Chapter 1934 - Zhu Qiujing

This shift leader, twenty years old, carried the designation "widow."

Zhu Qiujing hailed from Guangzhou's outskirts. Married at fifteen, she became Madame He-Zhu. Mother at sixteen. At seventeen, first her son perished, then her husband followed. She became a widow.

Her résumé wasn't particularly uncommon among women of this timeline.

Having lost her husband, both in-laws and natal family schemed toward her remarriage. Widowhood was actually uncommon among commoners—establishing a moral exemplar required substantial economic foundation; otherwise survival proved unsustainable, particularly since her husband had left no children. From both families' perspectives, a woman in her prime obviously constituted a valuable asset—failing to liquidate it would be wasteful.

Her in-laws and natal family waged fierce battles over her ownership. Ultimately, Zhu Qiujing's father—an old scholar who'd studied lifelong without passing examinations—leveraged connections with "classmates" from his scholarly days to forcefully reclaim his daughter's custody. He promptly married her to a second husband.

Though Zhu Qiujing hadn't necessarily harbored profound affection for her first husband, she felt absolute aversion toward the new one. This man was a notorious bachelor from the neighboring village who indulged in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling—perpetrating every conceivable evil. The advantage: he possessed considerable liquid funds, owned substantial fields, and had no living parents-in-law.

However, she possessed no voice in this transaction—speaking would only earn severe beatings. Even her mother dared not utter "no." Zhu Qiujing's father coveted the generous betrothal gift, thus "sold" the daughter he'd reclaimed. Consequently, Zhu Qiujing transitioned from Madame He-Zhu to Madame Wang-Zhu.

The ensuing days gradually devolved into nightmares for Madame Wang-Zhu. A husband absent for days on end, creditors constantly arriving to seize everything, thieves rampaging through the countryside, and increasingly punishing taxes with myriad surcharges—she could only subsist through perpetual concealment.

Finally, discovering herself becoming an object creditors intended to claim, this girl who'd always been honest and dutiful made her life's greatest decision: she packed remaining money and provisions, fleeing to Guangzhou City with her widowed mother.

Guangzhou City naturally proved no paradise for the old and young. Her mother fell ill within days. Desperate reality—depleting funds, various risks facing women outside, temptation of legendary divine medicine—collectively pushed desperate Madame Wang-Zhu to Cihui Hall's doorstep. Thereafter, this dark-skinned, short-statured girl entered a brand-new world.

Benefiting from her father's instruction, Madame Wang-Zhu passed the Type B diploma shortly after purification, becoming among very few educated naturalized women. Following political review, she embarked on "serving the Senate and the people," allocated to the Planning Agency's Data and Computing Center.

People purportedly find faith most readily when confronting drastic environmental changes. This axiom certainly applied to Madame Wang-Zhu. For her and many naturalized citizens, the Senate had become their deity. The Senate opened a door—a portal to a world she'd never imagined even in dreams. In this new world, she was no longer merely Madame Wang-Zhu without even a personal name, no longer compelled to silently endure fate. She could become an independent person who fed and clothed herself through her own efforts.

In a Senate-organized lecture for newly employed female naturalized citizens, the story of Austral-Song heroine Qiu Jin told by a short-haired female Senator profoundly impacted her. Though she only half-comprehended the new language spoken then, she grasped the story's essence. A woman who'd married, just like herself, could abandon family and children—even shed blood and sacrifice her head—to resist the tyranny of the Eight-Foot Traitorous Minister. Such seemingly treacherous behavior became the "Woman Knight of Mirror Lake" praised universally in the Austral-Song. To commemorate this sage who imparted completely new life philosophy, she changed her name to Qiujing.

As among the Data Center's earliest qualified employees, after several years' diligent work, she not only became a team leader managing a dozen girls but was also allocated a small one-bedroom apartment to settle herself and her mother as technical backbone. Though this residence was modest and carried a ten-year mortgage, for her, this was personal paradise. It featured bright glass windows, a convenient coal briquette stove, clean corridors and chambers, and Ikea-style furniture influenced by Senators' living habits. Though her elderly mother still nagged, hoping she'd remarry promptly, for current Zhu Qiujing, marriage no longer constituted life's core—she already possessed her own life.

Having married and birthed, though young in years, she was considerably more mature in self-positioning. Zhu Qiujing never wore makeup and dressed simply—despite above-average looks and figure. Such deliberate austerity and never participating in "organization"-arranged blind date events made everyone feel it was regrettable. Some rumored she preserved chastity for a man. Zhu Qiujing invariably scoffed at such claims.

