Siheyuan, my new life

With so many things seized, it was impossible for just a few people to carry them back in one trip. Lin Yu and Bai Wu went ahead with briefcases containing valuables such as banknotes and gold, and asked Sun Shengnan and the soldiers to continue organizing and packing the things. They would send someone to help later.

When Lin Yu and his companions just walked out of the Red Star Steel Mill office building, Li Huaide's voice was heard from the loud speaker in the factory area: "Dear cadres and workers of the Red Star Steel Mill, I am Li Huaide, the director of the Logistics Department. Now I have received instructions from my superiors to issue an emergency notice. Today, the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Mill cooperated with the troops and the Beijing Public Security Bureau to arrest bad elements who disrupt production in our factory. I hope that the cadres and workers can work with peace of mind and do not walk around or make loud noises at will, so as not to affect the smooth progress of the arrest operation. Our cadres and workers must work hard to cooperate with the work of government departments and never let a bad element go."

Li Huaide broadcast three times in a row before hurriedly walking out of the Propaganda Department Radio Station. He did not return to his office in the Logistics Department, but walked quickly to the parking shed where the bicycles were parked.

Although the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill is a large factory with tens of thousands of employees, only a few people own bicycles. In the 300-meter-long parking shed in front of us, there are only less than 200 bicycles parked scattered around. Many of them are public bicycles distributed by the factory's purchasing department to buyers for use when they go to the countryside to make purchases. According to regulations, after buyers return to the factory after making purchases in the countryside, the bicycles must be parked in designated locations.

If you want to buy a bicycle now, besides the high price, what’s more important is that you need a bicycle ticket. Without a bicycle ticket, the supply and marketing cooperative won’t even bother with you.

Due to the limited productivity at that time, there was a huge shortage of bicycles in China, and the supply was completely insufficient to meet the demand, so it was difficult to get a ticket. A large factory like the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, which had 10,000 employees, could only get a few tickets each time, leaving most of them for the factory leaders to handle relationships, and only the factory's model workers or advanced workers could be awarded one ticket every year.

Although the price of a Forever bicycle was only about 170 yuan at that time, if you think about the wage level at that time, you can understand how expensive a bicycle was.

In the capital at that time, the average wage per person was only around 20 yuan, and the monthly salary of most ordinary workers was no more than 30 or 40 yuan. People who had formal jobs accounted for less than 30% of the total population of the capital. Others, apart from doing odd jobs, would get some odd jobs from the street offices like pasting paper boxes and matchboxes. After working hard for a month, they could only earn 6 or 7 yuan at most, which was barely enough to support themselves.

Taking the example of an ordinary worker who earned 40 yuan a month at that time, compared with the current monthly salary of 4,000 to 5,000 yuan, the price of a bicycle at that time was equivalent to 17,000 to 18,000 yuan today. Even now, how many people would be willing to spend nearly 20,000 yuan to buy a bicycle?

As for the so-called average salary of more than 20 years at that time, those who understand will understand.

In the original play, the bicycle Xu Damao rode was the one that the factory assigned to him to use when he went to the countryside to show movies. According to the factory's regulations, every time he went to the countryside to show movies, he had to park his bicycle at the factory. However, Xu Damao was a man who knew how to handle things. He often gave the leaders of the Propaganda Department some local specialties from the countryside, and the leaders turned a blind eye and ignored his illegal behavior of riding the bicycle home.

Li Huaide found his bicycle in the area where the factory leaders' bicycles were parked. He unlocked the bicycle and pushed it quickly towards the factory gate. After showing Lin Yu's approval note to the soldiers and security guards at the gate, he walked out of the factory gate smoothly and continued to push the bicycle forward for more than ten meters before he got on the bike and moved forward slowly.

It’s not that Li Huaide was not anxious. He now wished he could grow wings and fly directly to the office of his father-in-law in the Ministry of Industry. But his father-in-law’s voice echoed in his mind from time to time. Whenever something big happens, one should remain calm. His father-in-law used this famous saying of Zeng Guofan in the late Qing Dynasty to remind himself that the bigger the event, the more one should be able to remain calm and calm down to carefully consider the pros and cons.

So Li Huaide rode his bicycle leisurely, but his mind was like an electric motor, quickly recalling every detail of his meeting with Lin Yu just now. He knew that there is no free lunch in the world, and there is no love without reason. Li Huaide is a smart man, and he also has a common problem that almost all smart people have, that is, suspicion. For someone like Li Huaide, it would be more accurate to use the word "cautious".

