Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 119: News of the unexpected factory merger (Subscription required)
On Sunday morning, Zhou Weitian was a little complaining when he came to prepare the food.

"Third brother, don't you think it's too much of a compliment for that kid to ask his future brother-in-law to cook for him when he comes to visit?"

While cooking, Zhou Weitian complained unhappily, "And you, Third Brother, you promised not to expose me, so why did you tell others about me again?"

"That's definitely not what I said. Fourth sister guessed it herself. Is she pushing it onto me again?"

Zhou Fengnian started talking nonsense in a serious tone: "It's easy to guess. My second brother can't do it, and my eldest and second sisters-in-law can't do it either. I'm too busy all day and don't have time.

Boss, you don't think Fourth Sister thinks it was Zhou Yan who did it, do you? "

"Now that you mention it, I'm the only one left!"

Zhou Weitian sighed and said, "Fourth sister has become smarter now. She can use her brain now."

"Haha, hurry up and cook. The heat is over, the shredded potatoes are sticking to the pan!"

Zhou Fengnian gave some instructions and Zhou Weitian was able to rescue half of the shredded potatoes, but he was later ridiculed by Zhou Fengnian.

"Brother, you've been learning from me for so long, but you can still fry the shredded potatoes until they're burnt. Next time when you cook for others, don't tell them that you learned from me."

Zhou Weitian blushed and retorted: "It's because of you who said this and that that I got confused."

"Hey, you're really stubborn."

After chatting and laughing for a while, Zhou Weitian still managed to cook the dishes before noon.

It was divided into two portions. The eldest sister-in-law, the second sister-in-law, brought their children and Zhou Yan to eat in the main room, while Zhou Fengnian and his three brothers brought the dishes to the table in the yard.

After summer begins, as long as it doesn't rain, they usually eat outside where it's cooler; and the whole yard is full of their family members, so they can eat whatever they want.

"Brother, we are back."

After the dishes were ready, Zhou Chunhua also came with her people.

He shouted in the front yard and then led the person to the backyard.

Zhou Fengnian took a look and saw a young man who looked quite energetic, with regular facial features. He stood straight and looked very vigorous, holding a box of snacks in his hand.

But he was a little timid when he opened his mouth: "Big brother, second brother, third brother, I'm Song Weinan, Chunhua's boyfriend."

He spoke haltingly and bowed.

Zhou Fengnian nodded and said, "Okay, sit down. The meal has just been prepared. My eldest brother cooked it today, so he is considered an entry-level cook."

After saying that, Zhou Fengnian called his eldest brother and second brother to come over for dinner.

Zhou Chunhua also pulled Song Weinan to sit down. After they were seated, Zhou Fengnian began to invite them, "Eat, and try the boss's cooking. I don't think we've made any progress today, but have regressed a little."

Zhou Weitian said unconvincedly: "It's all because of you who kept talking, otherwise I would definitely cook it deliciously."

Zhou Jiaan added: "Forget it, Boss. Are you going to compete with the Third Brother in cooking skills?"

"Eat your meal, second brother. I cooked all the meals today."

While the two brothers were arguing, Zhou Chunhua was also picking up food for Song Weinan on the other side, otherwise Song Weinan would be too restrained and would only eat steamed buns.

Afterwards, Zhou Fengnian asked Song Weinan to eat more, but no matter what he asked later, he had to let people eat first.

After a while, when they had almost finished eating and the dishes on the table were basically cleared, Zhou Fengnian spoke.
"Comrade Song"

Song Weinan quickly said, "Third brother, just call me Weinan."

"Let's not talk about that. It's too early now. Let's just call him Comrade Song."

When Zhou Fengnian said this, Song Weinan, who was standing by, felt a pang in his heart and was a little afraid to object. Zhou Chunhua also lowered her head.

"Comrade Song, how did you get this job?"

Song Weinan said quickly, "I used to help the street office with work, and I got to know the people there. When it came time to assign work, Uncle Zhao took me there and hired me into the factory."

"Didn't your family ask you to give up your job?"

".I did, but Uncle Zhao said that this job can only be assigned to me."

Song Weinan didn't want to mention this matter, but since the person asking the question was Zhou Chunhua's brother, he still spoke out.

Zhou Fengnian nodded and asked, "How much do you pay home every month?"

Song Weinan panicked, and after a few seconds of silence, he said, "I give my family 19 yuan a month."

"How many!?"

Zhou Weitian couldn't help but ask loudly: "You are still an apprentice, right? The second-year apprenticeship is 20 yuan a month, so you only save one yuan a month?"

The money I save for a whole year is not enough to buy a can of milk powder for my child. How can I get married?

He had investigated Song Weinan and knew that Song Weinan was strictly controlled by his family, but he did not expect that he would only have one dollar of his monthly salary.

"Brother, don't say that. Before the family split up, each family had its own way of living."

