Chapter 139

"Almost. Of the seven apprentices, six are married. The only one left is Xiao Ding. This child is too shy and not good at communicating with others. If there is a suitable one in our street, Director Zheng can help introduce him."

Li Jiandong said with a smile that he was also helpless about Ding Qiunan.

Of course he knew what Ding Qiunan was thinking.

But he couldn't give her a status, and what women in this era care about most is status.

Of course, this does not apply to those who are hungry and have to resort to ganging up on others.

Li Jiandong has been helping her find a partner during this period, but there is nothing she can do if the other party just doesn't like her.

"You're really putting me in a difficult position. Do you think I'm someone who can be a matchmaker?

All of your disciples are outstanding. Even if there are young people in our street, I am afraid they are not worthy of her."

Director Zheng refused with a smile.

He himself is still single. If he were good at this, he wouldn't have been single for more than ten years.

Li Jiandong did not force it and pulled Director Zheng back into the room to chat.

Director Zheng is 58 years old this year and is about to retire. He originally wanted Li Jiandong to take over Nanluoguxiang Street, but it turns out that Li Jiandong is now at the deputy department level, half a level higher than him as the street director.

However, Sha Zhu's wedding today made Director Zheng think of another candidate.

Since Li Jiandong cannot be the street director, why not let Sha Zhu take over his job.

He is Li Jiandong's apprentice. Even if he does something wrong, at least Li Jiandong is there to clean up his mess behind him.

Li Jiandong is kind to his apprentices and cares about them, and this is something everyone in the street knows.

Letting Sha Zhu be the street director is actually equivalent to bringing Li Jiandong into the street.

There are still two years left. As long as I promote Sha Zhu and recommend him to the higher-ups before I retire, it should still be in time.

Thinking of this, Director Zheng's mood improved.

"By the way, Lao Li, your apprentice is getting married today. As a master, why don't you attend the wedding? I see that the people in your courtyard don't seem to be in a hurry either."

Director Zheng suddenly asked the question that was in his mind.

Courtyard No. 40 doesn't seem to be hosting a daughter's wedding today, but rather a daughter's wedding.

Even when marrying off a daughter, it is not so casual. Everyone does their own thing, unless there is a wedding character pasted on the door.

He even began to doubt whether today was someone's wedding day.

"Haha, Director Zheng, today's wedding is really special. Don't be fooled by its simplicity. You will know what's going on when you have the wedding banquet later."

Li Jiandong deliberately kept the secret.

At this time, everyone else was also confused. Sha Zhu's wedding was just like a game, with no host and not many children.

The groom hasn't shown up yet.

It is said that he has been tinkering in the kitchen since yesterday and went back in before dawn this morning.

It's almost twelve o'clock.

Sha Zhucai walked out of the kitchen, quickly washed his face, combed his hair, changed into the groom's clothes, and got into Li Jiandong's jeep.

In less than ten minutes, the jeep arrived at Chen Xueru's door.

Sha Zhu and Yan Jiecheng jumped down from both sides of the car.

The people around waiting to see the wedding were all a little confused.

"What does this mean? You're here to get married? You're here almost time for lunch? And there are only two of you?"

"Although Chen Xueru is married for the second time, you can't be so disrespectful."

"However, the groom's family is well-off and he drove a jeep to pick up the bride. Chen Xueru must be marrying above her station."

"It's good to be good-looking, and people will want you even if you are married for the second time and have children."

The neighbors around are jealous, and no one wants others to live better than themselves.

At this time, Sha Zhu had already walked into the yard, and Chen Xueru and her family were waiting in the house.

"Sister Chen, I'm here."

Sha Zhu walked into the room and looked at Chen Xueru with a shy face. Suddenly, she was the only one left in the whole world.

"Still calling me Sister Chen?"

Chen Xueru's mother said with a smile.

"Ah? Yes, that, my wife!"

Shazhu scratched his head, looking silly.

Yan Jiecheng followed him and said, "Zhu Zi, hurry up and call your parents. Don't make them wait anxiously."

