Restarting life in Siheyuan

Old Xia glanced at Old Yang, who was keeping his head down and saying nothing.

"I have led teams to participate in trade shows several times and have a certain understanding of them. I don't think that our trucks will sell well just because they have good performance and quality. There are many other factors that we cannot control. This is my personal opinion for the secretary's reference."

"Professor Xu, what do you think? Do you have confidence in the product you designed?"

Unfortunately, Professor Xu and Zhu Xuefeng were also pulled over. Zhu Xuefeng hated the silly Old Yang so much. If he had known that they were going to discuss this, he would never have come here with Professor Xu even if he was beaten to death.

"Secretary Liu, you know that I am just a technician and have no knowledge of product sales. You asked me about the performance of my product. I can answer you with certainty that it is better than other domestic products. I'm sorry I can't answer you for anything else."

Professor Xu has a deep understanding of his strengths and weaknesses, and answered Secretary Liu's questions very seriously.

Secretary Liu nodded. Professor Xu had made it very clear that people like this would continue to contribute to the steel mill in the future. He did not want to target them, and glanced at Zhu Xuefeng who was doing nothing on the side.

"Coach Xiao Zhu, what do you mean? Several of your unique designs are used here, and no one else has them. We have such a big technological advantage, but we can't make a breakthrough in the international market?"

"Secretary, I am responsible for the technical guidance of the steel rolling mill related projects. I have no experience in developing overseas markets and cannot provide you with relevant judgment support." Zhu Xuefeng looked calm.

Secretary Liu looked at Zhu Xuefeng meaningfully. "I heard that you played an indispensable role in the opening of the motorcycle project at the first trade fair of the steel mill. That's experience. Being overly modest is equivalent to being proud, which is not good. Look, how about you planning the first trade fair of the truck project? Everyone thinks highly of your planning of the first motorcycle project. It is said that heroes emerge from youth since ancient times."

Secretary Liu's flattery could not change Zhu Xuefeng's decision at all.

"I'm sorry, Secretary Liu. I have no time to attend the trade fair this semester. Besides, I have only participated in the steel mill's trade fair once. The team in the factory is already very mature, and I don't think I can do better than them."

Secretary Liu was very annoyed when Zhu Xuefeng retorted in public, but there was nothing he could do. Zhu Xuefeng was not an employee of the steel mill, but just an "off-site technical instructor" who was helping out on a voluntary basis. He really had no temper with him at all.

He could only suppress his anger and express himself in a thoughtful manner.

"This problem seems difficult to solve. How about this, Lao Yang, let's go back and continue discussing it. Before I came here, I heard about your strong fighting spirit. You become more courageous with each setback and stronger when facing stronger opponents. You will definitely not be scared off by this difficulty."

Old Yang looked at Zhu Xuefeng speechlessly. It was obvious that the secretary was venting his dissatisfaction on him. This kid was too straightforward. Little did he know that Zhu Xuefeng thought he was giving face to the secretary. He still remembered the unpleasant conversation they had last time. This secretary repelled him in his heart, so there was naturally no need for him to get close to him. Zhu Xuefeng himself didn't even know that a few years had changed him a lot.

Since the secretary had set the tone, the meeting naturally ended. Several other factory leaders had not had a chance to speak. Although no consensus was reached, the secretary was barely satisfied. Today, a crack was opened in the closed door of foreign exchange earning work. This was an excellent breakthrough and a good start.

"Director Yang, this is too unfair. Why did you ask Professor Xu and I to come here for this kind of thing? You are the leaders who make the decisions, and what do we do?"

Zhu Xuefeng complained to Lao Yang in a low voice, and Lao Yang also smiled bitterly.

"This is what the secretary meant. Never mind. If it happens again, I'll stop it for you."

Lao Yang did not explain much and left with a group of factory leaders with a heavy heart. Only Lao Xia and two other people were left under the new office building.

"Xuefeng, you are getting bolder and bolder. You don't even show any mercy to the secretary. It's not worth it to hit him so directly."

It was the first time that Old Xia saw Zhu Xuefeng directly reject someone, and he was a little surprised.

"Uncle Xia, don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself. We need to finish producing a batch of trucks in more than two months. Hehe, you agreed. I think you will be busy. Don't let anyone catch you. Secretary Liu doesn't seem to be a good person."

