When Li Youfu returned home from night school, it was already more than eight o'clock in the evening.

After saying hello to his wife, who was sitting on the sofa and playing a sweater, Li Youfu walked into the kitchen and drank a bowl of cornmeal porridge.

Although he ate a lot of dinner in the evening, after listening to two hours of cultural classes and his rapidly rotating brain, Li Youfu felt that all the strength in his body had been exhausted. If you don't drink a bowl of cornmeal porridge, Li Youfu, who feels empty in his stomach, may not be able to sleep.

After drinking the cornmeal porridge, he washed the bowl with tap water and put it on the bowl shelf, Li Youfu returned to the living room and sat next to his wife who was making sweaters. He turned on the light next to the couch and prepared to review what he had just learned in class.

Although Li Youfu is already a fifth-level fitter, Li Youfu, who is Chinese New Year's Eve six years old today, has higher requirements for life. His dream was to become a ninth-grade worker before the factory's retirement age of 60, and eventually become a craftsman at the National Institute of Crafts, so that he could delay his retirement age to 65 or even 70.

For people in this era, people's understanding of such welfare policies as retirement is a bit of a small problem. Most people think that retirement means that they are about to become a useless waster. And almost all people don't want to be treated as a waste when they get old.

As one of the earliest batch of workers under the rule of the Ba'ath Party, because he has been engaged in the work of fitters on the front line for a long time, coupled with a bit of natural aura, Li Youfu's technical level is very high. What makes Li Youfu most proud is that his master is none other than Wang Shuhui, the current supreme leader of the country.

When he was in the arsenal in Zhijiang with a large group of young people to learn fitter skills with Mr. Wang, he was praised by Mr. Wang because he was the fastest and the workpiece processed was of the highest standard. This is one thing that Li Youfu has always been proud of.

Although the industrial development speed of New China is very fast, among the major industrial enterprises, intermediate technicians like Li Youfu are still very rare.

Li Youfu has been paying attention to the "Workers' Daily" and learned that at this stage, in addition to some older and more experienced senior technicians in the more old-fashioned technical categories such as carpentry and bricklayering, there will be no more than 400 fifth-level technicians like himself in the purest industrial technical work.

A fifth-level technician, but he has the qualifications to be on an equal footing with the secretary of the prefectural party committee. Every New Year's Day, Li Youfu will be invited by the Zhengzhou Prefectural Party Committee to participate in the condolence activities in the Great Hall of the Prefectural Party Committee, and sit in the first row of the venue with the senior cadres of the Zhengzhou Prefectural Party Committee and the government to watch the program.

is also a divided house, and the house of the secretary of the prefectural party committee is only 50 square meters, but Li Youfu lives in a big house of 70 square meters. In terms of salary, Li Youfu's basic salary is 3,700 yuan plus a bonus that is almost the same as his salary, and the total salary can reach about 7,000 yuan. However, the salary of the secretary of the Zhengzhou prefectural party committee is only 3,000 yuan, and the bonus is about 2,000 yuan less than that of Li Youfu.

I heard that party cadres can enjoy the state's clean government subsidies after retirement. However, they do not have the three-month annual recuperation benefits of senior workers after retirement.

Therefore, among the more than one million people in the two cities, six counties and 12 farms in Zhengzhou, Li Youfu is definitely a top-notch figure.

But for Li Youfu, these are nothing. He has a higher purpose. Becoming an academician of the National Academy of Arts and Crafts as prominent as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering is Li Youfu's ultimate ideal in life.

For this ideal, Li Youfu has never relaxed his requirements for himself. He knew that his foundation in cultural classes was relatively poor, so he never participated in those entertainment activities, drank and talked nonsense, went to watch movies and dramas, but ******** participated in night classes organized by the unit with those young people all day long to learn and improve his cultural knowledge.

Looking at the senior high school math textbook in his hand against his class notes, Li Youfu quickly focused on the knowledge points, and he didn't pay any attention to his wife who was sitting next to him playing a sweater.

However, after reading the textbook for more than an hour, Li Youfu's attention was inevitably distracted because of mental exhaustion.

turned his head to chat with his wife, but Li Youfu found that his wife's hand in the sweater had stopped, her eyes were looking intently at the corner of the ceiling, and one ear was almost attached to the wall.

Sighing, Li Youfu suddenly turned on the radio in the cabinet next to the sofa. The sudden sound of radio programs startled my wife. Li Youfu's wife, Zhao Honghua, who came back to her senses, gently slapped her husband, blaming him for scaring herself.

