Chapter 50
Chen Zheng had been Deputy Director Zhang's secretary for three years and had considerable experience in judging people.
Apart from colleagues in the unit, there are usually only three types of people who come to the office to meet Director Zhang.
The first type is the heads of the eight major companies under the Commercial Bureau, such as the Sugar and Wine Company, Department Store, Coal Construction Company, etc.
The second type is leaders of cooperative units at the same level, such as the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Municipal Materials Bureau, etc.
The third type is people with connections who want to use their connections to get things done.
Comrade Ye Manzhi in front of me is obviously the third case.
As the leader's secretary, Chen Zheng needed to understand the situation in advance so that the leader would be aware of it. Therefore, he first asked indirectly about the other party's relationship with Deputy Mayor Liu.
Ye Manzhi didn't dare to try to establish a connection with the mayor, so she spoke honestly, "Our factory has produced a new type of honeycomb coal stove that can significantly reduce coal costs. Vice Mayor Liu asked me to send it to the Commerce Bureau. After we develop a promotional plan, I'll cooperate with the city's campaign to increase production and save money."
Deputy Mayor Liu's original words were, "Let's first send the coal stove to the Commerce Bureau and the Coal Construction Company for a look. We'll discuss how to arrange it later."
Ye Manzhi felt that this was too inefficient, so he did some minor artistic processing on his own.
After listening to her introduction, Chen Zheng felt a little unsure.
He receives quite a few people with connections, and others will more or less hint at their relationship with the leader.
Comrade Ye, however, had a business-like attitude.
He never considered that the other party might be using the tiger's skin to pull a big banner.
That's the deputy mayor!
He had been a secretary to a leader for so long, but he had never seen any small cadre dare to use the mayor's title in front of the director.
After all, this is something that can be verified with just a phone call.
Thinking of this, Chen Zheng asked Ye Manzhi to wait outside for a while. After making a phone call to the Municipal People's Committee, he went in and reported the situation to his superiors.
Deputy Director Zhang signed the document while asking, "Which leader's note did she bring?"
"There's no note. They say Vice Mayor Liu asked her to come. I just called Secretary Guo. He said Mayor Liu was at a meeting in the city today and did mention the coal stove. However, Mayor Liu isn't clear on the situation with the stove, so he told our colleagues at the Commerce Bureau to just follow the rules."
Chen Zheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The difficulty of a secretary's job lies in having to constantly understand the leader's thoughts.
Sometimes people who try to distance themselves from something may not really have nothing to do with it.
Comrade Ye outside looks quite young. If she is really a grassroots cadre with no background, she would not dare to come directly to the director's office even if she had ten times the courage.
Deputy Director Zhang put away his pen, nodded, and said, "Since she's here, let her in. Let's first see what kind of coal stove it is."
Ye Manzhi was getting more and more anxious as she waited in the secretary's office.
She had come straight to the Commerce Bureau, wanting to get the job done right away. If she waited until tomorrow, after careful consideration and weighing the pros and cons, she might not have the courage she had today.
However, there was no movement in the director's office, which made her feel a little uneasy.
In this situation, Director Mu shouldn't be needed to rescue her, right?
She didn't lie. It was indeed the mayor who asked her to come to the Commerce Bureau. Even if she was exposed on the spot, the deputy director couldn't do anything to her.
At most, she was making a fuss over nothing, and the worst consequence was that she would be criticized by her boss.
It's not like she'll lose her status as a small cadre, right?
After considering various possibilities, she felt that it was no big deal, so when she was called into the office, she put her heart back in her stomach.
"Comrade Ye, please take a seat." Deputy Director Zhang was quite polite. "Let's first talk about the situation with your coal stove."
After seeing her overly young face clearly, Deputy Director Zhang first quickly searched in his mind to see if there was any leader in the city with the surname Ye.
The search was unsuccessful, so he stopped thinking about it.
The Commercial Bureau is a popular unit, and there are many people who use connections to build relationships.
Since Secretary Guo and Comrade Ye in front of him both have a business-like attitude, he can just follow the rules.
