Chapter 165: Midlife Crisis

With things as they were now, there was even less need to worry about their son’s job—it was something they could finally be completely at ease about.

Add to that Old Li’s current income, and with both spouses working, the family was more secure than ever. Old Li could keep working for years, maybe even pass his job on to his grandson one day.

Zhou Yimin noticed that he seemed to have gotten used to sleeping in the countryside. Compared to that, he didn’t sleep as well in the courtyard home.

Of course, the bed in his rural house was objectively better.

In the city, he couldn’t indulge too much—but back in Zhoujiazhuang, it was a different story. That was his turf.

Nowadays, Zhoujiazhuang had been managed by him to the point that it was like an iron fortress—exactly the outcome Zhou Yimin had wanted.

The next morning, Zhou Yimin spent 2 yuan to use the 1 yuan purchase deal. Today’s discounted items were 100 jin of glutinous rice and 100 large lobsters.

Whoa! Even lobsters were showing up now.

Zhou Yimin took a glance—each lobster was a standard 5 jin.

That was 500 jin in total! And only for 1 yuan.

Talk about a steal.

The glutinous rice could be used for making zongzi. Now that he thought about it, it had been quite a while since Zhou Yimin last ate any. He missed it a little. Of course, zongzi had to be savory!

The debate between sweet and savory zongzi had been going on forever.

Northerners preferred sweet zongzi, while southerners liked them savory. Even in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, which was famous for its sweet tooth, savory zongzi with fillings like fresh pork, salted egg yolk, shiitake mushrooms, and dried shrimp were still the go-to.

Northerners, for all their love of bold flavors, were oddly fond of stuffing zongzi with candied dates, red dates, or red bean paste whenever glutinous rice was involved.

After breakfast, Zhou Yimin went to the steel factory like everyone else. Today was the day the factory would officially announce his promotion to team lead, something he and Team Lead Wang had already discussed.

As the workers were starting their shift, they suddenly heard the factory’s PA system.

The announcer repeated twice the new personnel appointments: Wang Weimin would be promoted from team lead to section chief, and Zhou Yimin would take over as team lead of the fifth team under the fourth procurement department.

The workers were stunned.

Zhou Yimin was now officially a household name in the steel factory.

No one felt jealous about him becoming team lead. He deserved it. After all the contributions he’d made, what was a team lead position?

If it had been them, they might’ve thought the factory was being a bit stingy.

“Congratulations, Team Lead! Treat us to a meal!” the members of the fifth team under the fourth procurement department all congratulated him, naturally expecting a free lunch.

Zhou Yimin was generous and responded boldly, “No problem! Where do you want to eat? You pick.”

As soon as they heard that, someone immediately tested the waters: “What about Donglaishun?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Sure, let’s go after the morning shift ends.”

His team members erupted in cheers.

Donglaishun! They barely went there three times a year. Some hadn’t even been once this year. Just thinking of hotpot mutton had their mouths watering.

After they “extorted” a meal from Zhou Yimin, they figured they could also squeeze one out of the former team lead.

After all, Team Lead Wang had just been promoted to section chief—wasn’t that worth a celebratory meal?

At noon, Zhou Yimin took everyone to Donglaishun.

Same as always—hotpot mutton. Honestly, with how hot the weather was, Zhou Yimin wasn’t used to it. He ended up sweating buckets. It wasn’t like in the future, where restaurants had air conditioning.

Hotpot was better suited to winter, but since the others liked it, he decided to let them have their way.

Treating everyone to a meal was only right—otherwise, it’d be hard to lead the team.

From now on, the fifth team under the fourth procurement department would be his stronghold in the factory.

Zhou Yimin thought being a low-level cadre was enough—no need to aim too high. In four years, things would start to change. The higher your position, the more likely you’d become a target.

“Not satisfying enough! Once the weather gets colder, I’ll invite everyone over to my place for hotpot. I’ll bring back a whole lamb,” Zhou Yimin told everyone.

Today, Donglaishun had issues with their lamb supply. Zhou Yimin’s group of a little over ten people only got six jin of lamb. Even if they wanted more, there wasn’t any. And the waitstaff’s attitude was still just as arrogant.

No one doubted Team Lead Zhou’s words—if the man could get wild boars, getting a whole lamb didn’t seem that far-fetched.

Everyone in the team knew the wild boar Zhou Dazhong brought into the factory the other day was originally sourced by Zhou Yimin. Word was, all the wild game and farm goods from the village were procured through him.

The rest of the team was hyped and full of flattery.

“What’s wrong? You don’t look happy,” one team member nudged the colleague beside him, noticing the gloomy look on his face.

“Happy? Of course I’m happy! We’re getting lamb, how could I not be?” the man replied, though his face didn’t quite match his words.

Zhou Yimin seemed to pick up on something and asked, “Old Yu, didn’t you complete your procurement quota this month? Anyone else fall short? Raise your hand.”

Old Yu was the oldest in their team—around forty years old.

Yu Xiaoguang gave a wry smile. “It’s getting harder and harder to go out for procurement.”

It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying. A few days ago, he’d even gone all the way to Jinmen, but only managed to bring back some dried fish. It was looking unlikely that he’d meet the month’s quota.

Worse, he’d also failed last month and had already been criticized for it.

Hearing Zhou Yimin’s question, three people nervously raised their hands, worried that the new team lead was going to crack the whip.

Zhou Yimin noticed they were all middle-aged.

“Are you all going through a midlife crisis?” Zhou Yimin said with a laugh that was half joking, half exasperated.

Someone asked, “What’s a midlife crisis?”

It was their first time hearing the term.

A midlife crisis refers to the physical discomfort, behavioral shifts, and psychological imbalance that occur upon entering middle age.

As their status at home and in society begins to shift—children start families of their own, younger people take over their roles—these changes disrupt long-established habits, leading to inner turmoil and emotions like anxiety and stress.

Zhou Yimin gave a simple explanation, but even he chuckled after finishing. Honestly, “midlife crisis” might not have been the most fitting phrase for this situation.

Still, he did catch a few people looking away awkwardly.

Zhou Yimin was surprised. Huh? Seriously?

Someone else asked, “Uncle Liu, you used to exceed your quotas all the time—what happened this month?”

Uncle Liu used to be a top performer. His slump this month didn’t make sense.

Liu Cheng gave a bitter smile. “My son got married. I was thinking about stepping down and letting my eldest take over my job.”

But he also felt a bit unwilling—he had just entered his prime and was still capable. Who would be ready to retire so easily?

Yet if he didn’t step aside, his son wouldn’t have a job. That was also a problem.

It was this exact struggle that made it hard for him to focus on “running business” this month. Naturally, his procurement numbers suffered.

His situation really did resemble the “midlife crisis” Zhou Yimin had mentioned. No wonder he reacted that way.

Zhou Yimin reassured them, “Don’t stress about the procurement quotas for now. If you’re short, just tell Dazhong how much you’re missing.”

(End of chapter)