Chapter 307 Office Building Renovation

On Friday afternoon, a 212 jeep stopped at the school gate, and Meng Guangming came to Xu Qiang's dormitory.

After the two exchanged a few brief greetings, Xu Qiang immediately took a car to Luwan.

After seeking Xu Qiang's advice, Meng Guangming reported to BJ. After receiving permission, he started the establishment of the Chemical Research Institute.

There are more than a dozen factories in Luwan District, each with its own living area. The housing problem is already very tense, so it is almost impossible for the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building to find a piece of land here to build a house. Moreover, Xu Qiang's 8702 project only has one year, and it will take at least half a year to build the new house.

So Meng Guangming could only look for an old house in this area that was suitable for use as a research institute.

With the cooperation of the Shanghai Housing Authority, Meng Guangming soon found his goal.

There is an old three-story office building in the backyard of the Lujiang Machinery Factory in Luwan District. Two years ago, a fire broke out there and half of the roof collapsed. To this day, black traces of the fire can still be seen on the walls, as well as half of the carbonized wooden beams.

At that time, an accountant forced his way into the building in order to get more than 10,000 yuan from the safe and unfortunately died. Afterwards, the three-story building was abandoned and the factory built a new office building on the other side of the factory area.

Considering that there were no buildings or land for building houses that met the requirements of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, this abandoned building became the only option.

"I really have no other choice..." After getting off the car, Meng Guangming pointed at the dilapidated building in front and said to Xu Qiang helplessly, "This is the only idle property in the area. According to the original plan of their machinery factory, this building will be demolished and rebuilt at the beginning of next year. But I think if this house is renovated, it should be usable..."

"How strong is the main part of this house?" Xu Qiang asked.

"I asked someone to check it out. Except for the one-third on the left side which was severely damaged, the rest of the house was not too damaged..." Meng Guangming pointed to the collapsed roof and said, "The fire started on the third floor on the left side. Someone was using an electric stove to heat water, but it was too close to the bed... Fortunately, the fire brigade arrived in time, so there were no major casualties..."

"Okay." Xu Qiang nodded when he heard that.

Although the chosen house was not ideal, Xu Qiang also knew that in today's Shanghai, it was difficult to find a good house unless it was far away from the city center.

Although the house was severely damaged, it is located in a factory area, so the surrounding land is relatively open. In addition, since it is adjacent to the factory, there will definitely be no problems with water, electricity supply and sewage disposal, which are crucial for a chemical laboratory.

Moreover, the Hujiang Machinery Factory is adjacent to the Huangpu River. From where he is, he can see the river. The scenery is beautiful. It is a very wonderful thing to be able to work here.

"I have talked to the civil engineering experts in our department before. Their suggestion is to directly demolish the severely damaged third floor and leave only the first and second floors. In addition, the water and electricity pipelines of the house should be re-laid, and all the burned walls on the exterior and interior should be removed and renovated. Then it can be used," said Meng Guangming.

"Is there any problem with this prefabricated floor?" Xu Qiang said, pointing to the second-floor floor.

"The second-floor slab is not damaged, and the third-floor slab will be completely replaced and paved with asphalt." Meng Guangming pondered for a moment, then continued: "But it will take two and a half months to complete everything..."

"That's the only way." Xu Qiang said.

Including the more than a week that had passed, this means that Xu Qiang actually only had nine months of research and development time. For a national key project, this time is indeed too short.

However, Xu Qiang was confident about the project, so he didn't really mind spending an extra month renovating the house.

"I will have the construction company complete the renovation of the house as soon as possible, and try not to delay you for too long." Meng Guangming paused, then continued: "Do you have any other requests? I will help you solve any that I can."

Perhaps feeling a little bad for wasting Xu Qiang's project time, Meng Guangming wanted to help Xu Qiang solve some other problems.

"I want a car, a 212 Jeep will do. This way, it will be easier for me to get things done in the future, and it will also help speed up the research and development of the project," said Xu Qiang.

"You want a car?" Meng Guangming frowned when he heard Xu Qiang say this.

"Yes, this is actually a work requirement." Xu Qiang nodded.

These days, private individuals are not allowed to buy and sell cars, because since the founding of New China, cars have been regarded as means of production and can only be used to meet official and foreign affairs needs.

Although the policy on private car purchases has been relaxed with the country's reform and opening up, if you really want to buy one, even if you have money, you still need government approval.

In the past, until 1984, the State Council issued the "Several Provisions on the Purchase of Motor Vehicles, Ships and Tractors by Individual Farmers or Joint Households to Operate in the Transport Industry", which clearly stipulated the legality of private car purchases.

