The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 165 New Department, New Leadership Team

Before we knew it, it was mid-March 1978.

The weather was still a bit chilly; the wind from the bay blowing into the city still made people shrink back, but it wasn't as biting as in winter.

Everyone knows that spring is coming.

Spring is coming to everything.

The morning mist hadn't yet dissipated when Qian went to work.

The street loudspeakers were broadcasting the news: "Warmly celebrate the successful convening of the National Science Conference, another milestone in the history of science and technology development in New China..."

He listened to the news, pedaling hard with both feet, and rode the bicycle at breakneck speed.

Now he doesn't ride a motorcycle to and from get off work anymore, it's too flashy; he only uses that for his daily trips to the countryside.

The mobile canteen needed to purchase bean products and fish balls from the Hongxing Liujia production team, and vermicelli from the Xiamaqiao production team.

In the past, the members of the commando team were unwilling to go to the countryside, and Qian Jin had to arrange shifts.

Ever since Qian Jin started using a motorcycle to go to the countryside to buy goods, the team members have all been eager to go, and they've been competing to be the ones to go, so Qian Jin has to arrange shifts...

While lost in thought, Qian Jin rode his bicycle to Jiagang.

He was so excited listening to the radio news that he pedaled his bike like a tiger.

Now exhausted, the wheels left a crooked rut on the stone road, and the aluminum lunchbox dangling from the handlebars clattered loudly.

The salty, fishy smell left over from years of unloading fish at the dock, mixed with coal dust, clung to our faces. In the distance, cargo ships sounded their long horns, like a rusty key turning the lock of some era.

As soon as he entered the office, Liu Jinshan hurriedly came up to him and offered him a cup of hot tea: "Captain Qian, have a sip of hot tea to warm yourself up, then you still have to go to the office building."

"Minister Yang wants you to attend a meeting, saying that there are new instructions from the central government."

Qian Jin sipped his hot tea and went to look at the notice that had been delivered to the office building that morning.

It was stamped with a red seal and contained the words "foreign-related" and "open".

He was deeply moved when he saw these contents.

Is the prelude to reform and opening up about to begin?
This month's radio broadcast mentioned the National Economic Construction Work Conference chaired by Comrade Xi Xian, and one sentence in particular caught the attention of some observant people, including Qian Jin:
It's not feasible to develop things behind closed doors.

Spring thunder is about to shatter the frozen earth.

He arranged his work for the day and then rode his bicycle to the small auditorium of the city's general office building.

The social atmosphere is beginning to change.

Previously, the whitewashed walls were painted with slogans such as "Grasp the key link to govern the country" and "Resolutely follow the path of building the team politically."

The slogans have now been changed to "Science and technology are productive forces" and "Respect technology, respect talent," among others.

Of course, the golden slogan of "developing the economy and ensuring supply" remains unchanged for all time.

The small auditorium doors were wide open, and leaders and cadres were arriving one after another.

Yang Shengzhang was chatting with someone at the door with his arms crossed and legs spread apart. When he saw Qian Jin from a distance, he waved to him.

Qian Jin is now his capable lieutenant, a consensus shared by everyone in the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

He performed meritorious service in putting out a fire for his unit on the first day of the Lunar New Year and in capturing the arsonist.

At the end of February, he reported Jia Youcheng and his gang of smugglers and was recognized for his meritorious service.

He had previously designed four transport vehicles that were adopted by the General Logistics Department of the headquarters, which was also a meritorious achievement.

In short, Qian Jin has made continuous contributions and has already been recognized in the province.

Needless to say, the city has already held two study sessions and commendation ceremonies for him.

Yang Shengzhang thought highly of him and even once wanted to promote him to the position of deputy director of the Ministry of Transport in another city, but Qian Jin refused on the grounds that he had just gotten married and had not worked for long enough to be qualified.

Seeing Yang Shengzhang waving at him, Qian Jin ran over.

At this moment, Yang Shengzhang was standing with Yi Xuebing, the deputy director of the commune, Cui Hu, the head of the labor and wages department, and an older comrade with an unfamiliar face.

