Returned to Binjiang, resumed work as usual.

However, plans cannot keep up with changes. Director Yan of the General Administration's Maritime Anti-Smuggling Department personally called. The originally planned "National Maritime Anti-Smuggling Backbone Training Class" to be held in Binjiang at the end of the month has been postponed, and the specific postponement period is yet to be determined.

Han Yu straightforwardly assumed it was because he didn't attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of New China in the Capital, which displeased the leadership of the General Administration, leading to a temporary cancellation.

He felt quite embarrassed facing Vice Port Director Ma and Political Commissioner Zhou, as it was very important for these two superiors. Among all those anti-smuggling bureaus nationwide, not every bureau gets the opportunity to host such high-level training events.

He rushed from Changyu Shipbuilding Factory to the office, knocked on the door of the Political Commissioner's office, not knowing how to explain to Commissioner Zhou, when Zhou Huixin laughed and asked, "Salted Fish, has the 825 boat been modified?"

"No."

"Not enough funding?"

"Funding is sufficient, and there's even some extra." Han Yu closed the door, and after thinking for a moment, added, "President Wang was very helpful, didn't charge us beyond labor costs."

Zhou Huixin invited him to sit down and curiously asked, "Then how come you have time to come back?"

Han Yu leaned on the table, apologetically saying, "Commissioner, Director Yan called me this morning saying the training class is postponed indefinitely."

"You came back just because of that?"

"Yes."

"You could have just made a call, why bother coming back. Besides, we already knew. Director Hu called Vice Director Ma this morning."

Han Yu instinctively asked, "You all knew?"

Zhou Huixin poured him a cup of water, gently placed it in front of him, returned to his seat, took out a cigarette and said, "Initially, we thought the superiors were worried we couldn't manage the event well. At lunch, we found out that Jianfu had a major smuggling case with an amount reaching 50 billion, involving several high-ranking officials, so the Head Office and General Administration are too distracted to conduct training."

"A smuggling case of 50 billion!"

"Unimaginable, isn't it?"

"What level are the officials involved?" Han Yu asked quietly.

Zhou Huixin didn't answer directly, but dipped his finger in the tea and wrote a string of ranks on the desk.

Han Yu couldn't believe it was true, staring at the words on the desk in shock.

Zhou Huixin, who learned of this from Director Zeng and Vice Director Ma at noon, couldn't believe it either. He took several puffs of his cigarette and sighed, "One wave after another. Previously, we thought the smuggling cases in East Guang were shocking, who knew Jianfu would have such a huge case with more smuggling amounts and more involved personnel, with higher-ranking officials involved."

Vice Minister of the Ministry of Police.

Provincial Party Secretary of the W group.

Several city leaders of Xiamen City.

And almost all major heads of Xiamen Customs were involved.

Han Yu regained his composure and asked in shock, "To drag so many high-ranking officials down, the main culprit is incredibly resourceful!"

"It's said he escaped." Zhou Huixin took a deep breath and added, "It seems someone tipped him off. The Central Committee led the investigation, yet the main culprit managed to escape, which indicates the informant's rank is not low either."

"Those people are way too audacious."

"Blinded by greed, it's hard to understand why they need so much money."

The Xiamen Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau was just established, yet within months so many anti-smuggling police were investigated.

Zhou Huixin didn't want to talk about this anymore, extinguished his cigarette butt, and pretended to smile lightly, "You came back just in time, even if you hadn't returned, I would have called you. The higher level approved the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge, and the city is going to form the Yangtze River Bridge Construction Leadership Group Office, abbreviated as Yangtze River Bridge Office."

"I know, but what's it got to do with me?"

"It does. You are the Secretary-General of Binjiang Water Fire Fighting Association. The Water Fire Fighting Association, along with the Maritime Bureau, Changhang Bureau, and Water Police Division, are all soon-to-be-formed members of the Yangtze River Bridge Construction Leadership Group."

