Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

On the twelfth floor corridor of the dormitory, Chen Zaiguang and the other three bureau chiefs looked at the construction site of another dormitory building not far away, and said a few words from time to time. Just as Chen Zaiguang was about to lead his men downstairs, the mobile phone in Chen Zaiguang's bag rang.

"Hello! Who is that?"

Chen Zaiguang pressed the answer button and spoke loudly. As soon as the person on the other end spoke, Chen Zaiguang recognized who it was, "Director Cao, what's up?"

When Director Cao of the Educated Youth Office heard Chen Zaiguang address him, he thought he was being addressed. But when he looked over in confusion, he heard Chen Zaiguang continue, "Oh, okay, then I'll trouble Director Cao to arrange for a vehicle to transport it over. The roads here have all been repaired, so you can drive directly from Industrial Road to the factory area."

"Yes, yes, okay, then thank you for your help, Director Cao. I'll arrange for someone to unload it as soon as we arrive, so it won't delay the drivers' return. Oh! No problem, okay, next time I go, I'll treat you to a meal, Director Cao. Okay, it's settled then, bye!"

After Chen Zaiguang hung up the phone, Director Hao of the Water Transport Bureau asked, "Zaiguang, is something urgent?"

Chen Zaiguang shook his head. "They called from Tuogang and said that the production line has arrived. They'll arrange for a truck to bring it over to me. They told me beforehand so that I wouldn't be there to sign for it later."

The equipment has arrived, which means that once it's installed and debugged, the Guangdong plant can officially start operations. Director Hao couldn't help but ask Chen Zaiguang, "Zaiguang, how's the recruitment of workers going for your plant?"

Director Hao's words drew the attention of Director Qi of the Labor Bureau and Director Cao of the Educated Youth Office. Chen Zaiguang knew that these three had come because of the worker quota issue, so he didn't keep them in suspense and said frankly, "Director Hao, in our Guangdong area, each of the production brigades in Jiping Commune has to send out three workers."

"Lianzhai Village is a bit special. Dongzi promised to give Lianzhai ten job openings beforehand. These were all recruited by our Guangdong Company. As for the remaining 242 job openings, Secretary Lin from the County Party Committee came over that day and took them all."

Jiping Commune has seven production teams under its jurisdiction. Excluding the special case of Lianzhai Village, each production team has three slots, which means there are eighteen recruitment slots.

The reason why Guangdong Company gave quotas to other brigades of Jiping Commune was that Secretary Shen of Jiping Commune personally came to sign a contract with Guangdong Company, agreeing that all seven production teams under the jurisdiction of Jiping Commune would uniformly plant the sweet potatoes needed by Guangdong Company, and that Guangdong Company would purchase the harvest.

This matter was instructed by Chen Dong after he left. After Chen Zaiguang signed the contract with Secretary Shen of the commune, he was taken by people from the commune to the state-run restaurant in the county. Everyone urged him to drink, and Chen Zaiguang had no choice but to agree to Secretary Shen's request and compromise by giving three places to one production team.

When Director Hao heard that Jiping Commune could get twenty-eight slots, he asked, "Zai Guang, we're not outsiders anymore, are we? You also came from our Water Transport Bureau. Zai Guang, I don't ask for more, but do you think you could spare twenty slots for our Water Transport Bureau?"

"Hey! Director Hao, you can't say that," Director Qi of the Labor Bureau objected. "Comrade Zaiguang came from your water transport department, but when your water transport comrades are transferred, don't they also have to go through our Labor Bureau? You can't just make decisions on your own!"

"Director Qi, we're practically family, aren't we?" Director Hao said with a smile. "Besides, with Zai Guang's connections, our water transport is like Zai Guang's family. You can't expect your own family to come to you for help and then not get things done, right? Hehe!"

"Director Qi, you can't forget about our Educated Youth Office. You know yourself how many educated youth have returned to the city from the countryside over the years. You have to make arrangements for them as much as possible. I didn't say anything before when you said there weren't any, but now the Guangdong Factory can't keep making our Educated Youth Office wait any longer!"

Director Cao of the educated youth office has two nephews who are both waiting for jobs. They are already in their mid-twenties, but they have no jobs and are having trouble finding wives.

Seeing how grand and impressive the dormitory buildings at Guangdong Factory were, one couldn't imagine how good the working conditions would be. Even if Director Cao wasn't trying to help the other unemployed young people returning to the city from Nanshan County, he had to fight for his own two nephews who spent their days wandering the streets.

"Don't worry, Director Cao, and Director Hao, don't rush. We need to discuss this matter with Comrade Zai Guang. We'll let you know the specific recruitment details once we've discussed them," said Director Qi, who was the least anxious of the three.

Firstly, he had no nephews or relatives who needed job placements. Secondly, with Secretary Lin of the County Party Committee keeping an eye on things, he couldn't just send people in arbitrarily. Rather than asking him, the director of the Labor Bureau, it would be easier to have Chen Zaiguang talk to Secretary Lin Deying and ask him to allocate a few more private positions.

Listening to the three of them, Chen Zaiguang smiled and winked at Director Hao before saying, "I've already discussed this matter with Secretary Lin. You'll have to discuss the specifics of the recruitment with Secretary Lin. Let's go downstairs and take a look. I'll take you to the cafeteria later."

Director Hao immediately understood Chen Zaiguang's look. He realized that Chen Zaiguang had reserved a spot for him. After all, Chen Zaiguang had worked at the Water Transport Bureau for seven or eight years. How could he not take care of his old unit?

Otherwise, his former colleagues and friends would gossip behind Chen Zaiguang's back, saying that he had become successful and forgotten his old friends who were down on their luck.

Chen Zaiguang has a bit of a temper, but he's not the kind of person who becomes arrogant after gaining power. He himself came from the Water Transport Bureau, and if it weren't for Chen Dong's arrival, he would have had a difficult time there.

It's called a secure job, but the performance is so poor that various benefits are cut. Even when he was in some unimportant positions, there were already rumors of reassignment.

He also has a wife, Zeng Xia, who works in a cotton mill. Together, their wages amount to a little over a hundred yuan a month. For the others, if only the man is earning a salary, life would be really difficult if he were laid off.

Director Hao didn't rush to ask. After inspecting the entire dormitory building, as they walked downstairs towards the cafeteria, he deliberately lagged behind a few steps and whispered to Chen Zaiguang, "Zaiguang, how many places can you arrange for our bureau? Give me a hint."

Chen Zaiguang didn't say anything, but held up two fingers and walked quickly ahead. Director Hao, who was about to laugh, immediately suppressed his smile when he saw Director Cao looking over, and straightened his face with wide eyes.

Why are you looking at me? I have flowers on my face!

Director Cao of the educated youth office stopped, looking suspicious. After Director Hao approached, he lowered his voice and said, "Director Hao, give me a few!"

"What the heck?"

"Stop pretending, you can't fool me. The last bit of light was definitely saved for you!"

"No, Lao Cao, don't talk nonsense!"