Chapter 123
When Ye Manzhi spoke, he first denied the part that He Ping had added.
"Section Chief, 'Provincial Quality Product' is an industry standard and an honorary title. I don't think it's appropriate to categorize 'Provincial Quality Product' into different levels. While designating products as exceptionally excellent, first-class, second-class, and third-class will allow more companies and products to participate, it will also significantly reduce the value of the 'Provincial Quality Product' designation."
"My personal understanding is that provincial-level high-quality products should be at the forefront of domestic technology and comparable in quality to famous brands in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin, and other places. They should be light industrial products that reflect the province's highest level of technology and quality. Quality is more important than quantity."
"Furthermore, the selection criteria for 'Provincial Special Excellence' and 'Provincial Third Grade' are certainly different, but the average consumer doesn't delve into the distinction between Special Excellence and Third Grade. Seeing 'Provincial' on the packaging already automatically validates the product. From my perspective as a consumer, there's not much difference between Special Excellence and Third Grade; both are certified by the province."
He Ping put down his teacup and said, "Excellent is excellent, and third-class is third-class. How can there be little difference? From the enterprise's perspective, the preferential policies they enjoy in terms of taxation and technical transformation funding are definitely different."
"Director He, we women have the most say on this," Peng Jiayin continued. "If I could see a provincial-level quality product at the supply and marketing cooperative, whether it's first or third grade, I'd definitely buy it. A certified product is better than an uncertified one, right? However, once companies understand consumer psychology, even assigning a 'provincial-level quality' rating won't necessarily incentivize them to continue optimizing their technology and improving product quality. Consumers won't know the inside story, and everyone else will be a provincial-level quality product anyway."
Ye Manzhi picked up a pencil on the table and said, "Let's take this Binjiang brand pencil as an example. Suppose it is the industry benchmark in our province, but nationwide, whether in terms of production technology or product quality, it is inferior to products from other provinces."
"If it weren't graded, it might not be rated as a provincial quality product. But after grading, this pencil can be rated 'third grade', which is also considered a provincial quality product. If the pencil factory printed the words 'provincial quality' on the outer packaging, can we say they are wrong? Therefore, after giving the 'provincial quality' grade, it is actually very easy for others to exploit loopholes."
He Ping said slowly, "This requires industry supervision."
"But there are so many products in the province. How much manpower and resources do we need to invest in supervision?" Ye Manzhi looked at Zhao Guilin and said, "Section Chief, instead of grading provincial quality products, why not delegate the evaluation authority to the cities and special districts? After the province has evaluated provincial quality products, if the cities and special districts also want to conduct quality evaluations, they can evaluate municipal quality products."
Zhao Guilin nodded as he wrote down his thoughts in his notebook. "We'll discuss whether to give it a provincial-level grade later in a special meeting. Xiaoye, do you have anything else to add?"
"Yes, I have."
Ye Manzhi took out a manuscript paper from her desk, and then took out the book "Clothing Style Illustrations: 100 Examples of Women's Clothing" that she published a few years ago.
"After the 'provincial quality product' evaluation, we can compile a provincial quality product catalog, just like the book I'm holding. It will be divided into several major categories according to product type, and will include product pictures, manufacturer introductions, and product specifications. On the one hand, it will facilitate exchanges and learning among various units within the province, so that they can learn from each other's strengths and overcome their weaknesses. On the other hand, it will facilitate the external communication of our province's light industrial products. In the future, we can directly bring this quality product catalog to any exchange meetings or trade fairs."
Zhao Guilin hummed and said, "We also have a product catalog now, but the products included are quite diverse and not as prestigious as the Provincial Excellent Products Catalog."
He took the book "Collection of Clothing Styles: 100 Examples of Women's Clothing" and flipped through it. He found that it was full of introductions to clothing, so he passed the book to Peng Jiayin who was craning her neck to look.
Peng Jiayin took the book in her hands, glanced at the name on the cover, and exclaimed, "Xiao Ye, you are the author of this book?"
Ye Manzhi secretly rejoiced in her heart, then imitated Wu Zhengrong and nodded calmly.
"You're amazing! Where can I buy this book? I'll buy a copy to show my support!"
"This book was published when I was working in the streets. It's been five or six years now, and it's no longer sold in bookstores."
