The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 102 The Possibility of a Promotion [Please Subscribe]

"You don't like fatty meat?"

Zhou Zhiqiang found it really strange. Even if they were children of cadres, they shouldn't be so well-off, right?

He used to eat too much fatty meat, but after coming to this era, he was forced to change his bad habit of not eating fatty meat.

"I'll eat less, but this portion is too much. It's all fatty meat."

After Chen Li finished speaking, she showed her lunchbox. The braised pork inside was indeed all fat. Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at it and could hardly see any lean meat.

The kitchen staff are starting to discriminate again, serving food based on who they serve. When they see a pretty young female employee, they give her a generous portion of rice.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Then can I trade you some lean meat?"

"Row."

After Chen Li finished speaking, she picked up several pieces of fatty meat with her chopsticks and put them into Zhou Zhiqiang's lunchbox.

Zhou Zhiqiang returned the favor with a few pieces of lean meat, and then stopped; it was fortunate that he hadn't started eating yet, otherwise Chen Li, the daughter of a cadre, definitely wouldn't have changed.

"Thanks, Deputy Section Chief Chen. Fatty meat is a good thing these days."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he started eating. He had been in meetings all morning, which had filled his stomach.

Lately, the workload has been heavy, and I have to work overtime at night to run back and forth to train apprentices and familiarize them with the production process.

An Xiangjie originally gave them some cured pork, and Zhou Zhiqiang said he would keep it and eat it slowly, but sometimes when he was short of oil, he would cut off a little bit to eat with rice, and now there is only one piece left.

Chen Li said, "We ate at your house yesterday, Section Chief, so this is nothing at all."

Furthermore, Comrade Yuting treated me to fruit and candy. By the way, Section Chief, how did you and Comrade Yuting meet?

She couldn't get a word in edgewise when Zhou Zhiqiang and Fei Yunzhi were discussing things in the study yesterday, so she just wandered around the yard.

Seeing that Chen Li had nothing to do in the yard, Guo Yuting called her into the house, brought out fruit and candy, and the two chatted while eating, and their relationship progressed quite well.

“Yuting’s father was my university teacher. He supported me a lot when I was in college and never let me go hungry.”

Zhou Zhiqiang casually said, "Later, Teacher Guo saw that I was steady and reliable. He also had a mission to build in the Northwest, so he introduced me to Yuting. We hit it off and got married before Teacher Guo left."

Actually, Guo Yuting didn't agree at first, but Guo Linhua's authority was so great that Guo Yuting didn't dare to disagree.

But there's no need to tell anyone else about this, anyway, he and Guo Yuting are quite loving now.

After listening, Chen Li said with some envy, "That's really great, but my mom is a bit..."

Her mother kept pressuring her to go on blind dates. Despite being the wife of a high-ranking official, she didn't support the concept of freedom of marriage at all and was secretly violating the marriage law.

Fortunately, she moved out to live in a dormitory, otherwise Chen Li felt that her mother would nag her more than a dozen times a day.

"It's better to discuss these things."

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't want to get involved in other families' conversations, so his answer was ambiguous.

Especially since Chen Li's family is clearly high-ranking officials, otherwise they wouldn't be using a jeep to pick her up. Even if ordinary officials have access to cars, they wouldn't dare to use official vehicles to pick up their families.

This is most likely a privately owned car, the kind intended for one person's exclusive use.

Zhou Zhiqiang then adopted an attitude of not wanting to get involved in the topic, making Chen Li unable to open up even if she wanted to confide in him.

After quickly finishing their meal, the two returned to the technical department.

There was no time to rest after returning. Production was to begin in the afternoon, and Zhou Zhiqiang needed to arrange the new production tasks for each workshop during the lunch break.

Fortunately, only the diesel engine production task remains, which reduces the number of shifts compared to before.

Apprentices are easier to manage; they only need to focus on the assembly production task.

The technical department needs to create a production task schedule and then submit it to Factory Director Zhao, who will then distribute it to the various workshops.

After assigning the tasks, Zhou Zhiqiang went to the factory director's office and handed the production schedule to Director Zhao.

The new arrangement is much more efficient than before, and it allows for the gradual designation of apprentices to be trained by the experienced workers.

Next year in March or April, production efficiency will definitely increase again. If other factories can keep up, the monthly output can be between 750 and 800 units.

The export orders from the Canton Fair will definitely be fulfilled, but domestic supply is temporarily unavailable.

Moreover, there's the Canton Fair next year, and who knows, another production order might come in then.

