Chapter 163

Ye Manzhi privately believed that her daughter had some potential to be an accountant.

At the very least, Wu Yuzhuo is good at managing money and saving money.

Ever since she learned to spend money on popsicles, the couple has given her two cents of pocket money every week.

But Wu Yuzhuo never spent the money after receiving it. He would ask his parents if he wanted to buy food or drinks.

Ye Manzhi is quite principled when it comes to spending money, and her demands are not always met.

But Wu Zhengrong has always been generous. He spent money lavishly before getting married. After getting married, not only did he not change his generous habits, but he also spent money with his wife and children.

On the way to pick up his child from school, he would pay for whatever Youyan wanted.

As a result, Wu Yuzhuo's pocket money was of no use, and he saved a huge sum of one dollar in a year.

However, managing one's own money and managing outside money are two different things. The children's group has at least twenty yuan in public funds. Giving so much money to a five-year-old child is nothing but nonsense.

Ignoring Accountant Wu's protests, the couple took the young accountant and the tin can to the Qingnian Street Commune.

The Children's League is under the leadership of the Youth Street Party and League branches. This matter must be made clear to the commune secretary.

What the couple didn't expect was that the commune secretary actually knew that Wu Yuzhuo was an accountant!

"The leader of the Children's Corps just came to explain the situation to me," Secretary Fang said, offering a seat to the two parents. "Although the Children's Corps has been established for several years, it hasn't had an accountant. Last year, the commune allocated one mu of land to the Corps, allowing them to cultivate, manage, harvest, and use the land themselves. After selling the honor grain, they had some extra money, so they hired an accountant."

"The accountant needs to record the work points for the members, and they need to be able to write and do math. However, the oldest child in the children's group is only ten years old, and he is their group leader and deputy group leader. The other children range from 5 to 10 years old. Most of them have not yet started school or have just started school. Not many of them can write and do math."

"Over the past six months, the Children's Corps has had two new accountants. One miscalculated work points, causing conflict among members, and the other was discovered by the Corps leader to have embezzled five cents of public funds."

Wu Zhengrong glanced at Accountant Wu, who was still clutching the money jar, and said to the commune secretary, "Secretary Fang, Wu Yuzhuo is only five years old. Although she can read and do arithmetic, she has no previous accounting experience. Isn't it a bit hasty to let her be the accountant for the Children's League?"

After he finished speaking, he laughed first.

Youyan is only five years old and of course has no accounting experience.

What is going on here...

Secretary Fang also smiled and said, "We shouldn't underestimate the power of children. It's very necessary to educate children in communism, cultivate their learning abilities, and accelerate their growth. These children are actually growing very fast. After replacing two accountants, they proposed running for the accountant position within the Children's League. Any member who can write and do math is welcome to apply."

"There were 14 children participating in the accounting competition. There were 10 math problems in total, but only two of them scored full marks in both written and oral arithmetic. One of them was Wu Yuzhuo."

Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong were not surprised that their children got full marks.

After Wu Yuzhuo was able to speak, he continued to study with Grandpa Wu. He had math homework every week and could already do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The arithmetic problems for the children's group should not be difficult.

Ye Manzhi asked, "Secretary Fang, how old is the other child who got full marks? Why don't we let that child become an accountant?"

She actually doesn't want her children to manage money.

It's hard for children to control their desires. Embezzling a few cents or a dime from public funds might seem like a minor offense now, and the only solution is to fire the accountant. But children eventually grow up, and if someone were to dig up this dark history and claim, "So-and-so embezzled public funds while in the Children's Corps," it would have some impact on their future progress.

Secretary Fang said, "That child seems to be seven or eight years old. The regiment commander asked him to be responsible for calculating work points, and Wu Yuzhuo is responsible for keeping accounts. I heard that Wu Yuzhuo has pocket money."

Children these days rarely have pocket money, and even if they do, they have to wait until they start school.

People like Wu Yuzhuo who have savings at the age of five are rare.

Having a child who has pocket money to manage the money can greatly reduce the risk of embezzlement of public funds.

