Chapter 187
When Ye Manzhi first saw through Director Lao Niu's plan, he was actually very angry.
Niu Enjiu has earned a good reputation, but he will leave a big hole in the leadership team, which will take many years to fill.
However, when Zhou Ruyi tactfully asked her whether she opposed the collective funding for house building, Ye Manzhi chose to remain silent.
According to the practice of the food factory, it is considered a good performance if a building can be built every year to solve the housing problems of dozens of employees.
The entire factory needs hundreds or even thousands of apartments.
If no extraordinary measures are taken, some employees may not be able to buy a house for ten or eight years.
How many decades can a person live for?
Ye Manzhi didn't want everyone to waste time waiting. The housing problem would have to be solved sooner or later anyway, and the sooner it was solved, the sooner everyone could enjoy it.
There is no construction without destruction. Since Lao Niu has already set up the stage, they can just stand on it.
"Every family's situation is different. Most people would feel pressured to come up with 400, 500, 600, or 700 yuan all at once to build a house," Ye Manzhi said with a smile. "When it comes to raising funds for building a house, I suggest not adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. It's better to provide people with a variety of options."
After hearing her proposal, Chen Qian was the first to agree. "Giving employees a subsidy is a good idea. We can actually collect three to four thousand yuan in rent from the old family compound each month. After setting aside enough for maintenance, the remaining rent can cover some of the employees' housing subsidies, which will significantly reduce the financial pressure on the factory."
Zhu Kehai put down his teacup and said, "But the locations and sizes of public housing employees rent vary greatly, and the price per square meter also varies. I'm afraid it will be difficult to distribute this subsidy. The workload for the Logistics and Finance Departments is enormous."
"That's easy," Chen Qian said with a smile. "Everyone's housing area is fixed. No subsidies will be given for anything above that. There's also a maximum subsidy per square meter. If someone rents a large house in a good location, they'll have to pay for it themselves."
Several people discussed the topic of subsidies for nearly an hour.
After refilling her teacup three times, Ye Manzhi suggested, "Let's not hold this meeting behind closed doors. The factory has implemented the Angang Constitution, and the workers are very active in participating in factory management. Housing is related to everyone's vital interests. Why not gather worker representatives from each workshop for a symposium?"
"Alright," Jiang Wenming said, his voice full of commanding authority. "We'll give employees two options: fundraising and housing subsidies. Let's make the choice based on our actual circumstances."
As for where to raise the money to build houses, that is another matter.
The factory needs to first see how many people are willing to raise funds. If there are less than 300 people, he can think of a solution.
Jiang Wenming was the acting factory director, and he convened a symposium with employee representatives from each workshop.
The employees spoke very enthusiastically at the meeting. Everyone brainstormed and came up with many good ideas.
Ye Manzhi felt that the discussion was very effective. If everyone's approach was implemented, the problem of welfare housing distribution would be solved in the near future.
However, after convening a symposium, Jiang Wenming did not make any further moves and never brought up the topic of housing again.
At first, Ye Manzhi secretly grumbled that Director Jiang was half-hearted in his work and no wonder he had been suppressed by Lao Niu for so many years.
Two days later, she gradually came to her senses and suspected that Jiang Wenming might have heard some rumors from above.
If he is not the successor preferred by his superiors, then there is really no need for him to help the new factory director fill the hole.
Sure enough, in the last week of November, Binjiang No. 1 Food Factory received a notice from its superiors.
The new Party Secretary and Factory Director, Comrade Yu Zhijiang, will take office soon.
Although this result is surprising, it is reasonable.
Ye Manzhi could only say that Director Lao Niu’s plan was not in vain, as he had a good idea of the situation of the factory’s leadership team.
None of these deputy factory directors is suitable to be the factory director.
Needless to say, Ye Manzhi herself had only been promoted to section chief for less than two years and was not yet the deputy secretary of the Party Committee. It was impossible for her superiors to promote her to the deputy division-level Party Committee secretary or factory director in such a short period of time.
Zhu Kehai was very active, but he was new and had no outstanding achievements. If he had waited another year or two, he might have had a chance to become the factory director, but Lao Niu came up with the "Angang Constitution", which was too early to make progress, so Zhu Kehai was unable to connect.
Jiang Wenming was the most likely candidate for the full-time position of plant director, given his extensive experience and years of accomplishments. The rapid implementation of the Anshan Iron and Steel Constitution throughout the plant was largely due to his role as deputy secretary.