This left Zhou Zhiqiang somewhat helpless and scratching his head. Although foreign exchange was important, his original intention in developing small tractors was to improve the efficiency of domestic farming, and foreign exchange was just a side effect.

But now it seems the opposite is true. With such a large export order coming in, their factory doesn't even dare to leave a small tractor for domestic customers.

Each time, no more than ten small tractors are produced, and they all have to be delivered to the location designated by the ministry.

The Second Hospital, Pharmacy Department.

Guo Yuting was checking the report against the remaining drug inventory; if it wasn't enough, she had to report it immediately.

"Yu Ting".

Director Xu of the Pharmacy Department walked into the pharmacy and saw Guo Yuting checking the drug inventory. He beckoned her over and asked, "Are you done checking?"

Guo Yuting said, "Almost done, it'll be done soon; Director, is there anything else?"

"Don't worry, it's a good thing."

Director Xu asked with a smile, "How many months pregnant are you?"

Guo Yuting touched her increasingly swollen belly, a maternal smile appearing on her face, and said, "Almost nine months along, what's wrong, Director?"

"You'll be nine months pregnant soon, so you can take leave now. Let's apply for maternity leave for you next week. You can rest well at home."

Director Xu said with a smile, "If I hadn't come to you, would you have waited until you gave birth to never mention this again? We women have 56 days of maternity leave."

If you apply at the hospital, they can extend the stay by a few days, and they'll even prepare a delivery room for you.”

These are all benefits provided by their hospital, allowing new mothers to rest for a few more days after giving birth.

"The pharmacy department isn't busy. Take this time to hand over your work to others, and assign your tasks to Lan Yun and Zhu Chunyan. We'll adjust the division of labor when you come back."

After Director Xu finished speaking, he took out a newspaper and handed it to Guo Yuting, saying, "This should be your husband's factory, right? It's become famous. Many people in our hospital are talking about it."

"Yuting, I remember your husband is the deputy section chief at this factory?"

A factory made more than 17 million dollars, and many people were shocked when they saw the news. The Second Hospital must have subscribed to the newspaper.

After reading the newspaper, Director Xu remembered that Guo Yuting's husband seemed to be from this Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

Guo Yuting said with a smile, "Director, he's already a section chief now. He was promoted recently, probably because of this. But he only mentioned the promotion to me briefly, without going into details, so I don't know much about it."

Director Xu exclaimed in surprise, "You've been promoted to section chief? I remember he was about your age, or even younger, right?"

"Actually, we're the same age, but I'm a few months younger."

Guo Yuting was a little embarrassed. She was initially reluctant to marry Zhou Zhiqiang, but she never expected to find such a treasure.

Director Xu was shocked after hearing this. She was almost forty years old and was only barely a level 17 deputy section chief in the pharmacy department. Guo Yuting's husband had been promoted really fast.

Ugh.

Director Xu sighed inwardly, but she quickly realized that she couldn't compare herself to someone with such strong abilities.

"Yuting, you are so lucky. Your husband will definitely achieve even greater things in the future. Once you've finished here, go write the maternity leave certificate and then hand over your work to them."

After saying that, Director Xu remembered something else and leaned closer to whisper to Guo Yuting, "Gu Jiayu is being transferred. She submitted the application yesterday, and I have already approved it."

However, they can't confirm it anywhere else, only at the registration desk. She'll go there tomorrow.

The registration desk is a busy place; every day, we have to handle various matters for patients and their families, keeping us constantly occupied.

Unlike places like the pharmacy, where staff can slack off and rest, and as long as the medication management and dispensing are done correctly, basically no one will interfere.

But the registration desk is a different story. It's so busy that you can forget about taking time off, and even your normal vacation time might be taken up.

"Really? That's true."

Guo Yuting was about to say "That's great!" with a happy expression, but remembering that the director was still there, she didn't say the rest.

However, Director Xu smiled and left. She didn't like Gu Jiayu very much either, as she would often ask for leave and have others share her work.

This time, I was so angry that I had no choice but to give her the lowest evaluation in my assessment, which led to Gu Jiayu being transferred.

After Director Xu left, Guo Yuting hummed a little tune as she slowly organized the medicines.

After finishing her work here, Guo Yuting went back to write her maternity leave application. Starting next week, she can rest at home for two months until she gives birth and then return to work.

------

The First Ministry of Machine Building, Deputy Leader's Office.

Director Cai waited a few seconds after knocking on the door, and only after hearing the leader's permission from inside did he push the door open and come in.

