Chapter 1 Recruitment Quotas
Sitting under a big tree at the entrance of the village, looking at the cloudless sky, Xu Qiang's eyes revealed a bit of helplessness and emotion.

He could never have imagined that when he was just in his early fifties and full of ambition, he would suddenly die of illness and travel back to the summer of 1980.

When Xu Qiang was young in his previous life, he was a high-spirited and gifted child. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Department of Chemistry of Jilin University with the second highest score in the county. It then took him a full ten years to study from undergraduate to doctoral degree.

After entering the society, Xu Qiang first worked as an assistant researcher in the Polymer Physics Laboratory of the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Later, he jumped to the capital and became a researcher at the BJ Chemical Research Institute, specializing in the research of fine chemicals. Because of his extraordinary memory, outstanding abilities, and familiarity with the formulas of thousands of fine chemical products, he was called the "Chemical Encyclopedia". Even in the Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology, which gathered many academicians and doctors, he was a rare talent.

In addition to his work at the Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology, Xu Qiang also works part-time as a technical consultant for a number of domestic chemical companies. He is also a well-known senior expert in the entire fine chemical industry.

After years of hard work, he now owns two 100-square-meter houses in the Third Ring Road of Beijing, a car worth more than 200,000 yuan, and seven-digit savings. In addition, his family is also very happy, with a wife who is nearly ten years younger than him and two children who are about to enter college.

He could have enjoyed the warm time of his old age, but now, everything is gone. This parallel world from decades ago seems to have lost all the familiar relatives and information from his previous life. When Xu Qiang thought of this, tears welled up in his eyes, but he had to accept this cruel reality.

However, there is always a loss and a gain. Now Xu Qiang has traveled to the body of a guy with the same name and surname as him. Youth is his greatest asset, especially when he saw that his new body actually had the eight-pack abs that he had always dreamed of. The original sadness was instantly eliminated by more than half...

"Qiangzi, the captain wants you to come to the team headquarters!"

A voice came from a distance, and the next moment, Xu Qiang stood up, patted the dirt off his butt, and walked straight to the production team headquarters.

No matter what, life must go on, not to mention that youth is the greatest asset. Coupled with the skills and experience he has accumulated in his previous life, he must first improve his current living conditions so that he can smell the scent of money in his breath.

The production team’s headquarters was located in the middle of the village and was one of the few large tiled houses in the village.

"Sign this contract to voluntarily give up your recruitment quota, and you can take the 300 yuan. Your mother is in poor health, and this money will be just enough for her medical treatment. In addition, the village will give priority to your family. If you have any problems in the future, you can ask the team for help."

In the brigade's room, there was a small stack of "Great Unity" half-wrapped in a handkerchief on the table. The brigade secretary Zhao Xigui was puffing on a water pipe, with drooping eyelids, and spoke to Xu Qiang in front of him without raising his head.

"I don't want this money. I just want to go to work in the factory." Xu Qiang took a look at the money on the table and said bluntly.

"Don't be ungrateful, kid. How can someone like you get a job in a factory? They need skills. Besides, the factory is not like our village. The people there are all from big cities and their minds are very complicated. If you really go to work in a factory, you will definitely be bullied. People in our village are not as kind as us. No matter big or small things, everyone can help each other..." Zhao Xigui blew out a smoke ring, tapped the work points book on the table lightly with the fingers of his right hand, and looked up and said.

"If others can do it, why can't I? Besides, what's the use of 300 yuan? When my father worked in a factory, he could earn more than 50 yuan a month. This amount of money is not even enough for his half-year salary."

In his previous life, Xu Qiang came from the countryside. He knew very well that if he continued to work in the brigade, he would most likely be poor forever and would never be able to turn his life around. Moreover, in today's era, workers are the big brothers, and working in a factory is definitely much better than farming in the village.

"You kid are trying to rebel!" Zhao Xigui became furious when he heard Xu Qiang talking back to him. Since he became the branch secretary of the brigade, no one in the village dared to talk back to him like this, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

"It has nothing to do with whether you are against it or not. We must be reasonable in everything! This job quota was obtained at the cost of my father's life, and you want to take it away with just 300 yuan. Isn't that a bit unreasonable?" Xu Qiang said with his eyes wide open.