This elderly comrade was dressed in the style of a veteran cadre; the brim of his Liberation cap couldn't hide his graying temples, and three pens were tucked into the pocket of his Zhongshan suit, while half of his watch peeked out from his cuff.

Yang Shengzhang introduced him to Qian Jin: "This is Director Zhou Huaimin, the director of the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office of our Supply and Marketing Cooperative."

Qian Jin hurriedly bent down and reached out his hand.

Why is the director of the Foreign Affairs Office here?

In addition, this director doesn't look like an "outsider" at all; his attire and demeanor are more like those of a leader from the internal affairs office.

Zhou Huaimin shook hands with Qian Jin with a smile and patted his arm vigorously: "This is Comrade Qian Jin?"

"Good, you are a promising and positive young man. We have already heard about your achievements in the provincial capital. Keep up the good work."

"As our leader said, the world belongs to you, as well as to us, but in the final analysis, it belongs to you. You young people are full of vigor and vitality, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hopes are pinned on you."

Yang Shengzhang nodded and smiled from the side.

Qian Jin promised to work hard and strive every day, while the big shots chatted and he acted as their henchman and bodyguard.

Most of the attendees have arrived.

Yang Shengzhang patted Qian Jin on the back, signaling him to go inside for a meeting.

Qian Jin asked in confusion, "Boss, aren't you going?"

Yang Shengzhang smiled and shook his head: "I'm not going. Old Zhou is my old comrade-in-arms. I'm just coming to chat with him for a bit, and by the way..."

He glanced at Qian Jin and smiled: "Introduce you to him."

"Today's meeting is very important. You need to listen carefully, take notes diligently, and remember, seize any opportunity that arises!"

What kind of meeting is this?
Qian Jin entered the small auditorium, completely bewildered.

He attended the commendation meeting of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives in early March here, and the arrangements were the same as before, even though it had only been half a month.

Portraits of Marx, Lenin, Engels, and Mao hang on the front of the auditorium. Long wooden tables are covered with dark green velvet, enamel cups are neatly arranged, and old-fashioned loudspeakers hang diagonally by the windows, playing the song "The East Is Red" on a loop.

By this time, the room was already filled with people and filled with smoke.

These days, smoking is common. Whenever there's a meeting, both high-ranking and low-ranking officials will smoke and drink tea on the spot. There's no rule against smoking in meeting rooms.

Qian Jin looked for a seat and found that the leaders and cadres in the auditorium were all unfamiliar faces.

He overheard some people greeting each other, and it turned out they were from supply and marketing cooperatives in various counties who had come to the meeting.

Furthermore, these people did not receive the meeting notice at the last minute; they had received the notice three days prior.

Qian Jin immediately understood.

I wasn't originally qualified or needed to attend the meeting; someone arranged for me to be there at the last minute.

Considering Yang Shengzhang's 'old comrade-in-arms' relationship with Zhou Huaimin, the matter becomes obvious.

Yang Shengli temporarily escorted him into the venue.

So what is the purpose of this meeting?

Vice President Yi Xuebing sat in the main seat, next to Zhou Huaimin and several other leaders whom Qian Jin had never met before.

He noticed that all the leaders were wearing suits, and one of the younger leaders was wearing a tie.

This reminded him of Zhou Huaimin's position as the director of the provincial foreign affairs office, and he suspected that these people were all his subordinates.

At nine o'clock, the meeting began, and Yi Xuebing introduced Zhou Huaimin and his entourage.

Sure enough, they were all leading cadres from the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

After introducing the identities of these people, Yi Xuebing handed over the presiding work to Zhou Huaimin.

After exchanging pleasantries, Zhou Huaimin got to the point and said:
"Comrades, the reason I have gathered you here today is to convey the latest instructions from the Central Committee."

He took a sip of water to clear his throat and took out a document: "This is the State Council's document No. 12 of 1978, which just approved our agency to carry out foreign economic cooperation."

"The leader personally gave instructions, allowing our supply and marketing system to break with convention and establish trade ties with enterprises in capitalist countries."

