Title: How to Thrive in the Sixties
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 70 - Gaining glory by association (2)
"Su Yu, I heard you're in the newspaper." Beaming with happiness, Director Xu ran over to the workshop to look for Su Yu.
Su Yu looked surprised. "Huh? How is that possible?"
"You don't know yet? How can you not know? You're the one that submitted the article. I saw it in the office. It was your name, our work unit and department. It has to be you."
Looking as if she suddenly realized something, Su Yu said, "Ah, so it's that… I didn't expect to get published. Actually, I just wanted to express my feelings, so I submitted my article. I didn't expect that it would get published."
"It got published, published in multiple newspapers," Director Xu happily said. Su Yu was her subordinate. Her boss had called her office to ask her questions and especially praised her leadership.
With an excited expression, Su Yu said, "Director, I really didn't expect… Everyone is so kind to me. They're so caring."
She had underestimated the strong support for ideological spirit in this era. Engaging in ideological work was quite the promising career path!
---
The textile factory wasn't that big. The news that Su Yu's article had gotten published in the newspapers soon spread throughout the factory.
Counting last time, this was the second time Su Yu's article had gotten published. Last time, it had been published in the factory's newspaper, so the impact wasn't that big. This time was different. Her article had gotten published in the provincial capital newspapers. Everyone in the province could see her articles. It might even be seen by people throughout the country.
TV hadn't been popularized yet, so being in the newspaper was more novel and incredible than appearing on TV, especially since the writer of the article was someone in their factory. It was like someone they know becoming a celebrity.
The old-timers of the factory's impression of Su Yu gradually shifted. She went from an textile worker that didn't stand out and was an older unmarried woman to a promising youth.
Can an incapable person be in the newspaper? Of course not!
In the past, not many people knew who Su Yu was. But now, everyone knows Su Yu. She was the person that had written an article that got published in the newspapers.
Even Su Dazhi and Su Xiaozhi benefited from their older sister's fame.
—
While working, Su Xiaozhi bragged, "My sister has been good at learning since she was a child. If it wasn't for taking care of us, she might be a college student. My sister is a leader at school, a class monitor. Do you know what a class monitor is? It's the person that's in charge of all the students in the class.
An old man teased, "Xiaozhi, your sister is good at learning. Why don't you study too?"
"I'm a man, an adult. How can I still rely on my sister to raise me?" Su Xiaozhi didn't feel bad at all. Anyways, it was enough that one person in their family was good at learning.
"Your sister really hasn't suffered in vain over the years."
"Yeah, we all know how wonderful my sister is," Su Xiaozhi proudly said. He wasn't an ungrateful person. He appreciated his sister.
—
Over at the warehouse, Su Dazhi's co-workers asked about his sister's glorious past achievements.
Hearing everyone's praise, he felt extremely proud. He had always felt that he couldn't hold up his head because his family was poor. He exuberantly said, "My sister usually likes to read books and newspapers and learn on her own. Even though she didn't go to high school, she writes better than college students. My younger sister can't write that well. My older sister has always been capable. She's been delayed because of us."
Su Dazhi really felt that he was unworthy of his older sister. If he had been more sensible at the time and shared the burden with her, Sis might have been able to make something of herself sooner.
Their family would be even better than it is now. It's their fault for dragging down their sister.
—
Even Su Lin at school and Liu Mei at the steel factory gained glory by association. They bragged and said a bunch of nonsense. They felt so proud being in the same family as Su Yu.
In contrast, Su Yu was quite low-key. She had been excited when Director Xu told her the good news, but she kept a low profile and didn't talk about it.
Hearing the good news the first time was interesting. Retelling it once was sharing the excitement with others, but it was easy to be disliked if she kept bringing it up. She had written the article to show that she had progressive thinking. She couldn't do anything that would cause others to think she was fond of fame and fortune.