Classmate in the second semester

  Since he went to the county middle school boarding school in high school, he didn't care much about the factory's affairs. Later, after being admitted to the police academy and assigned to the criminal police team, he became even more indifferent to the factory's affairs. Every time he returned home, he would only stay for a day or two, mainly to make up for lost sleep, and then eat a meal before having to return to the team immediately. As a young man who had just been assigned to the criminal police team, his leaders were keeping an eye on him, and it was already good if he could go home once a month.

  "You don't need to comfort me, you also know the situation at my home. My dad is useless, can't even get a job, let alone find a leader to help him. My mom doesn't work either. The factory has already been very kind to me by giving me a job, and now my younger brother is about to graduate from high school, and there's still another younger sister, I don't know what to do." Wu Changqing said with a sigh.

  Zhao Guotong also felt a bit helpless. The teaching level of the factory's affiliated school was just that, and although the treatment of teachers in the affiliated school was better than local schools, the teaching level was not on the same line. Compared to Jiangmiao Middle School, it was far inferior, let alone Jiangkou County Middle School. With the poor academic atmosphere, it was no wonder that the probability of getting into college had always been zero.

  When I was in junior high school, my grades were among the top two classes in the grade, and I barely passed the entrance exam to Jiangkou County Middle School. In all these years of family schools, I am still the first one to be admitted to Jiangkou County Middle School.

  As soon as I arrived at the county middle school, I immediately felt a gap between myself and others. The academic atmosphere and teaching quality were completely different. No matter how hard I tried, I was always among the last few in class until my third year of high school when I barely managed to catch up with the average level. In the end, I managed to get accepted into the Provincial Public Security Vocational School, which caused quite a stir at the First Textile Factory in Andu.

  That is to say, as long as you are studying in a children's school, the most you can get is a high school diploma, and then wait for a quota in the factory to go to work. Wanting to take an exam in a children's school to attend a vocational school or university is simply harder than a bull giving birth.

  It's been okay for the past two years, and the factory's efficiency has been passable. The employment of the factory's children hasn't been a big problem, but it's not easy to find a department with good pay and benefits that isn't too stressful. Like Wu Changqing's machine repair workshop, which can only be considered an average department, it's not very tiring, just a bit dirty, but the income is not good.

  "Changqing, just focus on your work for now. If you perform well, who knows, maybe the leader will take notice of you and make some adjustments." These bland words of comfort didn't even convince Zhao Guotian himself, but he couldn't think of anything better to say to console the other person.

  "It's just that, in the past two years and this year, our factory has recruited a lot of workers, mainly female workers, but also some male workers. I'm guessing that next year's recruitment might be uncertain. My younger brother graduated this year, if he doesn't have anywhere to go, how about letting him come to your Jiangmiao Police Station to work as a joint defense guard?" Wu Changqing thought for a moment and suddenly said.

  "When did Lianfeng? Second faction?" Zhao Guotang furrowed his brow, "Changqing, why do you want your brother to do this? Besides, Lianfeng usually requires retired military personnel, but your brother has never been a soldier, can he do it?"

  Zhao Guotong has not yet officially started working at the police station, but he has been working in the public security bureau for almost a year and knows that it is customary for police stations to recruit joint defense team members from retired military personnel. Generally speaking, each police station has a number of joint defense team members equivalent to the number of civilian police officers, and the number of joint defense team members in rural police stations is even more. They are mostly organized under the name of the district workers' committee, but are responsible for business management by the police station.

  "Huh, isn't this all thanks to you? Must all the members of the joint defense team be veterans?" Wu Changqing laughed with a slightly drunken smile, his eyes also slightly red. A bottle of Liu Lang Spring had already been emptied, and Zhao Guotang, considering he still had to report to the police station in the afternoon, only casually drank two cups, while the rest were all taken care of by Wu Changqing.

