Having achieved financial freedom, I reorganized my workplace.

Chapter 1

Suicheng, a small county town under the jurisdiction of Ningcheng, in 2010.

Its geographical location is unremarkable; it is neither a transportation hub nor a strategic military location, but rather a small basin nestled in the folds of mountains.

Abundant rainfall, lingering fog, and rampant mosquitoes.

Surrounded by continuous karst peaks and red cliffs, several mountains have a unique and beautiful shape, but they have not yet been able to join the ranks of famous mountains.

Because it's not weird enough, and strange enough.

Not many people know about Suicheng, and even fewer can pronounce the character "Sui" correctly.

If there's anything truly famous about this place...

That is "wild game".

Pangolins, partridges, giant croakers, tiger croakers... even snakes, insects, rats, and ants can all be served as delicacies in the mouths of gourmets here.

A waterway called "Blue River" meanders through the entire county.

The river is muddy and yellow year-round due to endless rain, landslides, and soil erosion. It dares not call itself the "Yellow River," much less the "Mother River"—in the past, too many unidentified corpses floated on its surface, but now they are less common, replaced by more and more garbage and food.

The feng shui master said that the basin gathers water, and water can bring wealth.

The people of Suicheng seemed to be cursed; every few years, strange natural disasters would strike. It was either a severe drought and cracked barren landslides, or devastating floods, or worse, locust plagues and rat infestations. Finally, a hydroelectric power station and a waterworks were built, solving the drought and flood problems, but after only a few years of peace, strange, unheard-of diseases emerged: "Black Foot Disease," "Watery Wu Disease," "Consumption..."

In summary, Suicheng can be summed up in one word: decline.

There always seems to be a dark cloud hanging over us.

Agriculture depends on the weather, industry cannot be developed, and the people, living in isolation and hardship, have developed a certain fierceness and snobbishness, though the fierceness is ultimately a result of their snobbishness.

Lin Chen came to Suicheng right after graduation and now works for Xinhai Water Group Suicheng Company as the team leader of the water affairs center in Balu Town, Sui County.

Lin Chen was no fool.

He's been in Suicheng for ten years now, so he's considered a veteran. He just turned thirty this year.

I still remember the day I first arrived in Suicheng. As soon as I stepped out of the bus station, it started raining heavily.

The rain was like marbles, hitting my body and hurt terribly.

This startled Lin Chen.

Has the sky fallen?

Later I learned that it was hail, and it was very common in Suicheng. That's why the locals run very fast when it rains, not because they're afraid of getting wet, but because they're afraid of getting seriously injured by the hail.

When he arrived at the company alone that year, he was received by Li Dayong, the director of the county company office.

Director Li looked him up and down, and then naturally asked him two questions on the spot:

"Lin Chen, does anyone in your family work in our water system?"

Lin Chen didn't quite understand at the time and replied, "No."

Director Li continued, "So... do you have relatives working as X in Suicheng?"

"No, not at all."

Director Li was visibly taken aback, feeling a sense of disbelief: "Then how did you end up in this wretched place?"

At that time, Lin Chen was unaware of the deeper meaning behind it and replied, "Our group came to our school to recruit. I got first place in the written test and then the highest score in the interview. In the end, I don't know why, but I was assigned here."

"Oh, I see..." Director Li said with a sudden realization, patting him on the shoulder. "Then keep up the good work, you'll definitely improve."

"Thank you, Director."

Lin Chen, in his naiveté, took the director's words to heart.

I was secretly grateful that the people here were so kind.

After joining the company, Lin Chen worked diligently day and night, was extremely strict with himself, was even more hardworking than a model worker, and working overtime was the norm.

Of course, hard work pays off.

In just three years, he became the class monitor of Balu Town.

At that time, he was quite full of vigor and ambition.

After all, there were more than a dozen people who joined the company at the same time, and most of them had some kind of background, which I only found out later.

But I was the first to become class monitor.

Of course.

Lin Chen was not surprised.

With a prestigious university background, he is capable, handsome, fair-skinned, and has deep-set eyes. He is clean, loves reading, and stands out like an immortal among a group of rough and unkempt old masters.

Many people praise him to his face, but behind his back they say he's a real oddball!

The Baru Water Supply Service Center is a two-story building with a large water storage station next to it, providing drinking water for the townspeople.

The street in front of the gate is the most bustling street in Balu Town; to be precise, it's the only street.

Today is Wednesday, the third day of the lunar month. The weather is overcast and slightly cool. It's not market day, so the streets are relatively quiet.

There's an uncle under the banyan tree at the left entrance of the water supply center, pushing a wooden cart and selling his own sweet potatoes and corn.

The shouts weren't loud, as if the vendors were weak. Despite having a whole cart of food, they weren't even full, and probably didn't want to eat a single bite.

Beside a stinking puddle on the right side of the street, there was a familiar figure. An old man in tattered clothes sat on a dilapidated mat, carefully picking up sweet potato peels he had just collected and eating them with great relish.

The exact number of years this "old man" has been entrenched here is unknown, but he was already part of the street scene when Lin Chen first arrived in Baluso ten years ago.

