Chapter 236
After officially retiring, Ye Shouxin felt uncomfortable for a long time.
He started herding cattle and farming at the age of seven or eight, moved to the city as a farmhand in his teens, and later learned a trade to work in a factory. His life was a life of constant hustle and bustle. Suddenly, he was forced to enjoy a leisurely life at home, and his heart was filled with a bittersweet feeling, like brown sugar mixed with chili peppers.
Apart from cooking at home and chatting with his old friends, he has nothing serious to do.
Other retired workers are in a similar situation.
Senior workers like them are actually reluctant to retire. Everyone is in good health. Although everyone has some occupational diseases, they are far from the point of going home to become old grandfathers.
The company also knew that these skilled workers were valuable, but they still let them retire.
Why?
Because if they don’t retire, young people won’t be able to enter the factory!
There are tens of thousands of employees in Factory 656, and many of them are children of factory workers waiting to take over the factory.
Make room for young people, then retire!
Therefore, when they heard that the city was recruiting technical consultants, these dozen or so old workers were excited.
The oldest, Master Kong, asked, “Is there any age requirement for technical consultants?”
He is over seventy years old and is afraid that people will not want him at his age.
Master Chen said: "There is no age requirement, but there is a requirement for retirement age. It must be retired after 1973."
There is no age limit because it cannot be limited.
In the first few years, some people said that retirement was a half-started revolution, so many workers who had reached retirement age were unable to retire and just stayed at their jobs.
It was not until the year before last that the central government issued a document agreeing to restore the policy of children taking over, which allowed a large number of old workers who had reached retirement age to officially retire.
But everyone’s retirement age varies, some can differ by nearly ten years!
Master Kang said, "This condition is quite reasonable. If you have been retired for ten or eight years, your skills will have long been abandoned. How can you still be a consultant?"
"Are you going to sign up?"
"Go, why not?" More than a dozen veteran workers shouted together.
They are all seventh- and eighth-level workers at Factory 656.
There are welders like Ye Shouxin, as well as lathe operators and fitters, all of whom are old workers who retired after the restoration of the succession policy.
"They're giving us food coupons, meat coupons, and even a TV and plane ticket. Why are you still hesitating?"
Senior workers have high salaries and everyone has savings, but TV and plane tickets are in short supply and ordinary people can't get them at all.
Everyone looked in the direction of Ye Shouxin.
Take Old Ye for example. His daughter used to be a director at Shuguang Factory and is now a bureau chief. But if he wants a TV ticket, he has to ask around.
Some people originally wanted to ask Old Ye's daughter for help, but when they saw how hard he was struggling, they gave up the idea.
Instead of asking others for help, you might as well earn a TV ticket by your own ability!
A group of old friends did what they said. They went home to get their supporting documents, went to Factory 656 to get a letter of introduction, and registered at the District Revolutionary Committee on the same day.
The industrial group specially arranged a small clerk to receive this group of old comrades.
The young clerk explained to everyone in a clear voice: "Anyone who is a Grade 7 or 8 worker, regardless of their job type, can sign up. However, after signing up, comrades must go to the Municipal Hospital for a physical examination..."
"Oh, we are in very good health and don't need a physical examination."
Haha, the little clerk is spouting nice words as if they are free.
"Everyone works hard and exercises regularly, so their physical fitness is definitely excellent. However, this is a requirement from higher-ups. Without a physical examination report, you won't get TV tickets, plane tickets, or food and meat coupons from the district."
The leader specifically reminded me that a physical examination report is required.
These masters are all over 60 years old and have been engaged in heavy physical labor for many years. Some of them may not be in ideal physical condition.
They invite people to be consultants. If something unexpected happens during work, who will be responsible?
The young official then explained, "After passing the physical examination, the city will arrange for these trainees to provide guidance to various factories. The term is tentatively set at one year, and they are expected to train at least two senior workers and three intermediate workers for the factories within that year."
The old masters listened to his explanation carefully, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it.
It is extremely difficult to train junior workers into senior workers.
But it is much easier to train a level 6 worker into a level 7 worker.
There are no major technical problems for a Level 6 worker; all he lacks is some unique skills and guidance.
The old masters talked to each other and felt that one year was an acceptable term.
Work for a year first. If you don’t like it, you can go home and rest after a year. There are not many restrictions.
Anyway, at least we have trained two senior workers and three intermediate workers, which is an explanation.
Everyone signed up in turn and went to the hospital for a physical examination.
