Chapter 30
Liu Jinbao loves dressing up and has a sweet mouth, which makes him very popular among middle-aged and elderly female comrades.
While Ye Manzhi was washing the sheets in the bathroom, Chang Yue'e had already taken out a box of snacks from her home and offered them to him.
Out of some jealousy that was difficult to express, Ye Manzhi rolled his eyes in his heart and felt sorry for his Changbai cake.
Liu Jinbao looked her over several times, sighed, and said, "You don't look sick. Hey, you didn't go to work today, you don't know how busy our company is!"
Ye Manzhi didn't want to be the supporting actor, but her mother was willing to be.
"Xiao Liu, what happened at your workplace?"
"I have a new colleague today. It's hard to describe him in a few words."
Ye Manzhi's eyes widened immediately as he asked, "There's a new person coming to the Subdistrict Office? Don't we have a staffing plan? Are these newcomers temporary workers?"
"How could he be a temporary employee? He's a permanent employee directly from the district!" Liu Jinbao pouted and asked, "Xiao Ye, when are you going to work? You and Chen Caixia aren't here, and I can't even find anyone to talk to."
Ye Manzhi said bluntly, "Sister Caixia and I were both rejected. Why should I go to work?"
"Who said you were fired? Didn't Director Mu only talk to Chen Caixia?" Liu Jinbao stared at her and let out a long sigh. "You're not throwing a tantrum and refusing to go to work because you think you were fired, are you?"
“???”
"Don't worry. The probation period is over. Only Chen Caixia didn't get a permanent position, so the three of us stayed." Liu Jinbao smiled. "Director Mu applied to the district for an expansion last month. The street office staffing is commensurate with the total number of residents. When there were 16,000 residents, there were six people. Now there are nearly 19,000. Can't there still be six people?"
Ye Manzhi quickly asked, "So how many people are there on our street now?"
"Director Mu applied for two additional positions, but the district didn't approve it, only giving him one. We originally thought it would be seven, but then today, Monday, Zhao Erhe suddenly showed up to report," Liu Jinbao emphasized again. "That quota was allocated from the district."
This is definitely a good thing for street leaders.
Regardless of whether this quota is capped or not, it does add a staff member to the street office. Even if Zhao Erhe is transferred away in the future, this position will still remain in the street office.
But for small cadres like them, the difference was huge, because the establishment was capped, and Chen Caixia was directly eliminated.
However, there is nothing to complain about. When I first came for the trial, I knew that only two could be retained. Now that I can have one more position is already a pleasant surprise.
Ye Manzhi digested the news brought by Liu Jinbao.
I was a little impressed by his ability to get information, and couldn't help but sigh: "How do you know all the information?"
If she had gotten the news earlier, she wouldn't have just listened to Sister Caixia's one-sided story and caused such a big misunderstanding.
Liu Jinbao shook his head and said, "I only found out this morning. Director Mu applied for an expansion, and it seems even Deputy Director Zhang was unaware of it. I think he was quite surprised today. Director Mu said he didn't want to disappoint everyone before he had concrete information. Ugh, who knows what the leadership is thinking!"
In any case, it is good news for the Ye family that Ye Manzhi can stay on the street and continue working.
Ye Shouxin drank a little wine during dinner and complained, "How can you believe everything you hear? The boss hasn't even asked to talk to you, and you're not going to work yet. How can this be? Go to work tomorrow and explain it to the boss!"
Old Ye is quite satisfied with his daughter's job.
Being a cadre at home means you get a high salary, don't have to punch in and out, have flexible working hours, and can even go home for a nap at noon.
The family compound was so close to the factory, but he had never gone home for a nap! The military factory had strict management. Whether in the workshop or the office, if one person was late or left early, the bonus of the entire department would be affected. Who would dare to use the short time at noon to rest at home?
Ye Manzhi defended herself, "The key is that I didn't know about the expansion! How could Director Mu keep such a big thing a secret?"
Ye Shouxin took a sip of his liquor and hummed, "On the day the voting results came out, your director only spoke with Xiao Chen and didn't talk to you. This means she knew the result of the expansion at least that day. She knew the expansion had already taken place, but she still agreed to the deputy director's proposal to let everyone vote. And according to Xiao Liu, the votes were even counted out openly at the time. Why do you think that was?"
