The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 203 got criticized?

When Zhou Zhiqiang returned home that evening, he had just reached the backyard when his wife stopped him and pulled him to the front yard.

"Zhiqiang, two people came to the house while you were away today, saying they were bringing you something."

Guo Yuting pointed to the supplies in the storage room and asked, "Did you have someone from the factory deliver this? There's so much stuff, we don't need to buy any New Year's goods this year."

"It must have been sent to me by the ministry. Let me take a look."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he walked into the house where miscellaneous items were piled up and immediately saw a large flour sack, weighing at least twenty or thirty pounds, which was probably full of refined grains.

There was also a large piece of meat and a pork knuckle. Zhou Zhiqiang picked it up and felt it; it weighed at least twelve and a half pounds.

His hands are almost like ghost hands; you can tell how heavy they are just by lifting them up.

Besides meat and noodles, there were other side dishes such as peanuts and melon seeds, and even a piece of cloth.

Even outside of years of famine, there are still a lot of these things.

Guo Yuting couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "Zhiqiang, why did the ministry give you so many things?"

"Because your husband is amazing, you've only seen it in the newspapers before, haven't you?"

Zhou Zhiqiang turned to Guo Yuting and said with a smile, "What the newspapers say is only a small part; there's a lot more that the newspapers didn't mention."

"Besides, I'm a man with high moral character; not only the Ministry of Machine Building, but other departments are all vying for me."

This isn't him bragging. With his current achievements, the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building and the Ministry of Metallurgy definitely want him, especially the Ministry of Metallurgy, which has said so more than once.

Moreover, Zhou Zhiqiang's CNC machine tool project is nearing completion, and he also has a heavy-duty machine tool project.

When Leader Sheng thought about how Zhou Zhiqiang had been busy with one task after another and had never been home, he felt a little guilty.

These supplies were specially approved by him for Zhou Zhiqiang's family, so that they could have a good New Year.

Otherwise, Zhou Zhiqiang's contributions are too numerous, and his awareness is also very good. Apart from some empty words of praise, they seem to have nothing substantial to offer.

Even in factories with poor economic performance, when praising model workers, they would still give out a teacup or a towel or something similar.

The Ministry of Machine Building, being so large, couldn't possibly give Zhou Zhiqiang nothing when praising him. Although the staff were required not to value material rewards, if they really gave nothing, they would definitely be laughed at by people from other units.

"That's what they say, but why is your ministry suddenly being so generous?"

After looking around, Guo Yuting thought, "You also made contributions last year, but the reward was still within the normal range, and most of it was won from the leaders."

This year's gifts seem to be compensation for you; I doubt any other leader has received as much as you.

“Zhiqiang, you have no idea how scarce resources the subdistrict office is. This year we only have two jin of flour and two liang of meat. It’s definitely not enough for other families, but the ministry brought you so much.”

Zhou Zhiqiang was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, as his wife had almost guessed it. This was indeed compensation for him, though it might be compensation for being assigned to a business trip after the New Year to oversee a heavy machine tool project.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly waved his hand and said, "Since you've given it to me, just accept it. I'll put it in the cellar later, and I'll use this cloth to make clothes for the two children."

Oh, and we also need to set aside some for the little one in your belly. Are you close to giving birth?

Guo Yuting's belly is already quite round; she's almost ten months pregnant now.

He learned about the baby while it was still summer, and before he knew it, the New Year was just around the corner.

"I'll be hospitalized at the end of next month; I've already taken maternity leave."

Guo Yuting hummed twice, then turned her head and said, "You're so busy you've forgotten about this. Don't wait until there's an extra child in the house and you have to ask who the child is."

"Nonsense, I was just saying whether I should arrange for you to go to another hospital."

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "When I went for my physical examination last time, I asked and found out that family members of cadres can also be hospitalized and give birth there, and they are taken better care of."

If you haven't finished your registration yet, I'll arrange for you to go to the hospital where I had my medical checkup before.

That was considered a relatively good hospital, and most of the patients were government officials. The nurses took good care of them.

After hearing this, Guo Yuting thought for a moment and then hesitated before saying, "How about we forget about it? I was doing quite well at the Second Hospital before, and it was close to home, plus I knew the people there."

The Second Hospital was where she used to work, and she was also an outstanding individual there. Her barefoot doctor manual was adopted by the Ministry of Health, bringing honor to the Second Hospital.

The hospital Zhou Zhiqiang mentioned may have better equipment, but in terms of care, it probably doesn't compare to the care Guo Yuting received at the Second Hospital.

