Chapter Five Was Originally A Family

  The matter was settled satisfactorily, and Qin Hai and Ning Mo naturally wouldn't stay in Zhang Lao San's shop for long. Ning Mo forcibly stuffed three dollars into Zhang Lao San's hand, then pulled Qin Hai away with a flourish. Zhang Lao San chased after them, saying many words of gratitude to Qin Hai, and also invited him to come home for dinner when he had time, to which Qin Hai naturally gave a delightedly accepting response.

  "Qin Hai, where did you learn this move?" After leaving the blacksmith's shop, Ning Mo and others surrounded Qin Hai in the middle, asking him questions while walking forward.

  "This is all I learned in technical school." Qin Hai replied simply.

  "Hmm, having attended a technical school really makes a difference. Alas, my old man wanted me to go to one back then, why was I so unwilling to go?" Ning Mo said with a tone of regret.

  "Fatty, forget it. You can't even do multiplication and you think you can get into a technical school?" Yu Haitao bluntly exposed Ning Mo's boasting.

  "Right, you guys are all from the factory, aren't you? Which one?" Qin Hai asked them.

  "We're all Green Vanguards." replied Miao Kui, the short one.

  "Green Edge?" Qin Hai was taken aback, "Which Green Edge?"

  "Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, is there another Qingfeng in Pingyuan County?" Miao Lei said.

  "I sell cakes..." Qin Hai only felt that it was a ridiculous situation, after making a fuss for half a day, it turned out that these few people were his future colleagues. Fortunately, he didn't offend them by meddling in their business, otherwise it would be difficult to get along with them in the factory in the future.

  "It's really a big flood that has washed away the Dragon King Temple, it turns out you are all from Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, my dispatch certificate is also issued to Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, and we will be colleagues in the future." Qin Hai said.

  "Is that true?" Ning Mo stared with wide eyes, "That's great! I'm amazed, someone as capable as you, how did you end up in a broken-down factory like ours. Oh right, Yu girl, hurry up and help Qin Hai carry things, and Lui, are you blind."

  "Yu Niang..." Qin Hai looked at Yu Haitao, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't associate this tall and handsome young man with the word "girl".

  Ning Mo saw Qin Hai's confusion and laughed, saying: "The nickname Yu Niang was given to him by us when we were in elementary school. His surname is Yu, isn't it? At that time, we heard a story called 'The Fisherman and the Golden Fish'. In it, an old man would often go to the seaside and shout: 'Fish Girl, Fish Girl', so everyone looked at Yu Haitao."

  "It turned out to be this kind of allusion." Qin Hai laughed. Since they were colleagues, he didn't pretend anymore and handed over the canvas bag in his hand and the luggage on his back to Yu Haitao and Miao Kui. The Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory was a few miles away from the county town, and Ning Mo and others had all come by bicycle, so it was just right to load Qin Hai and his luggage together and head back to the factory.

  Along the way, several young people chatted and laughed, quickly becoming bosom friends. Ning Mo and his two companions were all simple-minded people, especially Ning Mo, who fully embodied the simplicity and kindness unique to a fat person, with whom Qin Hai could talk about anything. Although Qin Hai was a scientist in his previous life, he usually interacted with ordinary netizens and fellow travelers, so at this time, he blended in with Ning Mo and his friends without feeling any discomfort.

  Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory is located in the eastern suburbs of Pingyuan County, surrounded by a factory area. Between the factories are some farmland, and the rice is already near harvest time, with a golden hue that looks pleasing to the eye. Along the way, there are steel mills, coking plants, pesticide plants, fertilizer plants, and phosphate fertilizer plants, all of which are not large in scale, apparently they should be the results of the "five small industries" construction in the 1970s.

  As the enthusiastic and rigorous cultural person said before, after passing the gate of the pesticide factory, a group of people turned left and in front of them was a wide road leading to a fairly large factory area.

  "Qin Hai, look, this is our Qingfeng Factory." Ning Mo said, pointing to the factory area with his hand.

  Qin Hai looked up and saw a wall with stone ash spots, on top of which were inserted countless pieces of broken glass to prevent thieves from climbing over. Inside the wall, green trees shaded, and between the trees, high chimneys and water towers, as well as the high roofs of single-story factory buildings, could be seen. The main gate of the factory faced the road, and since it was just after National Day, a national flag was still inserted on the gate, giving it a festive look.

  "You need to report first, and then you can be assigned a dormitory. Today is Sunday, the office is not working. However, it doesn't matter, I'll let Miao Lei go find Xiao Du, Xiao Du is in charge of new employee registration." Ning Mo enthusiastically helped Qin Hai with the arrangements.

  "Going to find someone on Sunday is suitable?" Qin Haiyan said perfunctorily.

  Ning Mo waved his hand casually: "What's wrong with that? Xiao Du is close to us, just wait and see."

  Miao Ke rode his bike and sped away, not long after he came back with a slender and beautiful girl. According to Ning Mo's introduction, the girl was Xiao Du, whose full name was Du Xinxin, she was a typist in the office, also in charge of reception and some personnel work.