  Zhao Guodong certainly knew there were exceptions, but that required the leader's nod of approval. The so-called leaders were at least the director, instructor or deputy director, or the leadership of the workers' committee or township level. As a newcomer, how could he have any say in these matters? However, he also didn't want to ruin the other person's enthusiasm, and it wasn't good for classmates to meet for the first time and immediately dampen each other's spirits.

  "Ah, let's just talk about it later. We'll try then." Zhao Guotang also knew that his words had a somewhat official tone, but he couldn't help it. In front of others, he could make bold promises and even if they didn't come true, it wouldn't matter. But in front of this old classmate, although Wu Changqing's relationship with him was just ordinary, if he broke his promise, wouldn't he be ridiculed by their classmates back at the factory?

  "Hmm, just keep it in mind. Alas, among our generation, only you have managed to make something of yourself. Kong Yue and Fang Zi's children also took the exam and got into Jiang Miao Middle School, but they still ended up coming back with their tails between their legs, relying on the factory for a job."

  Wu Changqing took out a cigarette from his pants pocket and handed one to Zhao Guotang, who was Axiu.

  It seems that Changqing is not doing well, they all say it's a bad mix. He smokes Jiaxiu, which costs only 1 yuan and 50 cents a pack. Almost no one in the Public Security Bureau smokes Jiaxiu, except for some old comrades whose families are in rural areas. Young people at least smoke Feicui or Hongmei, or else it's Chahua.

  Feicui three yuan five one pack, Hongmei three blocks eight one pack, Chahua four blocks one pack, in the Public Security Bureau is considered to be a relatively affordable cigarette.

  Zhao Guotong threw the cigarette back, "I don't smoke, but I have cigarettes in my bag, so let's just smoke mine."

  Zhao Guodong turned around, took out a pack of Ashima, tore off the tin foil paper on the top, and threw one away. A pack of Ashima has six pieces for five yuan, generally speaking, it's usually smoked by middle-ranking officials with long numbers in the bureau. Zhao Guodong came to Jiangmiao Police Station to report for duty for the first time today, originally planning to buy a pack of Hongtashan, but thinking again that he was unclear about his position here, buying too good cigarettes might give the leaders of Jiangmiao Police Station a bad impression, so he changed to Ashima.

  Wu Changqing's eyes lit up, he took the cigarette, struck a match to light it, and greedily took a big drag. A faint blue mist slowly emerged from his nostrils.

  "Guo Dong, I'm just regretful that I didn't study hard back then. Look at how you're doing now, sigh... Ah Shi Ma, heh heh, usually I only dare to take a glance at the cigarette stall, one pack is equivalent to my weekly cigarette money." Wu Changqing said with satisfaction after taking two puffs.

  "Chang Qing, don't think that the Public Security Bureau is so great. I don't even smoke, and isn't today my first day coming to Jiangmiao Police Station to report? You have to at least pretend to offer a pack of decent cigarettes to build some rapport, you know. Do you think everyone in the Public Security Bureau can just smoke Aishima? That's not how it works."

  Zhao Guotang explained with a somewhat sarcastic tone, "This guy thinks about everything in association, how did he become so sentimental and fussy like a woman? Is it because the factory is dominated by yin energy and lacks yang energy, making these men who work in the factory all become effeminate? The former Wu Changqing was not like this."

  "Hmph, don't think I don't know. Even the guards at your Jiang Temple police station are smoking Red Plum Jade, and they don't even need to spend money on it. Every day, people who go to your police station to do business get one circle each, enough to show their respect."

  Wu Changqing raised his head, shook it and said with more bloodshot eyes, "They came out, who wouldn't give them some face? Walking around the street for a circle, both ears would be filled up, guaranteed to last half a day. If they ran into someone familiar, they could even get a free meal, wasn't this life carefree?"

  Zhao Guotong certainly knew that the other party was telling the truth. The joint defense personnel in the police station were originally one level lower than the civilian police, and their welfare treatment was also poor. If they couldn't even get this little benefit, who would be willing to come and work? However, Zhao Guotong also knew about the hardships of the joint defense personnel. Once something happened, the hard work, dangerous work, and work that offended people were all things that the civilian police wouldn't do, but the joint defense personnel had to do.