Ye Manzhi denied it, "She doesn't have any pocket money. I guess it was secretly given to her by the elderly in the family. Her great-grandparents probably thought we were too strict with her and were afraid she'd be wronged at home, so they secretly gave her five or ten cents in pocket money. Alas, there's nothing we can do about an old child. The old saying about the relationship between generations is really true!"

The fact that they gave their child pocket money was too conspicuous. Although it was only two cents, it was still seen as spoiling the child in the eyes of outsiders.

It was getting late, and after the couple understood the situation, they took their children and said goodbye to Secretary Fang's house.

Since the appointment of the accountant is not a random act and Wu Yuzhuo himself is willing to be the accountant, there is no need for his parents to interfere too much.

After returning home, Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong took turns explaining to Accountant Wu the importance of integrity and dedication, telling him to tell his parents directly what he wanted and never let everyone down by taking huge risks to embezzle public funds.

Even temporary misappropriation is not allowed.

Wu Yuzhuo listened very carefully, holding her money jar and repeatedly assuring, "I will definitely take good care of the money and not spend it myself!"

Ye Manzhi hugged her daughter and praised her a lot, saying that it was amazing that she got full marks on the arithmetic problems, and that being able to become an accountant for the children's group was also a sign of progress, and she must continue to work hard in the future.

After the kid took the money jar back to the house to sleep, she said with some concern: "It's actually quite against human nature to let such a young child manage so much money and expect him not to touch it."

Even adults cannot resist the huge temptation, let alone children whose willpower is already weak.

When we first start working, everyone will definitely perform well, but it’s hard to say after a while.

Most of those who dare to embezzle public funds are experienced accountants.

Wu Zhengrong reassured her, "I'll take her to the bank tomorrow and help the children's group open an account there. This will cut off any possibility of her making mistakes at the source."

"That's a great idea! The Children's Group doesn't seem to have much need for spending money. We could set up a current account for them at the bank so they can withdraw money whenever they need it. Then, just have our Accountant Wu keep the account book and ledger, and leave the withdrawal letter with the group leader. It's both convenient and safe!"

Ye Manzhi gave her man a thumbs up. She didn't have to worry about Accountant Wu's misappropriation of her position, and she could sleep well tonight.

*

Wu Yuzhuo had made great progress at such a young age that Ye Manzhi naturally thought of Accountant Wu's uncle, Comrade Ye Mangui.

Youyan has become an accountant, but her fourth brother has no proper job at his age and is still selling melon seeds in front of the cinema!

So she went back to her unit to inquire about the food factory's recruitment situation.

"Director, this recruitment might be complicated," Zhou Ruyi whispered. "The Human Resources Department posted the recruitment notice on our factory bulletin board instead of outside. They're actually trying to prioritize employees' families..."

Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "Isn't it normal to give priority to employees' families when hiring? What's wrong with that?"

"If we had organized the recruitment exam soon, there wouldn't have been any problems. But Director Niu never returned, and word of our recruitment efforts gradually spread outside the factory. Someone reported us to the Municipal Labor Bureau, accusing us of operating in secret and engaging in group-based behavior."

Ye Manzhi asked in surprise, "Did someone really sue you?"

"Really!" Zhou Ruyi said, "Director Niu had just arrived for work this morning when he was called to the Municipal People's Committee."

Ye Manzhi: “…”

When many people hear that a certain unit only recruits children of factory employees, they think there must be something fishy, ​​such as giving gifts to leaders, using internal connections, or hiring people for positions.

Ye Manzhi had similar thoughts before she started working.

However, after she became the deputy director of the street, she gradually understood why various units gave priority to hiring children of factory workers.

There is a possibility that connections are involved, but from the perspective of corporate leaders, it is indeed more convenient to recruit children of employees within the factory.

On the one hand, everyone knows each other well, their background is easy to investigate, and political review is relatively easy.

On the other hand, housing for employees of state-owned units is allocated by the units, and enterprises are under great pressure in this regard.