She reported today's input group work situation to Xu Yicheng. The input group's work wasn't difficult once familiar—the key was speed and error rate.

Input speed was straightforward, mainly proficiency, emphasizing hand-eye coordination. Error rate was far more critical—regardless of computational power, if original data entered incorrectly, conclusions drawn would inevitably prove problematic.

Simple numerical errors weren't catastrophic, but misplaced decimal points or extra/missing digits meant final calculated conclusions would deviate wildly.

Human attention and energy possess limits. Under poor conditions, data input inevitably yields higher error rates. To maximally ensure inputters could work in optimal states, inputter work was not only strictly limited to eight hours per shift, but also permitted fifteen-minute rests every two hours. Work meals were specially supplied with balanced fish, meat, and vegetables, containing abundant protein, vitamins, and trace elements. Therefore, being a Computing Data Center inputter constituted excellent employment.

However, this was merely material assurance. Ensuring input error rates remained at acceptable levels required constant supervision. Therefore, within the input group, "error checking" work had always been focal. Not only was special "accuracy" education conducted continuously, but verification was also implemented. Beyond assigning dedicated personnel to verify each input task, scheduled and unscheduled spot check verifications were adopted to assess each inputter's input error rate.

"This is today's spot check verification situation." Zhu Qiujing handed him a report. "The error rate has dropped slightly compared to last time, but..."

Xu Yicheng knew content lurked behind that "but." The rest area was crowded and noisy, naturally inconvenient for extensive discussion, so he beckoned her to the nearby small lounge.

"...There are a few people whose error rates remain high." From Zhu Qiujing's hesitant expression, Xu Laowu knew without being told it was likely the "Four Heavenly Kings" again.

These Four Heavenly Kings were four members infamous throughout the Computing Center for elevated error rates. Their origins varied, but their common characteristic: all possessed countless ties with Senators. Some had sisters who were Senators' "Living Secretaries," others had been personally "favored" by Senators. Still others had families with business dealings with Senate enterprises—important "partners."

Female inputters with similar backgrounds weren't uncommon in the Computing Data Center, but their error rates and input speeds at least reached passing levels. Whereas these four, whether regarding error rate or input speed, had never attained tolerable states.

Xu Laowu had already shown these Four Heavenly Kings considerable leniency, not eliminating them or changing posts according to normal procedures, organizing special training multiple times—seemingly with negligible effect.

He examined today's spot check table. Predictably, these four occupied top positions again. Viewing the adjacent monthly average error rate statistics, their average error rate was 2.7 times that of ordinary inputters.

Slow input, high error rate. No wonder Zhu Qiujing's expression soured mentioning this matter.

But Xu Laowu found himself somewhat conflicted. Because the Senators associated with these four included some who'd greeted him personally and others with whom he maintained good relations. He felt somewhat unable to disregard these connections.

Yet allowing this indulgence to continue wasn't advisable either—if hearts scattered, the team would become unmanageable. Especially Zhu Qiujing; her serious, responsible work attitude made her particularly intolerant of such matters. His leniency toward the Four Heavenly Kings had actually generated very detrimental influence within the Computing Data Center.

He considered momentarily and said:

"I'll first eliminate Fang Qi, who has the highest error rate. I hope this can shock the others somewhat. If there's still no improvement, I'll eliminate one weekly starting next month."

Zhu Qiujing said nothing, merely nodded. From her expression, she was obviously somewhat dissatisfied with Xu Laowu's handling plan. Zhu Qiujing was exceedingly serious about work, treating Senate regulations as immutable laws, and had always harbored opinions about this obvious favoritism. Moreover, she'd discussed these matters with Xu Laowu numerous times.

Ever since Du Wen selected her to attend the Women Cadres Training Class, Xu Laowu found her assertiveness had grown, and her conversational expression had become substantially clearer—completely different from ordinary female employees who revered Senators as deities.

What Zhu Qiujing didn't yet know: her name had appeared as a typical example in the "Instructions on Strengthening the Training of Women Cadres" just issued by Queen Du under the Administration Council's authority. This document, partially plagiarizing a report on women's work during the War of Liberation from the old timeline, stated: "We have the responsibility to cultivate numerous outstanding women cadres to support long-term warfare and various rear work. Methods for cultivating cadres should be based on differing local conditions, adopting forms such as holding short-term training classes, participating in takeover work teams, and having the advanced constantly mentor apprentices to cultivate women cadres." As Queen Du's proud disciple, and being Guangzhou native herself, she'd already entered the Senate's line of sight.

(End of Chapter)