Chapter 139
Ye Manzhi suspected that she had been fooled by Dr. Wu. When she went home to ask someone to verify it, the person refused to admit it.
"The higher-ups advocate conquering rivers, lakes, and seas, and training ourselves in the face of strong winds and waves. What kind of hard skills can I gain from splashing around in a swimming pool with you?"
"Is it true that your institute doesn't have any tasks in this area?" Ye Manzhi looked at him suspiciously.
Cruise along the river is the most popular activity this summer. All provincial and municipal units have been mobilized, and even primary and secondary school students have participated. How could the 1062 Institute not be involved?
"There were river crossings, but I wasn't responsible for them. We're a research institute, and doing research well is our top priority," Wu Zhengrong said confidently. "That was a training mission for other units. Our institute only sent a few comrades to participate."
Ye Manzhi asked persistently, "You're not some special comrade, are you?"
"Of course not. My company has other plans for me. I don't need to participate in the river crossing." Wu Zhengrong raised his chin towards their two-meter-wide bed. "Don't be so suspicious. Your daughter is almost swimming under the bed."
Comrade Wu Yuzhuo had just started learning to swim and was very interested in it. Soaking in the swimming pool for half an hour every evening was not enough for him. After returning home, he would put on a vest and shorts, put on a swimming ring, and swim back and forth on the bed using his hands and feet.
The sheets and quilts on the bed were worn out by her.
Ye Manzhi looked at the messy bed, resisted the urge to pinch her philtrum, and reminded herself that it was her own child, so cute, she couldn't hit the child impulsively.
Fortunately, there is the impartial Dr. Wu at home. When facing the little face that looks 70% similar to his own, Wu Zhengrong can still stick to his principles.
Just before the kid fell off the bed, he picked him up and moved him to the corner.
So, Wu Yuzhuo, who had been practicing swimming and tempering her will, was once again dragged by her father to stand in the corner as punishment...
Ye Manzhi considered herself a loving mother, so in order to prevent her daughter from being punished again for secretly doing mischief, she extended the training time from half an hour to one hour the next day.
Train Wu Yuzhuo until he is exhausted before going home.
When the mother and daughter were returning with their swimsuits and swimming rings, they met Zhou Suo's lover from next door at the intersection.
"Sister-in-law, where have you been? How did this happen?" Ye Manzhi took the initiative to greet the neighbors.
Liu Zhenfang was listless and his steps were heavy, with four equally listless children following behind him.
"We just came back from the river." Liu Zhenfang glanced at the cheerful mother and daughter and said enviously, "Old Zhou has assigned me a task recently. I have to take the children to the river to swim every day. My arms and legs feel like they are filled with lead. I can't even lift them."
After she followed Lao Zhou to Binjiang, she did not go out to work for a while. Originally, this kind of activity of traveling on rivers, lakes and seas had nothing to do with her.
But Lao Zhou took on the unit's task of crossing the river. Recently, he took the team to swim in the river every day and exercise in the strong winds and waves. He even took her and her four children to the riverside for training.
Yi Yi, the youngest in the group, slumped her shoulders and said, "Auntie Ye, I'm almost dead tired. I don't want to be my father's daughter anymore. Can I come to your house?"
"Hahaha, if your parents are willing, I will grab you and keep you company with Youyan." Ye Manzhi asked, "Sister-in-law, Momo and Yiyi are so young, do they have to cross the river too?"
"It was all my husband, Old Zhou's decision. He wanted to lead several colleagues from the institute across the river, calling himself a fierce tiger on land and a dragon on water. He also asked us to participate to strengthen our bodies and temper our wills," Liu Zhenfang said with a bitter face. "He had us practicing some basic swimming skills, and it was so exhausting that my back and waist ached. I thought, since we're family, why not just not participate? But then Old Zhou showed me Comrade Chairman's 'Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains'..."
“…”
Ye Manzhi almost laughed out loud.
She quickly thought of two sad things and avoided laughing in front of others.
Across from him, Liu Zhenfang was still complaining, "Our Old Zhou said that the reason Yugong was able to move two mountains was because of his perseverance and persistence. He urged our whole family to set a Yugong's aspiration, train hard, and swim along the river!"