  "Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Did Kong Yue and the others also return to work at the factory?" Zhao Guo changed the subject.

  "You little scamp, I knew you'd ask that question." Wu Changqing smiled mysteriously, "Kong Yue didn't get into Jiangmiao Middle School, so she went to County Middle School for two years of remedial studies, but still didn't get in. In the end, she had no choice but to return to the factory and is now working in the personnel department."

  Zhao Guotong was a bit embarrassed and scratched his head. At the beginning of the third year, Kong Yue was indeed famous as the class flower. At that time, Zhao Guotong had some extra energy and had a little intention to pursue Kong Yue, but she didn't have any interest in him at all.

  Later, Zhao Guotong performed well in the high school entrance examination and was admitted to Jiangkou County Middle School, while Kong Yue only entered Jiangmiao High School. In the three years of high school, Zhao Guotong had little contact with each other, and when he returned home, he just greeted each other. After entering the police academy, they basically lost contact.

  "Oh, where's Zhao Guotang?" Zhao Guotang and Fang Zhuan had always gotten along well, but for the past half year or so, since he joined the criminal police force, he hardly had any time to go home, spending all his time at work overtime on cases. As a result, they hadn't been in touch much, only knowing that he too had entered the factory, but not knowing where exactly he worked.

  "Alas, don't even mention the house being fully paid off. It's really unlucky that the house is fully paid off. You can't imagine where he will arrange it." Wu Changqing sighed.

  "What's going on here?" Zhao Guotang was shocked, and it seemed like something had happened in the whole house.

  "Boiler room!" Wu Changqing said word by word.

  "What? The boiler room?" Zhao Guotang couldn't believe his ears.

  The boiler room in this textile mill is no different from others. The female workers work in three shifts, which are called "three shifts and two turns". The long white shift refers to the normal working hours, the night shift is from 4 pm to 12 am, and the middle shift is from 12 am to 8 am the next day.

  Because the female workers are in contact with dust every day, the workshop temperature is high, and the dust is heavy. After three shifts, almost all the female workers have to take a bath. The boiler room is busy 24 hours a day, also divided into three shifts. This is a hard and tiring job. Generally speaking, it's done by recruited workers from outside, how would the children of this factory end up there?

  "Ah, the boiler room." Wu Changqing's face also looked a bit unsightly. "His dad got into trouble and was removed from his position. He happened to arrive at the factory at this time, otherwise he would have only been a scapegoat?"

  "What's wrong with his dad?" Zhao Guotang knew that the house was fully owned by his father, who was the team leader of the factory's vehicle fleet. The factory had dozens of vehicles of all sizes, which were all allocated by him, and he also had a good relationship with the leaders, making him a key figure.

  "There was a car accident, drunk driving, two people were seriously injured, fortunately no one died, now they have been taken to the hospital." Wu Changqing said lightly.

  Get off the bus? Zhao Guotang thought for a moment, this is too cruel, right?

  Zhao Guotang seemed skeptical, so Wu Changqing added casually: "Secretary Xie, who had a good relationship with his father, retired at the age of 60 last year."

  It turns out that Zhao Guo has a good understanding of the situation, and he is also a student union cadre in school. He must have some skills to be able to get a position in the student union, although being the deputy leader of the discipline inspection team doesn't count for much. However, he vaguely knows the subtleties of this matter.

  Zhao Guodong nodded silently, as the saying goes, "one day an emperor, one day a minister". The factory party secretary was also a figure who had the final say in the factory, but once retired, his influence naturally greatly decreased. Moreover, he had already retired for three years. The position of team leader was originally a lucrative post, and the current leadership would naturally arrange their own preferred person. Being able to endure for so long and take advantage of this opportunity to make things difficult was already quite rare.