Lao Ye's physical condition is pretty good. Apart from his lumbar and cervical spine, he doesn't have any major problems.
Less than a week after submitting the medical examination report to the district, he received a notice:
Comrade Ye Shouxin has been hired as a technical consultant for the Municipal Light Industry Bureau. He will report to the Binjiang Bicycle Factory next Monday to provide technical guidance to the factory's welders.
Ye Shouxin held the letter of appointment in one hand and a TV and plane ticket in the other, his tail almost reaching the sky!
"See, this is talent! I have this unique skill, and I'll never go hungry! I've only been retired for a little over a year, and I've been called back to be a consultant! Oh, what a toilsome life! But people are begging me to come with food coupons, meat coupons, TV tickets, and plane tickets. What can I do?"
Fourth Brother took the letter of appointment and read it carefully, then teased, "Dad, this is stamped with the official seal of the Municipal Light Industry Bureau. Did Lai Ya use some backdoor to get you in?"
"You know shit!" Ye Shouxin snatched back his offer letter. "Fourteen of us went, ten passed the physical exam, and all ten got offers. The comrades in the district said the factory is in urgent need of technical guidance, and any retired senior worker, as long as they're in good health, can come to the factory as a consultant!"
The old lady didn't understand what was going on. When she heard her son could go back to work, she nodded and said, "That's good. In our village, men your age are still strong laborers. Who would stay home and not work?"
After Ye Shouxin received some instructions from Comrade Jin Tiantian, he took his appointment letter and went to the Bicycle Factory to report for work.
After he settled down in the new environment, received a monthly commuting allowance of 6 yuan and a food allowance of 10 yuan, and selected three level 6 workers with decent technical skills, feeling that he had hope of completing the training task, he dared to use the TV plane ticket and went to the department store to buy a TV.
Wu Yuzhuo had extensive experience in watching TV, and her grandfather called her to go to the store with him.
Also traveling with them were Maiduo and Qiqiu.
"Please choose carefully! This thing is not cheap, we have to take back the best one!"
Qiqiu stretched his neck to look inside the counter. "Sir, the TVs are all the same brand and model. What's there to choose from?"
"You have to choose!" Ye Shouxin clutched a handful of the "Da Tuanjie" with a pained look on his face. "A TV costs over four hundred yuan. Don't buy a defective one!"
He asked the salesperson to issue a ticket, paid 430 yuan, and asked his three children to check the TV inside and out. He also plugged it in and watched it for a while, which caused people in the queue to complain.
Wu Yuzhuo said to the customers behind him, "Don't worry, everyone. Televisions can malfunction easily. It would be such a hassle if you discovered the problem after you got home! Try to test everything in the store. A few minutes won't hurt."
What she said made sense. The woman behind her said, "I'll have to try plugging it in later."
The four generations of grandparents and grandchildren bought a TV and happily moved back to the military industrial compound.
As soon as the television appeared in the building, it caused an immediate sensation.
"Director Ye, your family bought a TV! Where did you get the tickets?"
"Hahaha, I'm working as a technical consultant at a bicycle factory. It's a reward from the city."
"Oh, technical masters are different!"
A group of people flattered the radiant Old Ye and squeezed into the Ye family to watch the fun.
…
When Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong returned to their mother's home carrying watermelons, the house was so crowded that there was no place to stay.
There were even several children gathered at the door.
A floor-standing oscillating fan was blowing in the room. Comrade Jin Tiantian had poor eyesight and hearing, and was arranged in the middle of the first row. She was directing Chang Yue'e and Shen Liangmei to pour water for the neighbors.
There was constant laughter in the room until half past six, when the TV program officially started, and everyone finally quieted down.
Everyone stared at the black and white image on the screen with bated breath.
Wu Zhengrong handed the watermelon to his mother-in-law, then took Ye Lai Ya away.
When you walk out of the building, you can still hear the sound of the TV upstairs.
Ye Manzhi glanced upstairs and said, "Oops!" "I left Youyan behind!"
"She's already that old, let her go home by herself later."
"How about we watch TV for a while before going back?" Ye Manzhi actually also likes watching TV.
"With such a small screen and so many people, what's there to watch?" Wu Zhengrong pulled her along and said, "There are four new movies showing at the cinema. We have time to go see them today."
The cinema plays "The Old Three Wars" and revolutionary model operas all year round, and they haven't been to the cinema for several years.
This year, a domestic feature film dedicated to the workers, peasants and soldiers was finally released. The couple had already said they would find time to watch it.
