Restarting life in Siheyuan

"Haha, Comrade Xiao Zhu, welcome, welcome."

Director Jiang looked at Zhu Xuefeng happily and called him comrade. As expected, Zhu Xuefeng was assigned to the Physics Department of Peking University as a fourth-level lecturer. His salary was the lowest level of the fourth-level lecturer, 82.5 yuan per month. (Equivalent to the salary of a deputy section-level cadre, the title is divided into four levels, and each level is divided into four grades)

Zhu Xuefeng also smiled, "Director, after going through so many twists and turns, I finally return to serve under you. You have to take good care of me."

Director Jiang smiled and patted Zhu Xuefeng on the shoulder. "You've become cunning in just two years. It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back. Have you completed all the school procedures?"

"Well, that's convenient. I've finished everything, so I came to check in with you."

The two of them sat down immediately. The school was on holiday and there was basically no one in the office building. Director Jiang also received a notice from the school and came here early. He said with a smile.

"There's not even any water. Please forgive me for my neglect."

"Look at what you said. I am your student. If you continue to be so polite, I can't stay here. I still want to hear what arrangements the department has made."

"Yes, I have to tell you first. Since the higher-ups notified you to come here, haha, don't think you can relax. The department has added a lot of burdens to comrades like you who have returned from studying abroad. Come, let me tell you."

Zhu Xuefeng was assigned to teach "Basic Physics" for lower grades and "Materials Science" for third-grade metal physics. He also has to teach the third-grade material analysis experiment class. The teaching burden is not easy, and the specific time arrangement will not be clear until the next report.

"I originally thought that you were young, only a few years older than the students. The department's student affairs leader wanted you to take on the responsibility of managing the class, but I didn't agree. I thought that you had too many things to do and didn't have time to do your research. But I know that you have a lot of ideas."

Zhu Xuefeng looked at Director Jiang with gratitude. He was really caring. Once he was in charge of student affairs, he had no time to rest. He had to be there all the time, even if he didn't have classes.

"Thank you for your care, Director. I will work hard." Zhu Xuefeng quickly expressed his position. They used to be teacher and student, but in the future they would be superiors and subordinates, so he had to express his position.

"But, your situation may still change."

Zhu Xuefeng didn't understand Director Jiang's meaningful smile. "It's all allocated, what else can change?"

Director Jiang looked around. The school was on holiday and the corridor was very quiet, but he still lowered his voice and spoke softly.

"Someone from above came to check your academic records a few days ago. Vice Principal Zhong was with them. Maybe something unexpected happened."

"There is such a thing? Do you know why?"

Director Jiang shook his head. "It's not easy for me to ask about this kind of thing. It's definitely not a bad thing. We'll talk about it when the time comes."

Zhu Xuefeng could only remain silent. He was the only one who had just returned and he didn't have any reason to worry about such things. Anyway, no one had talked to him yet. He would talk about it when the time came. He had thought it through. It would be good to go to school. At least he would have two holidays every year and time to run around. As for the future of the school, let others make trouble if they wanted to. He would do his research. He didn't expect that at this time, there might be changes.

"By the way, we have all been assigned to the Class 60s. Are there any who will stay on campus? Is there a roster of assignments? I want to see where they all went."

"No one stayed in school. A few took the postgraduate entrance examination. Four did not graduate due to some reasons and had to go to the next level. As for the roster you mentioned, I can't see it now. The teacher in charge of student files is on vacation. I remember that there are students from all over the country. There are also several students in Beijing. One of them is leaving the Materials Research Institute of your steel rolling mill. I think it's Chen Zhihe."

Zhu Xuefeng had already seen the notice on the bulletin board about the handling of several students who were unable to graduate. This situation has been happening in recent years, with only four being considered a small number. In the notices of previous classes, there was a grade where more than 15% of the students failed to graduate.

Zhu Xuefeng felt very sorry that he didn't see several of his roommates. They had been classmates for several years, but they didn't even see each other until graduation. Fortunately, he had news about Chen Zhihe and should be able to get information about his roommates soon. He could check the assignment information of other classmates when school starts.

"This guy got a job at the steel mill. Great, I'll go find him after I finish my household registration."

Since he had already stayed in Beijing to work, Zhu Xuefeng chose to move his household registration back. This time, he planned to take this opportunity to quietly move to his own compound, which could be regarded as a legitimate way to fill the gap.

The steel rolling mill's materials research is now well-known, and there are small breakthroughs in materials research basically every year. This time, he actually had the opportunity to dig up Chen Zhihe, and they can keep in touch in the future. Among the people in the dormitory, he is closer to Chen Zhihe, Fang Jiaming, Zhou Jiedong and the boss Xu Dapeng.

