Chapter 9 Li Daqi
"School-run factory?"
Principal Zhou was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Song Yuanchao had this idea.
No. 2 Middle School does have a school-run factory, and this factory is larger than that of other ordinary schools. As the principal of the school, he naturally has the final say on the placement of personnel in the school-run factory.
The request made by Song Yuanchao was not excessive. Not to mention that the school owed Song Guangzeng, just given the friendship between Principal Zhou and Song Guangzeng for more than 20 years, he had to help.
However, Principal Zhou still felt that it would be more appropriate to let Song Yuanchao take the college entrance examination. In his opinion, going to college was a bright road. Song Yuanchao was young and had a good foundation in learning. If he studied hard, even if he couldn't get into college, he could take the exam for a technical secondary school. After graduation, he would also be a cadre. Isn't this better than working as a teacher in the school-run factory?
But all the necessary words had been said and all the necessary persuasion had been given, but Song Yuanchao was still determined.
Song Yuanchao frankly told Principal Zhou about his situation and thoughts. It would be useless for Principal Zhou to say more at this time.
"Okay, it's no problem for you to go to the school-run factory. I can arrange it..."
"Thank you, Principal!" Song Yuanchao showed joy on his face and hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
Principal Zhou waved his hand and said to Song Yuanchao earnestly, "According to your situation, I can recruit you as a teacher, but I have one thing to say first."
"Please go ahead." Song Yuanchao pretended to listen, but he had a bitter smile in his heart. He vaguely knew what Principal Zhou wanted to say to him.
As expected, Principal Zhou said, "Yuan Chao, I hope you don't give up the opportunity to enter university. Now that the country is in a state of disrepair, all walks of life are in great need of talent. Being an ordinary teacher is different from going to university. Even if you work in a school-run factory, you can't fall behind in your studies. For your parents and your own future, Uncle Zhou hopes you have a better future."
This was a respectable and lovely old man. Song Yuanchao was deeply moved. In order to reassure Principal Zhou, Song Yuanchao did not refuse the request but agreed to it.
There is basically no problem in working in the school-run factory, but Song Yuanchao cannot officially start work now because his household registration and file have not been processed yet. All procedures must wait until these are completed before they can be carried out.
However, Principal Zhou promised Song Yuanchao that he would go through the procedures once Song Yuanchao's household registration was settled, and he would be able to go to work within a week at most.
Song Yuanchao finally felt relieved and was extremely grateful to Principal Zhou. Principal Zhou waved his hand. At this time, the bell for the end of get out of class rang. It turned out that they had been chatting for nearly an hour without realizing it, and it was already noon.
"It's time for lunch. Let's go to the cafeteria." Principal Zhou stood up and called to Song Yuanchao.
Song Yuanchao shook his head and refused: "Principal, I won't have lunch. I have some things to do later. In addition, I would like to ask you for a small favor."
Principal Zhou looked at Song Yuanchao with an inquiring look . Song Yuanchao said with a slightly sad look, "I want to go to Gusu to visit my parents these days. Could you please help me get a letter of introduction?"
After hearing what Song Yuanchao said, Principal Zhou also looked gloomy. Without saying a word, he walked directly to the desk, opened the drawer, took out a letter of introduction, sat down, picked up a pen and wrote a few words, then took out a seal from another drawer and stamped it. After the seal was slightly dry, he carefully tore off the letter of introduction.
"I gave you a one-week validity period. Is that enough?"
"That's enough, that's enough. Thank you, Principal." Song Yuanchao was extremely grateful. Principal Zhou had really helped him a lot. In this day and age, it was difficult to take a single step without a letter of introduction. Song Yuanchao's household registration had not yet been finalized, so if he wanted to go to Suzhou, whether by train or long-distance bus, he had to have a letter of introduction to buy a ticket.
Song Yuanchao once again declined Principal Zhou's invitation to have dinner in the cafeteria and left the school with the letter of introduction. Before leaving, he did not forget to greet the doorman, Uncle Liu.
After leaving the school, Song Yuanchao walked to a nearby state-owned restaurant. The reason why he refused Principal Zhou was not because he had other urgent matters to attend to, but because he did not want to trouble Principal Zhou too much.
