Chapter 26
The four new people from the street office showed great enthusiasm in organizing the ballroom dance class.
Especially Liu Jinbao and Ye Manzhi, both of them are "activists" who like to join in the fun, or in Zhang Qinjian's words, "not very content."
"Xiao Ye, have you found a dance partner? How about we become partners?" Liu Jinbao took the initiative to invite Ye Manzhi to be his dance partner.
"I've just learned the basic steps and don't have a permanent partner yet. However, let's not team up."
"Why?" Liu Jinbao really wanted to partner with her.
They have similar personalities and can play together.
"We're both single, dancing together all day. What if people mistake us for dating?" Ye Manzhi said bluntly and earnestly. "As my dad says, 'Rabbits don't eat grass near their burrows, and they don't shit where they eat.' We should both go out and find dance partners."
Liu Jinbao was deeply shocked by this metaphor for three seconds and left angrily.
Ye Manzhi ignored him and continued practicing calligraphy.
Not long after, Liu Jinbao couldn't help but come up and ask, "Hey, how are you doing? Can you do a complete dance now?"
"No, I didn't know how to dance before, but I just started learning recently. But there are people in our courtyard who are learning quickly and are already clamoring for musical accompaniment!"
A ballroom dance class with over a hundred students was organized in the military industrial compound, with classes held in the small square in front of the bulletin board every day after dinner.
But the conditions in the family compound cannot be compared with those in government agencies. When people dance, they can only count the beats and there is no accompaniment music.
Many people find dancing like this boring.
Liu Jinbao agreed, "We don't have any music over there. How about we talk to the 656 radio station and have them play some music tonight?"
"The broadcast coverage area of 656 is too wide. We can't have the entire factory listening to music together just for a few hundred people to dance, right?" Ye Manzhi muttered. "I wonder if we can just turn on the broadcast for the family compound area."
"I'll go to their factory and ask."
Liu Jinbao was eager to try, so he immediately went to the Propaganda Department of Factory 656. Unfortunately, he was turned away as soon as he stated his purpose.
The radio station's daily broadcast time is fixed and it is impossible to make exceptions for activities in their street.
Ye Manzhi also felt that this matter was rather risky. Since the factory did not agree, she could only continue to dance to the beat.
However, she counted the beats very enthusiastically every day, one, two, three, four, two, two, three, four, but others were not satisfied.
"Comrade Xiaoye, when can we get some accompaniment? There's no such thing as dancing without music!"
"There's nothing I can do about this. We don't have the equipment!"
The street office doesn’t even have a radio, let alone other broadcasting equipment.
It was indeed a bit lacking without accompaniment, so she went back to the unit to discuss it with Director Mu, and then took the letter of introduction and Liu Jinbao to the labor union of Factory 656.
"The radio station is managed by the Propaganda Department. What's the point of us coming to the union?" Liu Jinbao had just been turned away and didn't want to come to 656 anymore.
"Although the ballroom dance class was organized by the neighborhood committee, the residents learning to dance are employees and their families from Factory 656. Now, for the sake of their employees and their families, they can't just sit back and watch while the factory's radio is being used, right?"
Liu Jinbao agreed with her idea, but he felt the prospects were not optimistic.
When he went to the Propaganda Department, he didn't even see the person in charge and was sent away by a small clerk.
Unless they are people like Director Mu or Deputy Director Zhang who have good relationships with the factory leaders, people don't even take small street cadres like them who don't even have a rank seriously.
The situation was exactly as he expected. As soon as the two arrived at the union to explain the situation, they were stopped by the clerk at the door.
Of course they wouldn't really refuse to let them in. They would just say that the leaders were busy and might not have time to entertain them right now. If they weren't in a hurry, they could wait.
In such a large state-owned factory with tens of thousands of employees, the scale of the trade union is also considerable. Judging from the busy scene of people coming and going in the office, the scale of the trade union is at least two or three times that of the street office.
What Ye Manzhi and Liu Jinbao had to do was not urgent, so they could only wait in the meeting chair outside.
"If I had known I was going to be here today, I would have dressed up better!" Liu Jinbao regretted. "These clerks are so selective. If I had worn a Mao suit and pretended to be Deputy Director Zhang, we would have been invited in for tea by now."
Ye Manzhi was speechless: "Maybe he will be invited to the Security Department for tea. How can the leader pretend so easily?"
The two sat at the door for half an hour. It was almost lunch time in half an hour, but there was still no movement inside.
However, there were not only the two of them sitting at the door, there were also several guys from other units.
Liu Jinbao felt that just waiting like this was not a solution, so he stood up and tried to get close to the clerk.
"Officer Xiaoye, what are you doing here?"
Qin Xiang caught a glimpse of Ye Manyi waiting at the door of the trade union and came over to say hello.
Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "I came to the union to do something. The leader is busy. Let's wait outside for a while."
"How long have you been waiting? How about I go in and say hello for you?"
Qin Xiang was very clear about the behavior of the small officials in the trade union.
Because the union is responsible for distributing employee benefits and often conducts bulk purchases, every day a group of supply and marketing personnel from outside units come to the union door and ask to see the leader.
You can't enter this door without waiting for a day or half a day.
Ye Manzhi waved her hands quickly: "No, no, we haven't been waiting long, maybe we can go in soon, you can go and do your work!"
Borrowing the radio station is not a big deal, there is no need to make Xiao Qin owe anyone a favor for it.
Qin Xiang smiled and said, "Officer Xiao Ye, please don't be polite with me. Our leader is on a business trip to Beijing these days. If you have any questions, please come to me. I will definitely help you with anything I can do."
"Captain Wu went to Beijing?"
"Well, before he left, he specifically told me to take good care of Officer Xiaoye and to help run errands for him if anything happened."
Ye Manzhi jokingly exposed him: "Captain Wu would never say such a thing!"
"Haha, that's roughly what I mean. Let's go," Qin Xiang said, tilting his head. "I have some acquaintances in the union. I'll take you in."
Ye Manzhi waved her hands quickly, "Really? No need! My colleague is registering over there, and we'll be in in a moment."
Seeing that she really didn't need help, Qin Xiang stopped forcing her and told her to go to the military representative's office to call for help if she needed any help. Then he quickly walked across the corridor and upstairs with the briefcase.
Although Comrade Xiao Qin did not help, Ye Manzhi was given some new ideas.
If you want to improve efficiency and meet the union leaders quickly, you still have to find an acquaintance in the factory to introduce you.
She sat in the chair and pondered for a while, said hello to Liu Jinbao, and went to the factory women's federation alone.
The ballroom dance at Factory 656 was sponsored by the factory labor union and co-organized by the Women's Federation.
She doesn't have any acquaintances in the union, but she does have some in the Women's Federation!
Aunt Liu, who recommended her to Wu Zhengrong for a blind date, was a cadre of the Women's Federation, and her father was a friend of Aunt Liu's husband.
Ye Manzhi walked quickly up to the second floor and called out "Auntie Liu" at the door of the Women's Federation.
Aunt Liu was stunned when she saw her, but then she smiled and asked, "Why are you here? Come in and sit down!"
"Aunt Liu, I'm here to ask for your help!"
Aunt Liu poured her a glass of water and said, "Haha, what's the point of asking for help? Just tell me what's going on first!"
Ye Manzhi proposed to borrow the radio station of Factory 656 to play some dance music between 7 and 8 o'clock every night.
"Although the event was organized by the neighborhood committee, the audience was our factory employees and their families. Everyone was very enthusiastic about participating in the social dance, but it felt a little lacking without the musical accompaniment."
"Well, I've heard about the dance class you organized. The comrades have been very enthusiastic about it. Some women even practiced in the corridor during their lunch break." Aunt Liu took a sip of tea, looked at her and asked, "Did you go to the union? What did they say?"
Ye Manzhi remained calm and said, "My colleague is still waiting for coordination with the union, but I heard that the Women's Federation is also one of the departments preparing for the ballroom dance. I want to see what the Women's Federation has in mind first."
Playing music was not a big deal, so Aunt Liu did not refuse. She sat up straight and shouted "Chairman Yao" at the top of her voice towards the innermost seat of the office.
Chairman Yao was startled by her sudden voice, "What's wrong?"
"Can you have the radio station play some music every night? It's for the young people to learn how to dance."
"How many people are learning to dance? Do we need a radio station to play music?"
Ye Manzhi said hurriedly, "There are 152 people who have signed up to learn, but recently many people have joined in, so a conservative estimate is that there are over 200 people. The music doesn't need to be played for too long, half an hour every night will be enough."
"This is not going to be easy," Chairman Yao said, frowning. "We're a military factory, and our broadcast schedules are fixed. We haven't broken the rules in years."
Aunt Liu waved her hand and said, "Rules are fixed, but people are alive. This can be considered as enriching everyone's spare time activities. We should discuss this with the union and the publicity department."
Chairman Yao thought for a moment, picked up the phone on the table, and asked the switchboard to transfer the call to the Trade Union and the Propaganda Department.
Not long after I hung up the phone, comrades from the two departments came to the door one after another.
Ye Manzhi sighed in his heart that it was still the leader's words that mattered.
They waited at the union door for nearly an hour but didn't even get in. Chairman Yao just made a phone call and called them into his office.
However, as soon as Chairman Yao brought up the topic of playing music in the evening, Deputy Chief Wang of the Propaganda Department shook his head.
