Time flies by, day after day, year after year.
In the blink of an eye, it was 1995.
Li Chu, who was exactly sixty years old, formally submitted his retirement application to his superiors right after the Spring Festival.
Unsurprisingly, his application was quickly rejected.
However, he did not give up and submitted his application again, and personally went to the office of the top leader.
"Director Li, you shouldn't even think about retirement. Even if I approve it here, the higher-ups won't allow it."
"No, I mean, boss, who's above me? Aren't you already at the very top? My rank isn't high enough to reach the heavens, so who would approve my request?"
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"Hehe, you're sixty years old too, don't play dumb with me. When I say 'above,' I mean those old leaders, the ones who wouldn't approve it."
Li Chu said indignantly, "Comrade leader, that's not right. We're talking about work matters now, why do we need the approval of a few retired old men?"
That's only because of him; who else would dare to casually say that they were just a few old men?
The leader smiled and pointed at him: "You know the answer already. Let's not talk about the old leaders. Just talking about work and rank, you can only retire at 65. But in our army, the retirement age is extended to 70. So you're still 10 years away. Go back and work hard."
Hearing this, Li Chu almost spat out blood. The age mentioned was the upper limit, meaning that was the maximum age one could reach, or the time one could finish one term. In reality, if someone wanted to retire at sixty, they could submit an application.
"Boss, let me tell you, I've already handed over all my work except for my official duties to Wenxuan, so what's the point of keeping me here?"
"Don't tell me these things. Go to the sanatorium and talk to those old leaders. As long as they agree, I'll sign it right away." The leader shook his head decisively, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Alright, if there's nothing else, you can go back now. I have a meeting to attend later."
Well, my hopes have been dashed.
Li Chu walked downstairs looking somewhat dejected.
People saluted him all the way, and some of them even had tears in their eyes.
After sitting in the car downstairs for a while, he said in silence, "To headquarters."
After the car drove out of the compound, he asked, "Tian Jun, are you really not considering going to another department?"
"Director, I really can't go. It's fine to drive you. When you retire, I can just transfer to civilian work. I'll need your help to find me a job then."
"Alright, since you still want to drive for me, then keep driving. What about Zhijun? What did he say?"
“We talked yesterday, and he had similar thoughts to me.”
"Sigh~ you two!" Li Chu shook his head, said nothing more, and turned to look out the car window.
At sixty years old, Li Chu finally had some wrinkles on his face. As the wrinkles increased, his work has now shifted entirely to administration, and he rarely goes to the main hospital anymore.
Li Wenxuan took over the reins last year. In addition to his position, he is now the director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the General Hospital, holding the military rank of 22 cents. He also teaches students at the General Hospital's Medical School.
Now all the work assignments for visiting the elderly comrades or working at the health bureau have fallen to him.
Upon returning to headquarters, Li Chu did not go to his own office, but instead went to Ding Qiunan's office.
She was transferred here two years ago and is now the deputy director of the headquarters' health bureau. Although her military rank has not changed, her position has been promoted.
"What's wrong? Didn't your boss talk to you?"
Ding Qiunan, who was writing something, saw her husband walk in, put down her pen, and asked with a smile.
"Don't mention it, let's just wait it out."
“I told you it wouldn’t work, but you wouldn’t listen and still wanted to try. Here, have some water. Sit down first. I still have some things to write.”
"Go about your business." Li Chu took the water and walked straight to the sofa, where he half-reclined and leaned back.
"Shall I get you a new car?"
He didn't know how much time had passed when Ding Qiunan's voice startled him from his daze.
"What did you say?"
"I said, let's get you one of those cars from Da Mao's company, what do you guys call it, the Tiger Head Mercedes?"
"Huh?" Li Chu almost choked on his own saliva.
"You really dare to think that way. Xu Damao has been in business for so many years and made money, so he dares to change cars. We just live on a fixed salary. If we dare to change cars, believe me, we'll buy one tomorrow morning and the investigation team will be here by the afternoon. And even if we don't consider that, we don't have enough money, do we?"
“Who said we don’t have enough money?” Ding Qiunan walked over and sat down on the sofa, looking at her husband.
"Heh, although I don't know the exact number, we have a pretty good idea of how much money we have. You can easily do a quick calculation and I estimate it to be no more than 500,000."
"More or less," Ding Qiunan said without giving a specific amount of savings, then added, "But Xiao'e told me that the car Da Mao bought only cost 400,000 yuan after all the miscellaneous expenses. Even if our family has 500,000 yuan in savings, that's enough."
"I'm not going to live a normal life just to buy a car. I don't want it. This car is drivable, and if I really get that Da Mao car with the current license plate, it will be too conspicuous." Li Chu shook his head decisively.
He really doesn't care what kind of car he drives. This Audi 100 is a bit old, but it drives just fine.
"Whether you change it or not is up to you, but the business department has already delivered the car to you. They said it's some kind of three-something-par something-something-ro. I just left the approval documents in your office. Here are the car keys. The car is in the parking lot."
Li Chu stared blankly at the car keys his wife had placed on the coffee table.
"No, what did you say? It was sent by the commerce department? What does that mean?"
"What else could it mean? It's a reward for you. Didn't your boss tell you when you went to the general manager's office? I saw his signature on the approval document."
"They didn't say anything, which is normal. Their leaders are so busy every day, how could they possibly remember everything? So what about this Audi?"
"I asked, and they said to handle it yourself, since it's your own car anyway."
Li Chu stared silently at the bunch of keys. He understood what the business department, or rather, the company in Hong Kong, meant.
First, there's that drug from ten years ago, which has earned the company billions of dollars over the years—note that this refers to US dollars.
Secondly, they wanted to win him over further. The research group had developed a highly effective drug for treating stomach cancer, which had already completed three phases of clinical trials with very good results. It was only a matter of time before it was approved for market release, and that timeframe was within the next six months.
Who wouldn't be envious?
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