264: Are you provoking me?

Shen City's labor market was distinctly different from Changtu County and Lingnan City.

A ten-story building with floor-to-ceiling windows looked incredibly luxurious and high-class.

But only two floors were used for corporate recruitment.

The other eight floors…

Those, of course, were the floors used by leaders and internal staff.

Without mentioning anything else, an entire floor for the cafeteria isn't too much, right?

If the leaders don't eat well, how can they lead employees in providing good service to the working people?

A gym also had to be present.

A leader's health is the capital of revolution, after all.

There were also plenty of entertainment halls.

This is called combining work with rest.

The other floors each had their uses, and in any case, no faults could be found.

As a result, the Labor Service Center building felt a bit too aloof.

Whether it was the laborers waiting for work or the bosses recruiting, they were all shouting outside, afraid of dirtying the floor.

It was clearly two different worlds.

Shen Bei was an expert at odd jobs and quickly blended into the crowd.

At the same time, Shen City truly lived up to its name as a big city; there were a great many odd jobs available.

He could even pick and choose.

Overall, there were more employers recruiting than laborers available.

Shen Bei liked it here too much!

It was simply paradise.

In the past, whenever a boss came, the laborers would swarm him, begging for work.

But now, the bosses were holding up signs, energetically shouting about their jobs, looking for laborers.

"Little brother! KTV waiter, 150 a day, interested?"

A boss stopped Shen Bei and introduced the job.

Shen Bei pouted; he felt that even if this job activated the daily settlement panel, he probably wouldn't gain any attributes.

A waiter's biggest exertion was carrying beer.

He probably wouldn't even activate the Strength attribute.

At most, he'd get double money.

Boring.

Shen Bei shook his head.

The boss was still unwilling to give up and spoke again: "You have a good appearance, don't you want to take a shortcut? Interested in being a gigolo? They're all rich women; if you serve them well, one day can be worth several months. If you're good at sweet-talking, finding a girlfriend over sixty is not a problem."

Shen Bei's mouth twitched.

Can't do it, can't do it.

Steel wool was too terrifying.

"Don't go!" The boss grabbed Shen Bei, clinging to him: "What can you see when the lights are off? Just work hard and it's over. Endure hardship, and tomorrow you'll drive a Land Rover!"

Shen Bei: …

Get lost.

If I wanted to drive a Land Rover, it would be a matter of minutes.

Am I here to make money?

I'm here to gain attributes!

"Do you know how to juggle or wield dual blades? Our KTV also has a disco; we need that too."

Damn it!

Shen Bei's head was about to explode with anger.

The dual blades I carry are for cutting people!

Get away.

Shen Bei continued to wander through the crowd.

There were truly many odd jobs available.

Finally, Shen Bei chose a relatively strenuous odd job—a brick factory!

According to Sun Boss's introduction, this was not a modern brick factory, but an old brick kiln whose production process was still stuck in the 1970s.

If it weren't for the villagers being busy with spring plowing recently, causing the brick factory to be short-staffed, Sun Boss wouldn't have come out to recruit temporary workers.

The factory itself wasn't large, and the nearby villagers were usually enough.

"In previous years, by this time, I would have stopped production here."

Sun Boss took Shen Bei and a few workers into the car, continuing: "But this year's massive real estate development means too many orders, so we can't stop. It's 260 yuan a day, definitely a high price. If you all are okay with it, then let's go."

Shen Bei and the other laborers naturally had no problem.

Sun Boss drove quickly away from the labor market, heading straight for the suburbs.

Consumptive industries like brick factories are necessarily far from urban areas.

After an hour of driving, they finally entered a remote place called Guanshan Village.

Three kilometers outside the village.

The brick kiln factory had arrived.

This brick kiln factory didn't even have a main gate.

Or rather, it did, but only two gate pillars.

Upon entering, there was a row of old tiled houses on one side.

Slogans could still be seen painted on the walls.

Things like 'fewer births, better births'.

In a daze, it made one feel like they had returned to that chaotic era.

Sun Boss said with a smile: "This brick kiln used to belong to the village collective; later, it was reformed, and I bought it."

Shen Bei said, "Oh," no wonder he could see such slogans.

Continuing further inside.

One could see neatly stacked green bricks drying naturally.

Turning a corner, they could see the brick kiln for firing bricks.

The brick kiln was very old, with a circular structure.

A huge chimney on one side was billowing black smoke.

Workers, bare-chested, pushed carts out of the small kiln openings, pulling out the fired red bricks and stacking them outside for trucks to take away.

At the same time, other workers pushed dried green bricks into the kiln for stacking, then sealed the kiln openings, waiting for the bricks to fire.

Further ahead, there was still the green brick stacking area, rows upon rows.

These wet green bricks were stacked according to a specific method, ensuring that they were pressed one upon another, and even fifty meters long, they would not collapse.

At the same time, as stacking progressed, plastic sheeting also had to be laid behind to prevent them from getting wet in the rain.

Next were the equipment for producing green bricks.

Extremely rudimentary.

Conveyor belts for transporting loess, a mixer, a forming machine, a cutting machine, brick boards, and a slide.

That was it…

It was that simple.

The advantage of simplicity was that it wasn't easy to break.

The disadvantage was that it required several workers to constantly watch over it; it wasn't very smart, or rather, it had no intelligence.

"You few, pull carts."

Sun Boss called out names: "This job is very simple. See those handcarts over there? They'll stop on the slide in a bit, and after the green bricks on top are loaded, you'll pull a cart of green bricks to the stacking area. Someone will be responsible for stacking. After unloading the green bricks, come back and continue."

Shen Bei pulled up a cart.

It was truly incredibly rudimentary.

Two wheels, an iron frame—this was the cart for pulling green bricks.