Peng Jiayin couldn't put the book down and flipped through the pages, exclaiming in admiration.
Although five or six years have passed, domestic clothing styles have not changed much, and these women's clothing examples are still very fashionable today.
In the past two years, due to the shortage of supplies, the styles in store windows may not be as many as those in her book.
The man had no interest in the clothing book and just glanced at it. Zhao Guilin asked, "Xiaoye, is there anything else you'd like to add?"
He thought it was about enough, but unexpectedly Ye Manyi nodded again.
Ye Manzhi said with a smile: "There will be many celebration activities following the provincial excellent product evaluation. In addition to compiling a product catalog, our Chemical and Light Industry Department can also publish a 'Light Industry Chronicle' to introduce the development and changes of the light industry in the province over the past ten years, and then attach these provincial excellent products as representative achievements."
"I once read a pre-liberation county annals book in the provincial library. It describes the county's history, culture, politics, and economy. We could also refer to it and divide the light industry into several major categories, such as textiles, tobacco and alcohol, food, light machinery, and enamel glass. Then, we could describe the development status, industrial equipment, product quality, and management of each industry..."
Before Ye Manzhi could finish her words, Zhao Guilin excitedly slapped the table and said, "Xiao Ye, we're on the same page!"
Ye Manzhi: “…”
Scored twice.
She was so afraid to hear this!
How come she always thinks the same as her boss?
However, Zhao Guilin seemed to really think the same as her.
He pulled out a notebook from his desk, pointed to a page and said, "I didn't want to add the textile and tobacco and alcohol departments, so as to give the people from Comprehensive Sections 2 and 4 a break, but after all, we are from the same department, so we have to maintain unity!"
He sighed unwillingly and pointed to the contents of his notebook. "In addition to what you mentioned earlier, you also need to introduce the development and changes of the management organization, the resumes of previous leaders, the award-winning results of scientific research institutions, and the development of light industry education, such as secondary technical schools and adult vocational education..."
Zhao Guilin's considerations were more comprehensive than what Ye Manzhi mentioned.
This made Ye Manzhi secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, this time I really agree with my leader.
Zhao Guilin took out the content he had prepared in advance and discussed it with her on the spot. She was actually quite happy about it.
This shows that I have followed the leader's thinking.
If He Ping could be like Zhao Guilin and produce evidence openly to prove that the two of them had indeed had a conflict of ideas, she wouldn't be so upset.
After Zhao Guilin came up with the idea of publishing "Light Industry Chronicle", he was very proud for several days. At this time, he found that Ye Manzhi had the same idea, so he wanted to discuss it with her.
After Ye Manzhi introduced her ideas, she handed him a stack of manuscript paper.
"Chief, all the plans for the tenth anniversary celebration are here."
From the provincial quality product evaluation to the publication of the provincial quality product list, and then to the publication of the "Provincial Light Industry Annals," she wrote it all in one go, revising it on the original manuscript. The three plans, linked together, clearly had been prepared in advance.
Zhao Guilin was very satisfied with the young people's work attitude and praised Comrade Xiao Ye's work enthusiasm on the spot.
This is a task that the director has instructed several times, and those who are interested have actually made preparations.
Peng Jiayin and Wang Qin also submitted their own planning proposals. Although they were not as long as Ye Manzhi's, they included all the necessary planning steps.
All three colleagues submitted proposals. If He Ping couldn't produce anything, it would inevitably seem that he did not attach importance to the work assigned by his leader.
So, He Ping also handed in a piece of manuscript paper.
After Zhao Guilin compiled the plans for the three comprehensive subjects, he had to submit them to the director. Zhao Guilin carefully read each plan. When it came to He Ping's, he looked up and asked, "Old He, you didn't write down the plan for the 'provincial excellence' competition here?"
The proposal submitted by He Ping was to select model workers and advanced workers within the light industry system, hold a commendation meeting, and award prizes with the words "Tenth Anniversary Commemoration" printed on them, just like the tenth anniversary of National Day, and publicize the advanced deeds of model workers within the province's industrial system.
A lot of content was written, but there was no mention of the provincial quality product evaluation.
He Ping said in a normal tone, "What Xiao Ye said just now makes some sense. There may indeed be some loopholes in the provincial excellence rating. I will improve the plan and give it to you."
