Chapter 104
After Ye Manzhi finished her speech, the conference room was silent for a long time.
Everyone was drinking water or taking notes, and no one responded for the time being.
Her question was quite impolite, and if she wasn't careful, she might get rid of both the factory director and the deputy production director.
It is rare for students to encounter such a situation where there are real fights and sparks flying.
But the problem she raised is real.
The factory has been operating for two months, and the production arrangements and teaching tasks are indeed not well integrated.
The teachers and students present all had personal experience of this.
Especially the teachers of technical courses, they are suffering from this.
While technical classes emphasize practical application, not every class requires on-site instruction. Sometimes theory is taught in the classroom, and sometimes on-site instruction takes place in the workshop. The specific arrangements are flexibly arranged by the teacher based on the teaching schedule.
If there is a teacher in the factory, everyone only needs to mention the teaching arrangements at the teaching and research group meeting every morning, and the use of the workshop can be reasonably allocated.
However, the department head wanted to train students, so all important positions in the department-run factory were controlled by students.
If the two sides fail to communicate in a timely manner, the teaching progress will inevitably be delayed.
Mr. Xu, the dynamics teacher, ignored the undercurrents among the students. Since someone had pointed out the problem, he would of course take the opportunity to bring it up.
"This teaching conflict has happened more than once. There's a fight over the classroom almost every week. It's fine for classes that can get a spot, but for those that can't, they have to go back to the classroom all the way to attend class, which wastes time and affects their morale. The department really needs to address this."
"Teacher Xu is right," another teacher chimed in. "I reported this situation to Shi Lei and Liu Aiguo from Workshop 1 last month. Shi Lei suggested assigning someone to the teaching and research office to inquire about teaching arrangements daily. Liu Aiguo also gave me an idea: have the department install a telephone in the factory so we can contact them if anything happens."
"These two ideas are a waste of manpower and material resources," Teacher Xu echoed him. "I think it would be more cost-effective to select a teacher from the teaching and research department to work part-time in the factory. It would save both manpower and material resources."
Another teacher joined the discussion and said, "Since we've already mentioned the workshop issue, let me also address it. The current management of the machinery factory is still quite chaotic. Tools and materials are scattered around, the scrap rate is high, and some students don't even know how many production tasks they have each day..."
Ye Manzhi listened to the discussion of several teachers and did not respond.
She was responsible for arranging production plans. In fact, she discovered the problems in the workshop very early, but she never mentioned it.
On the one hand, the work in the workshop was not her responsibility, and she was suspected of stirring up trouble by rashly giving others suggestions.
On the other hand, as she said before, the factory has just been established and everyone is a newbie, so everyone should be given enough time to learn and adapt.
Compared with off-campus factories, department-run factories are more accommodating to students.
However, she tolerated others, but others were unwilling to tolerate her!
Shi Lei is the deputy factory director and has no status concerns, so he can give suggestions to all departments and workshops.
If he really had a public interest in mind, he should have communicated with the Planning Department in advance instead of openly picking on her in the meeting without any warning.
This made her feel like the other party had been quietly collecting evidence against her.
Since Shi Lei doesn't give her face, she doesn't need to give Shi Lei face either.
Anyway, the situation has been made clear, so it depends on how the department plans to decide.
Director Miao recorded the opinions raised by teachers and students, but did not give a reply on the spot. He only said that he needed to go to the factory to conduct personal research and understand the actual situation.
After the meeting, Ma Hongliang left first due to something, and Shi Lei could only discuss it with another deputy factory director, Chen Ying.
"Director Miao wouldn't really let the teacher serve as the factory director, would he?"
Chen Ying: "It's hard to say. The Mechanical Engineering Department of the Institute of Engineering also opened a factory, and all the factory leaders are concurrently served by the department head and teachers. Our Industrial Economics Department has professional advantages and a large number of transferred students, so Director Miao let the students take charge of the factory."
After listening to the teachers' speeches, Shi Lei had a feeling that things weren't going well. He couldn't help but grumble softly, "This Ye Manzhi is such a troublemaker! What good is it for her to have a teacher take on the role of factory director? Doesn't that also block her path to becoming factory director herself?"
Chen Ying thought to herself, if you can't even keep your position as section chief by openly firing at others, how can you even talk about being a factory director?