"And it's close to home, so it will be convenient for my mom to come and take care of me."

"That's what you really wanted to say, so that Mom could make more trips."

Guo Yuting immediately patted Zhou Zhiqiang on the shoulder, feeling embarrassed, and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Mom is worried about me, her daughter, not me."

"Haha, let's not talk for now, I'm going to put these things away."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he picked up the flour sack and the pork knuckle tied with straw rope, and walked towards the backyard.

Pour the flour into the jar, and hang the pork on the roof beam.

Zhou Zhiqiang then washed his hands and went into the main house with his wife. His son and Guo Chenghua were reading books there.

However, his son read comic books, while Guo Chenghua read elementary school books.

Guo Chenghua will be going to school after the New Year. He was a little young last year, but he will be old enough to go after the New Year.

However, Zhou Bo will have to wait two more years. He is only three years old now. Although he has been taught to recognize a few words, he still finds learning a bit difficult.

When she has nothing to do at home, her mother-in-law teaches the two children to recognize characters. Now, she is seeing initial results. Although Zhou Bocai still has some difficulty writing, he has at least learned to recognize all of their names.

"mom."

After Zhou Zhiqiang took the hot water his wife handed him, he asked, "Is Dad not coming back this year? Has he sent a letter yet?"

“It’s not easy for him to come back. Although he has holidays, a few days isn’t enough for the round trip by car.”

Mei Xiuxue sighed, then smiled and said, "I guess he forgot to send it again because of something. He always wrote the letters and asked me to send them."

"Now that I'm not there, Lin Hua is probably very forgetful, so it might take him several days to remember to mail the letter after he's written it."

"My older brother and sister-in-law are there too, so it should be fine, right?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Speaking of which, I've never met you before, brother. Do the Production and Construction Corps have very few holidays?"

"There are quite a few holidays, but they are frequent yet short in duration."

After thinking for a moment, Mei Xiuxue smiled and said, "Have him send you a photo in a while, then you'll know."

Kaizhong also greatly admires you; your achievements far surpass his. The work intensity in the Production and Construction Corps is also high, so rotations are essential. Guo Kaizhong gets one day off every two weeks and can go home.

The rest time is too short, and there definitely won't be enough time to get back to Beijing.

Zhou Zhiqiang quickly replied, "These are all achievements of construction; there's no difference in strength."

Mei Xiuxue then asked, "By the way, Zhiqiang, is your mother coming over again this year?"

"They should come. I'll ask them the day after tomorrow, and if they come, I'll bring them over as well."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang said, "It's not very convenient for us to go there. It's too troublesome to get in and out of the residential area there. We might visit to pay New Year's greetings or something, but it's still not as comfortable as Nanluoguxiang for celebrating the New Year."

He could come and go as he pleased, but he also had a wife, mother-in-law, and two children; the security guards there changed every day, and if they saw a stranger, they would definitely come up and ask questions. In short, he was not very comfortable.

"Okay, then I'll leave this to you."

After Mei Xiuxue finished speaking, she planned to cook, leaving Zhou Zhiqiang and Guo Yuting to watch the children.

The general meeting of all employees of the Second Machine Tool Plant was exceptionally enthusiastic.

As Zhou Zhiqiang expected, the workers applauded enthusiastically until they saw that the prizes for this year's model workers were bicycles and sewing machines.

Moreover, the model workers and advanced individuals selected were chosen in a very fair selection environment.

After extensive investigation and record-keeping, and with the participation of representatives from the trade union and women's federation, these model workers and outstanding individuals were selected.

During the meeting, the factory broadcasted all the stories of these people to praise them, and invited all the factory workers to participate in the evaluation.

Let's see if it's reasonable for these people to receive the rewards.

After listening to the broadcast, more than 80% of the factory workers had no objections to the model worker, including one who was a temporary worker and a worker from a disabled and impoverished family.

But because of their outstanding performance, they were still able to get big items like bicycle sewing machines.

None of the cadres received anything. Some lower-ranking cadres who frequently visited the government did receive some soap and towels, but none of the other cadres were selected.

Mental labor is inherently less favored than physical labor in the selection process. Moreover, cadres and technicians are usually taken care of by the factory, and the extra meals they receive throughout the year are equivalent to a quarter of the price of a bicycle.

Although many people did not receive the reward, those around them did. Moreover, after investigation and evaluation, those who were able to receive the reward were those who had made commendable contributions in the past year.

