Start to adjust the Siheyuan from Brickpai Yizhonghai

Chapter 39: Dare not use secret weapons

"What is that? Is it powerful?"

Wang Gensheng shook his head helplessly and said, "It's not very impressive. It's just a very simple tool. I can't say it's impressive. During the lunch break, I'll see if I can make one myself. I'll know when I try it."

After working for a while, Wang Gensheng finally understood why He Yuzhu said that their work was easy?

It's really different from the introverted office workers in the modern world!

From nine o'clock in the morning until 11:, Dahei and another person were painting the wall slowly. Wang Gensheng wanted to go forward to help, but neither of them wanted to help.

The three of them kept persuading him, "You really don't need to help. Team Leader Wang, just take a rest under the shade of the tree. We will finish the job soon."

After the two people finished painting once, they waited for it to dry and then painted it with white powder again to avoid missing any spots.

Wang Gensheng and Xiao Yang just sat on the stools from beginning to end, watching the two grown men slacking off.

Wang Gensheng was made to feel embarrassed several times. Doing this job, he felt that the salary he was getting was too high and he felt a little uneasy.

After they finished painting the wall, Dahei and the other man felt embarrassed.

This work is indeed quite slow. Looking at the sun, it is almost time for lunch.

Dahei said a little embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Team Leader Wang, we worked a little slowly today and delayed you for half an hour."

"Why don't you come over in the afternoon after dinner to write the big characters. You can write the big characters on this wall first, and we will paint the other wall. It will be faster and won't delay your writing in the afternoon."

Wang Gensheng scratched his head in embarrassment: "Isn't it just writing a few big characters? I think it should be in time before dinner."

He moved the stool under his buttocks to the bottom of the wall, and Wang and Sheng stood in front.

Xiao Yang followed behind him, holding the red paint bucket in both hands, and lowered his head to prevent the paint from dripping onto his face, which could not be easily washed off.

With the brush covered in red paint, Wang Gensheng began to write on the wall, creating a dazzling array of flourishes and flutters of calligraphy.

"Eliminating bandits and spies is everyone's responsibility."

It took only about 8 minutes to write these eight characters. In addition, these people put away their things and walked to the restaurant together, so they didn't even waste time on the journey.

It was his first day at work and Wang Gensheng didn't dare to express himself freely because of the strict artistic font style.

On the way to dinner, several people still had a look of disbelief on their faces. You know, these words are very difficult to write in their eyes, especially the first four.

The leader of the other group was also the one who was unwilling to write the characters, so he gave them to the newcomer Wang Gensheng to write. However, Wang Gensheng directly took the brush and wrote the big characters on the wall. It took him only ten minutes to finish writing all eight big characters.

Everyone looked at Wang Gensheng with admiration, making him feel embarrassed.

Xiao Yang then told him the reason: "Our previous team leader would first use a charcoal pencil to draw the outline of the words on the wall, then write it again with a brush, then paint upwards, and finally outline it."

It takes about an hour to write this wall, and at least half an hour at best, unless the words are very simple, then it will be faster."

"The team leader once said: 'Writing big characters is a craft. If you make a mistake, you won't have the chance to correct it. The paint you apply can't be wiped off.'"

Wang Gensheng felt ashamed for what he said. Could there be any typos in this big-character poster?

Mysterious operation, so hard to understand!

What the team leader said was indeed not wrong. The educated people of that era were very frugal with paper and used pens with care. The number of words written by a primary school student in a year might not be as many as what a modern primary school student writes in a month.

We are also a generation that is transitioning from traditional Chinese characters to simplified Chinese characters. There are many characters that we may not be able to write fluently, so it is not surprising that we make some mistakes.

For example, the character “亻头” was pronounced “shi” and later written as “使”.

When going to the cafeteria to get food, He Yuzhu paid special attention to Wang Gensheng. By the time Wang Gensheng came forward, He Yuzhu had already got his food.

He handed the lunch box to Wang Gensheng and said, "I knew you would forget to bring your lunch box on your first day here. I have prepared it for you. Eat mine first. I made a special meal for you. Don't let anyone see."

Hearing this, Wang Gensheng scratched the back of his head unconsciously, thinking that he was being treated specially. He felt that this was pretty good. It seemed that he would have to take his lunch box and go out to eat in the future.

This lunch box was also issued by the factory. Before going out to work, Xiao Yang and the other three temporary workers all brought their lunch boxes with them, except Wang Gensheng.

Now I have to go back to the Propaganda Department to get my lunch box, which takes about 20 minutes, and there may not be any food when I get back.

Even if there is more, it will delay my lunch break after eating. After thinking about it, I decided not to make this extra trip.

When I opened the lunch box prepared by He Yuzhu, I found that the contents had indeed received special care.

I saw the boiled vegetables in other people's pots, and then looked at my own pot, which was just stir-fried vegetables with some minced meat here and there. It was a rare sight of meat!

If others see it, they will definitely be envious.

When eating, Wang Gensheng would deliberately hide from others and eat like a thief, for fear of being seen by others.

Nowadays, when working in a factory, the lunch break after meal is quite long.

This summer, from 12 noon to 2 pm, a full two hours, are for eating and resting.

After dinner, you can take a nap and have a good sleep.

In the afternoon, he sat under the shade of a tree, watching Dahei and another man painting the wall. Wang Gensheng found a bamboo tube and started making a roller for painting the wall.

The tool itself has a simple structure and does not require any technical difficulty, so a prototype was quickly made. Unfortunately, there was no fur to cover the outer skin.

I couldn't cut my clothes into strips and wrap them around the bamboo tube, so I had to find a piece of hemp rope and wrap it around the bamboo tube.

Poke the stick into the white powder bucket and dip it in the water, then roll it on the wall. One stroke leaves streaks of marks, which certainly don't look as even as using a fur roller brush, and its water retention capacity isn't as strong as a cotton roller.

The work efficiency has been improved a lot and it can be considered barely usable.

Even with such crude tools, nervous Xiao Yang and Da Hei still couldn't handle it.

Seeing that there was no one around, he hurriedly snatched the white powder roller away. Dahei and the other man used brute force to separate them, and then dug a hole to hide them.

Xiao Yang said with fear: "Team Leader Wang, we can't do this. You will ruin so many people's jobs!"

Wang Gensheng was completely confused and had no idea what this meant.

Xiao Yang once again explained it in simple terms:

"There are four groups in our Propaganda Department writing big-character posters, with a total of 18 people. On this day, we only painted eight walls."

"If we use tools like yours, it would only take one team to finish painting these eight walls! By then, the four of us would have ruined the jobs of 18 people. The other 14 people would have no food to eat. Will they let us off so easily?"

"In the past two years, every household has been starving. Aren't you just hoping to work as a temporary worker to earn a living? We're not only destroying the jobs of 14 people, but also the jobs of the families behind them. At least or people will go hungry!"

After Xiao Yang said this, Wang Gensheng realized the seriousness of the situation.

Although he was able to provide this highly efficient tool, the price he paid was that fifty or sixty people would go hungry.

After thinking about it, Wang Gensheng could only silently give up his original plan.

Now, he finally understood why Dahei and his friends always slacked off during work. It turned out that their purpose was just to work a few more days so that they could have food for their family.

Everyone eats from a common pot, and if you work less you'll at most be scolded. This way, the more people who can work, the longer the construction period can be delayed. Everyone has food to eat, and fewer people will go hungry.

I have to say, this is the sadness of the times.