Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

After a few days, Beijing gradually returned to its former tranquility.

As time passed, it came to the end of December.

During this time, because Bai Ling was injured, the municipal bureau arranged for other people to protect Li Yu.

With Bai Ling's recovery, that person returned to their original post.

In the time that followed, Li Yu continued to shuttle between the library, the courtyard, and Yenching University, and occasionally went to the steel rolling mill to handle some problems that the technical department could not solve.

On December 23, 1962, Li Yu came to the steel rolling mill to organize an assessment of the new workshop staff. All the participants were key personnel from various workshops.

They weren't very interested when they first heard that the new workshop was hiring.

Later I learned that the new workshop was in charge of R&D and production, so they received an extra five yuan subsidy every month.

Suddenly, the number of people signing up increased, including Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai, who both came to take the exam.

Liu Haizhong was motivated by two reasons: the extra five yuan each month and the desire to work in the workshop and find an official position through Li Yu.

Liu Haizhong had heard about it when the new workshop was still in the planning stages.

Li Yu, the workshop director, wielded immense power in the workshop. It was practically a given that everyone in the workshop had to listen to Li Yu; even if Factory Director Yang came, it wouldn't make a difference.

Li Yu arrived at the steel rolling mill early in the morning and saw that the entrance to the auditorium was crowded with people who had come to take the exam. He couldn't help but think of the civil service exam scene in later generations.

Liu Haizhong was speaking in official jargon to his apprentice when he caught a glimpse of Li Yu arriving out of the corner of his eye. He jogged over to Li Yu.

"Director Li, you've arrived. Is there anything you wish to announce?"

Li Yu looked at Liu Haizhong, who was smiling and bowing slightly, and said calmly, "It's nothing, I just came to take a look."

"Director Li, do you have any advice for this exam?"

Li Yu decided to tease Liu Haizhong: "Get all the ones you know right, and get all the ones you don't know wrong."

Liu Haizhong was completely confused.

Li Yu pointed to the crowd entering and said, "The most important thing about this exam is getting in and taking it."

Liu Haizhong followed Li Yu's finger and saw that everyone was going inside, so he quickly went in as well.

At the beginning of the exam in the auditorium, everyone was doing quite well with the questions being normal. But when they got to the last page, the test takers could hardly believe their eyes.

Question 1: What gets dirtier the more you wash it?

Question 2: What is something that belongs to you, but someone else uses it more than you?

......

As more and more people saw the question, people would occasionally hurl insults at Li Yu.

Li Yu's mind was now filled with system notifications: [Ding! Received emotion points: 33, 22, 11, 11, 11...]

Li Yu glanced at the system panel.

Host: Li Yu

Abilities: Bajiquan (Grandmaster level), proficient in basic mechanical repair within a 1000 cubic meter space.

Physical condition: Three times the human limit

Technical drawings: Hot strip wide steel mill (already mastered)

Item: Bulletproof vest

Mood score: 20388

System Shop: [Lifestyle] [Technology] [Special Categories]

Upon seeing this, Li Yu knew that many people would not understand why he had set such a question, so it was normal for him to be criticized.

When Li Yu gave the topic to Li Huaide and Yang Weimin, they also expressed their incomprehension. After Li Yu explained the reasons, they all agreed with Li Yu's suggestion.

The next day, the steel rolling mill's bulletin board was filled with the names of people who had been transferred to the new workshop. Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong hurriedly squeezed in front of the bulletin board.

"Who's there? Why are you pushing?" "Oops, someone stepped on my foot!" Amidst the shouts and curses from the crowd, Liu Haizhong was the first to squeeze to the front of the notice board.

He looked through the list line by line but didn't see his own name, nor did he see Yi Zhonghai's name.

Liu Haizhong was initially upset when he didn't see his name, but when he saw that Yi Zhonghai's name wasn't there either, he instantly felt much better.

Seeing Liu Haizhong squeeze out, Yi Zhonghai quickly stepped forward and asked, "Old Liu, were we accepted?"

Liu Haizhong coughed and said, "Old Yi, don't be discouraged. You can take the test again next time. The new workshop will definitely need to hire more people in the future."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai assumed that he was the only one who hadn't been admitted while Liu Haizhong had been. However, Liu Haizhong then said:

"Even though none of us got accepted this time, it doesn't matter, it's all the same no matter where we are."

After hearing this, Yi Zhonghai wanted nothing more than to slap Liu Haizhong. How could someone speak so breathlessly?

In fact, Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai's scores were high enough for admission, but Li Yu simply didn't want them and kicked them out.

What Li Yu didn't know was that Qin Huairu had also taken the exam but failed. However, even if she had passed, Li Yu would definitely have kicked her out.

There are currently a couple hundred workers and some newly recruited technical personnel scattered around the R&D workshop, all of whom were selected through examinations.

Li Yu stood on a worktable at the front and addressed the people below:

"Today is the first day of construction in our R&D workshop, and our first production task is the rolling mill we developed ourselves."

"This rolling mill is our first production task. This is just the beginning. In the future, our R&D workshop will continuously produce the world's most advanced equipment."

"We are not just a research and development workshop of a steel rolling mill. In the near future, I believe we will become China's research and development workshop."

The workers and technicians were so excited by Li Yu's words that they kept applauding.

Immediately afterwards, Li Yu instructed his bodyguard and secretary, Bai Ling, to distribute the production blueprints he had prepared to the group leaders. Li Yu then led Bai Ling to his new office.

Li Yu's office was located next to the workshop, with a door separating it from the workshop so that he could easily monitor the production progress. Although Li Yu's office wasn't luxurious, it had all the basic amenities.

There was a desk, a chair, a small sofa, and a filing cabinet. In addition, Li Yu specifically requested that a bed be arranged in the office for his lunch break.

Bai Ling, seeing the bed in the office facing Li Yu, teased, "Engineer Li still knows how to enjoy himself, huh? Is this for convenience to do something with someone?"

"Of course it's Convenience and Secretary Bai. Haven't you heard the saying, 'When there's trouble, the secretary does the work; when there's no trouble, the secretary doesn't...' " Li Yu suddenly realized something was wrong and immediately stopped talking.

"And then? Why didn't you say what happened next?"

Li Yu saw Bai Ling walking towards him with an unfriendly expression, while she kept counting on her fingers.

Seeing this, Li Yu kept retreating while explaining:

"It's nothing, it's nothing, I just rest when I have nothing to do, yes, I just rest."

Li Yu, who had retreated to the wall, saw Bai Ling leaning against it with one hand and pointing at his genitals with the other, and said, "If you dare to have any improper thoughts, I'll chop them off!"

As she spoke, she seemed to realize that the position was a bit ambiguous and was about to back away.

With a "bang," the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and the person who came in was Zhou Qiming, the newly appointed deputy head of the technical department.

Upon seeing Bai Ling and Li Yu's ambiguous posture, Zhou Qiming quickly closed the door again. Bai Ling felt so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear into the ground.

Suddenly, Li Yu felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and heard Bai Ling say:

"You'd better go and explain things to that kid surnamed Zhou, or who knows what kind of rumors he'll spread about you later."