Zhou Huixin paused, then said with emotion, "Building the Yangtze River Bridge, Binjiang people have been waiting for how many years! You've been focusing on ship repair in the shipyard, so you don't know. It's already widely spread outside, and every Binjiang person is excited. Director Zeng encountered Mayor Qin at the city meeting this morning. Mayor Qin said Secretary Lu and Mayor Qian were moved to tears when they saw the approval document!"

Back in the day, to build Linghai Port, Secretary Ye, Mayor Qian, and Deputy Mayor Shen ran to countless superior departments, focusing mainly on administrative approvals without worrying about construction funds.

Building the Yangtze River Bridge is different from building a port.

This side of the river is Binjiang, across the river is the county-level city Shuzhou of Guzhou City.

This cross-river passage is crucial for Binjiang and surrounding cities, but not important to them. While you're anxious, they're not, and without their support, it can't be built.

This involves national-level transportation construction planning and the planning for connecting highways on both ends of the bridge.

Once the planning is approved, the source of construction funds becomes another issue.

How much will the province allocate, how much will the city contribute, and will the Guzhou side contribute?

In short, the difficulty of constructing the Yangtze River Bridge far surpasses that of Linghai Port construction. Secretary Lu, Mayor Wang, and Vice Mayor Qin have been working tirelessly for years on this.

Now that it's settled, it can be imagined how excited the city leaders must be.

It's perfectly normal for city leaders to shed tears for this, and for them to focus on the bridge's construction and establish the "Yangtze River Bridge Office" is also normal.

Han Yu was secretly sighing, when Zhou Huixin sighed again, "When Secretary Chen was in charge, he had the airport built, Secretary Lu, from the time he took office, said he would push for the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge, and he managed to do it. Once the bridge is completed and operational, and the outer ring elevated bridge is built, no Binjiang person will ever forget Secretary Lu."

The ring road elevated bridge is a major project currently under promotion by the city.

Like when they built the airport and developed the Yangtze River coastline, there were many objections due to the huge investment, but Secretary Lu overcame opposition, willing to go into debt to build the elevated bridge.

This proves that being a leader is difficult, as whatever you do, someone will oppose it, and if you do nothing, someone will criticize you.

It's worth mentioning that the old leader said if these two major tasks are accomplished, the people of Binjiang would always remember Secretary Lu, which is a bit exaggerated.

For example, building the Yangtze River Bridge has little to do with Dongqi.

The place is to the east, and even if you build the bridge wide and strong, they won't take a 100-kilometer detour just to cross at Binjiang.

Or like building the ring road elevated highway, it benefits the citizens of Binjiang District and its suburbs. It doesn't just have nothing to do with Dongqi; it has nothing to do with Linghai, Changzhou, Dongru, or other regions and counties. Who, except for officials, would go to Binjiang for no reason?

"By the way, Mayor Qin spoke with Director Zeng this morning, saying that Sister Xiang Ning is going to get a promotion. Did you know?"

"Director Tang mentioned it before we returned from Jiangcheng, but we didn't dare take it seriously."

"Now you can take it seriously, though the word 'seriously' isn't quite appropriate, because it's basically confirmed."

The old subordinate in front of him had been overshadowed by Han Xiangning since joining work, and finally got promoted to Director, but now Han Xiangning is about to become Deputy Director again, overshadowing him.

Zhou Huixin found it quite interesting, and after thinking about it, he laughed and said, "The higher the position, the greater the pressure. It's said that the city's strong recommendation for her promotion to Deputy Director is to assign her significant responsibilities, to let her take on the role of Maritime Director in Changzhou, and let her serve as a safeguard for the bridge construction."

Han Yu agreed deeply and worriedly said, "Building the bridge will definitely occupy waterway resources, and you need to ensure both the construction of the bridge and navigation safety. Plus, the bridge will take at least three to five years to complete, and she will have to keep an eye on the Yangtze River for those years. She will be on edge every day. It's not an easy role as Director."

"This is the superior's trust in her, and she also has this capability."

"What capability does she have?"

"She has extensive work experience, has worked in the Seaman Examination Department, engaged in maritime law enforcement, and even held the position of Director of the Linghai Port Supervision Office before the institutional reform, safeguarding the construction of Linghai Port. Although young, who in the Maritime Bureau has such credentials!"