Most of the children of the factory live with their parents, so they can always find room if they squeeze in. They don't have to make a fuss like the new employees, asking the factory to solve their housing problems.

Moreover, children of factory employees have a stronger sense of belonging and recognition to the factory. Taking several reasons into consideration, company leaders are of course willing to give priority to hiring children of factory employees.

However, major units in the city have been reducing their staff for several consecutive years, and few units will recruit from the public.

This year, the food factory released twenty formal employment quotas at one time. How can people not be tempted?

Because of these formal employment indicators, Niu Enjiu went to the city to be criticized and did not return to the factory until lunch time.

The first thing he did when he came back was to ask the personnel department to post the recruitment notice on the bulletin board outside the factory.

It will only be posted for three days, and the recruitment exam will be held three days later.

After get off work, Ye Manzhi went to the bulletin board outside the factory to take a look. When she finally found the notice, she burst out laughing on the spot.

The bulletin board was colorful. The various big-character posters that had been posted before had not been torn down. There were pink, green, blue, red, and all kinds of colors of posters.

I don't know who in the Personnel Department came up with this clever idea, but the paper used for this job posting was very small, with black text on a yellow background, and it was posted on top of another large-character poster with black text on a yellow background.

The title of the big-character poster below is still clearly visible!

If you don't pay close attention, it's hard to notice that there's a new job posting there.

Ye Manzhi thought to himself, although Lao Niu had been criticized for the whole morning, he actively admitted his mistakes and refused to change his bad habits!

…

The notice was only posted for three days and the paper was so small, so many people thought that there would definitely not be many people coming to register for the exam that day.

However, the food factory's examination started at ten in the morning. When Ye Manzhi went to work at nine in the morning, the sidewalk in front of the factory gate was already blocked.

The employees of our factory haven't seen such a scene for a long time.

Several workers in the candy workshop were whispering to each other as they proudly walked into the factory gate.

"Aren't we only recruiting 20 people? Why are there so many people? There must be two or three hundred people, right?"

"It's been a while since we've had such a large-scale recruitment in the city. There are bound to be a lot of people coming! And our food factory has such good benefits. Who wouldn't want to work there?"

The food factory belongs to light industry. Apart from the porters in the warehouse, there is no heavy physical work in the workshop.

Moreover, many people think that food factory workers, like restaurant chefs, have no shortage of food.

The work is easy, the environment is good, the benefits are high, and some positions even allow you to sneak a few bites of food. A job like this where you won't starve is the best job nowadays.

"In addition to the 20 regular jobs, there are 30 temporary positions! In these circumstances, being a temporary worker is fine! The neighborhood officials in my area have started going door to door again, mobilizing unemployed young people to go to the countryside to work."

Someone chimed in, "My daughter is two years younger than me. Otherwise, I'd also let her sign up for the exam, even if it's just for a temporary job! Who knows what her future will be like when she graduates from high school! Oh..."

Such conversations have been played out countless times throughout the food factory.

Ye Manzhi mingled in the crowd and listened to everyone's discussion. His eyes kept looking around and he soon found his fourth brother who was talking with someone.

She walked over and called the person out.

When the fourth brother saw her, he smiled and said, "Hey, Director Ye, you're here early for work!"

"It's almost nine o'clock, what's so early?" Ye Manzhi took him across the street and found a deserted place to explain, "Brother, there are too many people taking the exam today, and there will be a lot of gossip. Don't tell others about your relationship with me."

"Hey, my dad has already told me not to tell anyone about this."

Fourth brother is still quite smart when it comes to this kind of thing.

It is so difficult to get a formal job nowadays, especially a position in a good company like a food factory.

If he had passed the exam based on his own ability, people would have said that he got the job through his sister's connections.

Not only will it affect Lai Ya, but he may also lose his job.

You can't be too cocky right now, you have to make a fortune quietly.

Ye Manzhi didn't trust her fourth brother, but she still trusted Old Ye. She smiled and asked, "Brother, how are you preparing for the written test?"