Sha Zhu woke up as if from a dream and turned his gaze away from Chen Xueru's face.

She called out to her parents, "Dad, Mom."

"Good boy, Xueru will be handed over to you from now on. You must treat her well."

Chen Xueru's father said with a smile, looking at Chen Xueru from Shazhu's eyes.

He knew that this man would definitely be good to his daughter.

When they heard that their daughter's wedding would be kept simple, Chen Xueru's parents were a little unhappy, thinking that Sha Zhu had sacrificed his daughter's wedding in order to show off his cooking skills.

Now seeing Sha Zhu's eyes, the two elders understood without saying anything that they must have misunderstood.

Even if this man really wanted to show off, it would definitely be for his daughter.

After a simple ceremony of changing one's words, Sha Zhu carried Chen Xueru into the car.

Yan Jiecheng acted as the driver, and drove the two back to the courtyard amid countless farewell gazes.

The tavern dormitory building was already full of people, and Li Jiandong and others were also waiting at the door to pick up the bride.

After the car stopped, Sha Zhu got out first, then carried Chen Xueru to the courtyard of the tavern dormitory building and was placed in the middle of the courtyard. He Daqing and Xu Huizhen had already moved stools and were sitting there.

Yan Bugui, wearing a black Zhongshan suit, stood happily in the middle of the yard:
"One Worship"

"Second Worship Hall"

"Husband and wife bow to each other."

"From today on, He Yuzhu and Chen Xueru, you are a family. I hope you can be united as husband and wife, grow old together, and move towards a beautiful new life together."

The firecrackers blasted, and the people from other courtyards who came to watch the fun were a little confused.

"Is this the end?"

"Is the wedding so sloppy?"

Including Director Zheng and Sha Zhu's colleagues at the police station, they were all stunned when they saw such a simple wedding.

They had never seen a wedding where they had only a few words.

"Director Zheng, let's sit down first. The wedding banquet will take a while. It will be ready soon."

Li Jiandong asked Director Zheng to sit down on the stool next to him and rest, while the others started to get busy.

Jia Dongxu and other young people set up the tables and chairs for the wedding banquet.

The women were putting dishes and chopsticks on the table.

A group of teenagers ran into the kitchen and quickly ran out with food.

Director Zheng found these dishes a bit strange because each plate contained not just one dish but a platter of several dishes.

Li Jiandong introduced:

"Director Zheng, my apprentice Zhuzi has put a lot of effort into preparing today's wedding banquet. You can see that there are four to six dishes on each plate, a total of 60 dishes on the table. This is the Manchu-Han banquet he specially prepared for the wedding banquet. It's a pity that many ingredients are unavailable, otherwise this table should have dishes."

"One hundred and eight dishes?"

hiss!
Including Director Zheng, everyone watching the fun was shocked.

Even if you ask them, they can't name so many dishes.

Sha Zhu actually prepared 60 dishes for his wedding. No wonder he went to pick up his bride only when the time was almost up.

This is a Manchu-Han banquet, and it is also the most high-end banquet in the world.

Even if we only did a part of it today, it was definitely shocking enough.

The residents of Courtyard 40 were also going crazy because this was a full banquet.

Although we already knew that Sha Zhu was planning something big for this wedding banquet.

But they never imagined that this big trick would be a full banquet.

At this moment, seeing so many dishes being placed on the table, they all looked back.

"There are 60 dishes, and you can feel full after just one bite of each dish."

"What do you think? This Manchu-Han banquet was originally for the emperor. People only eat one bite at a time. Sometimes, even after a dish is placed on the table, they don't even use their chopsticks until it's taken off the table."

"Today, let's also taste the wedding banquet that the emperors had."

As soon as the Manchu-Han banquet appeared, the status of the restaurant was immediately raised.

No one cares about weddings anymore. After all, everyone has a wedding when they get married.

However, only the emperor in the past could enjoy the Manchu-Han banquet.

