My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 39: New Coworkers

“I’ve been there, so today I’ll share some insights with you guys. When choosing a wife, you can’t just look at her looks—you have to consider her character too. Beauty really can’t put food on the table; being a good wife is more important than being pretty. You’ll understand that later on.” Xu Dong had seen too many marriages fall apart in his past life, which is why he spoke from the heart. Xiao Wang smiled wryly: “We’re not expecting a beautiful wife—the problem is, we can’t even find an average one. The three of us have no house and no car, and we don’t know when we’ll ever be able to get married.” “What’s the rush, young men? At worst, you’ll just have to wait a couple more years. You’ll get your bread, and you’ll get your wives, too.” Xu Dong wasn’t just talking nonsense. By next year, the situation around Daxia would rapidly deteriorate, and by then, there would be plenty of women crying and begging to marry into Daxia. Although life in Daxia wasn’t exactly great, at least people had enough to eat. Whether they could make it through depended entirely on personal effort and luck. Someone like Xu Dong—who’s willing to work his butt off and is in good physical shape—can usually get through the toughest first few years. Xiao Wang shook his head to himself. “You’re not a single guy, so how could you possibly understand the hardships of being single? The way rich people think really is very different from ours.” The morning slipped by as the four of them chatted and joked around, and before long, it was time for lunch. Xiao Wang spoke up: “Brother Xu, you guys go ahead and eat. I’ll stay here and mind the place.” “Sure, we’ll come back and relieve you once we’re done eating,” Xu Dong nodded. Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huang led Xu Dong to the Company cafeteria. Xiao Cheng pointed toward the entrance and said, “Brother Xu, the cafeteria’s right up ahead. You should go in now!” “Aren’t you guys coming with me?” Xu Dong asked in surprise. Xiao Cheng shook his head and explained, “Our meals are outsourced—they’re served in the small cafeteria next door. The meal standards are different on each side.” Xu Dong was at a loss for words. “Equal pay for equal work” was one thing, but not even being able to eat together was another. “All right then. You guys go ahead and eat. Don’t wait for me later—I need to go back to my office to grab a few things.” “Got it.” Xu Dong sighed and walked into the Company cafeteria. It was quite spacious, roughly similar to a college cafeteria, and there were already quite a few employees eating inside. You need a meal card to eat in the cafeteria. When Xu Dong went through his onboarding procedures earlier, he had loaded 2,000 yuan directly onto his meal card. At the time, Section Chief Li had even remarked that the money would be enough to feed him for a whole year. In fact, the Power Company provided a meal allowance, though it was included in his salary. Even a newcomer like Xu Dong received a monthly meal allowance of nearly 2,000 yuan. No wonder everyone flocks to these giant state-owned enterprises—the benefits are simply too good. After picking up his tray, Xu Dong didn’t serve himself right away; instead, he walked around and took a look at each food station. Overall, the quality of the food was quite good. Even under the current circumstances, there were plenty of meat dishes available, though most of them were fish. The selection of seafood, in particular, was quite diverse. “A serving of large shrimp, a serving of braised fish, a serving of shredded pork with green peppers, and then…” Xu Dong began ordering, but before he could finish, the woman serving the food stopped him and pointed to a notice posted nearby: “Limit of two meat dishes per person!” Xu Dong couldn’t help but blush; he quickly explained that he was a new employee, then took the first two dishes and finally added a serving of cold cucumber salad. As for rice and soup, they were provided free of charge. This was Xu Dong’s first lunch at the Company; it cost him a total of 12 yuan—quite a bargain. When Section Chief Li saw Xu Dong walking by with his tray, he quickly waved him over: “Xu, over here!” Hearing this, Xu Dong scurried over and sat down next to Section Chief Li. Section Chief Li swallowed his last bite of rice, lifted his bowl to take a sip of soup, and then asked, “So, how are you settling in at Beimen?” “I’m getting used to it. Wang and the others are all pretty nice.” “Good to hear. Don’t rush back to Beimen after you finish eating—stop by the office first. Everyone’s heard we have a new colleague and wants to meet you,” Section Chief Li instructed. “Got it. I’ll head over in a bit,” Xu Dong said, shoveling a mouthful of rice into his mouth. Section Chief Li wiped his mouth with a napkin, stood up, and said, “Take your time eating. I’m heading back first.” “Uncle Li, wait a minute,” Xu Dong suddenly said. “What is it?” “Hehe, Uncle Li, don’t leave just yet after work—I’ve prepared a little something for you,” Xu Dong said quietly. “That’s out of the question. The Company strictly prohibits gift-giving—don’t make me break the rules,” Section Chief Li said, feigning anger in a very low voice. Xu Dong hurriedly explained, “It’s not a gift—just a little local specialty. It’s not worth much. Look, I’ve already brought it here; you can’t very well make me take it back, can you?” Section Chief Li cleared his throat lightly and said sternly, “I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t make it a habit.” “Got it. I’ll come see you in your office after work.” After lunch, Xu Dong headed straight for the office. The permanent staff had a shared office of about 50 square meters next to the monitoring room, and Xu Dong, of course, had been assigned a desk there. No sooner had he stepped into the office than he was surrounded by three female coworkers. “You must be Xu Dong, right?” Xu Dong nodded. “That Mercedes in the parking lot is yours, right?” “That’s right, it’s mine. I just bought it last year,” Xu Dong replied casually. “If you’re so rich, why are you working as a security guard?” one of the young female coworkers asked on the spot. Xu Dong gave an awkward smile; this was a tough question to answer. Fortunately, Section Chief Li heard the commotion and happened to come out just in time to save him from the awkward situation. “Xiang Xin, what are you doing? Don’t pick on our new colleague.” Xiang Xin immediately calmed down, and Xu Dong quickly shot Section Chief Li a grateful glance. Section Chief Li gathered everyone together, patted Xu Dong on the shoulder, and introduced him: “This is our new colleague, Xu Dong. He’s currently serving as deputy captain at Beimen. Please give our new colleague a warm welcome.” “Clap, clap, clap…” Next, Section Chief Li introduced the veteran staff members to Xu Dong one by one. Xu Dong shook hands with each of them, exchanged contact information, and was eventually added to the Security Department’s team chat. “All right, now that everyone’s met, Xu Dong, why don’t you say a few words? When are you going to treat us to a meal? That’s a long-standing tradition in the Security Department,” Section Chief Li joked with a smile. Xu Dong thought for a moment and suggested: “You can’t really find anything good to eat out these days—it might not even be as good as our cafeteria! How about this: I’ll bring some extra snacks tomorrow to make up for treating you all. What do you think?” The reason Xu Dong didn’t want to treat everyone was, first, that he didn’t want the hassle; and second, influenced by his past life, he deeply detested any form of food waste. Xiang Xin was the first to raise both hands in approval, and the other two female colleagues quickly followed suit—after all, snacks held even more appeal for them. As for the male colleagues, they didn’t really care—a meal out was fine, and snacks were fine too, as long as they didn’t miss out on their share. So that’s how it was decided: Xu Dong could substitute snacks for a meal, but there were requirements—he had to provide at least 10 different kinds.