Chapter 246: A thorough investigation, learned through casual observation.
"Director Qin, are you aware of the educational level of the workers in your factory?" Lin Xiuqin couldn't help but ask.
Qin Xiangxiang: "...I'm not too sure about that. Learning in our factory is all voluntary."
Lin Xiuqin: "?!" This is really Versailles, what a show-off Qin Xiangxiang is.
"That Zhao Hongmei from your factory, she's actually reading an advanced mathematics textbook, didn't you know?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "Really?"
Qin Xiangxiang knew that Zhao Hongmei liked math and used to like sitting in the back row. Qin Xiangxiang also liked to sit in the back row and slack off. However, Zhao Hongmei's math studies put too much pressure on her, so she made Zhao Hongmei sit in the front row and teach math problems to others.
Just don't disturb her while she's slacking off.
"You—" Lin Xiuqin was speechless at Qin Xiangxiang's words. The other party seemed to be waving her hand nonchalantly and showing off: It's just studying advanced mathematics, right? It's no big deal.
That show-off!
"Your factory has produced so many outstanding talents, you must be quite proud of yourself, right? Everyone says you manage it well."
Qin Xiangxiang nodded with a serious face: "It's all thanks to everyone's joint efforts."
"You're too modest. It's because you, the factory director, have set a good example. Director Qin, your energy is too abundant. We low-energy people can't compare at all. Like me, I'm useless. I just want to lie down and sleep all day, like a salted fish on the beach." Lin Xiuqin pretended to sigh, but inwardly she was extremely annoyed. She was just being a sour grapes.
Qin Xiangxiang has gotten to where he is today, he must have worked tirelessly day and night, and who knows how much hardship he has endured behind the scenes.
Like a certain orphanage, the protagonist is always busy solving problems, never getting Qin Xiangxiang exhausted.
Qin Xiangxiang asked in surprise, "You have low energy?"
Lin Xiuqin: "???"
"Lin Xiuqin, you are the most energetic person I have ever met. Don't be too modest."
As she spoke, Qin Xiangxiang yawned, feeling drowsy.
After Lin Xiuqin left, Qin Xiangxiang recalled the other person's question and couldn't help but think about the workers in her own factory. After learning about pig farming, what level had they actually reached?
If the college entrance examination is reinstated this year, how many people from the factory will be able to get into university?
Qin Xiangxiang asked uncertainly, "There should be a few, right?"
So our factory director Qin decided to conduct a simple investigation. The first person she investigated was Yin Pingping. She had previously encouraged Yin Pingping to learn English so that she could do export business at places like the Canton Fair and Friendship Store. She thought that when the reform and opening up came, given her good connections, she should be able to access a lot of resources.
There was a Mr. Lawrence before, who gave me cream and butter after only meeting me a few times.
More than anything else, Qin Xiangxiang cared about Yin Pingping's foreign language skills; she was a talent for export!
It wasn't just Qin Xiangxiang who was concerned about Yin Pingping; even people from the former production team in Shanghai's alleyways were curious and came to inquire about Yin Pingping's situation.
"Director Qin, Pingping has been working at your factory for a while now. How is she doing?" Zhou Meilan, the production team leader, asked Qin Xiangxiang. Sun Mei and others also wanted to know the news.
They were all quite worried that Yin Pingping would cause trouble after coming to Feiyan Textile Factory, because although Yin Pingping was clearly pretty, she was like a vixen, and the men around her would always unknowingly become infatuated with her.
Qin Xiangxiang took Yin Pingping away without any precautions. Her husband was a tall and handsome naval officer. She was really afraid that the officer would fall in love with Yin Pingping. If that happened, even Zhou Meilan would be restless.
Qin Xiangxiang: "She's doing quite well."
Zhou Meilan: "She is quite likable and is indeed a charming girl. However, there is a difference between men and women. It's fine if single men and women like each other, but I'm afraid of breaking up other people's relationships."
Qin Xiangxiang: "I haven't heard about this yet, but several men are interested in Yin Pingping. There's a talented young man at our naval base who also likes her, but I haven't heard anything about it since."
"Oh, that's good." Zhou Meilan breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to say something more, but then stopped herself.
After hanging up the phone, someone next to Zhou Meilan asked, "Team leader, were you on the phone? Was it that impressive Factory Director Qin from before?"
It's her.
The man said, "This Factory Director Qin has a lot of ideas. Could we ask her to come up with some more ways to increase our production team's income?"
“Team Leader Zhou, this is going to get out of hand. More and more educated youth are returning to the city! It’s overcrowded! There’s not enough housing! There’s no job placement. If this continues, things will get out of control… We have to be careful going home at night. A lot of young people are getting into fights. Someone was stabbed the day before yesterday.”
"That's not all. Just a few days ago, a dozen or so educated youths had a gathering at a big hotel and got into an argument. One of the male educated youths smashed another male educated youth's head with a wine bottle and has now fled south."
"I heard that two male educated youths both liked the same female educated youth. The female educated youth was originally dating a poor educated youth in the countryside, but after returning to the city, her family saw that the other male educated youth's family was better off, so they wouldn't let her associate with the poor educated youth and wanted her to marry the other male educated youth. As a result, the two male educated youths got into a fight..."
