Chapter 33: Enrollment Celebration and Pilot Public-Private Cooperation at the Steel Rolling Mill

He Yuzhu, returning from Wang Youde's house, pushed his bicycle as he just entered the Courtyard House when Third Elder exclaimed, "Yo, Silly Zhu's back!" The people who had been gathered chatting in the courtyard fell silent, all turning to look at He Yuzhu. Seeing everyone silent and staring at him, He Yuzhu said, "Third Elder, what's going on? Do I have flowers on my face?"

"Silly Zhu, I heard you were fired from the Steel Rolling Mill—is that true?" Xu Daming stood up and ran to He Yuzhu's side, saying.

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu laughed and said, "Xu Daming, who told you that? Who said I was fired from the Steel Rolling Mill?"

"Everyone in the courtyard is saying that—quickly tell me, Silly Zhu, are you really fired from the Steel Rolling Mill?" Xu Daming said again.

"I say, Xu Daming, you little brat, instead of learning from your dad how to project movies, you're always gossiping about me—what's the point?" After saying that, He Yuzhu smacked Xu Daming on the head.

Xu Daming blocked He Yuzhu's hand and said, "Silly Zhu, try hitting my head again if you dare? How could I not inquire about you? I'm doing this out of concern—we live in the same courtyard; if you were fired, wouldn't that bring shame to our courtyard?"

After Xu Daming finished speaking, He Yuzhu looked around, saw quite a few people around, took out his student ID from his pocket, and said to the neighbors, "Everyone, it's good that most of you are here—I'll just say this: I did indeed resign from the Steel Rolling Mill, but not because I was fired; it's because I got into college. Third Elder, this is my student ID—have a look." He Yuzhu then handed the student ID to Third Elder.

"Silly Zhu, you're just bragging—who knows where you got a fake ID to fool us? And going to college? Do you even know where the college gate is?" Xu Daming said disdainfully.

"Xu Daming, you've really wronged Silly Zhu this time—his student ID is genuine, look, it even bears an official seal." After saying that, Third Elder flipped He Yuzhu's student ID over and showed it to everyone.

"I was just saying—how could He Yuzhu possibly be fired? Who knows which blind-spread rumor started this?" Instantly the courtyard erupted like a boiling pot, with some speaking up for He Yuzhu and others congratulating him.

At this point, Third Elder was heard saying, "Everyone, I say let's all quiet down, quiet down and listen to me." Third Elder shouted for a while before the crowd finally stopped and looked at him, wondering what he wanted to do.

Just as Third Elder began to say, "I say Silly Zhu—" he hadn't finished when Li Baoguo from the front courtyard called out, "Third Elder, you can't keep calling He Yuzhu Silly Zhu—he's a college student now; if you call him that, what does that make us?" Li Baoguo, also a Steel Rolling Mill worker, had been the most enthusiastic in their earlier discussion about He Yuzhu.

"Right, Third Elder, you really shouldn't call him that," the crowd chimed in one after another.

Then Third Elder said, "Zhuzi, I apologize—I was wrong; don't be like me, Zhuzi."

"How could that be, Third Elder? We all live in the same courtyard—I'll answer whatever you call me," He Yuzhu said.

"Zhuzi, look—you're now a college student too, and moreover the first college student in our courtyard, even in our hutong. Shouldn't you hold an enrollment celebration so we can share in the joy?" Third Elder said, then looked at He Yuzhu.

"Exactly, Zhuzi—you need to let us share in the luck; who knows, maybe some family's son or daughter who gets a bit of your luck will also get into college," Li Baoguo said.

He Yuzhu, seeing everyone looking at him, said, "All right, thanks for thinking highly of me, He Yuzhu—then let's do it this Sunday, while everyone's gathered for the lively occasion."

On Sunday, early in the morning, Wang Baoguo brought Li Ping'an and Shuanzi to the Courtyard House. Since they needed to set up the stoves, the three arrived relatively early. After Wang Baoguo saw the ingredients He Yuzhu had prepared, he said, "Zhuzi, you've really gone all out—this must cost a lot, right?"

"Hey, Baoguo brother, this is just the one time—we can't let people say we're stingy." These things cost He Yuzhu over thirty dollars just for the baskets alone—he weighed out thirty jin of them, and that doesn't even include the tobacco and sugar.

While the stoves were being set up, the courtyard folk felt embarrassed just watching the four of them busy, so they pitched in to help. Before long, the two stoves were ready. Third Elder walked over and said to He Yuzhu, "Zhuzi, if you let the kids also sit at the table, we'd need eleven or twelve tables—that's no small amount of money, Zhuzi." Nowadays differs from the past; formerly, when the host arranged things, children weren't allowed at the table, after all, no household lived in such comfort.