When Lao Niu was too busy to handle everything, Jiang Wenming would come forward to supervise the implementation of the "Angang Constitution".
Ye Manzhi felt that Director Jiang suffered a loss because he did not know how to promote himself. Although he had done a lot of work, it was Niu Enjiu who was interviewed, and most of the credit was attributed to Niu Enjiu.
She even knew to submit articles to newspapers to secretly show off her work results, but Director Jiang did nothing.
Ye Manzhi felt sorry for Jiang Wenming for a moment, then followed the group to welcome the new head of the food factory.
Yu Zhijiang was 39 years old, in the prime of his life. He shook hands with several people at the door. When it was Ye Manyi's turn, he shook his hand enthusiastically and said, "Director Ye, we will fight side by side again!"
Ye Manzhi also responded enthusiastically with some polite words.
They both came from the Provincial Department of Industry and were somewhat acquaintances.
Yu Zhijiang was once the chief of the Fourth Comprehensive Section of the Chemical and Light Industry Department of the Provincial Department. The Fourth Comprehensive Section was in charge of tobacco and alcohol. When Ye Manzhi was a small fry, he did not communicate much with him.
Later, when he became a secretary for Mr. Xia, he began to have some respect for him.
Strictly speaking, they couldn't be considered to have fought side by side.
Her only impression of Zhijiang was that he was a smooth person and was very popular in the unit, but she didn't know what his work ability was.
…
After the new factory director took office, he officially started working soon.
As he had just arrived and was not familiar with the situation in the factory, and was faced with a huge hole in the fundraising for building houses, Yu Zhijiang did not hastily adjust the division of labor within the leadership team, and the three major initiatives of a new official were slow to take place.
Logically speaking, with the new leader taking office and it being the end of the year, the factory should have some new people and a new atmosphere.
However, the factory leadership team was lifeless, and even activists like Zhu Kehai rarely gave lectures.
The main reason is that Yu Zhijiang is too young. He has to work in the food factory for at least three to five years. As long as he doesn't move, there is no hope for advancement for others.
Ye Manzhi was the most calm. With her qualifications, she was not qualified to be the factory director for the time being, so it didn't matter to her who became the factory director.
As she was about to get off work, she received a call from Wu Zhengrong at the factory, then quickly put on her coat, tied her scarf, and ran to the bus station at the factory gate.
Today Wu Yuzhuo is going to watch the skating competition of her brother Che and brother Qiu.
Ever since participating in a kindergarten sports meet, Comrade Xiao Wu always prepares a lot of snacks every time he goes out to watch a game.
So, before going to the game, she would go to her mother's workplace in person to buy two strings of candied haws for her brother Che and her brother Qiu.
Ye Manzhi only waited at the bus station for ten minutes before she finally got the bus her daughter was taking.
The car door opened, Wu Yuzhuo jumped down the steps, and turned around to say goodbye to the ticket seller.
The conductor asked dutifully, "Is your mother here?"
"I'm coming." Ye Manzhi hurried forward a few steps and leaned over to thank the conductor in the car.
This was a lazy method she and Wu Zhengrong came up with.
Wu Zhengrong had to be on duty at night and could not go to the game with them, so after picking up the child from kindergarten, he sent him on the bus and asked the conductor to help watch the child and remind his son Wu Yuzhuo when they arrived at the station.
The ticket seller was very responsible and helped young comrade Wu Yuzhuo complete his first experience of riding a bus alone in his life.
Ye Manzhi took her daughter to the pastry store to buy snacks. As they walked, she asked, "Baby, how much money did you bring?"
"One dollar!" Wu Yuzhuo patted his pocket.
"That's very generous of you."
Her kid's pocket money only comes in but never goes out. He never spends his own money if he can spend his parents'.
Today, I am willing to spend a dollar, which is definitely the first time in my life.
This year, the food factory's candied haws are on the market two months earlier than last year. Wu Yuzhuo walked around the haystack at the door and carefully selected three strings of candied haws.
Ye Manzhi put his hands in his pockets and said, "I want to eat too."
Wu Yuzhuo touched his pocket and discussed with her: "Shall we eat a bunch of noodles together?"
“I could eat a bunch of them myself.”
"Oh." Wu Yuzhuo seemed to be at a loss as to what to do with her mother. "Okay, pick another one."
The mother and daughter took four strings of candied haws and bought half a pound of glutinous rice noodles, and went to the People's Stadium to watch the game together.
Today's competition is a more formal city-level children's skating competition, and the young athletes have to wear name and number plates behind them.
