Xie Changning slept until dawn.

When she woke up, she heard Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao talking about her.

"Changning doesn’t even snore usually. She must be truly exhausted this time."

"Sigh, aren’t foreign countries supposed to be so advanced? Then how did she get so worn out?"

The aunts’ hearts ached for Xie Changning, and they couldn’t help but talk amongst themselves.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened, and Xie Changning walked out, yawning. "Good morning, Aunts..." After a good night’s sleep, she finally felt her energy returning.

Otherwise, she would have still been truly sleepy and tired.

Traveling by boat really wasn’t for everyone. She felt like she was constantly drifting, so much so that she became dizzy and disoriented. Her whole team was in the same state.

Otherwise, her people wouldn’t still be so quiet. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

’They must all be at home, catching up on sleep, not awake yet.’

"Good morning. Breakfast is ready, come and eat," Aunt Wang said to Xie Changning, her face full of concern.

Xie Changning nodded and devoured three large steamed buns.

Stuffed, she sighed with contentment, "The food in our own country is still the best. I just can’t get used to foreign food..."

As she spoke, the aunts all smiled and shook their heads.

After resting for a bit, Xie Changning went to get the suitcase she had brought back. It was filled with toiletries and other things she had brought from abroad.

She organized them into four identical sets.

"I brought back some little foreign things for you aunts from my trip. I hope you don’t mind." As she spoke, Xie Changning took out some body wash, shampoo, and facial cleanser.

The aunts initially tried to refuse.

But they had never seen such foreign goods before. The packaging was especially beautiful (compared to things in China, the packaging was indeed much nicer), and their eyes were unconsciously drawn to the items in front of them.

"What’s this?"

Xu Xiumei pointed to the English words on the bottle and couldn’t help but ask.

’It looks so pretty!’

"This is shampoo, this is body wash, and this is facial cleanser, for washing your face," Xie Changning explained to the aunts.

Everyone’s set of gifts was identical; she showed no favoritism.

She handed the prepared sets to each of the aunts. "I specially lugged these all the way back from across the ocean for you. You can’t say no, or all my effort will have been for nothing."

"We all have a set, but what about you?"

Seeing that Xie Changning hadn’t kept one for herself, Liu Changyou frowned, wanting to give her own set back to her.

But then they heard Xie Changning say, "Oh, of course I have my own! I just couldn’t carry any more, so I left my things at the factory for now."

She hadn’t actually brought any back for herself. She was perfectly fine using simple soap.

The things she’d bought would later be sent to a nearby factory for research.

Of course, this was a work matter, and Xie Changning had no intention of discussing it with the aunts.

"Aunts, please make yourselves at home for a bit. I’m going to head to the guesthouse. The translator and the lawyer are still there, so I need to go check on them."

"Alright, go on!"

Only after Xie Changning had left did the aunts, a little sheepishly, pick up their respective gifts.

It was obvious that they all loved them.

Who doesn’t like things with pretty packaging?

"That child, Changning, really. Going abroad is one thing, but why did she have to bring us things?" Xu Xiumei said with a smile as she carried her gifts home.

Liu Changyou grinned. "Well, I really like it. I’m going to put it away safely."

Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao, for their part, had already tucked their gifts away in their rooms.

"Anything Changning brings back must be good."

-

When Xie Changning arrived at the guesthouse, the lawyer and the translator weren’t up yet, so she asked the guesthouse staff to prepare breakfast for them.

When the two came downstairs, they saw Xie Changning sitting in the lobby.

"Mr. Xie, why didn’t you call for us when you arrived?"

"I saw how tired you were, so I wanted to let you sleep in a little longer," Xie Changning told them. Seeing that they both looked well-rested, she gestured for them to sit.

"I’ve had the guesthouse prepare breakfast for you. Go ahead and eat first."

"Alright!"

The two had become quite familiar with Xie Changning recently, so they didn’t stand on ceremony with her.

After they finished breakfast, they told Xie Changning they wanted to see her factory, and she didn’t refuse.

On the way to the factory, Xie Changning suddenly thought about her factory’s expansion.

She turned to the translator. "I might need a translator with excellent English. Do you have anyone to recommend?" ’This one is quite good,’ she thought.

Unfortunately, translators at this time were state-assigned, and it was rare for a factory to have one on staff.

But Xie Changning wanted to employ one of her own.

As for the lawyer, Xie Changning also extended an invitation, asking him to become the factory’s legal consultant. The lawyer hadn’t expected that this one trip would land him an iron rice bowl.

In the end, both the translator and the lawyer decided to stay and work at Xie Changning’s factory.

Xie Changning was naturally delighted that they weren’t leaving. She told them to go back to Chuncheng to arrange their affairs, after which they could report for duty in Anong County.

Xie Changning specially arranged for a small courtyard house to be cleaned up for the two of them to live in.

Having recruited two great talents, Xie Changning was in a particularly good mood all day. After they toured the factory, she had a driver take them back to Chuncheng.

The driver was very obedient. After the two had left, Cheng Jinghao and the others finally showed up at the factory.

They sheepishly explained themselves to Xie Changning.

They were too tired and had accidentally overslept.

"Did you forget you have the day off today? You don’t have to work."

"..." ’We really did forget!’

Once they remembered they didn’t have to work, their spirits lifted, and they began to wander around the factory.

They hadn’t had time to stroll around before, and now that they did, they realized their factory had changed quite a bit.

Many of the machines had been replaced or directly modified. All the assembly lines were now dedicated to producing printer-related components, no longer making other types of products.

Everyone marveled as they walked.

Finally, they went to the new factory building together.

Xie Changning went along too. She hadn’t been here since the last hiring round and didn’t know what it was like now.

The new factory building was spacious and bright, and everyone was very envious. "Sigh... If the old site wasn’t closer to home, I’d want to do my experiments here." ’It’s a waste not to use such a beautiful workshop for experiments.’

Xie Changning listened to their discussion and shook her head with a helpless smile.

She looked around and confirmed that the workers were all at their stations for training, working in an orderly manner. There was no sign of anyone slacking off, and only then did she nod in satisfaction.

The security guards were also good, very dedicated and responsible.

’Everything is developing in the right direction. This is wonderful...’

’I think,’ she thought, ’it’s time to put my water heater on the agenda!’

"Director, I wanted to ask, what will these production lines be used for later?" ’They look so advanced, the output must be huge!’

"To make the new printers, of course."