"The day before yesterday, a junior cadre came to the Propaganda Department and raised this matter, and we declined immediately. Chairman Yao, it's not that our Propaganda Department is unkind. But there are only a hundred or two hundred people dancing. We can't turn on the entire factory's radio just for these few people, right? That would waste a lot of electricity!"
Seeing that Chairman Yao was silent and pondering, Ye Manzhi took the initiative to ask, "Chief Wang, can our factory's radio broadcast only be broadcast in the family compound? Just turn on a loudspeaker."
A speaker doesn't use much electricity.
Deputy Section Chief Wang complained, "You young cadres always take things for granted. The radio in the family compound is always on, with no single control switch. Some workers work three shifts and go to bed early, so that's when they're supposed to rest. If the radio starts blaring music, how can they rest? They might even get scolded!"
“…”
This is something that no one has considered.
Aunt Liu looked at Ye Manzhi and said, "Xiao Ye, Section Chief Wang is right. Sudden changes to the broadcast time might affect some comrades' rest. How about your subdistrict office think of other solutions? In fact, you could also find an indoor venue with sound systems."
Ye Manzhi sighed silently, thinking that the big government had no idea of the hardships of the small temple.
Zhang Qinjian couldn't even afford to show a movie, so how could he possibly be willing to spend money to rent a dance hall?
The deputy chief of the Propaganda Department used the same rhetoric in front of Chairman Yao. It seemed that the method of playing music on the radio was completely blocked.
She went over her plan in her mind and then put forward the second plan she had prepared.
"Dear leaders, the original intention of our Guangming Subdistrict Office in hosting this event was to enrich the leisure time of our employees. We also wanted to cooperate with our 656 Factory to successfully organize the recent ballroom dances. However, what Section Chief Wang said makes sense. We really can't let an event for a few hundred people affect the rest of the majority of our employees."
Although she is just a small cadre, she represents the Guangming Sub-district Office when she goes out, so she still has to be tough when necessary.
"Since the radio isn't working, I'm wondering if we could ask the factory to send a key arts and cultural person to coordinate with the activities in our family compound?"
Chairman Yao was stunned for a moment and asked, "What kind of cultural and artistic backbone are you talking about?"
"We would like to invite a comrade who can play the accordion to accompany us for two songs every night. Although the accordion is not as loud as the radio, it is loud enough for everyone to keep up with the beat."
This proposal is definitely not a difficult task. Factory 656 has a special workers' art troupe, which has many talented people.
Just assigning a comrade who can play the accordion can solve the urgent problem.
Of course, Ye Manzhi could also go to the door in person to invite someone.
But this is just like organizing folk art performances and showing movies. You have to give benefits to people if they contribute.
Instead of going back to ask Zhang Qinjian for funds, it would be better to ask Factory 656 to send someone directly to assist in the activities.
This is no big deal for big companies.
Sure enough, after hearing her suggestion, the union comrade, without even asking the leader, immediately made the decision: "I'll arrange for two comrades who can play the accordion to take turns attending the class and then give them some meal allowances."
The matter was settled. Ye Manzhi thanked all the leaders on behalf of Guangming Subdistrict Office and left Factory 656 happily.
With the background music, the ballroom dance classes in the military industrial compound became even more popular, with curious residents joining in the dance every night.
In addition to young people, many elderly workers and their families were also attracted by the cheerful music and dance steps.
After his daughter and son, Old Ye joined a dance class. Every day after dinner, he would take Chang Yue'e to dance cha-cha at the doorstep.
Ye Manzhi has a good sense of music. With the help of music, she finally memorized the general dance steps before the ballroom dance officially started, and was able to dance several songs completely to the accompaniment.
*
Factory 656 will organize two large-scale social dances in the next two weeks.
The first session was held at the Workers' Club and was open only to factory employees and their families.
The second event was held at the Municipal Workers' Cultural Palace and was co-organized with the Chemical General Plant, Sewing Machine Factory, Woolen Textile Factory, Coal Construction Equipment Company and other units.
Ye Manzhi originally planned to attend the second dance party, after all, the one at the Cultural Palace was larger and more lively.
However, Lin Qingmei recently took a fancy to a Soviet engineer named Maxim.
After hearing that Soviet experts would attend the first ball, she thought of inviting Maxim to dance.
Since her oral English level was not enough to complete such a difficult task, she decided to bring Xiaoye, the translator, with her.
"Which one is Maxim?" Ye Manzhi stood on tiptoe and looked into the dance floor. There were indeed several pairs of Soviet men and women there, but they all looked quite old.
"He's standing there, the one with the gray-blue shirt and blue eyes."
"The one with brown hair?"
"No, no, it's at 45 degrees, the one with black hair," Lin Qingmei urged. "Oh, we have to hurry up, it seems someone wants to ask him to dance!"
Ye Manzhi found her target in the crowd, but before she could confirm, there was a sudden commotion behind her, and the two of them turned around.