But Xu Qiang really needs a car now, so that he can travel freely between Shanghai and Changzhou in the future, which will facilitate his money-making projects. Moreover, his dye factory will also be moved to Changzhou in the future, so a car must be bought.

When he was at the Shengli Machinery Factory, Xu Qiang once bought two scooters. However, these scooters can be ridden in Jiangxi, but in Shanghai they are used exclusively by the police and ordinary people are not allowed to ride them on the road.

So since Director Meng offered to help him with something, Xu Qiang immediately proposed to buy a car.

"Xu Qiang, can you drive?" Meng Guangming asked after a moment. "Of course I can."

"Really?" Meng Guangming looked incredulous.

You know, these days, even if you buy a car, it doesn’t mean you can drive it at will, because even in the 80s, a driver’s license was a problem that troubled drivers: there were no driving schools at that time!

In fact, at that time, you had to rely on your company to learn to drive or even take the driver's license test. If you didn't have a certificate from your company, you were not allowed to take the test, even if you knew how to drive! Therefore, people who wanted to drive could only learn from the company's master, and the number of places was limited.

In addition, there was another requirement: in addition to being able to drive, you must also be able to perform mechanical maintenance! Therefore, at that time, a driver's license was a symbol of status. Having a driver's license not only meant that you could drive, but also that you had a work background, that you could perform mechanical maintenance, and that you could repair cars.

"Give me the car keys and I'll drive you around." Xu Qiang said to Meng Guangming.

"Be careful." Meng Guangming hesitated for a moment, but when he saw that the area around the factory was relatively empty, he threw the car keys to him.

The next moment, Xu Qiang sat down in the car, inserted the key and turned it, then stepped on the accelerator and clutch.

Compared to later cars, the 212 Jeep of that era was actually quite difficult to drive.

Because they are all directly mechanically controlled, the main feature is a hard link, which makes operation more difficult.

The suspension is stiff and the shock absorption is poor, so the car is bumpy on the road and the passengers suffer a lot.

Moreover, this car only has a 3-speed manual transmission, no power steering, and no synchronizer in the transmission. To change gears, you have to press the clutch to return to neutral, step on the accelerator, and then press the clutch again to shift gears. Without good skills, most people really can't drive this car.

When Xu Qiang was providing technical assistance to brother units in the Shengli Machinery Factory for military-to-civilian transformation, he had tried to drive this car. He felt a little awkward at first, but after all, he was an experienced driver in his previous life, so he soon became proficient in driving it.

Now I am much more skilled at driving this jeep again.

The factory is very large. Holding the steering wheel and looking at the Huangpu River in the distance, Xu Qiang feels very happy.

As for Meng Guangming, he was surprised to see how skillful Xu Qiang was in driving.

"Where did you learn to drive?"

After about ten minutes, when Xu Qiang drove back to the starting point, turned off the engine and got out of the car, Meng Guangming immediately stepped forward and asked.

"We used to have a 212 in our machinery factory. It was the private car of our factory director. The driver was very familiar with me. I bought him a pack of cigarettes and learned the skills from him," said Xu Qiang.

"Hahaha! You are amazing!" Hearing this, Meng Guangming burst into laughter and said after a moment: "Since you need it for work, I will find a way to let the department provide you with a jeep, but you have to take a driver's license test first. I will help you with the formalities. In addition, you may need to pay for the gas yourself, because according to regulations, you have not yet reached the level of being equipped with a special car..."

"I'll pay for the gas and I'll fix it myself if it breaks down, so don't worry!" Xu Qiang's eyes lit up when he heard that.

To Xu Qiang, gas money is not worth mentioning at all. Even if he is asked to buy a car at his own expense, Xu Qiang can definitely afford it. You know, the price of a 212 Jeep these days is about 212 yuan, and Xu Qiang can now earn yuan from a support project, which is almost enough to buy two s!

"Anyway, you have to be careful when you drive, and the car can only be registered at the institute. It is public property, so you must be aware of this."

"understand!"

"Okay, then I'll take you back. When the building here is renovated, I'll bring you over to have a look."

"Okay." Xu Qiang replied.

Afterwards, the two got in the car and quickly left the factory...

……

In the next few days, Xu Qiang was busy with the perfume production line.

The trio continued to work in perfect harmony. He Yonghong drew up the design drawings of the entire production line in a very short time according to Xu Qiang's design ideas. In order to achieve precise control, Liu Siying designed an electronic control system for the entire production line, which greatly simplified the production control procedures and enabled the operation of the entire production line to be completed with only a few workers.

Next, they will go to Changzhou to instruct workers to install the equipment and conduct preliminary tests...

(End of this chapter)