Chapter 16: Brother

Hearing his father say this, Chen Geng could already imagine what the people in the courtyard were saying behind his father's back. "Lacking a heart" was the mildest, and "his brain is broken" was the mainstream. Being pointed at and used as a warning behind his back was to be expected... It was easy to imagine that his father's days had not been easy recently.

Taking advantage of the situation, Chen Geng smiled and said, "I'm sorry you've been through this. Rest assured, your son will eventually prove to everyone that your decision was wise... Here, Dad, take these two cartons of cigarettes..."

"Damn! Chinese cigarettes?!" Chen Hongjun, who had originally intended to ask Chen Geng how confident he was, was immediately shocked when he saw the two cartons of Chinese cigarettes his son had handed him. "Where did you get them?"

"Before I came back, I helped our leader a bit, and he gave them to me."

"Oh..."

Chen Hongjun immediately relaxed, his eyes lighting up. He happily rubbed his hands together, then without hesitation, tore open the package and opened one of the cartons, puffing away contentedly. "Hey, raising you wasn't in vain. The first time I smoke a cigarette given by my son, it's a Chinese cigarette. Tsk..."

"Exactly! Don't you know whose son I am? Rest assured, I'll make sure you have plenty of good cigarettes in the future." Chen Geng flattered his father with a grin.

"Your words are enough to make me content... Brat, tell me the truth, how confident are you?" Although Chen Hongjun had once resorted to violence to get his son to come back, things were different now. He asked seriously, "The leaders of the military region have already talked to me. You are the first graduate of Huqing University in our military region. The leaders hope you can stay in the headquarters. If you really don't feel confident, just stay in the headquarters, don't feel ashamed, no one will say anything."

Chen Geng understood the excitement of the military region's leaders at having a Huqing University student. In the 1980s, the military was in a very difficult situation. Due to large-scale military cuts and the shift of focus to economic construction, the military faced a shortage of funds, technology, and talent... In the vast headquarters of the military region, the proportion of highly educated personnel with a bachelor's degree or higher was less than 10%, and there was not a single graduate from top universities like Huqing, Peking, or Renmin. The situation was dire.

Chen Geng was a top student from Huqing University, proficient in English, Russian, and German, and even knew how to use computers. Most importantly, he was a military child, a pure-blooded descendant. When they heard that Chen Geng was coming, the leaders of the East China Military Region were almost ecstatic. They never thought such a good thing would happen to them. Sending someone like him to a factory? No leader would agree, it would be a waste of talent.

To put it bluntly, having a top student from Huqing University in the headquarters gave the leaders of the East China Military Region more confidence when they attended meetings: "Our military region has a student from Huqing University, do you have one?"

But Chen Geng knew his own situation, and his attitude was very firm. "Dad, I know what you're saying, but I still want to go down."

"Instead of working in an office, you insist on going to the workshop. What are you thinking?" Chen Hongjun sighed resignedly. "Give me the stuff, I'll take it to the front... Alright, get in the car..."

He completely forgot that he had once slapped his son to "convince" him to go to the workshop.

...

Although the Third Military Equipment Repair Factory of the East China Military Region was a neglected stepchild among the various direct factories of the military region, it was still a well-known medium-sized factory in the local area. As a large military equipment repair enterprise, the factory covered an area of over 1,200 mu (about 200 acres) and had a staff of over 600 people. Including military dependents and children, there were more than 1,200 people living there.

Many people confuse military direct factories with military factories, but they are completely different. What is a military direct factory? A factory owned by the military is a military direct factory. What is a military factory? Factories that produce weapons, ammunition, aircraft, tanks, warships, artillery, torpedoes, shells, etc., are military factories.

A significant difference is that the leadership of military direct factories is almost entirely composed of military officers, and the workers are all soldiers. Even the manager of a military-owned guesthouse or a pig farm is a serving officer, and the workers are serving soldiers. The unit must follow the management of the affiliated military institution, and the internal management is militarized, including a certain amount of military training.

