Chapter 22
In order to quickly achieve the goal of eliminating the four pests, Guangming Street put forward the slogan "Eliminate the four pests with all our might and achieve a rat-free street in ten days."
Ye Manzhi has been doing nothing but dealing with rats, flies and mosquitoes every day.
However, because the canned food in the office really affected her appetite, she decided to give up bringing her own lunch and go home for lunch instead.
Songs are played on the radio in the military industrial compound every day at noon.
Ye Manzhi ate while listening to music. The dining environment was much better than that in the office.
However, today's noon broadcast of "The Hawthorn Tree" was only halfway through when it was interrupted by the passionate voice of the female announcer.
"Comrades, here's a brief message."
"Since July 30th, our factory's employees have been carrying out a summer campaign to 'eliminate the four pests and promote hygiene' in conjunction with production. According to incomplete statistics, as of this morning, our factory has cleared 300 dan of garbage, caught 30 jin (approximately 100 catties) of flies, 7 jin (approximately 100 catties) of mosquitoes, 1,178 rats, and 3,320 sparrows."
"Among them, our factory took first place in the city's 'clean fly catching blitz'!"
"Departments participating in this assault included the factory director's office, the military representative's office, the chief engineer's office, the supply department, the infrastructure department, and the final assembly workshop. Over 500 people were mobilized."
"It's worth mentioning that Comrade Wu Zhengrong from the Military Representative Office fully embodied our factory's revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and innovation. During this campaign, he invented a new type of fly trap. Made solely of scrap iron sand mesh, it uses fruit peels, fish scales, shrimp shells, and other rancid bait. In the morning, they place them in key areas like toilets, cafeterias, and garbage stations, and by evening, they've harvested a bountiful harvest!"
"Comrade Wu Zhengrong was named a 'Fly Catcher Model' by the Municipal Health Bureau and the Municipal Patriotic Health Campaign Committee! I hope all employees can pay tribute to Comrade Wu Zhengrong..."
“…”
"puff……"
“Cough cough cough…”
Ye Manzhi was choked by rice grains and put down his chopsticks and started coughing violently.
"What's wrong with you, kid? You even choked while eating!" Chang Yue'e quickly patted her on the back.
Ye Manzhi waved her hands, took a deep breath, and asked, "Mom, the name mentioned on the radio just now was Wu Zhengrong, right?"
"Yeah, I didn't expect this Captain Wu to be so capable. He can catch flies and invent things! No wonder he's able to be a military representative!"
Ye Manzhi didn't understand the necessary connection between being able to make fly traps and being a military representative.
But, Wu Zhengrong was actually named a “model fly catching”?
Hahahahahaha…
Does he know it himself?
Think about Wu Zhengrong's fresh and handsome face, and his hypocritical appearance of being approachable even though he is obviously unattainable. How could he be an expert at catching flies?
Hahahaha, Ye Manzhi laughed so hard that she couldn't eat.
"What are you laughing at!" Chang Yue'e clapped her hands. "It's such an honor to be named a city-wide model! You, a high-ranking official, are even less ideologically conscious than a commoner like me!"
Ye Manzhi laughed so hard she fell over. "Asking Wu Zhengrong to make a fly trap is like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito! I guarantee you, he's definitely sulking right now! How could he possibly feel honored?"
It would be better to replace the fly trap with a car or airplane!
It has to be said that Ye Manzhi is quite good at observing people's words and expressions. After several contacts, she has been able to understand Wu Zhengrong's temper.
Wu Zhengrong was indeed not very happy at the moment.
"Who told you to send the manuscript to the radio studio?"
Qin Xiang quickly distanced himself from the matter. "This manuscript was sent by the Propaganda Department! They brought it over for review this morning. I thought it was just for the factory newspaper, so I approved it. Who knew they'd even broadcast it to the entire factory?"
Other people's communicators only run errands for the leaders and clean up, but his role is similar to that of a confidential secretary.
Wu Zhengrong is not a leader who likes to do everything himself, so tasks like reviewing press releases are usually left to him.
However, as a confidential secretary, he not only needs to have work acumen, but also needs to understand Wu Zhengrong's preferences.