The competition venue was open-air, and when they arrived, Taxi and Qiqiu were warming up on the ice in their blue and white striped sportswear.
Wu Yuzhuo shouted: "Brother Cheche, Brother Qiuqiu, come on!"
Shen Liangmei smiled and said, "The competition hasn't officially started yet. Youyan, save your voice for later."
When the two brothers saw their sister, they both slid to the side of the court with their hands behind their backs. Qiqiu asked, "Why did you come just now? I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
He has some talent in skating, at least a little more than taxi driving, so he is particularly confident in this area.
"I went to the food factory to buy some candied haws!" Wu Yuzhuo handed them over. "Can you two eat some now? My mom says eating too much will affect my performance."
The taxi driver took the candied haws and said nonchalantly, "My grades are just like that. No matter how many candied haws I eat, it won't affect them!"
Huang Li tapped his son on the forehead and said sarcastically, "You have a pretty good attitude."
"Hey, I ate some candied haws, maybe I can skate well."
Ye Manzhi rubbed her nephew's chubby cheeks and said, "Our Cheche is actually quite suitable to be an athlete. Athletes must have good mental qualities!"
The two brothers ate two hawthorns on the sidelines. When they heard the loudspeaker notifying the athletes to check in, they reluctantly handed the candied haws to their sister for safekeeping.
Wu Yuzhuo held up a candied haws and cheered for his two brothers.
Ye Manzhi covered her mouth and asked her two sisters-in-law, "Were the names called out on the loudspeaker just now Ye Qixiang and Ye Qiqiu?"
Huang Li: “…”
She didn't notice.
Shen Liangmei was panicked for a moment: "Isn't it possible that I gave the wrong name?"
"Who filled out the registration form?" Ye Manyi asked.
"Your fourth brother."
Shen Liangmei had little education and had only attended literacy classes. She was worried that she had filled in the wrong information for her son, so she asked Ye Mangui, who had only a primary school education, to fill out the registration form.
Ye Manzhi felt that she must have heard correctly, and said speechlessly: "Instead of letting my fourth brother fill it out, it would be better to let Mai Duo help!"
Qiqiu's real name is Ye Qi'an. It's okay for people to call him by his nickname in normal times, but how can he use his nickname in such a formal competition?
"I guess your fourth brother has forgotten his full name," Shen Liangmei said regretfully, knowing her husband well. "I shouldn't have asked him to write it! He even got his own son's name wrong!"
The more she thought about it, the more regretful she felt, and this regret reached its peak when the results were broadcast over the radio.
"Second place, Ye Qiqiu from the 656 Factory Children's Kindergarten."
“…”
“…”
"Ninth place, Ye Qixiang from the 656 Factory Children's Kindergarten."
“Wow wow wow!”
After hearing the rankings, Wu Yuzhuo waved his candied haws vigorously, shouting until his voice was hoarse, "My brother Qiuqiu got second place! Brother Cheche got ninth place! My brothers are so awesome!"
Ye Manzhi had heard that her two nephews were good at ice skating, but today was the first time she saw them live.
I didn’t expect that these two guys could actually achieve such good results in skating!
The athletes participating in this competition are all preschool children, and there are more than 40 young athletes from the city participating in the competition.
Being able to slide into the top three is a very good result!
Taxi slid to the side of the rink on his skates and shouted excitedly, "Mom, I told you, eating candied haws really helps you skate well! I made it into the top ten for the first time!"
Huang Li: “…”
I was so happy to get ninth place.
I won’t have to eat candied haws before every competition in the future, right?
Amateurs think that ninth place is nothing, but for taxi drivers, the ninth place is actually quite valuable.
The city's children's skating team will select 8 outstanding players from this competition.
A skating coach from the Municipal Sports Commission found the parents of the two children and asked them if they would like their children to join the children's skating team for training.
During the training period, the city team provides ice skates, and if you can skate well, you will receive subsidies such as food coupons and meat coupons in the future.
Huang Li knew that the city team was selecting players, but he didn't expect his little fat boy to be selected. "Coach, my Ye Qixiang only got ninth place, and he's actually a bit fat."
"It's okay. The child is growing. Although he's a little fat, he's quite flexible. The seventh-ranked child doesn't want to practice sports. If you're willing to go, sign up for the fat kid."
Wu Yuzhuo looked at his third aunt nervously. Brother Cheche wanted to go for training. It would be great if he could join the skating team!
