156 Exemplary Children
On Thursday, Lin Yiku woke up Guan Yuehe as he got up.
She's going to a foreign investment conference with the vice minister today and needs to get to her workplace early. Last night, she specifically told Lin Yiku to wake her up.
"Clothes." Lin Yiku handed her her clothes as she changed; they had been ironed the night before.
"Lin Yiku, you were peeking!"
"Fine, I won't look." After she changed her clothes, he also finished getting ready. He turned around, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You have the same imposing presence as our political commissar in meetings."
She usually wears a white shirt and black pants to work, only wearing a Zhongshan suit when attending important meetings, where she deliberately puts on a stern face, which looks rather intimidating.
Unlike some organizations that have specific uniforms, the Ministry of Foreign Trade doesn't usually have special dress requirements. But today's occasion is a bit different.
I had just said she had an intimidating presence when, a second later, her stomach started rumbling.
Guan Yuehe patted her belly a couple of times, like a big watermelon, and said happily, "This one will be a little glutton from now on."
"That's quite an appetite." Lin Yi said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "That extra half bowl of rice you eat at each meal is the amount a little glutton would consume."
The nickname "Little Rice Bucket" wasn't given to her by them, but by Gu Yu. The day before yesterday, Jiang Guiying saw her eat three large bowls of rice in a row and wondered if her bulging belly was filled with rice or a baby.
Gu Yu seemed to suddenly realize something, and pointed to her stomach with certainty, saying, "There's a little glutton inside!"
This made all the adults in the room burst into laughter, and that's how the nickname "little glutton" came about.
Both of them were in a rush to get to work and didn't have time to make breakfast, so they went straight to a state-run restaurant to eat noodles with soybean paste before heading off to their respective jobs.
Good morning, grandpas and grandmas!
"Good morning!" This Director Guan is really energetic, always rushing to and from get off work in a flurry.
She arrived at work early today, locked her car, and even went to the office to look at some documents. Only when it was almost time to leave did she grab her bag and head downstairs.
After waiting for a while, the vice minister came down, and then they all got into the car and headed to the meeting place.
As soon as the car drove off, the vice minister started chatting with her about her daily work, but didn't mention the foreign investment conference.
Most of the foreign businesspeople attending this conference are overseas Chinese who went abroad in the past. The main purpose of this foreign investment conference is to promote China's current reform and opening-up policies and investment attraction policies, and to promote foreign investment.
There are professional translators providing simultaneous interpretation, so she doesn't need to do the translation work this time.
She was only scheduled to share her experience with current joint venture projects in China on the morning of the third day of the conference.
She spent some time thoroughly understanding all the policies and also organized all the joint venture projects she had handled, then put together an easy-to-understand document as the content for tomorrow's sharing.
Just before getting off the bus, the deputy minister put aside his work and said with concern, "Health is the foundation of everything. If you feel unwell, please let us know."
"good!"
However, to her surprise, quite a few people came to listen to her share her story. Before she even started, the seats inside were already full, and many people were standing in the empty seats at the back.
"Many more leaders from state-owned enterprises are participating. Everyone wants to hear about the current situation of joint ventures." The vice minister said, "Many state-owned enterprises are watching and waiting to see whether or not to accept foreign companies for joint ventures. What are the advantages and disadvantages? Yuehe, you have to explain to them the joint venture experience that has been summarized so far, and make sure it is clear and thorough."
Guan Yuehe's sharing session was originally scheduled to be for her to speak for forty minutes, followed by half an hour for Q&A. In the end, the Q&A session lasted for more than an hour.
She wouldn't have been able to leave if there hadn't been another meeting later.
As soon as she stepped out of the meeting room, someone came looking for her to ask for advice.
Guan Yuehe left them her office phone number and then went to attend the next meeting. On the way, she got two biscuits from Li Xuelian to tide her over.
"You've been standing all morning, come and sit down." Li Xuelian got up and made room for her, inviting her to sit down.
If she hadn't said anything, Guan Yuehe wouldn't have felt tired at all; but as soon as she started talking, her legs began to ache.
"Have you finished with your office work?"
"That's about it. After the meeting, arrange a car to take them back to the hotel, and the work will be finished."