Today, without the follower Wu Yuzhuo following me, the timing is just right.
Having not been to a cinema for several years, Ye Manzhi was quite looking forward to it. The two of them went to the nearest cinema and bought two tickets for "Sunny Days".
According to his previous movie-watching habits, Wu Zhengrong bought her a bottle of orange soda and a small bag of melon seeds. Seeing that there was someone selling popcorn, he also brought a teacup of popcorn.
Ye Manzhi smiled and jokingly said, "Wu Suo is too generous. If Mai Duo was half as generous as you, he wouldn't have been chasing that girl for half a year without success."
Wu Zhengrong accepted his wife's praise with a clear conscience and said seriously, "There's a ready-made successful experience right in front of us. Let Maiduo learn from his uncle."
"Hahaha," Ye Manzhi pulled him into the theater, "I told you you were fat and you gasped!"
*
The cinema showed several feature films, allowing the couple to leave their daughter behind and watch movies for several days in a row.
Ye Manzhi was in a good mood and was particularly easy to talk to at work.
After she put forward the slogan of "One Hundred Days of War", all the directors were assigned the task of following her.
As the director, she took the initiative to take over two unfinished fixed asset investment projects.
One is the citric acid project of Binjiang Yeast Factory, and the other is the "industrial sewing machine production line" of Binjiang Sewing Machine Factory.
She couldn't take care of both projects, so she handed the citric acid project over to Chen Teye.
Chen Teye said with a headache: "Isn't this a task for the deputy director? I'm just a section chief, it shouldn't be my turn, right?"
"Can you be a section chief forever? How can you stand out from all the other section chiefs if you don't make some outstanding achievements?" Ye Manzhi shoved the information at him. "The more difficult the job, the more it shows your ability. When we were in college, you were the furnace master of a small blast furnace. Steelmaking was no problem, so what's a citric acid workshop?"
Citric acid is a very important acidulant in the food industry and is also widely used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
However, China relied on imports for a long time and only in recent years has it embarked on the path of self-sufficiency.
Ye Manzhi felt that someone in the city could see the prospects of citric acid and launched the citric acid project as soon as possible, which was quite visionary.
I just don’t know why, four years have passed and it hasn’t even started production yet!
When Chen Teye was in college, he loved to scheme and his academic performance was not very good, but he still had some work ability.
This kind of job of cleaning up the mess is most suitable for people who are good at networking.
Ye Manzhi handed the citric acid project to him without further explanation, asking him to complete the task within three months while he went to clean up another mess.
When she was unlocking the bicycle shed with Xi Yingchun, she heard a horn beeping behind her.
Ye Manzhi looked back and said with a smile, "Director Lei, are you going out?"
Lei Wanyuan stuck his head out of the back window of the jeep and asked, "Where are you going? I'll give you a ride."
"Go to the sewing machine factory for research."
"Come up, I'm going to the agricultural machinery factory and I can take you there."
Heavy industry causes serious pollution and is generally located far away from cities.
Although sewing machines were allocated to light industry, a blast furnace was needed for casting and heat treatment of sewing machine parts, which caused serious pollution from three wastes. Therefore, the factory site was chosen in the heavy industrial zone.
It is a neighbor of several factories including Binjiang No. 2 Machinery Factory, Agricultural Machinery Factory, and Bicycle Factory.
Ye Manzhi didn't bother to be polite with him. She put away her bicycle keys and got on the bike with her secretary.
"Director Lei, did your bureau buy this car or borrow it from a company?"
"I bought it," said Lei Wanyuan, who has worked in government for several years but still speaks bluntly. "I originally wanted to borrow a car from a company, but it was fine for a few days, but after a while, the factory directors kept asking me for cars in a roundabout way. I decided I couldn't stand this humiliation anymore, so I just bought a used car."
Ye Manzhi gave him a thumbs-up: "That's generous! Our Light Industry Bureau also bought a car, but it's only ten bicycles."
We all worked in the same building, and the First Industrial Bureau bought a second-hand jeep.
And she, with a wave of her hand, bought ten bicycles!
Alas, as someone who comes from a humble family, I can never compare to others in terms of vision and courage!
She touched the car seat enviously and could only comfort herself that the car was only used by a few bureau leaders, and once it was driven away, no one else could use it.
But ten bikes are so affordable!
No matter who has something to do, they can go out by bike without delaying each other!
Ye Manzhi looked at the driver in front again and thought jealously that although Lei Wanyuan was only in charge of 14 enterprises, these 14 enterprises were all heavy factories transferred from the central government to local governments.