Huang Li glanced at his nimble little fat boy, weighed the pros and cons for a moment, and said, "Then let him try first."
Anyway, there are still two months before the Chinese New Year. This little fat boy's grades are not very stable and he can't always get into the top ten.
Perhaps influenced by his two younger brothers, after watching the competition, Wu Yuzhuo decided to learn ice skating so that the three of them could play together.
Ye Manzhi can skate by herself, and her first pair of ice skates was given to her by Wu Zhengrong.
So, when she went to work the next day, Ye Manzhi planned to go to the sporting goods store first to buy her daughter a pair of small ice skates, and then she would go on the ice to give her guidance herself.
Save the cost of taking classes.
She took her notebook and went to the canning workshop to help out, secretly admiring herself for her good housekeeping skills.
*
On the other side of the city, in the small conference room of the Provincial Department of Industry, the Party Committee of the Department was discussing several personnel issues.
After receiving the director's signal, Director Sun of the Personnel Department continued, "For the first deputy director of the Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory, the Personnel Department has nominated four comrades: Comrade Zhang Zhigang from the Comprehensive Section 1 of the Provincial Department's Heavy Industry Department, Comrade Li Bo from the Dehua Red Star Machinery Factory, Comrade Ye Manzhi from the Binjiang First Food Factory, and Comrade Wang Tiancheng from the Huicheng Xinghua Tool Factory."
"Zhang Zhigang is 34 years old, a Party member, and has a university degree. He graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Provincial Industrial College. He currently serves as a deputy section-level cadre in the Comprehensive First Section of the Heavy Industry Department of the Provincial Department. He previously served as..."
Deputy Director Li asked, "I remember Zhang Zhigang had quite a lot of experience working at the grassroots level?"
"Yes, from 1958 to 1959, I served as deputy director of the Jianghua Machinery Factory in Dehua Prefecture for two years. In 1959, the factory's output value doubled."
Xia Zhujun: “…”
During those two years, many factories doubled their output value.
After introducing Zhang Zhigang and Li Bo's resumes, Director Sun continued, "Comrade Ye Manzhi is 27 years old, a Party member, with a university degree. He graduated from the Industrial Economics Department of a provincial university and is currently the deputy director of Binjiang No. 1 Food Factory. He previously served as deputy director of the Guangming Sub-district Office in Zhengyang District, Binjiang City, deputy director of the provincial Dahua'an Machinery Factory, and a cadre in the Comprehensive Section 3 of the Chemical and Light Industry Department of the Provincial Department of Industry..."
"The situation at Shuguang Factory is quite complicated. Why did they nominate a deputy director of a food factory?" asked Deputy Director Zhao.
He was the new deputy director this year and didn't know Ye Manzhi's background.
Director Luo said, "I still remember Xiao Ye. I remember she worked as a secretary for Director Xia a few years ago, right?"
"Yes, she worked as my secretary for a year." Xia Zhuyun nodded.
The situation at Shuguang Factory was complicated, and it was a heavy industry factory. She had not expected that the organization department would nominate Ye Manzhi to serve there as the first deputy director and deputy secretary.
However, since someone had brought it up, she still had to fight for her secretary.
"I'm quite familiar with Comrade Ye Manzhi's situation. There was a devastating fire at the Binjiang No. 1 Food Factory, and the entire canning workshop was burned down. Ye Manzhi was appointed deputy director of the food factory in a moment of crisis, and was even responsible for the canning workshop's work. Last year, despite being broke, he led the workers to complete the annual production target with great difficulty. I think he was even awarded some kind of award by the Binjiang Municipal Party Committee..."
Director Sun looked at Ye Manzhi's resume and said, "He was selected as a model cadre by the Binjiang Municipal Party Committee."
"Yes, a city model cadre. Their factory has done quite well this year. I heard the canning workshop has doubled its original production target. The factory's output value increased by over 20% year-on-year in the first three quarters. Export earnings rank fourth among all enterprises in the province and first among the light industry. Binjiang No. 1 Food Factory has achieved quite outstanding results this year."
The fact that Niu Enjiu was assigned to be the secretary of the Provincial Food Industry Company was also closely related to these achievements.
Xia Zhujun sighed and said, "I had no idea the Organization Department would suggest sending Ye Manzhi to Shuguang Factory. However, the Personnel Department has done a great job, and Ye Manzhi is indeed a good choice. He's relatively young, but he has extensive experience working at the grassroots level and is very capable of handling crises. The post-disaster reconstruction of the food factory's canning workshop is a prime example. Shuguang Factory is facing some tough challenges right now, and we urgently need someone to go over and lend a hand to Lei Wanyuan."