In contrast, the leaders and workers in military factories are state officials and state workers, respectively. Although there are military representatives stationed in the factories, they do not have the final say. The military representatives exist to facilitate communication and exchange between the factory and the military. Their direct superiors are units like the China Aviation Industry Corporation and the China Ordnance Industries Corporation. In short, these units are state-owned enterprises, but due to the sensitivity of their products, they have strict confidentiality regulations.

However, the situation of military direct enterprises changed by the late 1980s. In the early and mid-1980s, military direct factories were entirely staffed by military personnel. Only the third-sector companies of military direct factories would hire non-military dependents, children of military personnel, relatives of officers, and local connections. The reason was simple: as military direct enterprises, they were guaranteed a steady income and did not worry about wages.

However, by the late 1980s, more and more military direct enterprises emerged, including traditional guesthouses, factories, hotels, karaoke bars, and bathhouses. The situation became increasingly chaotic, and the central leaders began to rectify it. The result was that in most military-owned factories, only the core leadership, and sometimes just the top leader, were serving officers, while the rest were hired from society.

The Third Military Equipment Repair Factory of the East China Military Region was still in its final "pure" era.

Before Chen Hongjun's "black crow" (motorcycle) reached the factory gate, Chen Geng saw a familiar face in the distance and patted his father's back, shouting, "Dad, stop for a moment."

Without waiting for the motorcycle to stop, Chen Geng jumped off and called out to the person walking out of the courtyard with his head down, "Old Two, Old Two, where are you going?"

"Old Three?" Hearing Chen Geng's voice, the person looked up, paused, and then ran over, his face full of excitement and joy. "Is it really you, Old Three?"

"Of course it's me," Chen Geng gave Zhang Xiangyang a friendly punch on the shoulder and laughed, "Who else would be standing in front of you, a ghost?"

"Hehehe..." Zhang Xiangyang scratched his head, but his eyes became complicated when he saw Chen Hongjun standing nearby. He hesitated, "You... really came back?"

"Yep, I'm back," the excitement of seeing an old friend made Chen Geng miss the flicker in Zhang Xiangyang's eyes. He asked excitedly, "By the way, Old Two, where are you going?"

"I... I'm going out to do some errands..."

"Oh," Chen Geng nodded, not thinking much of it. "Alright, go ahead, remember to come to my place for dinner tonight."

"Okay... okay."

"We'll catch up later," Chen Geng said, pulling out two cartons of Chinese cigarettes from his bag and shoving them into Zhang Xiangyang's hands without hesitation. "Take them!"

Seeing the Chinese cigarettes in his hands, Zhang Xiangyang was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly tried to return them to Chen Geng, saying, "No, no, no, these cigarettes are too expensive, you keep them..."

"It's just a carton of cigarettes," Chen Geng insisted, pushing the cigarettes back into Zhang Xiangyang's hands. "Are you being so formal with me? This is for you, I'll give my uncle's share to him later."

Seeing Chen Geng forcefully hand him the cigarettes, Zhang Xiangyang hesitated but finally accepted them, saying softly, "Old Three, thank you..."

"Are you being so formal with me? Are you trying to make me feel bad?" Chen Geng waved his hand. "Aren't you going out to do errands? Don't dawdle, go quickly and come back soon."

"Okay!" Zhang Xiangyang nodded firmly.

"By the way, remember to come to my place tonight and bring the others."

"Sure, leave it to me!" Zhang Xiangyang agreed readily.

Only after entering the factory gate did Chen Geng quietly ask his father, "Dad, why does Xiangyang seem a bit off today? He doesn't seem very excited."

"How excited can he be? Xiangyang still hasn't found a job," Chen Hongjun sighed. "I think he's probably going to the armed forces department or the civil affairs bureau to ask about his job situation."

"How come?" Hearing that Zhang Xiangyang was asking about his job, Chen Geng was surprised. "Xiangyang has been discharged for almost a year and a half, why hasn't he been placed in a job yet?"

Chen Hongjun looked helpless. "How can he be placed? There are so many returnees from the countryside and the million-man military cut. There are so many people, but only a few job positions. What can we do? We can only wait."