Ye Manzhi is usually quite articulate, but at this moment she really couldn't find a suitable answer, so she could only imitate her four-year-old Wu Yuzhuo and exclaim "Wow".
"Xiao Ye, I haven't seen your Wu exercising by the river recently. Do you guys need to go swimming in the river?"
Ye Manzhi didn't mention her training in the swimming pool. She only said, "My Wu Suo seems to have other work and didn't participate in the river crossing. But our unit also organized a competition to cross the Binjiang River, and I am a member of the March 8th Women's Team."
When Liu Zhenfang heard that she was actually going to participate in the official competition, he finally felt a little relieved.
After exchanging a few words with her, he dragged his heavy feet and returned to his yard with his four children.
She had been exercising hard these days, and her back and waist ached, and her hands and feet were weak. She lay down on the bed as soon as she got home and didn't even make dinner.
When Lao Zhou returned home after training, he found that the stove was cold and there was not a single bite to eat!
"You didn't cook today?"
"My arms and legs are almost broken, how am I supposed to cook?" Liu Zhenfang glared at him and said, "You can only choose one between training and cooking. Make your choice."
"You just lack exercise."
Liu Zhenfang sat up in bed. "I'm not the only one in this compound who lacks exercise. Sister Huilan next door, and Xiaoye, don't even need to go swimming in the river, so why do you insist on making me go swimming? Besides, you and Chief Wu are both deputy directors, and Chief Wu is several years younger than you. Why don't you let a young comrade take the lead in this river crossing activity? You're almost forty, what are you still doing?"
"Our unit has its own arrangements, what do you know!"
"How could I not know? When I came back just now, I ran into Xiaoye and Youyan outside. Xiaoye said that Wu Suo didn't even need to swim! He's so young and doesn't go, so why are you going?"
Lao Zhou said, "He has other work. Do you think crossing the Binjiang River is that easy? The river is a full kilometer wide, and the water flow is complex. Large-scale water activities are prone to accidents. He was transferred to the emergency command center."
"Others can go to the headquarters, why don't you try to get a place?" Liu Zhenfang thought he was stupid. He wanted to bring his family along when organizing a river cruise at the company.
"This is a collaboration between our research institute and other units," Lao Zhou said, waving his hand. "Pay attention to the confidentiality regulations and don't ask about things you shouldn't!"
Wu Zhengrong suggested applying the institute's new equipment to this river crossing activity, which was the first attempt to use computers in an exercise.
They have already come forward on behalf of the research institute. If Old Zhou also intervenes, wouldn't that be an obvious attempt to steal the credit?
*
Ye Manzhi suddenly felt that happiness seemed to be created by contrast.
Compared with Sister Zhenfang next door, she is quite happy as an athlete who can train freely in the swimming pool.
When Wu Zhengrong is not working overtime, he often accompanies the mother and daughter to swim, and also takes on the task of looking after the children in the swimming pool.
This made Ye Manzhi's beautiful and virtuous qualities emerge again at the right time.
She felt that she should be nicer to Wu Zhengrong.
So in recent days, after get off work, she often stopped by the grocery store to buy sausages, vegetarian chicken, pork heads and other snacks. After swimming, the couple had a midnight snack together, drank some wine, and then did some unpresentable things.
The year they got married, they bought an erroneous Soviet novel "Day and Night" in Guangzhou. Although the novel was destroyed on the same day, Dr. Wu, who had read the full text, still remembered it vividly.
Some gymnastics moves were vetoed by Ye Manzhi because they were too embarrassing.
However, Wu Zhengrong found that her psychological defenses seemed to be retreating recently, so he hugged her and made her sit steadily on him, and dug out the knowledge that he had thrown into the corner from his memory, responding to the call and enriching the couple's spare time life.
Ye Manzhi did not go to the riverside to fight the waves, but when she went to work, she felt like she had swum in the river.
Xia Zhujun pounded her arm and asked, "Xiaoye, how's your swimming going? Are you confident you can successfully cross the river?"