Ye Manzhi sat down on the chair opposite him, trying her best to suppress her nervousness and put on a fairly decent smile.
"Director Zhang, I attended the briquette promotion conference you hosted before. I wonder if you still remember it?"
Deputy Director Zhang had some impression of the promotion meeting, but had no impression of her.
But he nodded anyway.
"After returning from the promotion meeting, our grassroots cadres began to respond to the call of the Commerce Bureau and vigorously promote the use of honeycomb coal. However, after the first batch of honeycomb coal was used up, many families returned to using loose coal. This situation has not happened to just one or two families..."
Deputy Director Zhang had never heard of such a statement before, so he interrupted, "Where did you come to this conclusion? Do you have any specific data?"
"That's the feedback from the residents around me! They generally say honeycomb briquettes are difficult to burn and don't save coal and money as advertised. Later, some comrades discovered that the reason why burning honeycomb briquettes doesn't save coal is actually closely related to the coal stoves used."
Ye Manzhi introduced to him the disadvantages of ordinary coal stoves, and then emphasized the new type of coal stove produced by the coal stove factory.
"Boss, this is yesterday's evening paper. The report on page three introduces the honeycomb briquettes at our Guangming Coal Furnace Factory."
Deputy Director Zhang took the newspaper and quickly glanced at the headline, "Coal stoves must be energy-saving and safe - introducing a top-ignition honeycomb coal stove to the citizens."
While he was browsing the reports, Ye Manzhi continued, "You said at the briquette promotion conference last time that a family of seven or eight consumes about 110 pieces of honeycomb briquettes per month. This is the amount consumed in the summer when there's no heating. Our factory has also recently compiled statistics on winter coal usage."
"A family of eight using a regular coal stove consumes about 140-150 pieces of honeycomb briquettes per month. With a dedicated honeycomb briquette stove, the monthly consumption is reduced to only 110-120 pieces, a difference of just one dollar. The combination of honeycomb briquettes and a honeycomb briquette stove not only saves household expenses, but also saves each household 700 kilograms of coal, 300 kilograms of firewood, and 310 kilograms of garbage annually, significantly alleviating transportation pressure within the city."
"If all 500,000 households in the city switched to honeycomb coal stoves, the country would save over 200,000 tons of coal annually. This coal could generate 320 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, produce 2.4 million tons of steel, and save over 100 million kilograms of firewood."
Deputy Director Zhang put down the newspaper and asked, "Where did you get this data?"
"It was calculated based on some data reported by the People's Daily and Binjiang Daily."
Ye Manzhi didn't have this ability, so these numbers were calculated for her by her third brother.
Deputy Director Zhang walked up to the two coal stoves, lit the top piece of honeycomb coal, and put it into the coal stove.
He also uses honeycomb coal at home. He has not noticed whether it saves coal, but judging from the ignition speed, this coal stove with a blower is indeed faster than ordinary coal stoves.
"How long has your furnace been in production? What's the market feedback like?"
"One month into production," Ye Manzhi said without modesty, "the market feedback has been extremely good!"
Deputy Director Zhang chuckled, "If the response was as good as you said, you wouldn't have to come to the Commerce Bureau."
"Leader, I'm here to recommend honeycomb briquette stoves to you, not because the market response is bad, but because honeycomb briquette stoves are an unplanned product. Without the city's promotion, it's difficult to distribute them to other districts and counties. As far as I know, the promotion of honeycomb briquette in our city has been slow, and many people are not used to using honeycomb briquette. Some have even gone back to using loose coal after using honeycomb briquette."
"A coal station in the city has therefore reduced the wholesale price of honeycomb briquettes from 35 yuan per thousand yuan to 33.5 yuan. Instead of lowering the price of coal, it would be better to give residents who buy it wholesale a special honeycomb briquettes stove. Once you're used to using honeycomb briquettes stoves, it's hard to switch to loose coal."
Deputy Director Zhang did not comment on her words. He sat back at his desk and picked up the evening paper again to read.
