Chapter 66
Ye Manzhi quietly listened in the cafeteria for a long time and finally found out the situation of the transferred students.
The so-called transferred students are cadres who are sent by the organization to study in colleges and universities.
Of course, the transferred students include not only incumbent cadres, but also graduates of workers and peasants’ accelerated middle schools, demobilized soldiers, and primary and secondary school teachers.
This year, the number of exemptions from examinations provided by the Ministry of Education is for incumbent cadres.
The quota for exemption from the test is allocated layer by layer, from the province to the city, and then from the city to the districts and counties. When it comes to the streets and towns, it is said that each unit can have two people sign up.
Even so, the young cadres in the district were not satisfied and insisted on adjusting the number of grassroots units to one.
Ye Manzhi was busy eating and didn't argue for the grassroots unit.
These people are like katydids in the dog days of summer, chirping loudly but their words are useless.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be making a fuss around Director Liang.
She listened to the discussion among several people, and then matched the selection criteria they mentioned with her own conditions one by one.
The cadres participating in the selection must have a clear history - she has a very clear history, otherwise she would not be able to go on a blind date with the military representative.
She also wanted to make political progress - she had already submitted an application to join the party and was actively submitting ideological reports, competing with Liu Jinbao twice a week.
Good health - she is in great health. That sick girl Xu Yingxue successfully passed the physical examination using her report.
High school education, in-service cadres under 30 years old, no restrictions on marriage and childbearing.
She meets every requirement perfectly!
Isn’t this exemption recommendation spot prepared for her?
Liang Qiuyan's ears were buzzing with the noise of several young people in the office. She waved her hand and said, "These are the selection criteria set by the leadership. How can they be changed casually? You should just focus on your work. The recommended positions are just recommendations. After all the recommended candidates are gathered together at the district level, they will still have to be selected together..."
"Director, this recommendation is like an admission ticket. Can you at least let us in first?"
"Alright, alright, I don't have the final say on this matter. Go discuss it with Director Wang." Liang Qiuyan pointed in Ye Manzhi's direction. "There are comrades here who want to discuss work with me. Don't come and disrupt it."
Seeing this, the young people who had finished their meal had no choice but to pack up their lunch boxes and leave reluctantly.
"Xiao Ye, you're back now, is there any new progress in your work?"
“…”
Ye Manzhi still wanted to hear more about the topic of transferred students. There was no rush for the work in the cooperative and it could actually be put aside for now.
But her leader asked, so she had to pull her thoughts back.
"Director Liang, the Third Hardware Cooperative is still mobilizing. We just had a private conversation with President Niu Zhuangzhi today. We'll have to wait until the general meeting to see the details. I mainly want to talk to you about the problems of other cooperatives."
Liang Qiuyan nodded and said, "Since you have an idea, then tell me about it."
"I'm not sure about the situation in other streets, but judging from the situation in several cooperatives on Guangming Street, I think some members are quite resistant to the idea of being converted into local state-owned factories. On the one hand, everyone is reluctant to give up their annual labor dividends, and on the other hand, some comrades are accustomed to the cooperative's working methods and don't want to change."
Liang Qiuyan was aware of all these situations. She just nodded and did not express her opinion.
"In addition to converting cooperatives into state-owned factories, I wonder if we can provide a variety of reform plans based on the circumstances of different cooperatives?"
"These cooperatives are all members of professional associations. For example, the Xinghuo Ironware and the 3rd Hardware Society on Guangming Street are both members of the hardware professional association. Not only do they have shares in the association, but they also pay an annual management fee. Members have a strong sense of belonging to the association."
"Director Liang, if we encounter a cooperative that's particularly resistant, can we compromise and turn the cooperative into a subsidiary factory of the cooperative? The cooperative actually has a lot of resources it can mobilize. If the cooperative becomes a subsidiary factory of the cooperative, then we can fully allocate equipment, funds, and personnel within the cooperative."