"You, don't worry about me. I know my workers. Let's go."

Today was the second time Zhu Xuefeng had met Secretary Liu face to face. He had a very bad feeling about this secretary. The life and death experiences and various major events he had experienced outside had unconsciously changed him. He was no longer willing to be submissive to people he looked down upon.

School started a few days later and life went on as usual. I soon heard that the steel rolling mill had taken preliminary measures and that Secretary Liu would personally lead a team at this spring Canton Fair to seek to open up overseas markets for the truck project.

Zhu Xuefeng no longer paid attention to him and let him go. A few years ago, FAW could sell at most five cars at a time. Let's see what this guy is capable of then.

"Xuefeng, is this the follow-up development plan you envisioned?"

Professor Xu held the plan and drawings written by Zhu Xuefeng and felt a little skeptical.

"Don't you want to continue researching cars? And these things?"

Zhu Xuefeng spread out the drawing, which was the crystallization of his wisdom over the past few days.

"Professor Xu, you are already very familiar with diesel engines. Here are a few application directions I have selected for you. This is an excavator, this is a forklift, and this is a dump truck. These should be widely used nowadays and can greatly change the current status of engineering construction and significantly improve labor efficiency."

"I've read it all, it's pretty good, but you still haven't answered me why you don't continue researching the car project."

"Professor Xu, it's not that we won't do it. The diesel engine has been successful. You know the gasoline engine very well. You don't need me to get involved. Even if cars can be produced now, it doesn't make much sense. What the country needs now is construction. In fact, the design of the car has been completed. I designed it based on the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. But who will use it after it is produced? It's meaningless."

Professor Xu nodded. Even though he said he had no understanding of the overseas market, as a front-end researcher, how could he not be aware of the technological blockade of industrial products? The market would never be open to you. Of course, if you had good technology, they wouldn't mind buying it back for research, but it had nothing to do with market opening.

"You're right. We can't sell them even if we produce them. It makes more sense to develop engineering vehicles. You're so good, Xuefeng. You encouraged me to develop high-power diesel engines and hydraulic technology. Was it all to pave the way for these projects?"

Zhu Xuefeng was not embarrassed after being exposed by Professor Xu. He could have figured it out on his own, but his energy was limited. It would be a shame for Professor Xu's vast knowledge if he did not make use of his advanced knowledge.

After sending away the two girls who were tutoring their younger siblings, Zhu Xuefeng returned to the compound alone. The compound was now very quiet, with almost no one living in the backyard. Only Old Xie, the gatekeeper of the outer courtyard, was still at his post. Daya had been quietly sent away, and Zhu Xuefeng was the only one left in the entire compound. He was really not used to it.

Looking at the place where he practiced, it seemed that Daya was still guarding him in the corner. Zhu Xuefeng shook his head. He really didn't know whether Daya would have a smooth journey. There shouldn't be any problem. Daya was very alert and her skills were pretty good now. She should be better than Xie Minghui when he just graduated.

The door of the outer courtyard creaked, followed by a low conversation and light footsteps. Could it be that Lin Yilan, who was on a business trip, came back? Zhu Xuefeng turned his head and looked at the middle door of the front yard. Sure enough, Lin Yilan walked over happily, and when she saw Zhu Xuefeng, she greeted him happily.

"Brother, I'm back, the case is solved."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive. This incident was quite long. You must be exhausted."

"It's OK. After six days of traveling, I finally completed the mission and brought back both the people and the money. I came back too late and it was time to go off work. I'll give the money to Corey and find someone to look after it."

"Tell me about it, was the case difficult? It took several days to work on it."

The two of them sat on the benches in the corridor of the central courtyard and listened to Lin Yilan's story. It really made Lin Yilan do a great job again.

The case was very complicated. A total of three groups of people entered the scene that night. The murderers were two people in the first group. One of them was an acquaintance of the deceased. He tricked the door open and killed the person but did not pry open the safe. He fled in panic when he heard the noise of someone coming outside.

The second group was composed of professional lock-picking experts who were bold and careful. Seeing that the staff on duty had been killed and the safe had not been pried open, they unceremoniously used tools to open the safe and fled with the money.

