Chapter 227 Extra Chapter 05: The Red Flag
In 1956, the Wuxing Automobile Factory recruited a group of female workers from the families of its workers.
The new workers had only been working for a little over a month, but they had already become familiar with everyone else in the factory.
Most of us lived in Ginkgo Hutong and saw each other often. Now that we're all factory workers, we see each other even more often when we go to and from work and get lunch. I wouldn't say I know every single worker in the factory, but I definitely know about 80% of them. I even know about each other's families.
The only one they didn't really know was the new apprentice in the welding workshop.
"Anyway, she's not from this side of Ginkgo Hutong. I've lived in Ginkgo Hutong for five years and I've never seen her once."
“It’s not one of those big courtyards in our area. Our place is much smaller than Ginkgo Hutong, and I know everyone in every household there.”
Whose is that?
After a few days, everyone finally found out whose daughter this little girl was.
"The apprentice brought by the new engineer Su is just starting to learn welding from him, so he is an apprentice."
The welding workshop is the core department of the factory, and the new engineer, Su, was hired from elsewhere. Su came to support the construction of the Five Star Automobile Factory. Her husband didn't need her help, so she only asked the factory to allow her to take on an apprentice.
"Why is it a female apprentice?"
These words were immediately met with a barrage of retorts from a group of women: "What's wrong with women? Leaders say women hold up half the sky. Isn't Engineer Su a woman too? What's wrong with taking on a female apprentice?"
The person who had just spoken slunk away.
The new apprentice, Zhou Hongqi, who was being discussed, was learning welding knowledge from his master and was feeling overwhelmed by what he was hearing.
To be honest, she had been working at the Five Star Automobile Factory for forty days, and she and her mentor had only known each other for less than two months.
She wasn't from Northeast China either. Life was tough back home. She had a cousin who and her husband were factory workers in Northeast China. When she went back to visit relatives during the Spring Festival, she wanted her to help take care of the child and do housework, so that at least she could save the family some food.
So she went to Northeast China with her aunt.
After working for three years, my aunt's older children were able to help with the chores, so she was no longer needed.
My cousin is a nice person. I heard that the eldest daughter of the Su family next door was transferred to a car factory in Beijing, and there was a job opening for family members to be accommodated. The Su family members all work at the factory and don't want to leave their hometown to go elsewhere, so she went to their house to try and buy the job opening.
Su disagreed, but her aunt immediately tried to pull her to kneel down, saying that if she were sent back to her hometown, her parents would sell her to an old widower as his wife...
Su Gong initially disagreed with her, but upon learning that she was only fourteen years old, he wavered.
Finally, Su Gong became her mentor, and she packed her bags and went to Beijing.
If she had a choice, she would rather be a cargo unloader doing heavy work. As an illiterate person who can barely read, learning a skill would require her to memorize a lot of things, and she could only rely on her brain to remember them... Sigh!
"Don't sigh. I've enrolled you in the factory's literacy class. Go to class and learn to read after get off work every night."
That's how Zhou Hongqi began his literacy studies.
It was three years later when she was able to take notes with a pen, and she passed the apprenticeship exam and became a full-time worker at the Five Star Automobile Factory.
In the first three years of her apprenticeship, according to her master, she only learned the basics; she still had much to learn and practice.
She wasn't good at studying, but she was quite capable with her hands and loved to learn. While others rushed home after work, she stayed at the factory to practice her skills, constantly asking her mentor questions whenever she had a spare moment.
Three years later, in 1962, she obtained her first-class welder's certificate.
From then on, she was like she'd been injected with adrenaline. She'd bury herself in the workshop during work hours and study with books after work. If she didn't understand something from the books, she'd ask the technicians in the factory's technical department for help.
There are quite a few college students in the technical department. Among them, Technician Zhang and Technician Guo are the most enthusiastic, unlike some technicians who look down on others. When you ask them questions, they not only refuse to answer but also make sarcastic remarks.
The older workers at the factory, seeing that she was already twenty years old, wanted to introduce her to potential partners, but she declined.
She received almost no salary during her three years as an apprentice. After becoming a full-time employee, she received a salary, but it coincided with a difficult period. She sent her salary to her aunt to repay the money she had spent on "buying the job." Her aunt sent it back to her, telling her to keep the money to buy food to fill her stomach.
Now that she's a level-one welder, her salary has increased, and the supply of materials isn't as tight as it was three years ago, so she can finally eat her fill. She needs to start saving money to pay back her aunt's debt.
Her aunt spent a full two hundred yuan to get her to come to Beijing with Engineer Su.
She saved up for two years and also obtained a level-two welder's certificate.
Those who failed were envious and said behind her back that she was able to pass because of her mentor's connections.