Liang Qiuyan smiled and said, "Some comrades have suggested this approach before, but as part of our pilot reform, we'll try our best to mobilize everyone to move to state-owned factories. If we can't persuade them, we'll find another way. Please continue..."
"Also, I think some service-oriented cooperatives should continue to exist as cooperatives, taking into account the actual conditions at the grassroots level. For example, the Second Repair Shop on our street repairs shoes, cars, watches, radios, and more, providing great convenience to residents. If the repair shop were turned into a factory, and all the technicians were assigned to production, where would residents go when they need their daily necessities repaired?"
Liang Qiuyan: "That's a great idea! We've only focused on the big commune units before, and haven't paid attention to the problems of the small commune units. Your idea of integrating the actual conditions at the grassroots level is a great idea. Ultimately, our reform work is to serve the people. If the more we change, the more people complain, then it's better not to change at all!"
She took out a pen, made a few notes in the workbook she carried with her, and then pointed to one of the lines to show Ye Manzhi.
"I also discovered a problem today. Some cooperatives produce folk handicrafts. Their order output is basically fixed, so there's no need to expand or upgrade their technology. There's absolutely no need for these handicraft cooperatives to waste energy switching to factories. They should continue to exist as cooperatives."
Ye Manzhi nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, it's too labor-intensive to convert a small cooperative into a factory. We have a shoemaking cooperative on Guangming Street, and it's one of the targets of this mobilization. They're very enthusiastic about converting, and the president took the initiative to find me and ask for a transfer. However, their cooperative only has seven people in total, which is less than the number of people in a workshop at a state-owned leather shoe factory. I'm wondering if this small cooperative, which really wants to convert into a state-owned factory, can be merged into a nearby large factory and become a workshop of the factory?"
"Transforming this into a large-scale workshop is a brand new idea," Liang Qiuyan said approvingly, picking up her pen. "You young people are really smart. If you have similar ideas in the future, we should communicate promptly!"
Ye Manzhi reported all his recent work experiences one by one.
Some of them were written down in Director Liang’s notebook, while others were rejected by the other party with a shake of his head.
She feels a great sense of accomplishment when her ideas are adopted by her leaders.
After saying goodbye to Director Liang at the cafeteria door, Ye Manzhi did not rush home. She called Qingmei to make sure that she had not yet finished get off work, then went out, turned right, and went to the District Cultural Bureau.
Lin Qingmei was about to go to class, waiting at the office door with two books under her arms. Seeing her hurried into the yard, she went to meet her and asked, "What's the rush?"
"Good news! Big news!" Ye Manzhi revealed the news he had just heard to her and asked, "Every unit in the district has recommendation quotas for exemption from the entrance exam. Have you heard about it?"
"No," Lin Qingmei muttered, "It's probably been kept secret. Who wouldn't want such a good opportunity? It's very likely that it was secretly handed over to someone with connections."
Ye Manzhi was stunned when he heard this, "No way?"
"Why not?" Lin Qingmei sighed. "We have quite a few young cadres under 30 in our unit, and the cadres in the Cultural Bureau all have high education levels, with plenty of them only having high school diplomas. The selection criteria you just mentioned aren't even a threshold in our unit. The most difficult hurdle is probably the political review. If the leader publicly applied for recommendations within the unit, with so many qualified comrades, who would he choose?"
Ye Manzhi thought to himself that big units also have their own troubles.
Although the street office is also crowded with people with connections, it is small in scale and everyone works in the same office, so there are basically no secrets.
Director Mu still values fairness in this regard.
"Why are you so nosy? Just ask the leader directly about the specific conditions for selecting transfer students. Even if he really wants to do it secretly, he wouldn't dare to publicly say that there are no such things as transfer students. These are quotas for every unit in the district, and the leader can't afford to give anyone a reason to criticize him. Besides, there are so many leaders in your unit, wouldn't it be easy to find one you can have a say in? All those ballroom dancing sessions were for nothing?"
Lin Qingmei was moved by what she said, "How about I give it a try?"