"Why isn't it electric?"

Shen Bei asked in confusion; what era was this?

Sun Boss said with a smile: "I know that one electric cart is worth three workers, but the villagers would lose their jobs, so there's no need to invest. When no one can do the work anymore, we'll just close down."

If he had already given up, then there was indeed no need to invest.

A cart of freshly made green bricks was loaded onto the cart.

Shen Bei pulled the flatbed cart forward.

Some skilled local workers, when going downhill, didn't use the foot brake; they would directly let the front of the cart lift slightly, their entire body airborne, maintaining balance as they slid down.

The other new laborers, in order to save energy, tried to cut corners.

They began to imitate them in a respectable manner.

But as one could imagine…

Those people had gained skill through practice; they could pull the green bricks to the designated spot with their eyes closed.

For newcomers to do that, it would be a miracle if they didn't overturn the cart.

A wail, and the flatbed cart overturned, wheels facing the sky.

Sun Boss loudly reprimanded them a few times and told the workers to flip the cart over, collect the green bricks, take them back, and re-compress them in the equipment.

"Let me tell you all," Sun Boss said with a serious face: "If anyone has an accident here, I am not responsible. Work honestly!"

After Shen Bei went downhill, there was an uphill section immediately after.

For Shen Bei, this was not difficult.

After the slope, it was the place where green bricks were stacked.

He stopped between two stacking platforms.

On both sides were middle-aged women, wearing gloves, each grabbing a green brick with one hand, stacking them layer by layer, more than a person's height.

The stacking pattern involved interweaving them, ensuring stability while also allowing for ventilation to speed up drying.

After half a cart was unloaded, Shen Bei had to adjust the angle of the cart, moving the middle bricks towards the sides to make it easier for the two women to grab them.

After unloading, Shen Bei could pull the cart away and continue to pull green bricks.

The morning's labor was completed in this monotonous manner.

Lunch break.

Local workers either went home to eat or brought packed lunches.

In this weather, packed lunches would get completely cold.

However, they had a ready-made heat source to warm them up.

Shen Bei and the others followed Sun Boss up to the top of the brick kiln.

Above were densely arranged holes, not large, about the size of a fist.

Each hole was covered with a cement lid.

A worker took a small shovel, scooped a shovelful of coal, then used a hook to open the lid, and a blast of scorching hot air gushed out.

He poured the coal in.

Looking down, one could see a blazing, rolling fire inside the brick kiln, like flowing magma, blindingly bright.

This was Shen Bei's first time seeing bricks being fired.

Adding coal had to be gradual, guiding the flame to advance and burn inside the brick kiln.

Those workers with packed lunches placed their aluminum lunchboxes on suitably warm holes to heat them.

Meanwhile, Shen Bei and the others went to a small house on top of the brick kiln.

"Yun Zhiyi!"

Sun Boss called out: "Are the meals ready?"

Inside the house, a man was chopping napa cabbage.

The man looked relatively young, around forty, with facial features as if carved by a knife and axe.

He turned his head and replied: "Almost, you won't starve if you eat a little later."

"You…" Sun Boss sighed, seemingly wary of Yun Zhiyi, then flicked his sleeve and left.

After the man finished chopping the cabbage, he placed an iron pot on the kiln opening and began to stir-fry.

No oil, no chopped green onions, no seasonings, not even salt.

Add water, stew.

Done.

Shen Bei and the others watched, their mouths twitching.

Is this cooking?

It was one thing not to have meat, but at least put some effort into it!

Are you on a diet?

He didn't even put oil in?

It wasn't like there wasn't any!

Who are you trying to fool?

"This stuff, eat it or not," Yun Zhiyi said, opening a can of meat and eating it by himself: "If you don't eat it, feed it to the pigs."

Shen Bei silently took a large napa cabbage, some dried vegetables, and potatoes from the cabinet.

He began to chop them himself.

After preparing the ingredients.

He directly flipped the iron pot with one hand, spilling the boiled cabbage all over the floor, steam puffing out.

He added oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Shen Bei set the iron pot back, added oil, and sautéed green onions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant.

The napa cabbage, sparkling with water, was thrown into the pot and stir-fried.

He added some soy sauce, oyster sauce, and salt.

He continued to stir-fry until the cabbage had shrunk.

Finally, the dried vegetables and potato chunks were thrown in, water was added, and it was stewed.

Now *this* is cooking!

Boiled cabbage, even a dog wouldn't eat it!

The other laborers also busied themselves, just waiting for the meal to start.

The rice was already cooked, sitting on another fire hole, puffing out steam.

"Little brother's cooking is good."

"You still have to do it yourself to have plenty of food and clothing."

"Boiled cabbage is truly not tasty."

…

The laborers chattered, complimenting him.

Just at this moment.

Shen Bei, guarding the iron pot, suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow out of the corner of his eye.

It was a sharp, air-splitting kick!

Snap~~

Shen Bei reacted extremely quickly, extending a hand and directly grabbing the shadow's ankle, preventing it from advancing an inch and keeping it from kicking over the iron pot.

Shen Bei looked up, asking with interest: "You're Yun Zhiyi, right? Are you very jealous of my cooking?"

Yun Zhiyi's face was devoid of any expression, and he retorted: "A Martial Artist? That's truly surprising. By kicking over my boiled cabbage, are you provoking me?"

"What, do you have an opinion?"

Yun Zhiyi withdrew his foot, a cold sneer on his lips: "The only opinion is… as a Martial Artist, you shouldn't be here."

Shen Bei squinted at him: "This place only allows you to work, but not me? What kind of rule is that?"

Suspicious by nature, Yun Zhiyi stared intently at Shen Bei: "So, you did it on purpose, didn't you? You scum of the Apocalypse Cult?"

Shen Bei: ????