The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 112 Becoming a Team Leader, Three Visits to the Hospital Acquired [Please Subscribe]

Hydraulic press main research office.

"I'm done calculating."

When Shen Changlin saw Wang Jinhua and Zhou Zhiqiang push the door open and say that they had finished calculating those three words, he quickly asked, "How did it go? What was the result?"

"Four times, the result is the same, so there's definitely no mistake."

Zhou Zhiqiang then said, "Now we can basically start the experimental modifications, Team Leader Shen."

"Okay, sure, come on, all of you come and take a look, Comrade Zhiqiang, you come too."

Shen Changlin beckoned someone to his side, handed them a document, and said, "This is the team composition and experimental support that Director Cai and I have tentatively drafted."

Comrade Zhiqiang, you are the team leader. Please feel free to ask me anything you don't understand.

Zhou Zhiqiang took the document and began to read it. There were five engineers: two electromechanical engineers, two mechanical engineers, and one materials engineer.

There are also twenty intermediate and senior welders, as well as five inspectors and two assistants to help with miscellaneous tasks.

Many large factories also help with the experimental equipment and materials needed for the process modification.

They could issue permits at will within the Ministry of Machine Building, and then factories such as machinery plants and motor plants would immediately start production.

"That's enough, that's enough."

After reviewing the information on these individuals, Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and said, "This is just the initial experiment; these personnel are all a bit over the limit."

I feel the experiment time could be shortened further, and the results will be available much sooner.

Shen Changlin laughed and said, "Hehe, Director Cai has been busy with our project. He personally went to many places to get people and equipment."

Zhou Zhiqiang laughed and said, "Then Director Cai certainly won't be disappointed. If the research fails, I'll be too embarrassed to eat."

"Hey, Comrade Zhiqiang, don't say that. No scientific research project is ever completed on the first try. Don't put pressure on yourself."

Shen Changlin offered some advice, feeling that he might have put pressure on Zhou Zhiqiang after hearing what he said.

Putting aside Zhou Zhiqiang's identity and achievements, he is not even twenty-four years old.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Don't worry, Team Leader Shen, I know what's important. If I'm not 99% sure, I won't even mention it."

It was precisely because he already knew the best modification techniques that Zhou Zhiqiang dared to guarantee that the project would be completed.

The remaining task is to eliminate all unfavorable experimental factors and ensure that we are proceeding step by step in the right direction.

Shen Changlin laughed and said, "Let's not talk about it now, let's go eat. We're already half an hour late."

It seems like we had braised pork noodles for lunch today; if it had been any later, it might have turned into noodle soup.

"Row."

After saying that, the group took their lunchboxes and went to the cafeteria to get their food.

Their staple food supply usually consists mostly of coarse grains and steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and water. It's rare to see refined grains and meat sauce like what we're having today.

However, the chef who cooked for them was arranged by Director Cai from the canteen of the First Ministry of Machine Building. He was very skilled, and even the shredded potatoes were cooked to perfection.

Zhou Zhiqiang felt that his cooking skills were no worse than those of Chef Wei from their factory canteen.

After finishing their meal, Zhou Zhiqiang and his team returned to their office to plan the experimental procedures.

The initial simulated electroslag welding experiment was conducted in Beijing, as it did not require a large support column. When it came time to actually weld the large support column of the hydraulic press, the experiment would be conducted in Shanghai.

If a hydraulic press is developed and manufactured, it will definitely have to be produced in the south, as the north does not yet have the necessary conditions.

After finishing their meals, the others also buried themselves in calculations or derivations, each taking charge of their own part. Even Professor Fei was discharged from the hospital early.

His body is fine now, and he can walk around after resting for so long; however, the doctor advised him to rest well, but Professor Fei himself can't seem to get enough rest.

As for the two who committed the robbery, they have been sent to the quarry for fifty years.

The court only refrained from sentencing them to eat peanuts because it saw that three of the five were dead and two were seriously injured, and that the documents were not lost.

However, fifty years in a quarry is not as profitable as eating peanuts.

------

One day.

The hydraulic press project team was given a holiday, and Zhou Zhiqiang also went home for a rare day of rest.

These people are working too hard. In this month, only Zhou Zhiqiang took two days off because his wife was giving birth. Everyone else didn't take a single day off.

Director Cai saw that they were working so late every day without taking a break, and even his assistant had to take two days off. He felt this was not good, so he spoke to Shen Changlin, the team leader.

Several people looked rather grim. Shen Changlin also felt that things couldn't continue like this, but if he forced only one or two people to rest, those people would definitely not agree.

So Shen Changlin told everyone to rest and locked the office for a day.

From now on, you should rest at least one day a month, or two days if the task progress is not heavy.

