."

Lei Ming smiled, somewhat puzzled. How could Su Zhaozhao have a sister with such an old-fashioned name?

Suppressing his curiosity, he quickly finished signing.

"All set. Let's go, I'll take you to the cafeteria."

The three of them went downstairs, where Wang Chunhua greeted them.

Lei Ming knew Wang Chunhua. Having been at the machinery factory for a short time, he had met most of the staff in various departments. He also knew that Wang Chunhua was Zhu Chunyan's mother-in-law.

Wang Chunhua didn't know much about him, only that his family lived in the same compound as her in-laws.

"Auntie Wang, you're here too."

Wang Chunhua smiled, "Are you transferring to the personnel department now?"

"Yes, I'll be back in the factory office next week."

The group quickly arrived at the cafeteria.

This was a slow time at the cafeteria, just after breakfast and before preparing for lunch. Everyone was in no hurry, sitting in the hall chatting.

Seeing someone arrive, the master chef asked, "Isn't this Comrade Wang Chunhua from the Women's Federation? What brings you here at this time?"

Wang Chunhua said, "I'm here to accompany my sister to check in at your cafeteria."

The cafeteria staff immediately turned their attention to the Su sisters.

Su Zhaozhao didn't seem to fit the role, so after a quick glance, everyone turned their attention to Su Lai Di.

Lei Ming asked, "Is Manager Li here?"

The master chef pointed to the back, "He's in the office."

Lei Ming took Su Zhaozhao and Su Lai Di to the back office, while Wang Chunhua stayed in the front chatting with everyone.

By the time Su Zhaozhao and the others came out, everyone in the cafeteria knew that Su Lai Di had some serious connections.

"Everything taken care of?"

Su Zhaozhao nodded, "She'll start officially tomorrow."

Manager Li came out and introduced Su Lai Di to everyone, assigning a female colleague of similar age to show her around.

He then said to Su Lai Di, "When you come tomorrow, just look for her."

Su Lai Di nodded.

The female colleague seemed really nice and asked Su Lai Di with a smile, "Will you be staying in the dormitory?"

Su Lai Di shook her head, "I have a child to look after at home, so I can't stay in the dormitory."

"That's fine, I don't live in the dormitory either, just come a bit earlier in the morning. The canteen is great in every way, except that the working hours are too early..."

The two started chatting, while Su Zhaozhao was also talking with Manager Li on the side.

After they had chatted for a bit, the group left the canteen again.

Lei Ming said, "I'll head back to the office then." He then turned to Su Lai Di and said, "If you encounter any difficult issues in the canteen in the future, just come to the factory office to find me, and I'll handle it."

Su Lai Di nodded in thanks.

She knew that Mr. Lei was speaking to her this way out of respect for her sister; if it were someone else, he definitely wouldn't say these things.

After Lei Ming left, Wang Chunhua and Su Zhaozhao showed Su Lai Di around the factory to help her get familiar with the place.

They went back for lunch around noon, and in the afternoon, they went to the villages near the military base to look for a house.

Renting a house wasn't difficult, but finding a suitable one was, preferably a house with its own yard.

They didn't find a suitable house that day.

The next morning, early, Su Lai Di went to the factory with Wang Chunhua to start work.

Su Zhaozhao took Xiao Shu to school to enroll, and he became a new student in the second grade.

After work, since it was still early, Su Zhaozhao wasn't in a rush to start cooking and decided to check out houses in a different area first.