"You comrades of the Women's Federation are really enough. That's a lot of energy. It's so late, and you're still paying attention to other people's affairs? If you want me to say, you people who sit in the office just like to have nothing to do, especially a female comrade like you, who have to stir up waves even if there is no wind. ”

"Xiao Liu next door made a mistake and beat his wife once, but hasn't the organization helped educate him? What's the matter, your women's federation, the mother's family, is still ready to supervise the family from morning to night! ”

Pushing her husband on her shoulder, Zhao Honghua whispered:

"Lao Li, you also know Comrade Xiao Liu's problems, machismo, feudal thinking, discrimination against women, this is his old problem. I don't know what happened to this young comrade? Why did you develop a bad habit of doing things to your wife? ”

"Don't say it, since the last time Xiao Liu's wife sued our Women's Federation, this Xiao Liu has been on the blacklist of our Women's Federation. The organization has already given me a task, for a guy like Xiao Liu, I must supervise and supervise, educate and re-educate. If I found it again, it was directly a salary reduction and a bonus deduction. Let's see if he dares to bully women! ”

Li Youfu sighed again in his heart after listening to Zhao Honghua's words.

"Women can hold up half the sky", this is a special propaganda thing that Mr. Wang carried out nationwide publicity when he wrote an inscription to China Women's Daily.

Li Youfu has no opinion on the matter of equal respect for women between men and women. But equality between men and women will also bring some inconveniences.

For example, compared with when he was a child, today's female comrades are no longer as simple as half the sky. With the "Marriage Law" to make the decisions for women, the government to support women, and the Women's Federation to be women's mothers, many women are also a little carried away.

Let's take the young worker Xiao Liu next door as an example. Xiao Liu's wife, Xiao Zhang, is a bit excessive. If you have nothing to do, find fault with Xiao Liu. Today, Xiao Liu has spoken a few more words with which woman, and tomorrow Xiao Liu has joked with which woman, this is not a matter of matter at all, it is the reason for Xiao Zhang and Xiao Liu's quarrel.

Xiao Liu, a boiler worker, has the worst working environment in the factory. The hot and tired boiler worker is already under great pressure at work, and when he returns home, he has a jealous wife who has nothing to do. got angry and started a fire, hit Xiao Zhang twice, and was troubled by Xiao Zhang to the unit. Looking for a conversation in the organization, being criticized by the leader, and being on the blacklist of the Women's Federation, Li Youfu also felt that Xiao Liu was a little wronged.

Pushing his wife, Li Youfu opened his mouth and persuaded:

"Isn't it said as the old saying goes: It is difficult for a clean official to decide family affairs? It's always a bit bad to get involved in other people's homes. You don't want to listen to the wind and rain, and take a chicken feather is an arrow. Like you, who spends time on people, you can find out what is going on when you have nothing to do. That's not good! ”

In the factory, the status of the cadres of the organs is indeed not high. The wages are not as high as those of workers of the same level, and the treatment is not as good as that of workers of the same level; in addition to being relatively easy to work, they also have to accept criticism from workers' representatives and accept the opinions of workers at every turn. Sometimes, I have to participate in voluntary labor and clean up in the workshop. However, this does not mean that the cadres of the organs are not enthusiastic about their work.

In Li Youfu's family, if you really want to talk about it, Li Youfu's culture is actually inferior to Zhao Honghua's. In any case, Zhao Honghua also received a formal junior junior military education, and then went to the School of Administration for another year. Compared with people like Li Youfu who took the same academic ability exam to obtain a diploma, Zhao Honghua was born in school. So hearing Li Youfu criticize his own work, Zhao Honghua was obviously unhappy.

"Lao Li, what you said is not right. It is difficult for a Qing official to decide family affairs, this is a feudal ideology. In the feudal society, there is no so-called clean official, and those feudal bureaucrats are all reactionaries who ride on the heads of the people and and urinate. How can they really care about the lives of the people? The organization is not a feudal official. We, the party members, are to serve the people. To serve the people, we must show concern for the livelihood of every and every one of the people. I care about the lives of Xiao Liu and his family, how can I say that I have nothing to do? ”

Li Youfu listened to his wife's words and smiled bitterly in his heart. He also made an unintentional mistake, and said what he was thinking at once. But when it comes to it, that's pretty polite. For the people of the Women's Federation who support those housewives who have nothing to do and always get involved in other people's family affairs, Li Youfu still has a lot of ugly words in his stomach that he has not said.