"In layman's terms, according to the instructions of the central government, our All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives will gradually open up to the outside world and do business with foreigners."

The conference room suddenly buzzed with excitement.

"What? Doing business with foreigners?" someone muttered.

"Isn't this practicing capitalism?"

Vice President Yi tapped the table: "Quiet! This is a decision made by the central government, and we must resolutely implement it!"

Zhou Huaimin smiled and said, "It's alright. Today is a research meeting. Comrades with ideas are welcome to speak up. However, we are a unit with strict discipline, so please raise your hand if you have any questions..."

Immediately, a young woman raised her arm.

Zhou Huaimin gestured for her to ask a question.

The young woman, with short hair and dark skin, spoke in a loud voice: "Director, the supply and marketing system has always been a system of unified purchase and sales and a planned economy. How can we have any external contacts? I want to know, can we explain to the people that we are doing business with foreigners?"

Zhou Huaimin smiled and said, "Of course, our supply and marketing system's mission is to develop the economy and ensure supply, not to implement unified purchase and sales or a planned economy."

"No matter what work we do, as long as it is compliant with regulations and laws and does not violate the central government's instructions, our ultimate goal is to serve the people, ensure the supply of materials needed for people's lives and work, and enable them to live a better life!"

The rostrum erupted in applause, led by the speaker.

After the applause subsided, Zhou Huaimin continued, "You can see the specific instructions in this notice later; it contains detailed information."

"Let me first explain the mission my colleagues and I have come here for. The Provincial Foreign Affairs Office has decided to establish a new Foreign Business Office in Haibin City, specifically responsible for foreign negotiations, contract review, and foreign exchange settlement..."

"All of you here are carefully selected college graduates, comrades who are dedicated to serving the country and the people, and comrades who aspire to advance further in your respective units. Therefore, I suggest you join the preparatory group for the Foreign Investment Office..."

"Joining the preparatory team doesn't mean joining the Foreign Investment Office. We'll be conducting a three-month evaluation, and only those who meet the evaluation standards will be retained. Of course, the leaders of your Foreign Investment Office will be selected from among you—provided you are outstanding enough..."

Upon hearing this, a buzzing sound arose from below.

Qian Jin's doubts were resolved.

No wonder he received the notification at the last minute; it turns out this meeting had an educational requirement.

My previous education level was only junior high school, so I shouldn't have been able to enter the meeting room.

It must have been Yang Shengzhang who used his relationship with Zhou Huaimin to temporarily squeeze him in.

In addition, Yang Shengzhang had previously instructed him to seize the opportunity and strive for it, which was obviously meant for him to seize the opportunity to become a leader in the foreign business office.

This is indeed a good opportunity.

Qian Jin leaned back in his chair and began to think.

The warehousing and transportation department is an important department, but with the advent of the reform and opening-up policy, the foreign investment office will definitely become even more important.

He definitely needs to join this organization.

Joining this unit makes it easier to sell the mall's goods; a simple "samples from a foreign company" will suffice to dispel any doubts.

On the podium, Zhou Huaimin continued reading the documents.

The central government required local supply and marketing cooperatives to select a group of knowledgeable and educated cadres to form new departments responsible for liaison with foreign trading companies.

Many people were stunned by what they heard.

The college students among them were all worker-peasant-soldier students, and their so-called college degrees were just that—a mere formality.

Most of the young cadres here are second-generation employees of supply and marketing cooperatives—their parents work in the same units and then arranged for them to work there as well.

These people grew up in supply and marketing cooperatives and were familiar with their rules. They did perform better than the average person in the circle of unified purchase and sales and planned economy.

But now it involves foreign trade!

Zhou Huaimin was clearly aware of their capabilities and identities.

Finally, he looked around, his gaze lingering on Qian Jin for a moment before sweeping over the others, and said firmly:

"According to the regulations of the Central News Agency and the Provincial News Agency, this selection process is open to all, and whoever has the ability will be selected!"

"We don't look at seniority or age, we only look at ability. As I said before, whoever has the ability will take the lead. As long as the performance is good enough, they will be the director of your Foreign Affairs Office after passing the assessment!"