Everyone was eager to take their seats and soon started eating.

60 dishes are really too many. If you take a bite of each dish, most people will be full long time ago, so they can only pick and choose what to eat.

But the problem is that every one of these dishes is delicious, and the residents are reluctant to give up those they have never eaten, which really makes them feel conflicted.

Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

62, spring.

Li Jiandong, wrapped in a thick coat, got out of the jeep and walked into the second floor of the office building.

Just as he was about to enter the office, a voice called out from behind:
"Jiandong, wait for me."

"Director Yang, do you want to talk to me about something?"

Li Jiandong opened the office door and stood waiting at the door.

Director Yang came over and pushed him into the house: "If you have anything to say, please go inside first."

After the door closed, Director Yang walked directly to the middle of the office, then turned around, put his hands on his waist and smiled, "Jiandong, I have good news. More than two years ago, didn't you report that a large iron ore was discovered in Benxi, Jilin?"

"Yes, the Benxi Iron Mine has been discovered?"

When Li Jiandong heard the word iron ore, his expression suddenly became tense.

I thought that such a large iron mine could be discovered quickly if we knew its exact location.

Who knows, Li Jiandong is still naive in this regard.

Two years and four months have passed since Li Jiandong reported the case, but it was all worth it.

Director Yang grinned and said, "I found out, and it's exactly the same as you said.

The reserves of this mine far exceed the total amount of all the iron ores we have. And the quality is also very good. With this mine, our country's construction can move forward rapidly. "Speaking of this, Director Yang couldn't help feeling a little sad.

He recalled the past few years when there were no iron mines and in order to support construction, some households even donated their own iron pots for steelmaking.

Now that we have such a large iron mine, we will have endless supply of steel in the future.

Li Jiandong was also a little excited. It had been so long since this happened that he had almost forgotten about it. He didn't expect to suddenly receive such good news.

In the past two years, due to the shortage of steel, he even dared not to do any more research.

After all, when you research something new, it's easy for others to plagiarize it.

If your own country cannot produce it, or does not have the steel to produce it in large quantities, then the research is for others to research.

Now that the iron ore has been found and mining has officially begun, Li Jiandong can continue his new research.

"Okay, that's great news."

Li Jiandong was in a good mood.

Director Yang smiled and said, "There is another good news. If nothing unexpected happens, you will probably be promoted again."

"You have definitely made a great contribution to the discovery of the iron ore this time."

"So, the senior leader suggested that you go to the Ministry's Energy Department as deputy director, lead a team to the iron ore plant, and take charge of specific work. After you come back, you should be able to become a regular employee."

"Oh, by the way, the director of energy in the department is now 57 years old and will retire in three years at most. By then, I will have to call you leader whenever I see you."

The director of energy in the Ministry of Industry is at the bureau level, while the steel mill is a deputy bureau level unit.

Director Yang, the top leader, is also at the deputy-department level.

If Li Jiandong returns from his overseas career with experience and is promoted to energy director, then he is indeed half a level higher than Director Yang.

However, even though he was half a level higher, the two were not in the same department.

Li Jiandong cannot lead Director Yang. At most he can call him leader out of face, but if he really wants to lead him, he is confused.

"Director Yang, please stop laughing at me. Compared to the director of energy, I still prefer to do research and development. Can you talk to the senior leader and ask someone else to take charge of this matter?"

Li Jiandong really had no intention of becoming an energy director. In comparison, he preferred to engage in research and development, which would better enable him to make use of his expertise and make it easier for him to contribute to national construction.

If I transfer to the energy department, although I will be in a higher position, there will be less I can do.

Li Jiandong now has both fame and fortune, and he does not pursue power very much.

He sincerely wants to do more for the country's development.

"No way? Are you serious?"

Director Yang felt that he had heard wrongly.

This was the first time he had seen an official who didn't want to be promoted? It was simply bizarre.

"Really, I do think so."

Li Jiandong said seriously.

