Beating the dead tiger

  Lin Zhenhua's body, which he had inherited, was quite good at holding its liquor. The night before, he had gotten drunk to the point where he was stumbling around, but by the next morning, Lin Zhenhua had completely recovered. His sister Xiaofang saw that her brother was once again in high spirits and couldn't help but think of how scared she had been the night before, so she grabbed his ear and scolded him nonstop until Lin Zhenhua threatened to get angry, at which point she reluctantly went off to school with a lingering sense of grievance.

  Yang Xin ran to Lin Fanghua's bed to sleep in the second half of the night, and now got up with a yawn, busy cooking porridge for Lin Zhenhua, before rushing back home to dress up and prepare for work.

  Lin Zhenhua had just finished his breakfast and was walking towards the office building of the factory department with a heavy heart. As soon as he arrived at the door, he met Zhu Tiejun coming out of the building with an angry look on his face.

  "Director Zhu, good morning." Lin Zhenhua greeted Zhu Tiejun.

  "Kobayashi, do you have anything today?" Zhu Tiejun asked.

  "There's nothing."

  "Then let's get going, come with me to Nandu." Zhu Tiejun instructed without allowing any discussion.

  "Me?" Lin Zhenhua was somewhat perplexed, "What's going on, is there something technical that you need me for?"

  "It's not a technical issue, it's a labor relations matter, I need to go to the Labor Bureau." said Zhu Tiejun.

  Lin Zhenhua was even more confused, Zhu Tiejun is the deputy factory director in charge of production, labor and capital affairs should be handled by Liang Guangping, when did Zhu Tiejun want to take over? Moreover, Lin Zhenhua himself is the deputy head of the technical department, why does he need to accompany Zhu Tiejun on labor and capital affairs?

  "Don't ask so many questions, let's go." Zhu Tiejun said, the old man didn't know where he had been holding back a belly full of evil fire, his words were very aggressive, and Lin Zhenhua couldn't ask any more questions.

  "Alright." Lin Zhenhua nodded in agreement. Anyway, there was nothing else to do, so he might as well accompany Zhu Tiejun on a trip to the provincial city.

  The Hanhua factory had more than a dozen vehicles, including three jeeps, which were specifically for the leaders to go out and handle affairs. These three jeeps were also different from each other. One was an authentic Beijing Jeep, one was a "Gangshan" brand jeep produced by Jiangnan Province, and the last one was even more legendary, with a vertical rear American-made military jeep. Lin Zhenhua had inquired about it before, and this American jeep was actually captured by the volunteer army during the Korean War, nearly 30 years ago, and incredibly, it could still be driven, and its off-road performance was still excellent.

  Now, Lin Zhenhua and Zhu Tiejun are sitting in this American Jeep, speeding towards the provincial capital of Nandu. The driver, Wang Qihu, is also a retired soldier with excellent driving skills. Whenever he sees a fast-moving car on the road, he wants to race against it. This old car in his hands is surprisingly driven like a racing car.

  "Director Zhu, what's going on this time you're going to the hall?" Lin Zhenhua asked along the way.

  "Peng Gang and others are going to handle the matter of sick leave, did you know?" Zhu Tiejun asked back.

  "I knew it... What, you said 'they'? Isn't it just Master Peng alone?"

  Zhu Tiejun nodded: "There are 25 in the whole factory, all of them are backbone workers." As he said this, he read out a few names to Lin Zhenhua, and Lin Zhenhua couldn't help but take a cold breath.

  "Isn't that the case? All these masters are going to retire on medical grounds, what's the point of our factory then?" Lin Zhenhua couldn't help but complain. There were 25 workers in total, more than half of whom were excellent technicians who held important positions in various workshops. If all these people retired, the technical level of Hanhua Factory would drop significantly.

  "What else can they do if they don't let them retire?" Zhu Tiejun said angrily, "They're all like Peng Gang, their children at home are already grown up, but they've always been treated as temporary workers. When the Peng Jun incident happened, these parents were all scared out of their wits, afraid that their own children would also do something reckless. Now, it's as if they had an agreement, they all went to the county hospital to get a certificate and apply for medical retirement."

  "Can the Light Industry Bureau agree?" Lin Zhenhua asked, this kind of thing is not something that Hanhua Machinery Factory can decide on its own, it must be reported to the Light Industry Bureau for approval. And the officials of the Light Industry Bureau are not outsiders either, how would they not know the value of excellent technicians? It's strange if they can approve it.

  Zhu Tiejun said: "The Light Industry Bureau would not agree, of course. Yesterday, Old Liang went to the Light Industry Bureau and was directly rejected. They said that at most they could only approve 5 of them, and the remaining 20 could not be approved. Last night, the factory leaders held a meeting to discuss it, and the result of the discussion was that no matter who was left behind, it would not be possible. Later I said, okay, I'll go to the Light Industry Bureau, I'll go talk to those people."

  Lin Zhenhua had heard about it before, every time he encountered something difficult to handle, Zhu Tiejun would stand up and take the lead. Other factory leaders could do some other things, but when it came to dealing with provincial officials, only Zhu Tiejun had such courage.

  "But you come to the provincial government office to handle affairs, what does it have to do with me?" Lin Zhenhua still didn't understand.