"Holding a meeting is exhausting. You guys hold it every six months, that's really tough."
"Holding a meeting is a small matter; the real challenge is getting people to come. What you just said was excellent; many people were taking notes."
They wanted to continue chatting, but then the leader prepared to speak on stage, so they immediately shut their mouths. They all breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling much more relaxed.
After returning to her workplace from the meeting, Guan Yuehe had to get two meals before she was full.
Li Xuelian was a little worried about her appetite. "There was a woman in the next courtyard who ate too much when she was pregnant, and her belly got too big. It was harder for her to give birth than others. You should ask your doctor if you should control your food intake."
"It's okay, the doctor said it's normal."
Actually, when she told the doctor that she ate two and a half to three bowls of rice at each meal, the doctor was so shocked that his eyes widened. After examining her and asking about her usual food intake, the doctor said that this was a normal amount of food and that she could eat as usual.
Guan Yuehe said, "Actually, I just ate a little more than before."
Li Xuelian thought about it carefully and realized it was true.
While eating, Li Xuelian overheard her colleague sitting behind her talking about learning a foreign language. She quietly asked her, "How's your Japanese coming along?"
Guan Yuehe put down her chopsticks, cleared her throat, and asked her in Japanese what she had eaten that day.
After asking the question, Guan Yuehe covered her mouth with her hand and whispered to her, "It sounds strange when you read it. You have to keep practicing with the tape."
“You’ve already learned fast enough.” Li Xuelian said with a smile in a low voice, “My dad used to fight the Japanese. When he heard me reading along with the tape at home, he said he felt uncomfortable listening to it, and now he doesn’t like me anymore.”
Guan Yuehe laughed, "My parents are the same. They frown as soon as they hear me play a cassette tape, saying it gives them a headache."
However, they have made progress; they can now distinguish which language the tapes she plays are in.
As soon as the foreign investment conference ended, Guan Yuehe felt relieved of a major task and was even in the mood to hum a song on her way home from get off work.
Zhang Desheng spotted Guan Yuehe riding her bicycle slowly from afar, and sped up, pedaling a dozen times to catch up.
"Yuehe, are you leaving get off work so early today?"
"There's not much to do today."
Since it was on their way home, Guan Yuehe didn't ride her bike as fast as before, and the two chatted as they rode.
Honestly, if Zhang Desheng still called her "Director Guan" all the time, she would have spurred her wheels a few times and left him far behind.
Zhang Desheng is quite talkative. I don't know if he's been exhausted from tutoring his youngest son lately, but he doesn't act like a boss as much as he did when he first started working in July.
The person looks much more pleasing to the eye now.
Zhang Desheng mentioned that now all junior and senior high schools are required to offer English classes. "Schools do want to offer English classes, but there aren't enough English teachers."
"There aren't many now, but there will be many in a few years." Starting this year, a batch of college students will graduate every year. Now that the country is opening up to the outside world and vigorously developing foreign trade, English majors are in high demand after graduation, and many people want to sign up for courses.
So, when they were chatting at her house that day, Ding Xuewen heard her say that Japanese was relatively easy to learn, and he also became interested in learning it. He even said that knowing another language would be an advantage, and that if he didn't work at the TV station anymore, he would be more sought after as a foreign tour guide.
At the time, Lin Sitian even joked that Ding Xuewen couldn't give up the path of "making big money".
"By the way, Teacher Zhang, is your family applying for a new apartment allocation or splitting up the household?"
Zhang Desheng's house was also being eyed. Many people were hoping that Zhang Desheng would get a new house from his new workplace as soon as possible and move out, so that someone could move into No. 3 Courtyard.
Zhang Desheng was taken aback by her sudden question. After a few seconds of hesitation, he mumbled, "Let's see in a while."
They don't seem to be in a hurry to get a new room, but the four of them are all crammed into one room, and Zhang Quanbin is at the age where he should be looking for a partner. If they can apply for a new room, why not make plans sooner?
But Guan Yuehe could tell that he didn't really want to talk about it, so she didn't continue asking and instead turned to ask about the current education reforms.
After all, she's going to be a mother soon. Given the current situation, it seems like children won't even need to go to university; finishing high school will be a must. These days, at least half of the jobs in state-owned factories require a high school diploma.