If someone in the project suddenly falls ill, it will put an even greater burden on the project team.

Taking a day off is not bad; at least Zhou Zhiqiang can stay home and look after the children.

Now he leaves home around 7 a.m. every morning and returns home around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., by which time Zhou Bocai is already asleep.

He only sees his newborn child a few times a month.

"Zhiqiang".

Just as Zhou Zhiqiang was holding his son, Guo Yuting suddenly walked in with a smile, showing him a letter.

"Dad sent a letter back, but why was it so slow this time?"

"The letter has returned? Let me see it."

After putting the child on the bed, Zhou Zhiqiang took the letter from Guo Yuting.

Inside the package was a letter and a money order. Zhou Zhiqiang breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the amount on the money order.

He had expected to receive a reply within half a month, but after waiting for almost a month, he still hadn't received one. Zhou Zhiqiang even thought that his father-in-law didn't want them to buy a house.

But they still got it, and it wasn't the three thousand yuan he asked to borrow; he gave them a total of three thousand five hundred yuan.

The letter contained updates on his recent situation and asked Zhou Zhiqiang and his family to take the children to have their photos taken and then send them to him.

The letter was sent late because Guo Linhua went to work on a project in another city and could only come home once a month.

As for the money, he only mentioned it briefly, but Guo Linhua trusted Zhou Zhiqiang's judgment and opinions.

In the letter he sent, Zhou Zhiqiang also mentioned some of his current achievements: a level 16 section chief, two other major achievements, and participation in an important project.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't say the specifics, but Guo Linhua could guess that the project he couldn't tell him directly must involve confidentiality.

Guo Linhua never expected that his son-in-law would rise to such heights. When he saw the letter in the Northwest, he boasted to his wife for a long time about how good a son-in-law he had chosen for their daughter.

"Yuting, take a look at the letter. I'll go get it today, and then I'll take care of the house." Zhou Zhiqiang handed the letter to Guo Yuting, and then continued, "Just save me some lunch."

Guo Yuting cautioned, "Be careful on the road. With such a large sum of money, if you get targeted, find the police immediately. Remember, people are the most important thing."

"Don't worry, I know."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking with a smile, he took his bankbook, household registration book, and other documents, and pushed his bicycle away from the yard.

First, I rode my bike to the courtyard at No. 131 Beixiangkou, knocked on the door and waited for a while before the door opened.

When the homeowner opened the door and saw Zhou Zhiqiang, he clapped his hands and said, "Oh my god, why are you only coming now? I thought you didn't want him anymore."

It was supposed to be two weeks, but it's been twenty-seven days already!

Zhou Zhiqiang quickly said, "I'm sorry, the mail took a little longer to arrive. I thought it would arrive in half a month, but it has been delayed for so long."

Now that the money has been raised, has your house been sold yet?

"No, if I were going to make a move, I would have left already."

Upon hearing that the money had been raised, the homeowner's face immediately lit up with a smile, and he said, "Come, come in and have some tea. I have some of the finest Longjing tea."

Zhou Zhiqiang quickly waved his hand and said, "No, comrade, let's go and get the formalities done first. I only have one day off."

The sooner it's done, the sooner you can have peace of mind, right?

Zeng Qixian quickly said, "Yes, yes, you're right. Let's sign a contract first."
We haven't exchanged names yet, right? Oh, my bad, my name is Zeng Qixian.

Zhou Zhiqiang had already shown him his work ID last time, so he said directly, "Comrade Zeng, let's draw up a contract first."

Actually, the deed is not very useful, at least the neighborhood committee doesn't recognize it, but it can serve as a receipt; if Zeng Qixian takes the money but doesn't want to give up the house, then the police can be called and he can be imprisoned.

After entering the courtyard and signing the contract, Zhou Zhiqiang took Zeng Qixian to get the money for transfer.

First, they went to the post office and withdrew all the money his father-in-law had sent him. Then, the two of them went to the bank together, bringing back the cash along with the eight hundred yuan in Zhou Zhiqiang's savings account.

I transferred it to Zeng Qixian.

The bank staff questioned him for a long time, but Zhou Zhiqiang had proper procedures and work credentials, so the bank staff couldn't do anything about it.

After receiving the money, Zeng Qixian happily handed over the property certificate to Zhou Zhiqiang for safekeeping. This certificate was useless before the transfer of ownership, but Zeng Qixian's gesture showed his sincerity.

The two then rushed to the housing management office to apply for a change of ownership.

It's 1957 now. Although the conversion of private houses into public property began last year, we are now mostly going door-to-door to persuade people, and there was no mandatory regulation from the beginning.