The Coal Construction Company is the unit he is in charge of, and he is well aware that the promotion of honeycomb coal is not effective.
The units below reported that honeycomb coal was more expensive than loose coal, and it was difficult for ordinary people to accept it, making it difficult to promote.
No one ever mentioned the issue of the coal stove.
Ye Manzhi sat quietly across from him. After an unknown amount of time, he finally asked, "Your coal furnace factory isn't very large, is it? What's your daily output?"
The coal furnace factory has only seven workers. After they have become more skilled, they can produce up to one hundred furnaces a day.
But this figure would definitely not be enough to be presented to the Commerce Bureau, so after a quick mental calculation, she gritted her teeth and said, "Our factory is not large, but our workers are paid on a piece-rate basis. We adjust our daily output based on market conditions, ranging from 60 to 70, or as much as 300 to 400. If needed, our factory can share the production method of our coal stoves so that citizens in need can make their own honeycomb coal stoves at home."
Deputy Director Zhang looked at her in surprise: "Is your factory really so courageous?"
"Our factory has grown thanks to honeycomb briquettes. Only if honeycomb briquettes are promoted well can our products find a market," Ye Manzhi said righteously. "Winter is the peak season for coal consumption. As long as we can help the city quickly promote honeycomb briquettes, our coal furnace factory is willing to make appropriate sacrifices."
Anyway, the coal stove is easy to make, and even if she doesn't tell you how to make it, people can make it.
Instead of that, it would be better to be generous and do a favor.
"The bureau needs to hold a meeting to discuss the situation you've reported," Deputy Director Zhang said. "Comrade Xiaoye, please go back and wait for further notice."
*
Ye Manzhi left the two coal stoves behind and left the Commercial Bureau alone.
As soon as he returned to the street office, Mulan, who had received a call from the Municipal Party Committee, called him over to ask about the details of the trip.
Ye Manzhi told him everything and said regretfully, "I think Deputy Director Zhang is not very enthusiastic. I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to handle."
Mulan shook his head and said, "You should expand the coal furnace factory's manpower as soon as possible and hire more workers."
"Director, isn't it too early to hire now? The factory still has a lot of backlog of products."
"Listen to me on this matter. Quickly organize manpower to expand production."
After listening to her introduction of the situation, Mulan felt that there was a way.
If Xiao Ye had gone to see a section chief or deputy section chief, the result might not have been good.
But she directly used the banner of deputy mayor and went to the deputy director in a high-profile manner, so it was hard not to be regarded as a relative.
Mulan did not give up this time. The next day, she helped Ye Manzhi organize recruitment, find warehouses, and even asked people to go to other scrap collection stations to order a thousand paint buckets.
Ye Manzhi was terrified every day, fearing that blindly expanding the scale would ruin the factory.
A few days later, a big boil appeared on my chin.
Chang Yue'e couldn't bear to see her daughter so worried, so she comforted her, "Anyway, the expansion was your director's idea. If the factory really goes bankrupt, it's not your responsibility. Just focus on your work."
Ye Manzhi nodded reluctantly. This was the only way to comfort himself for the time being.
The coal stove factory hired another 15 production workers. Fortunately, these workers were novices and their production efficiency was not high, so the factory maintained a half-deadly speed of producing 200 coal stoves a day.
With every 200 stoves added, Ye Manzhi felt more anxious.
The thousands of coal stoves piled up in the warehouse weighed on her heart like several huge mountains.
Half a month later, just when Mulan began to feel guilty, an inspection team from the Coal Construction Department of the Municipal Commerce Bureau suddenly and quietly arrived at the Guangming Coal Furnace Factory.
A group of five or six people, led by Ye Manzhi, visited the workshop and warehouse of the coal furnace factory.
The workshop of their small factory on the street is in a resident's home, which is really not very presentable. Fortunately, the inventory in the warehouse is still quite impressive, which made the inspection team quite satisfied.
The director of the Coal Construction Department placed an order for 4,000 simple coal stoves with the Guangming Coal Stove Factory that same day.
