Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 452 A Decade of Rapid Development
"Jianye, you've done a great job lately. I'll promote you to intermediate researcher after National Day next year."

Zhou Fengnian said to Luo Jianye in the car, "Keep this drive, and in another two years I can promote you to associate senior professional. But don't slack off. If you're not capable, don't blame me for personally removing you from your post."

Last time, Zhou Yan told him to ask Luo Jianye to take care of the family. Zhou Fengnian later made a phone call in front of Zhou Yan and said the same thing.

However, in private, Zhou Fengnian changed his tune and became stricter with Luo Jianye.

When it comes to scientific research, if you don't work hard when you're young, when will you? Besides, research takes time to hone, and working overtime is unavoidable.

Luo Jianye is talented and driven, and Zhou Fengnian thinks that he should have no problem becoming the director of the research institute before he turns forty.

Luo Jianye scratched his head and laughed, "Uncle Zhou, don't worry, I definitely won't let you down."

Zhou Fengnian added, "But you still need to settle things at home. At your age, you should have a descendant, otherwise your grandmother will worry every day."

Look at my son, how carefree he is after having a son and a daughter, he doesn't have to worry about anything at all.

Zhou Xianyang kept saying he wanted to cultivate a good relationship with his son and daughter, but when he got busy, he forgot about it.

Bai Qing'an is now taking care of the children. She's gotten a bit tired of filming, so she's even quit her job at the performing arts troupe to stay home and take care of her two children.

However, sometimes he would go to a neighboring city to find Zhou Xianyang and leave the two children with Zhou Yan and Gong Lin.

Luo Jianye said somewhat embarrassedly, "Zhaoxue and I will try our best." He was a little embarrassed to say such a thing in front of his elders.

Zhou Fengnian only gave a few words of advice, and then stopped talking about such matters and started talking about the robotics research institute.

The two families had a good relationship, and he often gave Luo Jianye extra tutoring. Of course, Zhou Fengnian didn't hold back with other students either; he taught them everything he needed to and everything they wanted to learn without reservation.

Other students, however, could not be as close to Zhou Fengnian as Luo Jianye, who would often visit his home in private and ask him questions.

After chatting in the car for a while, they soon arrived at the Robotics Research Institute. Zhou Fengnian did not go in with them, but only instructed Lu Junfeng to complete the task well.

Next year's National Day will be of paramount importance. If we can't intimidate the enemy, they'll have no choice but to resort to war.

On the way back, Zhou Fengnian suddenly saw a crowd gathered outside a storefront across the street through the car window and couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Li, what's that store? Why are there so many people gathered there?"

Zhou Fengnian's driver and security guard glanced out the window and said, "Oh, over there? It looks like a foreign restaurant, I heard it's a chicken place. We have chicken restaurants here, why is foreign chicken so popular?"

"Maybe they've never seen this before, but is this foreign fast food?"

Zhou Fengnian took another look. It didn't seem to be KFC. Why was there a middle-aged man's face on the store sign, but there was indeed a picture of a hamburger next to it?

What's wrong with this face?

While waiting for the red light, Zhou Fengnian glanced at the face hanging at the shop entrance again and noticed that it looked somewhat like his older brother, Zhou Weitian.

The more Zhou Fengnian looked at it, the more it resembled his older brother, and he even began to believe that the shop was owned by his elder brother.

If that's the case, Zhou Fengnian wouldn't find it strange, after all, his older brother runs a catering company; he currently owns restaurants, hot pot restaurants, and Chinese fast food restaurants.

If people see that KFC is making money abroad, it's not surprising that they might be tempted to open a similar one; those hamburgers and fried chicken don't require any special skills, and you can make them by imitating them.

"Xiao Li, could you please come over and buy me a hamburger later? I'll have this for lunch."

Zhou Fengnian said to his driver, "Get reimbursed by the office when you get back."

Driver Xiao Li asked hesitantly, "Sir, is it alright to eat these?"

"With so many people eating, what could possibly happen? Just listen to me."

It's been almost thirty years since Zhou Fengnian last ate fried chicken and hamburgers, so seeing them suddenly made him quite eager to try them.

It was almost noon when we got back to the Academy of Sciences, so we had only wasted less than three hours in the morning.

After Zhou Fengnian got out of the car, Xiao Li drove back to buy fried chicken and hamburgers; however, the closer it got to noon, the more people there were, and Xiao Li waited in line for more than half an hour before it was his turn.

In the middle of the night, Qian Zhi even called to inquire. As Zhou Fengnian's driver and security guard, Xiao Li also had a mobile phone. After learning that Zhou Fengnian was waiting for a Western meal outside, Qian Zhi came to ask how much longer it would take, so as not to let the leader go hungry for too long.