"That's it!" said the fourth brother, his hands behind his back. "I've memorized all the Chairman's quotations and even written them out several times. Dad said that if you come across a question you don't know the answer to, just pick a quote from the Chairman and write it down."

“…”

Ye Manzhi paused for a moment, then took the application form from him and looked at it. "Why didn't you fill in 'Awards Won' here?"

Fourth Brother tutted, "You're mocking me, aren't you? What awards have I won? If I won an award, how can I still sell melon seeds?"

"Coal Hero isn't considered an award?" Ye Manzhi handed the application form back to him. "Hurry up and write down what year and month you went to collect coal in which place, and why you were a coal hero."

"What kind of award is that?"

"Just listen to me and write it down!"

Fourth Brother squatted on the side of the road and wrote according to her request.

After a while, she said, "You can't leave the skills and specialties blank. You can drive a truck, right? Write it down!"

"I'm just applying for a security guard position, why would I write that? What if the factory asks me to be a driver? I can't drive!"

"Don't worry about what you're applying for, just list all your skills and specialties." Ye Manyi thought for a moment and said, "Can you swim?"

"Yes."

"Write it down! You can sing, right? Even if you're not very good, as long as you can open your mouth, that's fine. Write it down too! And long-distance running, cycling, write them down too."

The fourth brother didn't understand why he had to know how to swim and sing if he just wanted to be a security guard, but he still wrote down all these things one by one as Director Ye asked.

Ye Manzhi glanced at his watch and said, "I'll go in and get to work first. You can think about the application form yourself. Don't leave any blanks on the form. Don't be modest and write down everything you know and can even touch upon!"

The fourth brother waved his hand and told her to go to work, but he sighed in his heart, Lai Ya is so good at bragging, no wonder she can become the factory manager!

…

The recruitment examination of Binjiang No. 1 Food Factory officially began at ten o'clock in the morning.

Due to the large number of applicants, nearly 400 people in total, the test papers prepared in advance by the Personnel Department were not enough.

Some people who had test papers were taken to the factory auditorium to answer the questions, while the other people sat in the open space in front of the factory gate, each person at a table, and wrote their answers on manuscript paper according to the test questions on the blackboard in front of them.

The windows of many offices in the factory face the examination room, and there are several employees watching the fun around almost every window.

Ye Manzhi also stood by the window and watched for a while. When she graduated from high school, she also took many similar exams. Although she failed all of them, the admission rate that year was much higher than that of the food factory.

Judging from the number of test takers today, even if temporary positions are included, the admission rate is close to 1:8.

Only one out of eight people can achieve their wish.

*

The examination organized by the food factory is just the beginning. The real test is actually in the admission stage.

On the day the written test ended, Ye Manzhi went home and told the young soldier on duty at the gate of the family compound that she would not be receiving visitors during this period. If anyone came to the compound to register and look for her, please stop them and say that she was not at home.

The young soldier diligently helped her stop a few people, but he could stop strangers but not acquaintances.

Just a few days after the recruitment exam, Ye Manzhi hosted Secretary Fang of Qingnian Street Commune at her home.

Accompanying him was a father and daughter carrying gifts.

Secretary Fang is the secretary of the commune party branch, and Accountant Wu must be under the leadership of Secretary Fang.

For the sake of her daughter's progress, Ye Manzhi has to entertain others warmly.

After a brief greeting, Secretary Fang introduced: "Director Ye, this is my old classmate Guo Qingfu, who works at the Binjiang Boiler Factory and is now the deputy director of the factory office."

Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "So you're from a sister unit. I was wondering, Director Guo looks familiar. I guess we've met before in the city."

She was being polite, but she was actually a little puzzled.

The boiler factory is a big factory with a lot of jobs. It shouldn't be difficult for the deputy director of the factory office to find a job for his daughter, right?

Why did you use your connections to get to her?

Guo Qingfu quickly solved her problem.

The boiler factory also has recruitment targets this year, but they are either technical positions or heavy manual labor positions, neither of which are suitable for his daughter Guo Meirong.

Guo Meirong has not found a job for a year after graduating from high school.

