Xu Damao's career was going smoothly, and his love life also blossomed. In 1959, as soon as he reached the legal age, Xu Damao couldn't wait to get his marriage certificate with Wang Minzhi. Xu Damao still remembers the envious looks from everyone in the courtyard when he led his daughter into the courtyard house.
Xu Damao lives in Tongzhou, so Wang Minzhi usually stays at her parents' home with her parents and sister-in-law, which saves Xu Damao from worrying.
Sometimes, Xu Damao would ride his bike home, but if the weather was bad, he would take a car. Sometimes he would also ride with Li Xuewu.
On the way back to the main factory, Xu Damao drove his car steadily, carefully watching the road ahead. In this era, the steering wheel was difficult to turn, the road conditions were poor, and it was easy to have an accident if you weren't careful.
Previously, Li Xuewu's driver, Xiao He, suffered a broken rib due to sudden braking caused by a wild boar appearing in front of him; thankfully, the car was unharmed. Yes, these days, cars are more valuable than people.
Xu Damao was also in the car at the time. Having no other choice, Xu Damao, who later had a driver's license, volunteered to drive. Surprisingly, after a short while, he drove quite well.
After that, Li Xuewu got Xu Damao a driver's license and used him as a backup driver, letting Xu Damao drive him home on weekends. Xiao He, being a local, really didn't want to travel back and forth to Tongzhou, so he readily accepted.
"Factory manager, should this meeting approve the expansion plan for the branch factory?" Xu Damao and Li Xuewu chatted casually.
Sometimes, Xu Damao envied Li Xuewu, feeling that Li Xuewu was more like a protagonist in a novel.
With a strong family background, he's already a deputy director-level cadre in his early forties, a shrewd and capable man. Crucially, Li Xuewu's world revolves around many female protagonists. Xu Damao knows everything about Gao Yan's relationship with him, and admittedly, sometimes he's quite envious.
Over the past two years, Li Xuewu has made full use of his talent advantage, making the No. 1 branch factory a thriving enterprise and increasing its importance within the entire steel rolling mill system. Now, the expansion plan that the No. 1 branch factory had been planning for some time has finally been brought to the table at the head office meeting.
After Xu Damao came to the factory, he had close contact with Li Xuewu and learned a lot from him.
"It's not a big problem, so your personnel department should take the lead and get the necessary leaders and workers in place as soon as possible. If that's not possible, then ask the Chief of Staff for more people."
Now, the salaries at our branch factory are higher than those of the general manager, and transportation between the two locations is much smoother, making recruitment much easier than it was two years ago.
Li Xuewu said.
"Da Mao, you've been married for so long, when are you going to have children?" Li Xuewu asked casually.
“In this day and age, even getting food is difficult. Let’s wait and see. When the harvest is better, adults and children will have enough nutrition. Besides, we are still young, so waiting two or three years is no problem.”
"That's what Xu Damao replied. In fact, thinking from a later perspective, he still wanted to enjoy a couple of years of alone time with his wife, so he came up with this excuse. Of course, outsiders would believe this excuse, because people were starving to death in many places."
But his family knew that Xu Damao would bring back delicious food from time to time. To avoid suspicion, what Xu Damao brought back was sometimes food that had been prepared and placed in his spatial dimension years in advance.
“You’re all married now, but my Li Tong is still like a little kid. My older brother nags me whenever he has free time, urging me to introduce Li Tong to someone.”
"Think about it, they can't find anyone suitable even when they're in the city every day, how am I supposed to find them someone in Tongzhou?"
When talking about his family, Li Xuewu became more and more animated, just like any other parent. He himself had no daughters, only sons, so he was especially fond of his niece, Li Tong. But Li Tong was wild and didn't find any boys she liked at all.
The two chatted all the way back to the main factory. Li Xuewu went to attend a meeting, while Xu Damao went to the publicity department. After the meeting, Xu Damao escorted the others home.
"Section Chief, still busy?" Xu Damao went to Gao Jin's office first. Gao Jin hadn't moved from his position as section chief for the past two years, always just missing the last promotion.
"Da Mao, you're back early today," Gao Jin said.
Looking at Xu Damao in front of him, he felt a sense of pleasure, like a talent scout. This kid was doing very well at the branch factory, and it was said that his position would soon catch up with his own. His past joke about relying on Xu Damao for support might actually come true.
However, Xu Damao was good at interpersonal relationships. Before going to the radio station, he would always report to Gao Jin first, giving Gao Jin plenty of face.
When Gao Jin asked, Xu Damao didn't hide anything and told him that one of his branch factories was going to expand production again. This was something that would be decided in a meeting soon, so it wasn't exactly a secret.
"You've made the right move this time. Look at how the First Factory is developing now, it's getting bigger and bigger, and your position in the personnel department is becoming more and more important."
"Before, you were begging the people from head office to go there; now it's probably the people from head office who are scrambling to go."
Gao Jin said with a smile. Aside from the higher wages and benefits, the former employees of the main factory lived in the staff dormitory, and were provided with three meals a day, which was extremely rare in an era of food scarcity.
"Haha, why don't you, Section Chief Gao, go there too? Become our deputy factory director, and I'll work under your leadership." Xu Damao said with a smile.
“You know me, Da Mao. I haven’t even made it to deputy section chief in the past few years, and there’s no way I’ll become deputy factory director now. Besides, your place doesn’t need any more deputy factory directors.” Gao Jin said with some emotion when talking about his career path. He only had these two years to try and make a move; if he didn’t, he would never make it.
“Who says we don’t need one? Our deputy factory director, Chen Jiang, will reach retirement age next year, but I heard he’s planning to retire early this year so he can get a better job for his son. If someone takes his place, his position will be vacant, so you can make some preparations.”
Seeing that no one was around, Xu Damao whispered, "It's said that someone has their eye on Chen Jiang's position and is planning to make arrangements in advance. So they reached an agreement with Chen Jiang, offering to arrange a good position for his son in exchange for Chen Jiang retiring early."
This person is currently the deputy director of the main factory. Once he goes to work at a branch factory, the deputy director position will become vacant. Gao Jin is considered a benefactor to him and has always taken good care of Wang Minzhi, which is why Xu Damao was willing to give him a heads-up in advance.
Others can plan ahead, and so can Gao Jin. When others are unprepared, the chances of success are significantly greater. This is why Xu Damao brought up this topic today.
"Where did you get this information? Sigh, look at my silly question. Everyone knows you're Li Xuewu's favorite. Da Mao, this information is very important to me. Thank you."
To be honest, I was thinking that if I didn't get promoted in a few years, I wouldn't even bother trying anymore. These past few years, I've been so obsessed with this promotion that I haven't been eating or sleeping well.
Gao Jin said gratefully. In this system, everyone has an insatiable desire to become a leader. They exert endless effort for even the slightest hope; but after repeated failures, watching others, even those less capable than themselves, surpass them, some choose to give up, while others choose other paths.
Once the message was delivered, Xu Damao didn't care what Gao Jin did next; he still needed to go to the radio station to find his wife.
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