Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 100 Bai Yujie Returns the Favor (Subscription Request)
"It really is a family compound. It's much better than where ordinary people live."

Zhou Fengnian registered with the security guard and waited at the door.

The guard just sent someone to notify Zhou Fengnian, and he was waiting at the gate. This was because he was an eighth-level engineer, otherwise ordinary people would not be able to get close to him.

After a while, Zhou Fengnian saw Bai Kang running out panting. After greeting him, he said a few words to the guard, who then took Zhou Fengnian inside.

"I'm sorry, Brother Zhou, I made you wait for a while. The leg of the coal stove at home broke just now, so I asked someone to fix it."

Bai Kang explained to Zhou Fengnian embarrassedly that he had been waiting for Zhou Fengnian all morning, but happened to go out for a while due to something and missed him.

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "It's okay, Brother Bai, this is nothing at all."

As they walked inside, Bai Kang introduced to Zhou Fengnian: "Originally there were several garden houses here, and there were a lot of vacant land nearby, so the building was built here.

My uncle's family lives over there, and now that I'm married, I've moved out to live in an apartment."

Probably because it was built early, people from more than one department live here, so it can be regarded as a 'cadre compound'.

Bai Kang had always thought highly of Zhou Fengnian and had hoped that Zhou Fengnian would go to the new factory with him. With their combined efforts, they would definitely be able to develop the Electric Factory No. 1 into a large factory directly under the Ministry of Light Industry.

But Zhou Fengnian did not come. Later, when Bai Kang heard that Zhou Fengnian had become an eighth-level engineer, he valued Zhou Fengnian even more.

"Your sister-in-law went to buy the food yesterday. She ran out of energy while cooking just now. She was so anxious that she asked me to change it. No matter what, I can't neglect the guests."

"Haha, then we have to walk faster. I'll show you my skills later."

Zhou Fengnian said with a smile, "I had said before that I would treat you, Brother Bai, to a meal, but I got so busy that I forgot about it. I must show off my cooking skills today."

Bai Kang also took good care of his family at the electrical appliance factory. His second brother Zhou Jiaan took leave for almost half a month because of his children, and Bai Kang gave him a leave note to make up for it.

He has four brothers and sisters, three of whom work at Electrical Appliance Factory No. 1. This alone makes it worthwhile for Zhou Fengnian and Bai Kang to maintain their relationship.

After going upstairs, Bai Kang opened the door and walked in with Zhou Fengnian, and saw a beautiful woman with two children in the living room.

Zhou Fengnian greeted, "Deputy Director Bai."

Bai Yujie stood up and said with a smile: "There's no need to address me by my title in private. It seems too unfamiliar. Just call me Yujie. I'm taking a break today, so I'll bring my daughter to sit with my cousin."

"Then you can call me Fengnian too, Yujie."

After Zhou Fengnian finished speaking, he looked at the two children, a boy and a girl, in the living room. They both looked about four or five years old. The other boy should be Bai Kang's son.

At this time, Bai Kang's wife also came out of the kitchen, greeted Zhou Fengnian with a smile, and said that the food was almost ready.

"Brother Zhou, sit down and rest for a while. I'll go make some tea."

Zhou Fengnian originally wanted to show off his cooking skills, but Bai Kang refused no matter what. Although he was also envious of Zhou Fengnian's cooking skills, Zhou Fengnian was the guest today.

Who would ask guests to come to your home to cook? They are not guests anymore, they are chefs who come to your home.

So Bai Kang asked his wife to go to the kitchen and went to make tea himself.

After the tea was served, Bai Yujie asked the two children to go into the house to play with their toys; the beautiful deputy factory director frowned a little, looking quite majestic.

The two children went into the house obediently, leaving the adults in the living room.

"Brother Bai, I heard that the No. 1 Electrical Appliance Factory has been doing well recently, and the machines in the factory have hardly stopped."

Zhou Fengnian noticed that Bai Kang was a little embarrassed to speak, so he took the initiative to ask.

"It's OK, it's OK. We just signed a few orders at the Canton Fair last year. Those orders are enough for the factory to last this year."

When talking about the factory's products, Bai Kang opened up. Although he was only the deputy factory director, this factory was almost built by him single-handedly.

He even went to the Canton Fair in person and negotiated several orders.

"Brother Zhou, you don't know that the two things our factory has are actually already available outside, but the foreigners' stuff is too expensive.

I asked around and found out that this kind of electric blanket costs thirty or forty dollars at Bald Eagle, but we only cost one-fifth of that."

At this point, Bai Kang grinned and said, "So those people placed orders one after another, which made us make a lot of money. It's a pity that too few countries came last year."

Zhou Fengnian pretended to be surprised, then nodded and said, "This is good news. Brother Bai, you seem to be troubled?"