"To be honest, I don't have much confidence. The river is too wide. I heard it's about a kilometer wide. It would take a long time to run across it, let alone swim," Ye Manzhi sighed. "I'll try to hold on a little longer."
Activities in government agencies have always been a top-down process.
Just like when the lesbians were organized to dance, many people actively signed up to participate after hearing that Director Guo was in charge.
Xia Zhuyun's swimming ability is actually quite average. If it weren't for the purpose of getting more female comrades to join the March 8th Women's Team, she would never have signed up for it.
"You're young. If you practice more, you might succeed," Xia Zhujun encouraged. "Our department's Women's Swimming Team has 18 members. If just one person can successfully swim across, we'll be victorious. Xiaoye, you better keep trying!"
Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "Anyway, I've been going to the swimming pool every day after get off work to practice swimming. My best result is swimming 400 meters in one breath. I can't swim more than that. If I can rest for a while in between to recover my strength, maybe I can succeed."
"You really need to exercise. The river is rough and it's harder to swim in than in a swimming pool."
The two chatted and laughed all the way to the conference room for the meeting. Before pushing open the door, Xia Zhujun said in a relaxed tone, "We can consider arranging a safety boat. When the team members get tired of swimming, they can lie down on it and rest for a while."
Ye Manzhi smiled and sent the leader into the meeting room, while she stayed outside to chat with other secretaries.
There hasn't been any big activity in the hall recently, so she and Xia Zhuyun's lives have become more relaxed.
After Xia Zhuyun became the deputy director, in order to stimulate the production vitality of enterprises, she took the lead in organizing inter-provincial competitions. In addition to the 27 light industrial enterprises in Tianjin, 13 enterprises in Beijing also signed up to participate in the competition.
Although the competition has not officially started yet, Xia Zhuyun has already completed the preliminary preparations. As long as the "Directly Affiliated Enterprise Department" responsible for the specific implementation can implement it seriously, Xia Hall will have a good start.
Ye Manzhi did not stand outside the meeting room. After chatting with other secretaries for a few words, he returned to the secretariat to write his speech.
She originally thought that this was just an ordinary study session, but when Xia Zhuyun returned to the office again, she frowned.
The atmosphere on the third floor was no longer as relaxed as before.
Ye Manzhi didn't need to ask specifically. After just one lunch break, she heard about the content of the morning meeting from other colleagues.
The Provincial Department of Industry is preparing to close down some small factories run by non-industrial sectors that produce duplicate products and compete with large factories for raw materials.
The number of these small factories may be as high as thousands.
The scope of the non-industrial sector is much larger. For example, the commercial sector, construction and transportation sector, agricultural sector, etc. have all opened some factories to a greater or lesser extent.
Now, in order to ensure the supply of raw materials to large factories, the Ministry of Industry has ordered the closure of small factories.
What’s the difference between this and stealing someone else’s job?
It's not even about stealing someone's job, but about kicking over their job!
As long as this plan is officially passed, the Ministry of Industry will stand in opposition to other departments.
The Party Committee of the Department seems to intend to hand this task over to Deputy Director Li or Xia Zhuyun.
No matter who takes the lead, as long as he takes over this job, he will be the one who directly bears the public's anger.
How to appease the emotions of all parties, maneuver and ensure the smooth implementation of this work is a test of the ability of the responsible leader.
Ye Manzhi felt that the matter was a bit tricky. It was said that when the agency staff was being streamlined, Deputy Director Li, who was in charge of this work, was found at home and his windows smashed.
If we now close down thousands of factories, it will definitely offend more people!
Goosebumps suddenly appeared on the leafy branches.
My God, the window glass in the leader’s house may not be big enough for people to smash!
If Xia Zhujun is really in charge of this work, then a pawn like her will definitely not be able to escape.
She silently followed the movements in the Party Committee Office and prayed in her heart that such an offensive thing would never happen to her!
She was nervous in the secretary's office for the whole afternoon, and only when she received a call from her third sister-in-law before leaving get off work did she feel relieved.
Wong Tai Sin asked her to meet him at the office gate after get off work.
When Ye Manzhi walked out, the other party was already waiting at the door with a taxi.