This food factory recruitment is a good opportunity for her.

When Ye Manzhi heard that she was a high school graduate, she understood a little.

People came to her for help with valuable gifts, not to work in the factory, but to get the two cadre positions in the factory.

However, all cadre establishment of the First Food Factory must be reviewed by Niu Enjiu personally. It is estimated that Director Niu already has a suitable candidate in mind.

Guo Qingfu said, "Director Ye, my daughter has excellent academic performance and will definitely pass the food factory exam. I'm sure she won't give you any trouble with her written exam results."

He also knew that the two parties did not know each other, and it was unlikely that he would be able to succeed by asking someone to help with such a big matter on the first visit.

Ye Manzhi might not even think highly of the things he brought.

So, he then vaguely mentioned that as long as the food factory could accept Guo Meirong, he would also be able to find an opportunity in the future to help Director Ye arrange for someone to work in the boiler factory.

As the deputy director of the factory office, it is not easy for him to directly get his daughter into the unit as a cadre, but it is still possible for everyone to exchange resources and help each other.

Everyone in the family has work to do, so Ye Manzhi doesn't need to worry about other people's work.

The conditions proposed by Deputy Director Guo did not cause any ripples in her heart.

But she still smiled and nodded, saying, "Since Meirong has good grades, the possibility of her getting a job at the factory is still very high. Secretary Fang, Director Guo, I've made a note of this. Once the results are released from the personnel department, I'll do my best to help Meirong get a job. However, there are only two cadres this time, and Director Niu may have other arrangements. I can only try my best to help her. Anyway, let's communicate in time."

Seeing that she agreed so readily, Guo Qingfu thought that the exchange conditions he proposed had worked, and happily shook hands with Director Ye to thank him.

Ye Manzhi saw the people out and returned the gifts they brought.

"Director Guo, take the things back with you. Now is a critical time for recruitment, and I don't know how many people are watching me. Let's try our best to let Meirong enter the factory with a clean record and not give people any reason to talk about her."

Guo Qingfu was also worried that his daughter would be reported for using a backdoor, so seeing that she really didn't want to accept the gift, she declined it several times before taking the gift away.

*

Although the food factory is recruiting 50 people this time, it is not admitting 50 people based on their test scores from high to low.

Recruiting workers these days is similar to taking the college entrance exam. In addition to academic performance, one’s background and a clean record are also considered.

Some workshops also require professional production skills.

Therefore, in order to prevent some people from failing the political review, falsifying academic qualifications, or falsifying household registration, resulting in insufficient numbers, the Personnel Department has set the admission score at 67 points, and 80 people have passed the written test.

Before the admission results were officially announced, the homes of several factory managers and personnel directors were packed with visitors.

Ye Manzhi lives in the military academy's staff quarters. The young soldier on guard has helped her stop many people, but so far only two people have come to give her gifts.

But other leaders’ homes are not so quiet.

Therefore, as expected, another accident happened at the food factory!

The factory leaders frequently received visitors, which was noticed by some people, who then sued the food factory!

This time, the complainant also produced evidence that the nephew of Deputy Factory Director Wang Shihu also took part in the recruitment exam and ranked 80th with a score of 67, barely passing the written exam.

Isn’t this just the deputy factory director giving his nephew a backdoor?

Wang Shihu was furious at this accusation.

Eighty people were admitted in the first round, which was a plan that the Personnel Department had already made. His nephew just happened to pass the exam and ranked 80th. What does this have to do with him?

Besides, his nephew didn’t join the factory to be a cadre, but to work as a worker in the pastry workshop!

Influenced by him, several children in his family have learned the craft of making pastries. Now that they have a skill, isn't it normal for them to work in a pastry workshop?

With his nephew's skills, even if he doesn't work in a food factory, he can still work in other pastry shops.

…

The food factory's recruitment this time was being watched by many people, both openly and covertly.

In response to the constant reports on the factory, Niu Enjiu urgently convened a team meeting.

Specifically discuss the recruitment matters this time.