Zhou Fengnian kicked Zhou Weitian under the table, although he also felt that Song Weinan was being controlled too much by his family.

Zhou Chunhua also paid money to her family, but she only paid five yuan a month, and even after she was converted to a regular employee, she still only paid five yuan.

But Song Weinan is a son after all, and a son with a job. He earns 20 yuan a month, so it is good enough for him to pay half of it.

Zhou Yan's family is so patriarchal that they only paid 15 yuan after she became a regular employee.

Song Weinan's situation was the highest among those Zhou Fengnian had ever seen. He only kept one dollar out of twenty dollars, and it seemed that his food, clothing and accommodation were average.

"Comrade Song, I want to ask, if you marry my sister, what will your life be like in the future?"

Zhou Fengnian asked, "Let my sister live in your house? She should hand in her salary with you and do laundry for my parents-in-law?

Think about it first. If you can answer me, then answer. If you can't, then let's just treat it as a meal today."

As Zhou Chunhua's brother, he was worried that her life after marriage would be normal, and if it was really like what he said, Zhou Chunhua would be a slave after marrying.

Zhou Fengnian would never agree to this marriage. If necessary, he could act like a feudal patriarch, and if that didn't work, he could invite his parents over.

Zhou Chunhua fell into a fire pit in her previous life. Would it be acceptable if she fell into the fire pit again in this life?

"No, Third Brother."

Song Weinan's face flushed red, and he held it in for a long time before he uttered a word: "I will definitely not let Chunhua live that kind of life!"

"Comrade Song, this kind of promise is useless. You promised her well, but then you married her and didn't change anything. What should we do now? Do you want the three of us to come and get our sister back?"

Zhou Fengnian shook his head and said, "Go back and think about it carefully. Do you want to marry a wife and live with her, or find a workhorse for your family?

If your family is the latter, then don’t come to Chunhua anymore.”

Zhou Chunhua whispered, "Third brother."

"Listen to your third brother, Chunhua."

Zhou Jiaan tried to stop her. He felt that what the Third Brother said was correct and that he was not finding fault or bullying, so he stopped Zhou Chunhua when she opened her mouth.

"I I know."

Song Weinan lowered his head and said that he wanted to leave here.

"Chunhua, I'll leave first. I have something to do over there." Zhou Chunhua stood up immediately after hearing this: "I'll take you there."

"Let me take you there, Chunhua. Go in and find your sister-in-law. She has something to tell you."

Zhou Fengnian stood up and called Zhou Chunhua into the house, then went to see Song Weinan off.

When they were sent to the front yard, Zhou Fengnian took out two boxes of cigarettes and handed them to Song Weinan, saying, "Take it back and smoke it. It's just a gift for meeting you."

The price of the cigarettes was about the same as the pastries he bought, so Song Weinan didn't suffer any loss.

If he was given money, Song Weinan probably would not accept it no matter what, and would even think that Zhou Fengnian was insulting him. But if he was given cigarettes, he would not do that.

"Thanks."

Song Weinan didn’t know what to address him now, so after saying thank you, he turned and left.

Zhou Fengnian turned around and went back into the house. Seeing Zhou Chunhua still pouting, he asked, "Why, are you angry with Third Brother?"

".no."

Zhou Chunhua whispered: "I just think that Third Brother's question is too direct, and Wei Nan may have a way to solve it."

"Then let him solve it first. Otherwise, you will be treated like a cow and a horse for the rest of your life. And then your three brothers will come to your house to vent their anger on you."

Zhou Fengnian reached out and poked Zhou Chunhua on the head, and continued: "Big Brother and Second Brother and I are your support, not a burden to you. Why are you still unhappy? Next time Dad comes to the city, I will tell him about this!"

"No, Third Brother, why are you like the eldest brother?"

"Hey? Fourth sister, what's wrong with me?"

"You like to tell tales!"

Leaving his eldest brother and fourth sister arguing in the room, Zhou Fengnian went to the study alone.

It still takes a lot of time to draw the drawings of large and high-precision machine tools, but fortunately most of the technologies have been solved because of previous CNC machine tools.

Even if Zhou Fengnian started work now, he would have to wait until the end of the year to draw half of the manufacturing drawings, but he could start work by then.

------

"Mr. Zhou, this is this month's progress sheet."

In the machine tool workshop, Zhou Fengnian had just arrived at the workshop when Song Qian came to Zhou Fengnian to make a report.
"We finished the work very quickly this month, and there are two previous models left. What should we do with these two?"

Zhou Fengnian looked around the workshop and said, "It seems that our workshop can no longer accommodate more."

Song Qian also said: "We can still fit one more if we squeeze in, but that will be a safety hazard."

Machine tools cannot be too close to each other, and they are already very close now. If they were closer, they should be labeled.

