The First Day

I guess Chen Xiaoqiu's mood right now is probably like seeing someone in a remote mountain village in the 21st century announcing the establishment of a new dynasty and declaring themselves a feudal emperor. The reality is, such unbelievable people and events can actually happen, and when reported by the media, the imperial throne might already be passed down from father to son, reaching the second generation. The matter of the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau is the same. Before the Skinny guy found out, we had no idea about the twists and turns behind the defunct Steel Factory No. 3, and once we knew, we just felt miserable.

The century-old Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau, struggling to survive in the market economy of the 21st century, finally couldn't hold on any longer. It was completely dismantled by the government and merged with factories from other provinces and cities to form the current Fortune 500 company, Minqing Steel Company. I don't know if there are any remnants of the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau within Minqing Steel Company, but there are definitely none in Gongnong No. 6 Village, and they're gone for good, making it impossible for us to find out who received houses back then.

Chen Xiaoqiu seemed to still have doubts about what the Skinny guy said and was about to speak when I quickly interrupted.

"In any case, let's investigate this Qingye first. That's all for work matters, let's go eat. If we're any later, there won't be any seats," I asked Chen Xiaoqiu, "Chen Xiaoqiu, what do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine," Chen Xiaoqiu said, not mentioning work again.

The five of us found a small restaurant to eat. I originally thought Chen Xiaoqiu wouldn't agree to this kind of place, but surprisingly, she was quite agreeable. She ate gracefully, spoke little, and wasn't easy to approach, but she wasn't difficult to get along with either. I was a bit confused as to how she ended up in such a bad state at the National Tax Bureau and had to come to our demolition office.

I got the answer to this question the next day.

Chen Xiaoqiu arrived at the office on time, carrying a large paper bag, like Doraemon, and produced a mountain of photocopied documents.

"What is this?" I asked Chen Xiaoqiu.

"Information on the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau. I've already read some of it. This is their personnel list from 1859 to 1901, though it might be incomplete," Chen Xiaoqiu said, taking out a handwritten list.

I looked at the miscellaneous photocopied documents: local gazetteers, essays by scholars, and even official gazettes from that era, all annotated with a pen. This Chen Xiaoqiu hadn't just found a personnel list for the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau; she had compiled a personnel list! And this was after just one night!

I gasped.

The Skinny guy arrived at the office at this moment. Seeing this pile of things, he was initially confused. When he realized what it all was, he frowned, "You didn't believe what I said yesterday?"

"No. I just think this is also an option. If you're unwilling, I'll start searching from here myself. I'll also screen the list from that firm," Chen Xiaoqiu replied calmly, logically, and with sincere eyes.

The Skinny guy was speechless but a little annoyed. He plopped down in his seat and opened the list given by Little Gu, "Fine! If you're so capable, then you do it! We'll now narrow down the age range to between thirty and forty years old, and we need to find a Qingye and a Liu Miao who have overlapping connections."

This age range was based on the current time. Qingye was still working from 2004 to 2015. Back then, they were in their early twenties, so they should be in their thirties or forties now. Of course, this was assuming they were still alive.

This thought popped into my head, startling me for a moment. Then I realized it was a valid thought. Generally, after four years of being missing, a person could be declared dead. However, because we were a government department, we couldn't apply for a declaration of death for ordinary citizens just because the legal conditions were met; we had to consider the social impact.

Chen Xiaoqiu took the list from the Skinny guy and set aside the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau documents, focusing on her work.

Filtering by age was easy; a table could set the range. But after filtering, thousands of people remained. This was like going from finding a needle in a haystack to finding a needle in a large lake. The three of them had to find a pair of Qingye and Liu Miao who could be connected, and then find someone alive who had seen them to confirm. The latter was easier; even without a client, we could ask Grandpa Wang to identify them.

Seeing that both of them were working and maintaining a fragile peace, I breathed a sigh of relief. Fatty and Guo Yujie arrived at this time.

"We don't have anything to do, so we'll help you look," Guo Yujie offered proactively.

I didn't object to her making decisions for me so casually.

Fatty was about to cheer when Chen Xiaoqiu spoke, "No need. This is the work assigned to me, and I will complete it independently."

The Skinny guy suddenly turned to look at Chen Xiaoqiu.

Chen Xiaoqiu didn't even look up, still organizing the experiences of each Qingye and Liu Miao one by one.

Guo Yujie didn't think much of it and enthusiastically reached out to pat Chen Xiaoqiu, "Hey, you don't have to be polite, I really have nothing to do."

I quickly stopped Guo Yujie's iron palm, and she stumbled with me.

Chen Xiaoqiu looked at Guo Yujie, "Really, no need. I'll finish my work myself." Her tone was like a child saying they'll do their own things.

"Uh..." Guo Yujie was embarrassed.

"Xiao Jie, she said she doesn't need it, so don't try to butter her up. Come, help me look at a portion," the Skinny guy said gruffly.

"Who's going to help you! Go look by yourself!" Guo Yujie rolled her eyes. "Fatty, I'll take half of yours."

Fatty, with a smile like Maitreya, nodded repeatedly.

The Skinny guy had no choice but to look at me.

"Give it here," I sighed, glancing at Chen Xiaoqiu, and somewhat understood why she wasn't popular at her previous job.

By noon, my understanding of Chen Xiaoqiu had deepened. The four of us combined weren't as fast as her. Her list was already organized, with the life trajectories of everyone compiled, while we were only halfway through. Fatty looked sheepish, Guo Yujie praised her with admiration, the Skinny guy grumbled angrily, and I, as the team leader, praised Chen Xiaoqiu. I compiled the already organized lists and used software to filter them, identifying a total of seven pairs of Qingye and Liu Miao with overlapping experiences. It wasn't a lot.

"Let's start with these fourteen people. Here's what I think: Chen Xiaoqiu will do more of the documentation work, and you two will contact these fourteen people," I said to the three of them.

None of them objected.

At lunchtime, we were supposed to eat together, but Chen Xiaoqiu seized the time to review the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau's documents. On her first day, she uncharacteristically refused to eat with us, took out a bread from her bag, poured some water, and worked while eating.

Seeing this, how could the four of us eat with peace of mind? We finished in a hurry and rushed back to continue working.

I sighed, lamenting the lost opportunity for a leisurely afternoon of drinking tea and reading newspapers, or rather, reading Qingye's files.

When leaving work, the Skinny guy, Fatty, and I were going the same way. The two of them couldn't help but complain.

"Is Chen Xiaoqiu on stimulants? Why is she working so hard?"

"She's working diligently, and you two unambitious people have the nerve to talk about her?" I criticized and educated them.

"You're also unambitious," the Skinny guy, not treating me like his leader, the team leader, retorted impolitely.

"Now is the time to be ambitious. You two should also learn from Chen Xiaoqiu's work attitude," I said, without blushing or catching my breath, continuing to lecture them.

However, the role model I told them to learn from took a leave of absence on the second day of work.