If this press release was published in the factory newspaper, Wu Zhengrong would not mind. After all, not many people would read the factory newspaper, and publishing a press release was just a formality.
But it’s a different story when it’s sent to the radio station. The factory’s broadcast covers the factory area and the family compound, and tens of thousands of people listen to it at the same time. Now the employees and their families should all know that the military representative is a model for catching flies.
Thinking of this, he hurriedly said, "I think since our military representative office has made achievements, we deserve to be commended. Besides, if it weren't for the fly cage you designed, how could our factory win first place in the fly catching competition?"
Wu Zhengrong looked at him with a hint of disdain, "If you guys were really useful, would I need to design a fly cage?"
Flies and mosquitoes can easily spread infectious diseases, so he strongly supports the work of eradicating the four pests.
But in order to catch a few flies, the heads of various departments had to sit together for a meeting to discuss, and then have hundreds of people catch flies around the clock. This seemed ridiculous to him.
He didn't want to spend too much time on this kind of work, so he made a fly trap and asked them to make a few more like it and place them in key areas where there were many flies to trap them.
This kind of crude design, which was done accidentally and has very low technical content, does not meet the exemplary standards.
"Go to the broadcasting studio and have them revise the script. From now on, focus on promoting teamwork instead of exaggerating individual achievements."
*
A piece of news summarizing the results of the campaign against the four pests made Ye Manyi laugh for the whole afternoon.
However, when she calmed down and thought about it, she couldn't laugh anymore because Wu Zhengrong could even be a role model for catching flies.
I suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
The street's four pest control work is also divided into areas and contracted out. She and Chen Caixia are still responsible for the four pest control work in the fifth and sixth neighborhood committees, especially rat control.
Due to financial constraints, they adhered to the principle of using local materials, using existing mousetraps and rat poison in each household to catch mice, trying not to let everyone spend extra money on catching mice.
Ye Manzhi also found a method for making a simple mousetrap at home in an old newspaper and drew the pattern on the bulletin board in the compound for everyone's reference.
She was thinking about work, so she woke up from her nap and prepared to rush back to the office.
Before leaving, the leader of the resident group came to Old Ye's house with two members of the group.
We are here to register the daily results of our campaign against the four pests.
"Mr. Chang, how was your family yesterday? How many rats, flies, and mosquitoes did you catch?"
Chang Yue'e listed her own achievements with ease. "I caught two mice, more than 20 flies, which my grandson has taken to kindergarten. I caught five sparrows, which my old man handed over to the factory. I caught 15 mosquitoes. Look, they are all here..."
She handed a small paper bag containing the dead mosquitoes to the resident group leader.
The team leader asked again: "Where is the mouse?"
"There's a rat here. My daughter Lihua caught it," Chang Yue'e handed over a cut rat tail. "There's another one at Lao Liu's house next door. We caught that rat together, so we can count the results together."
The military industrial compound was built less than two years ago, and there aren't too many rat holes, but these rats reproduce too quickly, with one litter producing 7-11 cubs.
The public kitchens and toilets on each floor are sanitary blind spots. In addition, some families have poor hygiene habits, so it is normal for rats to visit the areas and even dig holes to make their nests.
"Aunt Wang, how are our group's performance these two days?" Ye Manzhi asked.
"It's OK. It catches a lot of flies and mosquitoes, but not rats. Mousetraps are most effective when placed at the entrance to a hole. Placing them anywhere else doesn't work well. Several people have reported to me over the past few days that they got their feet caught in mousetraps while using the restroom in the middle of the night. And the roasted peanuts used to lure rats were stolen by some unlucky child, I don't know."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
She felt that if she wanted to catch all the rats, she would probably have to resort to rat poison in the end.
When she arrived at the unit, Chen Caixia also mentioned the rat poison to her.
"The third and fourth neighborhood committees saw a huge improvement in their rat catching yesterday. I heard they spread rat poison in every nook and cranny."
"Are the residents there so generous?" Ye Manzhi envied.
