Starting Work

The day after the equipment installation was completed, Zhang Yi drove his father's old pickup truck to the factory gate early in the morning, carrying a huge pile of fireworks and firecrackers, which he arranged outside.

Today was the day the new factory officially began operations, so naturally it called for a celebration. He had also invited several Development Zone staff members and government officials. Since his factory would be setting down roots in the Development Zone from now on, it was necessary to maintain good relations with them.

As time passed, more than a dozen huge fireworks had been neatly lined up at the factory entrance, ready to be set off at any time.

At the same time, Zhang Yi's factory employees had all arrived. The Development Zone director and government staff were also there. Even Wang Tong, the director of the nearby police station—the same one where Zhang Yi and Xiao Hua had previously gone to make their statements—and the Deputy County Magistrate had been invited by Zhang Yi's father.

The police station chief was named Wang Tong, and he had once been Zhang Yi's father's colleague at the state-owned machinery factory. Unlike Zhang Yi's father, however, who had ventured out on his own and opened a small machinery workshop, Wang Tong had never resigned and had remained at the machinery factory until it went bankrupt. He was then transferred to the Public Security Bureau and eventually became the chief of the police station near their home.

As time ticked by, Zhang Yi occasionally lowered his head to check the time on his phone, then looked toward the road ahead. The phone in his hand was still the domestic model he had always used, and he had no plans to replace it. Domestic phones were not actually inferior to foreign ones in performance, and he found this one perfectly good.

After checking the time, Zhang Yi thought, Huang Jie should be here soon, right? As the sole agent for Zhang Yi's current products and the general agent for Hang City, she had naturally been invited to the factory's opening.

However, Huang Jie had been extremely busy lately. Not only did she have to deal with her remaining electric bicycles, she also had to prepare to exclusively sell their Aerodynamic Bicycles.

She also had to renovate her entire shop. In fact, Huang Xiru had spent no less money than Zhang Yi during this period.

She had had no time at all during the day yesterday, so she had not set out from Hang City until four or five in the morning today.

Sure enough, only a few minutes later, a luxury sedan appeared on the road ahead and drove toward Zhang Yi's factory.

"Huang Jie, you must have had a tiring journey. Yesterday, I thought you might not come!" Zhang Yi hurried over to greet Huang Xiru as she got out of the car, teasing her as he spoke.

"How could I possibly not come? Xiao Yi, your factory is opening—I would have rushed over no matter what. Besides, I'll still have to rely on you to make a living in the future! If I didn't come, what if you started making things difficult for me or kicked me out later?"

As Zhang Yi and Huang Xiru chatted and laughed, everyone around them looked at Zhang Yi with knowing expressions. Even Zhang Yi's parents looked at Huang Xiru differently from the others. Yet neither Zhang Yi nor Huang Xiru noticed.

When the time reached exactly eight in the morning, Zhang Yi happily waved his hand. "Set off the fireworks! We're starting work!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Bursts of celebratory fireworks rang out. At the same time, the red cloth covering the factory sign was pulled away, revealing the words: Seven Color Stone Mechanical Manufacturing Factory.

In fact, Zhang Yi's family machinery factory had always borne that name. It was just that very few people knew it. After all, who would care about the name of such a tiny machinery workshop?

Everyone at the factory gate was laughing and smiling. The owners of the surrounding factories also came forward to congratulate Zhang Yi, especially the owners of those machinery factories and processing workshops. They were especially delighted.

Zhang Yi had rented such a large factory building, which meant he intended to make a major push. If his factory truly developed, then the small factories around it would definitely benefit as well.

Zhu Gang was proof enough. He had only gotten where he was today by latching onto Zhou Tai City's Ji Li Automobile. If Zhang Yi's factory developed, it might become the next Ji Li Automobile, and their little neighboring factories would certainly share the gains.

"County Chief! Director Zhang! Huang Jie! Director Wang! Let's go inside and have a look!" Zhang Yi said.

After saying that, Zhang Yi led the way into the factory, and everyone else happily followed.

Inside the spacious factory building, everything had been arranged in perfect order by Zhang Yi and the others. The floor was spotless. Since the county government had originally built the facility to high factory standards, the ground had been painted green like those in major companies. After cleaning and maintenance, it was polished enough to reflect people's shadows.

More than a dozen different machine tools had already been installed and calibrated. A worker stood in front of each one, including Xiao Hua and her sisters. Since they were much shorter than the others and looked very much like little girls, they stood out especially clearly in front of the machines.

The moment Zhang Yi and the others entered, they noticed the three of them first.

"Boss Zhang, are they employees of your factory as well?" Police station director Wang Tong asked with some confusion upon seeing Xiao Hua and her sisters.

"Yes. But don't worry, our factory does not employ minors. The three sisters are all adults; they only look like little girls because they have dwarfism.

"But Director Wang, don't underestimate them. Though they are women and much shorter than ordinary people, their skills are absolutely beyond comparison with most people's. Even my father is somewhat inferior to them. You should know that I hired them at a high price." Zhang Yi could tell what Wang Tong was thinking just by looking at his expression.

After all, society was generally very concerned about the employment of underage workers these days. As the director of the police station, Wang Tong naturally had to understand the situation.

"That's good." After hearing Zhang Yi's words, Director Wang felt relieved. If Zhang Yi had truly employed underage child workers, he certainly would not have allowed them to appear so openly before them under the current circumstances. So Wang Tong did not ask further questions. After all, today was the opening day of Zhang Yi's Seven Color Stone Mechanical Factory.

At this moment, Xiao Hua and her sisters' machine tools had long since entered operation. But they were now using CNC Machines, so they no longer needed to work them as manually as they had the old-fashioned machine tool before. They were much more relaxed now.

Of course, the old machine tool from Zhang Yi's factory had not been thrown away just because they now had CNC Machines. Zhang Yi and the others had moved the old machine here as well, but with CNC Machines and other new Non-CNC Machine Tools available,

it was rarely used under normal circumstances. It now sat in a corner of the factory building and could be used in the future to train new employees or apprentices.

Naturally, the parts currently being produced were all for Aerodynamic Bicycles, as this was the product Zhang Yi's factory was most proud of. Zhang Yi was extremely familiar with every component of the bicycle, so he walked over to a CNC Machine and casually picked up a part to inspect.

After carefully examining it, Zhang Yi found that although the worker operating the machine was very young and had likely just graduated from school, the part he had produced still satisfied Zhang Yi greatly.

Zhang Yi still remembered this employee's name: Chen Feng. He was one of the people Zhang Yi had personally recruited at the Zhou Tai City Talent Market. According to his resume, he was a graduate of a technical school in Zhou Tai City, where he had studied turning. However, as a fresh graduate, he had never worked in a factory before.

Thanks to That Year's Fish for the 100 Qidian Coin tip!

Thanks to Taste of Life for the 999 Book Coin tip!