The young people began to breathe heavily.

The Foreign Affairs Office is a first-level unit under the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and its director is at the same level as Yang Shengzhang and Cui Hu.

Currently, the country does not have a universal system of cadre ranks such as national, ministerial, departmental, division, and section. Therefore, Yang Shengzhang and Cui Hu are at the same rank, but the former is a minister and the latter is a section chief.

In reality, based on their future rank, they are all deputy division-level cadres now!
The All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives is a very important organization at present. The president and party officials of the Haibin City Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives are only half a rank lower than the city leaders.

The attendees were mainly young people; someone like Qian Jin was already at a high level, and many of them were still clerks.

If they can be directly promoted to the position of director of the foreign investment office, that would be a leap to the top, if not a meteoric rise.

After the meeting, some members of the community surrounded Zhou Huaimin and other leading cadres.

Someone is in charge of registration.

To join the preparatory group for the Foreign Investment Office, you need to sign off on two books: "Business Etiquette and Taboos in Capitalist Countries" and "How to Identify Reactionary Propaganda in the Capitalist World".

A young man wearing glasses said helplessly, "Our unit leader has a rather tough style, and he probably won't release him."

The provincial leader calmly said, "Then we'll just replace your unit with a leader who's good at releasing people."

These words shocked many people.

Meanwhile, the astute among them also noticed something amiss.

This foreign investment office will be a very important working unit!

Almost everyone signed it, including Qian Jin.

Qian Jin took the book and was about to leave.

Zhou Huaimin called him over specifically: "Xiao Qian, Brother Yang and President Yi both think highly of you. You're young and quick-witted, but you know your weaknesses. I hope you'll perform well in the assessment and not let them down."

Qian Jin nodded, his expression resolute: "Don't worry, Director Zhou, I'll start learning English as soon as I get back today."

As mentioned at the meeting, the first phase of the assessment consists of two parts: a cultural knowledge test and a work performance assessment.

The most important part of the cultural knowledge test will be foreign language proficiency, and candidates can choose between English and Japanese.

At this point, someone muttered, "Why isn't Russian language a major focus of the exam? I studied Russian in vocational school."

No one gave him an answer.

Most people believed that the country's foreign trade efforts were driven by its falling out with the Soviet Union, leading to the need to expand into Europe, America, and Japan. Qian Jin, however, knew that it was due to the national leaders' strategic foresight and unique vision.

They saw the problems with Soviet revisionism even now, and after the reform and opening up, they did not expect to continue to learn from Soviet revisionism or gain any benefits from it.

The teachers at Zhonghua need to be replaced.

Instead, it was replaced by the more economically powerful US and European bloc.

After leaving the meeting, Qian Jin went to find Yang Shengzhang.

Yang Shengzhang put down the documents in his hand and smiled at him: "So, are you confident?"

Qian Jin scratched his head: "Boss, I don't have confidence. You know all I know is how to move goods, I don't know anything about foreign trade."

Yang Shengzhang smiled and said, "If you don't understand, you can learn."

"Besides, you're the smartest kid. We can't let you save that cleverness for dealing with your own people. You have to use it to deal with foreigners."

Qian Jin said with a shameless grin, "But I can't bear to leave your leadership."

Yang Shengzhang glanced at him sideways: "The truth?"

Qian Jin said loudly, "With all my heart!"

Yang Shengzhang took a sip of tea and slowly said, "I should be leaving Haibin City, so you can no longer be under my leadership if you continue to stay in the warehousing and transportation department."

“I might go to the provincial capital or Shanghai. If you’re so reluctant to part with me, then come with me.”

Qian Jin was stunned.

This news is explosive.

Yang Shengzhang is actually leaving?
Right.

According to the information I have, Yang Shengzhang has a powerful background and used to hold a high position. He only became a second-level leader of the municipal supply and marketing cooperative because he was implicated in the case.

Now that his background has been restored to its former glory, he will naturally be promoted.

Then Qian Jin is in trouble. He made a shameless oath, and now he has to swallow his pride and suffer the consequences.

