Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

"Uncle Song, stop looking. What if you can't pull it out of your eyes?"

After solving Liu Guangtian's problem and having breakfast in the office, Liu Guozheng and a few others returned to Hope New Village. After parking the car, they saw Director Song looking back and forth in front of a medium-sized jeep, touching this and that with his hands from time to time.

"cough!"

"Director Liu, Song Changlin reports to you!"

Song Changlin first straightened his Zhongshan suit that never fit him well, used the car window as a mirror, smoothed out his messy and sparse hair, and stood at attention in front of Liu Guozheng.

"Uncle Song, I can't take responsibility for what you did!"

Liu Guozheng smiled, especially when he saw the few remaining hairs on Song Changlin's head.

"Guozheng, I really didn't expect that in just three years, your Hope Village has developed so well. Now there is even a village-run factory. Young people are amazing!"

"Hahaha, isn't it because of you, Uncle Song, that I am the first to benefit? The bricks provided by the brick factory are the cornerstone of our village."

"Shame on me, shame on me. To be honest, I owe you a lot to me."

"Uncle Song, please stop calling me brother. Didn't you see Xiao'e practicing driving over there? If she hears it, that won't be good."

“Oh, I didn’t expect that even though you are so capable, Guozheng, you are still a person who is afraid of your wife.”

"Wrong, it's respect."

"Hahaha, Guozheng, you ah, uncle understands, uncle understands everything."

The two chatted and laughed, and without thinking about going to the office, they sat down on the rocks on the side of the road in the parking lot.

"How about Uncle Song, come over here and help me."

After sitting down, Liu Guozheng directly made an invitation.

"Guozheng, are you really willing to let me run this factory?"

"Uncle, everyone has their own expertise. I heard that you were the director and manager of various factories before liberation. You must have a lot of experience. I'm naturally 100% confident that you can take care of it."

"That's what Old Lou said, right? Don't take it seriously. It was Old Lou who was helping me. Guozheng, I won't hide it from you. I've really had enough of staying in the brick factory. Of course I have no objection to being able to leave."

"As long as you have no objection, we are not outsiders. I will briefly tell you about the salary and benefits. If there is anything inappropriate, we can discuss it later."

"Guozheng, just do whatever you want. As long as it's enough to support the family, I'll be satisfied."

"Uncle Song, how about 100 a month?"

"It's too high, too high, Guozheng, it's almost good enough, it's almost good enough."

When he came, Song Changlin was very unsure, but there was nothing he could do. Lou Zhenhua had personally invited him, so he had to give him face. After all, they had been friends for so many years, and Lou Zhenhua had helped him a lot in the past.

Now he heard that Liu Guozheng said that he would be paid 100 yuan per month, which was 30 yuan more than when he was working in the brick factory. This was already higher than he had expected.

"As you work longer in the factory, your basic salary will increase. In the second year, you can get 105 per month, and in the third year, it will be 110. Of course, this is the basic salary. At the end of each year, there is a year-end bonus. The specific amount is yet to be determined, which depends on the factory's revenue."

"Our factory implements a two-day-off system, which means we work five days a week and rest two days, eight hours a day, and we have benefits during festivals."

This was also a decision made by Liu Guozheng after careful consideration. The focus of the factory's recruitment is on nearby villagers. You have to know that this is the remote suburb of the old city and is a mountainous area. It is a typical area with a large population and limited land. It is not a problem to recruit some people into the factory.

The two days off a week were to allow them to help the village (brigade) during the busy farming season. This literally meant helping without any compensation. Otherwise, other villagers who did not work in the factory would have objections, after all, the countryside in this era was on the road of collective cooperation.

"This...this...Guozheng, other factories have only one day off per day, is this really okay for us?"

"Uncle Song, our situation is different. We also have to take care of their village's summer and autumn harvests. It's a special case, so we should just deal with it in a special way."

"No, can't we go to the city and recruit some unemployed people?"

"Uncle, we are in a remote mountainous area. Who from the city would be willing to come here?"

"That's right. Although everyone is equal now, there are always some city people who look down on rural people, not to mention that we are in the mountains. However, there is a question I want to talk to you about Guozheng."

"Uncle Song, go ahead."

"Not many of us in this mountain area can read."

"Uncle Song, if you have no objection, we will officially start work tomorrow. We will start recruiting people from tomorrow. Those who can read and count will be given priority. We will first see how many people we have, and then consider those who cannot read. At the same time, we will carry out pre-job training. I plan to spend three to five months on this."

Since all the technicians and equipment maintenance personnel needed by the factory were sent by the Tang Dynasty, that is, they would come together with the engineers who came to assist the Xia Kingdom three months later, the real pre-job training could only begin after the technicians arrived. To put it bluntly, the first few months were just for them to learn how to read and write.

"That's fine. It will take at least three months for the factory and its supporting facilities to be built. It would be a good idea to use this time to train our employees. In this way, we can start production right after the factory is completed."

"Uncle Song, can you drive?"

"Yes, I used to practice with Lao Lou's car for a long time."

"Do you have a driver's license?"

"Not yet."

"Uncle Song, what do you think of the car you were looking at just now?"

"Beautiful and impressive."

"That's the car the factory has provided for you, provided you pass the driving test."

"Haha, no problem. Come on, Guozheng, bring me the keys and let me run a few laps first."

"Hey, uncle, you used to drive manual transmission cars, but our cars are all automatic. You should get familiar with them first."

"Automatic transmission? Is this a car that can shift gears by itself? So advanced?"

"It's hard to explain right away. I'll let Xu Fang teach you. You can practice driving when you have nothing to do in the future."

"That's a good feeling."

After calling Xu Fang over and assigning him the task, Liu Guozheng returned to the village office and convened the leaders of various departments for a short meeting to allocate the remaining vehicles. There was also the issue of tomorrow's recruitment, which required them to do publicity in various villages.

After discussion, it was decided that the Finance Department would be allocated two small jeeps, which would be more convenient for female comrades to drive.

The Security Department was allocated a large jeep, and the remaining one belonged to Liu Guozheng's private car.

The two medium-sized ones were given to Song Changlin and the sales department respectively.

The transportation department has those two light trucks, which are enough for the time being. When they are no longer enough, we can ask Liu Guodong to get a few more and that will be all.