Chen Caixia said with a complicated expression, "It wasn't the residents who were generous, it was Liu Jinbao and Zhuang Ting who were generous. They pooled their money to buy rat poison and spread it in the unsanitary corners."
"This Liu Jinbaoer! Why does he always take the lead? If this becomes the norm, won't we have to pay for it?"
Chen Caixia glanced around and whispered, "I'm not stupid. I'm on probation now and I need to work hard to improve. Look at all the regular staff in our office. Who of them pays for their jobs? Why don't we buy some rat poison and get this over with! Rat poison works quickly, and it kills everything. I had a great performance this morning!"
Ye Manzhi frowned and thought, without saying anything.
She had just received her probationary period salary of 13.75 yuan the day before yesterday. For someone like her who had never received a salary before, a one-time payment of 13 yuan was already a huge sum of money.
However, she had a use for the money. Not only did she want to treat Wu Zhengrong to a meal, she also wanted to buy something for her family.
She thought about it and whispered to her the idea of selling flies, "I'm going to Dongyanggou this afternoon."
"Is this even possible? Every unit is working on eliminating the four pests, and flies and mosquitoes are piling up like mountains. No one wants this stuff even if it's given away for free. How can anyone buy flies?"
"Let's give it a try. If the chicken farm doesn't want it, we can pool our money to buy rat poison."
In order to formalize the establishment, some money still needs to be spent.
"Sister Caixia, go talk to the neighborhood committee and have them mobilize every household to lift all the furniture against the walls and prop it up, exposing the ground and the rat holes! Since we're going to spend money on medicine, we have to completely eradicate it. No one can slip through the net!"
She reported to Director Mu, then wrote herself a letter of introduction, packed her water bottle and set off.
Dongyanggou is quite far away, so of course she didn't dare to go there alone, so she asked her fifth brother to accompany her.
The fifth brother pulled his sister onto the carriage and, waving his whip, said, "After you mentioned feeding flies to the chickens the other day, I asked about the chicken farm on my way to Dongyanggou."
Ye Manzhi was surprised and said, "Brother, are you really going? Are they willing to buy flies?"
She felt that her fifth brother had gone to Dongyanggou specifically to inquire for her. How could it be so convenient to do the work?
"You can buy it, but it's not worth much, and they only want fresh flies. They can be killed by swatting, but they can't be killed by poison, otherwise it will be troublesome if the chickens eat it."
"People are reluctant to even buy rat poison, so who would buy poison to catch flies? Don't worry!"
Ye Manzhi returned to the street office, took a few bottles of fresh canned flies that had just been delivered today, and took Fifth Brother's carriage to Dongyanggou Chicken Farm.
The person in charge of the chicken farm was an old man in his sixties. After seeing the fifth brother and the two bottles of Lao Baigan he brought, he prepared a table for dinner in his office without saying a word.
"Uncle Chen, this is my sister. We came here today because of what I told you last time about exchanging flies for rat poison!"
"Well, then you've come to the right place. We can't use rat poison on our chicken farm. If the chickens eat it, they'll all be dead. However, the village has a mission, so we have to buy rat poison. We have quite a bit of it in stock in our warehouse." Uncle Chen placed a 200ml wine glass in front of Ye Manzhi. "Would you like to have a drink? If you can, everything will be easy!"
Ye Manzhi can drink four taels of sorghum wine, and two taels of white wine is no problem for her.
"It's drinkable, but the key is how to calculate the price!"
Uncle Chen pointed at the can and said, "Two cans, I'll give you a pack of rat poison."
"That won't work. Two cans are too many. The children have to catch these flies one by one..."
"Well, the whole city is catching flies. They have as many flies as they want. I'll ask you for two cans, which is a small amount! Other units can even give them to you for free!"
Ye Manzhi raised his glass and laughed, "Dongyanggou is in the suburbs. Which unit would be willing to bring flies here? They burn them on the spot. Only a unit like ours with tight budget would come up with this idea."
"Uncle Chen, I'll finish this." Ye Manzhi drank half the glass of wine and then turned the glass over. "Just tell me how many female comrades are as straightforward as me? I'll trade two IV bottles for a packet of rat poison, okay?"