She forced a perfunctory smile, said she still had work to do, and left with the others.
She felt that Shi Lei was too conceited.
This seems to be a common problem among students who have not yet entered society. They always feel that senior students can suppress junior students, and that the deputy director of the department-run factory can suppress the section chief.
Shi Lei was considered to be quite skillful among the students. Facing such obvious targeting, any student who was less experienced or a little cowardly would have been defeated by him long ago.
But Ye Manzhi was not an ordinary student. She was the only one in her entire freshman year who was selected into the management team of the department-run factory. There must be a reason for this.
As Chen Ying walked, she recalled the scene that had just happened in the conference room.
If it were her, being caught off guard and being publicly criticized by Shi Lei for her work flaws, she could defend herself and make a reasonable explanation to the committee, but she might not be able to think of a way to fight back on the spot, and would most likely seek an account with Shi Lei afterwards.
Others didn't know that Shi Lei had already talked to Ye Manzhi, and just thought he was giving suggestions about work.
But Chen Ying, who understood the whole story, felt that Shi Lei acted badly and directly, with clear goals and the ability to act.
Among ordinary college students, he is considered to be an outstanding one.
However, if he was really dismissed by the committee, it might not be a bad thing. Chen Ying didn't want to work with such an unscrupulous person.
*
After the briefing that day, Director Miao went to the machinery factory for an on-site investigation.
Two days later, Ye Manzhi and Shi Lei were called to the office.
When Ye Manzhi entered the room, Shi Lei and two other teachers were already sitting inside.
She just vaguely heard Shi Lei say outside the door that he was not targeting her.
So, when Director Miao asked her about the situation, she complained to him in front of Shi Lei.
"Director, I suspect that Deputy Director Shi is deliberately targeting me!"
Director Miao and Shi Lei: "::::::"
Director Miao had previously felt that Ye Manzhi handled things in a mature manner, but now, after hearing her complaining like a primary school student, he began to hesitate in his judgment.
Ye Manzhi ignored the others' expressions and continued to complain, "This isn't the first time Deputy Director Shi has bothered me! He talked to me at the beginning of the school year. Even though Director Ma and Deputy Director Chen disagreed, he used my pregnancy as an excuse to ask me to leave the machinery factory..."
Shi Lei defended himself, "I was just taking care of her and making a suggestion."
"I'm in good health and can balance my studies and work, so I didn't accept the suggestion at the time," Ye Manzhi glanced at him and said, "I didn't take that conversation seriously before, but Deputy Director Shi went too far. He pointed out the problems in our Production Planning Department in front of so many teachers and students! Director, it's not that I can't accept criticism, but factory leaders have to have some rules and regulations when doing things. Why can't you communicate with me first if you have any opinions? If I don't change after repeated warnings, it won't be too late for him to criticize me in public again."
Director Miao nodded in his heart. If Shi Lei had not communicated with Ye Manzhi before, it would be really not very nice of him to criticize her in public at the briefing.
Ye Manzhi didn't give Shi Lei a chance to explain and continued, "Because Ma Hongliang and Huang Zhiqiang were transferred to other units, there has been constant discussion in the department recently. Everyone thinks that their transfers have something to do with the department-run factory. After all, they both work in the factory. At first, I also thought that Deputy Director Shi was targeting me, maybe because of the transfers. But then I thought again, that's not right. Shi Lei is already the deputy director. What's the point of him targeting me, the section chief? Maybe I'm overthinking it!"
Except for Shi Lei, the person involved, the other three nodded subconsciously.
"Director, as you know, I used to work at the neighborhood office and signed marriage certificates for couples for two years. I couldn't find any reason why Deputy Director Shi would target me, so I couldn't help but think about relationships. I wondered if Deputy Director Shi had a partner and wanted to arrange a position for them in the factory. However, this is just my speculation. I don't know Deputy Director Shi's situation well, so I don't know if he has a partner now."
Ye Manzhi was like a big mouth who couldn't keep a secret. She told everything she knew in front of the teacher and the person in charge.
As she shook off more and more, Shi Lei's face looked like a dyeing factory.
"This is purely your speculation. How can you casually bring up matters concerning relationships between men and women?"