The third one was a novice. When he saw someone being killed and the safe being opened, he quickly erased all traces of himself and sneaked away. Unfortunately, when he was climbing over the iron fence, he was frightened by the barking of a dog in the distance. In his panic, he was accidentally injured, leaving bloodstains.

"Amazing! It's so complicated, but you solved the case and recovered the money in just four days?"

"Well, they didn't get far. There was only one person in the town who was good at picking locks, so it was easy to lock them. The first one who left the bloodstain was found. It took some time to find the murderer, but with the help of the masses, no one escaped."

The case was very complicated, and Zhu Xuefeng was amazed and greatly appreciated Lin Yilan's analytical ability. It turned out that the local police were also at a loss. It was only after Lin Yilan arrived that she started to investigate from the possible links of information leakage, and then investigated the people who could successfully open the lock and successfully trick the door open, and then identified three groups of criminals through clues.

"Speaking of which, our factory also had problems this time. If it weren't for the damned Chief Ma, the staff on duty wouldn't have been so unlucky to be killed."

Upon hearing about Section Chief Ma, Zhu Xuefeng became interested and asked quickly, "What does this have to do with him? Was he the one who led the first batch of mortgages?"

"Well, he didn't want to go at first, but was forced to go by the director. After depositing the money, he played mahjong with some local ruffians and leaked the news. The murderer was the one who played mahjong with him. Two of the three groups of people were at the card table. It was the locksmith who was also the first batch of murderers who contacted him to work together. The locksmith said that he didn't dare to do such a thing, but he secretly went alone."

"I see. Well, thank you for your hard work. Have you had dinner? How about I make you something to fill your stomach first?"

Lin Yilan seemed very touched by her senior brother's concern and said with a smile.

"Of course we ate. There were ten of us. We ran to Huairou with empty stomachs and ate there. Otherwise, we would have been starving by now."

Zhu Xuefeng scratched his head. Yes, it was already around ten o’clock. If he didn’t eat, he would feel so hungry that he would faint.

"Although Chief Ma did not participate in the crime this time, the local police can't do anything to him. I think he will be criticized when he comes back. Without him, you will lose your biggest competitor, and your future will be bright."

"Brother, look at what you said. I really don't have this idea. I've been running around all day. I won't accompany you anymore."

"Well, go take a shower first and have a good rest. You will definitely be praised by your superiors when you go to work tomorrow. I think you are really close to becoming a deputy section chief this time. Keep working hard."

Secretary Liu, who had been having a smooth sailing in recent days, gave Chief Ma a notice of criticism after hearing about the collection of funds. The radio station's manuscript, which had been congratulating the steel rolling mill's truck project for a major breakthrough and regaining its glory for several days, finally changed the topic and inserted a notice of criticism against Chief Ma and a commendation for Lin Yilan.

Secretary Liu had originally taken advantage of the momentum of the vehicle factory's sports car experiment to win the qualification to lead the Canton Fair, and he also rejected Director Yang's proposal to reorganize the research institute again. Secretary Liu's complacent mood was ruined by Section Chief Ma, and a public criticism was considered the lightest punishment.

Section Chief Ma was sensible. He made a deep self-criticism in front of Secretary Liu, and his arrogance faded a lot, and it seemed that he had turned over a new leaf.

"Not bad, the whole factory praised me and gave me material rewards, which is quite a reward."

Although Lin Yilan did not receive a direct promotion like before, she still received a reward of 100 yuan. Zhu Xuefeng congratulated her with a smile, but Lin Yilan did not seem to be very happy and seemed to be worried.

"What's going on? You've made contributions and received awards, but why do you look unhappy?"

"Brother, Deputy Secretary Gu came to see me and said that in order to commend me and accelerate the growth of female comrades, she contacted the Iron and Steel Institute and applied for a quota for further study for me. How should I answer her about this?"

Zhu Xuefeng was surprised. Deputy Secretary Gu took a fancy to Lin Yilan? Yes, this should be a typical example. If it is done well, she will become a young female cadre. Cultivating young female cadres is an achievement and a very good idea.

"That's a good thing. Why are you still hesitating? Of course you have to study. Did you tell me how long you have to study?"

"Two years, without leaving work, and after passing the exam, you will get a college degree."

