"But why does it have to be called cucumber?"

The day before the press conference, while having lunch in the canteen, with panda eyes, Yan Jian suddenly asked, "And why call it beans and beans?"

"Huh?"

Ji Jue, holding a bowl of rice, looked up blankly: "Aren't beans tasty? Peanuts are nice too."

As he spoke, he lowered his head, took a bite of the smashed cucumber from his plate, chewed, nodded: "Hmm, today's cucumber is also not bad."

Yan Jian had a moment where he wanted to say something, but felt that whatever he'd say would be pointless.

The way they named products depended on what cold dish was served in the canteen on the day of production... He could never catch up with such an eccentric thought process in his life.

"Don't you think this is too casual!"

Yan Jian sighed: "What's the next one's name? Tomato? Potato? Or Banana?"

"Anything goes, we definitely can't call them Cow1, Horse2, Horse3, right?"

Ji Jue retorted matter-of-factly: "Everyone works just to earn some damn money, being like cows and horses every day is already exhausting, why stab people in the heart?"

"..."

At that moment, in the suddenly silent canteen, all faces with dark circles lifted up involuntarily, looking over here with a ghostly stare.

Not stabbing customers in the heart, huh? Now you're stabbing colleagues?

Are the cows and horses of the automobile factory not cows and horses now?!

"Why did everyone suddenly stop talking?"

Ji Jue looked around blankly, asking curiously: "Is it because today's work is done?"

In an instant, the originally dead-silent canteen was full of noise!

Amidst the exaggerated hollow laughter and conversation, Ji Jue nodded in satisfaction: "Seeing everyone so spirited is really great, you even have the leisure to chat, the workload mustn't be too full, huh?"

"...Could you act like a human being, for God's sake!"

Yan Jian's face fell, "Sooner or later, you'll be killed by the employees!"

No matter who it is, after working continuously, day and night for over a month, it's tough to keep a stable mindset.

Although food and lodging are fully covered, overtime is paid double, and holidays quadruple, the benefits have exploded, but living days with your head up with a welding gun and down with a lathe for too long, even the cows and horses dream of lying on a production line doing assembly.

Feeling life is meaningless is still normal, but some people have started hallucinating.

It's said some people wake up in shock at night, always hearing someone crying beneath the floor.

Some people get so hungry at night they go to the canteen, and from afar, see a row of zombie-like figures stumbling through the night, like ghost soldiers borrowing the road.

Others said one day they got lost in the factory zone while playing on their phone, saw a plant they had never seen before, peeking in through the door crack, saw many workers with unkempt hair, chained, endlessly assembling hanging parts. If anyone dared to move slowly or whisper, they'd be whipped harshly by a mechanical arm descending from above.

Such a gruesome scene scared the lost person silly, they ran back rolling and crawling, not even knowing how long they ran. While recounting the scary encounter, their face paled, vowing earnestly that they weren't lying. Truly a storytelling talent, but unfortunately, they took a leave of absence and returned home the next day, everyone wanted to know how the story developed.

The crying and wailing in the basement, wandering ghost soldiers in the factory area, dark slave workshops, armored off-road vehicles transforming secretly when no one notices, the factory director's eyes glowing red while secretly eating trash at midnight, mysterious munching sounds frequently coming from the assistant's office...

In just a few months' time, Coastal Automobile Factory has amassed a new top ten urban legends.

The corporate culture is really flourishing!

Chief Engineer Yan Jian, who only half understood the internal happenings, every time facing the cries of the cows and horses, could only pretend to be indifferent, telling them it's definitely too much stress making them uncomfortable, suggesting they could go to the medical room and get more sleeping pills.

Yeah, bring me a bottle while you're at it.

Ever since resumption of work, his originally sparse hair started falling off visibly.

Insomnia, anxiety, irritability, anger followed one after another, there's no way, even with the best mindset dealing with the university students' shocking wisdom is hard to maintain composure.

Not to mention the pressure monster Ji Jue who always throws a bunch of demands asking if you can handle it.

Even though later manpower gradually became sufficient, production wasn't as formal, it still didn't improve much.

For nearly two months, he at least lost ten to twenty pounds, now with a sallow complexion and dark eye circles, like he worked overtime for all the years he had skipped in one go.

There is a sort of dying beauty.

Especially after meals, looking at the bottles and jars on the table astonished Ji Jue.

"This is stomach medicine, here are digestive tablets, this is fish oil, these are calcium tablets and vitamins..."

"Why take so many?"

"Is this many? There's more. You're still young, wait..."

Yan Jian wanted to shake his head and say, wait till you're at my age, but suddenly realized, if he guessed right, someone like Ji Jue probably wouldn't need supplements even at middle age, he sighed helplessly, saying nothing more.

But when taking medicine, his hand slightly trembled, absent-mindedly.

The water got spilled.

After setting down the cup, Yan Jian wiped his mouth, gave a self-deprecating smile: "Once you get older, nothing works smoothly anymore."

"Something on your mind?"

"Just... tense."

Yan Jian leaned against the table, turned to look outside the canteen, at the refurbished plant again, workers coming and going, in the bright sunshine, the rumbling sound of foundation piling came from afar, new factories are still rising up.

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