Chapter 151 – Section Chief Zheng Gets Promoted

As expected of farmers, the women quickly got the hang of it.

“Is this all we need to do?” someone asked Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin nodded. “The rest is just maintenance, and that’s actually pretty simple—keep the humidity stable during the day, and make sure there’s good airflow and ventilation at night.”

Mushrooms don’t need direct sunlight to grow. As long as the humidity, temperature, and airflow are right, they’ll do just fine.

Think about mushrooms in the wild—they grow without much care. As long as you simulate a suitable growing environment and let them develop naturally, they’ll be ready for harvest when the time comes.

When the women heard this, they felt that growing mushrooms was a lot simpler than growing other crops.

Originally, everyone had been worried that the village was suddenly launching so many projects and they wouldn’t be able to handle them all. But from the looks of it, maybe it was manageable after all.

Over at the road construction site, the team leader had found that tractor driver and wanted to ask for his help.

The driver was straightforward about it: he was willing to help, but Zhoujiazhuang had to provide the diesel, and pay him two yuan a day.

That was where Zhoujiazhuang hit a snag. Two yuan a day wasn’t a problem—Zhoujiazhuang was poor, but they could still scrape that together. But diesel… where were they going to get that?

If it were kerosene, they might be able to pool some or buy a bit at the supply and marketing cooperative.

So they had no choice but to turn to Zhou Yimin. After all, he was well-traveled and experienced—maybe he could find some diesel.

“Diesel, huh? I’ll take care of it. Let’s get started as soon as we can.” Zhou Yimin took the money the village had set aside for buying diesel, then planned to make a trip back to the city.

The system shop wasn’t omnipotent—diesel just wasn’t available there.

So he had no choice but to go back to the city and ask around.

Zhou Yimin wasn’t too worried. For instance, the projectionist Lu Guofu might be able to get his hands on some diesel. And if that didn’t work, he could always ask Team Leader Wang or the other factory leaders. It’s a big steel plant—how hard could it be to get some diesel?

The old village secretary and the others watched Zhou Yimin’s departing figure with a heart full of emotion.

Having Zhou Yimin in the village had made so many difficult things become simple. It was truly a blessing for Zhoujiazhuang.

Zhou Yimin returned to Forty-Ninth City and went straight to Lu Guofu’s home, but Lu wasn’t in, so he headed back to the factory to look for Team Leader Wang and the other leaders.

“Seeing you is no easy feat!” Team Leader Wang joked.

Zhou Yimin said, “Team Leader, were you looking for me?”

Team Leader Wang nodded. “Come on, let’s go talk in Section Chief Zheng’s office.”

With that, he took Zhou Yimin to Zheng’s office. Once inside, Team Leader Wang carefully looked around the office, which made Zhou Yimin feel a little confused.

Section Chief Zheng chuckled and said, “Alright, alright. Whether you’ll be sitting in this seat next is still up in the air!”

Huh?

Zhou Yimin was surprised.

“Chief, you’re getting promoted?” Zhou Yimin asked with a smile.

If Team Leader Wang was going to take Zheng’s spot, that meant Zheng had to be moving up to leave the vacancy behind. And if a section chief was moving up, that would mean becoming a deputy director or a director, right?

Could it be that Zheng was becoming the deputy head of logistics?

Was someone retiring?

One radish per hole!

If someone was getting promoted, someone else had to vacate a position first.

Team Leader Wang smiled and said, “Section Chief Zheng is being transferred.”

Then, both he and Section Chief Zheng sat down with Zhou Yimin and gave him the general picture.

After a bit of listening, Zhou Yimin finally understood. One of the deputy factory directors at a small plant affiliated with their steel plant had suffered a health issue and was taking early retirement. Zheng’s family had pulled some strings and managed to get him that deputy director spot.

Although the plant wasn’t big—fewer than a thousand people—and couldn’t compare to the steel plant, being a deputy factory director was definitely better than being a section chief at the steel plant!

“Congratulations, Section Chief Zheng—no, I mean, Director Zheng!” Zhou Yimin offered his sincere congratulations.

Zheng smiled and waved it off. “Yimin, I know you’ve got skills. I’ll be in charge of logistics over there, so I’ll be needing your help.”

In Zheng’s eyes, Zhou Yimin had a whole village behind him. That meant a steady supply of all kinds of grain and meat—exactly what he’d need in logistics.

Over this period, Zhou Yimin had been able to fulfill all his procurement tasks thanks to that village, right? As far as he knew, the village was still scaling up vegetable production and had established a partnership with the steel plant.

So, Zheng figured he could work with Zhou Yimin too.

“Director Zheng, I wouldn’t call it skill,” Zhou Yimin said humbly.

Zheng Lidong chuckled. “Just call me Brother Zheng from now on. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re capable of.

Even though I won’t be at the steel plant anymore, I hope we can stay in touch.

After I leave, my position will be up for grabs. A few people are eyeing it. I’ve spoken with Director Ding and recommended Weimin for it. Then, if Weimin gets my spot, I’m recommending you to take over his.”

Director Ding was generally supportive—now it all depended on how upper management decided to arrange things.

Zhou Yimin and Team Leader Wang both expressed their thanks to Zheng Lidong.

With Director Ding’s backing, there was already over a seventy percent chance of success. The remaining thirty percent depended on what Factory Director Hu and the others thought.

Actually, appointing Zhou Yimin as a team leader wasn’t hard. If Director Ding gave the green light, it was pretty much a done deal. What really needed discussion and approval was who would take over the section chief role.

That’s why Zheng told Wang Weimin to reach out and call in any favors he had—this wasn’t the time to hold back.

And Wang Weimin understood perfectly.

Team Leader Wang suddenly remembered something and asked Zhou Yimin, “By the way, why’d you come back to the factory this time?”

“What, I can’t come back if I don’t have something to do? The steel plant is my home.”

Zhou Yimin’s comment left both Wang and Zheng speechless.

They knew exactly what kind of person he was. “The steel plant is your home”? Since when? He only ever showed up when he needed something—and half the time, they had to go find him.

Team Leader Wang said, “There’s no one else here. Just tell us straight.”

Zhou Yimin sighed. Was his image really this bad?

“Team Leader, Brother Zheng—can you help me get some diesel?” he asked bluntly.

Section Chief Zheng laughed. “Our plant has it. Logistics manages it. If you don’t need much, just come up with a reason and take it from the storage room.”

Zhou Yimin quickly said, “It’s not much. The village is building a road and needs to use a tractor. The driver said we need to provide the diesel.”

How much can a tractor burn, anyway?

Team Leader Wang nodded. “One barrel should be enough. I’ll take you to get it later.”

“The research lab Director Ding prepared for you—you haven’t even gone in yet, right? Let’s go take a look.”

It was clear Director Ding valued Zhou Yimin a great deal—or rather, the entire steel plant did.

After all, the plant was still counting on exports to earn foreign currency!

Zhou Yimin and the others entered the so-called research room. There were a lot of tools inside, and a small soundproof room in the corner, meant for thinking and designing.

“Yimin, got any new invention ideas?” Team Leader Wang asked.

“I didn’t, but these past few days, I heard something from the projectionist Lu’s son…”

He explained the electric rice cooker idea and mentioned Lu Guofu’s son and Uncle Zhang from the research institute.

Team Leader Wang and Section Chief Zheng’s eyes widened—this was real?

Zheng Lidong said, “I’m going to call Director Ding.”

(End of Chapter)