But it would be a waste not to convert the machine tools into productive forces; they cannot just be left in the warehouse to rust.

"Leave it alone for now. I'll go ask the factory manager."

After Zhou Fengnian finished speaking, he walked around the workshop to check it again. Seeing the fully automatic CNC production line that was almost finished, he thought to himself that he would urge the Sixth Institute after returning.

Although he knew that the Sixth Institute was also busy, his progress was always delayed. Zhou Fengnian was already considering changing to another institute to cooperate with.

There is also a good electronic research institute outside Sijiu City. He has to ask Deputy Director Gao to inquire about it, otherwise the progress will always be stuck in the control system.

"We need to find a research institute with similar level of equipment to conduct in-depth cooperation."

After Zhou Fengnian came out of the machine tool workshop, he walked towards the office of Deputy Director Gao.

After knocking on the door and entering, Zhou Fengnian said, "Director, the efficiency is good this month, and we have two extra machine tools, which are not planned."

"Two? Is the efficiency already so high?"

Deputy Director Gao was surprised, then quickly stood up and poured Zhou Fengnian a cup of tea.

"What a coincidence! The order from above just happened to reach me. Fengnian, you know the Second Machine Tool Factory in Sijiu City, right?"

Zhou Fengnian thought about it and said, "I remember now. What's the matter? They want CNC machine tools?"

"The factory's machine tool workshop may be temporarily terminated. No, it's not temporarily terminated. It will continue to operate, but it may all be moved away in the end. This is the information I have found out."

Deputy Director Gao said: "Maybe the department feels that the two machine tool workshops are a bit too small, so they plan to merge our machine tool workshop with the second machine tool factory to specialize in the production of advanced machine tools."

"It means we can build it first, put it into production, and eventually merge it into other factories."

"There's such a thing? We've gone through so much trouble. Isn't this a waste of time?"

Deputy Director Gao said: "It's not a waste of time. Once the equipment is put in place and the people are in place, we will start production.
We will just build something else first to make up for the shortfall. The project you mentioned may have to be moved to the new factory. Of course, this is just a possibility, after all, the leaders are still discussing it. "

Zhou Fengnian was stunned. How could he not know? Li Hetong hadn't told him about this last time.

Moreover, just as I showed him the list of transferred workers, it came to an abrupt halt. What happened?

However, it should be impossible to stop. The research and development of large-scale high-precision machine tools is imperative. Do we really have to merge the factories?

"Fengnian, I also heard that the leaders haven't made up their minds yet. If that's true, then my dream of developing the machinery factory has also failed."

After Deputy Director Gao finished speaking, he sighed. If it was true, then his newly-awakened dream would be shattered again.

He wanted to develop the Second Machinery Plant into the country's largest heavy industry plant, but the dream had just set sail when it was hit by a tsunami.

Moreover, seeing that Factory Director Li Zhengyang will retire in three or four years, he has a great chance of becoming the factory director.

If the machine tool workshop and Zhou Fengnian are separated, then what is the point of him becoming the factory director?

"Maybe it's to lighten the load. Only by gathering professional talents can the machine tool industry be developed further."

After Zhou Fengnian finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that this seemed to be a suggestion he had made, which he had given to the minister and deputy leader of the First Ministry of Machine Building at that time.

But later I heard from Li Hetong that his report on machine tool development trends was handed over to the deputy leader.

Is it the command above?
Zhou Fengnian thought silently in his heart, if this was true, then Deputy Director Gao’s dream of building the First Heavy Industry would have been ruined by his report.

However, it was unlikely that the Second Machine Tool Plant would be merged into the Second Machinery Plant.

Both factories employ several thousand people. After the merger, not only will the staff be bloated, but management alone will be difficult.

This time, the Second Machine Tool Factory took the above planning task list and wanted two CNC machine tools.

Even if Zhou Fengnian didn't come, Deputy Director Gao would send someone to find Zhou Fengnian and discuss the matter with him.

Not long after, Zhou Fengnian left Deputy Director Gao's office, but before leaving, he made a few hints.

If there really is a factory merger one day, it would be best to choose the new factory.

Zhou Fengnian felt that he would definitely not stay in the machinery factory. If he focused all his efforts on developing the machine tool industry, he would most likely be appointed as chief technical engineer.

He had a very pleasant cooperation with Gao Zhiyuan. Not only did he fully support his decisions, he also did not do anything to be a burden. He was simply the best steward.

If asked about the candidate for the new factory director, Zhou Fengnian would definitely choose the familiar Gao Zhiyuan.

After listening to this, Deputy Director Gao nodded thoughtfully. He had some foundation in the machinery factory, so it was not certain whether he could go to the new factory, but the new factory was the place to fight for the future.

In terms of prospects, it is definitely better than the Second Machinery Factory because Zhou Fengnian is there.

(End of this chapter)