"Of course I have to try!" Ye Manzhi said bluntly, "It's so hard to get into university. Our school only had two people get in last year! Can it be harder than going to the leaders and saying a few words? For people like us, the path of a transfer student is more practical than the college entrance examination!"
As for the possible competition in the final selection stage, Ye Manzhi didn't think it mattered.
Each unit has a fixed number of recommended candidates. If Qingmei isn't the one, there will be others. She has a lot of competitors. Instead of leaving the opportunity to others, it is better to give it to Qingmei.
Ye Manzhi brought the news to Qingmei and asked her to go back to work to attend classes. She herself hurried back to the compound and announced to Wu Zhengrong the good news that she might be going to college.
Wu Zhengrong, who was sanding the corners of a wooden bed, was speechless when he heard this: "You haven't even registered yet, and you already know you can go to college? Are you sure your company can recommend you?"
"Confirmed! Although the news of the transfer of cadres is still in the district, and there's been no movement from the subdistrict office for the time being, based on the intelligence I currently have, the only cadres who meet the requirements of being under 30 years old and having a high school diploma are Zhuang Ting and me. Liu Jinbao has a junior high school diploma, and Zhao Erhe has a high school diploma. The others don't meet the age requirements."
If the subdistrict office can get two recommendation spots, they will be hers and Zhuang Ting's.
They didn't even have to compete.
If Ye Lai Ya had the chance to go to university, Wu Zhengrong would of course fully support her. He put down the sandpaper, patted the sawdust off his hands and said, "Tell me the specific enrollment requirements, and we can discuss them together."
Ye Manzhi was in high spirits and didn't mind telling it eight or ten times, so she told it to him again in detail.
Wu Zhengrong and Lin Qingmei had similar ideas, feeling that these requirements were not a significant threshold. He paused for a moment and said, "Students transferred without taking the entrance exam are generally trained on a targeted basis, with fixed schools and majors. Do you know which school and major you will be recommended to study?"
If you have worked in work related to your major, you will have an advantage in the final selection.
"I don't know. I haven't had time to ask yet."
Wu Zhengrong then asked, "What are the requirements for the number of years of service for cadres?"
"It's said to be one year, but the junior officials in the district said that the length of service can be flexible, and the requirements can be relaxed for outstanding work performance. Zhuang Ting and I both have less than a year of service. If they don't recommend us, then the subdistrict office will have no other candidates..."
Ye Manzhi really wanted to talk to him properly, but her eyes kept drifting unconsciously towards the unfinished big bed.
Before, these wooden boards were piled in the yard and had not been assembled into shape, and she had not noticed anything wrong with Wu Zhengrong's way of making the wooden bed.
But in the past two days, Wu Zhengrong assembled the wooden bed and placed it in the room. It was estimated to be one-third wider than the kang she was sleeping on now.
Her kang was built by Old Ye specifically for her daughters. When her eldest and second sisters came back to her parents' home to stay overnight, they could sleep on the same kang with her.
It's more than enough for two people to sleep on it.
However, the bed Wu Zhengrong made was even more spacious than her kang. It would be such a waste of wood to make such a big bed!
Seeing that her face turned red while she was talking, Wu Zhengrong thought it was because the room was too hot, so he got up to put out the fire in the coal stove, only to find that the honeycomb coal in the stove had been extinguished long ago.
He touched her forehead with the back of his hand and asked, "It's not hot in this room, is it? Why is your face so red? Are you feeling unwell?"
Ye Manzhi waved his hand away and said, "Maybe you got cold outside this afternoon. I'll just drink some hot water."
Wu Zhengrong didn't have any doubts and got up to pour her some hot water.
“…”
Seeing him busy in and out of the house, Ye Manzhi felt a little happy and a little embarrassed. She picked up the book on the table and flipped through it to cover up her mistake.
Judging from the cover description, it seems to be a Soviet novel.
Wu Zhengrong has a diverse taste in reading and she has known for a long time that there are many foreign novels on her bookshelf.
