The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 76 The Most Prestigious Temporary Worker [Seeking Monthly Tickets!]

After completing the factory entry procedures, getting work clothes from the labor and personnel department, and buying a month's worth of meal tickets, Zhou Zhiqiang took another leave and took the two of them to the street office to rent a house.

With a certificate issued by the factory, it was easy for the two of them to rent a house for a month. Soon, the clerk from the neighborhood office took the three of them to an alley relatively close to the factory and showed them a house that was reasonably suitable.

It's about 20 square meters and there's only one bed. But you can go to a recycling station to see if there are any old wooden beds. Even if one leg is broken, you can use it temporarily by padding it with a few bricks or stones.

The room isn't small; after putting in two beds, there's still room for a wardrobe, as well as a table and chairs.

After taking the two men to a nearby location to retrieve an old bed and several dozen kilograms of coal, Zhou Zhiqiang took out ten yuan and some bath tickets and other receipts, placed them on the table, and said...
"You guys rest first. You can take a shower later and walk around the neighborhood; but it's best to come back before seven or eight o'clock. If you come back later, there will be patrols, and it will be troublesome if you get caught."

Upon seeing the money and tickets Zhou Zhiqiang had placed on the table, Zhao Tiandong quickly said, "Brother Zhiqiang, I brought some money with me. My family gave me some before I left."
And things are good enough now; food and lodging are all arranged, and we even have new work clothes; Brother Xiaojun, we don't lack anything."

Temporary workers are not supposed to have uniforms, but Zhou Zhiqiang's two job openings were for permanent employees. However, since it wasn't time to expand recruitment, the permanent employee slots couldn't be sent to the labor bureau, so they could only be registered as temporary workers.

Once the expansion is complete, they will become full-time employees, but for now, apart from earning 6.5 yuan less, they are no different from full-time employees.

Although Wu Xiaojun didn't say anything, he reached out and pushed the money on the table back.

"Take it and use it. The expenses will be a bit high in the first month, but it will be much better after that."

Zhou Zhiqiang paused for a moment, then continued, "Once you learn the skills and advance one or two levels, your salary will increase significantly. You can pay me back then."

After hearing what Zhou Zhiqiang said, the two of them stopped refusing.

Zhou Zhiqiang then gave some other instructions before preparing to leave; his wife was pregnant, and he was currently handling all the household affairs.

Although Guo Yuting felt that there was nothing wrong with her health and that she could do some chores like cooking and tending firewood, Zhou Zhiqiang was still not entirely at ease.

He knows his wife too well. It's her first time being a mother; she has absolutely no experience and is extremely confident. Last time, she even offered to change a light bulb at home.
If he didn't keep a close eye on things, Zhou Zhiqiang felt that his first child was as dangerous as riding a roller coaster; it was quite troublesome not having an experienced elder in the family to help. Fortunately, Zhou Zhiqiang received several simulation awards, which kept him full of energy.

When his wife is a little older, Zhou Zhiqiang plans to send her to work.

The next day.

When Zhou Zhiqiang arrived at Dafeng Machinery Factory, the first thing he did after starting work was to arrange the production plan.

The second thing was to find a mentor for Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun. The master-apprentice system in the factory is an old tradition and a national initiative to promote the inheritance of skills.

Some factories even promise a few dollars as a reward for each apprentice a senior worker trains.

The mentor Zhou Zhiqiang found for Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun was a level-six fitter in the factory.

He wasn't the highest level, but he was good at mentoring apprentices. Although he himself was only a level 6 worker, he had already mentored two level 5 apprentices and five level 2 and 3 apprentices.

Zhou Zhiqiang personally led a group to the workshop director. With Zhou Zhiqiang, the factory's popular deputy head of the technical department, stepping in, the workshop director quickly agreed.

Then Zhou Zhiqiang, along with Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun, went to find Mao Yongfeng and said to him, "Master Mao, we'll arrange two apprentices for you. Can you train them?"

Upon hearing this, Mao Yongfeng looked troubled and said, "Director, I have three apprentices here."

The workshop director smiled and advised, "Hey, Master Mao, the highest-ranking of your three apprentices is already a level three worker, and he can process independently a long time ago."

Moreover, when it comes to mentoring apprentices in our factory, everyone gives you a thumbs up; even Deputy Section Chief Zhou, who hasn't been to our workshop much, has heard of your reputation.”

Zhou Zhiqiang, who was standing next to him, also laughed and said, "Master Mao, these are two of my fellow townsmen. I've heard about your reputation for training apprentices before, so you were the first person I thought of." As he spoke, Zhou Zhiqiang handed over a pack of cigarettes, which he had just bought that morning and which were brand new and unopened.

Mao Yongfeng's eyes widened immediately upon seeing it. It was Peony cigarettes! He seemed to have only ever seen the factory director smoke them.

Even the workshop director glanced at it a few more times. He couldn't afford this kind of cigarette, let alone Peony, he rarely even smoked Daqianmen.

Although the salary of a workshop director is not small, the expenses are also high if you have a family to support, especially if you have four children in school.
"Alright, let them learn from me. I'll definitely share everything I know."

Mao Yongfeng couldn't refuse, as these two newcomers had very powerful backgrounds; of all his apprentices, only Zhao Tiandong and Wu Xiaojun were brought over by the workshop director and the deputy head of the technical department.

And those Peony cigarettes, they're really expensive, and the coupons to buy them aren't something workers can get their hands on, a pack costs four or five cents.

Having given them face and courtesy, Mao Yongfeng quickly accepted the two men.

This is why Zhou Zhiqiang is not only the deputy head of the technical department, but also a skilled machinist with an eighth-level skill. It is said that he can even do fitter work, which has already spread throughout the factory.

Dafeng Machinery Factory also has several Grade 8 workers, but they are not convinced of each other's abilities, let alone the Grade 8 workers from other factories.

But Zhou Zhiqiang could do it, and he was only in his early twenties, having not done much lathe work or fitter work before.

Craftsmen only put aside their arrogance when facing craftsmen who are more skilled than them. Mao Yongfeng couldn't be arrogant in front of Zhou Zhiqiang. Even though he was an eighth-grade craftsman, he couldn't be tough, let alone a sixth-grade craftsman.

------

The machine tool renovation project and the small tractor project are in full swing.

Thanks to Zhou Zhiqiang's skill demonstration in the workshop, he is now highly respected within the project team.

They do whatever the master craftsmen are told to do.

If you're not as capable as others and you don't listen to Zhou Zhiqiang, you might really be kicked out of the project team.

Some core bearing components were too difficult to process, so Zhou Zhiqiang would do it himself; however, he couldn't process too many by himself, so in the end, many senior workers had to work together to process them.
A lot of blanks were wasted before enough qualified parts could be processed.

Two months after the project team started work, Dafeng Machinery Factory has two more pieces of good news.

The five-story dormitory building was completed, and all the machine tools in Workshop 3 were replaced with modified ones, and small tractors began to be produced.

It's only the beginning of May, and if things continue at the current pace, the tasks assigned to them by the Municipal Bureau of Industry can be easily completed before the end of the year, as long as all parties cooperate and work together.

One day.

Zhou Zhiqiang and Lü Yi, the section chief and deputy section chief respectively, were discussing matters in the technical section when there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in."

After Section Chief Lü finished speaking, Zhao Jiabao pushed open the door and walked in.

He said to the two people in the room with a resentful look, "Section Chief, Deputy Section Chief, these are the recent production reports from Workshop Three. The workshop director doesn't want to give them to me. Take a look."

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(End of this chapter)