Chapter 1335 - Open Teaching Day
"The fuck, and another thing—that Henan Province Second Construction Engineering Company in '72 had 3,000 workers, about the same as our civil construction now. But they had over 100 machines totaling 8,000 horsepower! First year they completed 30,000 square meters—that's the standard. The fuck—the Executive Committee won't even give us steel, and even a few steam-powered bulldozers took forever to get approved. I only have this many people under me—expecting me to do 30,000-plus square meters of apartment buildings in six months, is that even possible? The superiority of the Council doesn't extend that far!"
Yang Yun choked on his food and hastily washed down the last few bites with kvass. Dai Xiu, who had finished eating earlier, naturally took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.
"That girl isn't your life secretary, is she? Looks a bit too young." Zhang Xingpei suddenly changed the subject.
Dai Xiu turned bright red and grabbed the bowls and chopsticks, fleeing as if escaping to wash dishes with Zhang Xingpei's secretary.
"Stop talking nonsense—this girl is an administrative intern assigned to me."
"So you've been 'interning' her?"
"You... You little bastard, can you not be such a beast?" Yang Yun's face was filled with righteous indignation. "I'm a proper HR! Back in the day I had if not a thousand then eight hundred female workers under me, all young and beautiful girls. If I wanted to mess around with female workers, it would've been a matter of seconds. Did you see me do it? A person needs to have some baseline..."
"Hmph hmph, who knows about you—you beasts who sit in offices, not even sparing such young girls. Last time someone even got her knocked up—truly beasts among beasts!" Zhang Xingpei's face was full of righteous indignation, then he sighed: "If I'd known, I wouldn't have done construction—I'd have become a beast too!"
"Your secretary is a B-level! Much prettier than this girl."
"You get tired of eating good things all the time. Besides, commanding a bunch of pigs at this construction site, I'm more tired than a pig myself—no energy for that!"
"..." Yang Yun knew that worker quality issues were something transmigrators had complained about for a long time. Slightly better seedlings generally wouldn't end up at the construction company. In many people's view, a construction company just needed people with strength to carry bricks and haul dirt—being a bit stupid was fine. Under this guiding philosophy, many naturalized citizen workers eliminated by other departments and enterprises got dumped on the construction company.
"From the Shandong migrants, I'll definitely pick out the carpenters and masons for you..."
"That would be best. Though their skills differ wildly from our techniques, at least they understand how to work—at minimum they know how to lay bricks." Zhang Xingpei picked his teeth. "Also, about the thing you promised last time about adding construction team apprentices—how's that going?"
"I won't shortchange you—I'll definitely get you your quota."
Dai Dehou didn't wake up until noon when his wife came to call him for lunch, and only then did he rub his sleepy eyes and get up.
By the time he'd dressed and pulled aside the mosquito net, his son Dai Yu was sitting at the dinner table by the door, eyes eager.
His wife covered the iron pot on the coal stove by the door and brought over the last dish. Ever since Lingao Coal Company had started promoting honeycomb briquettes—with free coal stoves for anyone who ordered a three-year supply—these things had caught fire. They'd already unified the county seat and all the markets. Burning honeycomb briquettes was much more economical than burning wood.
One side room housed three generations of the whole family. Three long benches with brick legs and bamboo plank beds served as their beds; add two chests and the small space was packed full. It had taken considerable thought to arrange everything. They could only cook and set the table at the doorway. But compared to what the family had eaten back in Danzhou, this meal was sumptuous: fish balls with lettuce, shrimp paste with cucumber, dry-braised eggplant, tomato soup, and steaming hot rice.
Never mind the variety of dishes—even before, rice wasn't something they could eat their fill of every day. The leaders were capable: though Lingao had suffered a typhoon this year, the rice harvest was still much better than previous good years. Though there were many more mouths to feed, rice prices hadn't risen much—especially since the leaders' Delong Grain Store always had large quantities of good rice for retail, honest with the young and old, never cheating on the scales. Grain speculators couldn't survive here at all.
"What about Father and Mother?" Dai Dehou sat in the seat of honor.
"I sent food over earlier." His wife knew what her husband was worried about.
Dai Dehou's parents, though advanced in years, still ran a small stall outside to earn a little money. They ate lunch out—the family had many mouths and large expenses. Though they were staying at a clansman's house, they caught no break on rent. Daily expenses were still quite tight.
"Good, let's eat then."
Dai Dehou spoke and started using his chopsticks. His son Dai Yu hurriedly began eating. His wife served and ate beside them.
By old customs, women didn't sit at the table. But the customs here in Lingao had been gradually changing: many women worked for the leaders and earned money—some even more than men. And since female leaders had high status, social attitudes had started slowly shifting.
"Husband, if it's too exhausting, why not change jobs?"
"If it weren't exhausting, where would the money come from?"
His wife sighed, saw that their son liked fish balls, and quickly added several more to his bowl.
"Husband, has there been any word from the brothers about household land?"
"Not yet."