Ye Manzhi thought of several possibilities, but he still hadn't figured it out.
"If Zhang Qinjian had known in advance that a new position would be added, perhaps Sister Caixia wouldn't have ended up with zero votes, right?"
"Haha, Xiao Chen followed him and didn't commit any major offenses. He didn't even vote for his own people. Isn't that obviously something fishy? Anyone who knows these details would say the deputy director is dishonest." Ye Shouxin took another sip of his wine and sighed, "This deputy director used to be so active, but after this incident, he's definitely going to quiet down for a while. The director is the director, and the deputy director is the deputy director. My daughter, you should learn from this!"
*
Ye Manzhi was skeptical about Lao Ye's analysis. The next day when he went to work, he made a special effort to observe Zhang Qinjian.
You can't tell anything from his expression, but he has a hobby of singing Peking Opera, and he always hums a few lines while drinking tea.
Today, Zhang Qinjian was quietly drinking tea and reading the newspaper, as if he was not in the mood to sing opera.
Ye Manzhi secretly admired Director Mu in his heart. He was able to figure out whether each person was a human or a ghost with just one organization.
The vote was proposed by Zhang Qinjian, and he cast both votes himself, so he cannot blame anyone else.
So, when Director Mu asked her why she didn't come to work yesterday, Ye Manzhi didn't dare lie to her boss and said truthfully: "I thought I was fired, and I was embarrassed to come to work."
"This is my fault. After talking with Caixia on Saturday, it was a bit late, so I didn't communicate with the other colleagues in time." Mulan took out an envelope and handed it to her. "Everyone else's joining procedures have been completed. You didn't come yesterday, so I filled out the necessary documents for you. Here is last month's salary and your work permit."
Ye Manzhi took the envelope, took out his red work ID first, and scanned the personal information on it line by line.
Name: Ye Manzhi
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Birthplace: Binjiang
Position: Cadre
Service unit: Guangming Subdistrict Office of the People's Committee of Zhengyang District, Binjiang City
Address: No. 60, Guangmingtoudao Street, Zhengyang District
Date of issue: August 27, 1956
When Ye Manzhi went out to do business in the past, she could only bring a letter of introduction and never had a work permit.
Looking at the "position" and "service unit" on her work permit, she felt happy but also had a sour nose.
It was not easy for her to get this formal position!
Ye Manzhi put away his work ID and said to Mulan, "Thank you, Director!"
"You've done an excellent job over the past two months, and the public feedback has been very positive. We'll definitely try to retain you as someone suitable for grassroots work. However, you've only taken the first step in this long journey, so you can't slack off in your future work and must maintain your previous enthusiasm!"
Ye Manzhi quickly assured: "I will definitely follow your instructions and serve the people well!"
"Well, go ahead and get busy. Take some time to put a one-inch photo on your work ID so we can stamp it together."
Ye Manzhi happily returned to her office with her work ID and salary.
Just as I was about to take out my work ID to admire it again, I suddenly felt a shadow cast above me.
"You are Comrade Ye Manzhi, right? I'm the new guy, Zhao Erhe!"
Ye Manzhi looked up and exclaimed in his heart, "Why is this new comrade so tall?"
Not only is he tall, he is also strong!
Ye Manzhi's workstation was at the door, and Zhao Erhe went there and blocked the door tightly.
Because of her good relationship with Sister Caixia, she had complicated feelings towards Zhao Erhe who came down with a hat on.
Just like what Liu Jinbao said yesterday, although the four of them are all relatives of the family, they have at least gone through two months of training and trials.
Zhao Erhe had no previous examinations and only had a junior high school education, but he came directly with a job position. It really makes people feel sorry for Chen Caixia.
But since the other party took the initiative to show goodwill, she had to respond politely.
"Comrade Zhao Erhe, welcome!" Ye Manzhi stood up to shake his hand, only to find that her height only reached his chest. She couldn't help but look up and ask, "Zhao Erhe, why are you so tall? Were you an athlete?"
