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To say what job is most enviable these days, it's the one with an "iron rice bowl."
Of course, even "iron rice bowls" have their hierarchies, and they also change over time. Take, for example, the big brothers among the workers—now many of them find their lives not so easy. The factory undergoes endless reforms, and while things keep changing, there's less and less work to do. Even fools know if you don't work, who would pay you?
Old Chang is just such an old worker whose life isn't going as well. This old man had only three or four years left until retirement, and just at this point, the factory had to start layoffs. He got wind from the grapevine that his name was definitely on that "blacklist."
