Chapter 68

By Friday, Lu Manman couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Why don’t you give it a try,” she urged Qiao Wei, making a pledge, “I’m right here, if you forget, I’ll handle it with just a reach of my hand.”

She was referring to those circuit breakers and switches.

Qiao Wei said, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

She sat down, turned on the machine to preheat, checked the time, and pulled the circuit breaker. “The broadcast from Xiahekou Town People’s Commune Broadcasting Station is now beginning. At five past ten, we will relay programs from Yongming County People’s Broadcasting Station.”

Her voice transmitted through the loudspeakers across the town.

Many people were taken aback upon hearing it.

Several people in the office also paused from their work and looked up.

Yan Xiang exclaimed, “Wow, that’s my mom!”

Chief Lu chuckled and shook his head. “This kid.”

Lu Tianming sneered, “She’s too impatient, afraid that Ms. Qiao won’t be able to handle it on Sunday.”

They were all talking about Lu Manman.

Hu Sui chuckled softly, knitting as she said, “Qiao’s Mandarin is really good.”

People from other departments in the town committee compound were also stunned.

“Did I mishear? Is it our town’s broadcasting station?”

It turned out he hadn’t misheard because the loudspeaker then switched to the county broadcasting station channel. “Yongming County Broadcasting Station is now beginning its broadcast. At five past ten, we will relay news and newspaper summaries from Central People’s Broadcasting Station.”

Although she tried to speak in standard Mandarin, it still carried the familiar local accent.

Then, the county broadcasting station switched to Central People’s Broadcasting Station, and the loudspeaker played the standard Mandarin broadcast.

Compared to the previous “Xiahekou Town People’s Commune Broadcasting Station is now beginning its broadcast,” except for a slightly more theatrical tone, there was almost no difference in accent.

“Is it that new woman?”

“Who?”

“The one who married the old cadre at such a young age.”

“Tsk.”

“What’s going on? Tell me more.”

“I heard her family was in dire straits, so someone introduced her to this old cadre, a second marriage, with three children…”

After Qiao Wei finished reading the opening announcement, she immediately pushed the circuit breaker to close the microphone and switched to the county broadcasting channel, all in one smooth motion.

“Wow~”

“You’re really something, handling it so smoothly on your first try,” Lu Manman praised, “I was trembling with nervousness the first time I did it.”

After all, transitioning from farming to operating machinery, and from a 108-key keyboard to less than ten buttons, were different experiences.

One was an upgrade, facing completely new things never seen before, making one nervous to the point of trembling. The other was purely a downgrade.

“I’ve been watching you operate for several days, imitating you behind your back every day.”

Not at all.

“No wonder,” Lu Manman praised her, “You’re really a hardworking comrade, I need to learn from you too.”

Qiao Wei said, “I’ve already written what I’ll be reading on Sunday. Later, help me take a look. If you think it’s fine, I’ll have the station manager review it.”

Lu Manman was even more pleasantly surprised.

Originally, she had thought that if Qiao Wei couldn’t come up with something, she could just directly read from the selection of materials. Yue Xiufen often couldn’t come up with anything and would just read from the materials, and nobody said anything to her.

But Qiao Wei’s work attitude was much more proactive than Yue Xiufen’s.

“Let’s go, I’ll take a look,” Lu Manman said eagerly.

The two of them went to the office affectionately.

There were only two women in the office, Hu Sui and Lu Manman.

To others, both Qiao Wei and Hu Sui were married and had children, and they were both military dependents. In theory, they should be closer to each other. But in reality, Qiao Wei would definitely prefer to hang out with lively younger sisters like Lu Manman rather than with stubborn rural housewives.

After reading it, Lu Manman was very satisfied. “I think it’s fine. Show it to the station manager.”

The station manager looked up. “What’s up?”

She handed the piece Qiao Wei wrote to the station manager. “Qiao Wei wrote this, it’s the script for Sunday. I think it’s pretty good.”

Qiao Wei said, “Station manager, could you review it and see if there’s anything that needs to be changed?”

