The next day, Yuan Chun took the procedures for transferring her household registration to the personnel department and registered her household under the steel factory’s name, then went to the cafeteria to report.
Yuan Chun’s job was simple—just washing and chopping vegetables.
The steel factory had three cafeterias, each serving thousands of people, requiring a terrifying amount of food, with hundreds of pounds of potatoes alone.
On her first day of work, Yuan Chun washed and sliced potato chips all morning.
Luckily, people in this era didn’t peel potatoes, or just this one dish would have overwhelmed the cafeteria staff.
In the afternoon, Yuan Chun spent the whole time washing and chopping chili slices. Her hands touched so many chilies for the first time, making all ten fingers feel prickly and uncomfortable.
Sister Liu from the kitchen told her, "You’ll get used to it the more you handle chilies. The first time we cut chili slices, it stung a lot too. If you don’t want your hands to suffer, find some connections and buy a pair of those white rubber gloves from the hospital, wear them to work, and you’ll feel more comfortable."
Yuan Chun had disposable rubber gloves.
She bought them when she worked as a doctor in her previous small world.
Yuan Chun laughed, "Ms. Liu, I happen to have rubber gloves at home. Tomorrow I’ll bring two pairs and give one to Ms. Liu."
Ms. Liu was just giving a reminder and ended up getting a free pair of rubber gloves, feeling delighted, "You clever girl."
Yuan Chun chuckled, "If there’s anything else, I hope Ms. Liu will continue to advise me."
With the perk received, Ms. Liu didn’t hold back and during lunch, she intentionally sat next to Yuan Chun, enthusiastically telling her, "I’ll tell you, working as a helper in the cafeteria might seem easy, but even in washing and chopping vegetables, there are many small techniques that make your work much more efficient..."
The only benefit for cafeteria workers is being able to serve their own meals first. If you like meat, you can pick more pieces without anyone saying anything.
Leftover food from the cafeteria is also shared among the workers, who take it home to eat.
On the first day, Yuan Chun finished work and was given a box of stir-fried chili slices and dried tofu. The chef’s skills were excellent, but Yuan Chun was used to delicacies and didn’t like the taste of the big pot dishes.
Returning home, she saw the little silly boy sitting at her doorstep, looking pitifully towards the stairway.
His look was reminiscent of a longing statue.
Yuan Chun said, "Sanbao, why are you sitting at my doorstep? Why didn’t you go find little friends to play Eagle Catching Chickens?"
The obedient Sanbao stood up, moved the small stool aside, and answered her, "Sister Yuan Chun, you’re off work, I’m watching the house for you."
"My door has a lock. Who can come and move my house away? From now on, you’re not allowed to sit here watching the house, go find friends to play with."
Sitting alone here, looking so pitiful, made her heart ache.
The little silly boy shook his head, "I want to wait for Sister Yuan Chun to get off work and come back. I don’t like playing Eagle Catching Chickens with little friends anymore; they can’t win against me each time."
"Have you eaten?"
The little silly boy shook his head pitifully, "My grandma is sick, my mom has to stay in the hospital to take care of her, not home, and my brother and sister-in-law haven’t finished work."
Yuan Chun opened the door, entered the room, put the food box on the table, and said, "You didn’t go home, did you? I’ve finished work, and the factory workers have long finished."
"Perfect timing, I brought back a box of stir-fried chili strips and dried tofu, along with some scallion rolls. Eat them all and then go home."