The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 84 Fellow Villager Comes to Visit [Requesting Monthly Tickets!]

"Another promotion?"

When Guo Yuting heard the good news at dinner, she couldn't suppress her smile and burst out laughing after only three seconds.

After laughing for a few seconds, Guo Yuting quickly stopped laughing and asked, "Zhiqiang, what level will you be after you're promoted to head of the technical department?"

Zhou Zhiqiang thought for a moment and said, "Level 17 or Level 16 are both possible, but Section Chief Lü is currently Level 16, so I am very likely to be Level 16 as well."

His only flaw is his short tenure, but tenure is only a reference for cadre positions and doesn't account for as much as for worker positions.

Promotion of cadres depends on work performance and ability, and Zhou Zhiqiang happens to be fully qualified in both aspects.

His abilities are undeniable. If anyone doubts Zhou Zhiqiang's abilities, everyone at Dafa Factory will spit in his face.

Work performance is assessed arbitrarily. Small tractors have been tested in several villages and can handle many agricultural tasks, saving a lot of time.

"Level 16 is good, level 16 is the best."

Guo Yuting said with a smile, "My husband is already at level sixteen. Let's see how Gu Jiayu still has the nerve to talk about her boyfriend who's only a level six clerk."

Zhou Zhiqiang casually said, "She's still in your department? I thought she had been transferred."

"It'll probably be soon. These days, very few people are willing to talk to her, except for necessary work handovers."

After Guo Yuting finished speaking, she added, "Many people don't like him, he doesn't do his job well, and he often takes leave to go out and make others cover his shifts."

Because of her recent pregnancy, she has asked her colleagues to help her with shifts a few times, but Guo Yuting always gives them some food coupons or other vouchers as payment.

Moreover, she was pregnant and feeling unwell, which was a legitimate reason, and she was also offered a reward; everyone in the department was willing to help Guo Yuting, and Guo Yuting would definitely lend a hand when they needed help during their own pregnancies.

Gu Jiayu was different; she only took leave because she wanted to go to the movies or go ice skating, essentially dumping her work on someone else.

Now nobody in the pharmacy department wants to talk to her.

Zhou Zhiqiang remembered something and said, "By the way, Yuting, our section chief is treating us to Donglaishun this week. I'll take you there by bike this weekend."

"Hot pot lamb? That's great, that's exactly what I've been craving."

Upon hearing this, Guo Yuting asked with a smile, "Why did your section chief suddenly invite you to dinner?"

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "He's been promoted. He'll soon be going to the branch factory as the factory director and party official, so he'll be in charge of production discipline."

He felt that the establishment of the branch factory was largely due to me, and since I had been promoted, he wanted to celebrate properly, so he asked me to invite you.

Upon hearing this, Guo Yuting immediately said, "Then let's go. I haven't had mutton in a long time."

"Eating mutton is easy. Just tell me what you want to eat in the future, and I'll make a couple more trips to the pigeon market. We're not short of money now."

Zhou Zhiqiang said generously, and it was indeed as he said.

Even if they spend 60 or 70 yuan a month, their family can still save a lot; if Zhou Zhiqiang becomes the head of the technical department, he can earn 110.5 yuan a month.

The couple's combined salary is 148 yuan. Even if they spend 70 yuan each month, they can still save more than 70 yuan, which is more than 800 yuan a year.

It takes five or six years to buy a small two-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house), but it's not easy to buy one. You have to look for those old-fashioned people or businessmen who used to have some capital.

This courtyard ultimately belongs to my father-in-law. Once my father-in-law's family returns, Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife will definitely have to move out.

It wasn't that they were being forced to leave, but rather that there simply wasn't enough room. The two-courtyard house was only so big, and with his parents-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, nephew, and the couple's children, it was definitely too cramped.

Make plans early, and seize the opportunity immediately if a suitable one comes along.

After dinner, Guo Yuting, heavily pregnant, prepared to wash the dishes. Zhou Zhiqiang intended to help, but his wife chased him away.

In her words, she's not completely immobile; how can she do nothing at home? She's almost afraid to tell others about her treatment at home, as other married women would definitely be envious.

His wife went to wash the dishes, while Zhou Zhiqiang wandered around the yard.

The courtyard house has been renovated, but the cost was a bit over a hundred yuan.

The money spent on the cellar and the house renovation was normal; what exceeded the budget was that Zhou Zhiqiang added a protective ring around the courtyard wall and buried some sharp wooden splinters on the wall and at the corners.

Zhou Zhiqiang was always a little uneasy when no one was home. He felt that if he didn't take precautions, anyone could come and come and go as they pleased with a ladder.

Fortunately, the cellar has been repaired, and a hidden compartment has been dug out inside. Unless you search the entire cellar, you won't find what they've hidden.

------

As the weekend approached, some news also began to circulate in the factory.

The Dafeng Machinery Factory is going to change its name to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory, and from now on it will specialize in producing tractors.

There are also plans to expand staffing, the factory is preparing to recruit a large number of workers, and establish branch factories, etc.

The story had been told in great detail, and many people in the factory knew about it.

That's normal, though. When they were recruiting, the factory and the municipal industrial bureau communicated with the local government three months ago when they planned to expand recruitment.

The neighborhood committee has already started issuing notices and recruiting people; this can't be kept secret anymore.

Besides, it wasn't anything particularly secretive, so it wouldn't matter if it got out; the workers had no idea about the really important things, and Zhou Zhiqiang only found out about his promotion when Lü Yi told him.

But we still need to do our jobs well.

Production is gradually getting back on track, and the workers in the renovated workshops are becoming more and more familiar with the new machine tools, resulting in a gradual decrease in the scrap rate.

The assembly line is moving a bit slower, but there is indeed a manpower shortage that can't be resolved for the time being.

When the new factory is built, 300 skilled workers will be transferred out, leaving only 800 experienced workers. In addition, there will be one or two thousand novice apprentices, which will probably slow down production even more.

By then, the technical department will probably be even busier.

After all, one of their responsibilities is process training. Apprentices learn techniques from master craftsmen, and then their technical department trains them in production processes.

Zhou Zhiqiang calculated that with the current manpower in the technical department, even working around the clock, they couldn't handle the process training of 3,000 people. Including the maintenance team, they would need to expand to at least 50 people.

Today he is busy developing training process plans and applying for additional staff in the technical department.

Before expanding the workforce, the technical department must be fully staffed, otherwise process production training will slow down.

After being busy past lunchtime, Zhou Zhiqiang realized he had forgotten everything, so he took his lunchbox and headed to the cafeteria.

Fortunately, there was still food left, although not much, but enough for four or five people.

After handing over his meal ticket at the food counter, the kitchen staff noticed that there wasn't much food left, and Zhou Zhiqiang was also a leader in the factory.

So they scooped out two large spoonfuls for Zhou Zhiqiang, almost filling his lunchbox.

After getting his food, Zhou Zhiqiang took his lunchbox and randomly found a spot. But as soon as he sat down, someone sitting opposite him spoke up.
"Brother Zhiqiang."

"Zhiqiang".

Zhou Zhiqiang looked up and saw Wu Xiaojun and Zhao Tiandong. He swallowed the food in his mouth and asked, "What's wrong? By the way, why are you eating so late too?"

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(End of this chapter)