"Well, I used to be in the city sports team." Zhao Erhe grinned, revealing a row of big white teeth on his dark face.
"With your physique, you can go work at the police station next door!"
No wonder Liu Jinbao was unhappy.
It turned out that there was only one man, Zhang Qinjian, in the street office, and the police station relied entirely on him to cooperate with the night patrols.
Later, Liu Jinbao came and was able to take turns on duty with Zhang Qinjian, which earned him a lot of favor from Zhang Qinjian.
Just because he can work the night shift, Zhang Qinjian will keep him.
Now with the arrival of the tall and strong Zhao Erhe, Liu Jinbao is no longer Deputy Director Zhang’s only “Little Jinbao”.
whee……
After the two exchanged greetings, Director Mu called a meeting of all the staff in the street office.
"Everyone is here today. Let's have a meeting to discuss the next work arrangements."
"With the increase in the number of residents in Guangming Street, the scale of our street office has also been expanding. Considering the trivial and heavy work of the street, the district has added two more positions to our Guangming Street office."
"We currently have eight people in our unit, so it's no longer appropriate to continue allocating work as before. Based on past experience, we should try to assign two people to each task. If one person needs leave, the other can always take over."
Although it was a discussion meeting, Mulan already had plans for how to arrange the work.
There was no need to discuss with anyone at this point, and everyone's division of labor was announced directly.
Ye Manzhi's division of labor is slightly different from before.
In the past, it was civil affairs and propaganda.
Now it is civil affairs, education, and cottage industry.
The publicity work was assigned to Zhao Erhe who had just arrived.
The jobs of other people were similar. For example, Liu Jinbao added security work to his previous job and was assigned to the same group as Zhao Erhe, whom he looked down upon.
After Mulan adjusted the division of labor, she announced the adjournment of the meeting and called Ye Manyi over alone.
"Education was previously managed by Lao Zhang, and the family handicraft industry was managed by Wei Zhen. However, neither of these tasks received much attention before, and they were always handled intermittently."
"Although I've taken over these two tasks this time, the work of the subdistrict is so complex that I may not be able to attend to some areas. Xiaoye, you should pay more attention to these two tasks, especially education. There are too many illiterate, semi-literate, and idle people in our subdistrict. According to the city's instructions, all subdistricts must completely eliminate illiteracy by next year. We still need to actively think of ways to solve this problem."
Mulan found some information and gave it to her. "Take these back and take a look. I plan to open a literacy school in our neighborhood and organize all the illiterate people to attend classes together. Please help me prepare for this."
Ye Manzhi took the file bag and said thoughtfully, "Director, should the scale of the literacy school be linked to the number of students? Can we determine how many illiterate people there are in our neighborhood now?"
"There are over a thousand people on the list, but I have a feeling the number is far greater," Mulan said with a headache. "In recent years, various units have held literacy classes, but the students only learned a few words at the time, but after a long period of disuse, they became illiterate again. Forget it, let's ignore those who have become illiterate again and eliminate the illiterate people on the list first."
Ye Manzhi took the document back and looked through it.
In fact, the educational work that the street is responsible for only includes two parts: literacy for residents and extracurricular education.
They don’t have to worry about primary and secondary education.
Ye Manzhi felt that opening a school was not the most difficult thing; the difficult part was how to mobilize illiterate people to go to school.
It can be seen from the previous Marriage Law Promotion Month that most residents are unwilling to sit in the classroom to study.
Literacy classes are for serious cultural learning, and are not as entertaining as marriage law classes.
All things are difficult at the beginning. It is not easy to carry out literacy work for more than a thousand people, but she can first mobilize and prepare a class of dozens of people.
Use one point to lead the whole, make some achievements before talking about other things.
She was thinking in her mind and decided to write a work plan on literacy education and let Director Mu take a look at it.
She learned this from Zhuang Ting.
When the old employees were in charge of the new ones, Director Mu was in charge of Zhuang Ting. Before doing each job, Zhuang Ting would submit a work plan to Director Mu.
This gives the illusion that she has done a lot of work.
In fact, everyone’s workload is about the same.
*
At lunch time, Ye Manzhi went home to eat again.