The senior's several years of work in traffic control and safeguarding Linghai Port's construction are definitely two significant credentials. As the old leader said, there is really no one more suitable than her in the Maritime Bureau to ensure the smooth construction of the Yangtze River Bridge.

The senior can get promoted, and Han Yu is very pleased.

Thinking about the immense work pressure the senior will have in the future, Han Yu felt a bit reluctant.

Zhou Huixin didn't know what he was thinking and reminded him, "Salted Fish, I almost forgot to tell you, the 825 vessel has a lot of electronic equipment. You can't just focus on modifying the ship; you also need to consider the 'Millennium Bug'. This is no small matter, and today's newspaper covered it again. You better check with the Qingdao Shipyard or the equipment suppliers to see if the electronic equipment on the vessel has the 'Millennium Bug' issue."

"I called to ask, and they said it's fine."

"When did you ask?"

"I called and asked right after coming back from Jiangcheng."

"And they said it's fine?"

"It's fine. They considered the 'Millennium Bug' issue last year. They said that the chips and circuit boards of the electronic devices on the vessel don't have the 'Millennium Bug' problem."

"Then I'm reassured. Now it's just the office computer left—I don't even know who to ask to 'debug' it."

The "Millennium Bug" isn't easy to fix; otherwise, it wouldn't be a global concern.

Han Yu doesn't understand computers and can't help out, so he could only say, "The office computer is mainly used for typing, and even if it crashes due to the 'Millennium Bug', it won't significantly impact the bureau's work. At worst, we can go to an outside print shop to print materials."

"The impact on work isn't big, but that computer is newly bought and cost over ten thousand!"

"Then ask the ones who sold it!"

...

Meanwhile, Xiao Yu, who was busy derusting and repainting Small 001 by the river at Bailong Port, suddenly received a call from Yu Zhen, talking about the computer as well.

"I just played on it for a bit. It was fine when I turned it off last night. How could it be broken?"

"It's not broken; it can't issue invoices!"

The client urgently needed an invoice, but the finance department couldn't issue one no matter what.

Yu Zhen was flustered, gripping the phone tightly and speaking through gritted teeth, "I told you before, the computer inside has the tax control software on it, strictly for issuing VAT invoices. You can't meddle with it. But you didn't listen. You wouldn't use the outside computer and insisted on using the inside one. Now, what do we do?"

Xiao Yu was nonplussed, hesitated a bit, and mumbled, "The outside computer can't access the Internet."

"Why does someone like you, who works on a ship, need to access the Internet? Do you think you're Xiao Hui? Are you planning to quit your job to do foreign trade? Only those doing foreign trade access the Internet for emails."

"I... I'm learning to use it. It's almost the 21st century. I'll fall behind if I don't learn computers."

"You didn't even finish primary school, and now you're learning computers, learning to use the Internet? I think you'd be better off learning from your parents about casting nets!"

"I really want to learn. I've already learned a lot."

"What have you learned?"

"I can type. 'Wang Pang Qing Tou Jian Wu Yi, Tu Shi Er Gan Shi Cun Yu.' It's very simple, and now I can type lots of characters!"

"What nonsense are you babbling about? I'm not talking to you anymore. I'll call the tax bureau and ask them to take a look."

These days were supposed to be for a romantic couple time at the factory, but look at him; he arrived and just played on the computer every night, staying up past midnight.

If he was just playing, fine. But he even broke the computer used for issuing VAT invoices.

The more Yu Zhen thought about it, the angrier she got. Frustrated, she said, "Don't come to the factory anymore, and you're forbidden from touching the factory's computers. After work, just stay home obediently!"

How will I chat online without going to the factory?

Xiao Yu had become addicted to surfing the Internet and cautiously asked, "Then can you buy me a computer that can access the Internet?"

Yu Zhen was furious, retorting unhappily, "Brother Salted Fish and Sister Xiang Ning don't use the Internet, so why are you, a gatekeeper, chasing trends? Not doing your job, not taking care of the kids, all you know is playing. If you want to buy one, get it yourself. I'm not getting you one!"