"Ever since the news of the recruitment came out, the factory has been in turmoil," Niu Enjiu stretched out two fingers to measure, "The notes in my drawer are so thick, and there are also many people who come to my house to give gifts. It's really annoying."

Chen Qian and Jiang Wenming also echoed that they encountered the same situation.

"The most contradictory thing now is that if we recruit people we know or who worked at the factory, we'll be targeted and reported everywhere. If we don't recruit them, it's unfair. After all, they've all passed the written test, and we can't reject them just because they have connections at the factory."

Ye Manzhi took the initiative to speak up and said, "Since we have a job recruitment exam, we should admit people according to the application requirements. One is one, two is two. We can't be timid and intimidated by external public opinion."

"After Director Wang was reported, I paid special attention to Wang Zhiming's situation. He ranked 80th on the exam and has excellent pastry-making skills. According to the conditions announced by the Personnel Department, there should be no problem in putting him on the first list."

Wang Shihu, who was named, nodded seriously at her.

Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "There's a saying that goes, 'When selecting the best, one should not avoid relatives.' Since you mentioned Director Wang's nephew, I'd like to share my own situation. The 50th place on the written exam was my brother, Ye Mangui. Everyone knows that I come from a working-class background. My hometown is in the countryside, and my father is a worker. My brother comes from the same class as me."

No one has reported her and her fourth brother yet, but Ye Manzhi still took the initiative to mention it.

It is better to report it yourself than to be reported by others. At least this way you can take the initiative.

"My brother had poor study conditions as a child and only finished high school before dropping out. Ye Mangui's situation is all recorded on the personnel department's registration form, so I won't go into details. I'll just say one thing - in the past four years, Comrade Ye Mangui has participated in ten major coal mining campaigns and has been a coal mining hero ten times! Everyone knows how hard coal mining is. Not only is it hard work, but there's no pay. To be a coal mining hero ten times requires great perseverance and a high level of ideological awareness."

"I was actually quite surprised that Ye Mangui, who graduated from junior high school, ranked 50th on the exam. As long as he meets the factory's admission requirements and is recruited to work in our factory, I don't care what others say. I can't deny Ye Mangui's efforts just because I'm the deputy factory director."

Ye Manzhi never said hello on behalf of her fourth brother, nor did she leak the test questions to him. After all, even she herself didn't know the test questions.

Fourth brother passed the written test on his own ability, so she has nothing to feel guilty about.

Seriously speaking, the fact that Fourth Brother was able to rank in the top 50 was a combination of good timing, good location, and good people.

Many current tasks require political leadership, and this year all major units across the city are organizing their employees to study the Chairman’s works.

On the test paper for the personnel department, all the questions on the liberal arts were related to the content of the Chairman's Quotations.

The fourth brother was not a good student, but in recent months, under the encouragement of Old Ye and the third brother, he has memorized the Chairman's Quotations fluently.

He could answer most of the questions on the test paper.

Ye Manzhi continued, "Also, I want to talk about the situation of passing notes. To be honest, I've tried to avoid being used as a liaison, but it's impossible to avoid it. This situation occurs more or less in all units when recruiting, not just our factory. Of course, it's also common for leaders of various units to be reported during recruitment. Our factory has two cadre positions this time, and most of the people passing notes are here for these two cadre positions."

"I've been thinking about it recently. The biggest problem plaguing our factory is the post-disaster reconstruction of the canning workshop. For various reasons, the canning equipment hasn't been put in place yet. Director Niu and I previously tried to collaborate with Shanghai Yimin Food Factory No. 2, but unfortunately, that effort failed."

"Actually, Binjiang is very well-developed in heavy industry, and some equipment can be completely sourced within the city. Many of the people who approached us this time were children of workers from machinery and boiler factories, and I heard their test scores were all very high, some even tied. It's really hard to choose. Why don't we contact them and see if they can help us get canning equipment. For example, our city boiler factory has a 2-ton steam boiler that our canning workshop needs, but we don't have the money to buy it right now. Can we discuss the possibility of installment payments with the boiler manufacturer?"