1,000 units are required to be delivered within three days, and the remaining units must be settled within one month.
This batch of simple coal stoves will be installed in major coal stations and coal construction stores across the city and sold together with honeycomb coal.
Due to the large order quantity, it is a gift from the coal station to wholesale customers.
The factory price of each coal furnace was only 1.53 yuan, which was nearly 20 cents lower than the factory price sold to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Even so, it is enough for this small factory to survive.
In order to complete this order properly, Director Mu mobilized all the staff of the street office to the coal furnace factory.
The coal stove must be delivered on time.
The coal stove factory is a wholly-owned factory of the sub-district office. The profits that can be retained from the 4,000 stoves are enough for the sub-district office to have a prosperous year.
*
After the coal furnace factory increased its staff, Ye Manzhi became less busy.
Many ordinary people believe that "whether you have money or not, you should marry a wife and take her home for the New Year", so the end of the year and before the Spring Festival are the peak seasons for marriage registration.
In recent days, there are new people queuing up to register at the street office every day.
Because the workload was too heavy, Aunt Feng couldn't handle it alone. After checking Ye Manzhi's calligraphy practice results over the past few months, she finally agreed to let Ye Manzhi write on the marriage certificate.
Ye Manzhi had been waiting for this moment for half a year. When she got Aunt Feng's approval, she was even more excited than when she got the order from the Coal Construction Bureau!
She accepted the newlyweds' wedding candy, handed over the meticulously written marriage certificate, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, both of you! I wish you a happy and harmonious life, as you work together towards a new socialist life."
The newlyweds left happily. Ye Manyzhi was packing up the materials and calling the next person. When she looked up, she unexpectedly saw Zheng Dongmei.
"Dongmei, why are you here at this time? Can I get a letter of introduction?"
Zheng Dongmei and her fourth sister-in-law went to the drama troupe as apprentices, one learning makeup and the other learning whitewashing.
I graduated from the drama troupe last month.
However, Zheng Dongmei is luckier than her fourth sister-in-law.
The subdistrict office opened a barber shop on Guangming Street, and Director Mu hired her as a hairdresser.
Zheng Dongmei's haircutting skills are average, but she is very good at combing and perming hair. After working in the street barber shop, she often brings perming tools to provide door-to-door services to residents, and the response from the public is very good.
If it weren't for the strong contrast with Zheng Dongmei, Fourth Sister-in-law's mentality wouldn't have collapsed like that.
Zheng Dongmei placed a handful of candies on Ye Manzhi's desk and said shyly, "Comrade Xiao Ye, I'm here to get a marriage certificate!"
"ah?"
Not only Ye Manzhi, but all the staff of the street office looked at Zheng Dongmei.
Even Aunt Feng, who is usually calm and composed, showed a look of surprise.
Given the Zheng family's conditions, even the most eloquent matchmaker would not be willing to take on Zheng Dongmei's business.
She is not young anymore, has a paralyzed brother, and parents who don't work.
Originally, Xue Qiaoer could help her share some of the burden, but after her divorce, she moved out, and she was the only strong laborer left in the Zheng family.
It's really hard to talk about marriage when one person has to support four mouths.
What people on the street think more about is, if Zheng Dongmei gets married, what will happen to the other three members of the Zheng family?
By then, the Zheng family will definitely be a beneficiary of relief!
Ye Manzhi came back to her senses and said with a smile, "Congratulations! Where's your partner? Who's the only one here to get a marriage certificate?"
"He's still out there working. I'll bring my materials and line up to fill out the forms. He can come back around noon."
"Okay, give me both of your household registration books, letters of introduction, and resident ID cards, and I'll help you fill out the forms."
Zheng Dongmei had just attended the second literacy class organized by the street. She didn't know enough words to fill out the registration application form, so she had to ask Ye Manzhi to help her.
After taking the household registration book, Ye Manzhi first went to check on the man's situation.
There is only one page of household registration information card in the entire household register.
The head of the household, Zhao Qiang, is 27 years old, unmarried, and a transport worker.