"Oh my, that's not all. My neighbor's son is back. He had a wife from the countryside when he was working in the countryside, and she gave birth to two sons for him. But when he came back to the city, his parents didn't recognize his wife at all. They said she was a wild child from the countryside—they wouldn't even acknowledge their own grandson! Isn't that ruthless?"
...
Too many unemployed youths in society can cause public order chaos. In 1977, a large number of educated youths returned to the city, and many could only be placed in the neighborhood production teams, but the neighborhood production teams were also full.
There are too many people, and the pressure to pay wages is too great. The village production team can't afford to support so many people.
Many of the educated youth who returned to the city started doing small businesses, such as shining shoes for people on the roadside, or setting up a stall to sell herbal tea, melon seeds, ice cream, malt candy, or other small items.
These educated youth stalls are almost unregulated. If they are regulated any further, trouble will ensue. People need to have something to do to make a living. It's better to let unemployed youths be street vendors than to fight and cause trouble.
Qin Xiangxiang hung up the phone, but she also had some doubts. How many men had liked Yin Pingping when she was in the production team in the alley? Why were Zhou Meilan and others now asking her if she had broken up other people's marriages?
"I've never heard of Yin Pingping's bad reputation at Feiyan Textile Factory."
"Factory Director? You mean Yin Pingping?" Assistant He, the cunning Su Peisheng, with his wide network of sources and being the deepest gossip expert in the textile factory, quietly revealed what he knew: "Yin Pingping is very popular. Every morning she leads twenty or thirty people in studying English. A group of people read aloud in the factory in the morning."
Qin Xiangxiang: "Huh?!"
"Yin Pingping is indeed very popular with men. Many male workers in our factory like her, and several cadres in the commune also like Pingping. Pingping gathered them all together to learn English. Oh, and she also teaches people to speak Shanghainese."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
Is this some kind of scheme to organize all the men who have feelings for you to learn English? "Learning" really is the best way to cool down a relationship.
Assistant He said happily, "Yin Pingping has really achieved a lot. In the future, our factory will have many more people who know English. I suggest that the factory director should encourage Comrade Yin Pingping to learn various languages. In this way, when our factory introduces imported machines in the future, our own workers will be able to understand the machine manuals. In addition to English, they will also need to master several other languages."
"Yin Pingping is the best language teacher. Director Qin, you really found a great talent for our factory!"
Qin Xiangxiang: "?! ...
shock!
This development was truly unexpected for Qin Xiangxiang. Originally, she had brought Yin Pingping over to handle export business, but she ended up bringing an unexpected surprise.
The people in the production team in the alley were worried that she would come to the factory and have affairs, but now it's all good. She has called on all the men and women to study foreign languages in the morning.
Qin Xiangxiang marveled at this. When she got home, she couldn't help but ask her husband, Li Jianzhi, "If the college entrance examination is reinstated in the future, how many people do you think will be able to get into university?"
Li Jianzhi: "I don't know either."
"Do you remember Yin Pingping? The one who was especially popular with men, Yin Pingping. Now she leads a bunch of workers who like her in studying English every morning at the factory!"
Li Jianzhi: "..."
Did he go from being a heartthrob to becoming a "New Oriental training teacher"?
"Wife, you really know how to use people."
Qin Xiangxiang: "What do you mean by one set or two sets? How would I know about these things?"
"Think about it, do you want to conduct a thorough survey of your factory workers' learning situation? Get a detailed understanding of their learning progress."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "I know there's a Zhao Hongmei in our factory. She's very talented in math. I saw her reading some math book by Hua Luogeng before. It seems to be a university textbook that Professor Shen sent over. She can understand it."
Li Jianzhi: "?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "There's also Zhou Wenqing, an apprentice in the equipment maintenance team. I quite like him. Apparently, he's particularly fond of physics and math. He listens to me a lot. When I say that equipment modifications should make it easier for operators, he's very supportive..."
"There's also Sun Jian'an. He used to be Professor Shen's assistant at the factory, and now he's the workers' new teacher. This guy is particularly obsessed with polymer materials. If the college entrance examination were reinstated, he would definitely apply for materials science. He also likes to study PVC. He's the one who did the technical work on the PVC sandals in the factory."
"There's also a textile worker named Li Aihua, who's very studious. The fleece fabrics we made in our factory used to generate static electricity, and she's now independently researching ways to make the fabric more anti-static..."
Qin Xiangxiang: "These are all people who are good at math, physics and chemistry. We also have a very strange factory office propaganda officer named Xue Jianjun."
Do you know what articles he has written before?
"He wrote an article called 'On Pig Farming and Philosophical Speculation'!"
...
Li Jianzhi, who was standing next to him, was stunned. Pig farming and...and what?
"There was also Wu Qiaomei, whom I really liked. She was a textile worker, a member of the factory choir, and also worked as a graphic designer for our factory's bulletin board. Her compositions were very beautiful. Later, some of the beautiful patchwork embroidered shirts that our factory made were all designed by her."
"There's another one. We have an important talent in our factory, Qian Meiying. She used to be a textile worker, but she's particularly good at making pickles. I persuaded her to go to the food processing workshop!"
"She didn't want to leave at first, but I persuaded her to go. Her pickles and salted duck eggs are especially delicious! We must not let such talent go to waste!"
...
Li Jianzhi: "Hiss—we probably don't need to investigate the workers' situation anymore, honey. You seem to know your factory's employees quite well."
Qin Xiangxiang: "These? I found all of this out of the gossip I was watching."
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