Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 457 - 456: Responsibility and Sesame Candy

Chapter 457: Chapter 456: Responsibility and Sesame Candy

Chang Jinzhong arrived at the machinery factory at 6:30 this morning. He had tossed and turned last night, unable to sleep, with his mind fully occupied by that diminutive device not even half a meter big.

He one moment felt confident that Old Rongzi would handle it without a problem, and the next, he doubted the contraption just by looking at it—corn isn’t rice or wheat; can it really be so easy to thresh with a machine?

So, he came to the factory early in the morning, anxiously waiting.

In the meantime, he felt some resentment—why couldn’t the cafeteria just prepare some corn cobs? Then he would have known the outcome last night!

Chang Jinzhong wandered around the factory, irritable. Nothing looked right to him, and though he wanted to find fault, he felt unjustified in doing so. He swallowed his words and held it all in.

He had been wandering around for quite a while before he saw Rong Zhiguo, with a cigarette in his mouth, nonchalantly biking towards the workshop.

"Old Rongzi!"

Chang Jinzhong, as if finding his backbone, darted over and grabbed the front of Rong Zhiguo’s bicycle.

Rong Zhiguo looked at him impatiently: "What now? What’s the matter?"

"Sigh!" Chang Jinzhong let out a long sigh, then with furrowed brows asked, "Old Rongzi, do you think that threshing machine will actually work?"

Rong Zhiguo spat out a puff of smoke with contempt, brimming with confidence: "Have I ever botched a job?"

"That’s true, but, but..." Chang Jinzhong’s brows furrowed even tighter. He decided to speak frankly, "I pondered over this all last night. You said Xiao Lin is a girl from a major compound, different from us. If she insists on making this threshing machine work, the pressure on our end will be tremendous!"

Rong Zhiguo rolled his eyes: "Grow up."

"Don’t talk about whether I have guts or not, just tell me what to do about this!" Chang Jinzhong clung to Rong Zhiguo’s handlebars, not letting go, regretting terribly, "I should have made up an excuse to turn it down yesterday, isn’t this just asking for trouble..."

With a smack, Rong Zhiguo slapped Chang Jinzhong’s hand away. He stepped on the pedals forcefully, circumventing Chang Jinzhong and continuing towards the workshop.

Chang Jinzhong snapped back to reality, trotting after him: "Old Rongzi, don’t rush off, let’s discuss what to do..."

"What’s there to discuss?" Rong Zhiguo glanced at him, "You don’t need to bother about the workshop. Go back and consider where you’ll end up if you can’t carry on as factory director anymore."

Chang Jinzhong was like struck by lightning, frozen in place.

Rong Zhiguo ignored him and kept on his way.

Chang Jinzhong watched his back, opened his mouth, but no words came out.

After a while, he managed a bitter smile.

What was he worried about? The results of the threshing machine’s experiment... He had worried all night but were not all his thoughts about how to protect himself from being implicated if the task failed?

He felt a bit dizzy, unable to comprehend when exactly he had become so timid and afraid to take on even the slightest risk and responsibility.

Was it only after becoming the factory director? No, it was even earlier than that. From the moment he was promoted from a fitter to a workshop director, he dreaded anything being pinned on him.

What did he do back then? Fearing production issues, he arrived at the workshop an hour early every morning, only daring to start work after checking everything and was always the last one to leave, not daring to depart until he personally turned off the last light.

The leadership praised him for working with diligence and responsibility, and he was promoted all along the way.

They didn’t know that he was merely afraid of any problem occurring in the workshop, afraid of risks, and even more afraid of being held accountable.

In fact, when Minister Huang called him yesterday, his intentional difficulty towards Lin Nianhe to rush her to the factory within an hour, wasn’t it also because he wanted to shake off trouble, unwilling to take responsibility and risk?

But... that blueprint was drawn too well, making him forget he was the factory director at that moment. He seemed to return to his twenties, back when he was a fearless young fitter.

Chang Jinzhong stood still, grinning awkwardly, watching Rong Zhiguo’s receding figure with a smile more pained than crying.

"Speaking so light-heartedly... how can one simply let go that easily?"

Chang Jinzhong stood in place, feeling as if he had returned to over twenty years ago. Back then, neither he nor Rong Zhiguo had bicycles, trudging to and from work daily on foot. They always had endless tasks, always complaining about the dreadfully annoying work... But during those times, he was quite happy. When problems arose, the mentor had their backs, so even though they got scolded, they weren’t afraid of anything.

Now, no one scolds him, nor is there anyone to sort out issues for him.

He...

"Uncle Chang, have you eaten?"

The crisp feminine voice came from behind him, and as if waking from a dream, Chang Jinzhong turned to see Su Yuncheng and Lin Nianhe.

Lin Nianhe was holding a small packet of sesame candy in her hand. She reached out with the paper-wrapped packet and cheerfully said, "Uncle Chang, have a piece of candy."

Chang Jinzhong didn’t know what he was thinking, but he actually extended his hand and took a small piece of sesame candy and put it in his mouth.

"One of my students said, eating something sweet can make the sadness go away."

Chang Jinzhong trembled, subconsciously touching his face, feeling a cold wetness.

His old face blushed, awkwardly explaining, "I’m just getting on in years; a bit of wind causes my eyes to tear up."

Following his lead, Lin Nianhe expressed her concern, advising, "Then you must remember to use more eye drops; they can help relieve it."

"Alright, alright..."

The aroma of sesame and the sweetness of the candy mixed in his mouth, just like the sesame candy they used to buy with sugar tickets gathered over half a year, similarly packaged. Several young men would share it, some even generously giving away pieces despite their own cravings, distributing it to girls in the factory...

It had been nearly twenty years since he last tasted sesame candy.

Chang Jinzhong chewed the candy, suddenly missing those carefree days from his past enormously.

Of course, Lin Nianhe didn’t know what exactly he was reminiscing about, but she caught sight of the back of her newly accepted mentor.

So, it seems Uncle Chang might have been indiscriminately targeted by the mentor.

Comrade Xiao Lin, who believed that as a disciple one should resolve problems for their mentor, handed the remaining half packet of sesame candy to Chang Jinzhong, saying, "Uncle Chang, since you came to the factory so early, you mustn’t have eaten. Have a couple of candies to tide you over, don’t get hypoglycemic."

Chang Jinzhong held the paper bag, surprisingly in no rush to ask Lin Nianhe about the outcome.

He wasn’t in a hurry, but Lin Nianhe was anxious.

She didn’t have much time to stay in Beijing, and she needed to wrap this up as soon as possible, as well as pave the way for the future.

So she went ahead and disclosed the results to Chang Jinzhong: "Uncle Chang, after we returned last night, we conducted the experiment. It was successful, and we managed to husk the grain."

Chang Jinzhong: "Ah... What?"

He widened his eyes in astonishment, looking at Lin Nianhe, unable to believe his own ears.

Lin Nianhe nodded affirmatively: "We brought over some corn cobs, you can try it out for yourself."

Chang Jinzhong: "...!"

He had been worried all night, despondent all morning, but the result turned out to be so good?

He stared blankly at Lin Nianhe, his bitter smile deepening.

It turns out, responsibility isn’t as frightening as he thought.