Wei Hanjie said thoughtfully, "Is Yu Zhiqing's medical skill really that good?"

Hou Dayong affirmed without hesitation, "Of course. You're new here and don't know, but since Yu Zhiqing came, no one in our brigade has gone outside to see a doctor; even the town hospital often comes to ask her to help treat patients."

Wei Han asked calmly, "Then why doesn't she work at the town hospital? She should earn more there, right?"

Hou Dayong: "Even if Yu Zhiqing didn't go to work at the hospital, the hospital didn't skimp on her money. They gave her a consultant job with a monthly salary of several tens of yuan, which is higher than the salary of many workers."

"She and Officer Gao are both capable people, and their combined monthly income is one or two hundred yuan."

Speaking of these two, Hou Dayong was filled with envy. If he had a skill, he wouldn't have had to toil in the fields for so many years, making a living by earning work points.

Wei Hanjie: "Yu Zhiqing should only be in his early twenties, right? His eldest son, Duofu, looks to be over ten years old, right? Is he also the child of Cadre Gao and Yu Zhiqing?"

Duofu was well-nourished and developed faster than other children. Before he was even ten years old, he was already almost 1.5 meters tall, much taller than his peers.

Hou Dayong, unaware of his intention, casually remarked, "Duofu is nine years old. She is a child adopted by Yu Zhiqing. She has adopted a total of four children." He then shared the information he knew.

Wei Hanjie has been here for a month, and he hasn't been there for nothing. He has learned a lot about the team through various channels, such as the fact that the family in the cowshed is surnamed Xia.

Given Yu Rujia's reputation in Yancheng, her children, and her reputation in Shangfen Brigade, Wei Han had some guesses in his mind.

Wei Hanjie: "When Yu, a young educated youth, brought four children with her, Officer Gao didn't mind at all. He was a generous and magnanimous person. No wonder he became a big shot in the brigade and town."

Hou Dayong laughed and said, "Officer Gao really likes Yu Zhiqing very much. I heard that when Officer Gao is at their house, Yu Zhiqing doesn't have to do anything. Officer Gao takes care of all the housework, such as washing clothes, cooking, and taking care of the children."

"This is the first time I've met a man like this. The reason why Officer Gao is so successful is not only because of his good personality, but also because he has excellent technical skills. He is proficient in a variety of areas."

"Without Officer Gao's support, the brigade leader definitely wouldn't have approved our brick kiln so readily."

With this achievement, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will undoubtedly be one of the top candidates when the worker-peasant-soldier quotas are released next year or the year after. If he works even harder, he has a very good chance of getting a quota.

That's why, when Wei Han invited him to join the kiln, he joined without hesitation after learning that Gao Shujing was backing him up.

With his skills and connections, there was nothing Gao Shujing couldn't do. Usually, when they tried to enter the Gao family in vain, Wei Han would offer them a ticket to enter. Hesitating for even a second would be irresponsible towards one's own life.

At Hou Dayong's urging, Wei Hanjie went to Yu Rujia's clinic to see about his burns.

Wei Hanjie: "Yu Zhiqing, I burned my hand. Could you please take a look at it for me?"

Yu Rujia looked at his hand; the skin was burned through, and it was a bloody mess: "How did you get so badly injured? Didn't you wear protective gear while you were working?"

She asked Gao Shujing to bring over some burn ointment that could treat minor burns, but for burns like his where the skin had been burned off, it needed to be treated first, otherwise it would easily leave scars.

Wei Han truthfully replied, "We successfully fired a kiln of tiles, and we were so happy that we forgot to bring protective gear."

Yu Rujia: "I'll clean your burn. After you get home, use the medication as instructed. You'll be able to work normally after a few days of rest."

"This is a good opportunity to talk to the captain about your progress and ask him to send more people into the brick kiln. The two of you can't do much."

Wei Hanjie: "We had this idea. We only hired Hou Zhiqing before because we hadn't broken through the technical barriers. Having more people wouldn't have been very useful in the past, but now that we've achieved results, things are naturally different."

"To be honest, we were able to fire the tiles so quickly thanks to the data provided by Officer Gao. It was really useful. If we had to figure it out on our own, it would have taken us at least another half month."

Yu Rujia: "Shujing is a member of the brigade. You are doing things for the brigade. He has the ability, so naturally he should lend a hand."

When Captain Huang learned that the tiles had been successfully fired, his face lit up with a smile; it was another source of revenue.

With Gao Shujing around, he never thought that the kiln might not be built, but he never expected to see results so quickly.

Now, his goal is no longer to become the leader. With the big income from watermelons, his goal is now to surpass the Xiafen team by a certain amount.

Captain Huang: "Good, well done. I'll pick people for you right away. Just start firing. I'll find the buyers. We also need to get the brick-making business on the agenda. It'll be easier to sell bricks and tiles."

"However, your hand is injured, so you should rest for the next few days. Let others do the work. If your injury doesn't heal well, go find Yu Zhiqing."

"Speaking of which, you and Yu Zhiqing are from the same place, so there's no need to worry about her not being dedicated."

Wei Hanjie: "Yu Zhiqing has excellent medical ethics. Before we went to her place, she asked Cadre Gao to bring us burn ointment. When I injured my hand and went to her place, she did her best to treat me."

"With Yu Zhiqing around, my injury will be healed and I can go back to work in a few days."

Captain Huang said proudly, as if he were the one being praised, "Yu Zhiqing and Shujing are both highly conscious people. It will be good for you to associate with them more."

He had two trump cards in his hand: one to ensure the health of his team members, and the other to generate income for him and teach his two sons. Captain Huang couldn't wait to show off Yu Rujia and her husband to them at any time.

Captain Huang made a good deal with Wei Hanjie, saying he would find the clients, but then he turned around and went to find Gao Shujing.

Captain Huang: "Shujing, our brigade's brick kiln is already operational, but we need to find customers. You have a lot of connections, could you bring us a few customers?"

The people he knew were mostly cadres from various production brigades or communes, far fewer than the number of people Gao Shujing knew.

Gao Shujing: "That's no problem. When I go to town in a couple of days, I'll talk to someone I know. It's just that the quantity might not be very large."

If he were to ask, he would definitely be able to attract some orders, but he wasn't sure how many he could attract, so he gave a heads-up in advance.

Captain Huang laughed and said, "Even if you can bring in a lot of orders, our brigade can't handle them all at once. Small quantities will do, let's get used to it first. I've also asked Wei Zhiqing to speed up the brick production, and try to sell the bricks and tiles together."