"Sister-in-law, what's the hurry? Taxi drivers don't have to go to school today?" Ye Manzhi rubbed her nephew's chubby cheeks. "Cheche, I haven't seen you in a few days. Do you miss me?"
"Yes," the taxi driver added, "and my sister."
"Haha, Youyan is also at home talking about you and Qiqiu!" Ye Manzhi couldn't let go and touched his chubby face. "Sister-in-law, have you had dinner yet? Let's go to our company cafeteria to eat together."
"Let's go to the state-owned restaurant across the street. It's my treat today." Huang Li pointed diagonally across the street. "I want to tell you something."
"Oh, let's go then."
No one goes to the temple for no reason. Ye Manzhi was mentally prepared when she received the call from Wong Tai Sin.
She took her nephew's chubby little hand and walked in front to lead the way.
"Have you heard about the fact that there are more than 20 factories in our city that have jointly established a joint industrial university?" Huang Li asked.
"I heard about it. It was in the newspaper a while ago. The city attaches great importance to this university. I heard that they have invited many well-known professors and senior engineers to teach."
"Yes, the news of setting up a university has been circulating for a year or two. We heard from the factory that Factory 656 will also participate in the preparations for the establishment of this university. At that time, the factory can recommend outstanding engineers and technicians to study at the United University and obtain a formal university degree."
Ye Manzhi asked, "My third brother also wants to study at this United Industrial University, right?"
"Yes," Huang Li nodded. "He's an engineer at the factory and has performed well in recent years. If the factory can recommend workers to go to university, he should be able to secure a place."
Ye Mantang has always regretted not being able to go to the Stalin Automobile Factory for an internship and learn the most advanced technology.
Although the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations in the past two years has reduced his regrets, his desire to continue to make progress has never stopped.
When they first learned that the factory was going to co-found a joint university, the couple were very excited.
Going to such a university, you can study relevant majors, and after graduation you can return to your original unit to work, and your salary level can be directly increased by two levels.
They had already arranged their life after going to college, but they suddenly heard some time ago that Factory 656 would no longer participate in the preparation and establishment of the United University.
Correspondingly, Factory 656 will not be able to get a recommendation from this university!
Ye Mantang's hope of going to university for further studies was completely shattered.
"Since there are no more recommendation spots, what does my third brother plan to do?" Ye Manzhi asked.
"He's just interested in learning technology, not pursuing a diploma," Huang Li said helplessly. "He's stupid. He wants to use his connections to audit classes at other universities and learn the technology, even without a diploma."
Ye Manzhi smiled: "This is indeed something my third brother can do."
"I figured if I spent all my time studying, it would be a shame not to get a diploma."
After listening to her explanation of the whole situation, Ye Manzhi thought for a moment and said, "If my third brother wants to go to college, United Industrial University isn't the only option. Our Industry Department has an Industrial College that accepts outstanding talents recommended by major factories every year. I'll have my brother keep an eye out for this over the next two years. If Factory 656 gets a recommendation, let him apply. He's an engineer now, so his chances of getting recommended are pretty good."
My third brother is a worker, not a cadre, so he cannot take the college entrance examination by being transferred to a cadre student.
Except for transferred students, universities usually do not admit candidates of my third brother's age.
If he wants to go to college, the most convenient way is to be recommended by his unit.
After graduation, you can go back to where you came from and work at Factory 656.
Huang Li tilted his son's head aside and said in a low voice, "I heard that a technician at Factory 656 secretly used his connections to get a place at the Union University for further studies, but he claimed it was a recommendation from his employer. Lai Ya, you work at the Industry Department. Can you get in touch with the Union University?"
For this kind of newly established university, all students come from recommendations from institutions, and the student admission process is not as strict as other universities.
Ye Mantang's length of service, qualifications and skills all meet the recommendation requirements, but unfortunately Factory 656 does not have any recommendation vacancies.
If Ye Mantang wants to go to university, this year is his last good chance. Union University of Technology only takes three years to graduate, while other engineering schools take five or six years. By the time he graduates, the school might already be in chaos.