Xiao Li was helpless; there were so many people that he couldn't even squeeze in unless he revealed his identity, but that would violate the rules.

About ten minutes later, it was Xiao Li's turn. He didn't know which one was good, but since the store didn't have many options, he bought one of everything, including the juice.

It cost a little over twenty yuan in total, and as Xiao Li left, he was still muttering that this thing was really expensive.

These days, a meal for three people at a restaurant costs only twenty or thirty yuan, but the things he bought probably aren't even enough for him to eat alone.

These days, apart from a few domestically developed products like computers and mobile phones, most other products are foreign goods that sell better.

Zhou Jia'an's garment factory has grown to such a large size mainly because it produces imitations of foreign clothing.

The reason why Zhou Xianyang and Ren Zheng's cinema is doing so well is because they screen many foreign films; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to make so much money.

When KFC first entered the market, it was much more popular than Yushantang. At its peak, it earned over 100,000 yuan a day. Although it didn't earn as much as on the first day, it was still very popular.

After Zhou Fengnian waited in the office for the hamburger that Xiao Li had bought, he tasted it and felt that it tasted similar to what he remembered.

"It's just something to change things up; it's still not as good as Sichuan cuisine."

After finishing his meal quickly, Zhou Fengnian continued with his work. Recently, his main focus has been scientific research and development. The more he learns now, the more he finds unacceptable.

Who knows, when he gets old he might have to take charge of the medical field, and at that time Zhou Fengnian might become a miracle doctor.

------

In 1999, just one year before the new century, China had completely changed.

Skyscrapers replaced the dilapidated bungalows and small buildings of the past, and many high-rise buildings, including dozens of stories high, were erected in Beijing.

Nanluoguxiang remains the same as before; high-rise buildings are not allowed here, and it is still a hutong (alleyway) full of courtyard houses.

Today is Saturday, and Zhou Fengnian rarely wanted to rest at home for a day. However, Saturday is supposed to be a holiday, so he just told the nanomaterials project team that he wouldn't be going today.

With the sunlight shining brightly, Zhou Fengnian sat on a deck chair in the courtyard, watching the news on his tablet.

In recent years, no matter how busy he is, he will still set aside half an hour to an hour every day to watch the news, so as not to let himself become disconnected from the world.

Zhou Fengnian's face also showed many wrinkles, after all, he was almost sixty years old. Cell evolution serum is not a panacea. Zhou's father also injected serum and improved his physique, but it did not make him young again. He was just healthier and more energetic. However, in the past two years, Zhou's father has been considering retirement. He is struggling with who to hand over the chili sauce factory to.

The Zhou Family Chili Sauce Factory now boasts a substantial output value, with annual revenue of 2.9 billion yuan, and its chili sauce occupies half of the domestic market.

Zhou's father is over eighty years old. Although he can still work, he doesn't want to keep working at the chili sauce factory.

Last year, I told my family that I planned to hand over the chili sauce factory, but not many people were willing to take it over. It's not that they were unwilling, but most people didn't have the time.

Although Zhou's father intended the inheritance for his great-great-grandson, his eldest great-great-grandson, Zhou Zeqian, is only fourteen years old, and the others are even younger.

The Zhou brothers, Zhou Xianyang and Zhou Xianzhe, who are twice as busy, have even less time; they are already struggling to manage their own companies, let alone take over a chili sauce factory.

Even though the Zhou family's chili sauce factory had an output value of over 10 billion yuan, after going around in circles at home, Zhou's father still couldn't shake it off.

The final decision was that he would be the nominal chairman, and a vice president would be promoted to the position. Zhou's father could visit him from time to time, so that he wouldn't be completely detached from the role.

The Zhou family is always busy; the only ones who might have a moment of leisure are Zhou Xiaomei and her husband Xu Zhenyu.

One is a university professor, and the other is an associate senior researcher, currently working at the Institute of Materials Science; they are not particularly busy, but they have much more free time than Zhou Fengnian.

Although Zhou Fengnian strengthened his physique, it actually allowed him to work even more. With improved health, he no longer had to worry about issues like lack of energy.

Aside from spending time with family and teaching children to play, Zhou Fengnian usually leaves home at seven o'clock and returns at eleven o'clock.

After Zhou Yan reminded him several times, she gave up when she saw that she couldn't persuade Zhou Fengnian. After all, the projects that kept Zhou Fengnian so busy that he was never home were all projects that were very important to national defense.

Moreover, Zhou Fengnian promised to give her a physical examination every month, which put Zhou Yan at ease.