However, as Li Youfu, who has been married for six years and has two children who have joined the junior junior army, calming things and confessing to his wife and surrendering to his wife is the premise for ensuring that his ears are clean and he can study and live quietly at home.

So after listening to Zhao Honghua's somewhat more serious words, Li Youfu hurriedly surrendered.

Seeing that Zhao Honghua didn't pursue himself anymore, Li Youfu breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly continued to look at his textbook.

Nothing happened overnight.

Early the next morning, Li Youfu, who had a regular schedule, got up at about half past five in the morning, before the radio in the residential area sounded.

After waking up his wife and washing up together, the two went out to work together.

1351 Machinery Factory is one of the largest state-owned enterprises in Zhengzhou. In addition to the Zhengzhou Vehicle Factory and Zhengzhou Power Plant, the 1351 Machinery Factory ranks third with 60,000 employees.

Like all industrial enterprises, the 1351 Machinery Factory is located in the suburbs of Zhengzhou. So from the residence to the unit, Li Youfu and his family had to take the tram.

The tram stop is not far from Li Youfu's house. Along the way, almost everyone will take the initiative to say hello to Li Youfu, a fifth-level worker. After all, everyone often sees and hears the news of Li Youfu, a national model worker who often wins awards, in newspapers and on the radio. Because there were so many people greeting him, when Li Youfu and his family arrived at the station, they almost didn't catch the morning train.

Because Li Youfu is a skilled worker, he only needs to show his work card to take public transportation, and then he can enjoy the same free treatment as the soldiers of the army. Because of this preferential treatment, every time she rides in the car with Li Youfu, the corners of Zhao Honghua's mouth, who needs to pay for coins, are crooked a few times. This moment is also a dark moment in the fixed heart of Li Youfu, who has never been able to talk about his wife in terms of reasoning.

Because of the rapid development of industry, especially because of the rapid development of internal combustion engine technology with the support of the state, in addition to the long-distance transportation is still dominated by steam engine trains, public transportation such as urban transportation has become an era dominated by trams and buses.

Sitting on the tram and suddenly seeing a bus suddenly breaking down on the road through the window, Li Youfu said to Zhao Honghua beside him with some schadenfreude:

"What am I talking about? In the power system, the electric engine is the first, the internal combustion engine is the second, and the steam engine is the third. I don't want to talk about the industrial power of the factory, just in terms of transportation, you look at the diesel cars and gasoline vehicles promoted by the state in the past two years, and the national key projects such as the vehicle factory are not very reliable. ”

"Those diesel cars are better, except that the noise is a bit loud, and the situation of lying on the ground is rarer. But the gasoline engine is not good, because many important parts need to be processed by hand, and the first-class and second-level workers in the vehicle factory have made many defective products. ”

Because she has to feel obvious differential treatment in the car every day, Zhao Honghua is very dissatisfied with her husband's mocking tone. She said to Li Youfu:

"Lao Li, you also care more about national affairs. In addition to holding your textbooks and technical materials, you don't want to read newspapers, and you don't want to listen to the radio. The day before yesterday, a big expert from the Academy of Sciences published an article in the "People's Daily" saying that a gasoline engine can be used to build a machine that flies in the sky, and what is it called? ”

"Look at how powerful the gasoline engine is that you don't like! It's a good thing to build a machine that flies in the sky. You've seen a hot air balloon in the park. In addition to hot air balloons, airplanes will also be able to fly in the sky in the future. You should study more and stop saying such shameful things. ”

Li Youfu's entire self-esteem is based on his own skills, so when his wife said something that looked down on his technical qualities, he immediately became angry.

He said angrily to Zhao Honghua:

"It doesn't matter if you make a flying chicken or a flying duck, you don't have to rely on us workers to make anything! I don't believe it, don't you need a fifth-level worker like me to build an airplane! ”

"Not to mention that the machines that fly in the sky have to be built by us workers, even if the country wants to build machines that fly from the earth to the moon in the future, it will have to be built by us workers hand by hand. I don't believe that you, a cadre of the Women's Federation, can pull people to the sky by pulling his wife's tongue! ”

Li Youfu's voice was a little loud. So much so that his words were also heard by some of the surrounding passengers. Because there was something absurd in his words, a few young people who heard him immediately burst into suppressed laughter.

On the one hand, Zhao Honghua was half angry by the sarcasm in Li Youfu's words, and on the other hand, because she didn't want to show her appearance in a public place, she could only endure it hard.

After secretly pinching her husband, Zhao Honghua twisted her head and pretended that she didn't know Li Youfu.