Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 843 - 844: 1960s Quadrangle Courtyard 92

Chapter 843: Chapter 844: 1960s Quadrangle Courtyard 92

Originally, she thought that although it was busy, there would be overtime pay when they handed out salaries. With the money in mind, she could persist.

But now she just found out, "Xiao Li, I only just realized there’s actually no overtime pay."

"Not a single penny for overtime." It’s outrageous, truly outrageous. The motivation for her to work so hard in overtime was the overtime pay.

And now they are telling her there’s no overtime pay, she really can’t stand it.

"Ah, no money?" Zhang Li is a child, how would she know about these things?

She only knew that Zhang Yu kept saying that with more overtime, there would be more income, and then they could eat something nice.

But now, there is no extra money to be had, which is quite shocking to the little girl, "Why is there no money?"

Zhang Yu sighed helplessly, "There’s no overtime pay, but there is compensatory leave."

But in her eyes, that’s just useless, "The thing with finance work is, it doesn’t matter if you take time off, because the work is still yours."

"When you come back to work, you still have to continue doing it."

"All sorts of overtime work, so tell me, is there any point to it?"

Although the people nowadays are quite enthusiastic, thinking it’s trust from the leaders, they just work overtime without question. But for Zhang Yu, she’d rather lie at home.

"Forget it, let’s not talk about it, it’s because we have no experience." Zhang Yu said with a broad gesture, signaling to move past this issue.

"Think about where we should go this weekend." Since it’s about taking the little girl out for fun, of course they should choose somewhere a young girl would enjoy.

"Let’s go to Beihai Park." Where else would they consider going? No thought necessary, Zhang Li directly mentioned her preference.

"Alright, then let’s head there." Zhang Yu didn’t care; after all, they could visit many places in the future.

"We’ll dine out when the time comes." If they’re already out having fun, they might as well improve their meals, and at the same time broaden the little girl’s outlook.

Don’t let some man, who pops up from who knows where, deceive her just because of some small favors or little kindness.

With another outing and dining out, Zhang Li becomes anxious, "Sister, let’s not dine out, it’s expensive."

"No worries, our family has money." Zhang Yu insists that money that needs to be spent should be spent, "Dad always says, you have to travel around and see the world to realize how insignificant you are."

"Your sister, I don’t have the ability to take you to see the world outside, but to show you around the sights of Capital City is doable."

"Your sister, I can’t afford to take you out for fancy meals often, but taking you out weekly to slightly improve our diet is possible."

"It’s still okay to treat you to a meat-stuffed bun or some dumplings."

The thought of taking the child out for a grand meal has Zhang Yu expressing with a bitter smile that it’s also challenging.

At the mention of such meals, Zhang Li breathes a sigh of relief, "That’s good, I was worried you would do like last time."

Zhang Li doesn’t object to dining out, but the last time she went to a restaurant, the major order of dishes made her faint with shock.

"About the meal last time." Zhang Yu finally understands why Zhang Li is so anxious.

"Little sis, you really think too highly of your sister." Zhang Yu exclaimed.

"I would like to treat you like that, but your sister is really strapped for cash."

"We’ll eat something nice during the holidays." The holidays in 62 didn’t seem promising, and even with the steel mill’s good benefits, they couldn’t expect too much. They could only hope for a better 63 holiday season.

No, the good welfare at the steel mill is very likely related to Deputy Director Li being in charge of logistics; he is very capable in this regard.

But now he’s been incarcerated, just waiting to eat peanuts.

Such a capable person has been taken away; who knows whether the future logistics director or deputy director will be as effective, able to secure more resources.

Zhang Li licked her lips, recalling the New Year’s gifts Zhang Hao brought home every year, "During the New Year, the factory would distribute meat."

Through the original owner’s memories, Zhang Yu remembered the Spring Festival of ’62, when resources were scarce, and each worker was given half a pound of meat.

This had caused much envy, jealousy, and resentment among many surrounding factories. It was already good enough to get food-related items for the Spring Festival, but the steel rolling mill even distributed meat, a sure cause of envy.

"As for this year," Zhang Yu expressed with a bitter tone, "what we’ll get for the Spring Festival is an unknown."

"There’s been a big reshuffle in the factory leadership."

"We don’t even know who the new leader is, let alone how capable they are."

The factory had just gone through a major overhaul, and nobody knew what the future held – not Zhang Yu, nor many of the middle and high-ranking leaders who weren’t involved in the changes; all had a look of bewilderment.

"Forget it, no matter who becomes the leader, life goes on as it always has." Zhang Yu decided to stop worrying about it.

The New Year’s gift might be meager, but if others could survive, so could she.

"I still need to find time to go fishing." Zhang Yu thought it over, uncertain if she would have the time, and besides, weren’t there already few people fishing?

Many people rely on fishing to improve their meals. As a newcomer who knows nothing about it, would she have any luck?

It’s not that there would be no fish to eat without going fishing. Zhang Yu thought of a good candidate.

Who to sell the fish to is not the question; Zhang Yu believed that as long as the price was right, Yan Fugui wouldn’t refuse.

Of course, if he asked for too high a price, she could choose not to accept it. It wouldn’t be a big deal if they couldn’t cooperate.

Thinking leads to action; that evening, Zhang Yu visited Yan Fugui, who was quite surprised to see her.

This woman was no idler; she would absolutely not socialize with anyone in the courtyard unless it was necessary.

Oh, except for He Yushui, the Zhang Sisters were quite kind to her.

Zhang Yu was a straightforward person and directly stated her intentions, "What do you think?"

Yan Fugui was astonished and looked at her incredulously, "How did you guess?"

All along, nobody in the courtyard knew, including the old fox Yi Zhonghai – so how did Zhang Yu find out?

Yan Fugui racked his brains, trying to figure out where he slipped up.

He had never met any acquaintances at the fishing spot and occasionally brought back a few small fish. You could say his preparation was well done.

"You’re a calculating person, and I work in finance." Some things are best left unsaid; Zhang Yu knew that Yan Fugui would understand what she meant.

Ah, Yan Fugui got it, "Alright, let’s cooperate, but I can’t ensure a catch every time."

"Now there are more people fishing." If he could always catch a lot, would he live such a hard life?

"Don’t worry, if you make a catch every day, I couldn’t afford it either." Actually, she certainly could, but if she did so, word would get out, right?

"There’s only so much meat, and we need meat coupons. Let’s eat fish, but the supply can’t keep up."

"Having fish once a week would improve our meals."

"I’ve been to Pigeon Market too, and there really isn’t much there."

"Now it’s just us two sisters at home. Of course, we need to eat and drink well to stay healthy, so our parents won’t worry."

Yan Fugui kept nodding, "Exactly, that’s the idea."

After some discussion, since one wanted money and the other fish, they quickly reached a mutual agreement.