“Our leaders asked us to expand production and gave us a very high task, which we might not be able to complete with just these two products.

Brother Zhou, you also developed an electric furnace. Although we have also manufactured it, we are unable to mass-produce it for the time being."

Bai Kang sighed and continued, "The leaders saw that it was too easy for us to earn foreign exchange last year, so they asked us to continue to show results, which probably means we need to launch a few more products like electric stoves and electric blankets."

"Ok?"

Zhou Fengnian's mouth twitched after hearing this, and then he said: "Brother Bai, I'm not being nosy, who is your leader? You really want to become a fat man in one bite.

With so few people in your factory, it's already great that you can produce these three appliances at the same time. You still want to make new appliances. Even if you have them, where do you get the people to produce them?"

This is another ambitious leader. A normal person can take a little more than one meter at a time, and with some effort can take two meters at a time.

But this kind of person insists on taking one step at a time, no matter if it will hurt his balls or not, he just wants to take the step first.

"Brother Zhou, I'm telling you this news, don't spread it."

Bai Kang paused for a moment, then said, "Electrical Appliance Factory No. 1 has decided to expand its recruitment, and this time they plan to recruit 3,000 people."

"Three thousand people? Where can we find so many skilled workers? It will take at least half a year to master the process if we expand to this many people."

Zhou Fengnian was surprised for a moment, but then shook his head. He used to be a workshop director and knew this aspect very well.

No matter how many people there are, it is useless because what the factory needs is skilled workers.

Three thousand apprentices who know nothing are not as good as three hundred skilled workers.

Three thousand people is considered a large factory, but it is a burden for the current Electrical Appliance Factory.

"I can't help it, Brother Zhou. My previous achievements were so good that I can't ignore the expectations of my leaders."

Bai Kang also sighed and said that he was being praised too highly now and could not be pushed down.

If he said it couldn't be done, there would definitely be several ambitious people who would rush to do it; those people would not consider whether they could do it or not, they just wanted to take Bai Kang's position.

When the No. 1 Electrical Appliance Factory was still a workshop, it earned more than one million from the Russians.

After being separated from the machinery factory, it negotiated a foreign exchange order of six million in the first year, which was an outstanding achievement. The leaders of the Ministry of Light Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Trade placed great hopes on it.

This year they expect to receive 12 million foreign exchange orders, which is equivalent to about 5 million US dollars.

The two previous products alone would definitely not be enough, so Bai Kang could only hope for the electric stove. Bai Kang felt that there was little hope, after all, if he took too big a step, he would definitely get into trouble.

However, Bai Kang was not afraid of failing to complete the task once. He was afraid that he would not be able to complete it the year after next or the year after that, so he asked Zhou Fengnian to come and give some advice.

“The leaders think too much, saying that since the No. 1 Electrical Appliance Factory is doing so well now, it should take on more responsibilities.

The number of unemployed young people in the city is increasing day by day. The expansion of the first electrical appliance factory is just in time to alleviate the number of unemployed young people in the city."

To put it simply, Electrical Appliance Factory No. 1 can employ more people, and more people can create more benefits; that's what the leaders thought, so they put the blame on Bai Kang.

Bai Kang couldn't stop complaining, as he had to deal with his superiors and worry about orders. If it weren't for the promising future of the Electric Appliance Factory No. 1, which could have taken this as a springboard for advancement, he would have given up on it long ago.

At the beginning, Bai Kang watched Zhou Fengnian paint and draw in the workshop and then developed an electrical product; now he has no one to turn to and can only ask Zhou Fengnian for help.

However, Zhou Fengnian did not answer immediately, but was thinking about something.

By now Zhou Fengnian understood everything. Bai Kang's leader had high expectations of him, but Bai Kang could not achieve his goals. At the same time, he was afraid that if he failed to achieve his goals for several years in a row, he would be removed from his post.

So they came to him for help, hoping that Zhou Fengnian could develop some more things. After all, he has already upgraded from a level 13 technician to a level 8 engineer.

"The meal is ready, how about eating first?"

Bai Kang's wife suddenly came out and asked. At this time, Bai Yujie beside her also said, "Sister-in-law is right. Let's eat first. I'm a little hungry after listening to you guys talking all morning."

"Well, Brother Zhou, how about eating first?"

Zhou Fengnian nodded and said, "Okay, let's talk after dinner."

Soon, Bai Kang's wife brought the food, and Bai Yujie called the two children out, and they sat at the table together after washing their hands.

The lunch was very sumptuous, with four meat dishes, two vegetable dishes and a soup, just in time for the Chinese New Year.

We didn't talk about work during the meal, but talked about other things.

