Title: Su Yu’s Promotion Record in the ‘60s
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 1 - She wouldn't do such a stupid thing even if someone threatened her with death (1)
Ding ding ding...
As soon as the bell rang, the workers of Jiangdong Textile Factory left their jobs one after another. Carrying their bowls, they rushed to the canteen.
Today was Monday, and the canteen was serving delicious scallion pancakes. That was made using real white flour and soybean oil. The delicious aroma could be smelled in the other areas of the factory. Now that it was lunch time, everyone rushed to the canteen. They were worried that the scallion pancakes would be gone if they went there too late.
After all, since the beginning of last year, the canteen's supply has been deteriorating day by day. The current situation was nothing like last year, in 1958. Everything was available back then to eat, and they didn't need tickets.
Thinking about those days in the past, it was like a dream. They could only hope that the old supply would be restored, and these sad days would soon be over.
Su Yu held her bowl. Her eyes curiously scanned the sides, and then she followed the large group to rushing to the cafeteria.
This was her second time eating a meal in the cafeteria. The morning meal was only congee and a corn tortilla. She was very hungry now.
Rushing to the front, she stealthily gulped as she looked at the remaining scallion pancakes inside the large basin. "Two scallion pancakes!"
"Four food stamps!" The cafeteria's Chef Niu yelled.
Su Yu hurried to pay with the tickets. Cheap, too cheap!
Chef Niu put two scallion cakes into her bowl. He didn't forget to take a break to ask her, "Little Su, how come you didn't go home at noon? Are you leaving them to fend for themselves? Is the sun rising from the west today? "
Su Yu smiled. "They're old enough. They don't need me to worry about them. Chef Niu, I'll be eating my meals at the canteen from now on."
Chef Niu was so surprised that he almost dropped the rice scooper.
After Su Yu left, Chef Niu asked his wife while serving other workers. "Huahua's mom, what's wrong with little Su? She used to always go home as soon as her break started. Anything that was good, she would bring it home for her siblings. And she said she's going to eat here from now on? Does that mean she's going to eat by herself from now?"
If this was true, the youngsters in the Su family were in for a hard time. Other than Su Dazhi, the other two were minors. Even if there was food available to buy, without money, they would have to go hungry.
Mrs. Niu served congee to the workers as she replied, "What's wrong with her eating her food? Those siblings of hers are white-eyed wolves. She shouldn't bother worrying about them. As soon as Su Dazhi got married, he argued about seperating from the family. I heard that his wife's family is after Little Su's job too. The two younger siblings aren't thoughtful kids either. She's always worrying about them. They should be taught a lesson! If they were my children, I would punish them until they behave."
Chef Niu didn't say anything.
Little Su's life hadn't been easy all these years. Su Guodong and his wife had been helping with delivery factory goods when they got into an accident. They left behind four children. At the time of their death, Su Yu was only sixteen years old. She had been about to get married then, but because she had to take care of her siblings, the marriage talks had failed. She had worked hard all these years to raise her younger siblings. In the blink of an eye, she became a 26 years old spinster. She was dating someone, but he wasn't serious about her.
If Little Su really gave up on caring for her younger siblings anymore, outsiders couldn't say anything bad about her.
Translator Ramblings: This isn't a story where the main character goes through multiple faceslapping rounds with irredeemable and ungrateful relatives. She believes that it's bad for both sides if someone one-sidedly sacrifices and spoils their loved ones. She guides the original owner's relatives to building a better life through their own hard work instead of mooching off her. I like that the author shows that people have different strengths and motivations and that higher education is not a guaranteed ticket to success.
Su Yu is an independent modern career woman, who takes pride in her work and achievements. She's amazing at bullsh*tting and can talk circles around other people. She's the type that works smart not hard. Tiny spoiler, when Su Yu and the male lead start dating, he tries to help her career, and she tells him to stop because she wants to be promoted on her own merits. Once she's proven herself in her career, she and the ML do take turns helping each other and giving each other advice.
In a lot of other novels, the main character starts off awesome, but the male lead always has to be in a stronger position than her. In this story, Su Yu continues to be awesome on her own even after the male lead is introduced. They're equals instead of having the usual webnovel relationship dynamic where a capable main character suddenly becomes a helpless damsel in distress and needs the male lead to swoop in to save her.