Scholars in the courtyard

The days at work are boring but also happy.

Because this is using his own hands to create wealth, it is a change that can be seen. Every time Yang Xiaotao looks at the credits, he is one step closer to good days.

Peaceful life is always fast. In the blink of an eye, it is already fifteen years and almost half a month has passed since work. Yang Xiaotao's work ability has also been recognized by everyone in the workshop.

Because of his outstanding performance, some workpieces that could only be done by second-level fitters were handed over to him. This made the work efficiency of the entire team skyrocket, and also encouraged people in the same team to complete their work better.

At this time, there were six people in Yang Xiaotao's group.

Among them, the team leader Wang Fa is a fifth-level fitter, there are also third-level fitters Che Wenwei, second-level fitter Li Wei, and the remaining Yang Xiaotao, Li Nan and Xing Jiaqi are all first-level fitters.

This can only be regarded as standard in the entire workshop and even the entire factory.

After all, most of the workers in the factory are first- and second-level junior workers. Being able to become a third-level worker is already an intermediate standard. Only those with level five and above can be considered as senior workers.

Now, there is equivalent to one more second-level fitter in the team, and the efficiency will naturally increase. When the workshop assigns tasks, it will also allocate resources to the team. This is not only training, but also a credential for evaluating advanced work.

For such an important unit as a steel rolling mill, there will be evaluation activities every quarter, every month and even every important holiday in recent years.

There are various types of outstanding pacesetters, advanced groups, progressive collectives, advanced workshops, etc., all in order to respond to the instructions from superiors, work hard, strive to reach the top, and build a great motherland quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Every time, the selected people will receive tangible benefits, which is also an important motivation for everyone's work.

Faced with Yang Xiaotao's outstanding abilities, the entire team is also improving efficiency during the process of running in.

Team leader Wang Fa was very happy about this. According to his estimation, even if he could not get the advanced group, he could still be rated as an advanced group, which would be somewhat beneficial.

During the lunch break, Yang Xiaotao sat aside and read a book as usual. Wang Fa and other team members were already used to it.

Others in the same workshop also regarded Yang Xiaotao's "good habit" as something new.

Even the workshop director heard about it and praised his attitude of studying hard.

Everyone also knew that Yang Xiaotao dropped out of school and entered a factory. If nothing happened at home, he would have been admitted to college by this time.

These days, it is very difficult to go to high school, and educated people are still very popular.

"Xiao Tao, are you finished reading? Pay attention to rest!"

Wang Fa sat aside, holding a box of green soft-leather spring plowing boxes in his hand, and gave one to Yang Xiaotao.

In his previous life, Yang Xiaotao could smoke, but he was not addicted and would only eat when needed.

This world, formerly in school, was not infected.

Yang Xiaotao took the cigarette and put it in his ear. Wang Fa lit it himself, blowing smoke rings from his mouth.

"Brother Wang, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Well, I just wanted to ask you. In a few days, the factory will organize a grading assessment. Do you have any ideas?"

"Are there any conditions?"

"No, this time it's a normal promotion assessment, but it's just the elementary and intermediate assessments. You are just right. I'll ask if you can sign up!"

"Well, it should be fine."

Yang Xiaotao looked at his credits and found that he was only 50 points away from becoming a second-level fitter. He should be able to catch up in the next few days.

"Okay, I know you're fine, so I'll sign up for you."

"Thank you, Brother Wang."

"Do we still want to be polite?"

"hey-hey"

Soon, the news about the assessment spread throughout the factory.

In the first workshop, Jia Dongxu put down his tools and gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

In the kitchen, Sha Zhu put down the kitchen knife and said, "Damn Sha Mao, if you dare to cause trouble again, I will chop you up."

Time flies by in the busyness, and the sun has not set yet, and the sky has already become overcast.

It has snowed twice in the past few days. Although it is all snow foam and there is no snow on the ground when it is blown by the wind, the temperature is getting lower day by day.

