071 Three Communications One Flat

  "Ladies and gentlemen, Manager Lin has said that our work for this week is to complete the three connections and one leveling of the site, namely water supply, electricity supply, road access, and site leveling. Then, we will build our own factory building, after which, our Labor Service Company will have its own home!"

  Newly appointed Hanhua Industrial Production Department Director Zhao Yongqun imitated Lin Zhenhua's style, issuing orders to everyone. He, who had never done this kind of management work before, felt that he also had a bit of a leader's demeanor at this time. He recalled what Lin Zhenhua said when brainwashing him a few days ago: Being a leader is actually easy, in this position, you naturally become the leader.

  The temporary workers didn't despise Zhao Yongqun's humble words either. In their opinion, they were going to work anyway, and it was more fun for young people to work together than to be stuck in the workshop with those older generation workers. As for Zhao Yongqun, just treat him as a labor committee member from his school days, who would care about such a position?

  Peng Shaozhe was meticulous in his work, serving as the on-site engineer, responsible for drawing lines on the ground and directing temporary workers on how to work. According to Lin Zhenhua's requirements, two workshops were to be set up on this four-acre site, as well as a material warehouse and a finished product warehouse. The workshops, warehouses, and roads in between had to be paved with cement, while other areas had to be paved with coal ash. In addition, considering the heavy rainfall in the south, drainage ditches also had to be dug around the site, and wastewater was directly discharged into the irrigation canals of the surrounding villages through the factory wall. This situation was common at that time, and farmers would not say anything about it.

  At that time, every household had labor tools such as shovels, pickaxes, carrying poles and manure baskets, which were almost essential for life. When studying, everyone had the experience of "learning agriculture", let alone those educated youth workers who returned from farms, who were even more skilled in this kind of work. Sixty or seventy people rushed to work, making it seem lively and bustling, astonishing passing workers and factory leaders.

  Welder Sun Changyuan stood at the edge of the site, instructing his son Sun Xiaodong to use a die stock to thread a galvanized pipe. The long galvanized pipe was clamped in a vise, and Sun Xiaodong turned the handle of the die stock round and round, exerting force against the steel pipe. Sun Changyuan taught by example, occasionally slapping his son on the head.

  "Idiot, the silk knot is skewed!" Sun Changyuan shouted, "How many times have I told you? Both hands must use the same force, and your eyes must be watching. When I was learning this skill, if the silk knot came out this skewed, my master would directly hit me with a pipe!"

  "Dad, speak softly." Sun Xiaodong whispered, begging for mercy. Among the young workers, there was a girl he had a crush on, and he didn't want to be scolded by his father in front of her.

  "Good-for-nothing! Can't even do this right, and you're embarrassing me!" Sun Changyuan continued to scold in the local dialect, his voice not diminishing one bit. This term "good-for-nothing" is roughly synonymous with other places' "short-lived ghost", it's a way for parents to openly scold and secretly plead, hoping to gain sympathy from the gods.

  "Dad, I'm studying now."

  Peng Jun wielded the iron trowel, stirring the cement mortar with a practiced hand. He kept his head down and didn't speak to anyone, focusing solely on his work. Ever since he was rescued from his last suicide attempt, he felt too ashamed to face anyone in the factory, but as for trying again, he just couldn't muster up the courage no matter what.

  After Zhu Tiejun blasted Zhou Hui, the Light Industry Bureau finally agreed to fully accept the list of retired workers submitted by Hanhua Machinery Factory. However, the specific procedures still need some time to be completed, so Peng Jun and others are still temporary workers and need to stay in the Labor Service Company for the time being.

  Lin Zhenhua's inaugural speech stirred up a wave of ripples in Peng Jun's heart. He didn't know if Lin Zhenhua would succeed, but he had heard his father say that Lin Zhenhua was a very capable person and might really be able to accomplish something. If Lin Zhenhua could truly fulfill his promise and get the temporary workers at the service company to earn 50 yuan in wages as well, then wasn't Peng Jun's attempted suicide back then too unwarranted? And did he really have to become an official worker to gain status?

