Back to the 1970s: Building My Fortune Through Time Trading-Chapter 349: Campaign for Workshop Supervisor
"Look, people your age are already having kids, and you don’t even have a wife."
Liu Cuilan felt annoyed whenever she saw him, "Even that sissy Sun Wenbing got married, and here I am, not even having seen a shadow of a daughter-in-law."
Turns out, Sun Wenbing was getting married, and his mom was feeling triggered.
Talking about this, Su Wenbing turned silent like a gourd with a sawed-off mouth, unable to say a word of explanation. He looked at Su Xiaoxiao with pleading eyes, as if saying: "Sis, help!"
Liu Cuilan continued her scolding: "You look decent, so why can’t you find a wife? No way, starting tomorrow, I’m going to find someone to set you up. Your mom has never been so embarrassed in front of that crazy woman Zhang Guilan in her whole life."
Seeing that his mom was getting more and more worked up, Su Xiaoxiao clung to her arm playfully: "Mom, so what if Sun Wenbing got a wife? He doesn’t even have a proper job, lazing around every day. He’s not as steady as my brother. Besides, my brother said their workshop is having a competition for a new supervisor, and the factory manager values him, he’s on the candidate list. Look at how promising your son is, who knows, you might be the supervisor’s mom tomorrow."
At first, Su Wenbing was nodding continuously, but the more he listened, the more something felt off.
Wait, he hadn’t even signed up yet. How was he on the candidate list? The factory manager valued him?
The factory manager valued him, my foot!
His little sister really thought too highly of him.
He instinctively wanted to explain a bit.
Before he could open his mouth, he was met with his mom’s proud gaze: "Of course, who does he think he’s the son of?"
Liu Cuilan glanced at Su Wenbing, feeling more and more satisfied with how her son looked: "Eldest, you have to work hard. If you get elected, your mom will finally be able to hold her head high in our village."
Su Wenbing: "..."
Forget it, better not explain.
His mom was in full swing, and he didn’t want to get beaten for pouring cold water.
Silently nodding, he agreed as best as he could.
Liu Cuilan was satisfied, looked up and saw her two youngest brothers drooling at the oiled paper packages on the table, looking displeased.
"Look at you two, not an ounce of ambition, go wash your hands, and eat after washing."
"Great, thanks, Mom!"
The two of them jumped off the stools like monkeys to wash their hands.
"Why thank me, it’s your third sister who brought all this back. Don’t just eat all day, remember to be good to your third sister."
Liu Cuilan was in a much better mood by now, looked around and didn’t see Su Fusheng, puzzled: "Where’s Second? Where did he go? It’s mealtime, what’s he doing if not eating?"
Just as she said this, someone pushed open the courtyard gate.
Su Fusheng came in carrying a large bundle of firewood.
Usually, the two brothers weren’t home, so on rest days, they tried their best to help the family by cutting extra firewood from the back mountain.
"Second, put the firewood in the west corner, wash your face, Eldest keep an eye on Fourth and Fifth, and Little Stone, Zhaodi, come help me with cooking."
Su Pan had been living here for a few days and had gradually become familiar with everyone, but she was still a bit shy around the cousins who were often not home. She greeted timidly and quickly followed Liu Cuilan into the kitchen to help with the cooking.
Among the family, only Su Xiaoxiao had nothing to do.
She moved a stool next to the table and started unwrapping the oiled paper packages one by one.
The aroma quickly spread throughout the main room.
Su Jianwen and Su Jianwu returned from washing their hands, and immediately smelled the fragrance in the air, unable to stop gulping.
Su Jianwu dashed to the table, reaching for the cured beef.
"Smack!"
Su Wenbing smacked his hand mercilessly.
He frowned: "Wash your hands properly before coming back. You’ve still got black dirt under your nails, gross."
"Brother, I’ve already washed them, see, aren’t they clean? I’m not eating with my nails."
Su Jianwu pouted, complaining with a wronged expression.
Su Xiaoxiao glanced over, oh boy, his hands looked like they were enemies with water, except for his palms, not a single clean spot.
Su Jianwen chimed in: "Brother, we really did wash them, just let us eat, we’re starving."
Seeing that the two were not listening at all, Su Wenbing kept a stern face, but unfortunately, he had a good temper normally. Even with his face looking stern, in the eyes of the two cheeky kids, there was no threat at all.
Su Xiaoxiao had to pull out her trump card, pulling a duck neck out of her bag and shaking it: "Whoever washes clean gets this duck neck."
Upon hearing there was a duck neck, the two youngest brothers’ eyes immediately brightened.
They had it once before, and the taste was unforgettable.
They immediately rushed off to wash their hands with enthusiasm.
Su Wenbing breathed a sigh of relief, his third sister was still capable, unlike him, he had no power to intimidate, the two little rascals had never really been afraid of him since they were kids.
Little Stone was on the floor playing with his toes and didn’t need his worry.
With a bit of free time, he began to regret agreeing to run for workshop supervisor.
He was just an ordinary workshop worker, only won a few outstanding awards here and there, would running for supervisor be a joke?
He could almost imagine the disdainful looks from colleagues when they heard he was participating in the election.
"Third Sister, do you think I can really run for workshop supervisor? What if I don’t get elected, how embarrassing would that be? I’m just a workshop worker, only good at working, know nothing else, maybe I should just..."
He was cut off before he finished.
He hadn’t even tried yet, and his big brother was already planning to back out, how could that be?
"Big Brother, don’t overthink things before trying, how do you know you won’t get elected if you don’t try?"
Often, failure isn’t due to lack of ability but due to overthinking and underdoing.
Only thinking about it and planning to back out means you never even had a chance to succeed.
"But..."
Su Wenbing still lacked confidence.
"Big Brother, don’t you want Mom to be proud of you? Don’t you want our family to hold our heads high and walk proudly in the village?"
Su Xiaoxiao tried to stir up her brother’s sense of competition.
"Of course I do... but..."
Su Wenbing still felt a bit uncertain. Being suddenly pushed into running for workshop supervisor left him a bit flustered.
"Then that’s it, if you want to be respected, you have to earn it, and it starts with running for workshop supervisor."
"Big Brother, you’re the strongest in the family, apart from Mom, you’re the pillar of our family, the role model for us four siblings. We all look up to you for a successful future."
With a stack of compliments like that, Su Wenbing felt like maybe, just maybe, he could do it.
As they spoke, Liu Cuilan and the others came out with the dishes, the two youngest brothers also finished washing their hands and rushed to line up in front of Su Xiaoxiao.
"Third Sister, see, who washed cleaner?"
Facing their eager eyes, Su Xiaoxiao pretended to examine them carefully, nodded: "Hmm, not bad at all."
Saying so, she handed each of them a duck neck, and they both jumped for joy: "Thanks, Third Sister."
...
Today’s dinner was a small pot of cabbage stewed with tofu, along with the cured beef and flaky pastry Su Xiaoxiao brought back, making it a rather hearty meal.
It would be a pity not to bring out some alcohol with this spread.
No sooner said than done, Su Xiaoxiao stood up and said to everyone: "Mom, I left something outside, I’ll be right back."