She ignored them, but not her mentor. She dragged them directly to the factory manager's office and demanded an explanation: she earned her certification through her own abilities, so why were they saying she got it through connections?
These people are really something else. They talk like it's the truth in private, but when they're in front of the leaders, they all become cowards and say they didn't say that.
From then on, anyone who spoke ill of her would be dragged to the factory leader's office. After that, no one dared to say anything bad about her.
Don't let her busy workday fool you, she's not stupid!
Her cousin is the kind of person who never lets things go when she's in the right; she didn't learn anything for nothing during those three years at her cousin's house.
Having worked in the factory for a long time, I've heard a lot of gossip about the factory's residential compound. For example, Sister Jiang from the factory guesthouse and Sister Fang from the infirmary fought so fiercely over housing, but their fuss paid off—they actually got housing.
So, when trouble comes, you should make a scene if necessary.
However, her master instructed her that while she could make a scene, she couldn't resort to violence, otherwise she would lose her right.
Oops, I've gone off on a tangent.
She took out the money she had saved over the past two years and counted it twice; it came to exactly two hundred.
Before she could send the money to her aunt, her aunt sent a telegram asking her mentor to introduce her to a potential partner.
Su Gong thought that she was twenty-two, the perfect age to start dating, so he asked her what kind of person she was looking for.
Zhou Hongqi has always been straightforward, and since her master is not an outsider, she naturally speaks her mind clearly.
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Gong turned around and went to find Director Wen of the factory's labor union to help with the introduction.
Director Wen usually likes to help introduce potential partners and has organized many social events for single colleagues in the factory to get to know each other. Quite a few of them have ended up getting together.
But...
Director Wen hesitated this time, "Isn't Comrade Zhou's request a bit too much?"
Comrade Xiao Zhou asked me to introduce her to someone who is handsome, a good cook, capable of housework and taking care of the family, and also has a good temper...
Engineer Su recalled what he had just relayed, "The requirements weren't that high."
"...Is it required that male gay men must have a job?"
"Of course, it would be best to have a job," Su said matter-of-factly.
Director Wen searched around but couldn't find anything that met the requirements.
There was a guy who was a good match, but he didn't like Zhou Hongqi.
Zhou Hongqi wasn't in a hurry to find a suitable match. She sent the money and wrote a letter saying that the director of the factory's labor union was introducing her to someone.
My aunt sends a telegram every six months, and every time I receive the same reply: "Looking for it."
Occasionally, the replies would contain different messages, such as: "You've become a level three welder," "You've become a level four welder," "You've been recognized as an advanced worker," "You've become a model worker," etc.
As Zhou Hongqi grew older, her aunt couldn't sit still any longer and said she would come to Beijing to keep an eye on her finding a partner.
I had already taken leave when I suddenly received a telegram from Zhou Hongqi: I've found a partner.
—
Zhou Hongqi is quite famous at the Five Star Automobile Factory, not because she is now a Level 4 welder, nor because she is often praised, but because she has "too high standards".
There were quite a few people who wanted to introduce Zhou Hongqi to potential partners, but Zhou Hongqi laid out his requirements, which immediately eliminated most of them.
Zhou Hongqi also met with the remaining half, but the match didn't match what the matchmaker had said, so it didn't work out.
Some people even have the nerve to ask her why she didn't succeed?
Not only was she unattractive and incompetent at her job, but she also wanted her to give up her work... Some of them even tried to fight after failing to reach an agreement, and she beat them up.
After too many unsuccessful attempts to introduce her to potential partners, people stopped trying.
Unexpectedly, her mentor went to help out at other factories in the city and also brought back a blind date for her.
This man is not only handsome, but his name also contains the character "俊" (jun, meaning handsome). Apart from being skinny, he is quite good-looking.
She met her mentor on a blind date at his house, and the man even cooked her a meal.
Wow! It smells delicious!
"Little Jinren is quite good. I've inquired about him; he has a good temper and works efficiently. He's just unlucky. He was sent to a theatrical troupe by his family before, then sent back, and then to relatives in the countryside. This year, he returned to his parents' home but wasn't well-received... He is a bit younger than you, but I mentioned it to him. You're six years older than him, and he agreed before I brought him here to meet you..."
When Su saw his apprentice staring intently at the man with a wide grin, he knew what was going on.
“Junwei’s household registration is in the countryside. If you’re going to live together, you’ll have to pay for his food rations.”
What's so difficult about that? She's a level four welder; she can easily support two people.
In the kitchen, Jin Junwei, who was busy cooking, secretly glanced into the living room, feeling uneasy, wondering if he would finally get to eat this long-term meal of being a kept man.
At this moment, Zhou Hongqi asked, "Master, shall Junwei and I get our marriage certificate this afternoon?"
Su's wife held up the newspaper in her hand to cover her face, laughing so hard that the newspaper shook.
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