It is estimated that the lowest temperature now has dropped to below minus 10 degrees, especially at night. He dared not leave the bed at all. Yang Xiaotao got up several times in the middle of the night to add coal, and then fell asleep peacefully.

During lunch, I heard someone in the broadcast room say that this kind of weather will last for more than a week, and may be extended in the future.

"It's too cold today."

Yang Xiaotao put his hands in his pockets, his face still red from the cold. He said goodbye to his coworkers and walked towards the courtyard against the wind.

Tomorrow is Saturday, his day off, and he is planning to go to the scrap station to see if Huang Daniu has received the book.

As soon as I walked to the door of the courtyard, I saw the anxiety on the aunt's face. I saw that Yang Xiaotao wanted to speak, but hesitated for a moment and did not say anything.

Yang Xiaotao didn't ask any questions. The relationship between the two was not good enough to get close to each other, so he walked straight through the front yard and returned to the house.

The entire courtyard became deserted due to the cold weather. Even Jia Zhang, who used to sit at the door and stare, was hiding in the house, obviously afraid of being cold.

Make a fire and cook.

Yang Xiaotao took out some of the leftover braised pork, threw in two cabbage leaves, and added a few steamed buns, and it was ready for dinner.

Under the light, Xiaowei turned somersaults on the table, while Yang Xiaotao set up the basin and started eating.

tuk tuk tuk

There was a knock on the door, and Yang Xiaotao could only put down his chopsticks and stand up to open the door.

The person who came was Yan Jiefang. Seeing that Yang Xiaotao just glanced into the room and saw the meat on the plate, he almost drooled in the cold wind, and then he realized, "Brother Tao, I have informed you to convene a general meeting of the hospital."

"Now? It's such a cold day, standing in the yard. Is the master okay?"

"Well, it seems like I have something important to say, and it's quite urgent."

Yang Xiaotao frowned, "Does everyone want to go?"

"No, just one person from the family can make the decision, and others can go if they want."

"Okay, I understand, go ahead and tell others."

"Oh, okay, okay"

Yan Jiefang took two steps back. Yang Xiaotao had already closed the door and continued eating.

After a while, the food has become a little cold.

In the middle courtyard, people came one after another with their arms folded and stood in the shelter, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Gradually, more and more people began to guess what was going on this time.

After a while, Silly Zhu moved a table and put it directly in the middle, regardless of whether it was cold or not, and then placed three wooden stools as seats for the three uncles.

As soon as they were put away, the three uncles walked out of the first uncle's house together. It was obvious that the three of them had already discussed it.

Among the crowd, Xu Damao squatted behind the locust tree, his face red from the cold. When he saw the three people, he quickly urged, "You three, what kind of conference are you holding in such a cold weather? If you freeze your body and delay the production plan, You have to take responsibility."

After the three uncles heard this, Yi Zhonghai and Yan Fugui could still restrain themselves, but Liu Haizhong couldn't bear his temper and shouted back at Xu Damao, "Xu Damao, you don't have to participate if you have any objections, but when something goes wrong, you can Don’t blame me for not reminding you.”

Xu Damao was speechless and continued to squat under the tree.

"Shazhu, are you all here?"

Shazhu had already paid attention to manpower, so he replied at this time, "Of the three masters, Yang Xiaotao is the only one missing."

Yi Zhonghai frowned, and finally let Shazhu urge him.

"No, I'm here."

At this time, a voice sounded from the corner of the middle courtyard, and it was Yang Xiaotao's voice.

At this moment, Yang Xiaotao was far away from the middle courtyard, but that didn't mean that he didn't participate.

Yi Zhonghai also knew this and didn't hold on to it.

After Yang Xiaotao finished speaking, everyone looked at him, then withdrew their gaze and focused on the three uncles.

Right in front, Shazhu glanced at Yang Xiaotao and spat.

Mrs. Jia Zhang hid in the house. It was warmer at home on such a cold day, and listened to the conversations outside through the doors and windows.

She heard some of the content of this conference from the first uncle, and was thinking about how to get some benefits.