"Is this Doctor Zhigova any good?"
"good."
Wu Zhengrong said it was okay and he could basically finish reading it. Ye Manyzhi casually turned to the page where he had put his bookmark.
You and I are like the first two people, Adam and Eve, who had nothing to cover themselves with when the world was created, and we are now naked and homeless at its end.
Ye Manzhi: “…”
What the hell is this?
"What kind of books are you reading?" Ye Manzhi took the teacup and handed him the novel. "Why would a high-ranking intellectual read this kind of book?"
Wu Zhengrong glanced at her almost ripe face and asked, "What kind of books should high-level intellectuals read?"
Ye Manzhi couldn't explain what kind of books Gao Zhi should read, but it was definitely not this kind.
"Actually, there's nothing special in this book. This sentence needs to be understood in context." Wu Zhengrong was halfway through explaining when he gave up and said, "Forget it. How can I propose to you if I don't draw some inspiration from these books?"
Ye Manzhi couldn't help laughing and said, "My previous understanding of the term 'read widely' was too narrow."
Wu Zhengrong didn't think there was anything wrong with reading some miscellaneous books. He just took it as her compliment and changed the subject without changing his expression.
"Let's move on to your position as a transfer student. The street office's recommendation is only the first step; the key lies in the district's selection. You've worked for less than a year, so be prepared for a possible rejection."
Upon hearing this, Ye Manyi indeed withdrew his thoughts.
"Don't they say that if you have outstanding work performance, the requirements can be relaxed? Last year, several people with less than a year of service were recommended for university."
Wu Zhengrong spoke frankly: "There are usually only two possibilities in this situation. The first is that the requirements are relaxed to help those with connections. The second is that there are cadres with outstanding work performance who are admitted as exceptions."
With such selection conditions, having conditions is almost the same as having no conditions, and there is a lot of room for maneuver.
Cadre Xiaoye has always been confident and proactive in her work. Wu Zhengrong didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, so she encouraged her, "You've achieved a lot since you started working. Doesn't the application deadline end next month? If you improve your resume soon, you might be successful."
Regardless of whether she is selected or not, it is always a good idea to let her work hard.
Ye Manzhi also felt that he still had a chance of being selected, but this matter really needed to be carefully considered.
At the very least, you should write a resume that is impressive.
She has some experience in writing work summaries and is good at boasting implicitly. She is the best writer in the street office!
*
Ye Manzhi felt that if he wanted to improve his resume, he had to start with his recent jobs.
The work of converting the cooperative into a factory is a pilot project and it will take several months to produce results. However, she will have to participate in the selection of transferred students at the latest next month.
Since we can't rely on the Reform Office for its work, we can only turn our attention back to the Street Office.
So, she went back to the street office the next day and reviewed all the work she was responsible for.
She first went to the Family Handicraft Service Center to inquire about the recent revenue of the family handicraft industry, then went to the coal furnace factory to see the workers' production, and finally went to the adult literacy class to learn about the completion of the third literacy class.
She wrote all of these down, intending to revise them and include them in her work achievements.
However, these obvious things alone are not enough.
Ye Manzhi thought about it for a few days, but couldn't find any breakthrough for the time being, so he had to put the matter aside for the time being.
…
When she went out to work on Saturday morning, she just walked out of the corridor and heard an argument downstairs.
"How many times have we told you not to dump coal slag under our windows? Why didn't you listen? How many times have you done this secretly? I finally caught you this time, didn't I?"
"This is the area arranged by the logistics department for dumping coal slag!" said the young man whose sleeve was grabbed. "If you have any complaints, go talk to the logistics department!"
"Bah!" Granny Qin spat. "The area drawn by the logistics department is more than ten meters away from my window! They told you to fall inside that circle, but who told you to fall right under my window?"
"Look, where's the space in that circle? If not here, where else can we dump it? We're not the only ones doing this! Again, go talk to the logistics department!"