Director Yang spread his hands and said, "I can't make the decision. If you don't want to go, you have to find a senior leader."

"Okay, I'll go to the department now, and let someone else take care of the factory's affairs."

"Okay, you go."

Director Yang watched Li Jiandong leave, feeling a little confused, but out of selfish motives.

He actually hoped that Li Jiandong would continue to stay with him, but as a friend, he also hoped that he could go a step further.

Li Jiandong came to the Ministry of Industry and knocked on the door of Bi Da's office on the second floor.

"Please come in."

Li Jiandong pushed the door open and walked in. The leader of Bida was reviewing documents.

When he saw Li Jiandong, he laughed: "Jiandong, how can I say hello to you? Hehehe..., the reserves of 60 million tons of iron ore are enough for our country to develop for a hundred years."

Mr. Bi made the calculation based on the current smelting level, but did not take into account the steelmaking speed after the future development of smelting level.

However, his calculation was still conservative.

Infrastructure maniac, tens of millions of tons of iron ore will not be enough in a few years.

"Boss, I did come to you after hearing what Director Yang told me. I heard that you were planning to let me be the deputy director of the Energy Department. To be honest, I don't want to change this position."

Li Jiandong directly stated his needs.

The big boss, like Director Yang, was stunned for a few seconds after hearing what Li Jiandong said.

"Jiandong, didn't Xiao Yang explain it to you clearly? Old Guo from the Energy Department is already 57 years old. You should know what this age means, right?"

The leader of Bida spoke cryptically, but his meaning was very clear.

Li Jiandong nodded:
"I know that I made this decision after careful consideration. First of all, I am good at mechanics, and it is difficult for me to use my abilities in the energy sector. Secondly, I don't want to leave North City for a long time. I hope to balance work and family."

Hearing what Li Jiandong said, the leader of Bida couldn't help but frown.

After a long while, he said:
“Jiandong, you have to know that Xiao Yang is still very young, and he does an excellent job.

If you don't find another way, it will be difficult to make further progress. Opportunities like today are rare. How about this?"

The leader said this and pondered for a moment.

Then he considered every word carefully:
"You should go to the Energy Department. However, it's not a formal transfer. You will be assigned to the position on a temporary basis. You should go to Jilin and Liaoning. After a while, if you really don't want to stay there, I will find someone else to bring you back. If you are willing to continue working there, you can stay."

The proposal made by the Bi Da leader is equivalent to letting Li Jiandong try out the new position first.

If she is willing to do it, she can do it. If she is not willing, she can change it back. It can be said that she cares about Li Jiandong's feelings very much.

If it were someone else, he would just do whatever the leader arranged, and there would be no chance for bargaining.

Only Li Jiandong could get the leaders of Bida to make such an arrangement.

Since the leader of Bida has said so, Li Jiandong can't help but give face and can only agree: "Okay, then I will go and try it first. Can I bring someone else with me?"

"Who?"

"Maybe it's Jia Dongxu. I have to ask his opinion."

Li Jiandong really doesn't want to stay in Jilin or Liaoning permanently, even for just three years.

Since a replacement will have to be made sooner or later, it would be better to take Jia Dongxu along and give the opportunity for promotion to his apprentice.

Of course, Li Jiandong did not make all the decisions for Jia Dongxu. He would discuss it with him when he returned and listen to his opinions.

When the boss heard that Li Jiandong was going to take Jia Dongxu with him, he knew what he was planning.

However, this is also a good choice for him. After all, Jia Dongxu is Li Jiandong's apprentice and his man.

So I readily agreed:
"Sure, go back and discuss it with him, then give me a call and I'll have someone make the specific arrangements."

"Okay, then, Boss, I won't disturb you from working."

"Well, you go back first, nephew."

After Li Jiandong left the leadership office of Bitan University and returned to the steel rolling mill, he did not go to find Jia Dongxu immediately.

After get off work, Li Jiandong came to the courtyard and called Jia Dongxu and Liang Ladi to the Jia family's house.
Jia Zhang was cooking at home.