The station manager read it once. The short article was written steadily and there were no obvious flaws. Just like Qiao Wei herself, it was cautious.

The station manager nodded in approval internally, but still picked up a pen and made a few changes before handing it back to Qiao Wei. “Make these adjustments.”

Qiao Wei glanced at the changes quickly. The two sentences altered were virtually the same, just expressed differently. She said crisply, “It flows much better after the changes. I’ll go rewrite it.”

After speaking, she went back to her desk to find paper and rewrote it.

The station manager nodded with a smile.

Lu Manman leaned on his desk, leaning down. “Second Uncle~”

“Call me station manager,” the station manager scolded her, “How many times do I have to tell you?”

Lu Manman coquettishly said, “Station manager~”

“Got it.” The station manager snorted from his nose. “This Sunday, let Qiao take over. You can take a break.”

Finally agreed, Lu Manman cheered.

“I’ve already made plans with someone else to go to the county this Sunday,” she said happily.

The desks were just two steps apart, so she had to hurry over to inform Qiao Wei, afraid that she wouldn’t hear. “Qiao Wei, it’s up to you this Sunday. You’ll manage on your own.”

Qiao Wei pledged, “You just go with peace of mind.”

On Friday afternoon, there was a study session in the propaganda department, and the broadcasting station also fell under the purview of the propaganda department, so they studied together.

Chief Xie first introduced everyone, “This is Comrade Qiao Wei, the new broadcaster.”

Qiao Wei stood up and greeted everyone, “You can all just call me Qiao Wei. It’s an honor to become colleagues with all of you. Let’s study and progress together in the future.”

Everyone clapped enthusiastically.

When welcoming new colleagues, it’s always necessary to show some enthusiasm. But when Qiao Wei glanced over, she noticed two colleagues whispering to each other, and their looks and smiles seemed somewhat strange.

Chief Xie, the department head, asked very kindly: “Qiao Wei, as a newcomer, have you encountered any difficulties since joining us?”

Qiao Wei replied: “Newcomers are naturally a bit nervous in a new environment, but with the guidance of the station chief and the help of my colleagues, I quickly adapted.”

Chief Xie nodded approvingly, praising: “I heard your voice this morning, very good, you’re learning fast.”

“Lu Man has been guiding me step by step,” Qiao Wei said, praising her colleague before her supervisor, “and the station chief has already approved the scripts I wrote. This Sunday, I’ll be doing my first solo broadcast.”

Chief Xie was surprised: “So soon?”

Afraid she might not get a day off on Sunday again, Lu Man quickly said, “Chief Xie, Qiao Wei will be fine. You can trust her.”

Chief Xie chuckled and joked, “If there’s any problem, I’ll come to you.”

“Okay!” Qiao Wei smiled. “I won’t let the leader down.”

Both Chief Xie and the station chief were extremely satisfied with the new recruit, Qiao Wei, who had been recommended by the military district.

He praised Qiao Wei and the radio station a few times, and then the entire department began their study session for the day.

During the study session, everyone reviewed central policies and excerpts from the thoughts of great leaders. Then it was time for discussion.

Free discussion was never really free. In this fixed twice-weekly study session, “free” discussion essentially meant everyone remaining silent.

Being called on was like being back in primary school, answering questions.

Even after leaving school, the fear of being called on remained. Everyone tried to keep their heads down, focusing on their desks to avoid eye contact with the leaders.

The most relaxed person in the room was Hu Sui, still knitting away.

With only basic literacy skills, Hu Sui never got called on by Chief Xie; she was always automatically skipped.

Others reluctantly shared their learning experiences when called upon, repeating the same old clichés time and time again.

It was all about mountains of documents and endless repetition.

When Chief Xie called on someone who had already spoken on Tuesday, the person grumbled, “I already spoke on Tuesday.”

“Why am I being called on again on Friday?”

Suddenly, someone raised their voice and said, “Chief Xie, why not let the new colleague share?”

All eyes turned to Qiao Wei.

Originally, Chief Xie had intended for Qiao Wei to observe and learn before speaking, and to call on her next Tuesday. But when he looked over and saw Qiao Wei sitting up straight, meeting his gaze, he couldn’t help but feel she was ready.