"Haha, you're quite straightforward, just like your brother!" Uncle Chen handed her a chicken wing and said, "Come on, eat some vegetables!"
"Then we'll send you flies every two or three days. It's a deal!"
After there was some progress on the rat poison issue, Ye Manzhi and Chen Caixia did not delay and took action separately the next night to organize a mobilization meeting for the elimination of the four pests in the fifth and sixth neighborhood committees.
Ye Manzhi is responsible for following up with the Fifth Neighborhood Committee.
Since the meeting place was near the east gate of the military industrial compound and it was during the evening leisure time, most families sent representatives to the meeting.
In order to support the work of cadre Xiao Ye, all members of the Ye family attended to show their support for cadre Xiao Ye.
After the neighborhood committee director finished explaining the recent campaign against the four pests, Ye Manzhi took the stage, raised a loud speaker, and said excitedly, "Comrades, revolutionary residents! As you all know, the Central Committee has issued a call for us to vigorously eradicate the four pests! All units across the city are actively responding to the call, vowing to eradicate the four pests in one fell swoop!"
"Guangming Street has the city's largest grain depot, which provides food for the entire population. Therefore, Guangming Street is at the forefront of the four pest eradication efforts! Residents have been enthusiastic about eradicating the four pests these days, and we've made breakthrough progress in eliminating flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows..."
The residents in the audience thought to themselves, of course there is progress. Catching flies and mosquitoes is homework assigned by the school. If the children fail to complete the homework, they will go home crying, so parents must help.
Moreover, the school has a two-part system, where students only go to school for half a day, and spend the other half of the day having fun in the compound, catching sparrows everywhere, and then cooking them for food.
There were not enough sparrows in the yard to share, so they all ran to the streets and towns to be caught.
Ye Manzhi continued to mobilize through the loudspeaker: "However, our results in catching mice are still unsatisfactory. The comrades from the street and neighborhood committees have summarized their experience and found that there are too few mousetraps, and the efficiency is too low. They are not as effective as rat poison."
"So, in line with the principle of serving the people, our subdistrict office will purchase rat poison for everyone! It's safe and effective! It's inexpensive and can cure a whole nest!"
Wu Zhengrong happened to hear this passionate speech when he rode his bike in from the east gate.
He thought the voice sounded familiar, so he pressed the brakes and looked towards the center of the crowd.
A curly-haired girl stood on the flower bed, wearing the white shirt and gray trousers most common among female cadres. However, her trousers seemed to have been deliberately pulled in a few inches, giving her a slimmer figure compared to the baggy clothes of others. The collar and sleeves of her shirt seemed to be embroidered with some kind of pattern, but from a distance, he couldn't make it out.
Wu Zhengrong had never seen Ye Manzhi at work. She seemed a little different from their previous meetings, and even more different from the quiet and elegant girl that Foreman Ye had described.
The girl was only eighteen years old and didn't look like a cadre at all. The serious look on her face while holding the loud speaker made him want to laugh.
He couldn't help but stop his bicycle and stood behind to watch for a while with great interest.
Someone in the crowd asked, "Comrade Xiaoye, is the rat poison paid for by the neighborhood committee, or do we have to buy it individually?"
"What are you dreaming of?" another person retorted. "How could the street possibly afford to buy so much rat poison?"
"That won't work. We pay a sanitation fee every month. Shouldn't the cost of pest control come from the sanitation fee?"
"Yes, it's 15 cents a month!" Someone in the crowd quickly echoed.
Ye Manzhi couldn't shout at so many people, so she raised her hands and pressed them down. "Everyone, keep quiet and listen to me first! The 15 cents we pay in sanitation fees every month is actually the salary for the sanitation workers to take out the garbage and clean the corridors and yard. It doesn't include the cost of buying mousetraps and rat poison."
Without waiting for anyone to offer further comments, she quickly added, "Our subdistrict office doesn't want you to spend too much money on the four pests eradication effort, so after our diligent coordination, we've already reached a cooperation agreement with the Dongyanggou Chicken Farm!"
Residents: “…”
What does the campaign against the four pests have to do with chicken farms?
