The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 88 A Difficult Partner to Deal With [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

This week's meeting was quite grand, with the large conference room almost full of people.

The heads and deputy heads of organizations like the trade union and the women's federation were all there. Zhou Zhiqiang glanced around and saw that even the canteen director was there, along with several section-level cadres.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't know whether he had asked to come on his own initiative or had been notified by his superiors, but it all felt a bit strange.

There were also some people Zhou Zhiqiang didn't know, but he rarely went around the factory and, apart from necessary interactions, he really didn't know many factory leaders.

Once all the leaders had arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang stopped thinking about it and focused on listening to the content of the meeting.

After sitting in the main seat and looking around, Secretary Yan spoke in a firm voice: "Comrades, in the past six months, we have achieved great results. The success of the small tractor project has brought about significant development and changes in our factory."

The tasks ahead will be even more arduous, but we must always remain united and contribute our vital share to national development and industrial progress.

At the beginning, they spoke a lot of official language, summarizing the achievements of the past six months. They said that their factory had developed rapidly in the past six months and had completely transformed its production model.

Previously, Dafeng Machinery Factory was a parts supplier, processing and producing parts for other factories.

"Now, Dafeng Machinery Factory has been officially renamed Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Manufacturing Factory. At the same time, a Dafeng Machinery Branch Factory has been established in Changping as a parts processing plant. Lu Yi, the former head of the technical department, serves as the party official and factory director of the Dafeng Machinery Branch Factory."

Upon hearing this news from Secretary Yan, everyone in the meeting room was shocked, even those who had known a little bit of the news beforehand were still shocked.

They knew Lü Yi would be promoted, but they didn't expect him to be both Party Secretary and Factory Director—a true combination of personnel and production management.

As a result, most of the workshop directors in the meeting room looked at Lü Yi with envy.

They used to be at roughly the same level, but after today, they will be two levels apart.

"Furthermore, to help establish the branch factory, the Municipal Bureau of Industry and the factory's Party Committee decided to transfer two hundred workers from Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory to help the Dafeng Machinery branch factory quickly enter production."

This was only to be expected, but when the workshop directors heard about it, they immediately clicked their tongues and their faces fell, and some even sighed and picked at their fingers.

Skilled workers are the foundation for them to complete production tasks. Now, two hundred people need to be transferred to various workshops, with about twenty people in each workshop.

Unfortunately, this year's production targets are so heavy; if they want to meet those targets on time, they'll have to find a way.
In addition to the matter of establishing a branch factory, Secretary Yan then mentioned a series of personnel appointments.

The expansion and establishment of branch factories brought about a significant personnel upheaval to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory.

It wasn't just Lü Yi who left; two workshop directors, many production section chiefs, and people from the labor union and women's federation also left. Some people from the logistics department were also sent to branch factories.

Some people certainly wouldn't want to go, but the factory's decisions don't allow your personal opinions to supersede the factory's Party Committee.

Unless it's intentional sabotage, once it's approved by the factory's Party Committee, you have no choice but to obey the collective; otherwise, you should switch to another collective.

"After deliberation by the factory's Party Committee, Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang, the former deputy head of the Technical Section, was appointed as the head of the Technical Section, and Comrade Chen Li was appointed as the deputy head of the Technical Section."

Zhou Zhiqiang was not surprised to hear that he had become the head of the technical department, but he was curious about who this Chen Li was.

He looked up and around, and finally saw a girl on his left who turned her head and met his gaze.

He looked very young, with delicate and beautiful features, but Zhou Zhiqiang's first impression was that he was stubborn, a confident kind of stubborn; and he also had a cold and aloof feeling, making him seem very difficult to get along with.

Confident people are also arrogant, let alone a young girl who looks about the same age as him, or even younger. How powerful must her background be to become the deputy head of the technical department?
Zhou Zhiqiang himself made two great contributions by being nominally employed by the Ministry of Metallurgy and the First Ministry of Machine Building, which led to his appointment as the head of the technical section.

He didn't believe anyone else could achieve so much in just one or two years. The personnel appointments alone took almost the entire morning to discuss, and after Secretary Yan finished speaking, it was Factory Director Zhao's turn to talk about the production arrangements.

However, we hadn't been talking for long when it was lunchtime, so we couldn't continue talking before we finished, as we couldn't keep so many people from eating.

Director Zhao then told everyone to go eat first, and that the meeting would continue in the afternoon.

The meeting temporarily ended, and Zhou Zhiqiang and Lü Yi left the conference room together to go back to the technical department to get their lunch boxes and prepare to get food.

After leaving the factory office building, Zhou Zhiqiang leaned close to Lü Yi and whispered, "Brother Lü, what's the background of that Chen Li?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's definitely not from the Municipal Bureau of Industry."

Lu Yi replied in a low voice, "I heard it's from the Ministry of Machine Building, but I really don't know which department. But to become a deputy section chief at such a young age, he must have a powerful background."

Zhou Zhiqiang sighed and said, "I hope they're here to help."

Lu Yi patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry, our factory is finally on the right track."

I'll go back at noon and pack my things to make room for you in the office.

Zhou Zhiqiang casually asked, "How's it going in Changping? Is construction progressing that quickly?"

"We'll definitely be building and producing at the same time. Construction started last month. It's impossible to finish building everything, but building two workshops and starting production is no problem. We'll take it slow from there."

The two chatted as they walked, and after returning to the technical department, they picked up their lunchboxes and headed towards the cafeteria.

Every Monday, we're lucky enough to get a meat dish, which is a great way to cheer up the workers.

Today's dish is minced meat and tofu. Although it's not a lot of meat, it's still a pretty good dish when combined with tofu.

After Zhou Zhiqiang ordered two dishes and two steamed buns made from mixed flour, he followed Lü Yi to a place to sit down and eat.

The two chatted as they ate, from discussing how Zhou Zhiqiang hadn't been bringing chili sauce much lately to talking about eating at the branch factory canteen in the future.

However, after a short while, someone suddenly stood next to Zhou Zhiqiang and Lü Yi's table.

Zhou Zhiqiang looked up and saw a young woman with a cool and aloof expression standing in front of him. She was Chen Li, the deputy head of the technical department, who was going to be his partner.

Just now at the meeting, Chen Li's position was officially appointed, so Zhou Zhiqiang spoke up: "Deputy Section Chief Chen, is there anything I can help you with?"

Chen Li was silent for two seconds before speaking, "Section Chief Zhou, this is my first day at the factory. I only brought a lunchbox, and I didn't bring any meal tickets this morning."

After listening, Zhou Zhiqiang waited a few seconds, but didn't hear him mention borrowing meal tickets. He was about to say something, but then thought better of it and took two meal tickets out of his pocket and handed them over.
"Deputy Section Chief Chen, you can take this to eat first, and return it to me after you buy your meal tickets."

"Ah."

After receiving the meal ticket, Chen Li nodded slightly and said "Mmm," then took the ticket and went to queue up.

After everyone had walked away, Lü Yi whispered to Zhou Zhiqiang, "Zhiqiang, your feeling is probably right. This woman doesn't seem like someone easy to get along with."

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)