Deputy Leader Wu looked up and said with a smile, "Oh, it's Comrade Bo Rui. What can I do for you?"

"There is indeed something that requires your decision, boss."

As Director Cai handed over the self-developed report on the hydraulic press that he had prepared, he said, "Yesterday, Professor Fei Yunzhi from Tsinghua University came to talk to me about the independent development of a large hydraulic press."

I believe this project is crucial to the development of our country's heavy industry and has great feasibility, so I would like to ask you, leader, to review it.

"With your insight, Comrade Bo Rui, do I need to oversee it? Hehe, since you've said so, this project must be extremely important."

After joking around for a while, Deputy Leader Wu picked up the report and began to read it.

While looking at it, he said, "I remember Professor Fei Yunzhi; we had quite a few joint projects that troubled him a few years ago."

As he watched, Deputy Leader Wu became completely absorbed.

The revised report on the self-developed large hydraulic press clearly explains the impact of hydraulic presses on heavy industry.

Furthermore, it demonstrates their current industrial level and mastery of theories and technologies, giving them a high degree of confidence in developing large-scale hydraulic presses.

Once a large hydraulic press is developed, large forgings will no longer need to rely on foreign countries, and large machine tools can be put into daily use.

The next step was the development of heavy industries such as military industry, which can be described as a chain reaction.

Deputy Leader Wu nodded as he read through the document. After he had carefully read through everything, more than an hour had passed.

Deputy Leader Wu said, "That's right, very forward-thinking. Our country certainly cannot be controlled by others in this regard. However, it seems that relying solely on our Ministry of Machine Building is not enough."

Director Cai nodded and said, "Indeed, if the Ministry of Machine Building could do it, I would have agreed to Professor Fei's request back then; it is precisely because many conditions are required that, leader, you or Leader Sheng have to step in."

As the director of the technology department, he certainly has the ability to formulate and mobilize the resources of the Ministry of Machinery Industry to complete cross-industry research and development.

But if even Director Cai Borui can't do it, then it means that too many resources are needed, which is beyond what a mere director like him can mobilize.

“Comrade Jianhui isn’t in the department. I’ll give him a call. If that doesn’t work, I can submit this report myself.”

Deputy Leader Wu recalled a name he had just seen and asked, "I think there's also a mention of Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang here. Is it the Zhou Zhiqiang from Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory?"

"Yes, that's him!"

Director Cai nodded and said, "Professor Fei said he was greatly inspired by Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang, and much of the reporting in this area is thanks to Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang."

"That's really a talent."

Deputy Leader Wu said with a smile, "There are voices in the ministry saying that we should elevate Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory by half a level and then place it under the direct management of the ministry; Comrade Bo Rui, what do you think?"

After thinking for a moment, Director Cai said, "There are benefits, but what about the Sijiu City Industrial Bureau and the Municipal Government?"

"Don't worry about that. Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory set off such a huge fireworks display. The Ministry is already handling many things. The Municipal Industry Bureau is basically just going through the motions."

Deputy Leader Wu waved his hand and said that he also preferred to place Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory under the direct management of the ministry.

Now, when Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory has a problem, it goes to the Municipal Bureau of Industry, but they can't solve it. Then the Municipal Bureau of Industry reports it to the Ministry, and in the end, the Ministry helps to solve it.

This isn't the first time; it's been like this lately. Whenever something happens, it's reported to the ministry, and the municipal industry bureau acts like a 'middleman'.

To put it bluntly, the Municipal Bureau of Industry has too few resources at its disposal. There are plenty of industrial resources in Beijing, but it's impossible to include everything.

If Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory wants to develop rapidly, it still needs the support and allocation of resources from the Ministry.

The technical support personnel, for example, were transferred from the ministry.

"This matter should be discussed again after Comrade Jianhui returns, but I feel that Comrade Jianhui also leans towards this decision."

After thinking for a while, Deputy Leader Wu said, "It's highly likely that Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory will be promoted one level, but it's not necessarily true. Comrade Bo Rui, you can just listen to this and have a casual chat today."

Director Cai smiled and said, "Okay, sir."

If Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory were to be promoted to a higher level, it would become a deputy department-level unit, and most importantly, it would be directly managed by the ministry, making future applications and resource allocation much more convenient.

Production will be more strictly controlled, but the production tasks of Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory should not change much in the next two years, which is to focus on producing small tractors.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　There will be two more updates this afternoon. I hope you readers will support me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)