Back To The 80s-Chapter 30: Doubt_1

Early Monday morning, Gu Xiaodong sent Xiaobei off to work. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Gao Dailin’s company was located on the far east side of T City, and Xiaodong’s home was on the west side of the city. Though the city itself wasn’t large, the bus ride still took about forty minutes.

The company was situated inside a large courtyard, with three offices on the north and a string of warehouses on the east.

Xiaodong led Xiaobei into the middle office. Once inside, they discovered the office was divided into an outer and inner room. The inner room appeared to be the manager’s office, and three desks were placed against the wall in the outer room.

In front of one of the desks sat a woman in her thirties, with short, ear-length hair and round face. Her eyes were long and thin, slightly upturned at the ends. The corners of her mouth were also upturned, giving her a perpetual smiling appearance. Upon seeing Xiaodong and Xiaobei arrival, she stood up and said with a smile, "Mr. Gao has been waiting for you two in his office since early morning."

Xiaodong nodded and led Xiaobei into the inner room. They heard movement inside, and Gao Dailin was already standing up to greet them, "Mr. Gu, Xiaobei, I’ve been waiting for you two all morning." His smile was very warm.

Xiaodong politely shook hands with Gao Dailin, "From now on, Xiaobei will be under your care."

"Not at all, your sister is my sister, I definitely won’t let her be wronged here," replied Gao Dailin. Hearing this, Xiaobei rolled her eyes internally: I don’t need another brother.

After exchanging pleasantries, Gao Dailin turned serious, "Since Xiaobei is now an employee, let’s go by company rules. The monthly salary is forty-five yuan, with a day off every week. Lunch is provided."

Upon hearing this, Xiaobei thought that forty-five yuan wasn’t a low wage for the period, so she nodded in agreement. Gao Dailin then assigned her a seat next to the other woman and introduced them, "This is our accountant, Ling Yun. You can call her Sister Ling. Sister Ling, this is our new secretary. You two will need to get along well."

Ling Yun readily agreed, and beckoned Xiaobei to take a seat. Xiaodong, seeing that everything was settled, then excused himself and left. Gao Dailin turned around and returned to his inner office.

Xiaobei was quite fond of Ling Yun, as she had a comforting presence.

"Today is your first day, so feel free to take your time learning about our business. We mainly trade adult clothes with coastal cities and have a factory in the suburbs," Ling Yun explained.

Xiaobei was surprised. According to her, the coastal cities were far more developed than small T City in the Northwest. How could sending clothes from here to there be profitable?

However, Xiaobei didn’t say anything. Her previous working experience taught her it was better to listen and learn more before commenting.

A while later, Gao Dailin came out with a stack of documents, and handed them to Xiaobei, "You’ll be in charge of dealing with the business-related matters with the Commerce and Tax Bureau here. These are our current businesses and clothing brands. Some of them have not been registered, so you need to check with the Commerce Bureau from time to time."

"Understood," Xiaobei took the materials and sat down to examine them critically. Gao Dailin scanned the room, "Very good. If you have any questions, you can ask Ling Yun. I need to go check on our factory," he said, leaving the room.

From the documents, Xiaobei learned that Fuhai Group was not only in the clothing business but also in food processing. They produced malted milk, egg cakes, and canned food. However, the factory producing all these was in the suburbs of T City.

Ling Yun leaned in, "Is there anything you don’t understand? You look quite worried."

"I didn’t graduate from high school, and I’ve been staying at home and then got married. So, I have almost no work experience. I can recognize the words here, but I don’t really understand the rest," Xiaobei said half-jokingly.

"No worries, take your time. You can always ask me if you have questions," Ling Yun assured her with a chuckle.

At lunch, it was just Ling Yun, Zhang, an older man who was in charge of the warehouse, and Xiaobei. Ling Yun cooked the meal, with two combos of steamed buns and potato stew with meat.

Ling Yun laughed, "As a way to welcome you to the company, I bought meat out of my own pocket." Xiaobei enjoyed the lively atmosphere and cheerfully contributed, "Okay, when I get my salary, I’ll also buy meat for everyone."

The old man, Zhang, didn’t say anything, but just smiled heartily. Xiaobei found this work environment to be enjoyable.

After working for three or four days, there was not much to do apart from checking on brand registration progress with the Commerce Bureau and submitting invoices to the Tax Bureau.

On Thursday evening, Lu Zhanguo called Xiaodong’s house and told Xiaobei that he would come on Saturday and that they could go to see the house on Sunday. Xiaobei told him where she worked and asked him to pick her up directly after work.

This was the happiest news she received in the past few days. She informed Chen Qiumei at dinner time that she wouldn’t be home for dinner on Saturday nor sleep at home that night.

Chen Qiumei opened her mouth to say something but eventually didn’t. Even if she had objected, Xiaobei would not have listened.

On Saturday, Xiaobei was so excited that she kept checking the time. Ling Yun teased her, "You seem to have a date."

"Yes, my husband is coming to pick me up." Xiaobei saw no need to be embarrassed about this.

When it was almost time to leave work, Gao Dailin came back and asked Xiaobei to join him for dinner with some people from the Commerce Bureau.

Xiaobei was irritated. Both in her past and present life, she was not a fan of business drinking culture. "Mr. Gao, my husband will be here shortly. I won’t be able to join you," she said.

Gao Dailin paused for a moment, then quickly recovered and responded, "Alright then, Ling Yun, you can come with me."

As soon as she got off work, Xiaobei saw a military green Jeep right outside the gate. She ran over joyfully. With an unreadable expression, Gao Dailin watched Xiaobei’s back as she ran towards the car parked by the roadside.

Only after the car drove away, did Gao Dailin turn to Ling Yun, "Let’s go."

Being an excellent scout, Lu Zhanguo had noticed the sharp gaze from afar. However, he did not see the person behind it. As Xiaobei ran over and got into the car, her cheeks had turned slightly red from the haste.

"You could have walked slowly, why did you run?" Lu Zhanguo murmured.

"That way, I would have a few more minutes with you." Xiaobei replied cheerfully.

"You don’t make sense. What do you want for dinner?" Lu Zhanguo had gotten accustomed to her quirks.

"I know a place where they serve incredible lamb soup. Let’s go there. With a couple of baked buns on the side, it’s simply divine." Xiaobei was passionate about good food.

"Do you know what our company does? We wholesale clothing to coastal cities," Xiaobei told Lu Zhanguo as if it was a joke.

"What’s wrong with that?" Lu Zhanguo had no knowledge of business.

"The clothing industry in coastal cities is far more advanced than here. Shipping clothes such a long distance increases costs. It doesn’t make sense for them to ship the expensive goods from here rather than sourcing from nearby factories," Xiaobei explained to Lu Zhanguo.

"Wouldn’t the company lose money in that case?"

"Looking at the company’s account books, they’re not only not losing money but also making a profit, which I find strange," Xiaobei admitted.

Hearing this, Lu Zhanguo had some thoughts and decided to discuss it with Shen Heng.