The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 66 Welcoming the Departing College Students [Requesting Monthly Tickets!]

"They've helped the factory a lot, and now that they're leaving, our factory can't be stingy with them."

As Lü Yi spoke, he took five envelopes from the drawer, placed them on the table, and pushed them towards Zhou Zhiqiang, continuing...

“There’s twenty yuan inside, along with ten jin of grain coupons and half a jin of meat coupons. They were approved by the factory. Zhiqiang, you can give them to them.”

Zhou Zhiqiang nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give them the things when I deliver them."

"By the way, let the factory treat them to a meal. Let Chef Wei cook a feast, and our technical department will reimburse us."

"How about tonight, Section Chief, would you like to come along?"

"I might not have time. You can take care of me from your university. I have too many things to do and probably won't be able to find the time."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang had no choice but to give up. Compared to him, Lü Yi did have many more things to do, not to mention that Director Qiao of the Municipal Industry Bureau was a director with high standards.

Twenty yuan and ten jin of grain coupons are not much; they are only equivalent to the wages of an apprentice.

However, this was a legitimate reward that the factory could approve, since Miao Hongyu and his group came to Dafeng Machinery Factory under the guise of practical learning.

Zhou Zhiqiang took the envelope, chatted with Section Chief Lü about the machine tool modification, and then left his office.

The factory has a wide variety of machine tools, including both Russian and Japanese models, with more than ten different types.

Zhou Zhiqiang has just finished the special modifications to three machine tools, but not all of them need to be modified. The production line for small hand tractors only needs to modify seven machine tools.

However, it is still a tedious task for him. He would be lucky if he could complete one-third of the modifications within the first two months to meet production needs.

Lu Yi, the section chief, also had a tough job. He had to handle everything from contacting people outside the factory and applying for materials to coordinating and controlling things within the factory, and he also had to report to his superiors from time to time.

After leaving the office, Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head. Fortunately, someone had taken over so many tasks, otherwise they would have taken up a lot of his time.

With an hour left before the end of the workday, Zhou Zhiqiang checked his watch, felt it was about time, and got up to walk towards the workshop.

Upon arriving at Workshop 9, he saw Miao Hongyu and four others still conducting testing work on a small tractor.

I'm packing up to leave tonight, so I'm still busy in the workshop, truly doing my last shift.

Zhou Zhiqiang stepped forward and waved, saying, "Miao Hongyu, Ge Zhiyu, you guys come here for a moment."

"Deputy Team Leader Zhou, is there anything I can help you with?"

Miao Hongyu and his group of five approached and asked questions.

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "You're leaving tomorrow, so don't work too late today. Leave the testing and data recording to others."

I'll send you a copy of the test results so you can have a grade at school too; go home early today, or you'll miss the bus.

After hearing this, Miao Hongyu and the others felt that Zhou Zhiqiang's words made sense, so they said somewhat embarrassedly, "Then, Deputy Team Leader Zhou, shall we head back first?"

"Don't rush off. There's still an hour before you get off work. Go pack your things and then head to the cafeteria. I'll be waiting for you there."

Zhou Zhiqiang paused for a moment, then continued, "Section Chief Lü instructed me to make sure you are treated well. I'll go to the kitchen and book a table for you. Have a good meal before you leave."

"Thank you, Deputy Team Leader Zhou, and thank you, Section Chief Lü."

"Why call him Deputy Team Leader Zhou anymore? Just call him Senior Brother. We all came from the same university."

Upon hearing this, Miao Hongyu and the others immediately smiled and changed their form of address before going back to pack their things.

Zhou Zhiqiang also headed towards the cafeteria. He went directly to Director Yu and told him that he planned to order a table of food right now, five meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, which would be reimbursed by the technical department. Upon hearing this, Director Yu immediately agreed and patted his chest to assure him that he would definitely take care of it for Deputy Section Chief Zhou. He told Zhou Zhiqiang to just wait in the private room of the cafeteria.

After saying that, Director Yu quickly went to the canteen and went directly to Wei Kaifeng, a sixth-level cook, and said, "Chef Wei, I'd like to trouble you to work overtime tonight. There's a sudden task of preparing a special meal: five meat dishes and two vegetable dishes. You'll have to get busy."

"Hey, Director Yu, why are you having a special meal so close to the end of the workday? We've already packed up."

Wei Kaifeng said somewhat displeasedly, "Dafeng Machinery Factory is only busy with breakfast and lunch. If there is a special meal, we are notified in advance after noon."

There was no prior notice today; the kitchen staff had finished cleaning and were planning to leave.

Director Yu quickly reassured him, "Master Wei, please help me out. It was Deputy Section Chief Zhou who came to see me today. They seem to be working on a pretty important project at the factory recently, and they came to me. I really can't refuse."

As a section-level cadre, strictly speaking, he wasn't even a formal cadre, so he couldn't stand up to a real cadre like Zhou Zhiqiang.

Moreover, the other party was a favorite of the factory director.

"Alright, alright, give me the note, Xiao Zhang, go to the warehouse and get the ingredients."

Helpless, Wei Kaifeng had no choice but to start cooking again.

Just before the end of the workday, the canteen helper finally brought the last dish into the small private room.

After thanking them, Zhou Zhiqiang said to Miao Hongyu and the others, "You've really worked hard this time. Without your help, the small tractor wouldn't have been manufactured so quickly."

I don't drink alcohol, so let's have tea to bid you farewell today.

"Senior, you're too kind. It's already a great privilege for you to give us this opportunity for practical experience."

Miao Hongyu quickly raised his teacup and said to Zhou Zhiqiang, "Besides, we've learned a lot of useful knowledge from you, and the factory has also given us subsidies."

If the other students knew how well we were treated, they would definitely be very envious.

The others echoed this sentiment.

They weren't exaggerating at all; they really learned a lot from Zhou Zhiqiang; and they even saved a lot on food rations, managing to save about ten yuan in just over a month.

Ge Zhiyu said with a smile, "I hope we can continue to come to Dafeng Machinery Factory after graduation. It feels like we can continue to learn from our seniors."

Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "Then there's nothing I can do. I'm afraid only Teacher Zhang Deli can put in a good word for you. Besides, you can't all come. If you all came, our factory director would be overjoyed, haha."

It's unthinkable that a machinery factory under the city's industrial bureau could assign five college graduates within a year.

It would take the factory manager kneeling until he broke his knees to even assign five vocational school graduates; assigning five college graduates was simply impossible.

It's impossible for all college graduates in Beijing to stay in Beijing after graduation; they are needed all over the country. It would be good if all five of them could stay in Beijing in the future.

"Oh, right, the factory also approved a bonus for you: twenty yuan, ten jin of grain coupons, and half a jin of meat coupons for each person."

The reward isn't much, but it's all the factory can approve.

After remembering the reward, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly took out the envelopes and distributed them to the five people.

Miao Hongyu and his group of five were a little embarrassed and wanted to decline. They had already received very good treatment, and accepting more would feel like taking advantage of them.

However, Zhou Zhiqiang eventually handed the reward envelopes to them. Only after they accepted the envelopes did they happily begin to eat the food prepared by the sixth-level cook.

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(End of this chapter)