But he was tricked by Yang Shengzhang.

Qian Jin hummed and hawed for a moment, then said weakly, "I'm definitely willing to follow you, but I'm afraid I'm not capable enough. If I go to the new environment, I won't be able to help you, and I'll only hold you back."

Yang Shengzhang laughed and said, "I know your abilities very well. You can be of help to me, but don't worry, I won't hinder your future."

Qian Jin quickly said, "What did you say, sir?"

He didn't leave Yang Shengzhang for his own future, but rather to stay with his wife.

If he really wanted a bright future, he should have clung to Yang Shengzhang's coattails.

The faction of the political commissar of the East China Field Army was bound to rise to prominence in the 1980s. Yang Shengzhang was getting old, but after the reform and opening up, the country was short of talent, and the retirement age was relaxed.

Given Yang Shengzhang's physical condition and energy, he could work until the 1990s.

If Qian Jin had followed Yang Shengzhang for more than ten years, he would have had a bright future.

However, he wasn't very interested in it.

He's a lazy bum.

Before time travel, I was a lazy bum; after time travel, I'm still a lazy bum. This is a classic case of "old habits die hard."

He felt very comfortable in the coastal city. With Wei Qinghuan by his side and the mall supplying him with goods, he was already very satisfied and didn't want to struggle or engage in any more deceit and intrigue.

Yang Shengzhang misunderstood him and said to him seriously, "The opening of a new department in our unit is an opportunity, and you must seize it."

“I will do my best to help you, but I have inquired and found that the Foreign Investment Office is a very important unit. The leaders and cadres are all elite soldiers who have fought their way up from the bottom. It is impossible to get in through back channels.”

"So this matter mainly depends on you. If you want to become the first director of the Foreign Investment Office of our city's Supply and Marketing Cooperative, then you have to do a good job."

"If you can't become the director, then you should come with me."

Upon hearing this, Qian Jin realized he needed to do his utmost to become the director.

Yang Shengzhang was indeed very good to him and made the best plans for him.

indeed.

If Qian Jin can become the director of the Foreign Investment Office, then he doesn't need to leave with Yang Shengzhang, because the two of them will be at the same level.

But if Qian Jin can't become the director, it would be better to leave with him, because Yang Shengzhang knows he's going to be promoted and he knows he'll have many opportunities in the future.

The only problem is that opportunity comes with risk; if he continues to rise after leaving the front line, he will inevitably have to contend with various forces.

Qian Jin is a lazy dog, unwilling to gamble, and admits he's not cut out for it.

The power struggle wasn't limited to higher-level leadership positions; in the following days, undercurrents were running high within the city's general cooperative.

The new department, the Foreign Investment Office, has become highly sought after.

Leaders with connections quickly learned that the Central News Agency would focus on developing this department, and they began to make their moves.

Some people used connections, others submitted materials, all wanting to join the Foreign Investment Office and strive to become its leading cadres.

However, the central news agency and provincial leaders anticipated this scenario and drew two red lines: age and education level.

Age is 30, education is university.

Those who do not meet the age requirement but meet the educational requirement can be considered if they have made significant contributions.

Those who do not meet the educational requirements but meet the age requirements must also have made significant contributions to be considered.

Qian Jin's entry into the preparatory group was not due to Yang Shengzhang using connections, but entirely because of his outstanding reputation.

His meritorious service in fighting the fire on the first day of the Lunar New Year, in particular, earned him many points.

That meritorious service not only demonstrated Qian Jin's loyalty to the organization and the people, but also his decisiveness, courage, strong organizational skills, and ability to lead a raid.

Like Yang Shengzhang, Yi Xuebing, the vice president of the society, had high hopes for Qian Jin's abilities. He specifically talked to him and urged him to seize the opportunity and take on important responsibilities.

Qian Jin was speechless.

Get ready to cram for English!

He has an advantage over his competitors in this respect.

First of all, he had studied English; after all, he scored 120 points on the college entrance exam and passed the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4) in college, so he had a foundation in English.

Secondly, he has an online store that offers all kinds of English learning materials, including dictionaries, exercise books, and English song tapes.