The school does not encourage students to fall in love, and Shi Lei and his girlfriend have never acknowledged their relationship in front of outsiders.
Shi Lei flatly denied the accusations she made against him, emphasizing, "I absolutely didn't mean to target you, but you're pregnant and you have to study and work at the same time, and some things are just hard to balance! I pointed out your problems only to address the facts."
Ye Manzhi glared at him and said, "Deputy Director Shi, today in front of Director Miao and two teachers, I want to criticize you openly. The first time you talked to me, you said I was pregnant and that it might affect my work. The second time you targeted me, you used my pregnancy to attack me again. Today is the third time! What's wrong with being pregnant? I am pregnant, but it didn't affect my studies or work, right? You are not pregnant, but your work is not perfect either! Why are you so harsh on others? I think your attitude towards female comrades is very problematic. You should receive ideological education from the department party branch!"
Seeing that the two students were about to argue again, Director Miao, who already knew what was going on, raised his hand to suppress Shi Lei who was about to refute.
Directly announced the response from the Production Management Committee——
Mr. Ouyang, who teaches "Principles of Statistics and Industrial Statistics", also serves as the deputy director of the department's factory.
Mr. Xu, who teaches "Dynamics", also serves as the director of a workshop.
The Production Planning Department was divided into two parts: the Production Department and the Planning Department.
Shi Lei serves as the head of production and Ye Manzhi serves as the head of planning.
Director Miao took a sip of tea and said, "The machinery factory is a small-batch production enterprise with a wide variety of products and small batches, and the tasks are not fixed. The work of taking orders is also assigned to the Production Planning Department. Considering that the workload of the Production Planning Department is indeed quite heavy, the committee decided to split it into two departments."
"The Production Department is responsible for production operation planning, while the Planning Department is responsible for technical and economic planning. Although the two departments are separate, the division of labor does not mean separation. In terms of planning work, the two departments are an integrated whole."
Director Miao, his hair graying, drank tea, looking like a warm-hearted old man trying to reconcile rather than separate. He said earnestly, "You are both colleagues and classmates, so you should maintain unity at work. Pregnant women do need more care. Shi Lei, since you understand the difficulties they face, why not help Ye Manzhi share some of the work burden?"
He talked for five minutes, the core point of which was that the cycle of revenge would never end, and that the two of them should unite and work together on production.
Ye Manzhi was quite satisfied with the result.
Allocating part of the work can reduce a lot of workload without affecting her position as section chief.
However, Shi Lei was promoted from deputy production director to production section chief.
If it were in an outside factory, this kind of adjustment would be almost impossible.
However, the machinery factory was just starting out and many tasks were still in the exploratory stage. The management was also in the probation period, so they could be transferred if necessary.
Shi Lei didn't do his job well, so even if he was adjusted, he could only swallow his anger.
When Ye Manzhi came out of the department head's office, she looked back at Section Chief Shi, who had a grim expression on his face. She touched her already visibly pregnant belly and said, "Section Chief Shi, I came to university to learn knowledge and improve myself. It's a waste of energy and meaningless to always use those little tricks. If you're a man, don't always target a pregnant woman like me. Let's fight it out in the real work..."
Shi Lei: “…”
Although his purpose is straightforward, his actions are still rather roundabout.
Unexpectedly, Ye Manzhi just tore off the fig leaf without thinking twice.
*
Shi Lei was very surprised, and Wu Zhengrong was also quite surprised after hearing her retelling.
"You told him to be a man?"
"Yeah!" Ye Manzhi chuckled. "That's only on campus. If I were at work, I wouldn't be able to tell my boss and colleagues, 'If only you were a man,' that would be too low-brow."
Wu Zhengrong smiled and said, "That's fine. After all, you're pregnant. There's really no point in going back and forth with him. Just be frank and honest with him. If he continues to target you like this, he'd be a coward."
Ye Lai Ya does things in an unconventional way. This method may not sound very reliable, but it should be the most effective.
Ye Manzhi was quite pleased with herself. She took out her grocery store voucher and urged him, "Hurry up and change your clothes. Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy eggs now. We shouldn't have to wait in line."
Wu Zhengrong followed his father-in-law's instructions and watered the vegetable patch. While washing his hands in a bucket, he advised, "You only have two eggs. Why don't you go to the market?"