The external name of the Shuguang Factory is "State-owned Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory", but it actually has a military code name - "Factory 833".
Factory 833 is a second-level confidential unit, and the uses of its products are relatively special.
In the past two years, the whole country has been supporting the construction of the Third Front, and each province also needs to build a small Third Front.
Confidential units like Factory 833 must follow the principles of "relying on mountains, dispersing, and concealing" and move to strategic rear areas.
Factory 833 is a large factory with 5,000 employees, and including their families, there are more than 10,000 people in total.
It is obviously unrealistic to transfer so many people to the small third line at the same time.
Therefore, Factory 833 was divided into two parts. Most people moved to the rear with their equipment and belongings, while a small number of people were left in Binjiang.
The remaining part no longer retained the code name of Factory 833, but only had an external name - "Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory".
The newly established Shuguang Factory, along with its personnel and equipment, was taken over by the local government.
However, the current members of the factory leadership team are all appointed by higher-level units, and the province only has a general understanding of the situation of these cadres and is not very familiar with them.
It is urgent to arrange for someone to take over the factory.
In addition to taking over the factory and calming the employees, the most important thing is to guide the Shuguang factory to switch production.
After the factory was taken over by the local government, the military supplies it once produced could no longer be produced.
Where will such a large military factory go?
Not to mention the employees of Shuguang Factory, even the provincial and ministerial leaders were unsure.
Xia Zhujun read through the resumes of several candidates again and shook her head in her heart.
She reiterated, "The situation at Shuguang Factory is very difficult. The selection of the first deputy director must be carefully considered by our department's Party Committee."
After the Shuguang Factory was split, its administrative level was deputy division level, and the first deputy factory director was a section-level cadre.
Among the four people nominated by the Personnel Department, Ye Manzhi and Li Bo are section chiefs, and the other two are deputy section chiefs.
Especially Zhang Zhigang, a deputy section-level cadre in the Heavy Industry Department of the Provincial Department. If he was transferred to other units, it would be normal to take the opportunity to be promoted to a higher level, which is also a common practice in the department.
However, the situation at Shuguang Factory was complicated, and comrades with grassroots experience were needed to cooperate with the factory director Lei Wanyuan.
Comrades like Zhang Zhigang who have been sitting in the office for many years may not be incompetent, but Xia Zhuyun trusts comrades who have rich experience at the grassroots level and have successful experience.
For both public and private reasons, she hoped that Ye Manzhi could work at Shuguang Factory.
Director Sun of the Personnel Department knew that Ye Manzhi looked a bit out of place in this recommendation list. Firstly, she was young, and secondly, she lacked experience in the heavy industry.
Therefore, he gave an additional explanation for the reason for nominating Ye Manyi.
"When the Organization Department examines cadres, they look not only at their experience and abilities but also their background. Comrade Ye Manzhi's latest political review materials show that she comes from a working-class family. Her father works in a military factory, and her brother was named a 'Red Engineer' by the provincial government two years ago and went to the Third Front to support national defense construction last year. Furthermore, Comrade Ye Manzhi is a military dependent, and her spouse is an active-duty soldier. Although the Shuguang Factory was handed over to the local government, it was difficult for the employees to immediately change their identities; most still consider themselves employees of the military factory. Comrade Ye Manzhi was nominated because her identity would make it easier for the employees to identify with her."
Director Luo pondered Ye Manzhi's resume and asked, "Is there anything else you would like to add?"
Director Sun looked through some documents and shook his head.
Xia Zhujun from next door added, "Most of the equipment from Factory 833 will be taken to the small Third Front. We have no idea what the military factory will leave for Shuguang Factory. In all likelihood, we'll just take whatever they leave behind."
For this kind of work related to national defense construction, local governments can only cooperate and there is no room for bargaining.
Moreover, the team members who remained in Binjiang were all former cadres of Factory 833, and they might not be able to gain anything for the province.
"But we also have to face reality. According to the materials forwarded by the military representatives of Factory 833, there are still thousands of employees working in Binjiang. If there is nothing left in the factory, how will these thousands of people work? While the military and local governments haven't officially handed over the property yet, we should try our best to get as much as possible for us. Ye Manzhi is a military dependent and a female comrade. When bargaining with the military representatives, even if the negotiations are tough, there will be room for maneuver."
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