However, he has to act it out; he can't just open the book and know the difference between 'Fuck-You' and 'Thank-You'.

That very evening, after pretending to have someone buy an English book, Wei Qinghuan lifted the curtain and came in, just in time to see him winking and making faces at the book:

"Come is 'Come,' go is 'Go,' nod for 'Yes,' shake for 'No,' I am 'I,' you are 'You,' and when you see your wife, you should say 'I Love You.'"

Wei Qinghuan leaned closer curiously and asked, "Is all of this in English? Your pronunciation sounds pretty convincing."

Qian Jin propped his leg up for her to sit down, pointed to the contents and said, "My pronunciation is absolutely standard, don't worry, I'm a linguistic genius."

Xu Weidong happened to be looking for him. After hearing this outside the door, he hurriedly came in and said, "I recently met a nice girl from Wenzhou, but I can't understand what she's saying. Why don't you go and learn Wenzhou dialect too?"

Wei Qinghuan immediately got up and left as if no one was there.

Qian Jin glared at Xu Weidong: "When you meet someone, you say 'Hello,' and when you thank someone, you say 'Thank You.' But when you see Lao Xu, you have to say 'Fuck You!'"

Xu Weidong scratched his head: "What the hell is this? Lao Qian, what are you up to? Why are you suddenly speaking like a foreigner? Are you planning to become a traitor?"

"Get out!" Qian Jin then recounted the company's reforms.

Xu Weidong understood: "You're going to become a foreign comprador."

Qian Jin understood.

Don't waste your breath arguing with idiots.

Later, Wang Dong, Zhu Tao, Zhou Shanhu, Zhou Yaozu and others came to visit him.

When Zhou Yaozu saw Qian Jin learning English, he immediately became enthusiastic: "Chief Qian, can you teach me too? This year, the college entrance examination added English courses. I think there must be a reason why the country did this."

"Now that your company has added a special business department for foreign affairs, as the saying goes, ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring. It seems that our country is going to have contact with Europe and America. I also need to learn English, as I will need it at work in the future."

Qian Jin looked at Zhou Yaozu in surprise and exclaimed, "Look at Captain Zhou, he's just different from you bunch of vagrants."

"Captain Zhou's awareness is too high, and his political insight is too accurate. Not only Captain Zhou needs to learn English, but all of you need to learn English with me!"

Wang Dong, who was frantically searching for food, turned around in shock: "Learn... learn what? I'm not planning to capture any foreigners, why are we learning English?"

Xu Weidong was also confused: "I came to visit you, not to study."

Qian Jin strongly promoted the learning policy: "You all have to learn English, the entire commando team has to learn English."

He knew that his small collective enterprise would definitely become a big business in the future, and these people were all veterans who held original shares.

From now on, we'll be relying on them to manage the company, so we must strengthen their learning awareness and increase their learning ability as early as possible.

Qian Jin said seriously, "I'm not joking. You all sit down. Starting today, I will learn English and teach you to learn English as well."

"You all have to learn from me, starting with the English rhymes I just learned."

"Come is 'Come,' go is 'Go,' nod for 'Yes,' shake for 'No'..."

Amidst the lamentations, the sound of reading aloud rang out.

This rhyme is easy to remember, and then Qian Jin began to teach them basic English conversation phrases:
"When foreigners meet, they first say, 'How are you?' It's similar to when we meet, we ask, 'Have you eaten?'"

Xu Weidong's eyes widened: "Oh, I see, these foreigners are just like us Chinese, 'good bastards'? Right?"

Qian Jin nodded.

Xu Weidong said to the others, "Look, when we meet, we ask each other, 'Have you eaten?' They ask something similar, 'Have you eaten vegetables?'—you only use oil when you're cooking vegetables."

Wang Dong clicked his tongue and cursed, "Damn it, these foreign devils have exploited so many good things from all over the world, and the first thing they ask is how much oil was used in cooking? It's all about comparison, absolute comparison!"

The criticism meeting began.

The group of people began to condemn the exploitation of their colonies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America by European and American colonialists.

