In the reborn era, the lucky bag is enjoying the show in the factory area.

Director Xu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Luo Yu had agreed, and couldn't wait to assign her a new task.

"Let's have a small meeting today to discuss the arrangements for International Women's Day, the day after tomorrow."

The mine operates as usual in the morning, but there's a large meeting in the afternoon.

Upon hearing that there was a meeting, the older women's expressions immediately soured, their faces filled with helplessness.

Director Xu said with a smile, "You don't have to sit still the whole time. You can move around freely when the meeting starts. I'll still chair the meeting. Is that alright?"

The women visibly relaxed when they heard they didn't have to sit all the time.

"Sure, I don't have to sit all the time. My old back can't take this kind of strain."

"My back is the same; I just can't sit for long periods of time."

"I injured my leg when I was young, and it hasn't fully healed yet. It's hard to stand up after sitting for a long time."

“Last time I went to a meeting at the Municipal Women’s Federation, I sat there for the whole afternoon. My legs were numb, and it took me a while to recover.”

Director Xu sighed, "Other departments are scrambling to take advantage of the benefits, but when it comes to us, they'd rather throw them away to someone else."

"Ladies, this attitude won't do; we need to improve."

Aunt Zhao waved her hand, "Okay, okay, Director, please continue."

Director Xu sighed helplessly, "Alright then, let's continue."

The meeting is scheduled for the afternoon after tomorrow. The main purpose is to announce the list of outstanding miners' wives. Afterwards, Chairman Feng from the union will give awards to the outstanding miners' wives. Our mine does this every year, so there's nothing new about it. We'll just do it the same way as before.

I already spoke with the mine manager and others at the meeting yesterday. Each team and department should send over their personnel lists today, and we just need to organize them.

After Director Xu finished speaking, he looked at Luo Yu and said, "Little Luo, I'm leaving this matter to you. There aren't many people, only about a hundred. Please compile a list of names so I can read it out the day after tomorrow afternoon."

Luo Yu nodded, "Okay, Director Xu, I'll organize the lists as soon as each team sends them over."

Director Xu nodded. "Okay, that's settled then. Everyone, get back to work."

Upon hearing that they could disperse, the group of middle-aged women quickly pulled up their chairs and returned to their desks, taking out their New Year's treats of peanuts and fruit candies and forming a circle around them.

Aunt Hu threw the peanut shells into the stove, sighed, and said, "It's really no fun in the first month of the lunar year when we can't use needles and thread or knit sweaters."

Aunt Zhao shook her head. "Did you all save up the work gloves that were distributed at the beginning of last month? Xiao Luo, what about yours? Let me tell you, don't use them or give them away. You can unravel them and knit sweaters."

Luo Yu had never known this before; it was only when she came here and recalled the scenes from her time at the Luo family that she remembered it.

Luo's mother would save the work gloves that Luo's father received each time, and when she had enough, she would unravel them to knit sweaters.

“I know, my mom saved up quite a bit, and even knitted a sweater for my second brother.”

When the Luo family was mentioned, Luo Yu didn't react much, but the older women looked uncomfortable. They felt sorry for Luo Yu, who had just gotten married during the Lunar New Year and hadn't even come back to her parents' home on the second day of the new year. They thought she was really heartless.

Aunt Liu quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, do you know what the Municipal Women's Federation gave us this time?"

Luo Yu was taken aback again upon hearing this.

Sending something? Sending something again?

Damn! No wonder it's a golden opportunity!

How many things has she posted in just a few days?

New Year's Day once, New Year's Day once, and International Women's Day once more. Early January is the time when the mine distributes labor protection benefits every quarter. She received hers on December 23rd, then again in early January, and will receive it again in early April.

That's why I say it's best to hold onto a government job, because the government takes care of everything from food and clothing to housing and transportation. You only need to use your salary to buy some food.

She didn't even mention anything else, just the tea alone. She gets two ounces of tea every month. It's not much, and the quality of the tea isn't great, but it's wrong to take only what she's entitled to. Why be picky? Didn't you see that even ordinary workers don't get any?

Before anyone else could guess, Director Xu chimed in, "I actually know that. The chairman mentioned it a few days ago when I went to a meeting in the city with Xiao Luo."

They said this time they'd be distributing canned goods, as well as some dried goods. Fruit is hard to come by; they don't have any this year, but it seems there will be fish.

The middle-aged women exchanged glances and laughed, "This year is not bad either. Don't even mention the two pounds of apples we received last year. They were so sour that I couldn't eat for days."

“My eldest grandson doesn’t like to eat it. I have to peel and cut the apple into pieces and boil it in sugar water before he will eat it.”

"The oranges from the year before last weren't good either, they were too sour. The seaweed we got the year before that was pretty good, I wonder if we'll get seaweed this year."

"It doesn't seem so. I heard it's a small salted fish."

The older women and Luo Yu froze upon hearing this, exclaiming in unison, "Really? It really is salted fish?"

Director Xu wasn't sure either. She looked up at the group of people, adjusted her glasses, and said, "It's more than 90% certain that this is the case."

Luo Yu and the other women were all deflated and slumped into their chairs.

They didn't like salted fish; they couldn't stand the taste. Luo Yu asked them this during lunch.

Director Xu smiled, lowered his head, and took a sip of tea. "Alright, it's nothing if it's free. What if we don't give it to you? You'd still have to suffer."

Salted fish is good too. I'll pick up some tofu later and stew it with them. (Picking up tofu: buying tofu)

Luo Yu shook her head. "I really don't like that smell. Let's forget about it. I'll take it to my second aunt later and let her decide what to do."

Qiu Ling has become very picky about food lately. She now likes foods she used to dislike, and she used to find the smell of things disgusting, but maybe she'll like them now.

At noon, Xi Beizhan came over for lunch on time. The older women were used to it, and they felt uneasy if they didn't see him for a day.

"I saw your dog that you were going to take home at the gate today. I think its name is Black Bean? It's quite cute. It didn't bark at us and even stuck out its tongue and smiled at us."

Luo Yu smiled and said, "Of course, Black Bean is so cute, I love it so much."

Xi Beizhan frowned. "I keep it to guard the house and protect you when I'm not home. If it does this to everyone, what's the point of having it?"

No, I have to go and see for myself this afternoon.

Luo Yu didn't take it seriously, but Xi Beizhan kept his word and went to the gatehouse after finishing his meal.

When asked, Old Gao confirmed that Black Bean really did smile at people, just as Aunt Hu had said, trying to please them by touching it.

This won't do!

Xi Beizhan immediately decided to train it himself.

Xi Beizhan had served in the military, but he had never trained a dog. In order to train Heidou, he even went to Director Hao's office to make a phone call.

"I am Xi Beizhan. Please take me to Commander Yu's office."

After only mentioning his name, the operator on the other end immediately connected the call to Commander Yu's office.

"Commander Yu, can you do me a favor? I need training methods for military dogs."

It had been six months since I left the army. This was the first time I called back to the base. I didn't greet them and went straight to the point, which made Director Hao frown.