The output value of these 14 companies is almost equal to that of 100 light industrial enterprises.
It’s still heavy industry that makes money!
Lei Wanyuan has always believed in making a fortune in silence and keeping a low profile so as not to get beaten. This time, he bought a second-hand car for the bureau, which was indeed a bit too high-profile.
He coughed lightly and explained, "The heavy factories are all in the suburbs. If I ride my bike to the factories for research, my soles will get sparks. The problems at the agricultural machinery factory can't be solved quickly, so we have to leave the city. I had no choice but to buy an old car."
Ye Manzhi had also heard about the problems at the Binjiang Agricultural Machinery Factory. Agricultural machinery was used to support industrial construction.
But the benefits were quite good in the first ten years.
For some unknown reason, the company started to suffer losses last year, and Lei Wanyuan has been going to the agricultural machinery factory frequently in recent months.
Ye Manzhi nodded in understanding and chatted with the other party all the way. When the car arrived at the gate of the sewing machine factory, she thanked him and got out.
…
I called the factory headquarters from the guard room, but no one came to answer after waiting for more than 20 minutes.
Ye Manzhi asked, "Yingchun, did you notify the sewing machine factory before coming here?"
"I have," Xi Yingchun said, looking unhappy. "I called the director of their factory office."
The two waited for more than ten minutes before someone came running out to greet them.
The person who came was not the director of the Revolutionary Committee, but the deputy director.
Zhou Jing apologized profusely, "Director Ye, I'm so sorry. The factory received the notice yesterday and had already made preparations for the reception, but something went wrong just now, and we forgot about it when we got busy."
Ye Manzhi said with an unchanging expression, "What happened at the factory?"
"Ahem," Zhou Jing coughed uncomfortably. "Yang Baoye from the bicycle factory came here at noon today. We invited Director Yang to have lunch at the factory, but Director Yang got drunk and beat up Director Tang..."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
This development is outrageous.
"How is Director Tang now? How about I come back another day?"
"No, no, Director Tang has recovered and asked me to invite Director Ye in."
Ye Manzhi thought to herself, she had finally managed to get out of the city, if she just went back like this, wouldn't it be a waste of her entire afternoon?
She always felt that this matter was strange. Just when she was about to go to the factory to sort out the unfinished fixed asset investment, Tang Zhanshan started fighting with Yang Baoye from the bicycle factory. It couldn't be such a coincidence, right?
The two top executives of large factories were fighting each other. This was the first time she had seen this happen in all her years of working.
Are these two people playing a double act for her?
Ye Manzhi didn't say anything else and followed Zhou Jing into the factory to see the situation first.
When the group arrived at the factory gate, they happened to meet Tang Zhanshan who had just come downstairs to greet them.
Tang Zhanshan is a very graceful business leader, and he exudes a sense of pride and satisfaction.
The Binjiang Sewing Machine Factory has been prosperous for more than ten years, and its products have always been in short supply.
Especially in 1966, after the new sewing machine won the first place in the evaluation of 36 companies in the same industry across the country, the sewing machine factory's position in Binjiang's light industry became extraordinary.
Tang Zhanshan would not personally come out to receive ordinary leaders who came to visit him.
Ye Manzhi looked at his straight face for a few times. There seemed to be some dark red bloodstains on his chin that had not been wiped clean. She didn't know whether it was a blood scab or nosebleed.
So it seems that he is really injured?
Tang Zhanshan shook hands with Ye Manzhi and apologized, using the same rhetoric as Zhou Jing's.
Ye Manzhi had come with a mission, and she didn't bother to investigate the reason for his beating. She casually said, "Director Tang, a good student like the sewing machine factory should be the last thing I need to worry about. But what's going on with that 'industrial sewing machine production line' of yours? You invested in it in 1970, so why hasn't it been officially put into use yet?"
Sewing machines, bicycles and watches are the three giants of Binjiang's light industry.
The annual output value of sewing machines alone can reach more than 80 million, and the output value of a single product accounts for 3% of the total output value of light industry.
Before the rise of televisions, sewing machines were always ranked first among the city's light industries.
No matter which leader comes to power, he will come to visit the sewing machine factory and then praise it highly.
As Tang Zhanshan led her to the factory, he explained, "Director Ye, if production can start as soon as possible, I would also like to set up the production line quickly. The key problem is that we are short of funds. This production line was invested by the city, a total of 5.1 million yuan, but the more than 5 million yuan was not allocated to us all at once. Instead, it was allocated in installments based on the progress of the project."
