Chapter 160 On the cusp of the storm
As soon as the factory director left, Li Yuqin, Jia Shufen and other "close sisters" came to Xu Qiang's office again.

Faced with this situation, Xu Qiang had no choice but to "come clean" with them, saying that a marriage had already been arranged in the village, and if he did not get married, the girl's family would definitely beat him to death. He also said that this was the local custom.

After hearing what Xu Qiang said, which was very convincing, they finally gave up. Then, Xu Qiang promised to treat them to a meal when he had time, and the matter came to an end.

In fact, if he were to live his life over again, Xu Qiang would naturally want to start a new family and career, but now is not the time.

Near noon, Wang Yongsheng and others came to Xu Qiang's office again, and this time, they brought a rather sumptuous meal, and even a bottle of Li Du wine. Although this wine is a "bare bottle wine", it is more expensive than Maotai in the local market, and is considered the best wine in Jiangxi.

"Brother Qiang, you don't know. After the list of candidates for model workers was announced today, people went crazy when they saw your name. I can't even describe the scene..."

After Wang Yongsheng and others sat down with Xu Qiang, they began to talk about what happened today.

"Some people just can't accept you! They ask how can you, a temporary worker who just joined the factory, be selected as a model worker? And you got all the good things last time when you won the award for military-to-civilian conversion..." At this time, Xiao Gangpao also interjected, and he continued, "As a result, someone directly questioned the propaganda department's officer, and the officer said that you completed the research and development project of the military order, and the new product passed the provincial review and was praised by the provincial leaders... When they heard this, these people immediately fell silent..."

"Brother Qiang is my master. I have known for a long time that he is not an ordinary person!" Wang Yongsheng was also very excited at this time, and said: "Brother Qiang is really ruthless. He directly throws out the military order before doing anything. What kind of spirit is this? This is the spirit of burning the boats and destroying the boats..."

"It's a desperate move..." Xu Qiang corrected.

"It's all the same anyway!" Wang Yongsheng picked up the wine glass and said to Xu Qiang, "Brother Qiang is really awesome today. To celebrate Brother Qiang becoming a model worker, I toast you a glass!"

After Wang Yongsheng finished speaking, he drank the wine in the glass.

"Slow down, let's eat and talk at the same time. We still have to go to work in the afternoon." Seeing this, Xu Qiang smiled and said, "Besides, now is the public notice period, and the final list has not been determined yet. If someone is dissatisfied and reports it to the higher-ups..."

"Whoever refuses to obey can come to me! I will help you to make him obey!"

"Haha, that's enough, it's enough for us brothers to say this. You mustn't fight with others because of this." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"By the way, Brother Qiang, if you win the title of Model Worker this time, I should be able to make you a regular employee, right?" asked Little Cannon.

"Becoming a regular employee is nothing. Brother Qiang will definitely get the job this time. The key is the housing!" Wang Yongsheng looked at Xiao Gangpao with disdain and continued, "These bastard leaders in the factory boss us around every day. We can't let them off this time. We must ask them for a house, and the best one. The second floor is good, but don't ask for the first floor. Our place is very damp and there are many rats. It's not comfortable to live on the first floor."

"Okay, I understand." Xu Qiang nodded and said, "But we haven't made any progress yet, so we'll talk about it later."

"Brother Qiang, you are so awesome this time, even better than our squad leader Liu. You just have a little less academic qualifications, otherwise I think you two are a good match..." said Little Cannon.

"She's the factory director's daughter, I can't afford her..." Xu Qiang shook his head.

"But you are a model worker. My father has worked in the factory for more than ten years and he didn't get the title of model worker. Besides, as long as you can live on the 20th floor, you can pick any girl in our factory!"

"Yes, if you have a new house, there are so many families in our factory who would like to send their daughters to your house."

"My neighbors in the same building have told me that they have three daughters. If that guy can get a new house, he can marry any of them!"

"What you said is too much..." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

In fact, Xu Qiang knew in his heart that what Wang Yongsheng and his friends said was indeed the truth.

The housing distribution problem at Shengli Machinery Factory has become very serious. Many people, with three generations of a family, can only live in a small house of a dozen or twenty square meters, and this is not an isolated problem.

The most important thing is that there was no concept of commercial housing in those two years, and housing could only be allocated by the factory. So if Xu Qiang got the key to the new house, it would be equivalent to having the "priority right to choose a spouse" in the factory!
But for Xu Qiang, he didn't take this matter too seriously.

Because according to Xu Qiang's memory, within two or three years, as the country adjusts its policies towards third-line enterprises, most of the country's third-line enterprises will basically begin to relocate to surrounding cities, and the factory area here will soon withdraw from the stage of history and become an uninhabited ruin.