Li Huaide still couldn't understand why Lin Yu suddenly reminded him. After all, the two of them had only met yesterday and had no friendship at all.

With Lin Yu's advance notice, Li Huaide and his father-in-law were able to make arrangements first, and perhaps by the time others knew the news, everything would have been settled.

Li Huaide was very clear about his father-in-law's arrangements for him. The old man planned to let Li Huaide work honestly in the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill for a few years. In addition to increasing his own qualifications, he hoped that he could have outstanding performance in his work. In order to support Li Huaide, his father-in-law introduced him to several old comrades and subordinates who worked in the supply and marketing system and the Materials Bureau.

After Li Huaide took office as the director of the Logistics Department of the Red Star Steel Mill, he did obtain a lot of unplanned materials for the factory through these relationships, and greatly improved the meals of the workers of the Red Star Steel Mill. Li Huaide was not a good person who did good things without leaving his name. He hinted to the people in the Logistics Department to spread his efforts privately. Therefore, Li Huaide had a high reputation in the minds of the workers of the Red Star Steel Mill. He was a good leader who was willing to seek benefits for ordinary workers.

The old father-in-law was also very satisfied with this and reminded him to keep up the good work. He would be given a deputy director position in two or three years at most. Li Huaide was already a director-level official before he came to Red Star Steel Rolling Mill from the Ministry of Industry. This was also the reason why he was among the factory leaders welcoming Lin Yu to take office. Although he was only the director of the logistics department, his administrative level was that of a director-level official.

Although the administrative rank of the deputy director of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill is also that of a director, his status is completely different from that of the director of the logistics department. After becoming a deputy director, he has the opportunity to go one step further and become a director or secretary, but the director of the logistics department will never become a director directly in one step.

Li Huaide was thinking about all sorts of things while riding his bicycle towards the Ministry of Industry. He didn't understand why Lin Yu did this until he arrived at the office building of the Ministry of Industry. He smiled and greeted the security guard on duty and walked into the office building. Since Li Huaide had worked in the Ministry of Industry for many years, he could talk to most of the security guards, so no one would stop him.

Li Huaide walked to the door of his father-in-law's office and knocked gently. A familiar voice with a bit of fatigue came from inside: "Come in."

Li Huaide pushed open the office door and was surprised to see his old father-in-law looking tired and rubbing his temples with his hands.

Li Huaide quickly took two steps, stood behind his old father-in-law, and stretched out his hands to massage him skillfully.

Deputy Minister Gao felt the relief in his head, leaned back in his chair comfortably, half-closed his eyes and asked: "Why don't you stay at the Red Star Steel Mill at this time and run to the Ministry? I have repeatedly emphasized that you should be calm when things happen. Why can't you remember? Can I not think about my son-in-law if I have the chance? Let me tell you, although Minister Yan has entrusted me with the task of reorganizing the leadership team of the Red Star Steel Mill, he also reminded me not to just think about taking care of old comrades and old subordinates, so this time I have no intention of pushing you up. You know, the Red Star Steel Mill is a powder keg now, especially now that Lin Yu is the director of the Security Department, I am considering whether to transfer you out of the Red Star Steel Mill."

Li Huaide couldn't help but feel nervous when he heard his father-in-law's words. It seemed that the Ministry of Industry had received the news about what happened at the Red Star Steel Mill. He thought it was normal. With such a big case, the relevant departments would definitely notify the Ministry of Industry in time. If it weren't for Lin Yu's suggestion just now, Li Huaide would really agree to his father-in-law's proposal and leave the Red Star Steel Mill, a place of trouble, but now he had other ideas in his mind.

Li Huaide continued to massage his father-in-law's head while he quickly explained. He knew that according to his father-in-law's temper, he would definitely give a long speech. He smiled and said, "Dad, I didn't take the initiative to come to you secretly this time. You have always taught me to stay calm when things happen. So when I learned about the changes in the factory, I stayed in my office to smoke and drink tea, and didn't ask anyone to ask around for news."

Deputy Minister Gao opened his eyes curiously and asked, "Who asked you to come to the Ministry of Industry to see me?"

Li Huaide showed a smug smile on his face. He continued with his actions and answered: "Lin Yu, that's the director of the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, Lin Yu, whom you just mentioned."