Of course, before she left, Xie Changning had to go see Director Zhao.

"I knew you’d be coming."

After their phone call yesterday, Director Zhao had pushed some of his less important tasks to the next day. His main priority was to handle things for Xie Changning and her group of kids.

The youths Xie Changning had brought along ranged in age from seventeen or eighteen for the oldest to fourteen or fifteen for the youngest.

It was a mixed group of boys and girls.

When they saw Director Zhao, they greeted him in unison, "Hello, Director Zhao!"

Director Zhao smiled and nodded.

Director Zhao looked at the youths, his eyes filled with admiration. With the current slogan being "Women hold up half the sky," it was a great thing to see girls participating so enthusiastically!

Of course, it also showed the trust people had in Xie Changning.

The ones Xie Changning had selected were surely the cream of the crop among the factory workers’ children. Since they were top students, there was nothing more to be said.

"Our factory desperately needs people, so of course I’m in a hurry." Xie Changning didn’t hide her intentions. Her ambition was to expand production at the Anong County Machinery Factory and make it the nation’s top earner of foreign currency!

Director Zhao could see her ambition and let out a hearty laugh.

"Excellent! Wonderful! I’ll take you over right now."

As he spoke, Director Zhao turned to look at a green truck in the Industrial Bureau’s courtyard.

The truck was covered with a green tarp, clearly one meant for transporting people. Xie Changning turned and pointed to the truck they had rented themselves. "Kids, get on!"

In those days, it was common for people to ride in trucks like this to the county seat or the city.

The youths expertly used the railing on the truck’s tailgate to hoist themselves into the bed.

"We rented our own. Why don’t you ride with us?" With so many kids, Xie Changning had been worried about something happening on the road, so she’d rented a truck just for them. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Alright!"

Once on the truck, they headed straight for the First Automobile Works.

The Chuncheng First Automobile Factory! The youths all let out a collective "WOW!"

Compared to the Anong County Machinery Factory, Chuncheng First Auto was incomparably grander. The main gate featured large, gilt-stamped characters, and the entire complex was three or four times the size of the Nong’an County Machinery Factory.

Workers bustled back and forth in neat First Automobile Works uniforms, a look of longing filling the youths’ eyes.

Xie Changning made arrangements with the driver and the truck, then had the youths line up. "Form two rows!"

The youths, who had been captivated by the sight of the First Automobile Works, immediately settled down and obediently fell into place.

Before they left, Xie Changning had given them a quick briefing: greet people politely, stay in formation while touring the First Automobile Works, don’t gawk and fall behind, and so on.

Director Zhao was very pleased with the youths’ conduct.

They had only cried out in amazement when they first got off the truck; the rest of the time, they were perfectly behaved, not causing Xie Changning the slightest bit of trouble.

Xie Changning followed Director Zhao into the First Automobile Works.

Someone was already waiting for them inside the First Automobile Works. Seeing Director Zhao, the man hurried forward. "Director Zhao!"

"Changning, this is Secretary Fang, the secretary to the director of the Revolutionary Committee."

After Director Zhao introduced him, he turned to Secretary Fang. "This is the director of the Anong County Machinery Factory, Xie Changning."

Secretary Fang looked at Xie Changning and quickly extended his hand.

"Hello, Mr. Xie. I’m Fang Heng."

"Xie Changning."

After the introductions, Director Zhao got straight to the point with Secretary Fang. "Secretary Fang, I assume your director told you about the students from the Anong County Machinery Factory?"

Fang Heng nodded.

"Yes, of course. I’m here to take you on a tour of the school."

There were thirty visiting students in total, all of them self-funded.

’It was a money-making opportunity for their factory, and besides, the provincial and municipal leaders had high hopes for the Anong County Machinery Factory’s director. Their own director was just going with the flow and currying a little favor.’

’A factory director this young had limitless future prospects.’

’Building a good relationship now could pay off later if they ever ran into a technical problem she could solve.’

Xie Changning and the youths followed behind Fang Heng. She asked about the technical school’s classes, the length of the programs, and other similar details. When she had more or less finished, she turned to the youths. "Do you have any questions?"

"Can we skip grades?"

The question was met with a moment of silence from Xie Changning and the others.

Director Zhao burst out laughing, and Fang Heng chuckled along. "Of course. If your skills are at a graduation level, you can certainly skip ahead." ’But there are no shortcuts when it comes to technical skills,’ he thought, ’unless someone is exceptionally talented.’

Xie Changning looked at the youth who had asked the question, careful not to immediately dampen their enthusiasm.

"If you can skip grades and graduate early, I’ll give you a three-hundred-yuan bonus out of my own pocket." A level-two worker graduating from the technical school only made 36 yuan a month; a three-hundred-yuan bonus was nearly an entire year’s salary.

How could the youths not be thrilled?

"Director, is that for us too?"

"Of course. If you skip a semester, it’s a 300-yuan bonus. Skip a full year, and it’s 800!" ’These are promising talents,’ she thought. ’Investing in them now will bring even greater returns in the future!’

’The current technical schools generally had two-year programs, so there wasn’t an opportunity to set an even higher bonus tier.’

So, Xie Changning structured the bonuses by semester.

"WOW!" The youths were ecstatic.

That was eight hundred yuan! Their parents’ annual salaries were barely that much!

The thought of earning such a huge bonus before they had even graduated and started working instantly fired up their motivation.

"Director, we’ll work our hardest!"

After the school tour, the next topic was admission standards and the entrance exam.

Originally, Fang Heng’s superior hadn’t planned an entrance exam for self-funded students, but since Xie Changning insisted on one, they decided to accommodate her.

"You’ll take the exam along with the other new students in a month. I’ll send the exam topics to the Anong County Machinery Factory afterward so you can prepare."

Since they hadn’t finalized the exam content yet, Xie Changning didn’t press the issue further.

When the tour was over, Xie Changning took the youths out for a meal. When it came time to pay the bill, Director Zhao insisted on paying.

"These youths are so enthusiastic about their studies. As your superior, I’m very gratified to see what a wonderful job you’ve done guiding them. This meal is on me!"

Xie Changning didn’t argue the point and let Director Zhao pay.

After dropping Director Zhao off at the Industrial Bureau, Xie Changning also vaulted into the truck bed to sit with the others.

"Director, you...!" The youths saw her about to climb into the truck bed and tried to stop her, but before they could finish, Xie Changning had already hoisted herself up.

Her action gave them quite a scare.

"Director, you’re pregnant!" the girls chirped worriedly.

Xie Changning waved a hand dismissively and found a spot to sit in the middle of the truck bed. "I’m not that fragile. I came up here because I need to have a meeting with all of you."

The truck started to move, driving slowly because Xie Changning was riding in the back.

Over the low HUM of the truck’s engine, Xie Changning began to talk to them about their studies.

Everyone listened intently.