On February 13, 1988—the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month—the capital was hit by the coldest wave before the Spring Festival.
Powerful cold winds sweeping south from Siberia carried snowflakes as they ravaged the land. Overnight, the temperature plunged to minus twenty degrees Celsius. Even the hardiest person would be stamping their feet from the cold after standing outside for twenty minutes.
Yet in such weather, more than a thousand people were lined up outside the Light Vehicle Company's workers' club. Several long queues slowly wriggled forward in twists and turns, like snakes about to freeze stiff.
"Don't crowd, everyone. There are New Year goods and bonuses for everyone. We've just started distributing to Foundry Workshop One, and Foundry Workshop Two will receive theirs in twenty minutes.
The rest of you shouldn't wait outside in this freezing weather. Come back according to the schedule in the notice. Don't worry, no one will be shorted their New Year goods."
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The main factory's workers were lining up to collect their reissued New Year goods and bonuses. The main factory claimed that this year's profits needed to be allocated in coordination.
So it was not that the main factory had distributed too little; it had merely handed out one portion, while First Branch Factory would distribute the other portion to everyone.
That excuse sounded plausible enough, but several thousand workers were not fools. Who didn't understand what was really going on?
If everyone had not gathered to make a fuss earlier, who would have reissued your bonuses and added another batch of welfare New Year goods?
Why had they distributed less money the first time? The factory was obviously short of money! What nonsense about coordinated allocation? Making First Branch Factory hand out money and goods to the main factory's people—hadn't