Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 98 The Ballroom
Ballroom dancing was all the rage in China in the 80s.

In 1979, on New Year's Eve in the first year of reform and opening up, the ballroom dance, which had disappeared for many years, appeared for the first time at the party in the Great Hall of the People.The long-term closure has made young people feel fresh and curious about new things such as ballroom dancing.

Some government agencies, organizations, enterprises and institutions first resurrected the ballroom dance party. Their trade unions and group organizations not only organized the dance party but also taught dance. Another purpose of them was to create a platform for young men and women to marry and love.

Many government agencies and institutions will repaint the conference room or canteen, cover the terrazzo floor, hang a devil lamp in the center of the lobby, hang colorful ribbon ropes, install stereo speakers, and install spotlights around it, just like a dance floor. , When the twilight falls, the drums and music are in unison, the crowd is surging, and the singing and dancing are peaceful.

The Red Star Gear Factory only started to hold this kind of social ballroom dance party at the beginning of this year. However, because the conference hall of the factory office building is too small to accommodate too many employees, the final choice of the Red Star Gear Factory is not far from the factory. The underground civil air defense hall in Beijing has been renovated into a ballroom dance scene, and the built-in is also very beautiful. The purchase of high-end audio and dance hall lighting props alone cost nearly 1 yuan.

In the beginning, this kind of ballroom organized by the factory would only be open on festivals such as "March [-]th" and "May [-]st", but because it was so popular, many young employees went to the labor union to ask the leaders to hold more balls. That's when I decided to change the dance to one a week.

However, although the young people in the factory like to participate in such dance activities, the young men and women of this age are still relatively conservative. Usually, the dance is between men and men, women and women, and men and women dare to dance with each other. few.

Although Yu Shulan is a relatively outgoing woman, her family is in good condition, and she usually dresses in a fashionable manner, but even so, she usually doesn't dance with male employees. Today, she is looking for Cheng Qingyan because she wants her to be her dance partner.

"I really can't go today." Cheng Qingyan said apologetically, "There is a class at night school tonight, I have to go after dinner..."

"Your grades are so good, it's not a big deal to miss a class, right?" Yu Shulan was obviously not willing to give up.

"This is really not good. Our factory's employees have strict night school requirements, and they will be expelled for missing classes without any reason." Cheng Qingyan said with a slight frown.

"It's really boring!" Yu Shulan pouted and said, "You don't live like a young man in the new era, you don't catch up with fashion at all..."

"Either way." Feeling that Yu Shulan was not very happy, Cheng Qingyan said with a smile: "When I finish the night school at night, I will go to the civil defense to find you. If you have time, you can teach me to dance."

After all, they were best friends for many years, and Cheng Qingyan still cherished the friendship between the two, and didn't want to upset her best friend because of this trivial matter.

"It's about the same." Yu Shulan heard the words, and then a smile appeared on her face, and then she said to Cheng Qingyan, "Then let's meet at night, I'll wait for you in the ballroom."

"Yeah." Cheng Qingyan nodded when she heard the words.

Later, seeing Yu Shulan leaving, Cheng Qingyan also put the car away and returned home with the borrowed reference book.

Taking out the key to open the door, Cheng Qingyan was stunned as soon as she walked to her room.

It turned out that his father Cheng Changlin was sitting in front of his writing desk, carefully drawing a mechanical drawing.

"Dad, you came back very early today." Cheng Qingyan said to her father in surprise.

"Yeah." Cheng Changlin looked up at his daughter and said, "Dad has a little work to do today, so use the writing desk and drawing tools."

"It's alright, anyway, I'm going to night school tonight." Cheng Qingyan put the borrowed book on the bookshelf, her face showing some doubts.

Because in Cheng Qingyan's memory, her father hadn't brought work home to draw drawings for several years.

Since his father became the chief engineer of the factory, he has long lost his enthusiasm for technical work.

In the past, when father and daughter communicated together, three sentences were inseparable from technical matters, and it was precisely because of her father's indoctrination that Cheng Qingyan was now so obsessed with mechanical technology that she entered the factory. For more than half a year, Cheng Qingyan seldom participated in the social activities organized by the factory for the young workers. She only occasionally went shopping with her best friend Yu Shulan in the city on Sundays or watched a movie at ordinary times. The rest of the time was either in the library or at home. A mechanical information book.

In the past two years, the father and daughter have only occasionally chatted during dinner, but basically Cheng Changlin has not talked much about technical matters, and talked more about and As for the intrigue between several factory leaders, as for the technical work in the factory, he, the chief engineer, is more like a hands-on boss.

So today, when Cheng Qingyan saw that her father went home to draw mechanical drawings for the first time, she was a little surprised.

But soon, Cheng Qingyan remembered something, so she asked her father, "Dad, are you going to participate in the technical improvement competition held in that factory?"

Now, after the announcement of the factory's decision to hold a technical transformation competition, especially after the bonus for the first prize was set to [-] yuan, and the nomination of a model worker, it caused a huge stir among all the workers in the factory. Now no one in the factory does not know about it this matter.

It's just that she heard that her father had stated that he would not participate in this competition, but she did not expect that her father would suddenly change his mind.

"I don't participate in that competition, I just do my daily work." Cheng Changlin replied without looking up.

"Dad, in fact, I think you should participate. The bonus this time is quite high. With your technical level, you should be able to..." Cheng Qingyan said with a smile after taking a look at the mechanical drawing her father was drawing.

"I'm the chief engineer. If I participate in this kind of competition, even if I get a place based on my strength, others will say behind my back that I have an inside story." Cheng Changlin interrupted his daughter's words and continued: "I'm avoiding suspicion, let's talk about it. As the chief engineer, with such a monthly salary, there is no need for people to gossip behind their backs for the hundreds of dollars!"

"Uh, I understand." Cheng Qingyan nodded lightly when she heard the words, and then said, "Dad, you are busy, I will go to the kitchen to wash the dishes first."

"Yeah." Cheng Changlin responded, and when he saw his daughter walk into the kitchen, the corners of his mouth twitched...

(End of this chapter)