Chapter 54: You Get Paid Little, So You Think You're Right?

A crowd of people had gathered near a lime kiln, waiting for Qin Jun. While unloading the kiln was simple enough, loading it was a different story entirely, leaving them no choice but to wait.

Without Qin Jun, the others simply couldn't handle the operation on their own.

Take right now, for instance. Even though Qin Han could already copy the general process, the bluestones and coal he arranged still presented problems. The stones were irregular, requiring subtle adjustments every time they were stacked alongside the coal.

Unfortunately, people nowadays lacked a certain flexibility of mind.

While Qin Jun wasn't a genuine genius, he was persistent and meticulous. That allowed him to learn quickly, yet he remained confined to blindly replicating Qin Jun's methods rather than adapting flexibly.

If they piled on an excessive amount of coal, the burning process would work regardless. However, not only would burning through so much coal be wasteful, but it would also needlessly prolong the firing time of a kiln, making the loss far greater than the gain.

Saving coal while successfully completing the firing task required a certain degree of technical skill. Yet, that very skill stumped quite a few people whose minds lacked adaptability.

After watching for a while and realizing Qin Jun was still falling short, Qin Jun had no choice but to step in personally.

It would still take some time before he could be fully relieved of these duties. But that day shouldn't be far off—perhaps in just a few days, he could be sipping tea, collecting a high salary, and watching others do the heavy lifting!

The thought gave Qin Jun an extra surge of motivation, leaving him feeling rather pleased with himself. After all, as a famous crosstalk comedian once put it, what is happiness? Happiness is when you are starving, and I am gnawing on a chicken drumstick without smacking my lips!

"Alright, I'll adjust this kiln. Qin Han, go load the next one."

Sensing that Qin Han was truly hopeless at this, Qin Jun wasn't annoyed; he could manage for a couple more days. Kiln firing wasn't actually difficult; the key was ensuring a thorough burn, saving coal wherever possible.

As he worked, Qin Jun pondered intently. Such a simple task—how could it be done faster and better? Ideally, everything should be standardized so that Qin Han could graduate from his apprenticeship at the very first opportunity.

The kid lacked flexibility, but his execution skills were top-notch. As long as he was given a specific standard to follow, he wouldn't mess up.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, by the time the final kiln was reached, the newly arrived workers were already panting with exhaustion.

"Take a short break!" Qin Jun frowned as he looked at the workers arranged in six teams.

There were eight teams in total, with two people per team, meaning sixteen people worked around a single kiln simultaneously to keep the pace brisk. While four teams unloaded, the other four reloaded.

They had twenty able-bodied laborers in total, but only sixteen could be deployed at the kiln face. The remaining two weren't left idle, however, as helpers were constantly needed for selling lime and gathering stones. Even with the buyers and sellers pitching in to help, it still tied up two hands from the kiln workshop.

Calculated that way, keeping twenty workers constantly busy was no light workload. Just like now—the front team unloading, immediately followed by the back team loading—they scarcely had a moment to rest.

He had initially worried that supporting so many people might cause the commune leaders to complain about overstaffing. But now? Once the leaders saw this, they would likely feel a pang of sympathy for these workers!

This level of physical labor meant a daily subsidy of ten cents was probably too little!

Directing the others left Qin Jun with enough mental bandwidth to let his mind wander. Yet, the supposedly easy job he had imagined was turning out to be far from effortless.

Busy all morning, starting from eight o'clock and stretching straight through to twelve noon, they finally finished filling the four kiln openings. By the time all of them were successfully ignited, it was already half-past twelve.

At that exact moment, the newly established makeshift mess hall had just finished preparing the meal.

A massive cauldron of steaming white steamed buns, alongside a huge pot of pork bone stewed with napa cabbage, immediately made Qin Jun's mouth water. Although Qin Jun had spent most of the morning simply giving orders, directing operations for over four hours was enough to build up a genuine appetite!

Snagging five buns, a large pork bone, and a bowl half-full of cabbage, Qin Jun immediately began to wolf down his food.

The buns were delicious—exceptionally fluffy, with an even better texture straight out of the steamer. Cold buns would leave him full after five, but these freshly steamed ones made him feel like he could polish off ten in one go.

Alas, he wasn't allowed to stuff himself to the brim, forcing him to slow down and savor each bite carefully. He would just have to use modern weight-loss strategies: chewing slowly enough to keep his stomach from feeling empty, which effectively amounted to being full!

Slowly munching away, Qin Jun stepped into an earth-sheltered dugout. While a bit dim, it provided excellent shelter from the wind.

Just as Qin Jun sat down, Qin Han squeezed inside as well.

Glancing up at him, Qin Jun felt a wave of dissatisfaction. Having been reborn, he was still destined to be one of the privileged elite? How tragic!

