Courtyard Houses: Starting with Li Yunlong's Comrades-in-Arms

The next morning, Liu Yuheng arrived at the ministry at 7:30 a.m. He first met with several colleagues in charge of the assessment in a small conference room, went over the route and precautions for the day, and then took his people to the car and drove to several factories under the Second Ministry of Machine Building in Beijing.

The first stop was a precision machinery factory in the western suburbs. The factory was small but well-equipped, mainly responsible for processing military-grade parts. When Liu Yuheng arrived, the factory's assessment had already begun.

The workshop was filled with the roar of machine tools. Workers, dressed in clean work clothes, stood in front of their respective workstations, working efficiently and attentively. Behind several tables sat the factory's technical examiners, holding scoring sheets and stopwatches, occasionally glancing down to jot down notes.

Liu Yuheng walked around the workshop, not disturbing the workers, but simply observing the practical operation process from a few workstations. He also glanced at the scoring records on the examiner's desk and exchanged a few words with the factory's technical supervisor. Overall, the work was quite solid; several level-seven workers demonstrated truly excellent operational skills, with very stable precision control, clearly the result of years of experience on the front lines.

After leaving the precision machinery factory, Liu Yuheng went to an optical instrument factory to the east. This factory was slightly smaller, but it bore a heavy responsibility, specializing in the production of sights and observation equipment. The assessment site was also conducting practical skills competitions. As usual, Liu Yuheng made a round, observed the operation of several key workstations, and confirmed the time for compiling the subsequent list with the factory manager before leaving with his team.

After completing the two stops, it was almost noon. Liu Yuheng glanced at his watch, preparing to plan his afternoon's itinerary. Just as the car drove out of the optical instrument factory gate, he saw a black sedan parked on the side of the road, with a person standing next to it.

The man was in his forties, of medium build, wearing a dark blue cadre uniform, with his hair neatly combed. Upon seeing Liu Yuheng's car emerge, he immediately strode forward to greet it.

Liu Yuheng had the driver stop the car and got out. The man had already walked up to him, bowed slightly, and wore a polite but cautious smile: "Minister Liu, hello. I am Cao Ming from the General Office of the Ministry of Machine Building. Minister Zhao and Minister Huang asked me to come and coordinate with you regarding this afternoon's itinerary."

Liu Yuheng nodded, shook hands with him, and said in a friendly tone, "Director Cao, thank you for your hard work. How did the assessment go at the Ministry of Machine Building today? Have the arrangements been made for the major factories?"

Cao Ming nodded hurriedly, took out a neatly folded list from his briefcase, unfolded it, and handed it to Liu Yuheng: "It's all been arranged. The factories under the First Ministry of Machine Building in Beijing will conduct temporary worker assessments simultaneously today and tomorrow. This is the list of several factories that are being assessed this afternoon, mainly these: Dongcheng Valve Factory, Chaoyang Bearing Factory, Fengtai Tool Factory, and Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill."

Liu Yuheng took the list and glanced at it, his gaze lingering for a moment on the last name.

He raised an eyebrow, looked up at Cao Ming, and a knowing smile appeared on his lips: "Director Cao, it seems Minister Zhao and Minister Huang don't want me to visit those large state-owned factories. The factories on your list are all small factories that were converted from public-private partnerships. None of the proper large state-owned factories under the Ministry of Machine Building—the First Machine Tool Plant, the Second Machine Tool Plant, the Heavy Machinery Plant—are on your list?"

A slightly awkward expression crossed Cao Ming's face. He chuckled dryly, rubbing his fingers on the edge of his briefcase. His tone was ambiguous, as if he had been caught out: "Well... Minister Zhao and Minister Huang said that those big factories had a lot of people to assess today, and things were a bit chaotic. Besides, those factories are already short of senior technicians. If you take them all, the Ministry of Machine Building's production targets for the second half of the year will be stretched thin. So Minister Zhao said he'd like you to take a look at these factories first, and then we'll discuss the subsequent list."

After listening, Liu Yuheng smiled and waved his hand, his tone casual and half-serious: "Alright, alright, I understand. I'll go with your list today. But make it clear to Minister Zhao and Minister Huang that I'm here on orders from above, not to pick people myself. This is a top-down task; if I'm short-staffed, they have to provide support. If they start pressuring us later, don't blame me for not giving you advance notice."

As he spoke, he folded the list and put it in his briefcase, then patted Cao Ming on the shoulder: "Let's go, let's go check out the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill first. Besides, there's no way I could take all the people from those state-owned factories with me. If I wiped out all the senior technicians from those state-owned factories, I'm afraid Minister Zhao would personally come to our Second Ministry of Machine Building to settle accounts with me tomorrow."

Cao Ming breathed a sigh of relief at his words, nodded twice in agreement, turned around and quickly walked back to his car, opened the door and got in. The two cars drove out of the optical instrument factory one after the other, heading towards the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill along the street.

When the car arrived at the gate of the steel rolling mill, Liu Yuheng could see a row of people standing at the gate from afar.

The car came to a stop, and Liu Yuheng got out. Secretary Wang and Factory Director Yang immediately came to greet him. Secretary Wang extended his hand first and shook hands with Liu Yuheng, his tone warm yet polite: "Minister Liu, welcome to our steel rolling mill for guidance. It is our honor to have you visit our factory."

Factory Director Yang nodded in agreement, "Minister Liu, you must be tired from your journey. Our factory has prepared a simple meal for you. Please rest for a bit, and we can discuss any instructions you may have while we sit down."

Liu Yuheng shook hands with them, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the row of people behind them. His eyes lingered on Director Yang's face for a moment, then swept over the face of a cadre in his forties standing in the back row.

Liu Yuheng recognized him. Li Huaide was the director of the logistics department at the steel rolling mill. He didn't have a prominent position yet, but Liu Yuheng knew that in a few years, this man would cause quite a stir in the factory. He looked away, didn't say anything, just narrowed his eyes slightly, and suppressed his thoughts after a moment's thought.

Secretary Wang stepped aside and gestured "please," speaking politely: "Minister Liu, please go to the office and have a seat. We'll give you a brief report on the factory's situation."

Liu Yuheng waved his hand dismissively, his tone decisive: "I won't sit down. Let's go straight to the worker assessment site. We can talk about the report later; today's main focus is on the assessment."