Now her sons Jia Dongxu and Liang Ladi both live in the tavern, and her grandson Banggeng and granddaughter Xiaodang both live in separate children's dormitories for boys and girls.

She lives alone in the courtyard, so even if she doesn't want to cook, she has to do it herself.

Jia Dongxu is now a high-ranking official. His son and daughter-in-law are promising, and the family has no shortage of delicious food every day.

Jia Zhang also had motivation to cook.

"This white flour bun is so delicious. Add two fried eggs to it, and it's like living a god's life."

Jia Zhang took the freshly steamed buns out of the pot and put them aside to dry. She was about to wash the pot and continue making scrambled eggs when suddenly the door was pushed open.

"Mom, I'm back."

Jia Dongxu pushed the door open and saw Jia Zhang was cooking. He smiled and said, "It just so happens that we haven't eaten yet. Let's eat at your place tonight."

Jia Zhang said unhappily, "Get lost. I didn't prepare anything for you."

"If you are not prepared, get ready quickly. My master is here too."

Jia Dongxu grinned, and Li Jiandong and Liang Ladi followed him in.

When Jia Zhang saw Li Jiandong coming, her expression immediately became flattering.
"So it's Lao Li who's here. I have to prepare myself well. Ladi is here too. Come and help me."

Jia Zhang said that she wanted Liang Ladi to help out, but actually she was planning to let Liang Ladi cook.

This kind of thing has happened more than once or twice.

Liang Ladi was originally a straightforward person, but she was always accommodating to Jia Dongxu just for Jia Dongxu's sake.

Li Jiandong said, "Sister-in-law, don't bother me. I'm here to tell you something and I'll be leaving in a moment."

When Jia Zhang heard that Li Jiandong had no intention of staying for dinner, she thought she could save a few cents.

So he didn't insist on keeping him, and took a stool for Li Jiandong and said, "What is it, Lao Li? Sit down first and we'll talk."

Li Jiandong was not polite and asked Jia Dongxu and Liang Ladi to sit down together.

Then he said to the three of them:

"Dongxu, Laosaozi, and Ladi, here's a thing. Dongxu has been the production director for several years. But the people above him are all young, so there aren't many opportunities for him to advance."

"The ministry recently plans to let me serve as the head of the energy department and go to Jilin and Liaoning to dig new iron ore. I have secured an opportunity for Dongxu to go there for gilding his skills. After I come back, I may transfer to the ministry, where there are more opportunities. So I want to ask for your opinions. If you are willing, I will report to the superiors and let the ministry prepare in advance."

Li Jiandong simply recounted the whole story.

When Jia Zhang heard this, she immediately frowned.

"It's so far to Jiliao? How long will it take?"

This is also the question that Jia Dongxu and Liang Ladi want to know. If the time is not long, it is not impossible to make a trip.

It would definitely not be worth it if I stayed there and couldn't come back.

Li Jiandong said:

"It's hard to say. It could be as short as one or two years, or as long as three years."

"Three years?"

Jia Dongxu muttered to himself that this period of time was neither long nor short, which was really confusing.

The same goes for Jia Zhang.

Of course she wanted Jia Dongxu to be promoted so that his salary would increase.

Her living standard will also improve, but going so far away all of a sudden, and being away for three years, it's such a long time, what if something unexpected happens?
Liang Ladi is also very conflicted here.

If she went with Jia Dongxu, she would definitely lose her job.

After three years, I have to find another job, but if I don't follow him, who can guarantee that Jia Dongxu will not change his mind after such a long time?
After all, her husband is also a leader now, and many people envy her.

Even if he was right in front of her, Liang Ladi would have to keep a close eye on him, let alone when he went out so far away?

But on the other hand, which woman doesn't want her man to reach a higher level?
It was Li Jiandong who helped me get such a good opportunity.

If I don't go, wouldn't it be a waste of their kindness?
I'm afraid it won't be possible to have it happen again next time.

(End of this chapter)