Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 827 concludes Chapter 826.
When Tang Zhitong learned that Yu Ying was from Tianshui, Gansu Province, he felt sympathy for her.

Everyone knows that "investment doesn't cross the Shanhaiguan Pass," but the situation in remote areas is often even more dire, with Brahmins everywhere in county towns.

Yu Ying was right not to go back. If she did, even if she survived the famine, her descendants might not be able to escape the accumulation of trace elements.

"Anzi, you're quick-witted and full of ideas. Come with me to find Sister Chen and discuss Yu Ying's matter." After Fang Yuan returned, he first pulled Tang Zhitong along before going to find Sister Chen.

When Fang Yuan explained the situation, Sister Chen was also at a loss. You can't force a cow to drink water if it doesn't want to, can you?
"Should we ask Comrade Yu Ying what she thinks first?" Tang Zhitong noticed that both leaders of the escort department were frowning, and thought to himself, "This isn't how you force a marriage."
The two leaders certainly wanted to do the best, but if women from Gansu Province can hide their marital status and cohabitate and have children just to have something to eat, then surely a cripple or a widower shouldn't be an obstacle?

"I don't mind at all." Yu Ying was quite straightforward. Although she was a little shy, she was well aware of her own situation and did not lose her way because of the friendliness of the escort staff.

"Comrade Yu Ying, there's a question I need to ask first. Do you have any beliefs?" Tang Zhitong interjected before Fang Yuan and Sister Chen could express their opinions.

Although Yu Ying didn't wear a scarf when she came, there are still quite a few ethnic minorities in Gansu Province.

Intermarriage between different ethnic groups is not common nowadays, and if Yu Ying conceals something, it may cause trouble for the two leaders later.

"Faith? What is faith?" Yu Ying asked, puzzled.

"So what religion do you believe in? Do you have people who go to church where you live? Do you go?" Tang Zhitong stared at Yu Ying, carefully observing her expression and every move.

“I am a Han Chinese, I do not believe in religion, and I do not worship. I believe in the guiding ideology, and I want to be well-fed.” Yu Ying shook her head firmly.

"Then I have no problem." Yu Ying's answer greatly surprised Tang Zhitong, but it also made Tang Zhitong take notice. This answer was excellent!

"Let Yingzi rest at the transport station for a couple of days first, and we'll go together when we go for the wheat harvest." Sister Chen was very satisfied with Yu Ying's answer, and the more she thought about it, the less she could bear to find her a cripple or a widower.

The reason for choosing to send Yu Ying to the farm in a couple of days was twofold: firstly, it would save them the trouble of personally escorting her; secondly, Fang Yuan had just returned from the farm and was dissatisfied with the candidates the production team had given him. Going back now would be like slapping Fang Yuan in the face.

Furthermore, although Yu Ying was indeed thin after bathing and changing, she was pretty. Sister Chen thought that there was no guarantee that a better young man would take a liking to her!

Because of the delay at the transport station, Tang Zhitong didn't manage to buy the straw hat, but when he got home, he found that his classmate Xiao Wang had already bought it.

“Well, we really are on the same wavelength. I was planning to buy a straw hat this afternoon, but something came up at work and I got held up.” Tang Zhitong chatted casually about going to work on the farm and Yu Ying’s train-hopping incident, and casually asked Zhang Guifang for a pound of grain coupons.

"This poor child, is one pound of grain coupons enough? Or should we give her another pound?" Zhang Guifang asked hesitantly after hearing that Yu Ying had no relatives.

"One pound is enough. Not only am I providing food coupons, but other colleagues have also given us some. It'll be enough to last for the next few days. Things will be better once we get to the farm." Tang Zhitong didn't agree. It's better to just follow the crowd at work; there's no need to stand out.

"I'll buy you another one tomorrow. How long will you be gone?" Xiao Wang's attention was more focused on her husband, while also calculating the days ahead. This period was precisely the time to bring their love to fruition, and every day they spent less together meant less hope.

"It'll only be about ten days. Whether I can finish it by the end of the month or not, I have to come back for the conference."

"Ten days or so..." Xiao Wang looked dejected, as if his hopes for this month were fading again.

"Well, there's no one on duty in the finance department, so I have to come back every two or three days to handle some work." Tang Zhitong said with a grin, not forgetting to secretly wink at Xiao Wang.

Xiao Wang was unhappy after just one glance, because her mother-in-law had seen it.

Thursday, March 5th.

When Tang Zhitong arrived at the transport site, he saw Yu Ying busy in the reclaimed farmland.

More than half of the farmland has already been hoed; it seems Yu Ying got up very early today.