"In a moment, follow me out."

He turned around and said to Qin Huairu, who was looking very excited. Qin Huairu was also lying on the window, very concerned about the matters in the courtyard.

The same goes for other people in the courtyard. Although they didn't come out, they were always paying attention, for fear of losing some benefits.

Yang Xiaotao and Uncle Chen are next to each other, taking shelter from the cold wind under the eaves. In fact, Xiaowei is sticking to his chest and emitting warm energy, like a warm baby, making Yang Xiaotao's body less cold.

"Uncle Chen, what's going on?"

"What kind of conference is this in such a cold weather? I'll freeze to death."

Yang Xiaotao asked, and Uncle Chen also shook his head. The old couple usually walked around the yard, but it was too cold these days and they could only stay at home.

"I haven't heard anything, let's take a look."

Uncle Chen was old and couldn't stand the cold, so he stamped his feet on the spot.

When the three uncles saw people coming from every house, they stopped talking.

The second uncle stood up first, which is also the fixed procedure of the courtyard meeting.

Usually the second uncle starts the meeting, the first uncle talks about the matter, and then the third uncle follows and agrees.

"Uh-huh!"

The second uncle, Liu Haizhong, cleared his throat and said, "Folks who surround the courtyard, today is the first general meeting of our courtyard. Your participation in such a cold weather is a show of support for our three uncles. It is..."

"Second uncle, it's such a cold weather. Don't tell me that I don't have anything here. It's all freezing."

Silly Zhu's lips were livid from the cold, and he didn't want to listen to Liu Haizhong's official talk.

His bangs were interrupted by Silly Zhu. He had always been angry, but when he saw that the people around him were also impatient, he immediately rubbed his hands together and said, "Well, it's cold, so I'll let you say a few words."

Liu Haizhong sat down and glanced at Si Zhu.

The elder Yi Zhonghai was holding a hot water vat, his buttocks were cold. But in order to maintain the uncle's influence, he still said unhurriedly, "This morning, bad news came from the alley next door. The stove in Lao Wangtou's house went out at night, and the two girl dolls were frozen. They are still there. Staying in the hospital.”

Hearing the news, everyone present was shocked. This happened just after the end of the year, and their hearts were heavy.

Uncle Chen sighed, and seeing that Yang Xiaotao didn't understand the situation, he explained.

"Lao Wang's family had a son who was a truck driver. Later, the truck overturned during transportation and he was dead."

"My wife gave birth to two daughters. She remarried when she was young, leaving two children for Lao Wang and his wife to support."

"It's not easy for an old couple to have two girls at home. They usually do odd jobs for the street office and barely make ends meet on pensions."

"This time, I guess I ran out of coal at home, otherwise it wouldn't be like this."

Uncle Chen said, sighing and sighing again.

Yang Xiaotao understands that coal is also an important living material, and the state also controls this aspect. It is not expensive, but it is not cheap either.

Many people spend the winter at home and only use briquettes for heating at night when sleeping. During the day, they can only rely on basking in the sun.

Seeing everyone talking, Yi Zhonghai coughed twice and continued, "I heard from the Publicity Department that it will continue to be cold in the next few days, even colder than now."

As soon as he said this, many people were shocked again, and they were still horrified.

Because these people don’t have much coal anymore.

And the family doesn’t have much money left.

The Chinese New Year is always a lively time, and many families have spent a lot of savings in order to celebrate the New Year. To put it bluntly, most people are now waiting for their wages to be paid.

Normally, things would get warmer after the 15th or 6th.

Who would have thought that this year would be so abnormal.

For a moment, many people showed anxiety on their faces.

"Stop talking about it."

Yi Zhonghai spoke again.

"The second uncle and the third uncle and I think this way. There are twenty-one households in our yard. It is inevitable that some people will not have enough coal at home, so in order to avoid bad situations."

Having said this, Yi Zhonghai stood up and swept across the audience, "We are going to organize a donation to buy coal and send it to families in need."

"Donate?"

"Donate..."