It wasn't until 1964 that the transfer of private property ownership was completely stopped, unless it involved immediate family members; otherwise, even using the excuse of being a distant relative was not allowed.

Now it's the second year, and many regulations are still being enforced very leniently. In particular, Zhou Zhiqiang is still a section chief-level file clerk. Although it's a factory, the government and enterprises are almost inseparable now, and he can be transferred to a lateral position at will.

After saying a few kind words, the housing management office quickly changed the property ownership information to Zhou Zhiqiang and issued him a new property certificate.

Zhou Zhiqiang got home at noon.

He received the letter at nine in the morning, and immediately went out, running for three hours.

When Guo Yuting saw Zhou Zhiqiang return, she quickly got up to get her husband the meal that had been prepared in advance, and then asked, "Zhiqiang, are you done with the business?"

"It's done. This is our property certificate. The homeowner will be leaving in ten days."

Zhou Zhiqiang placed the property certificate on the table, washed his hands, and sat down to eat, saying as he ate:
"I'll go out again this afternoon to finalize the public rental housing matter as soon as possible, because I won't have much time after that."

He was quite busy that morning, but if he wanted to have his own place to live in the future, he would need a courtyard.

Even if you're not busy now, you'll be busy later. If you want to buy a house again in the 1970s, there won't be many houses with clear property rights, and buying a courtyard house will be even more difficult.

"You've been too busy lately, haven't you? You used to be able to rest one day a week, but now you only get one day a month. Even an iron man couldn't handle that."

Guo Yuting complained that she and Zhou Zhiqiang have been spending less and less time together lately, and she hardly ever sees him.

"I won't be this busy anymore soon."

“How soon is soon?”

"By the end of next year."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he saw the dissatisfaction in his wife's eyes. Then he smiled and said, "There's no other way. In order for you to become the wife of a section chief as soon as possible, I have to work hard."

Guo Yuting immediately said, "Then I won't take the job anymore. Will you not be so busy anymore?"

"That won't do. You can't just say you don't want to."

Zhou Zhiqiang joked, "It's all in the process now, and there's still one day left in a month. I'll spend that day with you all, and I promise I won't be this busy next year."

After hearing this, Guo Yuting stopped being unreasonable, but she still muttered some complaints, but her voice was so soft that Zhou Zhiqiang could hardly hear her. He could only see her lips moving.

Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and then continued eating.

After finishing his meal, he went back to his room and checked on his son for a while. His son had quite an appetite.

Newborns should be breastfed and then given formula when they are a little older; however, Zhou Bocai has a big appetite and is still hungry after breastfeeding, so he can only be fed formula.

Those few cans of milk powder should be enough for his son to drink for a few months. After that, Zhou Zhiqiang will have to exchange tickets to buy more milk powder.

After resting at home for a short time, Zhou Zhiqiang went to Zhao Tiandong's house and told him about his plans to exchange for public rental housing that day.

Upon hearing the confirmation, Zhao Tiandong and his wife were overjoyed and quickly thanked Zhou Zhiqiang. However, Zhou Zhiqiang didn't accept the thanks and waved his hand, saying that they should help each other.

After Guo Yuting goes to work, their son will need to be taken care of by Mao Pingping.

Zhou Zhiqiang then lent his bicycle to Zhao Tiandong so that he could pick up Wu Xiaojun. He would wait at the entrance of the street office first, and they would go in together when they arrived.

Once he has completed the public rental housing agreement, he will immediately introduce Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun to rent new public rental housing.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tiandong took the bicycle, mounted it, and left, promising to pick up Wu Xiaojun soon.

After Zhao Tiandong went to pick up the person, Zhou Zhiqiang also headed towards the subdistrict office.

I stopped to watch the chess game on the street for a while when I passed by. Then, because I pointed out a move that could have resulted in a checkmate, I was chased away by an old man who was about to win.

After wasting this little bit of time, Zhou Zhiqiang figured Zhao Tiandong would be arriving soon, so he didn't delay any longer and headed straight for the street office.

Not long after arriving at the subdistrict office, Zhou Zhiqiang saw Zhao Tiandong arrive there on a bicycle with Wu Xiaojun.

"Brother Zhiqiang."

"Zhiqiang".

After arriving, the two greeted Zhou Zhiqiang, and then Zhao Tiandong returned the bicycle to Zhou Zhiqiang.

“Let’s go in together. After I finish the formalities, I’ll casually mention it to the neighborhood office, and they’ll definitely agree to let you rent the place.”

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Brother Xiaojun, my son has already been born, you should hurry up too; how about I help you find a matchmaker? Otherwise, when Teacher Wu comes to the city and sees this, she'll start arguing with you again."

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(End of this chapter)