Olivia Watson said, "I don't really know what to teach him. You seem quite educated—maybe you could give him some guidance with his studies. I only finished junior high, and he's in high school now. I don't even know how his grades are."

"Mm, sure, that's doable," Henry Carter said, taking on the responsibility. "Guiding a high school student with their studies, for me... uh, shouldn't be too difficult."

He had originally wanted to sound even more confident, but then remembered that his current identity was a technical school student, and technical school is something you attend after junior high, so technically, he hadn't attended high school either. To say that guiding a high school student would be a piece of cake seemed a bit exaggerated. Of course, that was only in terms of Henry Carter's current identity—his real abilities were more than enough to supervise several PhD students at a university.

After borrowing Olivia Watson's meal ticket and buying some porridge and buns at the cafeteria, Henry Carter went to the factory office building and waited at the personnel department to be assigned a job.

"Your name is Henry Carter? What trade did you study at technical school?" The cadre in charge of job assignments at the personnel department was a middle-aged Auntie Smith, who looked at Henry Carter as if she were scrutinizing a wayward youth.

"I studied foundry work, and I know a bit about heat treatment too," Henry Carter replied.

"Foundry work? Isn't that just sand casting? Why did the technical school send us another sand caster?" The middle-aged Auntie Smith grumbled discontentedly, "What do we need so many sand casters for?"

Henry Carter remained silent. He knew that with women going through menopause, the best approach was not to argue, or you'd just end up getting yourself into trouble. This middle-aged Auntie Smith probably didn't have anything against him personally—maybe she just spent five cents too much on groceries that morning, or maybe her kid brought home a report card with a few extra red crosses yesterday, so she was taking out her frustration on the new guy. All he could do was wait.

Sure enough, after grumbling for a while, Auntie Smith's mood gradually improved. She looked up at Henry Carter and said, "We'll assign you to the foundry workshop as a sand caster. Do you have any objections?"

"None," Henry Carter answered without hesitation.

"Really none?" Auntie Smith was a bit surprised at how readily Henry Carter agreed. She remembered that the technical school student assigned last year had kicked up a fuss about not wanting to do sand casting. After all, sand casting was considered the hardest and dirtiest job in the factory—dealing with blast furnaces all day, going home every day covered in sweat and coal dust. Even though this job paid a three-yuan monthly bonus over other positions, not many young people were willing to do it.

"I'm a revolutionary brick—I'll go wherever the Party needs me," Henry Carter said with a smile, quoting an old slogan to answer Auntie Smith's question.

"Mm, there really aren't many young people with your attitude these days," Auntie Smith said, now in a great mood. She took out a notebook, scribbled out a letter of introduction for Henry Carter in bold calligraphy, tore off a slip, handed it to Henry Carter, and said, "Take this letter to the foundry workshop and find Director Frank Miller. He'll assign you work. Do a good job—if you perform well, it's possible to transfer you up here as a worker-cadre in the future."

So-called "worker-cadre" meant doing a cadre's job with a worker's status, which was the best future a worker could hope for in those days. Auntie Smith's promise to Henry Carter didn't mean she actually had the power to transfer him to the office; it was just something she said to reward his honest attitude.

Henry Carter thanked Auntie Smith, put away the letter of introduction, and left the office for the workshop. His previous self had indeed studied foundry work at technical school and had built up some strength, so he didn't mind being assigned as a worker in the workshop. As a transmigrator, Henry Carter wasn't worried about having no future as a worker—he believed that as long as he wanted to, changing his circumstances would be a breeze.

"Henry Carter, what, you've been assigned to our workshop?"

As soon as Henry Carter walked into the foundry workshop, he ran into Mark Newman and Leonard Miller. The two of them were delighted to see Henry Carter and immediately pulled him over for a round of greetings.

"What a coincidence! You two are both in the foundry workshop too?" Henry Carter asked with a smile.

Mark Newman said, "Yeah, I'm a forger, and Leonard is a crane operator. What can I do? His dad is the workshop director, so he got a good job. I only have the option of working myself to the bone."

A crane, in this context, is a hoist mounted on the workshop's main beam that can move back and forth. Crane operator is a skilled position and relatively easy, so it's considered one of the better jobs. Hearing Mark Newman say this, Leonard Miller protested, "Fatty, what are you talking about? Your dad is the former factory director—if he wanted to put in a word for you, you could be sitting in an office, let alone operating a crane. But your dad insisted my dad assign you as a forger. What could my dad do?"

Mark Newman sighed theatrically and said, "Sigh, the old man says I'm too impulsive and not steady enough, so he wants me to work as a forger for a few years to temper my character. But I actually like being a forger—it's satisfying. If I had to sit in an office with all those old men and women, I'd be bored to death."

"Haha, so it's just you two in the foundry workshop. What about Harold?" Henry Carter asked about Harold Young.