It would be a real pity if such a hardworking girl really married a cripple, but Tang Zhitong did not step forward to dissuade her. Firstly, they were not familiar with each other, and secondly, Yu Ying might feel more at ease if she did more work.

Tang Zhitong went to the finance office to put down his bag, and then went to the canteen to hand over the food coupons for Yu Ying to Chef Gao.

It was Sister Chen's idea to hand over the grain coupons to Master Gao, fearing that Yu Ying would be too frugal to eat them.

Another advantage of entrusting it to Master Gao is that it can be stored.

After weathering the difficulties of the past few years, grain stores in Beijing will launch a "grain coupon deposit" business.

Before 1968, grain coupons were valid only for the month they were issued and expired. Some wealthy families, as well as some families who were afraid of starving, would deposit the grain coupons they could not eat that month or saved at grain stores.

Once the grain coupons arrive at the grain store, the store will register them in the grain book. They can be withdrawn as needed without any handling fee, but no interest is charged either.

Even so, many residents participated because this method meant that the food coupons were not limited to being "valid for the current month".

There isn't enough food to go around right now, so this service isn't available. But Master Gao can use his position to buy food with the unused food coupons, and then cycle through the remaining coupons month by month.

"This girl is really good. She came over early this morning to help me out for a while." After accepting Tang Zhitong's food coupons, Gao Lide stood at the canteen entrance and looked at Yu Ying, who was busy in the fields, and said.

"Alas, it's a pity that my hometown suffered a disaster, and I don't have a city household registration." Tang Zhitong sighed. Yu Ying is hardworking, but heaven doesn't always reward hard work, and hard work doesn't necessarily lead to wealth. Often, the harder you work, the more you will toil your whole life.

"What a pity. If it weren't for the current economic situation, she might have been able to find a good husband." Gao Lide said with great regret after hearing Yu Ying's account of the transportation department's arrangements for her.

"There's no better way than this, at least it's better than her staying in her hometown." Tang Zhitong could roughly guess why Sister Chen had sent Yu Ying to the farm with the escort staff, hoping that she would find a strong and healthy young man she liked.

Watching Yu Ying weeding in the fields, Tang Zhitong felt that the possibility was quite high. Yu Ying was efficient at her work and naturally liked by farmers. Coupled with her pretty face, she was sure to attract young men of marriageable age. After all, men are visual creatures.

In the afternoon, Tang Zhitong received a call from the security guard saying that someone was looking for him and he needed to go pick them up.

Since Ma Wei's injury, the railway has not only increased the number of security guards on duty, but also made the enforcement much stricter. Now it's impossible to just give your name to enter.

Tang Zhitong arrived at the gate and found that the person who came was Ding Jianhui.

"Hey, Brother Hui, what brings you here?" Tang Zhitong greeted Ding Jianhui with a smile. Even so, the gatekeeper didn't let him in directly. Instead, he made Tang Zhitong sign the visitor registration form to confirm that he had brought the visitor in and marked the time of the visit.

"The power skills competition is over, and the ankle bracelet is highly valued by the leaders." After completing a set of procedures, Ding Jianhui waved the ankle bracelet in his hand to Tang Zhitong to report the good news.

"That's good, at least your efforts weren't in vain." Tang Zhitong took the foot clip from Ding Jianhui's hand and examined it carefully. Not only was it lighter, but it also looked much better and was more compact.

"No, no, I only did a little work. It was you and Comrade Gu who put in a lot of time and effort." Ding Jianhui waved his hand happily. Being able to get the title of "one of the inventors" was already a reward from his superiors. He had no intention of taking all the credit for himself.

"It's not that scary. Come on, Brother Hui, let's go inside and sit down." Tang Zhitong laughed. Gu Yong didn't contribute anything at all; he hadn't done much work from beginning to end.

Ding Jianhui achieved outstanding results in yesterday's competition. The judges highly recognized the foot buckle and praised Ding Jianhui, the inventor, even more.

The judges included not only experts and leaders from the Beijing power system, but also officials from the ministry. This praise carried significant weight and gave them priority in performance evaluations and promotions.

In addition to praising him, the leader also frankly expressed his desire to promote the product.

As a national-level department, it has many production units under it, and the foot buckle is not technically demanding, so it is easy to mass-produce it. However, Ding Jianhui felt that he should talk to Tang Zhitong about this.

Ding Jianhui did not choose to write a letter, feeling that it lacked sincerity, so he visited in person this time and brought a sample of the modified product.