Zhou Yan has now retired. She reached retirement age a few years ago, but she didn't covet her position. Once she reached retirement age, she took the initiative to apply for retirement from the organization.

However, he did not retire immediately, but instead went to the second tier and was promoted one level.

The organization's decision to promote Zhou Yan was based on careful consideration. Although Zhou Yan hadn't actively engaged in any "exploration" over the years, she had received a great deal of support from those around her.

Did Zhou Xianyang donate several hundred thousand yuan to education in Dongcheng District, or to the health system and police stations?

Over the course of ten years, it has accumulated to twenty or thirty million.

Not only Zhou Xianyang, but also Zhou Xianzhe, Zhou Xianrui, Zhou Weitian and Zhou Jia'an have donated a lot to Dongcheng District, which has greatly improved the education and sanitation environment of Dongcheng District.

Other departments also benefited greatly.

In the last few years, Zhou Yan sat there doing nothing, and all the credit went to her.

This is also why the leaders kept Zhou Yan for another term. She is a money-making machine; even if she sits in the office doing nothing, she can still solve a lot of problems.

Over the past decade, five new primary schools have been added to Dongcheng District, and other schools have undergone a complete transformation. The health system has also been largely transformed. All of this is thanks to Zhou Yan.

"grandfather!"

A familiar voice came from the middle courtyard. Zhou Fengnian looked up and saw his very smart grandson, Zhou Zeqian, returning with his schoolbag on his back.

"Well, did you talk to the teacher?"

Zhou Fengnian asked with a smile, then looked behind Zhou Zeqian and, finding no one had followed, continued, "Where is your grandmother?"

"Grandma and Mom went shopping and said they'd be having hot pot tonight, so I came back first."

Zhou Zeqian said calmly, "The school has agreed, and I can take the college entrance examination next June."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, Grandpa. If the college entrance exams weren't held at the same time, I'd be confident right now."

When Zhou Zeqian said this, he showed no pride or smugness, as if he were recounting a very ordinary event.

Zhou Zeqian is fourteen years old now and will only be fifteen next year. It is quite rare for him to be admitted to university. Bai Qing'an, as his mother, was already very happy to know that her son was taking the college entrance examination. It was her suggestion to have hot pot.

Zhou Zeqian is now Zhou Fengnian's most outstanding student. In the past ten years, he has not only completed all the courses in high school, but also started to take university courses two years ago.

Not only is he smart, but he also has exceptional self-discipline; once he decides to study, he can sit still for six or seven hours without moving.

He's much better than Zhou Xianyang, his father. Although Zhou Xianyang was smart when he was young, he couldn't sit still at all and would go and dominate Nanluoguxiang whenever he had free time.

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "Well done. What major do you want to study after you get into university?"

Zhou Zeqian shook his head and said, "I don't know. I don't know what I should study. I want to wait until I get to university to see. But if I were to choose a major, I would like to apply for nuclear physics first."

“In that case, you’ll have to think about school. The Northeast is fine too, your eldest and second uncles go there often, but I suggest you stay in Beijing.”

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Fengnian said, "I also know a little about this, and I can teach you in private."

Zhou Zeqian looked up at Zhou Fengnian, then asked, "Grandpa, is there anything you can't do?"

When he was a child, he was often taken to meet some adults, and sometimes Zhou Fengnian took him to meet some white-haired scientists.

Zhou Zeqian knew many people back then, and they kept in touch even after he went to high school. Zhou Zeqian would occasionally visit them to give them gifts.

At that time, Zhou Zeqian asked those people how much a person could learn. Without exception, the people Zhou Zeqian asked all said that being able to achieve results in a field was already the best thing a genius could do.

He also advised him not to be overly ambitious, and to wait until he went to university and understood the depth and breadth of a field before considering things outside of it.

In other words, Zhou Zeqian was a child prodigy from a young age, with outstanding learning and comprehension abilities, which is why Zhou Fengnian's old acquaintances like Yan Zhengzhi kept giving him advice and guidance.

They also hoped to cultivate a talent for the country. After seeing Zhou Zeqian, Yan Zhengzhi felt that if Zhou Zeqian was properly nurtured, his future achievements would definitely surpass his.

He wasn't this smart when he was a child.

"Haha, there are many games I don't know how to play. At least I don't know how to play the few games that have just come out. Your dad plays them much better than I do."

But if you want to learn, Grandpa definitely knows it all, and he'll teach you everything later.

Zhou Fengnian said with a smile, "Next time your dad comes to me to play games, you help Grandpa teach him a good lesson."

(End of this chapter)