The glass door of the venue was opened, and a row of young officers in green uniforms walked into the venue in an orderly manner.
The first one is Comrade Xiao Qin from the Military Representative Office.
Lin Qingmei exclaimed, "Wow!" "I never heard these officers were coming before!"
"If the Soviets can come, then of course the officers can come too," Ye Manzhi quickly estimated the number of people and couldn't help laughing. "There are quite a lot of bachelors in the military representative office..."
Before she could stop smiling, the most famous bachelor in the military representative office walked in behind the team.
Wu Zhengrong was only wearing a white shirt and green military pants, and looked much more refreshing than the officers in front who were wearing military caps and belts.
Xiao Qin was about to rally the team and emphasize discipline on the sidelines, but Wu Zhengrong interrupted him. He waved his hand, telling everyone to let go, seize the opportunity, and pursue their own happiness.
Then he walked alone to the union chairman who organized the event and chatted with him on the sidelines.
Ye Manzhi did not forget his mission for today. After watching the excitement for a while, he collected his thoughts and took Lin Qingmei to greet Comrade Maxim.
Although it was her first time inviting a gay man to dance, she was just a mouthpiece and was not nervous at all. She even kindly added, "She thinks your eyes are beautiful, as blue and deep as the sea," after asking, "Can my friend ask you to dance?"
Female comrades' active invitations almost always succeed. Lin Qingmei got her wish and danced with the young Soviet engineer.
Ye Manzhi, who was left alone, was soon invited to dance.
His dance partner was Third Brother's friend Zhang Min. They had been attending ballroom dance classes together recently and had danced together several times in the yard.
Although Zhang Min was also a novice, he was one of the fastest progressers in the class. Ye Manzhi quickly found the rhythm under his guidance.
However, the unspoken rule of this kind of social dance is that the dance partners are not fixed. After a song ends, other male comrades will come forward and ask if they can dance with them.
Ye Manzhi accepted the invitation of two acquaintances again. When she was distracted to look at Lin Qingmei, she found that she was still dancing with Maxim. The two were talking and laughing, and Maxim's eyes were smiling.
They danced for three songs before separating.
Ye Manzhi declined the invitation of a strange gay man on the pretext of taking a rest, and walked over to Lin Qingmei and asked, "What did you say to Maxim? Why is he so happy?"
"Haha, I just complimented him. I first praised his beautiful eyes, and then said his nose was pretty. Anyway, I am quite familiar with the Russian words for facial features and body parts. After using them one by one, I praised him like a flower, and he kept dancing with me."
The school taught Russian for beginners, focusing on reading, writing and grammar. Lin Qingmei could only remember a few simple sentence patterns, which she rotated in time to barely handle three dances.
Ye Manzhi asked suspiciously, "That's all you said, and he laughed like that?"
"Yeah, my brother is like that too. He loses his mind when a female comrade compliments him. He's super confident."
Lin Qingmei fulfilled her wish to dance with the Soviet engineers, drank two sips of soda on the sidelines, and was invited by others to dance again.
Ye Manzhi didn't want to dance with strangers. After politely declining several men's invitations, her eyes involuntarily shifted to where Wu Zhengrong was.
When the officers from the military representative's office entered, four or five songs had already been played.
Wu Zhengrong has never entered the dance floor!
He doesn't invite others actively, and no female comrade dares to invite him rashly.
At first, Chairman Zhang of the union was there to talk to him, but now he had gone to find someone else to dance with, leaving him alone standing on the sidelines.
When people are alone in a crowd, they will subconsciously put their hands in their pockets or behind their backs for psychological protection.
But Wu Zhengrong's hands just hung naturally at his sides, and he looked calm and relaxed without any discomfort.
Ye Manzhi admired his calmness. If it were her, she would have probably gone to find someone to dance with her long ago.
Her gaze was not hidden. Wu Zhengrong turned his head and when their eyes met, he smiled warmly at her.
Ye Manzhi was encouraged by this smile. She walked through the crowd, approached him, and asked, "Captain Wu, weren't you on a business trip to Beijing? Why are you back so soon?"
"Yes, I arrived at noon today."
Ye Manzhi thought to herself, you just came back at noon and you came to the ballroom dance in the afternoon, but you didn’t dance with anyone at the party.
Do officers need their leaders to keep an eye on them when they go out to dance?
She looked at Wu Zhengrong's profile, which looked tired but still delicate, and inexplicably recalled her childhood sweetheart's flattery of Maxim.
If she said to Captain Wu, "You have beautiful eyes, beautiful nose, beautiful lips," I wonder what expression he would have.
Thinking of Wu Zhengrong's possible reaction, Ye Manzhi looked strange for a moment. When she looked at him again, she smiled and invited him, "Captain Wu, do you want to dance? How about I invite you to dance?"
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