He Yuzhu walked to the water pipe, washed his hands, and said, "Third Elder, twelve tables—let's just make it twelve tables; we won't be short one or two tables. You've worked hard today, Third Elder."

"Hey, Zhuzi, why be polite? We all live in the same courtyard." Third Elder waved his hand and went to greet the neighbors, telling them to bring out their home's tables, chairs, stools, and so on into the courtyard.

The children in the courtyard, hearing Third Elder's call, originally thought they had nothing to do and were about to go out to play, but when they heard Third Elder say that the kids would also be seated at noon, they became delighted—each one ran back home to help move things, each trying harder than the last.

Seeing that everyone was mostly busy, Third Elder had two people lift the table he used for writing New Year's couplets over to the Moon Gate, brought over a chair, sat down, and prepared to keep accounts.

Seeing this, He Yuzhu hurried over and said, "Third Elder, what are you doing? I'm treating everyone to a meal—how can I let everyone chip in?"

"Zhuzi, you've got it wrong—since ancient times, celebrating happy occasions has always involved chip-in money. Back in the day, those who topped the imperial exams and such had what was called a Deer Cry Banquet, all arranged by the officials. You, as a college student, count as a top scholar too, so you don't need to worry about this—the folks in the courtyard have already settled it."

"Exactly, Zhuzi—you don't need to handle this; just get busy with your own stuff." Seeing He Yuzhu's helpless head shake, he turned and went to the kitchen to get to work.

After noon, when Wang Youde and the other senior brothers of He Daqing arrived, He Yuzhu seated several people at the main table and invited the three steward elders to the main seat as well. Thus the enrollment celebration began amid various blessings, and He Yuzhu had been seated for less than half an hour.

He hadn't eaten many bites before downing nearly a jin of wine—with a slap, He Yuzhu collapsed drunk on the ground. Seeing this, everyone burst out laughing; Li Ping'an and Shuanzi helped He Yuzhu indoors, after which the banquet continued. The dishes He Yuzhu prepared were abundant, the wine plentiful, and the festivities didn't end until around three o'clock.

When He Yuzhu woke up, it was already past eight in the evening. Seeing the gift list and money on the table, he walked over, drank a cup of water, then opened the gift list and looked at it. The first name was Yi Zhonghai's, with ten dollars written beside it, and he thought, "This old helper vegetable—what is he up to?"

Finally, He Yuzhu counted the money—over fifty dollars in all. After putting the money and gift list away, he rummaged in the kitchen for something to eat, had a simple bite, then went back to bed to sleep.

Finally, He Yuzhu counted the money; there were indeed over fifty. After putting the money and the gift list away, He Yuzhu looked for something to eat in the kitchen, had a simple bite, and then went to bed to sleep.

The head of the Iron and Steel Department, Liang Zhaoxin, sat in the chief seat and said, "Director Li, the railway side needs a batch of special steel—see where you can squeeze it out from."

"Minister Liang, you know the situation too—our state-owned enterprises are too few, and many factories' technology simply doesn't meet standards. Currently this special steel can only be produced by Beijing's First Steel Rolling Mill, but the preceding orders are already fully booked, so it simply can't meet the demand," Director Li said.

"'Then can those private enterprises accept our orders?' Minister Liang asked again."

"'Minister Liang, there are only a handful of private enterprises capable of production, but aside from confidentiality, many steel rolling mills already have plenty of orders of their own,' Director Liu said."

"'Minister Liang, I actually have a method I'd like to try,' Deputy Minister Sun Minghua said."

"'Deputy Minister Sun, tell us what you're thinking,' Minister Liang said, looking at the deputy minister. 'Minister Liang, do you still recall the proposal for public-private cooperation raised by a delegate at the earlier conference? This way we could both meet our future self-produced orders and improve resource utilization.'"

Minister Liang pondered and said, "Hmm, not bad—we can run a pilot trial. We'll select one company to report to the State Council, comrades, let's discuss which one to choose."

After multiple rounds of screening, Lou's Steel Rolling Mill came out on top, because Lou's Steel Rolling Mill is currently the largest steel rolling mill in Beijing and also has the most complete technical staff.

Finally after repeated screening, Lou's Steel Rolling Mill was the first to bear the brunt, because Lou's Steel Rolling Mill is currently the biggest Yagangchang in the 4-9 city, and its technical staff are also the most complete.