With union members vouching for them, 90% of the workers already believed it.

These days, labor unions are there to help workers improve their lives; they were established to fight alongside the workers.

In some factories, unions can point their fingers at the factory manager and berate him in order to prevent workers from being wronged.

At the Second Machine Tool Plant, Zhou Zhiqiang was already very good to the workers and never abused his power as factory director, so the labor union respected and approved of him as the factory director.

After the year-end general meeting of all employees, the Second Machine Tool Plant can be considered to have perfectly concluded last year.

Moreover, before the holiday, Zhao Chenghui from Factory 190 called Zhou Zhiqiang to tell him some good news.

The first integrated circuit has been packaged. The next step is to power it on and test whether the logic function is normal and whether the module design can pass the test.

But with only a few days left until the Chinese New Year, Zhao Chenghui called to ask Zhou Zhiqiang if he wanted to finish the job all at once.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhou Zhiqiang still refused. After discussing it with Zhao Chenghui, they decided to start performance testing and stress testing after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
If we were to conduct the test during the Lunar New Year holiday, I'm afraid everyone would be in low spirits. After working themselves to the bone all year, they're just looking forward to this time to relax with their families.

Zhou Zhiqiang himself was unwilling to work overtime during the Spring Festival, let alone others.

After instructing Zhao Chenghui to properly package and store the integrated circuits, Zhou Zhiqiang wished him a Happy New Year in advance and then hung up the phone.

Before leaving, Zhou Zhiqiang toured the factory according to management procedures. Only after confirming that there were no problems did he leave the Second Machine Tool Plant and give himself a complete vacation.

------

The factory is closed for the holidays, and there are only two days left until Lunar New Year's Eve.

On the first day after his holiday, Zhou Zhiqiang rode his bicycle to the ministry's family compound. After registering, he went inside.

Then he rode straight to the Yu family's house to ask Aunt Fang if she wanted to celebrate the New Year with them, just like last year.

"Zhiqiang?"

However, before he even reached the Yu family home, Zhou Zhiqiang suddenly heard someone calling his name.

Turning his head, he saw Chen Junfeng emerge from behind a tree in the community and walk towards him.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked suspiciously, "Uncle Chen, are you... hiding here to smoke? Auntie wouldn't forbid you from even smoking, would she?"

"What do you mean by hiding? The wind was too strong to start the fire, so I had to hide behind a tree to get it lit."

After explaining, Mr. Chen asked again, "Are you here to pick someone up to spend the New Year with you?"

"Let's ask first; we don't know if Aunt Fang and the others are willing."

"Of course they'd like to. If they don't go to your place, what else are they supposed to do but come to my house?"

Mr. Chen waved his hand and said, "Old Yu still hasn't come back this year, but it seems he brought you some gifts. The day before yesterday, someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came and delivered a bunch of things to Old Yu's family."

Besides the New Year's gifts, there were also some things Lao Yu had asked someone to bring back from elsewhere; I heard they were local trinkets.

"Are there any left for me?"

"You're stating the obvious. Even if he doesn't buy for the two younger ones, he'll buy for you. You've earned him so much face; Lao Yu now wants to give you all the honors."

However, after saying that, Chen's father pulled Zhou Zhiqiang behind the tree and whispered, "There's been a lot of talk about your factory, and some people have a lot of opinions about what your factory is doing."

"You're distributing large items like bicycles and sewing machines, and many workers are getting bonuses. It's caused quite a stir. Some comrades are dissatisfied with your factory's actions and have publicly criticized you. Apparently, they even had an argument with Comrade Jianhui."

"Have the leaders of Hesheng Group ever argued with each other?"

Zhou Zhiqiang was taken aback upon hearing this. He knew that the "comrade" mentioned by Chen's father must be someone of the same rank as him.

Moreover, he argued with Leader Sheng, so he's probably at a higher or equal level than Leader Sheng.
"Why criticize our factory? The factory's retained funds are at its own disposal. Isn't that allowed by the system?"

Zhou Zhiqiang frowned and asked, "Did I make a mistake when I gave the workers some benefits?"

"Giving out benefits is definitely not wrong, but I'm not saying you're wrong if others find out. This happened during our meeting yesterday."

Mr. Chen began by saying, "I guess you don't know about this, so I'm telling you first so you can be mentally prepared."

But I reckon it's nothing serious. I think Comrade Jianhui is quite protective of you, taking a lot of the blame upon himself.

(End of this chapter)