*
Ye Manzhi curled her lips when she heard this, and shared this strange thing with Wu Zhengrong when she got home.
"Why is he like this? Since he wrote his own proposal, why did he have to steal mine? His proposal for holding a commendation meeting is actually quite good. He didn't use his own proposal and instead used someone else's. Isn't this guy crazy?"
The two were taking their children for a walk in the courtyard after dinner.
Wu Zhengrong stared at his daughter who was speeding on her tricycle, while trying to comfort his wife who had gained three pounds due to anger.
"He's been around the office for so many years, so he might not be able to come up with any great ideas, but he should have good vision. He knows better than anyone which plans will be adopted by the leadership and which work will produce results. He knows that organizing a quality product evaluation is something that can produce results. However, awarding awards to model workers costs money, and it's hard to say whether your department has the funds for it."
"Then he can't resort to such cheap tricks! This old-timer is truly amazing! He used my plan and had the nerve to claim we share the same vision! He even told the leader that we had the same idea, as if we came up with it together! Our section chief must have seen through him!"
Wu Zhengrong laughed: "Are you so sure that Zhao Guilin saw through it?"
"Of course. Zhao Guilin is so much younger than He Ping, yet he surpassed He Ping to become section chief. The competition between the two must have been fierce. How could Zhao Guilin not know what kind of person his competitor was? Our section chief is quite astute. How could he not see that He Ping didn't submit his proposal for the provincial excellence selection?"
Fortunately, she has always believed that "a good memory is not as good as a bad pen", and is used to putting everything on paper.
If I hadn't written the plan in advance, I would have suffered a loss this time.
Ye Manzhi let out a long sigh and turned to ask about moving.
"When will Captain Ma come to Factory 656?"
"The train arrives in Binjiang next weekend."
"Do we have to wait until you two hand over your work before we can move?" Ye Manzhi asked.
Wu Zhengrong's transfer order has been officially issued, deputy director of the 1062 Institute.
This institute is newly established and its office location has not yet been determined.
But the director was a department head transferred from the Military Academy, and he seemed to intend to place his office near the Military Academy.
Ye Manzhi only recently learned that the president and department heads of the military academy are all military personnel, and their military ranks are very high.
After Wu Zhengrong made progress, he could only be the deputy director when he went to Institute 1062.
"Are you in a hurry to move?" Wu Zhengrong lowered his eyes and looked at her. "I've asked you several times."
"Of course I'm reluctant to leave here, but Captain Ma has taken up his post with his family. If we occupy their house, won't that affect their ability to settle down?" Ye Manzhi asked anxiously, "Where are we going to move to? Is your research institute located at the Military Academy or the Provincial Military Region?"
Wu Zhengrong paused, waiting for his daughter to socialize with a kindergarten friend she'd encountered. He kept saying, "The 1062nd Institute is near the Military Academy. The lab conditions there are excellent, and it's in the city, making it convenient for families to go to work. The institute currently only has an office building, not a family housing complex. When researchers arrive in due course, they'll all be assigned housing in the Military Academy's family housing complex. You should consider whether to live in an apartment or a bungalow."
"Is there still room for choice?" Ye Manzhi's eyes lit up. "Can we choose a bigger one? It would be best if it has a living room."
There is no place for guests in her house now.
It turned out that the small reception room had become little Wu Yuzhuo's boudoir.
Wu Zhengrong handed the kettle to his daughter, who was tired from racing, and said with a smile, "That requires an on-site inspection. Anyway, your man currently has a three-bedroom, one-living room apartment. Whether it's an apartment building or a bungalow, it's all three bedrooms and one living room. It depends on where you want to live."
Ye Manzhi felt that Wu Zhengrong might stay in this newly established research institute for quite some time. If he was going to live there for the rest of his life, he would really need to do an on-site inspection and choose a better house.
So, after get off work the next day, she followed Wu Zhengrong to the military academy's family compound for an on-site inspection.
The family compound of the military academy is quite different from the environment of the military industrial compound.
After entering the gate, a wide asphalt road runs through the north and south. Tall green trees on both sides of the road provide shade. Two- or three-story buildings are neatly arranged in the shape of a "N" on both sides.