Chang Yue'e made sauerkraut stewed with vermicelli and cut a plate of straw-covered cucumbers.
Ye Manzhi ran home and looked at the dining table and said disappointedly, "Mom, is everything vegetarian today?"
"There's meat!" Chang Yue'e used a spoon to scoop up two large slices of fat meat from the bottom of the bowl of pickled cabbage and vermicelli stew. "Let's make do with it for now. We don't have any meat coupons at the end of the month, so just two slices of fat meat will do for the flavor."
Ye Manzhi washed her hands and sat down at the table, mumbling, "Are these the vermicelli noodles from under my third sister-in-law's bed? Have they been eaten by rats?"
"Why are you so nosy! It's good enough to have something to eat!"
Ye Manzhi disliked the vermicelli that had been touched by a mouse, so she didn't eat a single bite of the vermicelli stewed with sauerkraut. She only ate half a steamed bun with the pickled vegetables.
"Mom, do you know which families in our courtyard are illiterate?"
"There are so many of them. Many of the older people are illiterate. There are also young people," Chang Yue'e pointed at the wooden bed in the living room. "Isn't your fourth sister-in-law also illiterate? She didn't like reading to begin with, and now that she's learning case writing, she's even less willing to study."
Chang Yue'e is an educated woman. Although she does not have to go out to work now, she still looks down on those who are uneducated and refuse to study.
When Ye Manzhi was asking her about the illiterate people in the courtyard, the grandson of the Liu family next door came running to the Ye family and knocked on the door, shouting, "Auntie Manzhi, someone is looking for you downstairs!"
"Who's looking for me?" Ye Manzhi bent down and touched his hair.
"An aunt."
Ye Manzhi thought it was Lin Qingmei or Chen Caixia, and wondered why this person was so polite. Why couldn’t he just come upstairs!
She leaned against the window and looked out, but didn't see anyone familiar, so she had to go downstairs herself.
When I ran to the first floor, I found that the person standing at the door was Qin Xiang!
She couldn't help but laugh: "The child told me that there was an aunt downstairs looking for me, and I thought it was my colleague!"
"If you say an uncle is looking for you, that would have a bad influence!" Qin Xiang added, "Our leader has specifically instructed us to be mindful of the impact."
Ye Manzhi was too embarrassed to mention Wu Zhengrong to him, so she changed the subject and asked, "What brings you to my house?"
Qin Xiang took out an aluminum lunch box from the cloth bag he was carrying.
"The factory chef made braised pork today, and Captain Wu asked me to pack a box for him. However, he's busy preparing the National Day gift and is still in the workshop. He can't leave for lunch, so he asked me to deliver it."
Since the use of meat coupons began, everyone has become more restrained in eating meat.
Meat and fish become embellishments for vegetables.
The cafeteria chef only makes braised pork once a month, and everyone in the cafeteria was scrambling for it today.
Ye Manzhi glanced at the lunch box in front of her and asked doubtfully, "Did he really ask you to deliver this?"
Wu Zhengrong didn't seem like the type of person who would do such a thing. She intuitively felt that Comrade Xiao Qin had acted on his own initiative.
"Really, really! He even brought you a note!" Qin Xiang didn't dare to claim credit for anything, nor would he casually show courtesy to the leader's family.
There was no way before, but now there is no need.
Ye Manzhi took the note. The edges were rough, as if it had been torn from a notebook in a hurry.
She unfolded the note, and all she saw were the four powerful words: "Eat well."
The handwriting reflects the character of the person.
This calligraphy is highly consistent with Wu Zhengrong's.
Ye Manzhi's eyes lingered on those four words. Blushing, she folded the note and put it away. Trying to be nonchalant, she asked, "Did he eat it?"
Of course, Qin Xiang would not deliberately make fun of others like some young boys and ask "Who is he?"
He nodded seriously: "I have already eaten. This box is for you, so you can eat it without worry."
He didn't know whether he had eaten it or not. Today he was only responsible for grabbing this box of braised pork. He would have completed his mission if he could deliver the lunch box successfully.
Ye Manzhi did not refuse in a pretentious manner. She asked Xiao Qin to wait for a while, then quickly went upstairs with the lunch box.
