Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 41 Past Events

The rooster's crowing had been going on for a while. Wang Jiankun opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. It took him a while to realize that he was living in a newly rented house.

I looked at the time and there were still more than 20 minutes before morning reading. It was a bit far from here, so I quickly got dressed, washed my face and brushed my teeth.

During the process, he also checked the boxes he brought and found nothing was missing. Feeling a little worried since he had just moved in, Wang Jiankun decided to ride his motorcycle to the scrap yard and then walk to school.

Today, he was reciting the Chinese text during morning reading. His deskmate did not disturb him and he spent the whole morning peacefully studying the radio exam reference book.

I had a plate of fried noodles for breakfast. Teacher Liu asked Wang Jiankun to go to the teacher's window to get it. After that, Wang Jiankun ran back to the classroom to eat. He always felt a little uncomfortable eating with the teacher.

After eating, I went to the sink downstairs to wash the lunch box and chopsticks. After drying them, I returned to the classroom and put them in the desk drawer.

There were not many people in the classroom at this time. Wang Jiankun came to the corridor, leaned against the railing and looked at the football field in the distance.

I was thinking about the phone call I would have with my uncle, whom I had never met, at noon. I didn't know what his personality was like, or how he treated my mother, who had now become a rural person. After all, they hadn't seen each other for more than 10 years, and all the letters my mother had sent him were in vain. I didn't know what had happened in the meantime that caused my uncle to contact my mother today.

"Hey, are you scared? What are you thinking about so intently?"

When I turned around, I saw my deskmate with bright eyes and white teeth.

"I didn't think about anything. I just looked into the distance and cleared my mind so that I could absorb the knowledge in the next class."

"Forget it if you don't want to say it. Once you hear it, you won't tell the truth."

"Will you go back to your hometown Guangfeng or stay in Wuyuan on Sunday?" Wang Jiankun asked, changing the subject.

"I have agreed with my mom that I will go back if it is a long holiday or the two-day monthly holiday in the last week of each month. The rest of the time I will stay in Wuyuan with my dad. What about you?"

"Not sure, because I'm busy, so the time to go back is not fixed. Besides, I have a motorcycle, so I can go back whenever I want."

"Why do you seem to be busier than my dad? Shouldn't you focus on studying?"

"Alas, with great power comes great responsibility. I have a mission, so I can't sit idle."

"What kind of mission is this? Liberate the world?"

"Almost the same, or even more grandiose. Do you think there are aliens in the universe?"

"No, even if there are, we can't see them. Each star is very far away. It's difficult for us human spacecraft to even reach the moon, let alone go to more distant planets."

"I didn't expect you to be interested in cosmology. What do you want to do in the future?"

“I want to be an economist, what about you?”

"Why do you want to be an economist? Do you know what economists do?"

"I know! We will make suggestions for the development of the national economy and make people's lives better."

"By the time you can come up with ideas, you'll be an old lady, hahaha~"

"Huh, you're still an old man. I'm sure it won't be that late for me to put my knowledge into practice. You haven't told me what you want to do in the future?"

"As for me, of course I am a scientist. I will invent and create, improve productivity, and help mankind enter communism as soon as possible. I will live at the pace I want and won't have to worry about work at all. Work will be a hobby."

"Although I don't want to discourage you, what you said is too dreamy. Human nature does not allow such a situation to happen."

“You should always have dreams. What if they come true someday?”

"Class is about to start, go in and stop dreaming here."

After chatting with my desk mate for a while, I felt much better. I'll talk about everything after I get through on the phone at noon. Whether it's good or bad, my family should be able to handle it now.

In the morning, Wang Jiankun cleared his mind of distractions and listened attentively to the whole morning's class.

As soon as the bell rang, Wang Jiankun rushed out of the classroom and ran to the recycling station.

When they arrived at the scrap yard, my father and Ye Wei were chatting, and my mother was cooking. When they saw Wang Jiankun coming, they asked him to wash his hands and prepare to eat.

"Why are you still cooking here? I was planning to take you to a restaurant to eat."

"We have all the ingredients and utensils here. I asked your father to go to the market to buy some meat. We can save some money by cooking it here."

"Okay, I'll go wash my hands and get the dishes."

My father and I moved the folding table to the yard, set out the dishes and chopsticks, and my mother had cooked the food.

The four of them ate standing around a small folding table. With Ye Wei around, Wang Jiankun didn't feel comfortable asking his mother about the letter, so he just briefly talked about the situation at home.

"Have my aunt and the others arrived?"

"Your aunt and uncle brought your cousin to help build the house the day before yesterday, and they have invited people from Zhankeng next door to help lay the foundation."

"Why didn't you invite someone from our own team?"

"It's hard for our team to hire people. Most of the people who work in the factory have already left. There are also many families who are building houses. Those who are free have already been called away to help. So we can only find people from the production teams outside."