  "Are you here to report?" Little Du looked Qin Hai up and down, asking in a crisp voice.

  "Yes, I graduated from an agricultural machinery technical school and was assigned here. This is my assignment certificate." Qin Hai handed the certificate to Little Du and said.

  "Okay, come with me to handle the formalities." Xiao Du took over the dispatch certificate, turned around and walked into the small office building of the factory administration, Qin Hai hurriedly followed up, Ning Mo and others also followed behind, and entered the factory administrative office together.

  Xiao Du apparently was used to doing this kind of registration work, she took out various forms and pointed at Qin Hai to fill them in. Qin Hai desperately tried to recall all sorts of information about himself, trying his best to avoid making a mistake like filling in his education level as postdoctoral.

  "Alright, are the photos ready? Hand over two copies of your photo, they will be used for your work permit and resume." Little Du took the form and stretched out his hand to Qin Hai.

  Qin Hai rummaged through his bag and pulled out two one-inch photos. Seeing the image on the photo that was completely different from his previous life, he was slightly stunned for a moment.

  "What's wrong?" Little Du asked curiously.

  "Uh...... Look, this is a picture of me, right?" Qin Hai said foolishly.

  "Of course it's yours!" Little Du snatched the photo away with a bad temper, please, if you want to hit on me, can't you come up with a more normal reason? You can't even recognize your own photo, who would believe that?

  I've grown up like this... Qin Hai muttered to himself in his heart, and unconsciously said out loud: "So delicate..."

  The speaker was unintentional, but the little Du who was standing opposite Qin Hai suddenly blushed. He said I look delicate... Hmm, this new vocational school student also looks quite handsome...

  The little girl was infatuated, and her expression immediately became radiant. She brushed glue on the back of a photo and stuck it to Qin Hai's work permit, then handed it to him with both hands: "This is your work permit, take good care of it, losing it will cost you money."

  "Thank you, Xinxin." Qin Hai said with a smile.

  "Hehe, thank you Xinxin." Ning Mo imitated Qin Hai's tone and manner. At that time, people didn't understand romance yet, so directly calling a girl by her name was considered very strange behavior. Qin Hai called Little Du in such a familiar way, which naturally made Ning Mo and the other hormonal young people curious, with eyes full of teasing glint.

  "Fatty, you're going to die!" Little Du was called "Xin Xin" by Qin Hai, and his heart was filled with joy, but he didn't dare show it on his face. He turned to Ning Mo and scolded him severely: "Who allowed you to smoke in the office? You got ash all over the floor! Tomorrow when Director Zhai comes to work, he'll scold me again!"

  "Hey, don't be so fierce, Xin Xin." Ning Mo chuckled and quickly swept the cigarette ash into a nearby trash can, saying: "If Di Jian Gu dares to scold you, just say that I was the one who swept this ash. Let him come find me if he has the guts!"

  After completing the registration formalities, Ning Mo and others took Qin Hai to the family area to find Chen Rongkun, the old administrative director, to arrange for his accommodation. Chen Rongkun was a thin man in his 50s, who, upon seeing Qin Hai, said a few insincere words of welcome with a fake smile, then found a key from some unknown drawer at home and handed it over to Qin Hai, saying:

  "You can live in the single dormitory for now, and come to the administrative department tomorrow to complete the formalities. This is the key to room 208, where Little Li used to live before being transferred away. There's a bed and furniture in the room, but you might need to clean it up yourselves. By the way, Fatso, can you guys help Xiao Qin tidy up?"

  Ning Mo nodded and said: "Old Chen, you can rest assured, Qin Hai is my brother, I will take care of him."

  "You dead fat boy, Uncle doesn't even know what to say, aren't you afraid I'll tell your dad tomorrow?" Chen Rongkun scolded with feigned anger.

  "Haha, on the day I started working, my dad said that I'm already able to support myself, so from now on it's okay to call him 'Dad', or 'Comrade Ning Zhongying'." Ning said proudly to Chen Rongkun.

  Chen Rongkun smiled and said, "Fatty, if you dare to call your dad 'Comrade Ning Zhongying' face-to-face, from then on you can call me Little Chen, I absolutely won't get angry."

  "Uh... forget it." Ning fell silent, like a deflated balloon, and softened up. "After the old man stepped down, his temper got worse, especially when he sees me, nothing is to his liking. I don't even dare go home now, let alone joke around with him."

  "I told you so!" Chen Rongkun said, "Alright, stop messing around, take Xiao Qin to the singles' dormitory to settle in. It's almost time for dinner, and since the administration department is not working today, we can't buy meal tickets either. You guys share some meal tickets with Xiao Qin, got it?"

  "Don't worry, Director Chen, we won't let our brothers go hungry." Ning Mo smiled and bid farewell to Chen Rongkun, then put his arm around Qin Hai's shoulder and led him towards the bachelor building.