“Take it slow, there’s no rush.” David Carter was already quite unfamiliar with the matters at the factory.

Chapter Two: Classmates

Ever since he went to the county high school and started boarding there, he stopped paying much attention to the factory. Later, after getting into the police academy and being assigned to the criminal police team, he became even more indifferent to factory affairs. Every time he came home, he’d only stay for a day or half a day, mostly to catch up on sleep, then have a meal before heading straight back to the team. As a young newcomer to the criminal police team, the leaders kept a close eye on him—being able to go home once a month was already pretty good.

“You don’t need to comfort me, you know my family’s situation. My dad can’t even fart after being hit twice with a stick—there’s no way he’d go talk to the leaders. My mom doesn’t have a job either. The fact that the factory let me in and gave me a job is already a big favor. Now my younger brother is about to graduate from high school, and there’s still a younger sister below him—we have no idea what to do.” Charles Wilson said with a sigh.

David Carter also felt a bit helpless. The teaching level at the factory’s children’s school was just so-so. The teachers there were paid better than those at local schools, but in terms of teaching quality, they weren’t even on the same level. Compared to Jiangmiao Middle School, it was much worse, not to mention the county high school. Plus, the school atmosphere wasn’t good, so it was no surprise that the chance of getting into college was always zero.

Back in junior high, his grades were among the top in both classes of his year, but he barely managed to get into Jiangkou County High School. Over all these years, he was still the first from the children’s school to get into the county high school.

Once he got to the county high school, he immediately felt the gap—the school spirit and teaching quality were completely different. No matter how hard he tried, he was always near the bottom of the class, and it wasn’t until senior year that he managed to reach the middle. In the end, he got into the provincial police academy, which was quite a shock to everyone at Andu First Cotton Mill.

Basically, if you studied at the children’s school, the best you could hope for was a high school diploma, then wait for a job opening at the factory. Getting into a technical secondary school or college from the children’s school was harder than a bull giving birth.

Luckily, in the past two years, the factory’s performance had been decent, so the children of factory workers didn’t have much trouble finding jobs. But getting into an easy department with good pay and benefits was tough. The machine repair workshop where Charles Wilson worked was just an average department—not too tiring, just a bit dirty, but the pay wasn’t great.

“Changqing, just hold onto the job for now. As long as you do well, maybe a leader will notice you and you’ll get transferred somewhere better.” Even David Carter himself felt these bland words of comfort were meaningless, but he couldn’t think of anything better to say.

“That’s all I can do. The factory hired a lot of workers the past two years, mostly women, but some men too. I figure next year they probably won’t hire anyone. If my brother graduates this year and can’t find a place, how about letting him join your Jiangmiao police station as a security assistant?” Charles Wilson thought for a moment, then suddenly brought it up.

“A security assistant? At the second station?” David Carter frowned. “Changqing, why do you want your brother to do that? Besides, security assistants are usually required to be veterans. Your brother hasn’t served in the army—will that work?”

Although David Carter hadn’t officially started at the police station yet, he’d been working at the public security bureau for over half a year and knew that recruiting security assistants from veterans was standard practice. Usually, each police station had as many security assistants as police officers, and township stations had even more. They were mostly organized under the district committee’s name, but managed by the police station.

“Heh, that’s where you come in, isn’t it? Are all security assistants really veterans?” Charles Wilson laughed drunkenly, his eyes a bit red. A bottle of Liulangchun was already empty, and since David Carter had to report to the police station in the afternoon, he’d only had a couple of drinks, leaving the rest to Charles Wilson.

Of course, David Carter knew there were exceptions, but that required a leader’s approval—at least the station chief, political instructor, or deputy chief, or someone at the district committee or township level. As a newcomer, he had no say in these matters. Still, he didn’t want to spoil his classmate’s mood—it wouldn’t be good to dampen the spirits at their first meeting.

“Yeah, let’s leave it at that. We’ll see when the time comes.” David Carter knew his words sounded a bit official, but there was no other way. He could boast in front of others, but if he couldn’t deliver, so be it. In front of an old classmate—even though he and Charles Wilson weren’t that close—if he went back to the factory and ran into their classmates, he’d get nothing but dirty looks if he didn’t keep his word.

“Yeah, just keep it in mind. Sigh, out of our whole year, you’re the only one who’s made something of yourself. Kong Yue, Fang Ziquan, and the others all managed to get into Jiangmiao Middle School from the children’s school, but they still came back with their tails between their legs and ended up relying on the factory for jobs.”

Charles Wilson took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed one to David Carter—it was Jiaxiu.

Looks like Changqing isn’t doing well. There’s a saying: if you’re doing badly, you smoke Jiaxiu. Jiaxiu only costs one and a half yuan a pack. Almost no one at the public security bureau smokes Jiaxiu, except for the old comrades whose families are from the countryside. Even the youngest guys smoke Feicui or Hongmei at the very least, or else Chahua.