Dai Family Village land all belonged to Dai surname relatives. There wasn't not household land to be had, but watching it rise in price day by day, no family was willing to sell cheap to them—especially since they couldn't come up with the money all at once.
"Husband, any progress on getting Yu-er enrolled?"
"I asked around—they say enrollment now requires school registration. Those of us without naturalized citizen household registration have no chance. Even self-funded students need fixed local registration to qualify..."
To get school registration, you needed local household registration—to get local household registration, you needed a fixed residence. Their kind could only count as a floating population. They couldn't even qualify for self-funded schooling.
Seeing his wife fall silent, her eyes reddening, Dai Dehou sighed.
Lingao's educational resources were limited. Adult education could make do, but Fangcao Di's buildings were already bursting at the seams. Due to teaching staff limitations, school-age education couldn't expand enrollment in the short term either. With Lingao's population now exceeding 100,000 and over 10,000 school-age children, just guaranteeing enrollment for naturalized citizen children was already strained. Only a very small portion of non-naturalized citizen children could enroll. Outsiders without housing like Dai Dehou counted as floating population; unless he was willing to become a naturalized citizen—and unless there was another chance coincidence like last time—there was simply no chance of getting into Fangcao Di.
Lingao now also had private schools teaching Confucian classics. But this kind of teaching wasn't recognized by the leaders—one still had to take exams for even Category C credentials.
Dai Dehou had never thought his son could succeed through ten years of cold-window study to earn official status. Seeing Lingao's days getting better and better and the leaders' prospects growing brighter, his daughter had gotten into Fangcao Di a year ago by coincidence. He and his wife had visited several times and been greatly impressed. Naturally they hoped their son could also get in—after all, a daughter would eventually marry out. No matter how well she learned, it would ultimately benefit another family.
Actually, his wife too had come from a wealthy family in her youth and was literate. Dai Dehou knew she had long wanted to join the leaders' side. They were both literate and numerate; he'd heard getting Category C credentials was easy, Category B not hard. With Category B credentials, they might even be useful to the leaders—might even become cadres. As things stood, he could only do manual labor. His wife working as a helper at Third Brother's inn was also very exhausting—and calling it helping was generous. They only got a meal during work hours; as for wages, they couldn't argue over amount. Whatever was given was taken. Sometimes they wouldn't see a single green note for over a month. Just the housing issue had them so strapped they couldn't breathe, leaving them at Third Brother's mercy.
They called themselves clan and family, but was there really any "familial love" in it? Thinking of this, he couldn't help sighing. But his old father absolutely refused to shave his head; he had said many times that unless he himself died, there was no question of family members shaving their hair—Dai Dehou himself had always hesitated too.
Dai Yu had attended private school in Danzhou; he'd read and understood principles. Seeing his parents' difficult expressions, he just ate his meal silently and didn't interject, though seeing how impressive his sister looked at school, he was secretly envious too.
After the meal, Dai Dehou changed into a blue cotton short jacket and washed his face. His wife changed into a comparatively newer waistcoat.
Today was Fangcao Di's Senior Elementary first-year Open Teaching Day. There was one Open Teaching Day every semester, usually scheduled before spring break. Fangcao Di used a closed teaching system with no summer or winter vacations—students could only go home on rest days. Besides that, only New Year had a three-day holiday, so naturally there was no summer or winter break. However, spring vacation was always given—actually it was farming-busy leave, when students could go home for a week to help with farmwork.
In the days before spring break began, various grades and departments took turns holding Open Teaching Day events to publicize the new educational system's achievements to student parents.
His wife held their son's hand. In her other hand was a food box with carefully prepared treats. They followed Dai Dehou out the door.
They first went to the market in front of Dai Family Village, where Dai Dehou's parents were minding their small stall selling snacks. Business was decent. The two of them were busy.
Entrusting their son to his grandparents, the couple headed to Majiao New District Station, took the train to East Gate Market Station to transfer, and soon arrived at Fangcao Di.
Today for the open class, parents from all over Lingao had come. The main gate of the National School already had a long line at the guard station.
Half an hour later, it was finally their turn. Dai Dehou hastily handed over his visiting pass and temporary ID.
"You arrived in Lingao last year as a floating household—how could you possibly have a daughter enrolled here?" The guard on duty today was a new face, not the one from last time when they'd picked up their daughter. Looking at Dai Dehou's identification, he was immediately skeptical.
"She was recommended by a leader!" Dai Dehou quickly explained. His mood had shifted from anxious a year ago to proud now.
"Oh, I see..." The guard looked at the visiting pass, which had the names and fingerprints of both student and parent. After verification, he stamped it and handed it back. "Go that way. Next!"
The massive iron gate was only opened with a small door. The couple entered Fangcao Di National School, passed the statues, and before their eyes stood the imposing main teaching building. The five-story red-brick figure-eight building looked like a giant red eagle descending upon the earth, giving tremendous visual impact. The front of the teaching building's main hall was a three-story atrium with an impressive inner corridor, through which they could see the athletic field in the distance, surrounded by cinder running tracks.
(End of Chapter)