Chapter 517: The Placement Issue of Educated Youth

Hearing the words "Minister Lu", Lu Cheng's dormant memory was instantly awakened.

He saw, parting the crowd, a short‑haired young man step out, of average height, round eyes, and a slight cross‑eyed look.

Lu Cheng had no particular impression, but the short‑haired youth seemed very familiar with him and proactively approached with an enthusiastic handshake.

"Lu Jingzhang, don't you recognize me? At the last bonfire party… you even gave me half a piece of cake."

Lu Cheng vaguely recalled: the bonfire party involved the youth who snatched a military cap from Qin Shou's hand, and later intercepted the Educated Youth who went to petition.

At that time it was dark and crowded, so Lu Cheng truly had no clear memory of that person.

"Oh, it's you. I know you; I even gave you half a piece of cake back then."

"Yes, yes, it's me. I didn't expect you to still remember me; it's wonderful to see you…"

The short‑haired youth was visibly excited, as if meeting an idol, and began greeting everyone.

"Hey, hey, listen to me, everyone. This is Lu Jingzhang. You may not know who Lu Jingzhang is, but you must have heard of his father…"

"His father is the Minister Lu who previously helped our Zhiqing Return to City and ultimately died from overwork."

When the short‑haired youth shouted his final sentence, the Carriage stirred into a commotion.

"Minister Lu's son? He is indeed Minister Lu's son."

"Minister Lu sacrificed himself for us; before we could repay his kindness, he was gone…"

"Wah~~"

Lu Cheng initially thought it was the train whistle, but on closer listening, it was a female Comrade crying.

It must be because mentioning Minister Lu made her emotional.

The atmosphere was already that charged; honestly, Lu Cheng was quite worried—carrying the label of Minister Lu's son for life is inescapable.

Lu Cheng thought about how to reply with a couple of sentences, yet he still underestimated Minister Lu's stature in everyone's hearts.

Suddenly someone in the crowd shouted, "Salute Minister Lu! Salute Minister Lu's son!"

Then the Educated Youth in the Carriage stopped fighting and confronting each other, returning to the harmonious scene from when they first boarded.

They split into two groups, each approaching Lu Cheng to shake hands, their solemn faces full of reverence.

It left Lu Cheng feeling utterly helpless.

"Lu Jingzhang, my condolences."

"Alright, alright…"

"Lu Jingzhang, we promise not to cause trouble anymore, and not to add work for you."

"Alright, alright…"

Lu Cheng shook hands one by one in response; when he met the female Comrade, he couldn't help but give a deliberately sorrowful hug.

When these Educated Youth learned that this Special Train was being overseen by Minister Lu's son, everyone became very quiet, and no fights broke out until the final stop.

Upon disembarking, they even conscientiously cleaned the Carriage.

Lu Cheng wondered whether to paint big characters on the train car, reading: "Minister Lu's son on duty."

Compared with boarding, the scene of seeing parents while alighting felt far more warm and reunified.

Yet these Educated Youth didn't know that returning to the city was only the beginning; awaiting them would be anxiety, suffering, and confusion caused by unemployment.

According to later statistics, the Returning Youth in the Capital City reached 400,000 people.

That means an additional 400,000 job positions must be created on top of the existing ones.

Currently jobs are allocated; whether in State‑owned Enterprises, State‑owned Factories, or government agencies, each position is a fixed slot passed down generation to generation.

How to create more job positions to place these Returning Youth has become a pressing problem that leaders at all levels of society must contemplate and urgently solve.

Four hundred thousand people are crying out for placement; it's tough, but it must be solved.

First, major State‑owned Enterprises, under higher directives, began mass hiring, but not as regular employees; all were Temporary Workers, mostly assigned dirty and exhausting jobs.

Being a Temporary Worker is already considered good, so everyone scrambles to get in.

Because if one doesn't become a Temporary Worker, one must join the various collective Cooperatives established by the Street Office.

For example, shoe‑shining stalls, barbershops, bicycle repair, umbrella repair, selling Big Bowl Tea, snack stalls, making matchboxes, binding notebooks, or forming a Youth Repair Team to repair residents' roofs, paint walls, and clear sewers.

And so on; in short, everyone is extremely reluctant to go to Cooperatives.

First, the compensation can't match that of State‑owned Factories; secondly, the status is lower, not dignified at all.

When people ask what you do for work, it's embarrassing to answer.

Because of this concern, many Returning Youth keep waiting to see if State‑owned Factories will hire again, and those with connections naturally try to use them.

This waiting makes them extremely anxious.

In the end they discover State‑owned Factories no longer hire, and connections won't get them in; they can't just stay home eating plain rice while parents nag daily.

They force themselves not to fear embarrassment, telling themselves any job serves the people; some even scoop big dung and become People's Congress delegates.

After repeated mental conditioning, when they finally decided to go to a Cooperative, they found all Cooperatives already full.

Thus they missed a job opportunity in vain, and from then on they were labeled "Unemployed Youth."

With no income, they eat for free at home, walk with heads down outside, and at home can only act submissively.

Whenever you see a youth on the street walking with head down and a bewildered expression, you can be sure they have no job.

Such families worry, and the government above worries as well.

During Lu Cheng's time at home, he saw his sister also worrying.

"What's wrong, sis? Is it that the Returning Youth are being sent by the Street Office to your department store again?"

Lu Cheng leaned against the doorframe, watching his sister tidy her desk.

"They definitely have to stuff people in, but I only took a few; the space is so small that adding more wouldn't have positions to place them. We can't all be staring at each other like that."

"Because of this, the leaders talk to me every day."

Lu Cheng could understand; now one person's meal feeds five, they don't want to accept, but it's a higher directive.

"What worries me most isn't even this—can you guess? In just two days, several stalls suddenly appeared at the train station square, all Educated Youth selling Big Bowl Tea."

"The key is they're selling it cheap, snatching away all our Big Bowl Tea business."

Lu Cheng laughed hearing this, although doing business is not allowed now, but the model of low-price malicious competition emerged first, and in later generations business wars often adopt this tactic.

"Sis, this isn't worth getting angry over, it's just a few small Tea Stalls, can't compare to your big department store."

Lu Ying sighed: "Of course I know we can't compete, it's just that seeing their malicious competition behavior makes me angry; if they weren't a collective Cooperative, with the Street Office taking responsibility for profits and losses, I could have a hundred ways to put them out of business."

Lu Cheng raised his eyebrows, didn't expect his sister to have such a ruthless side in business.

To achieve great things, one must be like this; kindness cannot command troops.

Wanting to cheer up his sister's mood, Lu Cheng thought of something.

"By the way, sis, these days I've been on duty, I haven't asked you yet—does the Wu Family want to foster Ning Ning?"