Chapter 134 – That Promotion Was Way Too Fast

Jiang Cheng thought for a moment and gave Li Shen a call.

“Brother Jiang, this matter is easy to handle. Just have them choose 11 people themselves—whoever gets the most votes becomes the workshop supervisor, and so on down the line,” Li Shen said over the phone.

Voting was, relatively speaking, the fairest selection method.

It also indirectly excluded people who didn’t usually put in much effort.

He’d been in the workshop himself—no matter what kind of benefits you offered, there were always some who’d slack off or take shortcuts.

But in President Chen’s workshop, those slackers were at least less blatant about it, just trying to hold onto their jobs.

Still, if you tracked everyone’s output every day, there was always a portion who did less than others.

And it was clear in daily work—those slower workers did indeed take things a bit easier.

Everything has two sides. If you chose to slack off in your daily work, then during this promotion selection, you’d be at a disadvantage.

He believed those who worked hard every day wouldn’t vote for the lazy ones.

Jiang Cheng thanked him and hung up the phone.

Looking around at the employees working in the workshop, he raised his voice and said:

“Everyone, stop what you’re doing for a moment—I’ve got an announcement to make.”

As Jiang Cheng’s voice fell, all the workers put down their tools and looked at him curiously, unsure what this was about.

“Since the new workshop will be hiring a large number of new employees, President Chen has decided to select one workshop supervisor, two team leaders, and eight group leaders. When the new employees start, you’ll be the ones leading and training them.”

“After taking on these positions, your salaries will increase accordingly—group leaders get a 1,000 yuan raise, team leaders 2,000, and the workshop supervisor 3,000.”

As Jiang Cheng spoke, everyone’s faces showed expressions of shock.

After all, they had just received news that morning that employees who had worked for three full months would get a 1,000 yuan raise. Everyone in the workshop was a senior worker who had hit the three-month mark.

So they’d already received the 1,000 yuan raise that morning!

The shopping card amount had also increased from 500 to 1,000 yuan.

And housing/transport subsidies added another 1,000.

That was already a 2,500 yuan raise.

And now in the afternoon, this job selection announcement…

If you got picked as the workshop supervisor, your salary would jump by 5,500 yuan in just one day!

Even getting chosen as a group leader wasn’t bad. With 16 people competing for 11 spots, it was hard to tell which 5 wouldn’t make the cut.

“Brother Jiang, aren’t you already the workshop supervisor? Why are we selecting another one?”

One employee asked curiously.

Jiang Cheng scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ve been promoted to Production Department Director, so the workshop supervisor role is now vacant.”

“Congratulations, Brother Jiang!”

The employee quickly clapped in congratulations.

The rest of the workshop workers followed suit and began clapping as well.

Jiang Cheng quickly raised his hands to stop them.

“Alright, alright—let’s focus on picking the list of personnel. We’ll go with a vote. Everyone gets a piece of paper—write down the 11 people you believe are fit for the roles. Based on vote count, we’ll assign the positions.”

Before long—

The voting was complete, and the 11 staff members had been selected.

Jiang Cheng took the finalized list of selected employees to President Chen’s office. After all, the salary increases had to be approved.

Soon, 5 p.m. arrived—quitting time.

Employees began filing out of the workshop toward the company cafeteria. Compared to usual, their faces were beaming with even brighter smiles.

Jiang Cheng also left the workshop with a smile, pulling out his phone as he walked and dialing a number.

“Hey, Old Lu—can you talk right now?”

“Yeah, what’s up, Old Jiang? Speak.”

Lu Zhenguo’s voice came through, accompanied by the roar of machinery.

Clearly, he hadn’t gotten off work yet.

“You’ve been asking me to keep an eye out for open positions at our garment factory, right? Well, there’s one now. If you still want in, I’ll tell HR tomorrow.”

“Of course I want in—why wouldn’t I?!”

“Alright, I’ll speak with HR tomorrow. Once you finish your resignation procedures, you can start here. But let me warn you—our place has great benefits, but you’ve got to put in real work. I’m not going to give you special treatment just because we’re friends.”

Jiang Cheng said. He had already run this by President Chen when submitting the staff promotion list.

Chen’s response had been: “You’re already the Production Department Director now. There’s no need to report small matters like ordinary worker recruitment in the workshop—just coordinate with HR directly.”

So, bringing Lu Zhenguo into the workshop was no problem at all.

“Got it, supervisor Jiang. With benefits that good, I’d be a moron not to work hard. Let’s go out for dinner later—my treat.”

“I’m not a supervisor anymore. After you join, you’ll have to call me ‘director’. And skip the dinner—our company cafeteria is way better than those small restaurants outside.”

Jiang Cheng hung up after saying that. His wife had probably already grabbed food for him at the cafeteria anyway.

As for Lu Zhenguo—he’d promised earlier to keep an eye out for openings. Now that President Chen was expanding the workshop and hiring a bunch of new people, it was the perfect time to ask.

Plus, Lu Zhenguo was a solid worker—not someone who slacked off.

So Jiang Cheng felt at ease bringing him in.

In the industrial park—

Inside a machinery processing factory—

Lu Zhenguo stared blankly at his phone, now disconnected.

Already promoted to department head?!

That was way too fast.

He remembered just last year, they were working at the same factory, sleeping in bunk beds.

Jiang Cheng didn’t talk much, but he always worked hard—never cut corners. No matter how lazy the others were, he just kept his head down and worked.

Even when management showed up, he never tried to suck up.

So even though he was highly capable, he never got the same attention as those brown-nosers.

Back then, Jiang Cheng was the only one he really got along with—they’d eat out and drink together often.

Eventually, they became real friends.

Later, Jiang Cheng had a dispute with the factory over his pay and quit outright.

But Lu never imagined—

The guy who’d been doing the same job as him just last year was now a department head.

That was a serious blow to the ego.

Still, he was lucky—thanks to Jiang Cheng, he was getting into the garment factory easily.

And that place was famous in the whole industrial park for its benefits.

So many people had tried to pull strings just to get in—without success.

“Hey! Lu Zhenguo! Didn’t I tell you no phones during work hours? That’s a 50 yuan fine!”

“And there’s some urgent work tonight. You’re staying late!”

A slightly overweight man walked over, looking at Lu Zhenguo with disdain as he barked out orders.

“Factory Director, I just made one short call. Can’t you let the 50 yuan slide?”

Lu Zhenguo forced a smile.

“I don’t care how short it was. You touched your phone—so 50 yuan it is. That’s the factory rule.”

“If you can’t handle it, quit.”

The factory director didn’t even bother to hide his bad attitude.