In fact, the factory director Liu Biao started applying for the relocation of the factory last year, and his superiors were ready to approve it. However, the relocation requires a process. Whether it is site selection, construction of residential buildings and factory buildings, or disassembly and installation of various equipment, a lot of preparation work is required. Therefore, the factory cannot be moved in a short period of time.

So no matter how good the house Xu Qiang lives in, he will have to leave as the factory relocates, so he can only live comfortably for two or three years at most.

In fact, Xu Qiang also wanted to live in a big city. Although the Shengli Machinery Factory was the most prosperous area in the surrounding area and was no worse than the county town in all aspects, there was a big gap compared with big cities like Fuzhou and Nanchang in terms of medical care, education, and daily necessities.

If Xu Qiang can pass the college entrance examination this time, he may be arranged to study in Shanghai, and by then, he will not be able to work and live in the factory all the time. After graduating from college, he should be able to catch up with the factory relocation. So in Xu Qiang's view, the next month until the college entrance examination may be his last working time in this factory.

Of course, the TV University is not a full-time university, and considering Xu Qiang's importance to the factory, he may travel back and forth between the factory and the training class in Shanghai frequently in the future so as to balance work and study.

It is estimated that after Xu Qiang graduates, he will come to the city with the factory in a new identity and position to show his talents.

"This is all true, Brother Qiang. When you become a model worker and get a house, people looking for blind dates with you will come to your house so hard that they will break down the door!" said Wang Yongsheng.

"Hahaha, this is true." Thinking of what happened in the morning, Xu Qiang couldn't help laughing. After a moment, he said, "To be honest, these days, as long as we have money, it's easy to find a partner. Now our business is getting better and better. I hope everyone can get rich in the future! Everyone can marry a beautiful girl!"

"Well said! Making money is the most important thing!" Wang Yongsheng picked up the wine glass again at this time.

The next moment, everyone raised their glasses and drank heavily, completely ignoring the fact that they had to go to work in the afternoon...

……

In the evening, when Xu Qiang arrived at the workers' night school, he was immediately surrounded by a crowd.

Wang Yongsheng and his classmates did not come to study today. Normally, there should be few people in their classroom. However, what Xu Qiang did not expect was that students from other classes also came to this classroom today, all to see Xu Qiang.

Today's announcement of model workers has once again put Xu Qiang in the spotlight. In the beginning, many people were very dissatisfied with Xu Qiang's selection as a model worker, believing that this was an illegal operation by the factory. However, after the news that Xu Qiang's two military projects were approved by the province spread, no one questioned the factory's decision anymore.

The matter is obvious. Xu Qiang has made great contributions to the factory this time. When Xu Qiang's military order was made public in the factory, people always treated it as a joke. But now Xu Qiang has not only completed his military order, but also received high praise from provincial leaders. With such an achievement, let alone being named a model worker of the whole factory, even participating in the selection of municipal model workers is not a problem. Therefore, many people quickly changed from questioning Xu Qiang to admiring, envying, and even jealous of him...

"Xu Qiang, I heard that you are self-taught. What books have you read? Can you recommend some to us?"

“That’s amazing. You are our role model.”

"Do you have time to study literature together? Let's improve together..."

For a moment, Xu Qiang was surrounded by dozens of students, half of whom were female students.

At this moment, Xu Qiang was almost suffocated by the smell of shampoo coming from the heads of these female students, but the amazing thing was that Xu Qiang could still distinguish the fragrance of their shampoo, some with apple flavor, some with clove flavor, and some with lily flavor...

"Everyone, please go away. Class is about to start. If you have anything to say, we can talk after class."

Just when Xu Qiang was surrounded by people and was overwhelmed, a familiar voice came from the door.

The people who came were Liu Siying and Lin Yueying.

After hearing Liu Siying's words, the people from other classes quickly dispersed, but the people from this class still wanted to get close to Xu Qiang.

"Xu Qiang, you are almost a model worker, that's amazing."

This time, it was Lin Yueying who spoke to him.

Although the two had been in the same class for almost a month, this was the first time that Lin Yueying took the initiative to talk to Xu Qiang.

"I'm just lucky." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"I've always thought you were special, but I didn't expect you to be so amazing. By the way, I saw you in the factory dance hall last time, and you danced very well." Lin Yueying hesitated for a moment, then continued, "You will definitely go dancing again in the future, our factory dance hall will have a show this weekend... Can you teach me to dance, too?"

I have to say that Lin Yueying is quite bold.

Nowadays, young men and women are very reserved in expressing their feelings, and at most they would just give a hint. However, the extent of Lin Yueying's "hint" this time was obviously a bit bigger.

(End of this chapter)