The letter of introduction was issued by the transport cooperative, proving that he was a rickshaw driver in the cooperative.
After seeing the letter of introduction, Ye Manzhi finally remembered who this Zhao Qiang was.
When the case of Xue Qiaoer selling prostitution was investigated, several rickshaw drivers were called to the police station.
Among them is this idiot Zhao Qiang.
He was also the only driver who hired Xue Qiaoer to clean the place in exchange for work points.
Under the pretext of helping, Liu Jinbao approached Ye Manzhi to investigate the situation. After seeing Zhao Qiang's name, he asked in astonishment: "Zheng Dongmei, your partner is Zhao Qiang? Why are you two..."
He wanted to ask how the two of you could get together, but when the words came to his lips, they turned into, "How come you two are so destined to be together!"
Zhao Qiang was taken to the police station because of Xue Qiaoer!
Zheng Dongmei rubbed her hands and said, "We knew each other before. Last time when my house caught fire, he was the one who carried my brother out. I think he's a good person."
Mulan walked over and said with a smile, "Zhao Qiang is indeed a good guy. He lives a colorful life even though he has no parents. The fact that you two can get together and take care of each other is also a good match!"
"He lives a good life." Zheng Dongmei is not a talkative person. She replied dryly and then had nothing more to say.
Mulan asked with concern: "When are you going to hold the wedding banquet? Will the bridal chamber be at your house or at Zhao Qiang's?"
Everyone on the street could tell that she was asking about the whereabouts of the other three members of the Zheng family in disguise.
They couldn't help but prick up their ears.
"Let's get the marriage certificate first, and discuss the wedding banquet later. If we want to have it, we'll hold it at my house. Zhao Qiang and I will live in my house from now on."
Hearing this, Director Mu felt mixed emotions.
She was worried about the whereabouts of the three members of the Zheng family, and at the same time she felt that Zhao Qiang was at a disadvantage.
The young man has been orphaned at a young age, and he is the only one registered in the household registration book.
If he marries into the Zheng family, he will have to take on the responsibilities of supporting the Zheng family.
It’s not easy to feed several mouths!
Zheng Dongmei is a capable girl, but marrying Zhao Qiang is too much of a burden.
Moreover, the old couple of the Zheng family are used to controlling their children and are really not easy to deal with.
Mulan could only think about these words in her heart. They were here to get a marriage certificate, and she couldn't bring bad luck to others on such a happy day.
"Zhao Qiang is a good guy. He should be able to get along well with your parents and brother. You can rest assured that you have a capable man at home."
Zheng Dongmei nodded quickly and said, "Zhao Qiang gets along well with my parents. He even took my dad out to work recently!"
Hearing this, everyone was shocked again!
Uncle Zheng doesn’t even want to do the job of pasting paper boxes, how can he go out and find work?
"Is your father really out working? Can he handle it?"
"Zhao Qiang said my dad has been staying at home all the time and his bones have become stiff. He needs to go out and loosen up a bit, so he takes my dad with him every morning when he goes to work."
Everyone: “…”
This is really the sun rising from the west.
In any case, the Zheng family is developing in a good direction, and everyone on the street is happy for them.
After Director Mu understood the situation, he went back to work with peace of mind.
Zheng Dongmei watched Ye Manzhi filling out the form, and from time to time she would look out the window, looking for Zhao Qiang.
As lunch break approached, the wooden door of the office was pulled open forcefully, and a gust of cold wind blew in through the cotton curtain.
Ye Manzhi, who was sitting by the door, was about to remind the visitor to close the door, but the visitor grabbed Zheng Dongmei's arm and said, "Don't wait any longer, come with me and take a look!"
Zheng Dongmei recognized him as a member of the team and asked hurriedly, "What's wrong?"
"Uncle Zheng and Zhao Qiang had an argument over a work transfer. Uncle Zheng stopped Zhao Qiang and wouldn't let him get a certificate from you. Zhao Qiang was really rough with his hands," the visitor said as carefully as possible. "He was so careless that he accidentally knocked out your father's front teeth..."
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