It looks very regular.
What's more, their supply and marketing cooperatives, grocery stores, tobacco and alcohol stores, cold drink stores, and repair shops are actually located inside the staff housing complex!
This is so convenient!
Let the children go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some soy sauce, and they don’t even have to leave the family compound!
When Ye Manzhi saw the shops in the yard, he was already three points satisfied.
She felt even more satisfied when a team of patrol soldiers armed with live ammunition passed by her!
The security in the military industrial compound is very good. Since its construction, there has never been a case of a child being lost in the compound.
Parents can let their children play in the yard without worry.
It seems that the environment of the military academy is not bad.
"The security conditions here seem to be quite good." Ye Manyi sighed softly.
"Well, everyone in the military academy, from the principal to the cadets, is a soldier, and some projects involve confidential information. There are three patrols on duty in the family compound every day."
Wu Zhengrong first took her to a two-story apartment not far from the north gate.
Just as Ye Manzhi expected, this was a proper three-bedroom, one-living room apartment with one large bedroom and two small bedrooms. The key point was that the living room was very large and could accommodate guests.
There is also an indoor kitchen and toilet.
There are only six households in the entire apartment building, which is much quieter than the Khrushchev-style buildings in the military industrial compound.
"How is it? Is it okay here?" Wu Zhengrong asked.
He thought Ye Lai Ya would like it here.
The separate indoor toilet alone was enough to keep her here.
Ye Manzhi wandered around the building for a long time, but after visiting it, she pulled him aside and said, "Let's go take a look at that bungalow."
“There’s no toilet in the bungalow.”
"I know, but a bungalow has a yard, right?" Ye Manzhi said worriedly. "With a yard, we can grow some vegetables and fruits, and continue raising chickens. Even if there's a famine, we'll have peace of mind. This apartment is nice, but my family says we can't even ride a bike out of it."
"If you want to ride a bike, go ride it outside. Why ride a bike at home?"
"Oh, just listen to me," Ye Manzhi pushed him out, "We still have sunflowers at home. Sunflowers are so noisy, we can't keep them in the building, right?"
Wu Zhengrong had no choice but to take her to the bungalow with a yard.
The bungalows are concentrated in the deepest part of the family compound, and the layout is almost exactly the same as that in the military industrial compound. The houses are not adjacent to each other, and rows of bungalows are staggered like a zipper.
The courtyard they lived in was similar to Courtyard No. 16, a bungalow with red bricks and gray tiles and a fairly large courtyard.
The original residents also opened two plots of land in the yard to grow vegetables, but the vegetable plots were as bare as the hawthorn tree in the yard, and all the fruits had been picked long ago.
"Let's choose the bungalow," Ye Manzhi said, holding the man's arm. "Look, here are two large rooms with a small room. The living room and the small room can also get sunlight. It's bigger than the apartment we just had, and the orientation is good. You can also grow vegetables, sunflowers, and chickens in the yard! The only drawback is that there's no toilet. But nothing is perfect in this world, how can we have all the good things!"
Anyway, she has been using public toilets for so many years that she is used to it.
Wu Zhengrong was not picky about accommodation; he was still considering the needs of the two female comrades, Ye Lai Ya and Wu Yu Zhuo.
It would be much more convenient to have an indoor toilet.
Wu Zhengrong advised: "There's no rush about the house. You can think about it again."
"Forget it, let's just live in the courtyard!" Ye Manzhi made the final decision and took out a tape measure from her bag. "Let's measure the size of this room. We have to move the bookshelf here later!"
*
After deciding on her future residence, Ye Manzhi became busy and would organize and count her belongings every day when she got home from get off work.
Her clothes and skirts, Wu Zhengrong's books, and Wu Yuzhuo's picture books are all important assets of their family.
Ever since she learned about the move, Wu Yuzhuo has told her family seven or eight times to take her picture books and toys with her, and also to take her brothers Cheche and Qiuqiu with her.
Ye Manzhi agreed to all of them.
In front of her, put those picture books and Wu Zhengrong's books together, and pack them up and take them away when the time comes.
While she was busy preparing to move, big things were happening at work.
Xia Zhuyun adopted several of the tenth anniversary celebration plans submitted by the three departments.