Wu Zhengrong also stood behind the crowd with a smile, wanting to hear what the rat poison had to do with the chicken farm.
"Anyone who has raised chickens should know that chicks can eat all kinds of insects. Insects are high in protein and rich in nutrients. After the hens eat insects, their eggs will be much larger than usual. So, we reached a cooperation with the chicken farm..."
Ye Manzhi took an IV bottle from her nephew. "Fill two bottles with flies, and you can exchange them for a packet of rat poison! Yesterday, the neighborhood committee had everyone raise the furniture in their houses, so it's easy to see if any households have rat holes. If you do have rat holes, you can exchange the flies you catch for rat poison. This saves you money on rat poison and counts the flies you catch toward your four pest control efforts. It's like killing two birds with one stone!"
Before she could finish her last word "Ah", she spotted Wu Zhengrong, who was standing at the outermost edge of the crowd in military uniform!
She had done mass mobilization work in the compound several times, but this was the first time she saw him attend a meeting!
It turns out that Captain Wu lives at the east gate!
But what is he laughing at?
Have you ever seen anyone selling rat poison?
Ye Manzhi really wanted to roll her eyes, but when she thought about herself still standing on the flower bed with so many familiar residents in front of her, she forced herself to hold it back.
Turning attention back to the issue of distributing rat poison.
Some families found rat holes in their homes, so they negotiated with others, collected the flies caught by several families, and put together two bottles of flies, which they exchanged for a packet of rat poison on the spot.
Ye Manzhi didn't bring much rat poison today, only about ten packets, and she replaced them all in no time.
She looked towards the spot again, but only saw the back of a figure riding away on a bicycle.
Ye Manzhi was a little confused and wanted to ask him what he was laughing at just now.
However, thinking that tomorrow was the weekend and she had to treat the other party to dinner tomorrow, she suppressed the idea.
*
The two agreed to meet near the bus station at the west gate of the compound.
The next afternoon, when Ye Manzhi arrived at the bus station ten minutes early, Wu Zhengrong was already waiting there.
He looks much more refined in a shirt and trousers than in a military uniform.
Ye Manzhi walked over, patted her bag generously, and asked, "Captain Wu, which restaurant did you choose? I just got paid, and I have enough money. Let's eat something good today!"
She had only been to the state-owned restaurant on Guangming Street and two small restaurants on Shidao Street, and didn't know what Wu Zhengrong's taste was like, so she had made it clear long ago that the location of the dinner would be decided by Wu Zhengrong.
Wu Zhengrong had just seen her mobilizing the masses yesterday, and a smile crossed his lips. After a pause, he said, "The Xinqiao Restaurant on Shidao Street makes excellent crispy ginkgo nuts. I heard they're very popular with the female comrades. Also, to cater to the Soviet experts' dietary habits, the factory has opened a Western restaurant on the second floor of the Workers' Club. You can go there if you want. It depends on whether you prefer Chinese or Western food."
Xiaoye speaks Russian very well and might want to try Russian food.
Ye Manzhi chose the Western restaurant without hesitation.
She had heard of the Western restaurant upstairs in the workers' club before, but it seemed to be open only to Soviet experts and factory leaders, and ordinary workers and their families rarely went there.
She had never been to a Western restaurant before. Although her wallet might suffer, she felt that when treating someone, one should be sincere and it would be a good opportunity to see the world.
The club is near the east gate of the military industrial compound and the two of them can walk there.
Ye Manzhi tilted her head to glance at Wu Zhengrong and found that the curve of his lips had never dropped since they met, as if he was always smiling, and it was not a polite smile.
She had reason to suspect that the other party was still laughing at her for selling rat poison yesterday!
That's her job, what's so funny!
Ye Manzhi's thoughts raced, her eyes narrowed, and her dimples formed in her smile. "By the way, I haven't congratulated you on becoming a model fly catcher yet! I heard that the fly trap you made is incredibly effective, and the commando team won the championship thanks to your invention. Could you share your recipe?"
"..." Thinking of the flies in the fly trap, Wu Zhengrong turned his head and looked at her. For the first time, he gave her a look of disdain and asked, "Aren't you going to eat later?"
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