Ye Manzhi asked, "How much has the city allocated?"
"About 4 million," Tang Zhanshan muttered, observing his surroundings. "Previously, this project was overseen by Deputy Director Zhao of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee. Funding was never timely. They'd always wait until we were practically broke before allocating 300,000 or 400,000 yuan to us. But when he was transferred this year, even that wasn't enough. The city leaders simply forgot about allocating funds!"
I heard that Deputy Director Zhao’s downfall had something to do with Director Ye in front of me.
The news was so vague that he couldn't tell whether it was true or not.
But mentioning Deputy Director Zhao's story would help Ye Manzhi understand the difficulty of their project.
The man surnamed Zhao is not a good person, and the one who replaced him, Peng Jingyun, is not that good either.
The project was 70% complete, but they refused to allocate funds to the sewing machine factory.
Isn't the idea to let enterprises invest to complete the remaining construction?
However, this production line is used to produce industrial sewing machines, which is different from the household sewing machines that the factory mainly sells.
If the city leaders had not insisted on launching this project, he would not have wanted to develop industrial sewing machines at all.
The city originally agreed to provide full funding, but now it wants companies to fill the gap. Why?
Ye Manzhi knew that the slow progress of the project was related to funding.
There is definitely money on the city’s fiscal books, but Binjiang’s pillar industry is heavy industry, and most of the fixed asset investment is placed there.
The city has established a Light Industry Bureau, but that doesn’t mean that light industry is more important than heavy industry.
After several contacts with Peng Jingyun, Ye Manzhi could more or less see her personal inclinations - mainly developing heavy industry while taking light industry into consideration.
The attitude towards light industry is that we want the horse to run but we don’t want it to eat grass.
The most commonly used word is "self-reliance".
Ye Manzhi had just left the company and understood Tang Zhanshan's anger.
However, from her point of view, the city's finances have already invested more than 4 million yuan, and the project is about to be completed and put into production. She can't let the project fail, right?
Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "Being angry with the city leaders won't do the sewing machine factory any good. Considering the size of the sewing machine factory, we can still come up with over a million yuan. Instead of putting the project on hold, it's better to start production as soon as possible. Regardless of whether it's industrial or household sewing machines, they are all assets of the sewing machine factory."
"Haha." Tang Zhanshan said indifferently, "Director Ye, I'm not trying to put you off. The sewing machine factory really can't come up with this money recently."
He invited Ye Manzhi to a workshop and took her to visit the "automatic line for finishing the painted casing."
"This production line can produce 400-500 pieces per shift and has been in use for four years," said Tang Zhanshan. "The factory plans to add three more such production lines to expand the production of household sewing machines. Therefore, we will not be able to take care of industrial sewing machines for the time being."
Ye Manzhi carefully observed this super-large-scale production line. The entire factory was filled with workers busy at their respective posts.
She asked doubtfully, "Does your factory have space to install three such production lines?"
"There's no more, so we need to apply for a piece of land nearby to build a three-story assembly building."
Ye Manzhi sighed, "This project is quite large. Just building the building will cost millions."
If the scale can be expanded successfully, the output value of the sewing machine factory may be able to double.
The Light Industry Bureau is of course happy to see this happen.
Tang Zhanshan's face showed a hint of arrogance. "It's indeed quite large. If we rely entirely on our own investment, the burden will be quite heavy. Therefore, our second plan is to merge with the third bicycle factory next door. Their performance has been average in recent years, so it would be better to switch to sewing machine production. If we can save the money for building a building, we can use it to expand the industrial sewing machine production line."
Director Ye has just launched a food industrial park project.
He studied the plan carefully. Although it was small in scale, it could integrate resources and promote industry collaboration.
Tang Zhanshan felt that Ye Manzhi should be able to understand his intention to merge the bicycle factory.
Their working ideas are somewhat similar. Didn’t Shuguang Factory also merge with other factories?
Upon hearing this, Ye Manzhi remained silent for a moment. The other party clearly wanted to negotiate terms with the city.
If you want the sewing machine factory to invest in completing the industrial sewing machine production line, you have to merge the third bicycle factory with it.
However, the bicycle factory is also under the management of the Light Industry Bureau.
We are all in this together. What's the point of merging a good bicycle factory into one?
She glanced at the blood on the other person's chin.
No wonder he got beaten, Tang Zhanshan deserved it!
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