"Are there any workers for the second phase of factory expansion? Has the work started?"

"We have started work, and we have also invited some people from the Shibao production team to help with the work. The team is paying them cash, and everyone is eager to come."

"It's good that it doesn't delay things. Pay people to finish the construction and start the work earlier. The lighter factory is working overtime every day now, right?"

"Yes, Cheng Yong has to send a batch every other day. It's not enough without working overtime."

"We will go to Raozhou tomorrow to bring back the iron bars. By then, we will use iron bars to stamp some of them, and the output should be able to double."

"Not necessarily. Your mother calculated that the assembly process has limitations. If we don't use two shifts, the assembly will not be able to keep up with the speed of stamping."

"Mom, has anyone in the team or the factory suggested doing a double shift?"

"A few days ago, when we were discussing how to increase production capacity, a stamping machine operator named Wang Jiping brought up the idea, but the team discussed it and it was not approved."

"This Wang Jiping has a junior high school education, right? How is his work?"

"He dropped out of junior high school. There were many people in his family, and he felt that he could not pass the entrance exam to a technical secondary school, so he dropped out before the third year of junior high school. He was very smart. The stamping machine he drove rarely had problems, and he knew how to maintain it. Most of the time, he would help solve problems with other stamping machines."

"Mom, then you have to train him well when you go back. Let him be the leader of the stamping group first. If he can convince others and work as conscientiously and responsibly as always, you can consider proposing to the team to promote him."

"He's still very young, and I'm afraid he won't be able to do well."

"The people with higher education levels in our team are all young people. To engage in industrial production, one must be educated. Young people are also quick to accept new things, so it is imperative to promote young people."

"Okay, I'll go back and start working on it. With your grandfather's support on the team, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Let's talk about the two-shift system after we switch to iron bars. When the team sees the stamped parts piled up and unable to be turned into lighters, they will definitely be anxious. It should be better to promote the two-shift system then."

"That's it for now. Let's go to the post office after we finish eating." After eating, Wang Jiankun asked Ye Wei to help clean up the dishes and walked to the post office with his parents.

On the way, the mother showed the letter to Wang Jiankun.

The letter said that my uncle went to BJ to handle transfer procedures some time ago. He went to the vicinity of his hometown and met a postman who knew him. The postman gave him a letter that had been sent this year.

Then my uncle learned that my mother sent him letters every year, and he wrote a reply immediately.

The letter said that he was now working in Guangzhou, in an import and export company, in charge of contacting foreign customers. He was too busy with work to leave, so he asked his mother to call him as soon as possible if possible, or to visit her when he was free.

It might be difficult to write other things in the letter, so I just left a contact number and his address.

It was exactly 1 o'clock when I arrived at the post office. There were not many people making phone calls at that time. I told the staff that I wanted to call Guangshi, and the staff guided me to a phone that could make long-distance calls.

The mother called the number on the letter and first connected to the provincial call center, telling the operator to contact Cen Qiang of Guangzhou Import and Export Company.

The operator asked the mother to hold the phone until she was connected to Guangzhou, and then a piece of music came from the microphone on a loop.

After more than a minute, the operator said the call was connected. When you hear a beep, you can talk to the person you are looking for.

Ding~, "Hello, is this Cen Qiang? I'm Cen Juan."

"I'm Cen Qiang, and you're my sister Cen Juan?"

"Yes, brother, why didn't you reply to my letters for so many years? I went to Peking to look for you and Cen Yong but couldn't find you. People living in the old house said they had never seen you go back."

"Oh~~, it's hard to describe. Back then I was labeled a Soviet revisionist and was constantly undergoing reform. It wasn't until the end of last year that I contacted my father's former subordinate and used his connections to get out of the farm."

"After I was released, I returned to my original unit, but after so many years, there was no position for me. I was in a daze for half a year, and finally I got in touch with my former classmates."

"I happened to be able to speak Russian, and I also learned English during the reform period. I found a job in a Guangzhou import and export company through the help of my classmates."

"I went to Peking some time ago to handle a transfer, and by chance I ran into a postman who was always delivering mail in that area, and that's how I got your information."

"Sister, are you okay? How have you been doing in the countryside all these years?"

"I'm fine. I'm married. Your brother-in-law treats me very well. We already have two children. The older one is a boy named Wang Jiankun, who is 14 years old, and the younger one is a girl named Wang Chunxiang, who is 10 years old this year. What about you? When you went to work, your father told me that you already had a girlfriend."

"I'm relieved to hear that you're doing well and have a son and a daughter. You know what happened back then. I was sent to work in the countryside. How could my girlfriend still be with me?"

"Brother, now that you're out and have a formal job, you have to find one quickly. You're not a child anymore."

"Well, let me calm down first. Do you have any news about our brother?"

"I received his reply in the first and second years of my posting in the countryside, but never again after that. Did he contact you?"