  Peng Jun couldn't find an answer for himself. All he could do was to do a better job with the things at hand, using his hard work to wash away the shame brought by the suicidal incident.

  Shi Guojun, an electrical engineering student, wore a pair of insulated shoes and was perched on top of a newly erected concrete utility pole, using pliers to secure an insulating porcelain bottle. From this height, he could see the entire work site, which gave him a long-forgotten feeling.

  Yes, when I just went to the educated youth farm, Shi Guojun had also seen such a hot scene. At that time, everyone was singing songs and had infinite hope in their hearts. However, after several years of living on the farm, the singing stopped, the hope disappeared, and everyone was waiting for the day when they would be recruited back to the city.

  The policy towards educated youth changed, and Shi Guojun returned to the city with millions of other educated youth, only to face unemployment. The temporary worker identity made him feel extremely ashamed, so he began to be indifferent to everything and scorned all grand words. His outlook on life became very realistic, and he felt that what he needed was just a formal job, the more money he earned the better, and the less work he did the better.

  But Lin Zhenhua, who was a few years younger than himself, reignited his passion with a wonderful picture, giving him an inexplicable urge. Standing on top of the utility pole, looking at his colleagues laughing and sweating, Shi Guojun couldn't help but hum a old song:

  "The fierce winds of northern Shaanxi have toughened our muscles and bones."

  The scorching sun of the south has tanned our arms black.

  The enthusiasm melted the frozen earth of Sanjiu.

  The indomitable fighting spirit overcame the muddy road of the rainy season...

  Maybe I'm still young after all, 26-year-old Shi Guojun said to himself.

  "Take a break, everyone! Come and have some ice lollies!" Newly appointed accountants Bi Min and Luo Yongmei pushed an ice cream cart over and shouted to the crowd.

  This ice stick is absolutely self-produced and self-sold. Before that, one of the important businesses of the factory's labor service company was to make ice sticks in summer and sell them to all employees in the factory. At that time, each worker in the workshop could get two ice sticks per day, while family members were issued with ice stick tickets by the factory, with 100-200 tickets per household, which was also a welfare that made people from other units in Fenghua County envy. If children around the factories wanted to eat ice sticks, they had to come to the ice stick room of Hanhua Factory to buy them, each for 2 cents. While the children of Hanhua Factory often took a whole sheet of ice stick tickets and snatched away 10 at once, making the children from other factories jealous to the point of bleeding in their eyes.

  Han Hua factory's popsicles are self-produced and self-sold, and another reason is that even the ice-making machine was produced by Han Hua factory itself. Han Hua factory is a chemical equipment manufacturing enterprise, refrigeration compressors are one of its main products, making an ice pop machine for their own factory shouldn't be difficult at all.

  "Take a break, take a break."

  Temporary workers put down their tools, gathered around, and were given ice bars by Bi Min and Luo Yangmei. Then they stood aside in twos and threes, eating ice bars while admiring their own factory area, discussing their future prospects.

  "Does this place belong to us from now on?"

  "Afterwards we can be together every day and I'm so fed up with that master in the workshop."

  "Who knows if our service company can make it."

  "It's not a service company, it's a Chinese, practical, and industrial one, remember what Manager Lin said."

  "Hey, what Xiaohua said, is it possible to achieve?"

  "I don't know, but I think Xiao Hua has changed a lot since he came back from the army. He's become capable. Look at how he managed to get the Americans to give us a high-end machine worth over $10,000. Maybe he really can turn the service company around."

  "What's the point of being done, we're still temporary workers?"

  "I don't think so, if I can earn 50 bucks a month, then being a temporary worker is just that, what's there to be afraid of."

  "Beep beep!" Zhao Yongqun blew his whistle and shouted in a loud voice, "Alright, have you rested enough? Let's get back to work!"