"Our egg coupons will expire in two days, so we can't waste two eggs!" Ye Manzhi said as she picked up the basket. "Just think of it as an after-dinner walk!"
As May Day approaches, urban residents have received holiday tickets.
Each household has a poultry coupon, which can be used to buy half a chicken or half a duck. In addition, each person has an egg coupon, which can be used to buy an egg.
She and Wu Zhengrong are like half a chicken and two eggs.
The Labor Day holiday ticket is only valid for seven days. She has already eaten the chicken, and if the two eggs are not bought back, they will expire.
The couple carried their baskets to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy eggs. Ye Manzhi walked beside him and whispered, "I think we should keep the two hens in the backyard. They lay eggs every day now, and I can't bear to kill them for meat."
"Well, let Mom make you a little rooster first. I'll try to get you two more hens later."
Ye Lai Ya needs to eat a lot of eggs during her confinement period, but the supply of meat, poultry and eggs in the city is not sufficient, and the quantity of eggs is severely limited. Wu Zhengrong cannot rely entirely on the supply and marketing cooperative, and has to find another way on his own.
While discussing the arrangements for pregnancy and confinement, the two of them strolled slowly along the road and soon arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative to buy two eggs.
Putting two eggs in a vegetable basket, dangling around, is actually unsafe.
Ye Manzhi carefully took out the eggs again, put one in his shirt pocket and the other in the military representative's pocket.
However, she admired and protected Wu Zhengrong's face and figure in all aspects. Noticing that the bulge in his pocket looked unsightly, she took out the egg again and put it in her other pocket.
Wu Zhengrong let her do what she wanted, and after she finally settled the two eggs, he prepared to take her to the nearby grain station to buy some food.
Anyway, the food basket has been brought out, so I can't go back empty-handed.
However, when the two arrived at the grain station, the staff said, "You need to bring your grain purchase certificate to buy grain."
"Isn't it possible to buy as much as you want now?" Ye Manyi asked.
"It's just been changed. You have to bring your grain book." An employee at the grain station, who knew her well, whispered, "Director Ye, we can't just sell grain casually anymore. We can only sell according to the quota on the grain book. If you want to buy unlimited grain, you have to go to another grain station."
Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
"Comrade, the grain purchasing rules have changed again? When were they changed?" Wu Zhengrong asked.
"It was just changed this afternoon. You guys should wait for the news from the Subdistrict Office. I think they'll send out a notice in the next two days."
They didn't bring their food allowance, so they had to go home empty-handed.
Ye Manzhi was restless and paced back and forth in the room. "Why did it change so suddenly? I should have bought more food!"
She found the newspaper and wanted to read the relevant reports.
But she had looked through all the newspapers for the past week and could not find any news about food.
Wu Zhengrong found his grain purchase book and said, "Don't bother looking for it. It probably won't be reported in the newspaper. This month's grain coupons will soon be invalid. I'll go to the grain station and buy this month's ration. Don't run around at home."
"Yes, yes, yes, buy this month's food first. If the food coupons expire next month, I'll be heartbroken!"
There was no limit on the amount of grain she could buy in the past six months. Every time she passed by a grain station, she would go in and buy a few pounds of grain to take home.
I had long forgotten about the food coupons.
She sent Wu Zhengrong out with her bulging belly. When she was walking around the yard alone, the leader of the residents' group came to her and asked her family to send someone to hold a mass meeting in the open space in front of the grain warehouse.
"Team Leader, what is the content of the meeting?"
"It's about food. You'll understand when you go there."
Ye Manzhi was already nervous, and after hearing the news from the team leader, her heart beat even faster.
After waiting for a long time, Wu Zhengrong finally came back with a bag of grain, and they quickly took him to the grain warehouse for a meeting.
"Why are you panicking?" Wu Zhengrong led her slowly, "We have ample food reserves at home. We won't let you go hungry."
"I'm just nervous."
Ye Manzhi walked with him hand in hand for a while, and seemed to be infected by his calmness. When they reached the granary, she finally calmed down.
The person chairing today's meeting is Zhang Qinjian.