"I only received one letter at that time, which informed me that he had settled down in the countryside. I didn't receive any letters afterwards. However, at the beginning of this year, someone claiming to be his friend passed me a note with only the words CQ7.00085CY on it. I still don't understand what it means."

"Tell me again what's written on the note, and I'll write it down."

CQ7.00085CY, Wang Jiankun’s mother wrote on paper while retelling.

After seeing this line of words, Wang Jiankun felt it was very familiar. It should be about asking his uncle to contact this frequency using the shortwave radio. The initials of his uncle's name are CY, and CQ is the beginning of the "ham" call. 7.00085 should mean 7.00085MHZ.

So Wang Jiankun told his guess to his mother on the phone. After hearing it, his mother and uncle asked, "Are you sure? How did you know?"

"I've been studying radio recently and preparing to take the amateur radio license exam, so I know this. Uncle, find a chance to contact this frequency and see."

"Okay, I'll find a chance to contact him. If it's him, that would be great."

"Sister, will you and your family come to Guangzhou for a visit during the National Day holiday? I just got a job and can't leave, otherwise I would come to Jiang Province to find you. Don't worry, I will pay for the travel expenses and the expenses here. My salary is still good now."

"I've discussed it with my family. If you come, you don't have to pay. Recently, your nephew has developed a lighter, and now the whole team is working on it. My family is not short of money now, but it may not be easy to buy tickets."

"Mom, let's go during the National Day holiday. I'll ask my friend in Raozhou to buy the tickets."

"I can't go. The delivery mission is so tight right now," said the father.

"Then my mother, sister and I will go, and you stay at home to look after the house and deliver the goods."

Wang Jiankun answered the phone and said, "Uncle, my mother, sister and I are coming to Guangzhou for the National Day. I will find a way to get the tickets, but you need to arrange accommodation for us."

"No problem. I'll arrange the accommodation. Before you leave, send me a telegram to let me know the train number. I'll pick you up at the station and give your father the phone number so I can have a few words with him."

"Dad, uncle wants to talk to you, please answer it."

Then he handed the phone to his father.

My father listened to my uncle talking on the phone, hummed a few times, and then handed the phone back to my mother.

My mother explained the matter of lighters to my uncle and told him to take some to Guangzhou to show him. He would be able to meet many foreign customers and could try to sell them. My uncle agreed.

After hanging up the phone, the family walked back. The mother had a smile on her face and her body was straighter.

I used to feel that my mother was worried, as if she had a heavy burden on her shoulders. It turned out that she was always worried about my two uncles.

Now my eldest uncle has been contacted, and it seems that my younger uncle can be contacted as well. The worries of more than ten years have dissipated overnight, and I feel relieved.

"Jiankun, you said you would ask your friend in Raozhou to buy a ticket to Guangshi. Are you sure?"

"It should be no problem. He travels a lot and must take the bus a lot. With our support, he has connections with many dealers and transportation departments. I'll send him a message tonight and ask him to help buy the tickets. How about the tickets for October 10st?"

"Okay, let's go home and prepare. We need to arrange things at the factory before we leave."

"Then it's settled. Father, remember to ask Hu Xiyang to go to Raozhou to get iron bars and steel bars tomorrow. Go to that steel plant to get the steel bars for building our house. I have already told the factory to keep 5 tons."

"Okay, you go to class first. Your mother and I will go back to Tsinghua to buy some raw materials and confirm with Hu Xiyang."

Wang Jiankun returned to the classroom for class and wrote down the frequency of the messages his younger uncle wrote to his older uncle, preparing to listen to it in the evening to see if he could receive any message from him.

After class in the afternoon, Wang Jiankun went back to the scrap yard to check the recycled items with Ye Wei, and then let him go home after get off work.

Wang Jiankun took out his text machine and sent a message to Cheng Yong asking him to help buy three train tickets from Raozhou to Guangzhou on the afternoon or evening of October 10st. It would be best if they had soft sleeper tickets, but hard sleeper tickets would also be acceptable.

Cheng Yong replied after a while saying that it was no problem. He was very familiar with the people in the railway system and had a buddy who was in charge of selling tickets. It would be no problem to find him. He had recently delivered lighters to stations and platforms, and that buddy was helping him make some extra money.

When Wang Jiankun heard him say this, he knew that the train ticket issue was settled, so he asked him to tell him after buying the ticket.

After evening self-study, Wang Jiankun went to Yuyu Garden to listen to the information of "Ham". When the receiving frequency was dialed to 7.00085, no information was received, only background noise.

After listening for more than 10 minutes and still hearing nothing, Wang Jiankun switched to other frequencies to listen to the conversations among the "hams" who were talking about technology.

I didn’t listen too late and went to bed at around 11: because I have to go to Dexing tomorrow to set up a mobile base station and buy some rare earth minerals.

(End of this chapter)