Chapter 127: Reporting to the Maintenance Depot (2)

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The person in charge was a female employee in her twenties. She handed over the notification, the brigade’s introduction letter, and other documents, then proceeded to handle the related formalities one by one according to the woman from Human Resources’ instructions.

It took quite some time to complete everything, mainly because they were being hired as formal workers. If they had been temporary workers, the process would have been much simpler.

Just as the two were about to follow the HR staff’s advice and report to the head of the handling team, a middle-aged bald man approached them cheerfully.

“Are you Comrade Xiao Pingle? I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. And this must be Comrade Xiao Weiguo, right? I’ve heard so much about you,” he said with a smile.

Everyone around addressed him as the factory director.

This man was actually the factory director. They wondered why he was coming to see them—it was just a handling team after all.

“Greetings, Director. I am Xiao Weiguo, and this is my father, Xiao Pingle. From now on, he will be one of your workers. I hope you will look after him well.”

“No need for formalities. I’m Zhou Yaozu. Weiguo, just call me Uncle Zhou. Have you finished all the paperwork? I’ll take you to the handling team and introduce you to the factory layout along the way,” he chuckled.

“Uncle Zhou, thank you very much,” Xiao Weiguo said gratefully.

Having a mid-sized factory director personally come to register and introduce the factory was a sign of great favor. Xiao Weiguo guessed it must have something to do with First Automobile Works and Engineer Wang.

Xiao Pingle, meanwhile, stood there dazed, simply smiling at the man.

After the three of them left, the HR staff began chatting among themselves.

“Xiao Wang, you just handled the registration for those people. You didn’t deliberately make things difficult, did you? It seems these are people with strong backing. The factory director himself accompanied them on their first day. I don’t understand why they ended up as just handling workers—they don’t need special skills, just strength.”

“Sister Wang, I didn’t. You know my character—I’m not like some people who shamelessly hold others back without any benefit. I just handle things officially. Fortunately, I did, or else I’d be in trouble today.”

Director Zhou Yaozu led the two on a tour around the factory, and only then did Xiao Weiguo gain a general understanding of the main activities of the repair shop.

He had previously thought it was a car repair factory like in later times, but that wasn’t the case. Back then, there were hardly any cars on the streets.

This repair shop had a wide scope of responsibilities. Besides collaborating with various factories in the city to help repair vehicles and machinery, it also maintained government vehicles—official cars, buses, police cars, and so forth.

Furthermore, agricultural machinery from surrounding communes that couldn’t be repaired at smaller agricultural technology stations were brought here for maintenance.

The departments, aside from supporting units, mainly consisted of four major divisions: vehicle repair, fitting, riveting, and electric welding.

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The handling team belonged to the supporting departments.

Xiao Weiguo thought that he could perhaps obtain some spare parts from here to try assembling a simple vehicle himself.

In later times, simple agricultural vehicles like tricycles and four-wheelers had very basic structures. As long as he had the materials, Xiao Weiguo could definitely build one on his own.

Imagine driving a vehicle he assembled himself—that would be quite impressive.

If the repair shop could help with the roadworthiness certification, he would undoubtedly become one of the few vehicle owners in the 1960s.

Xiao Weiguo’s eyes sparkled, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.

It seemed that Uncle Zhou might have some expectations of him.

At that moment, a group of people walked towards them. Leading them was the Sichuan-Chongqing auntie neighbor of Xiao Weiguo—he hadn’t expected she worked here.

Xiao Weiguo nodded to her in greeting.

Shen Qiuxia glanced up, feeling she had seen this young man somewhere before but couldn’t recall exactly. She nodded back and continued walking, pondering over the difficult problem from earlier.

The others greeted the factory director as they hurriedly followed Shen Qiuxia.

“Uncle Zhou, who was that just now?”

“Who? You mean Engineer Shen? She’s a great talent introduced to our factory from Chengdu, specially assigned to support our mechanical repairs,” Zhou replied.

She was an engineer—a position of considerable status.

Putting that aside for now, the director led Xiao Pingle to report to the handling team, whose leader was a broad-shouldered man named Sun Hei, known for his gruff but sincere nature.

Seeing the factory director arrive, Sun Hei hurried about, flattering him.

Once he knew the purpose of the visit, he quickly said, “Director, rest assured. I will personally take care of this brother and make sure he’s not treated unfairly.”

Xiao Weiguo observed the other members of the handling team—all burly men with clothes stained by machine oil. It seemed the items they handled were mainly various cars, car parts, and different machines.

At that time, there were no forklifts or similar equipment; everything had to be moved by manpower, which explained the existence of the handling team.

“Uncle Zhou, I need to settle my father down, arrange the allocated housing, and so on. I might not start work until next Monday,” Xiao Weiguo said to Zhou Yaozu.

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Zhou Yaozu clasped his hands behind his back and smiled warmly at Xiao Weiguo and Xiao Pingle.

“Settling in is important. Has the housing allocation slip been prepared? If so, then come to work next Monday. Sun Hei, remember to inform the HR department.”

“All right, Director. I’ll go right away,” Sun Hei said, smiling at the director.

“It’s ready. Don’t worry, Uncle Zhou. My place is also in that area, so it’s quite familiar.”

Xiao Weiguo also said to Sun Hei, “Thank you, Team Leader Sun.”

Sun Hei waved it off nonchalantly as if to say it was no trouble at all.

The team leader seemed decent, though a bit sycophantic. But with the factory director as his backing, he likely wouldn’t bully Xiao Pingle.

“That’s good. Later, come visit my place, Pingle. Work hard from now on, and if you have any grievances, come find me immediately.”

Xiao Pingle hastened to say, “Thank you, Brother Zhou. I will work hard.”

Afterwards, the two hurried off to the South Luogu Alley Street Office.

Fortunately, the director was present today. Xiao Weiguo didn’t bother with anyone else and went straight to the director’s office.

Since Director Xu Meihui was a familiar face, it was only natural to seek help from a trusted acquaintance in such a critical moment.

“Please come in.”

Xiao Weiguo led Xiao Pingle into the director’s office and said, “Aunt Xu, I’m Xiao Weiguo. My father recently started working in the city. The factory has allocated us housing, but I’d appreciate your help arranging it. Thank you in advance.”

Xu Meihui smiled and said, “So it’s you. Let me see the slip. Do you have any preferences?”

Xiao Weiguo quickly handed over the slip. “Here’s what I’m thinking: since I live in Courtyard 98, it would be best if there’s an extra house there that can be allocated to us. Also, Aunt Xu, our whole family will be moving to the city, so it’s best if the house can accommodate many people.”