Bai Kang also learned from Bai Yujie that Zhou Fengnian was about to get married, so he said on the spot that he would give Zhou Fengnian a generous gift when he got married.

Zhou Fengnian joked that it was too valuable and he dared not accept it.

There was a very pleasant conversation at the table, and the two children were very sensible and basically only ate the food put into their bowls.

During the chat, Zhou Fengnian unexpectedly learned that Bai Yujie's husband had passed away several years ago, and she is now raising her children alone.

But with my family supporting me and my position as deputy factory director, I was able to lead a comfortable life.

After dinner, Bai Kang’s wife took the children back to the house to rest, leaving the three of them alone in the living room.

Bai Kang took out a box of cigarettes and handed it to Zhou Fengnian, but Zhou Fengnian waved his hand as he didn't smoke, so Bai Kang put it away too.

His sister doesn't like the smell of cigarettes, but if Zhou Fengnian smokes, he will follow suit and smoke one.

Zhou Fengnian thought for a while before speaking: "Brother Bai, I understand what you mean, but new electrical products cannot be developed in a short time.
Give me a month, maybe six weeks, and I’ll come back to you when I’ve figured it out.”

Bai Kang suddenly asked excitedly: "Brother Zhou, do you have any ideas?"

"I had the idea before, and I thought about all kinds of things, but ideas are just ideas after all, and it takes time to turn them into feasible solutions."

Zhou Fengnian paused for a moment and continued, "And I have something important to do right now, so I can only take time to study."

It is not difficult to research new electrical products. He has mastered several mechanical and electrical skills at a relatively high level.

"Of course, Brother Zhou, just watch over it. I will definitely not delay your mission."

Bai Kang said immediately, his mouth was grinning from ear to ear with joy, this was because of his trust in Zhou Fengnian.

The eighth-level engineer spoke up, immediately dispelling his anxiety.

No wonder it is said above that engineers are the country’s most important assets. In his opinion, they are the country’s treasures!

The First Electrical Appliance Factory also has a technical department, but their technical department has no ability to develop products and can only maintain the machinery in the factory.

Afterwards, Zhou Fengnian talked with Bai Kang about some other things, but no one mentioned the recruitment matter.

Zhou Fengnian does not need a job quota for the time being, and it seems that the factory is not the one that is leading the recruitment this time.

Most of the work is done by the district, which selects families without work positions, who are relatively poor and have good backgrounds. Currently, there are 800 people in the Electric Appliance Factory No. 1, and they want to recruit another 2,200 people.

This is equivalent to stabilizing more than 2,000 families, and it is also very rare to be able to expand the factory on a large scale after a three-year period.

-----

After chatting for a while, Zhou Fengnian said goodbye.

Having stayed long enough and finished talking about things, Zhou Fengnian planned to go back early and see if he could buy a few books.

When Bai Kang was about to get up and see him off, Bai Yujie stopped him and said, "Brother, let me see Fengnian off. I'm planning to leave too."

Zhou Fengnian asked in surprise after hearing this: "Comrade Yujie, don't you live here?"

Bai Yujie smiled and said, "My father lives here, but I don't live here. I just come here occasionally."

After some refusal, Bai Jie still sent Zhou Fengnian away. Or rather, she went back with Zhou Fengnian, but Bai Kang still sent her downstairs.

Bai Yujie held her daughter's hand and walked out with Zhou Fengnian pushing the cart. She suddenly asked, "Fengnian, your partner is Comrade Zhou Yan from the radio station, right?"

Zhou Fengnian nodded: "Yes, she joined the factory a year later than me, and it has been almost five or six years now."

"That's considered a seniority. I've seen her before. She's also very good-looking. Fengnian, you're very lucky."

"Haha, thank you Comrade Yujie for your compliment. I am lucky too."

After a few polite words, Bai Yujie said thoughtfully: "It's been five or six years, it's normal to be promoted to a higher level, but the announcer's words...
Fengnian, how about transferring Zhou Yan to a clerk? After the transfer, she can also work at the radio station. "

When Zhou Fengnian heard this, he immediately realized that Bai Yujie was returning the favor, but it was also a good thing for Zhou Yan.

A broadcaster needs to take an exam to increase his salary, while a clerk's promotion depends on the appreciation of his superiors, and clerks can also become cadres in the future.

If it is an ordinary family, then a broadcaster is definitely better than a clerk. He just needs to work hard to study the skills and improve his level. But it is different for a clerk.

Zhou Yan has a husband named Zhou Fengnian. Isn’t it difficult for her to get promoted after becoming a clerk?

Zhou Fengnian said: "Then I'll trouble you, Comrade Yujie."

Bai Yujie smiled and said, "It's just a small matter. It doesn't matter."

(End of this chapter)