Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

As the saying goes, the weather in July is like a child's face, it changes so quickly. It was sunny yesterday, but today it started to rain heavily, with thunder in the sky from time to time.

After getting up, Xu Damao lit a cigarette and kept watching the heavy rain. With this rain, the crops in the fields should have a better harvest, but it was estimated that it would be difficult for the factory to start work today.

After a while, Nan Yi, who lived diagonally across the street, came over barefoot with an umbrella to inquire about the news.

"Da Mao, are you still going to work in such heavy rain today? The water is so deep that people have to wade across it." Nan Yi said.

"It rarely rains this hard in previous years, but with today's rainfall, the factory should not be able to open. Let's wait for news."

While the two were talking, some people who worked at the steel mill came to Xu Damao's house to inquire about the news, because he was the leader. However, he sent them back, and there was no phone at home to find out where he came from, so they could only go home and wait.

However, Xu Damao still decided to ask the factory for a phone number after the rain stopped. It would be too inconvenient without a phone.

By noon, the rain still hadn't stopped, but it had become lighter. Xu Damao finished his meal early, put on his raincoat, and plunged into the rain. He had to go to the factory to check on the situation.

After leaving the courtyard, the alley was empty except for the stagnant water. Who would come out in this kind of weather unless they had a compelling reason? Xu Damao stretched out his foot to test it. The stagnant water was about one foot deep. However, Xu Damao would not foolishly wade through the water to get to the factory. Instead, he started walking in another dimension.

It was not until he reached the last turn away from the steel mill that Xu Damao released his skills and walked towards the front door of the steel mill wearing a loose raincoat and wading through the water.

The main gate of the steel mill was closed, leaving only a small door for people to enter and exit. The duty officer was standing in the duty room watching the situation at the door. When the duty officer saw someone coming, he immediately put on his raincoat and walked out to check the situation.

"Open the door, I'm Xu Damao."

"Oh, it's Chief Xu! Why are you here at this time? I'll open the door right away." The attendant took out a key from his pocket and opened the door.

The two entered the duty room one after the other. Xu Damao asked, "Are there any other leaders in the factory?"

The duty officer said, "It was our deputy director Chen who was on duty yesterday. He has not returned since the rain. Director Zheng also just arrived a while ago. The two directors took their people to inspect the factory and warehouse respectively."

"Okay, then I'll go back to the office and make a phone call. The rain has stopped now and more people may come over in a while." After saying this, Xu Damao hurried to his office.

Water has already flooded into the first floor of the office building, but because the foundation of the office building is relatively high, there is not much water in the corridor.

"Hello, Brother Li, this is Xu Damao! Oh, sister-in-law, has Brother Li come out of the house? Okay, nothing to do, I'll be at the factory and we'll talk when we meet."

Xu Damao called several familiar factory leaders one after another. After that, he put on his raincoat and walked towards the bicycle workshop. He had to check out the situation in the workshop.

Xu Damao walked alone on the roads in the factory. The situation of the old workshops was not optimistic. The water level had already exceeded the steps in front of the door. There must be a lot of water in the workshops. As for the newly built workshops, they were on higher ground and could still hold up.

Xu Damao took out the key and opened the lock. With a dull rumble, the door of the workshop was pushed open by Xu Damao. The whole workshop was relatively dry, with only some water stains on the door, which should be the rain that was blown by the wind and seeped in.

Xu Damao was walking around the workshop to see if there was any water leaking from the roof, when he saw a group of people wearing raincoats walking into the workshop. The group of people who had just arrived took off their hats, so Xu Damao could see them clearly.

"Director Zheng, I heard you went on an inspection tour. How is the situation at the factory?"

Zheng Gang said, "Chief Xu, we came here to check the situation because we saw the door of the workshop was open. Many old buildings in the factory have been flooded, and the situation at the warehouse is not optimistic either. However, I have arranged for people to make sandbags and move supplies, but the number of people is too small."

Xu Damao said, "Before I left the office, I called Director Li and several other leaders. Director Li's wife said that he was on his way to the factory. It seems like it's almost time. Let's go over and take a look."

"Okay, when the factory director comes, we can gather more people. Lao Liu, you take people to help make sandbags first, and Damao and I will go find the factory director!" Zheng Gang was the first to leave the workshop, and Xu Damao quickly followed after locking the door.

Xu Damao and his companion drove directly to Li Huaide's office, but they found nothing there. There was only a raincoat hanging on the door frame, dripping water. It was obvious that Li Huaide had already arrived.

“Conference room!”

“Conference room!”

The two looked at each other, then trotted to the meeting room.

The conference room was filled with smoke at this time, with only about twenty people sitting sparsely in it.

“Director!” “Director!”

Li Huaide was worried that there was no one available, so he was very happy to see two capable people in the factory.

"Old Zheng, Damao, you are here. Come and sit down. I was just about to send someone to look for you outside. Old Zheng, I heard that you have been leading people to inspect the factory. How is the situation?" Li Huaide asked impatiently without waiting for the two to sit down.

Zheng Gang put his raincoat aside and stood up to explain the situation in various parts of the factory. "At present, I have arranged for people to make sandbags and move some water-sensitive materials, but there is a real shortage of manpower at the moment."

"Okay, stop talking while standing and sit down. Let's have a short meeting. Everyone knows the situation. The situation at the logistics warehouse is quite critical, especially the food needs to be transferred to a safe place as soon as possible. The current situation is quite urgent. It seems that the rain will not stop for a while. Let's express our opinions, brainstorm, and think of a solution quickly." Li Huaide said.

As a staunch supporter of Li Huaide, Deputy Factory Director Wang Jinshan was the first to speak.

"At present, it is far from enough to rely on the people in the Security Department. I think we should arrange for people to go to the areas where employees are concentrated in the factory to gather some manpower, especially the canteen staff. We can't let everyone go out in the wind and rain to rescue the disaster and end up not having a hot meal. Today I am here to sign a military order. The logistical support of all disaster relief personnel will be handed over to me! If anything goes wrong, I will resign directly!"

Although there were not many people in the conference room, there was still warm applause. Xu Damao also looked at Lao Wang with new eyes. Although this man was a little greedy at ordinary times, he was still willing to sacrifice himself at the critical moment. He was a responsible man!

When the applause gradually died down, Xu Damao, another die-hard supporter, stood up and spoke.

"I just went to check out our workshop. The new factory building over there is on a higher ground. It will only be flooded for about ten centimeters. It can be used as a temporary warehouse to store things. In addition, there are many workers from our factory near our courtyard. Our factory chefs Nan Yi and Sha Zhu are also in our courtyard. I think we should send someone to find them as soon as possible."

"Okay, this piece of information from Damao is very important. Lao Wang, you arrange someone later... No, you go there in person, ordinary people won't know each other if they go there." Li Huaide said.