"Since last autumn, when unlimited grain purchases began, food waste in the city has become extremely serious. In just three months, the city has oversold over 10 billion kilograms of grain! Why is there such a huge oversale? We've analyzed the reasons and found that they are mainly due to people hoarding and shipping grain out, people using grain to feed livestock, and the blind influx of undocumented black people into the city!"
"We must emphasize here that when purchasing food, we must adhere to the principle of eating enough and not wasting it. We must resolutely not waste food..."
Before he had finished speaking, someone in the audience asked loudly, "Secretary Zhang, didn't they say that there would be no grain limit due to the bumper harvest? Then why did they ask for a grain purchase permit when I went to the grain station to buy grain this afternoon?"
Zhang Qinjian said seriously, "What's wrong with a good harvest? A good harvest can't be wasted! Using grain coupons to buy grain is to curb this wasteful trend! From today on, our Guangming Street grain purchasing policy is to use coupons at designated locations with no limit on quantity! If you really need it, you can go to the designated grain station to purchase grain beyond the quota."
While others were still shouting and asking what it meant, Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong had already withdrawn from the crowd.
After the two returned home, Ye Manzhi urged, "Don't worry about me. Go to the designated grain station first. If it's still open, buy 100 to 200 kilograms of grain. Don't worry about coarse grains or fine grains. Buy whatever you can."
Wu Zhengrong pushed the bicycle out, patted her on the back and said, "It's okay, don't overthink it. I'll go check on the situation first."
In fact, the situation at the designated grain stations is quite good, with sufficient food supply. As long as you bring your grain book to buy food, you can buy it.
Wu Zhengrong waited in line for half an hour and bought 100 kilograms of rice and 50 kilograms of millet, which finally made Ye Manzhi feel a little relieved.
The vouchers are issued at designated locations without any limit on quantity, which seems to be really intended to curb waste.
Because of the incident with the designated grain purchase points, Ye Manzhi was a little absent-minded when she went to school.
I always think about going to the grain station to buy food after school.
There are so many people in her natal family and in-laws' family, as well as her grandmother's family. I wonder if they have stockpiled any food.
When Ye Manzhi was thinking about going to the Wu family's old house after class, Zhao Jinhua came over and said, "Class monitor, I think I got you in trouble."
"What's wrong?"
Zhao Jinhua's tanned face was filled with worry. "Someone said you were the one who fired Shi Lei, the deputy factory director. I argued with them a bit."
Because Ye Manzhi became the section chief of the department's factory, Zhao Jinhua also followed her and became a clerk in the planning department.
They are the only two members of the Planning Department and usually take turns to work in the factory.
But she had heard a lot of rumors about Ye Manzhi in the factory these days.
Some people said that she wanted to be the deputy factory director, so she found a way to get Shi Lei down, but ended up making things difficult for Teacher Ouyang. Not only did she fail to become the deputy factory director, but half of the work of the Production Planning Department was taken away by Shi Lei.
There were also boys in her third year who said that she was pregnant and couldn't do much work, but she was just occupying the toilet without doing anything.
When Zhao Jinhua overheard this at the factory, she argued with those who were gossiping. As a result, what was originally just a small-scale topic of gossip became known to more people after their argument.
Ye Manzhi didn't expect that the lie could spread so far. Shi Lei was indirectly brought down by her. She really wanted to be the factory director, but the timing was not right. This incident was purely her self-defense.
She was depressed for a while and could only comfort Zhao Jinhua, "You didn't do it on purpose, and you didn't spread the lies. What does it have to do with you? Let's just ignore them!"
However, rumors seemed to spread quite quickly. Within two days, even students like Bian Queqiao, who did not work in the factory, heard about it.
When Ye Manzhi went to work at the factory again, she could indeed feel some subtle scrutiny.
While she was thinking about how to refute the rumor, she was called to the office by Mr. Ouyang, who was also at the center of public opinion and served as deputy factory director.
"There have been some bad rumors circulating in the factory these past few days. I criticized them immediately after hearing them. You're still pregnant, don't let those rumors affect you."
Ye Manzhi had not yet understood the specific situation, so he could only nod helplessly.
Seeing her unhappy expression, Teacher Ouyang paused for a moment and continued, "I'm currently working on a research project with the Municipal Women's Federation and the Women's Department of the Municipal Trade Union. It's about protecting female employees. Do you want to join my research team?"
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