boyutpedia Chapter 64 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 5
Chapter 64 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 5
Evenings were still corn porridge, but Liu Yuxi replaced the corn grits at home with finely ground, peeled corn grits from her spatial dimension, so they wouldn't hurt her throat. The cornbread was also made with a mixture of sorghum flour, corn flour, and a small amount of wheat flour from her spatial dimension, a three-ingredient flour mixture. She added some chopped vegetables and a couple of drops of sesame oil. Sesame oil was a precious commodity at this time; crop yields were too low, and there wasn't enough grain to eat, so who would be willing to grow sesame? Later, when ration coupons were implemented, each family would only have a two-ounce ration per year.
After finishing their meal, they washed the pots and dishes. In those days, there was no oil or grease, so washing the pots and dishes only took two minutes. They put water in the pots for washing up later. The mother and her two children went to the main room. Seeing that the children were not sleepy, Liu Yuxi took out her textbooks and taught them a few words. Then, she had the two brothers write them down on their own. She took out the notes she had taken during the day and organized them systematically.
It'll only be an hour or so. The light bulbs these days are only 15 watts; leaving them on for too long won't be good for the kids' eyes. We'll have to replace them with higher wattage ones later, which means we'll have to pay more for electricity. We'll be using the lights for a lot of nights in the future, and these days electricity bills are split evenly. If you don't pay more, other families won't be happy. After washing and dressing the kids, I put them to bed.
After checking the house and closing the doors and windows, Liu Yuxi returned to her room and entered her spatial dimension. She first took a shower and washed her hair, using unscented toiletries. The workshop was indeed dirty and noisy, and Liu Yuxi estimated that her hearing would definitely be affected in the future. However, if others could do it, so could she.
Then she started looking through the books on fitter work she had bought back then. The information was a bit different from what she had now, but much of the knowledge was the same. Liu Yuxi decided to go to the bookstore on Sunday to see if there were any books on fitter work for sale. If not, she would borrow them from the library. It would be safer to compare them.
Thinking about the current disarray of tools and workstations in the workshop, she felt that the "workshop safety production standards" described in many novels were still very necessary. However, she didn't know much about the workshop and factory yet, so she wrote down the problems she saw and would think about it later when she was more familiar with the basics.
Liu Yuxi slept until 5 a.m., then went to the space for morning exercise. (In this story, the flow rate in the open space is set to the maximum of 1:10, while time inside the buildings remains still. To clarify, after the apocalyptic catastrophe of that lifetime, planting and animal husbandry in the space are now automated, operated by pre-programmed intelligent robots, including planting, harvesting, egg collection, slaughtering, fishing, and storage. I'm racking my brains thinking about this every day; from now on, unless special processing is required, the protagonist shouldn't do anything himself! Please forgive me!) She washed her hair and took a shower, then dried it before coming out. First, she took the children's chamber pots to their room, emptied them, washed them clean, and put them back under the bed. (This will only be mentioned once; this step will be omitted later.)
After returning home, I took my toothbrush, towel, and washbasin to the kitchen. First, I added some firewood to the stove, then I filled the pot with hot water and carried it to the courtyard to wash up. At this time, it was mostly the women from each household who got up; the men wouldn't get up until almost dinnertime. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries, we washed up and went home to cook. We couldn't afford to waste time in the morning; we couldn't delay the meals of those who went to work or school.
Liu Yuxi went home and cooked the same old dishes: corn porridge, steamed buns made with a mixture of wheat, water, and cornmeal, and chopped pickled vegetables. After eating her own breakfast, she kept the rest of the food warm in the pot, closed the door, said goodbye to her aunt, and went to work.
Perhaps seeing how diligently Liu Yuxi studied yesterday, Sister Chen asked Liu Yuxi to assist another first-level fitter today. When Liu Yuxi got to the side, he realized that the workpieces processed by this fitter were different from those processed by the fitter yesterday. Liu Yuxi suppressed his doubts and continued to diligently assist and take notes.
During the break, Sister Chen explained to her that when the steel rolling mill receives a task or order, it produces the same workpieces for a period of time. In order to improve efficiency, each person is assigned the best workpieces within their level. This can improve efficiency to a certain extent. Of course, this is only for the task allocation of junior machine operators. Those high-precision parts are completed by intermediate and senior workers.
Liu Yuxi understood after hearing Sister Chen's explanation, and thanked her for the arrangement. "You don't need to thank me. It's all thanks to your hard work. Try to finish learning all the Level 1 workpieces as soon as possible, and I'll arrange for you to start working on them. Aim to pass the Level 1 fitter exam at the end of the year." "You really think highly of me, but I will work hard." "I believe in you!"
At that time, temporary workers and apprentices were two different concepts. Temporary workers could be laid off at any time, and might never become permanent employees. Apprentices, on the other hand, would generally become permanent employees after three years, unless they made a serious mistake or failed the level one certification exam after three years. However, it was extremely rare for someone to fail the level one exam, and even if they did, they would usually find a way to change jobs. Moreover, after completing three years, apprentices could take their first certification exam and, if they passed, could continue to take the next level exam until they reached the highest level they had mastered. Apprentices who had not completed three years of training needed a recommendation from the workshop foreman to take the certification exam and become permanent employees earlier.
For the next few days, Liu Yuxi assisted different first-level fitters every day, and when he got home at night, he would systematically organize and summarize his work, and then review it in his mind, until Sunday.
On Sunday, after Liu Yuxi finished eating, she looked at her notes in the main room. The two children probably knew that their mother was off today, so they woke up earlier than usual. After getting up and greeting Liu Yuxi, they went to wash up and eat. After finishing their meal and washing the dishes, they did nothing but snuggle up to Liu Yuxi and call her "Mom".
Liu Yuxi smiled and said to them, "How about we go out for a day, the three of us?" "Really? Mom?" Seeing the two little ones' bright eyes, Liu Yuxi laughed out loud, "Haha, really, when have I ever lied to you? Can you think of somewhere to go?" "Anywhere is fine, as long as we're with Mom," Jianguo said. "Yeah, yeah!" Jiandang chimed in from the side. Actually, nowadays kids basically don't have the concept of going out to play. Going to the supply and marketing cooperative is considered going out to play, so Liu Yuxi didn't expect them to have any ideas.
After putting hats, scarves, gloves, and shoulder bags on the two brothers, Liu Yuxi locked the door, greeted the aunt, and led them to the street. They walked and asked for directions until they reached a bookstore, as the original owner of this body had never been to a bookstore before. After asking the clerk and confirming that the bookstore didn't have any books on metalworking, Liu Yuxi sighed inwardly. It seemed they would have to borrow books from the library. She then let the two children choose two comic books they liked, asked the clerk for the library's location, and rode off with them to the library.