First, he put the braised pork into his own bowl, put a few peaches and plums into a clean lunch box, and filled two bottles of mung bean soup in cans.
After doing all this, she stood in front of the desk and hesitated for a moment, then gave up the idea of writing back to Wu Zhengrong.
It would be great if Aunt Feng could possess me.
My handwriting is not very good yet, I need to practice it more in the future.
Ye Manzhi handed the lunch box and mung bean soup to Qin Xiang. "The weather is too hot. You two can each have a can of mung bean soup. Give him the food in the lunch box. You can eat this peach on the way."
Qin Xiang asked in surprise, "There's also mine?"
"Of course, thank you for making this trip in such hot weather. Don't send me off again in the future," Ye Manzhi said reluctantly, "My mom's cooking is delicious too."
"Hey, I always listen to my leader."
Ye Manzhi saw him off and when she went upstairs, Chang Yue'e was looking at the big bowl of braised pork with her hands behind her back.
"Who came just now?"
"He's from the factory, you don't know him." Ye Manzhi picked up a piece of meat and put it into her mouth. "Eat it quickly. I exchanged it with someone for mung bean soup and fruit."
Chang Yue'e snorted, "A few fruits can be exchanged for so much braised pork? Was the person who just came a man or a woman?"
"Didn't Hongwang say that there's an auntie downstairs looking for me?"
Ye Manzhi thought to herself that Comrade Xiao Qin was really smart. No wonder Wu Zhengrong kept him as a communicator!
*
After eating the braised pork, Ye Manzhi felt full of energy.
For several consecutive days, we mobilized the illiterate people in the compound to attend literacy classes.
"Cadre Xiaoye, Director Liu, it's not that I don't support your work! The point is, learning to write is useless to me. This literacy class was held four or five years ago, and I learned a few characters back then, but I barely used them once a year. What's the point of learning it?"
"Once you learn to write, you can write letters to relatives, read newspapers, help your children with their homework, and even understand slogans and billboards on the street. Isn't that better than being blind?"
"Haha, do you see we have newspapers at home? The children are well taken care of by their teachers, so we don't have to worry about them." Liu Cuirong pointed into the house. "I have a lot of work to do at home, so how can I have time to study every day?"
Ye Manzhi said, "Illiterate is not a nice word. Are you going to live your whole life with the title of illiterate?"
"Well, in daily life, who would ask if you are illiterate? It's okay."
Ye Manzhi and Director Liu from the neighborhood committee went to the homes of several illiterate people in succession.
Some people are willing to attend literacy classes, but there are some more stubborn ones who think similarly to Liu Cuirong and believe that being illiterate does not affect their lives.
Ye Manzhi felt that mobilizing people door to door was not a solution and was too inefficient.
After thinking about it for two days, she went to the police station.
"Officer Liu, is our office conducting a census within the subdistrict recently?"
"Well, this is a long-term job. I've been doing it for more than half a year."
"Our household registrations have 'occupation' and 'education level' in them, right? Can we also do a survey on the residents' occupations and education?"
Chief Liu said with a smile, "Xiao Ye, do you think I have the manpower to do this kind of work now?"
"Captain Liu, how about I help you get this work started? Let's do a pilot project in the military industrial complex first. If it works well, our police station can then promote it in other neighborhood committees."
If someone is willing to work for free, Liu has no reason to refuse.
"Will Director Mu agree?"
"Director Mu has always supported the work of the police station. As long as you nod, we will start working immediately!"
Ye Manzhi got the imperial sword from the police station and set up a table in the military industry compound that day.
Residents of the compound were called upon to come to the neighborhood committee and line up to register their occupations and educational information, especially those who were illiterate or semi-literate, who had to be present.
There are quite a lot of people in the courtyard who are willing to join in the fun, and some of them are willing to gather around and ask about other people's professional qualifications.
Ye Manzhi sat behind the desk, registering each name and announcing it loudly.
"Zhang Li, cadre, junior high school education."
When it was the next person's turn, he shouted even louder, louder so that everyone present could hear: "Du Bin, unemployed, illiterate!"
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