After listening to Ding Jianhui's explanation, Tang Zhitong smiled and said amicably, "This is not troublesome. Just tell your superiors where it was done, and someone will take care of it. You can also find a factory to process it yourselves. If your superiors ask again, you can tell them that I have already contacted the relevant departments and plan to use my feet to earn foreign exchange."

"Foreign exchange earnings?" Ding Jianhui was stunned when he heard this; it was beyond his comprehension.

"Yes. Besides foot catches, I've also tinkered with some other gadgets, and quite a few have been sold overseas. Foot catches are for domestic use first, but we can't forget the workers in foreign power systems; they're all proletarians, after all." Tang Zhitong didn't know what foreign electricians used, but he knew that foot catches were still being exported until the new century. He figured they must still be quite primitive there. Why would capitalists be so kind as to spend money to improve electricians' equipment?

Besides this, Tang Zhitong also wanted to convey the importance of the foot buckle to the power sector. Regardless of whether the power sector could get a share of the profits, at least he wanted to leave them with the impression that Ding Jianhui's invention was very important and valuable.

"Okay!" Ding Jianhui didn't think too much about it, assuming that Tang Zhitong was drawing a red line to divide the spoils.

In fact, Tang Zhitong hadn't thought that much about it. It was easy to imitate in China, but it wasn't so easy to get through all the channels and sell the products abroad.

Even if the power sector, after hearing Ding Jianhui's account, tries to secretly produce and export the products to earn foreign exchange, it will likely fail in the end.

Because of the current operating model, all exported products cannot bypass the foreign trade department. The foreign trade department has now established a deep friendship with the Women's Federation. On one hand, there are the products that have not yet earned foreign exchange, and on the other hand, there are channels with stable sources. The foreign trade department can still distinguish between the two: one is the products that have not yet earned foreign exchange, and the other is the products that have already earned stable sources.

Of course, this is on the premise that Tang Zhitong tells Miao Xiaoqin the news as soon as possible so that she can contact the foreign trade department in advance.

“We made several foot clips in this batch, but the factory hasn’t paid us yet. What should we do with them? I’m not at ease if they don’t pay us.” Ding Jianhui glanced at the foot clips, afraid they would be taken away.

"Just use it like this. It's an experimental product, so they won't ask you for money. Even if they do, they'll have to ask the power company. You can give me some suggestions for improvement later." Tang Zhitong was delighted. What a good young man, what good values! He doesn't take advantage of others or his company.

"Okay! If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know, and I'll definitely take it easy!" Ding Jianhui seemed to have gotten a great deal and tried his best to reciprocate.

"Brother Hui, you're too kind." Seeing Ding Jianhui's death-defying stance, Tang Zhitong waved his hands repeatedly. What could he possibly want from Ding Jianhui? To steal electricity from him?

Stealing electricity isn't actually that difficult. Whether now or in the future, people are always doing it, and electricians are probably the most familiar with this business.

"However, I do have something to ask you about..." Before Tang Zhitong could finish speaking, he started asking Ding Jianhui about the power sector.

These are all things that don't violate any taboos, which can both alleviate Ding Jianhui's psychological burden of wanting to repay the debt of gratitude and allow Tang Zhitong to get the information he wants from the power company workers.

Tang Zhitong inquired about these things because he had already suggested that his cousin apply to the School of Electrical Engineering. Tang Rong would definitely work in the power system later, so he wanted to find out more information first, and based on what he knew about her future career path, he would try his best to find a good department for his cousin.

Through Ding Jianhui, Tang Zhitong learned that the power system was far from being connected nationwide, and that power generation was mainly thermal power with water power as a secondary source.

Previously, the highest competent authority was the Ministry of Electric Power Industry. Two years ago, the Ministry of Electric Power Industry and the Ministry of Water Resources were merged into the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power. Water Resources came first, and Electric Power came second. This is like arranging seats or standing positions, emphasizing hierarchy and status.

Also in that year, the Sijiucheng Electric Power College was separated from the Electric Power Industry School, transforming from a secondary vocational school into an undergraduate institution.

Upon hearing about water conservancy, Tang Zhitong thought of one person: Mr. Huang Wanli.

In 57, he put forward a suggestion that was both morally reprehensible and did not harm the Republic—to build a hydroelectric power station on the Yarlung Tsangpo River!
This suggestion is very constructive, just like the Gao Zhikai line, which can break down the defenses of the Indian brother who has rich experience in "winning".

It's just that I don't know why it wasn't adopted.

After seeing Ding Jianhui off, Tang Zhitong called Miao Xiaoqin to discuss the foot strap issue.

The matter of the foot clamps is now settled; the Women's Federation can handle the rest.

(End of this chapter)