"By the way, Director Jiang, I want to ask you something."

"What's the matter? Tell me. You're not asking if there are any dormitories, are you?" The school has been short of dormitories in recent years, and many new teachers have to be accommodated off-campus. Director Jiang thought that he wanted to live in the school and work nearby, which would save him a lot of time.

Zhu Xuefeng shook his head. "My home is in the city. It only takes about 20 minutes to get there by riding a small motorcycle. I don't need to. I just want to ask, is it easy to apply for self-funded study abroad now?"

"You're talking about this. The country doesn't stop you from studying. It encourages you to return to serve the country after you finish your studies. It also recognizes your academic qualifications. The treatment is the same as other things. If you can find a school that accepts you, it won't be a problem."

This was good news and Zhu Xuefeng breathed a sigh of relief. It was a spur of the moment idea and he had not thought of this method before. If this method worked, he would not have to ask Deputy Minister Chen for help to inquire.

I originally thought that he could recruit technical personnel from several schools and should have some connections in universities, so I wanted to try his approach.

"Why, do you have relatives or friends who want to study abroad?"

"I'm just asking for my friend. By the way, the school asked me to report back on August 27th, which is still a dozen days away. If there's anything the department needs, just give me a message."

Director Jiang smiled and waved his hands, "It's only a dozen days. I dare not deduct your vacation. You haven't rested for the whole year and didn't come home for the New Year. Take a good rest. You need to visit some relatives and friends. Use this time to do it quickly. When you have time, find the old teaching materials and make a lesson plan. This should not be difficult for you. Oh, you still have the textbooks, right?"

"Yes, I have them all at home." Zhu Xuefeng was delighted when he heard that he could arrange his vacation freely. "Thank you for your kindness, Director. I will go to the steel mill to find Chen Zhihe after I finish my work. It has been more than two years since we last met."

After leaving school and finishing various chores, he came to his godmother's office. Now he and his sister have two accounts, and Zhu Xuefeng plans to find a chance to move his sister out, and the house will be left to the fourth child.

"You little monkey, you finally grew into a big monkey."

Director Wang rubbed his godson's buzz cut affectionately. The hair was smooth and felt very good.

"When you come back, work hard and make some achievements. The country has spent so much money to train you, so you must make more contributions."

It was because of Zhu Xuefeng that Director Wang learned about the subsidy standards for international students. One month's subsidy is higher than her annual income.

"Don't worry, godmother. I will."

"Aren't you going to see your classmates? Don't waste time here. Go quickly. When you're done, come home and we can have a good chat."

"Okay." Knowing that it was inappropriate for his godmother to chat at work, Zhu Xuefeng got up and left. Zhu Xuefeng, who was kicked out of the street office by his godmother, said hello to Uncle Shi happily and rode away on his bike, leaving Uncle Shi alone to watch the boy going away.

"It's been so fast, the insignificant boy has grown up so big." "Yes, when his father passed away, I still remember it clearly."

Uncle Shi turned around and asked, "Director Wang, are you going to take another look?"

Director Wang was preparing to go out with Xiao Xu. "That's right. The city is going to start a big project, so we have to cooperate."

The city's plan has been posted, and the feed factory run by the street office has to vacate space. In recent years, the feed factory has unknowingly expanded a lot, which has already had some impact on the lives of the surrounding people.

With the city's re-planning and relocation this time, the feed factory's site had to be vacated, and the district replaced it with a piece of land outside the city for the entire site to relocate.

Xiao Xu is a capable person and manages the business very well. The feed factory now has nearly 50 employees. He has solved a large number of employment problems for the street office and also provided a lot of funds for street renovation.

"That's right. It's not a good idea to keep a feed factory in the city. Now that we've moved out, there's more space. We can expand it even more."

After Uncle Shi finished speaking, he walked into the duty room with his hands behind his back. After a few years, his back was no longer straight.

"Xiao Xu, how many more people are you going to recruit this time?"

Xiao Xu adjusted his glasses habitually. "The preliminary estimate is about ten, Director. I'm worried that if they move too far from here, some people might not be too willing to go."

Director Wang got on his bike and started the engine. "What you said is a possibility. This place is close to home, so everyone is willing to come to work. If we move there, it will be far away, at least five kilometers away, and some people who want to take care of their families will have concerns."

Most of the people hired by feed factories are housewives, and there are very few young people. This is indeed a problem.

"If it doesn't work, then do more work with young people. Aren't there quite a few people who have come to the street office to register this year? Let's see if they can succeed."