These include evaluating provincial quality products, compiling the "Light Industry Chronicle", and essay competitions within the light industry system.
Evaluating provincial-level quality products is no small matter, and it is not something that the Provincial Department of Industry can even accomplish independently.
Therefore, Xia Zhuyun decisively reported this project.
The project was reported up the chain of command and finally reached the Provincial People's Committee.
Provincial leaders decided to establish a "Quality Award Review Committee."
Vice Governor Li will personally serve as the chairman of the committee, and the heads of the Provincial Department of Industry, Provincial Department of Commerce, and Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperative will serve as deputy directors.
In addition, personnel will be drawn from various units to be responsible for the actual review of this provincial-level quality product.
Director Xia Zhujun was called by the director to work in the committee. As the director's first pawn, Zhao Guilin naturally could not be left behind.
Since all the people above him are big shots, people like Section Chief Zhao can only run errands and do odd jobs when they go to the review committee.
He felt that he couldn't be the only one running errands, so he found two more errand runners for himself.
It was He Ping and Ye Manzhi who first proposed the plan.
Ye Manzhi was not surprised by this result. It was too naive to ask her leader to stand up for her and take down He Ping.
Now is the time to recruit people, and He Ping is the most experienced person in the department, so there is nothing wrong with Zhao Guilin choosing him.
Ye Manzhi reminded himself to be careful of this kind of old fox, and then accepted the leader's arrangement with a smile.
"Lao He, Xiao Ye, get ready. The day after tomorrow our review committee will hold its first meeting and meet with colleagues from several other units..."
Ye Manzhi asked: "Section Chief, what content are you preparing?"
Zhao Guilin was also an errand runner, and he actually had no idea what the bosses were doing in the meeting.
But he still speculated: "Maybe they will arrange the division of labor among the various units, and then work together to study the award criteria and so on. You all should think about it in advance!"
Ye Manzhi accepted the arrangement and was about to look through the relevant award materials when she received a call from her third sister-in-law Huang Li in the office.
The other party asked her to go to the kindergarten after get off work because the kindergarten teacher had something urgent to discuss.
Upon hearing this, Ye Manzhi's heart suddenly tightened.
Since they said it was an urgent matter, it must be an urgent matter, otherwise they would not call the office.
Ye Manzhi was afraid that something had happened to the child in kindergarten, so she quickly called Wu Zhengrong and asked him to go to the factory kindergarten to check the situation.
After hanging up the phone, she sat restlessly in the office and finally made it to five o'clock to get off work.
He put on his backpack and rushed out of the office.
When Ye Manzhi hurried to the kindergarten, Wu Yuzhuo, Taxi and Qiqiu were all in the principal's office.
Third sister-in-law and Wu Zhengrong are talking with Director Zhang.
She looked at the three children. They were not injured and their clothes were clean. It seemed that they had not fought.
Her Wu Yuzhuo even pouted and kissed her from a distance!
Ye Manzhi cooperated and kissed him back, then walked forward and asked, "Director, what happened?"
"I heard you're going to transfer Wu Yuzhuo to another kindergarten, right?"
"Her father's job has been transferred, and if we move, we will have to change the child's kindergarten."
Principal Zhang explained the situation. "Recently, a science and education film studio in Beijing wants to use our kindergarten as a location for a film called 'Physical Exercise from a Young Age,' a popular science film about preschoolers engaging in physical activities. Director Zhao, when he visited Binjiang last month for a field trip, had his eye on several of our children, including Wu Yuzhuo and Ye Qixiang. If Wu Yuzhuo were to transfer, it might affect the filming schedule."
"Ah, is my Wu Yuzhuo so important? If she transfers to another kindergarten, the film studio will stop filming?" Ye Manzhi asked.
"The director is waiting outside. If our child can't film, he'll have to change kindergartens." Huang Li pulled Ye Manzhi aside and explained in a low voice, "The director wants to choose good-looking and chubby ones."
Ye Manzhi thought to herself that the taxi was indeed quite fat and the director had good taste.
She turned around and asked her daughter: "Youyan, do you want to make a movie?"
Little Wu Yuzhuo didn't know what filming was. She held the taxi with her left hand and held the ball in her right hand, saying arrogantly, "I have to bring my brother Qiuqiu with me. If I don't, I won't go!"
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