"You brat, take this seriously! You're already drawing a salary now; why can't you graduate from your apprenticeship yet?"

Qin Han replied unconcernedly, "I'm just an apprentice technician, only pulling twenty-seven yuan and fifty cents a month at the eighteenth grade!"

Qin Jun was speechless. Drawing a low salary gave him an excuse to slack off? Or was this fellow simply deciding to rot away? Either way, the kid wasn't going to be of much help anytime soon!

The prospect of dealing with such a frantic workload every single morning gave Qin Jun a headache. Since Qin Han was a lost cause in the short term, he would have to think of another way.

He recalled the five newcomers who had arrived today. They all seemed to be young men, lacking the disabilities of the three discharged veterans. On second thought, those five didn't look particularly cut out for heavy manual labor. Did they look like educated folks? Could they be junior high graduates?

At this stage in time, holding a junior high education level was no small feat. Surely, the commune only helped arrange work placements for those with slightly higher education.

Yet, the fact that five junior high graduates had been assigned to his tiny kiln workshop felt abnormal no matter how he looked at it.

After finishing the buns and cabbage in short order, leaving only a large pork bone behind, Qin Jun reset his mood to properly enjoy it. Gnawing on it bit by bit, chewing thoroughly, he relished every trace of flavor.

The large bone, stripped of most of its meat, glistened with oil and looked immensely appetizing. Furthermore, it was a fractured bone, exposing a finger-thick core of marrow—pure, concentrated fat.

The head chef, Qin Zhike, had thoroughly embraced Qin Jun's philosophy: making sure everyone had enough oily richness in their bellies. Choosing these bones had been the right call; while seemingly lacking in meat, they were rich in fat. Even the stewed cabbage tasted exceptionally good because of it.

They were cheap, came with a few scraps of meat, and still had some chewy connective tissue clinging to them. Qin Jun gnawed away with great satisfaction.

The only pity was the portion size—everyone only received half a leg bone.

Wiping his hands after finishing, Qin Jun let out a sigh. When would he ever achieve true freedom in bone-gnawing? It tasted wonderful, but it left him unsatisfied; there simply wasn't enough!

Qin Jun rolled his eyes. These items didn't require ration coupons, and the price was quite reasonable. Since he had money now, should he buy a few extra to let his family have a taste?

He had been hogging the best food for the past two days. Though he had invented plenty of excuses—such as being a growing boy, or being the second-youngest at home and needing extra nourishment—he was still, at heart, a filial child.

Having made up his mind, Qin Jun looked down at the bone he had just finished with newfound affection, feeling all the more justified in having eaten it.

Patting his belly with satisfaction, he slowly strolled out of the dugout.

A full meal demanded a proper afternoon nap. Ignoring Qin Han's expectant gaze, Qin Jun headed straight home. Work wouldn't resume until two in the afternoon, leaving him plenty of time to catch some shut-eye.

His house would naturally be empty at this hour. Over the past couple of days, his family hadn't slackened off in selling limestone, and this was typically when the whole household mobilized to quarry stones together.

Unbothered by his family's absence, Qin Jun stripped off his jacket, tossed it by the bedside, wrapped himself in the quilt, and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep.

At just fourteen years old, he was right in the middle of a growth spurt and naturally needed plenty of rest.

After an indeterminate amount of time, waking up from a hazy, restless sleep, Qin Jun opened his eyes. He checked the sky; it was still quite bright, meaning he hadn't slept too late. Unfortunately, judging time by daylight in broad daylight wasn't an exact science—proof that Qin Jun's cultivation in such skills was still lacking.

Feeling somewhat refreshed, Qin Jun got up, washed his face, and dug out his pneumatic air rifle, intending to take it along for patrol duty at the factory.

There was no way he would continue physical labor in the afternoon; after all, he was a technician. He retrieved the pellets he had polished the previous night—a full seventy or eighty of them, which should be more than enough for the afternoon.

Slung with his rifle, he strolled slowly through the village's narrow alleyways, which were completely deserted in the midday heat. Naturally, everyone was busy working.

Under normal circumstances, the villagers would be cooped up indoors to brave the winter cold. But the village's situation had changed; as long as one was willing to toil, money could be made. Who wouldn't put in an effort under such conditions?

Sure enough, upon arriving at the kiln workshop, people were already busy selling stones, wheeling them in cartload after cartload.

Each cart held five to six hundred catties, requiring someone to pull from the front just to get it moving—another grueling test of physical strength. Qin Jun could see the sheer exhaustion etched onto the men pulling the carts, yet every single one of them wore a smile.

They felt their harvest was substantial, and that harvest amounted to seventy or eighty cents!