Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Zhou Hongbo was in the office organizing his notebook and pens, preparing to go to a meeting. When he saw Zeng Wangcai knocking on the door at this time, he asked, "What's going on?"

"It's something!"

"If you have anything to say, wait until I finish the meeting."

"It's just a matter of words, Chief. I would like to ask for leave, half a day at most."

When Zhou Hongbo heard that Zeng Wangcai wanted to take a leave, he stopped what he was doing and said, "Is there something going on at home? How about giving you a day off?"

Why does Zhou Hongbo seem to be very tolerant of Zeng Zengwangcai's request for leave?

Because in steel mills, or in current enterprises, there are few people who come to ask for leave seriously. The most commonly used thing now is "slipping away", which means just saying goodbye and leaving.

It is common for people to be absent-minded in the workshop, and each department has its own ways to deal with it. Take the Propaganda Department for example, not everyone sits in the office all the time.

Moreover, knowing that the leader was going to a meeting, this was a great opportunity to slip away, so why ask for leave?

So Zhou Hongbo thinks Zeng Wangcai is very good, very good, and has a positive attitude.

In fact, Zhou Hongbo misunderstood. Zeng Wangcai didn't care about being deducted money for taking a day or two off.

"It doesn't take a whole day, half a day will be enough." Zeng Wangcai said truthfully, "My family is fine, it's the factory's problem. We got some supplies for the factory canteen in the countryside."

Because Zhou Hongbo didn't know about this, he only explained it.

Zhou Hongbo was indeed different. He did not ask Zeng Wangcai how much supplies he had obtained, but approved his leave readily. After hearing that Zeng Wangcai was going to find Wu Youwei, he told him to hurry up and not to cause the leaders' meeting.

Zeng Wangcai thanked Zhou Hongbo. He was not worried that Wu Youwei was not available, as this was agreed upon.

After coming out of the office, Zeng Wangcai asked Lin Huyang to wait a little longer, and went upstairs alone to find Wu Youwei. Sure enough, Wu Youwei was waiting for him. Wu Youwei knew more and had heard about how much supplies Zeng Wangcai had obtained, so when he learned that Zeng Wangcai wanted a car, he readily approved the note.

"Are you done?" asked Lin Huyang as he followed Zeng Wangcai downstairs.

"Almost done, let's go to the fleet again." Zeng Wangcai flicked the note Wu Youwei had written in his hand, "Remember next time, if you have too many things, don't struggle to transport them by yourself, the factory has a fleet."

The steel rolling mill naturally has no shortage of vehicles. The fleet includes a team of trucks responsible for driving for the leaders, as well as trucks for transporting goods to the factory. However, the models of the trucks are not uniform, and many of them are supplied by the Russians.

Frankly speaking, we still got a lot of good things from the Russians. Now the largest number of foreigners in Beijing are the Russians. Zeng Wangcai even saw two of them in Xu Huizhen's tavern, a man and a woman. The woman was pretty and had quite a lot of stuff.

However, Zeng Wangcai doesn't like brushes and doesn't like strong body odor, so he has no intention of dealing with the Russians. Now is not the right time.

The two sides still have a ten-year honeymoon period. After ten years, if they have a falling out, the Russians will leave with a lot of luggage, just like a divorced young wife, leaving behind a mess.

Zeng Wangcai felt that the era in which materials could be truly converted into unlimited cash would probably have to wait until the storm was over and he would have to reconcile with the Russians. He would not have to do anything else but go to Heilongjiang to become a trader and exchange bread, rice and flour for airplanes and cannons from the Russians.

After coming out of Wu Youwei's office, Zeng Wangcai called Lin Huyang, and the two of them went downstairs together, turned left, and came to a two-story building.

There are a lot of people in this two-story building, including the security department's rest and duty room, people from the human armed forces department, people from the motorcade, and even the armory is here.

There is a large room on the first floor of the steel rolling mill fleet for drivers to rest or stand by. Next to the large room is Zeng Wangcai's destination. This is where the fleet captain usually stays.

The team leader Zeng Wangcai was looking for was called Sun Jian, but he was not in the next room, so Zeng Wangcai had to go to the main room and knock on the door.

After knocking on the door and going in, Zeng Wangcai and Lin Huyang were almost knocked down by the suffocating smell of cigarettes, sweat, and feet. It was so intoxicating.

Zeng Wangcai saw that several people were playing cards in the room, or to be exact, four people were playing. Several people were watching, and each of them was concentrating intently, as if the people who had just let Zeng Wangcai in were not them. No one paid attention to Zeng Wangcai and the other two.

One of them was wearing a white shirt with a yellow collar, facing Zeng Wangcai sideways. He was the most excited, with many notes on his face. He squatted on a stool with one foot to pick up the cards, poking his toes while picking up the cards. When he couldn't find the cards, he even put his fingers into his mouth to pick up saliva...

Zeng Wangcai's scalp tingled when he saw this. It seemed that his saliva had no taste, so he wanted to add some salt to himself, right?

These people are so bold that they actually play cards in the office during working hours. You should know that the year before last, two major state departments jointly issued a notice that no unit or individual may sell gambling equipment.

However, Zeng Wangcai is not sure whether this includes playing cards.

"Who is Captain Sun?" Zeng Wangcai saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he had to ask.

"Huh?" The guy with the note on his face finally came to his senses, "You are...how did you get in?"

He snatched the note off his face and quickly put the cards in his hand into his trouser pocket. The other four people did the same, and they cleaned up the scene nervously and quickly.

So, you really didn't know someone came in? Who shouted "come in" just now?

With your level of vigilance, you're still playing cards in the office...

Zeng Wangcai was speechless and pretended not to notice their actions: "I knocked on the door just now, and one of you said please come in. I'm looking for Captain Sun and need a car."

"I am Sun Jian!" The person who posted the note was Sun Jian. Without him signaling, the office had returned to normal, the windows opened, and fresh air came in.

Everyone followed the routine, some drank tea, some read newspapers. As for the cigarette butts on the ground, no one paid attention to them for the time being. They probably waited for Zeng Wangcai to leave before continuing.

"Hehe, what car do you want? What do you want it for? Which department is it from? Who approved it?" Seeing that the evidence was gone, Sun Jian regained his confidence and asked a series of questions.

This is not him showing off his official airs, but a normal procedure.

Zeng Wangcai took out a note and said, "I am Zeng Wangcai from the Propaganda Department. I need a car to pick up some fish and meat..."

"Are you kidding? To transport fish and meat, you just need a bicycle. Why do you need a motorcade?" Perhaps because Sun Jian was in a hurry to continue, he misunderstood what Zeng Wangcai said.

The office burst into laughter. In their eyes, the word "pull" was a joke. In this day and age, fish meat still needs to be pulled? It's easy to just scoop it up and it's done.

Sun Jian glanced at Lin Huyang, and then spoke before Zeng Wangcai: "No, this is Hu Guangyong's job in the cafeteria. When will it be your turn in the Propaganda Department?"

This person had sent people to help Hu Guangyong with things before, but that was a long time ago.

"Captain Sun, I'm afraid you misunderstood. I don't want a bicycle, I want a truck." Zeng Wangcai finally got the chance to explain and handed over Wu Youwei's note, "There's a lot of fish meat, the bicycle can't pull it all, we need a truck..."