He wasn't actually that old, probably in his early forties, but the long-standing grime, dark skin, and tangled beard and hair made it difficult to tell his age.

Rumor has it that he was from Rooster Village, and his son drowned in the Blue River, his body never found. He went mad and wandered the streets day after day, asking everyone he met if they had seen his son. Once, he even grabbed Lin Chen and shouted for a long time, saying that he was his son.

At first, he slept in front of the government building.

They were severely beaten by their security guards several times, so they moved to the vicinity of the Rural Credit Cooperative. They were then driven away again, supposedly because it affected their feng shui. Finally, they moved to the side of the stinky ditch next to the water supply station.

I don't know what forged his body, but he can withstand so much hardship. He looks to be in good spirits, more so than many of the employees at the water supply center. Perhaps it's because he doesn't suffer from internal conflicts.

Enviable.

Lin Chen strolled out the door, intending to go to "Qiu's Noodle Shop" for a bowl of noodles. He paused at the door, then turned and walked to the banyan tree, where he bought two ears of corn. He peeled one open and ate it himself, then gently tossed the other to the old man by the stinking ditch.

The old man raised his head, grinned, revealing a set of white teeth that contrasted sharply with his grime-covered face, and called out to Lin Chen in a muffled voice, his smile carrying a childlike and pure warmth.

They're much better than some ungrateful wretches.

Carrying the half-eaten corn back to the station, I found several experienced colleagues sitting around a table, tea steaming, hookahs gurgling, and deep in conversation.

The topics were nothing more than winning or losing at the mahjong table, or the romantic affairs of some woman in town. When Lin Chen came in, the atmosphere paused subtly for a moment, and then all sorts of "work" were thrown over in an orderly manner.

Tang Junbin (known as "Tall Guy" because of his tall and thin stature) spoke first: "Squad leader, the water meters that were replaced in Fox Village yesterday have all been brought back and are piled up at the stairwell. Could you take a look at how to put them away and help me with the disposal process?"

Liu Shengchao (skinny and clever, nicknamed Monkey) continued, "Squad leader, I forgot my computer password and can't log in. Could you contact the information center for me when you have time and reset it?"

Chen Jiasheng (the origin of his nickname is unknown, but everyone calls him Asshole) stubbed out his cigarette: "Squad leader, the tire on vehicle 256 is flat, and there's a big nail stuck in it. We can't do the job today. Go find someone to fix it."

……

This is the situation Lin Chen, as the shift leader of the Balu Water Supply Station, faces day after day. Nominally a shift leader, he's more like a nanny, having to handle everything, big or small.

A few years ago, Lin Chen would respond to them very enthusiastically: "No problem, leave it to me." This year, after listening, Lin Chen basically remains silent, quietly sits in his seat, and does his own thing.

If you neither agree nor refuse, you won't get any praise from others for doing this. Moreover, many times, these things just pile up and disappear, and you only do them when there's absolutely no other way.

His enthusiasm and his sharp edges have been worn away by the unique "decadent" atmosphere of Suicheng, and smoothed out by the day-to-day work. Of course, it may be because he is the only one among his colleagues who joined at the same time who is still working at the water supply station.

It was only in recent years that he gradually understood the astonishment Director Li had shown when he joined the company.

In this small, intricately connected place, having no roots or connections means that all your efforts may not be as effective as a warm "uncle" at a dinner table.

He was able to become the class monitor not only because of his own hard work, but perhaps more so because he was "clean" and capable of doing the work, which made some people feel at ease and comfortable using him.

Being stuck in a rural town for a long time and not showing your face at the county company is almost equivalent to having no future. If the big leaders don't even know who you are, how can they appreciate or promote you?

He has no ambition now, and no longer wants to please the director or leaders. He just wants to do his job every day and get by.

Of course, the experienced workers weren't worried about Lin Chen not responding and continuing to brag, because their mentality was very simple: once the matter was reported, it was no longer their concern. If they could solve it, they would; if they couldn't, they would just drag it out. If a real problem arose, they would simply say, "I've already spoken to the squad leader," and then push the matter away.

Moreover, at Xinhai Water Group, the experienced workers all know that the fastest way to solve a problem is to create one.

The director of the Balu Water Supply Station is named Lin Kaidong.

He was originally the deputy director of finance at the county company headquarters, but later he got involved with a woman in the company's logistics department. He was caught cheating by her husband, and the matter caused quite a stir.

Because her husband also works for the company.

So, in order to quell the storm...

The leadership then appointed him as the director of the Balu Institute.

After arriving at the Baru Institute, far from the reach of the central government, he became even more unrestrained, pushing almost all the affairs of the institute, big and small, onto Lin Chen. Lin Chen also wanted to push them away, but no one else was willing to; the people below all said they didn't know how or couldn't do it.

The director certainly had it easy; he spent his time either playing mahjong or going to the neighboring Donggua Village to vent his frustrations on Widow Qin.

A dog can't change its nature of eating shit; everyone in the office knows this, but he thinks no one else does.

When the masters talked about this, they didn't call him a scumbag; instead, they looked on with envy, saying that Widow Qin's breasts were like papayas, and they wished they could touch them...

Lin Chen had seen it; it was truly nice.