The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 40 Door-to-door notification from the Subdistrict Office
Zhou Zhiqiang chatted with Section Chief Lü until the end of the workday before preparing to go home.

The content was not extensive; it mainly mentioned that Dafeng Machinery Factory would be receiving a batch of important production tasks soon.

The new alloy steel will soon have a new name, and the next step will be to expand the production line of the new alloy process. Dafeng Machinery Factory will also be assigned many production tasks.

There are many other steel mills in China with considerable strength, besides the Second Steel Rolling Mill.

It is estimated that steel mills directly under ministries and industrial bureaus with a workforce of over a thousand will increase their smelting equipment for new alloy steels.

This steel meets export standards and can be considered world-class. However, it is unlikely to be exported easily before domestic demand is met.

Even if they do export, it will be out of necessity. Zhou Zhiqiang estimates that some might be exported two or three years later when there is a famine in China.

However, there is no doubt that a large amount of smelting equipment is needed at this stage, and Dafeng Machinery Factory can benefit greatly from this.

It will be around the New Year, and there are only a few days left until the Chinese New Year holiday.

Zhou Zhiqiang will also be busy then. Section Chief Lü's role is more administrative than technical research and development. He is more about assigning tasks and is not as technically proficient as the other technicians.

The only one capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of Dafeng Machinery Factory is Zhou Zhiqiang.

On his way home by bike, Zhou Zhiqiang originally planned to go to the market to buy some vegetables and make a vegetarian hot pot to celebrate.

Then he realized that he had a lot of vegetables and cured meat stored at home that he hadn't touched, and most importantly, he was carrying too much valuable money and valuables.

If this were lost, the loss would be enormous.

So Zhou Zhiqiang rode his bike directly towards home and arrived home in no time.

The first thing he did when he got home was to open the envelope and see how much money Dafeng Machinery Factory had given him.

There weren't many items, and Zhou Zhiqiang quickly took stock of them.

Twenty black 10s, totaling two hundred yuan.

Sewing ticket, watch ticket, radio ticket, and bicycle ticket, as well as ten industrial coupons, seven feet of cloth coupons, and five jin of cotton coupons.

Making one garment is enough, but making an entire outfit is a bit too little.

The factory gave him quite a lot, but he already had all four major items, though he could use the watch voucher.

Zhou Zhiqiang had been saying he wanted to save up industrial vouchers to buy Guo Yuting a watch. Now he had enough industrial vouchers and one watch voucher.

"Zhiqiang, are you back?"

Just as Zhou Zhiqiang finished counting the factory's rewards, Guo Yuting returned.

Now, the first thing Guo Yuting does after getting home and putting away her bicycle is to look for her husband, Zhou Zhiqiang.

Although they had been married for several months, Guo Yuting was becoming increasingly attached to Zhou Zhiqiang, as if she wanted to make up for the time they spent dating before marriage.

"He's inside."

Zhou Zhiqiang called out to the yard, summoning his wife in. He then showed her his haul for the day: "Yuting, look at all this. I'll take you to buy a watch this weekend. And what would you like to eat?"

"Where's all this money and tickets? Zhiqiang, what did you do?"

Guo Yuting asked with some concern. She knew her husband often went to the pigeon market, after all, her expenses were quite high, and a fixed amount of receipts every month would definitely not be enough.

Now that she saw the tickets, Guo Yuting's first worry was that her husband had gotten them from the pigeon market.

"The project I was in charge of recently came to fruition, and this is a reward from the factory, so don't worry."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he picked up the watch ticket and showed it to everyone, saying, "Look here, there's even our factory's stamp on it."

The receipts issued by the factory usually have the factory's official seal, making them easy to trace and verify. Guo Yuting widened her eyes and asked, "The reward for that project you mentioned before is this much?"

"There's a promotion coming up, but it'll be a few days from now. Maybe next week it will be officially promoted."

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "After the New Year, I might even become a deputy section chief, which would be a proper cadre position at Dafeng Machinery Factory."

He's a technician now, but if he really becomes a deputy section chief, he'll be transferred to a cadre position; he'll receive the salary of an 18th-level cadre, which is 87.5 yuan a month.

Just like a level 10 technician, it's like the factory has indirectly given him a raise, and Zhou Zhiqiang certainly wouldn't refuse such a good thing.

"That's great, Zhiqiang, you're amazing!"

Upon hearing this, Guo Yuting looked at Zhou Zhiqiang with eyes that seemed to sparkle like stars and said, "Gu Jiayu talks about her date all day long in the department. He's just a clerk. I don't know what's so interesting about him. It's so annoying."

Now that her husband is about to become a deputy section chief, Guo Yuting wants to see what expression Gu Jiayu will have on his face when he hears the news.

However, there's no need to rush to say it right away. At least wait until Zhiqiang officially becomes the deputy section chief, and then when Gu Jiayu is showing off her boyfriend again, casually mention that her husband is the deputy section chief. That way, you can really hit her hard.

Guo Yuting couldn't help but smile when she thought of this scene.

"Is there anyone in there?"

Just as Zhou Zhiqiang was about to discuss with Yuting what to do with the money and tickets, a shout suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

The sound wasn't loud; if Zhou Zhiqiang hadn't had decent hearing, he might have missed it. The courtyard house was also quite large; it was a two-section courtyard house, about 20 or 30 meters from the front gate.

Zhou Zhiqiang arrived at the gate, opened it, and saw two people standing outside. He then asked, "Comrades, who are you?"

"Hello comrade, I'm from the neighborhood committee. I'm here today to convey some information. Are you Professor Guo Linhua?"

The clerk from the neighborhood office looked at Zhou Zhiqiang with some confusion and asked, "I remember the registered owner of this courtyard is Professor Guo Linhua. Comrade, who are you?"

“I am Guo Linhua’s son-in-law, and she is my wife, Guo Yuting, Professor Guo Linhua’s daughter.”

Zhou Zhiqiang introduced his wife, and then said to Guo Yuting, "Yuting, go and get our household registration booklet for this comrade to see."

"Okay, wait for me."

After Guo Yuting finished speaking, she turned around to get her household registration booklet. Although enemy agents were not as rampant now, the people in the neighborhood office still dared not let their guard down.

After they looked at the household registration book and marriage certificate that Guo Yuting brought, they said with relief, "Excuse me, comrade, I'm new here and haven't seen you before."

Zhou Zhiqiang waved his hand and asked, "It's alright. Is there something you need to inform me about today?"

"Yes, the last batch of winter coal has arrived recently. Remember to collect it, or you won't be able to get it again."

Also, remember to be careful with fire in winter. Most importantly, don't burn charcoal with the windows closed. Several accidents have already happened in the neighboring district because of burning charcoal with the windows closed.

The clerk from the neighborhood office notified us of a lot of things, the most important of which was winter coal storage. This should be the last batch before the new year; if we miss it, we might not be able to cook in the winter.

"Okay, I understand, comrade."

After hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and said, "Thank you for informing us. I'll take care of it this weekend."

"That's fine then. We'll be going now. There are still other courtyards we haven't notified. Comrade Zhou, I'll talk to the liaison officer in the next courtyard later. If there are any matters from the street office in the future, they can have the liaison officer in the next courtyard inform you."

"Alright, then thank you for your help, Comrade Tian."

After giving the notification, Tian Weihong was about to leave, but his colleague had no such intention. He suddenly asked Zhou Zhiqiang, "Comrade Zhou, are you and your wife the only ones living in this courtyard now?"

(End of this chapter)