Director Wang was also unsure. Young people all wanted to work in factories, as being a worker was an honor. Although the feed factory also claimed to be recruiting workers, few were willing to come. She made a final plan. If it didn't work out, she would look for a job in the village near the new feed factory. This should be no problem.

Xiao Xu climbed onto the bike, pedaled hard, and rode side by side with Director Wang. "Okay, there are quite a few junior high school and high school graduates who have registered this year. Who knows, we might be able to recruit a few."

Director Wang was amused. "Xiao Xu, what are you dreaming of? You are a high school student. Which high school graduate would do this? It's hard for junior high school graduates to do this. There are only a few elementary school graduates who have stayed at home for a few years. You can try it. The city wants to support education in suburban and rural areas. At that time, some high school students may be selected to be teachers in the suburbs."

Xiao Xu's face flushed. He had heard about this news, but he hadn't thought about it just now. High school students are still very valuable nowadays, so there is no way they would come to work for him as temporary workers.

"If that doesn't work, just recruit from the village."

Director Wang left something unsaid. She wanted Qin Jingru to go to the feed factory as well. Now the two children were going to be sent to nursery, so they had to find a place for Qin Jingru. Under her care over the past few years, the girl had studied whenever she had time and had made a lot of progress. Director Wang decided to wait and see how the situation developed, as she didn't know whether she was willing or not.

Zhu Xuefeng on this side arrived at the steel rolling mill in a short while. After greeting the guard, he was taken to Director Ma's office to sit for a while. He got a piece of inside information that Lin Yilan had completed two years of further training and might be promoted to deputy section chief by the end of the year. Time really flies.

It was still working hours, so it was not appropriate to go look for Chen Zhihe. Zhu Xuefeng went to Director Zhang's office before coming to the factory office building.

"Hey, Comrade Xiao Zhu, you have just returned from your studies."

"Hello, Brother Ma, is the leader here?"

The office ponies are still as affectionate as ever.

"The leader went to the department for a meeting and just came back less than ten minutes ago. He doesn't look well and is smoking with the door closed." When mentioning Lao Yang, Xiao Ma lowered his voice and reminded him in a low voice.

"Oh, that's ok. I'll go check it out. I don't want to come back and not report in and get criticized by my boss."

Lao Yang's bad mood did not affect Zhu Xuefeng's decision to visit him. Lao Yang was a typical straightforward person. Once he was happy, he would let go of all the bad things.

Sure enough, Old Yang, who was smoking by the back window with his back to the gate, heard the door open and found that it was Zhu Xuefeng. He immediately smiled and walked over happily.

"Good boy, when did you come back?"

"Leader, I didn't dare to delay. I reported in yesterday and came here today."

As he said this, he took out a few boxes of cigars and said, "You won't have the chance to get this stuff again in the future, so take your time and smoke it."

Old Yang didn't even look at the cigar. He just looked at the boy and sighed, "What a loss, a big loss. I still can't compete with your school." Old Yang threw a cigarette over and sat down. Zhu Xuefeng could only light it up with him.

"Leader, please don't say that. I can still contribute to the country even if I don't come to the steel mill. Besides, if you have something to do, I can't refuse. The steel mill is my mother's home."

"Hahaha, well said, this is my mother's home." Old Yang was happy. He asked Old Chen to go and get this kid, but he was told that Comrade Zhu Xuefeng's work assignment had already been decided. He complained to Old Chen about this for a while.

"If we can't recruit you, we'll ask one of your classmates to come over. Do you see it?"

"No, wait till you're almost done with get off work. Now is not the right time."

There was still more than half an hour before the end of get off work, so the two of them started chatting. It turned out that what had been bothering Lao Yang just now was the trust model they talked about last time. Li Huaide had been promoting it in the factory, but Lao Yang was unwilling to destroy the current good situation.

The rolling mill now produces as many scooters as it can, and Dongsheng Company takes them away, with an annual turnover of 14 million US dollars. Even cars and trucks that had no hope at all have their trademarks and factory logos changed according to Dongsheng Company's requirements, earning more than 3 million yuan in foreign exchange a year. (Jiefang cars are exported at a price of 10,000 RMB)

Zhu Xuefeng knew that these were all sold in the same way as Prince's, to the Peninsula and Eastern Europe, with more than 300 units sold a year, and the price was much more suitable than that of small scooters.

"You tell me whether this should be done or not. I went to the department today to discuss this. There are many people in the department who support this, so it's difficult to deal with it."

Zhu Xuefeng also frowned and thought for a while before asking, "Director, what is your position? Do you firmly oppose it?"

Lao Yang shook his head. "I'm not stupid. How can I go against the higher-ups' advice? Besides, Lao Chen has already talked to me about positioning myself and obeying orders."

(End of this chapter)