Regarding the matter of organizing an auto repair skills competition, Li Xuewu took Xu Damao to the relevant department of the ministry.

The department never expected that an outlier would emerge in its metallurgical sector, someone who specializes in auto repair and is doing quite well at it.

"You can proceed with the organization without worry; we've agreed. If the city needs our assistance, they can come to us," the department leader promised.

“Let’s go. You can handle the city matters yourself first. We’ll come when you need our help,” Li Xuewu said.

In the end, all the leaders were the same: they gave verbal promises, saying to contact them if needed, but you had to do the work yourselves first.

Xu Damao thought it made sense; they couldn't keep taking Li Xuewu to the city every day. Besides, Xu Damao had a good relationship with the city's Transportation Bureau, which was in charge of auto repair, when he was setting up the auto repair shop, and he could handle most of the initial administrative matters.

Next, Xu Damao, along with two deputy factory directors and Huang Shu, ran back and forth between the district, the city, and the ministry, so much so that his legs must have worn thinner from running around.

Initially, both the district and the municipal transportation bureau agreed, requiring that the materials be submitted according to the normal procedures. However, after the auto repair shop submitted the materials all the way to the relevant leader at the municipal bureau, that leader refused to sign them off.

Xu Damao learned through a department under the Transportation Bureau that the problem stemmed from the origins of the auto repair shop.

The supervising leader thought that organizing a skills competition was a good idea, but it should not be led by an auto repair shop, which originated from the Ministry of Metallurgy. Instead, it should be organized by relevant enterprises in the city.

Otherwise, how can the Beijing transportation industry maintain its dignity? How can he, the supervisor in charge, maintain his dignity?

The supervising leader stated that it was virtually impossible for the auto repair shop to handle this matter well, and their idea was about to be plagiarized. The municipal bureau leadership approved the relevant departments of the municipal bureau to investigate the possibility of a skills competition.

The news they found out almost made Xu Damao and several leaders of the auto repair shop faint with anger. They had worked so hard for so long, only to be eliminated because they weren't part of the inner circle—that was too painful.

So, this was the time for the higher-ups at the auto repair shop to step in, and Li Xuewu personally went to communicate with the supervisor in charge.

It has to be said, Li Xuewu, this second-generation rich kid, is quite influential in Beijing. After one visit, Xu Damao and his group obtained the approval slip. Afterwards, Li Xuewu hosted a dinner for the leaders of the Transportation Bureau at the steel rolling mill, with Xu Damao accompanying them.

"Factory manager, it's really hard to find judges. We approached several professors from Jiaotong University, but they said they studied car manufacturing, not car repair, so they can't come."

Every time Huang Shu sought out Xu Damao, it was just like when Xu Damao sought out Li Xuewu—it was certain that he had encountered a problem he couldn't solve himself.

Competitions inevitably need judges, and the same applies to competitions in the auto repair industry. Initially, the leaders suggested finding experts and professors, as that would ensure fairness.

However, the automotive industry was still in its infancy at that time, and there were very few professors who understood cars. Moreover, they emphasized theory over practice and knew even less about car repair.

After searching around, not a single professor was willing to come, which greatly worried Huang Shu and his team. The competition approval had already been issued, but how to conduct the competition and who would be the judges were still undecided.

"Old Huang, what are the other comrades' opinions?" Xu Damao was also an outsider when it came to this kind of thing.

"The main problem is that this is the first time we've organized this kind of competition. Nobody has any experience, and the professors didn't have any references either. We were worried about being criticized if we didn't do it well."

If we have enough time, we can invite professional teachers from nearby provinces to come over.

Huang Shu rambled on and on, but didn't answer Xu Damao's question.

"Stop talking about all those problems. Right now, we need to solve the issues of finding judges and setting questions. If we can't find anyone else, you'll have to do it yourself," Xu Damao quickly interrupted the other person's rambling.

“Yeah, why don’t you be a judge? With your car repair skills, which professor can match you?” Xu Damao suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"That won't work. Putting aside whether my skills are up to par, even if I become a judge, how could people from other factories possibly be willing to come and compete?"

"This is someone who's both the referee and the player; it's bound to be met with opposition," Huang Shu quickly said.

"That's simple. Each major company can send a top technical expert to act as a referee, and then no one will complain about the unfairness."

You're all experts in this field; you can tell at a glance who's a good mechanic and who's a bad one.

Xu Damao thought the idea was good more and more as he talked about it. Moreover, this first competition brought together the best technical people from various factories, which also allowed them to participate in the organization, and everyone's enthusiasm would be even higher.

“Let’s go to the Municipal Transportation Bureau and report this to them. We’ll ask them to notify all the larger auto repair shops in the city to come to a meeting, and then we’ll set the rules,” Xu Damao said.

Some leaders in the Municipal Transportation Bureau felt it was inappropriate for Hongxing Auto Repair Shop to take the lead alone. Now that Hongxing Auto Repair Shop itself has proposed inviting people from other shops to serve as judges, they are naturally happy.

Soon, a meeting was held at Hongxing Auto Repair Shop to prepare for the first Beijing Auto Repair Industry Skills Competition. This was Xu Damao's first time appearing in front of so many colleagues.

"Respected leaders and comrades: Good afternoon!"

Today, we are gathered here to discuss and prepare for the automotive repair industry skills competition. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting, and thank you for your support and attention to the automotive repair skills competition. ..."

Xu Damao, representing Hongxing Auto Repair Shop, spoke at the preparatory meeting, which made the group of leaders in their forties and fifties somewhat depressed. This kid, who was about the same age as their own son, was already sitting on equal footing with them and even speaking on the podium.

Needless to say, at this rate of development, Xu Damao will become someone's leader in a few years. In fact, some of the factory directors below him are only section-level cadres, which is already lower than Xu Damao.

Despite their internal complaints, they understood that this was an important activity aimed at improving professional skills and promoting industry development, and it was of great significance for raising the overall level of the auto repair industry. So they tried their best to cooperate and participate.

After intense discussions, the industry leaders finally determined the number of judges, the competition format, and the competition time.

The most heated discussion revolved around the specific competition events and exam questions. Everyone was worried that their own judging panel would leak the information to their factory employees in advance, creating unfairness.

Finally, Xu Damao suggested, based on the way college entrance exams are set in later generations, that these experts be temporarily confined before the competition and released on the day of the competition, which was the only way to gain the agreement of most people.

With the main issues resolved, the next phase was an exchange of ideas, and Xu Damao learned a great deal from his industry colleagues.

Putting aside other issues, just considering talent, Hongxing Auto Repair Shop, being a secondary enterprise of the steel rolling mill and under the management of the metallurgical department, is completely ignored when the transportation school allocates students each year.

Nowadays, college and university graduates are highly valued, so their transportation system will definitely select them first, and naturally, there will be no possibility of any being left over.