He might not learn anything useful in school by then. It would be better for him to go to Union University, where he can graduate in three years, rather than stay there to start a revolution. After graduation, returning to Factory 656 would be a much safer option, and he could even get a two-level salary increase.
Ye Manzhi stared at the rapidly changing handwriting in front of him and couldn't help but frown inwardly.
This was not the first time she had heard Wong Tai Sin talk about revolution.
But every time she saw such words, her head was full of question marks.
A few days ago, their unit asked everyone to revolutionize their spare time!
This is a very normal work arrangement!
She concealed her doubts, composed herself, and said, "Sister-in-law, I just heard about the United Industrial University incident. Tomorrow I'll go to my third brother's workplace and ask him which unit is responsible. I'll call you if I have any news. However, don't put all your hopes on the United Industrial University. If my third brother really wants to study at a regular university, he can consider other industrial colleges."
Seeing that she agreed readily, Huang Li nodded with a relaxed expression.
The relationship between the Ye family brothers and sisters is indeed good. Brothers and sisters who can support each other are always better than those who hold each other back.
Huang Li was grateful that Ye Manzhi was willing to help her third brother.
She hesitated for a moment, then spoke carefully: "Laiya, are you going to stay in the agency and work there from now on?"
"Yeah, if I don't work in a government agency, where else can I work? The government assigned me to the Ministry of Industry, so I just obeyed the assignment."
Huang Li casually suggested, "You actually performed quite well when you were working in the neighborhood office. Didn't you even manage factories and farms? I think you'd be better off working in a business department."
Ye Manzhi was completely confused by what she said and always felt that she was a little weird today.
Just when I was wondering, Wong Tai Sin started muttering to himself again.
[Right now, it seems like a good place to work, but looking back in a few years, it's hard to say what the future holds for this kind of organization. It's better to plan ahead than to panic at the last minute.]
Huang Li knew very little about the situation of those units in the province, so he gave his sister-in-law a vague reminder as a way of returning the favor, and nothing more happened.
Because of her reminder, Ye Manzhi was absent-minded while eating, and was thinking about what she heard and saw.
Wong Tai Sin’s past record was truly outstanding, and his promises came true time and time again.
Moreover, she had hardly ever reminded herself of anything in the past. Even in the past few years when food rations were tight, she had only casually said that she should store some food in advance so that she wouldn't be worried if she had food in hand.
Therefore, this time, Wong Tai Sin’s direct reminder made Ye Manzhi feel inexplicably anxious.
She pondered over it until midnight, and when she woke up the next morning, she felt a little tired.
Wu Zhengrong touched her forehead and asked her what was wrong.
She hadn't sorted out her thoughts yet, so she could only shake her head, cheer herself up and go to work.
However, some things really don't work for good but work for bad.
She had just prayed yesterday that the work of closing down those small factories would not fall on Xia Zhuyun, and the news was announced in the department today.
From now on, within six months, small factories run by non-industrial sectors that produce duplicate products and compete with large factories for raw materials will be closed.
The deputy director who is in charge of this work is Xia Zhuyun!
Xia Zhujun remained calm when she heard the news. It was obvious that Director Luo had already discussed this with her privately.
But it seems that no one is willing to work with her on this kind of touching cake job.
After the Party Committee Office issued the notice, no one came to report to Xia Zhuyun for the entire day.
It was as if he was afraid of being drafted by his leader.
Ye Manzhi sat in her secretary's office, thinking about Huang Daxian's reminder for a while, and then thinking about the crisis Xia Zhuyun was facing.
However, it is not easy to follow Wong Tai Sin's advice and work in the business department.
She was young, had only worked at the Industry Department for a short time, and had never led a department or section. When the department was selecting leaders for the provincial textile and leather companies, they didn't even consider her.
If there is no special opportunity, you can only stay in the department.
She weighed the pros and cons behind her desk for the entire afternoon. When it was almost time to get off work, seeing that no one came to see Xia Zhuyun to report on their work, she simply stood up, knocked on the door, and walked into the office.
"Leader, we've established a leadership group for this factory shutdown. Doesn't the group office still have someone in charge of day-to-day operations? How about letting me be the office director?"
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