  Zhu Tiejun said: "I'm not running into you, I'll just take you with me. If it were someone else, I wouldn't even want to bring them."

  "That... I am overwhelmed with fear." Lin Zhenhua said gloomily.

  The jeep drove into the southern urban area of the provincial city. Wang Qiu Hu was very familiar with the Light Industry Hall, and he directly drove the car into the courtyard of the Light Industry Hall, parking it under a shaded tree. At that time, there were not many cars in the province, and empty parking spaces could be seen everywhere.

  Zhu Tiejun strode into the office building of the Light Industry Bureau, carrying a bag full of materials, and headed straight for the Labor Capital Section. Lin Zhenhua had no choice but to follow closely behind him. A minor clerk at the Labor Capital Section asked Zhu Tiejun his identity before leading him and Lin Zhenhua to the section chief's office. Only the section chief could receive a factory director who came in person to handle affairs.

  The head of the labor capital department was named Zhou Hui, a woman comrade in her 40s. As soon as she saw Zhu Tiejun, she asked: "Director Zhu, how did you end up coming? Isn't this matter under Old Liang's jurisdiction? I talked to Old Liang yesterday and could only approve five, so what's going on, have you two already discussed it?"

  Zhu Tiejun put on a stern face, placed the file bag containing the medical retirement materials of 25 workers on Zhou Hui's desk, and sat down on the sofa beside him. He said to Zhou Hui: "Our factory department has already discussed it, the requirements of the Light Industry Bureau, we cannot meet them, these 25 workers must be medically retired, there is no room for negotiation."

  Zhou Hui's face sank: "Director Zhu, as the director, do you know that these workers are all technical backbones of Hanhua Factory? If they all quit at once, how can your production be guaranteed?"

  Zhu Tiejun said: "Of course, I know this point, and I am in charge of production myself. However, they indeed have practical difficulties, and the procedures for retiring due to illness are complete, we have no reason not to approve."

  Zhou Hui picked up the materials, flipped through them, and asked, "Old Zhu, have you guys ever verified whether these workers are really sick? I think these hospital diagnosis forms may not be reliable."

  Zhu Tiejun smiled coldly and said: "I dare to guarantee it with my party spirit."

  "How dare you guarantee?" Zhou Hui asked back.

  Zhu Tiejun said: "That's right, I dare guarantee it. I guarantee that all these workers are in good physical condition and can even beat a tiger to death."

  Zhou Hui was stunned, she had expected Zhu Tiejun to be evasive and ambiguous, but she hadn't expected him to admit so bluntly that all the disability applications were fake.

  "Old Zhu, you're not kidding, are you?"

  "I'm not kidding, I'm with them every day, wouldn't I know if their bodies are sick or not?"

  "If that's the case, why did you agree to their sick leave? Isn't this a blatant deception of the organization?" Zhou Hui asked somewhat irritably.

  Zhu Tiejun stood up and walked to Zhou Hui's desk, staring at her and asking: "Why do my workers have to apply for medical retirement? Don't you really know?"

  "How am I supposed to know?" Zhou Hui was stared at by Zhu Tiejun until he felt a bit hairy.

  "I'm telling you, because their kids don't have jobs, they can only work as temps in the factory. Because there's no work, these kids can't even get a girlfriend, one talks and it's over. Just two weeks ago, our worker's kid, a 27-year-old young man, drank pesticide for this reason and almost lost his life. What do you think, if you were that worker, how would you feel?"

  Zhou Hui paused for a moment and replied: "As for this issue, you can explain to the workers that it is a temporary difficulty of the country, and the country will..."

  "Sooner or later, when will it be?" Zhu Tiejun slammed his hand on the table and shouted loudly: "You officials, of course, don't have to worry about your children. The sons and daughters of those in power, which one didn't immediately get arranged to work at a subordinate enterprise after graduating from school? Take your child, Director Zhou Hui, isn't he now working as a worker at the Petrochemical Machinery Factory? You people have no worries, so you can talk like this. Our workers have no rights and no influence, no backdoors, they have no way to solve their children's employment problems except by humiliating themselves!"

  "Old Zhu, Old Zhu!" Zhou Hui hastily stood up and first went to close the door, then looked at Lin Zhenhua who was sitting aside without making a sound. Then he said to Zhu Tiejun: "Director Zhu, you can't say it like that. Indeed, the children of the Light Industry Department, according to policy, have been arranged relatively smoothly. How about this, let's discuss the situation of these workers in your factory again and try our best to satisfy their demands. We are all parents after all, with a heart that pities all parents."

  "That's all, Director Zhou." Zhu Tiejun got the promise from Zhou Hui and stopped bothering him. He coldly said thank you and took Lin Zhenhua out of the labor office together.

  As he walked out of the office building of Qinghua Hall, Zhu Tiejun turned back to ask Lin Zhenhua: "Little Lin, you've seen everything. What do you think?"

  "Director Zhu, you just... Ah, that's really cool." Lin Zhenhua said helplessly.

  "Alas!" Zhu Tiejun let out a long sigh, "All 25 of our backbone members, you think I can bear to let them go? Alas, forget it. Let Wang Qiuhu come and drive us over, we'll find a place to have some drinks."

  "Still drinking?" Lin Zhenhua was so angry he could have knocked his head against the ground.