In this era, there were not as many restaurants and fast food restaurants as in later generations. In addition to cooking at home, ordinary people had to bring their own meals to work or eat in the cafeteria. If they wanted to eat out, they could only go to state-owned restaurants.
State-owned hotels, as the name suggests, are hotels run by the state. Private hotels have not yet appeared and the market is still in the development stage. It will take a few years for individual economy to emerge like mushrooms after rain.
There is a counter at the entrance of the state-owned restaurant, and behind the counter is a wooden menu with prices and food coupons marked on it. You can order what you want to eat at the counter, then pay for the food coupons and buy chips.
The chips are also very ordinary, just the round plastic chips with the name of the state-owned restaurant printed on them. The different colors represent different foods, and the number of chips represents the amount of food. Of course, some state-owned restaurants use older wooden chips, or the menu is directly written by the cashier at the counter.
After ordering two liang of Shengjian, Song Yuanchao waited in line at the food pick-up window. After a while, the steaming Shengjian came out of the pot. After handing over the chips, the chef inside handed Song Yuanchao the enamel plate with the Shengjian, along with a bowl of egg skin soup.
After finding an empty seat by the window and sitting down, Song Yuanchao took out the chopsticks from the chopstick holder, poured a dish of vinegar and started eating.
The taste of the shengjian of this era is not comparable to that of later generations. First of all, the ingredients are different. The pork used in the shengjian of later generations is completely different from that of today. The pig breed is the white pig introduced later. This kind of pig is large, produces a lot of meat, and has a short breeding period, but the taste is far inferior to the local black pig.
What's more, they are all frozen meat, and there is no meaty flavor in the mouth. In addition, the production methods are also very different. Those time-honored brands claiming to have Shanghai characteristics have made the taste much worse in order to cater to the market due to the retirement of their masters and cost and other reasons.
After one bite, your mouth is filled with the lingering fragrance. Then take a sip of the clear soup made from large bones, egg skins and chopped green onions. It is simply a pleasure.
Just when Song Yuanchao was enjoying his meal, someone suddenly patted his shoulder. Song Yuanchao subconsciously looked up and saw a familiar smiling face facing him.
"I saw it from a distance and it looked like it was you. When I came in, it was really you! Yuan Chao, when did you come back?"
This was a young man wearing a green military uniform without collar patches. He put his arm around Song Yuanchao's shoulders affectionately, his eyes full of joy.
"You... Daqi!"
Song Yuanchao also showed a happy expression. Li Daqi was his childhood friend and their playmate from childhood to high school.
Song Yuanchao stood up in a hurry and almost knocked over the chair with his movements. He excitedly punched Li Daqi's chest several times with his fist, and then gave him a warm hug.
Song Yuanchao was very excited as he patted Li Daqi's back. When the educated youth went to the countryside, Song Yuanchao went to the northwest while Li Daqi went to Liaodong. After they separated, they were separated by thousands of miles and lost contact ever since.
In his previous life, Song Yuanchao returned to Shanghai and went to look for Li Daqi, but because Li Daqi had moved and he didn't know where he lived, and communication was extremely inconvenient in that era, Song Yuanchao was unable to contact him.
In the days that followed, after Song Yuanchao solved his household registration problem, he went to work in a subordinate unit of the telephone bureau introduced by Zhang Jianguo. He was busy at work for several years. During this period, Song Yuanchao also tried to continue looking for Li Daqi's whereabouts, but there was no news of him.
It was not until much later that Song Yuanchao learned that Li Daqi had left Shanghai as early as 1979 and went to live in a southern city. By the time Song Yuanchao finally found out Li Daqi's whereabouts, it was already 2010.
But Song Yuanchao ultimately never got to meet Li Daqi, because Li Daqi was already in the late stages of a terminal illness. When Song Yuanchao heard the news and asked for leave from his unit and hurried over by plane, Li Daqi had passed away a few hours ago.
Thinking of the regrets of his previous life and looking at the young and extremely familiar face in front of him, Song Yuanchao couldn't help but burst into tears.