If it weren't for the future development of the company, Qian Jin would have loved to kick these bastards home.

He explained the meaning of that sentence, and everyone suddenly understood, then began to criticize Xu Weidong again:

"Old Xu, are you even qualified? Stop talking nonsense, okay?"

"I knew it! When foreigners meet, they always ask if you've eaten, not if you've eaten oil."

"But they did exploit the poor people of the colonies..."

Qian Jin couldn't hold back any longer and went up to Zhu Tao, pressing him down and punching him: "How can you never forget exploitation?"

Zhu Tao, with a mournful face and his head in his hands, said, "Comrade Leader said that forgetting history means betraying the class!"

With the leader's quotes already out, Qian Jin couldn't continue hitting people, so he had to continue teaching them to read: "Excuse me, it's a greeting, repeat after me, two words..."

Wang Dong asked, "You'll die one by one? Is this a greeting or an insult from that foreign devil? You'll all die one by one? Isn't that clearly an insult?"

“Listen to me.” Qian Jin forced a smile, suppressing the urge to hit someone. “I know what’s going on. You’re trying to make me give up on teaching you English by joking around, right?”

"I'm telling you, it's impossible!"

"Damn it, you're all going to learn English from me. First English, then management. Anyway, I'm going to fight you to the death from now on, so you all better study hard!"

Xu Weidong tentatively said, "Chief Qian, I think you're overthinking it. We didn't think that way. Also, what did you mean by 'Li Sen tugs at rice' at the beginning?"

“Listen to me means ‘Listen to me’!” Qian Jin explained.

Wang Dong scratched his head: "When foreigners say 'Listen to me,' do they say 'Li Sen Tu Mi'?"

Qian Jin nodded: "That's right."

Xu Weidong pondered for a moment, then slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's a great line to learn!"

"What are these foreign devils? They're no good, so when they say 'Listen to me,' we should just ignore their nonsense."

"That way we can make up a rhyme ourselves—'Lisen spits rice, foreign devil farts!'"

"See, you've remembered these words, haven't you?"

Everyone looked at this idiot with pity.

At a time like this, you still dare to crack jokes? You're just waiting to get beaten up.

But Qian Jin clapped: "Comrade Xu Weidong is right. You can remember it like that, as long as you remember it."

This is how it works when you first start learning English: you use various homophones to remember the meaning of English words or sentences, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Xu Weidong stood up and nodded earnestly: "I only made a small contribution..."

The crowd spat at him.

Qian Jin couldn't help but sigh.

He couldn't do the job of being a teacher by himself; he had to find teachers for these people, which also meant finding an English teacher for himself.

We had to find Song Zhiyuan for this matter. That night, Qian Jin brought two bottles of old wine and knocked on Professor Song's door.

Song Zhiyuan, who was comforting the child, quickly invited him to sit down: "Oh, Principal Qian? What a rare guest! What brings you to my door? If you have something to say, you can just tell me in the study room."

Qian Jin chuckled: "Teacher Song, the reason I've come this time is still to ask you for help finding a teacher..."

After hearing Qian Jin's purpose, Song Zhiyuan pondered for a moment: "Learning English is a good thing. I specifically learned English in order to study Organic Chemistry, but at my age, my pronunciation is no longer standard."

He suddenly remembered something, "There is a suitable candidate. I have a friend who studied in England during the Republic of China era. He speaks very good English, and his daughter speaks very good English too. She should be a teacher at the Seaside University now."

Qian Jin's eyes lit up: "That's great! Could you please help me with the introduction?"

Song Zhiyuan smiled and said, "That's no problem, but she's doing very well at work now and will probably be quite busy."

"After all, the college entrance examination has been reinstated, and the first batch of college students have already enrolled. Whether you can get her to teach you in her spare time depends entirely on your own abilities."

Qian Jin readily agreed.

I have plenty of skills myself!
He went outside, and a gust of wind blew by. Suddenly he realized that the night wind was no longer cold.

Yes, spring has arrived!

Soon, the giant vehicle of the nation will be put on the fast track!

(End of this chapter)