It seems that Deputy Secretary Gu has made full use of his own resources. This kind of non-full-time study opportunity is not available everywhere. There is only one possible reason for not studying full-time, and that is to ensure that Lin Yilan returns to the steel rolling mill. If she studies full-time, it is hard to say where she will be assigned in the future. Deputy Secretary Gu has a lot of ideas.

"Don't consider other factors. Just study hard and get your diploma. With this, you can easily become a deputy section chief in two years. Wow, that's amazing. Haha, Zhou Xiaoyu should regret going to the police station this time."

Although Zhou Xiaoyu and Xie Minghui also made some small contributions, they did not help them much and they just got converted to regular employees on schedule.

"Brother, is that really okay? I was recruited by Director Yang. I heard from Director Ma that he and Secretary Gu are not the same kind of people."

"Your leader told you this. This old Ma is really outspoken."

"You don't have to worry about these. Don't worry about the things of the superiors. You are just a small section chief, no one cares about this. Besides, if something really happens, my brother is still here."

Zhu Xuefeng estimated that Deputy Secretary Gu wanted to focus on training Lin Yilan, but he didn't expect that Lin Yilan had this idea and awareness, and saw through Deputy Secretary Gu's arrangement at a glance.

"Is it really okay?"

Zhu Xuefeng nodded again, "It's a good thing to be able to continue studying. Seize the opportunity and don't worry about other things."

Zhu Xuefeng was not worried at all about what Lao Yang would think, but he was worried whether Lin Yilan's family background would become an obstacle. You know, it was because of this that she and Zhou Xiaoyu did not choose to go to high school, because there was no opportunity to continue studying after high school.

"Okay, then I'll listen to you, senior brother." Lin Yilan turned around and ran away happily.

As if they were competing with Lin Yilan for progress, a few days later, Zhou Xiaoyu and Xie Minghui also brought good news. They won the second and third place respectively in the district public security system competition.

"Is there anyone in your district who is better than you two?"

Zhu Xuefeng expressed surprise. Both of them had improved their physical fitness and had practiced martial arts for many years, so they were very skilled. He didn't expect that there would be someone who could defeat them in a district system competition.

"He's a retired soldier, and now he's the deputy captain of the criminal investigation team. We're not bad in other aspects, but we're a lot worse at shooting. He's a little better than the average comrade, and he has a good foundation as well."

"Oh, are you two going to make any changes?"

Zhou Xiaoyu smiled, "I can't hide anything from my senior brother. Director Liu secretly told us that we might be transferred to the district criminal investigation team. I heard that we were the first, so I applied for it."

"Congratulations, but the people you two will be dealing with in the future may be extremely vicious. You must pay more attention to your safety and make sure you don't fall behind in your skills. Don't be complacent or underestimate your enemies. One mistake may cause you to regret it for the rest of your life."

Unlike the jubilant Zhou Xiaoyu, Xie Minghui seemed to have something to say.

"Just say whatever you want to say. There are only a few of us. What's there to be embarrassed about?"

"Brother, I don't really want to go. You know, I went to the police station as a temporary measure."

Zhou Xiaoyu looked at Xie Minghui in surprise. This boy had never told her that he had such an idea.

Zhu Xuefeng knew what Xie Minghui was thinking. At that time, he and Gao Bo had already made it clear that they would follow him in the future. But now, he was still a student on the surface, and he didn't know what Gao Bo said to him when he came back. Gao Bo should only know a little about his own affairs. He knew that there was a garment factory and a group of people he didn't understand who ran errands for him. He was the one who helped these people to bring people in and out of Hong Kong.

"Go and train first. It's too early. Wait until you are stronger."

Zhu Xuefeng waved his hand to stop Xie Minghui's wild thoughts. Xie Minghui no longer had any ideas, but Zhou Xiaoyu continued to ask out of curiosity.

"Brother, what are you two doing?"

"Silly girl, how come you couldn't think of this?" Lin Yilan pulled Zhou Xiaoyu over and reminded her in a low voice that when their families were in trouble, Zhu Xuefeng had vaguely mentioned to them that he had properties in Hong Kong and the Southwest, and could arrange for them to go there, but things changed later and they were stranded in Beijing.

"Senior brother, then I will do the same as him. Don't forget me when the time comes." Zhou Xiaoyu's thoughts were simple. If his senior brother could arrange for Xie Minghui, he couldn't be left behind. The relationship between the two was almost made public.

(End of this chapter)