Ye Manzhi stood outside the crowd and watched the excitement for a while, then whispered to the people around him, "Uncle Liu, the coal slag in our yard has been piling up for a whole winter, right? Why haven't they cleaned it up this year?"
At this time, every household burned coal. There were thousands of households living in this compound. After a winter of burning coal, the compound was full of small hills of coal slag.
Especially affecting environmental hygiene.
"In previous years, they'd piled it up at the cemetery. Now that the factory has taken over that land for expansion, where's the place left to dispose of the slag?" Uncle Liu shook his head. "The neighborhood committee sent someone to negotiate a few days ago. The logistics department said that when the snow melts in the spring, the slag will be useful and can be spread on the ground to prevent slipping. With so much slag, I guess the logistics department must be worried, too, so they came up with this lame excuse."
Ye Manzhi had been watching her neighbors quarreling downstairs early in the morning. Seeing that she was about to be late for work, she squeezed into the crowd and asked, "Guo Xu, Grandma Qin, if the street office stepped in to help you deal with this coal slag, would you be willing to help?"
"What kind of effort?"
"Just help load the coal slag onto the trucks and take it away. What else can I do?"
Grandma Qin said, "If we can really remove these coal slags, my three sons will all help!"
"Okay, you organize some people, and I'll go negotiate with the street office and the factory logistics department on behalf of our neighborhood committee. Having so much coal slag piled downstairs is really affecting everyone's commuting, and it's especially inconvenient for those living next to the slag pile."
Grandma Qin pulled her aside and asked, "Xiaoye, can you really take on this job? Cleaning the coal slag is a huge project!"
Ye Manzhi sighed, "Well, I'm also a resident of our compound. The environment of the compound depends on everyone's cooperation in maintaining it. However, as everyone knows, there are only a few staff members in the street. I can help with the coordination, but the real work has to be done by the neighbors in our compound."
"As long as someone can remove these coal slag, it doesn't matter if we put in some effort. I'll go and mobilize a few more families later!"
People these days are reluctant to spend money, but they are willing to work hard, and they have plenty of energy!
"Then you go and gather the people. I'll go back to the unit and tell the leader."
Ye Manzhi even managed to mediate a fight on the way to work. After evacuating the two groups of people, she went to the logistics department of Factory 656.
The head of the logistics department is also an acquaintance of Ye Manzhi.
When the military representative office and the security department worked together to crack down on gambling, the logistics chief's son and her fourth brother were all arrested.
They went to the security department together to rescue someone.
"Chief Shao, how come you still have time to drink tea in your office?" Ye Manzhi said with a smile as she entered the logistics department. "Because of those piled up coal slag, there was a fight in our yard early this morning!"
Section Chief Shao put down his teacup and chuckled, "We have other uses for the coal slag in logistics, so we can't deal with it for the time being."
"It's useful, but forget it," Ye Manzhi said with regret, "I still want to help find a good place for the coal slag!"
Section Chief Shao knew that the subdistrict office had a wide range of connections, so he couldn't help but ask, "Who is willing to accept this batch of coal slag?"
"If I can help you find a place to put these coal slag, can our factory provide a truck to transport it?"
"Then you must be responsible."
"You won't charge any money, right?" Ye Manyi confirmed again.
"Tsk, it's our own factory's business, of course we can't accept money."
"What if I can trade this coal slag for something? Will the factory share it?"
"That depends on what it is."
Ye Manzhi sighed and said, "Chief Shao, your son and my fourth brother both dug sand and moved bricks for the elementary school. Do you still remember this?"
Section Chief Shao's mouth twitched. This was really bringing up something that was not relevant.
"Um."
"The construction of our primary school has been put on hold all winter. We're going to start in the spring, but we haven't got the cement or bricks yet."
Section Chief Shao: "You want them to move bricks again?"
"Haha, no, I have a way to exchange coal slag for some cement." Ye Manzhi laughed, "The primary school buildings all depend on this batch of cement. Chief Shao, how about the factory do a good deed and give the coal slag in the yard to the primary school?"
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