Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Zhang Dabiao finally managed to get the truth out of Yan Jiecheng and Yu Li.

The two had some feelings for each other; they were somewhat interested in each other when they graduated from high school, but neither of them had a job.

Adding to the fact that Yan Jiecheng is now in a semi-crippled state, and after Xu Damao and Shazhu exposed him yesterday, Yu Li and Yu Haitang left immediately.

I have no job, no money, no house, and I might not even be able to have children. What would I do with you?

So Yan Jiecheng immediately became dejected.

These days, jobs are so scarce that even if you have money, you might not be able to buy one, so he's helpless.

We can only wait and see when the neighborhood committee will "prioritize" recommending him, but that also depends on when a factory is hiring and the neighborhood committee gets a quota.

But Yu Li came to see Yan Jiecheng again the next day.

"Jiecheng, we can take good care of our bodies and the illness should be cured."

"But you need to have a regular job."

"As long as you have a regular job, we can explore various possibilities..."

Yu Li didn't say anything more before running away, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Yan Jiecheng saw hope again. His condition was caused by external injuries and malnutrition, and his symptoms were much milder than Xu Damao's.

Job hunting—Yan Jiecheng's mind is now completely occupied with finding a job!

As long as she has a formal job, Yu Li can date him, and with money, she can take care of her health. She can figure out the housing issue later.

Then you'll have everything!

So I went to the subdistrict office to inquire about the situation.

I'll visit various factories and see how things go. If I'm diligent, there will always be opportunities, right?

------------

But just a few days later, in early April, the opportunity came.

It should be said that the steel rolling mill established an "Export-Oriented Small Commodities Manufacturing Plant," a subsidiary of the steel rolling mill, but simultaneously under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, the Ministry of Light Industry, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade. It is said that the First Ministry of Machine Building (civilian machinery), the Ministry of Chemical Industry, and the Ministry of Commerce also wanted to join in, but were stopped.

It was converted from an old factory building to the northwest of the steel rolling mill. Construction and renovation have recently begun. It covers an area of ​​20 acres and is expected to recruit 200-500 people in the first phase. The main job is to assemble product parts. Because the orders are urgent, the parts have to be produced by other factories and then transported here for assembly.

When Li Huaide came over to talk about this, Zhang Dabiao was completely dumbfounded—was he out of his mind?

They only produced a handheld fan that would cost one or two dollars in later times, at most five dollars, along with a hand-cranked egg beater and a press-type shredder...

Do these three things really require the involvement of so many departments?

Why don't you just set up an assembly workshop? Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?

But Li Huaide explained to him in detail the value of his "inventions".

my country's exports currently mainly consist of raw materials or handicrafts.

Zhang Dabiao's miniaturized, low-tech, high-design, and high-value-added civilian gadgets are almost never exported.

Because these things exist abroad, and they are electric, they don't need to be designed and manufactured in my country, let alone imported from my country to sell in their markets.

But Zhang Dabiao's miniaturization design concept and design style perfectly matched their aesthetics, which can be described as a masterpiece of vacuum tube punk unpowered design!

Environmentally friendly, non-powered design, top-notch styling, and mostly made of stainless steel...

In any case, they praised Zhang Dabiao's design to the skies.

We received a large number of orders directly from overseas, mainly for hand-cranked egg beaters and press-type food processors. These two types are affordable and useful for ordinary people. We also received a good number of orders for handheld fans.

Do you think those people up there are excited or not?

Then Li Huaide asked Zhang Dabiao a question—

What is vacuum tube punk?

Zhang Dabiao also thought for a long time about how to explain it. He often encountered this thing when he was in college, because he was a digital media major and was writing papers.

"It should be something like metal pipes, a matte finish, cold-forged aluminum sheets, stamping, and one-piece casting—a visual effect that represents a rugged, futuristic aesthetic, right?"

"Just assume they like the look of metal pipes and the one-piece design."

As for the claim that vacuum tube punk is an art style under retro-futurism, depicting a hypothetical historical period under the shadow of nuclear war in the 1950s and 1960s, it is often set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland or a dystopian society where technology has stagnated...

I wouldn't dare say that—how could a third-grader like you know anything about dystopia?

Li Huaide pondered for a long time—vacuum tube punk, that is, liking metal tubes.

No problem!

Li Huaide's main purpose in coming was to inform Zhang Dabiao that the department's rewards would be issued tomorrow, and he guessed there would also be a newspaper interview.

But he should also be mentally prepared that the reward won't be anything special.

"I tried to get more points for you in the meeting, but..."

"According to the current invention reward system, it only amounts to a certificate and 200 yuan."

"I'm sorry, Da Biao. I was going to ask the department for your opinion first. But Director Yang said that although you provided the design drawings, the craftsmen who made the work were all from the steel rolling mill, so it's considered a product of the steel rolling mill..."

Li Huaide was also in a bit of a dilemma. The person in charge of this matter was Zhang Dabiao, so he had to ask him what his requirements were, right?

They didn't interfere at all and just assigned him the task, leaving Li Huaide with no say. He was just a logistics director now, above him were Factory Director Yang, Secretary Nie, and a deputy factory director who didn't care about anything and was about to retire.

So he was at a loss.

If I had known, I wouldn't have used Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai, plus a researcher from the steel rolling mill. This only gave Director Yang an excuse.

Zhang Dabiao thought for a moment, then casually shook his head: "What else can we do? Let's just leave it like this."

These days, you can't just tell the government how you want to manage this. Bidding? Patents? Licensing? Transfer fees?

That's insane.

So Zhang Dabiao didn't care too much. Although he felt a little uncomfortable, he could only do so much.

Don't even mention the 200 yuan reward the government gives you for designing something; even if you unearth the Imperial Seal of the State and hand it over to the government, the reward is only a hundred yuan or so.

That's the rule, there's nothing you can do about it.

Li Huaide sighed: "But Uncle Li, I'm being transferred to be the deputy factory director. I'll reserve three workstations for you as compensation."

"Don't complain about the amount. The factory over there can earn foreign exchange, but several ministry leaders are eyeing it, so Uncle Li can only..."

"Wait, what did you say?" Zhang Dabiao suddenly sat up straight.

"I said I'd reserve three workstations for you? That's quite a lot; they'd cost at least 600-800 yuan each outside these days!"

"No, the previous sentence."

"I'm being transferred there to be the deputy factory director..."

"Don't go!" Zhang Dabiao didn't even think about it. Li Huaide had treated him well, so he couldn't let him fall into the pit.

"Hey, Da Biao, don't joke with Uncle Li. When I'm transferred there, my administrative rank will be promoted one level, to deputy director! If it weren't for the fact that I found someone to make the actual product, I wouldn't have this opportunity!" Li Huaide was a little puzzled. Does this young upstart even know what a promotion one level means?

Many people work their whole lives and never get a promotion!

"That factory won't last more than a few years. Going there would be a trap. The right way is to stick to the steel rolling mill as your core business." Zhang Dabiao waved his hand, looking extremely disgusted.

Li Huaide didn't understand why.

Export it, earn foreign exchange!

"The principle behind that thing is very simple. Once it's exported, foreign countries will copy it and develop new products."

"We make these small commodities, but because we don't have enough machines and they're not precise enough, we often have to find master craftsmen to hand-make them, which isn't very efficient."

"If they import this thing from abroad and find it useful, they will mass-produce it. Their industrial level is so high that one machine can do the work of hundreds of us in a day."

"Why would they still import them under such circumstances? Tell me?"

Why?