Since Zhuoyue Garment Factory didn't have its own primary school for employees, Xu Chengcai and Qin Zilan compared several options and finally sent Niu Niu to the primary school for employees of Wuxing Automobile Factory. They found Yuanbao and a few other children and had Niu Niu ride the factory's bus to and from school with them.
Children of employees of the Wuxing Automobile Factory could take the entrance exam for the factory's technical school after graduating from junior high school, and a considerable number of them went on to university after high school. In Xu Chengcai's words, the Wuxing Automobile Factory's affiliated school was considered a "prestigious school".
Meanwhile, the Wuxing Automobile Factory's affiliated school is undertaking sweeping educational reforms.
If you want to understand the reform situation, asking Zhang Desheng is the clearest way.
"It's a done deal that high schools will be changed to a three-year system now. The change to a three-year system for junior high schools is still under discussion, and elementary schools may also be changed to a six-year system... By the time your child starts school, they will probably all be able to catch up with the reformed system."
"Studying for so many years?!" Guan Yuehe clicked her tongue, glad she was born many years too early.
For the rest of the journey, Zhang Desheng talked about the current reforms in primary and secondary education. Guan Yuehe couldn't get a word in edgewise, and seeing how enthusiastic he was, she didn't feel comfortable interrupting him.
Having finally arrived at Changhu Street, Guan Yuehe breathed a sigh of relief, immediately said she was going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy salt, waved goodbye and slipped away.
As soon as he returned to Courtyard No. 1, he saw Jiang Guiying at his home and handed her the bananas he had just snatched. He patted his chest to catch his breath and said, "Teacher Zhang can really talk, he just keeps going like a machine gun."
She suspected that no one at his workplace listened to him talk so much.
Jiang Guiying wasn't surprised. "He also said he wanted to hold an education reform analysis meeting for parents in Ginkgo Hutong. I don't know why he's always looking for trouble."
"You didn't eat at work, did you?" Jiang Guiying said before she could answer, "You're in luck. Your dad said he's bringing back two dishes. Come over for dinner later."
"Oh, right, the sauerkraut is all ready, stacked in your little room." Jiang Guiying knew she had finished a big task today, and became more talkative. "The child's clothes need to be washed and dried a lot more; you can leave them in the little room, we'll help you when we have time..."
Before Jiang Guiying could finish speaking, Guan Yuehe stuffed a peeled banana into her mouth.
"This banana is good, you should eat it." Stop talking, she'd heard enough of that when she got home from get off work, her head was still buzzing.
Jiang Guiying was quickly swayed as well, saying, "It is quite good."
But Guan Yuehe's peace and quiet didn't last long. She had just seen her mother off when she heard a clear jingle, signaling the workers returning home from work.
—
This is the time when working families are most complete during dinner. Some are asking those who are at work about their work, some are asking their children if they had any questions at school, and some are showing off how capable they were that day.
"I saw that the factory manager of the car factory also came to listen to my sharing session!" Guan Yuehe held a roasted duck leg in one hand, pointed to herself with the other, and said with great pride, "I am the role model of the children of the Five Star Car Factory!"
"Alright, alright, shut your tail." Jiang Guiying said, unable to suppress her laughter.
Guan Yuehe couldn't stop showing off, and even Guan Canghai wanted to join in. His daughter could actually hold meetings with the factory director?!
However, ever since Yuehe caught a fugitive, she has been quite famous at the Five Star Automobile Factory.
"You deserve an award, haha."
Guan Aiguo pouted and whispered, "I'm still the most handsome guy at Five Star Automobile Factory, you should give me one too!"
After these words were spoken, the family fell silent for a moment.
"Your girlfriend said that? You believe her just because she said that?"
Enraged, Guan Aiguo stomped his feet, quickly grabbed a few bites of food, and stormed out.
"What's wrong with patriotism?" Lin Yiku came home and found her bicycle was missing. She didn't even go inside the house, so she came straight here.
Just then, Guan Yuehe greeted him, saying, "Our factory's heartthrob, oh no, our military heartthrob, is back."
Lin Yiku, unaware of the cause and effect, looked completely bewildered, while Guan Yuehe and her parents laughed incessantly.
Author's Note: [Laughs out loud]
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