"you……"

Zhao Xigui never expected that the only son of the Xu family, who used to be so weak that he could not even fart, would now be so sharp-tongued. It seemed like he had become a different person, leaving him speechless for a moment.

It turns out that Xu Qiang's father used to be a porter at Shengli Machinery Factory. In the 60s, Shengli Machinery Factory built a factory in the local area, digging holes in the mountains and building bridges across the water. At the beginning, there were only more than 200 workers who came to help with the construction, and most of them were technicians. There was a serious shortage of labor, so many local villagers were hired. Xu Qiang's father was a bricklayer in the village, so naturally he was also recruited by the factory. Later, Xu Qiang's father became a rotation worker in the factory. The so-called rotation worker is actually a contract worker. The work in the factory is the dirtiest, most tiring and most dangerous. The factory promised to make him a regular employee in three years, but until Xu Qiang's father finally passed away, he still did not get a formal job.

Just half a month ago, Xu Qiang's father Xu Zhenguo was transporting a batch of goods when a landslide occurred on the way. The driver and other personnel survived by chance, but Xu Zhenguo was hit on the head by a falling rock and died on the spot.

This incident caused a great shock in the factory. In order to provide compensation to the families of employees who died in the line of duty, the factory leaders planned to recruit Xu Zhengguo's son Xu Qiang to work in the factory, which could be regarded as the son following in his father's footsteps.

Normally, the children of rotation workers cannot take over, but according to national regulations, temporary workers who have worked for 15 years can also enjoy some of the benefits of formal workers, including having their children take over.

But unexpectedly, after hearing the news, the village party secretary Zhao Xigui wanted to buy the recruitment quota for 300 yuan and arrange for his youngest son to get in.

"Not to mention 300 yuan, I won't sign even if it's 3 yuan!" Xu Qiang said bluntly.

"You are just too stubborn, I tell you, as long as you work hard in the village, you will have no problem finding a wife..."

"If I work in a factory, I can even marry a factory wife!"

"You want to marry a woman from the factory?" Hearing this, Zhao Xigui almost laughed out loud, and said sarcastically, "The workers in that machinery factory are all from big cities. Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself? How could they possibly like you? If someone like you can marry a girl from the city, I'll take your last name!"

You have to know that the Shengli Machinery Factory that Xu Qiang is going to enter is the largest third-line arsenal in Fuzhou and even in Jiangxi. It was originally built with assistance from Shanghai Radio Factory No. 3 and several large state-owned factories in the Northeast. Many employees in the factory, including those from Shanghai, still enjoy the same treatment as those of similar enterprises in Shanghai.

Currently, three out of the four sons of Zhao Xigui have entered Shengli Machinery Factory, but until now, none of them has succeeded in wooing a female worker in the factory. According to the female workers in the factory, Shanghai girls will not marry Jiangxi guys!

"I have to go to the factory anyway!"

"Xiao Qiang, you should have a conscience! Although your father worked in the factory at the beginning, he was not deducted a single point from the team's work points. Over the years, the village has also taken good care of your family. Don't forget your roots!" Seeing that the hard approach didn't work, Zhao Xigui immediately changed his tone.

"Speaking of work points, I have to say a few words. Although my father works in a factory, he still has to go back to the village to work during the busy farming season. The work assigned to my family is always the worst and the work points are the least. Last year, my mother was sick and wanted to go to the hospital, and my father wanted to use the team's horse-drawn carriage to take her to the county hospital, but you refused to agree! Fortunately, the factory sent a car..." When he said this, Xu Qiang seemed to be very angry.

"Those are tools of the production team. How can they be used for private purposes? If they affect agricultural production, who can take responsibility?!"

"Production is important, but human life is not important!? Then why does your daughter-in-law always ride in the team's horse-drawn carriage when she goes to the county town to buy things? Do you think everyone else is blind? "Xu Qiang's voice got a few decibels higher.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Zhao Xigui was speechless at this time. In anger and humiliation, he waved his hands repeatedly to let Xu Qiang leave the village committee.

Zhao Xigui originally thought that with his prestige in the village, he would be able to make the boy from the Xu family bow his head, but he did not expect that this boy, who was originally honest and taciturn, would be so sharp-tongued and make him lose face with just a few words.

"Goodbye!" Xu Qiang didn't say any more words and strode out of the village brigade.

(End of this chapter)