“Then let Qiao Wei say a few words,Chief Xie said.

The sparse applause rang out.

All eyes at the radio station were on Qiao Wei, even Hu Sui stopped knitting.

In the radio station, everyone was an individual. But in the propaganda department, the radio station formed its own entity.

People naturally have the instinct to form groups. Moreover, Qiao Wei managed the radio station in a harmonious manner.

Qiao Wei opened her plastic-covered notebook: “Regarding this study session, I have four insights to share, starting with the first one.”

Everyone: “?”

Qiao Wei: “The first insight has three sub-points.”

Everyone: “…”

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since she was in this era, she had to act like people of this era.

Moreover, Qiao Wei didn’t do her homework alone. Her study partner was Yan Lei, the male protagonist of this story, a staunch communist warrior.

More importantly, while these points may seem theoretical to others, in Qiao Wei’s understanding, they had already been verified and proven in the future, fitting seamlessly across time and space, which was truly impressive.

Qiao Wei had so many emotions to express!

Let’s start with the first point!

“…That concludes all my insights from this study session. I hope we can progress together.” Qiao Wei let out a long breath and closed her notebook.

There was silence in the meeting room.

Qiao Wei blinked. “Does anyone have any different thoughts?”

Clap, clap, clap. Chief Xie led the applause, and everyone quickly followed suit. The meeting room was filled with applause.

“No. Comrade Qiao Wei really surprised me.” Chief Xie was very pleased. “You must have studied diligently at home, right?”

Qiao Wei had to commend her study partner: “My husband is a very firm communist warrior, and I have learned a lot from him. Of course, I still have many areas where I need to improve, and I look forward to progressing with everyone in the future.”

Teachers like active and diligent students, and leaders are no different.

Chief Xie presided over the study sessions twice a week, and everyone always seemed half-asleep and lethargic. He had long been dissatisfied.

Just as Chief Xie was about to praise Qiao Wei for her proactive learning attitude, someone suddenly sneered, “Truly a cadre.”

“Truly a cadre” was a phrase often heard by the families of cadres.

But when Qiao Wei glanced at that person, her intuition told her something was off.

There was a strange tone in their voice. Was it her imagination? She didn’t even know the person, and they didn’t work in the same office. There shouldn’t be any conflicts of interest, so why were they being so strange towards her?

Chief Xie glanced at the person, and they shrunk back.

This behavior made Qiao Wei very certain that they were being strange towards her.

But she couldn’t ask, “Why are you being strange towards me?” Qiao Wei smiled as she responded to the leader’s praise, wondering when she had offended someone.

In the evening, Qiao Wei told Yan Lei, “I’m on duty this Sunday.”

Yan Lei said, “That’s perfect. I’ll ask Xiao Zhang to take me to the countryside on Sunday to find a brick-and-tile team. Double plowing is almost over, and the commune should be able to take on more work.”

Qiao Wei had been here for about twenty-five or six days. From mid-July to early August, and it was almost mid-August now. Double plowing was about to end, and the countryside would soon enter the slack season.

Qiao Wei repeated, “It’s just a kind of pale yellow soil.”

Yan Lei was about to roll his eyes.

“I’ve lived in these kinds of houses all my life. I was born in a place like this,” he said speechlessly.

“…” Qiao Wei, “Okay.”

They asked Yan Xiang, “Do you want to go to work with Mom on Sunday, or go to the countryside with Dad?”

Yan Xiang decided without much thought, “I want to go to the countryside with Dad.”

“Huh, why?” Qiao Wei asked.

Yan Xiang said, “I want to see the crops.”

Qiao Wei understood. He had finished reading the agricultural technical manual, but in his life, he had never truly seen crops.

He had only seen some small vegetables grown in his own courtyard and Captain Zhao’s courtyard.

He wanted to see what was written in the book.

Yan Xiang lifted him up high under his armpits. “Exactly! We need to see the crops! How can we not even recognize crops?”

Then he spun around and threw Yan Xiang up high.

Yan Xiang giggled.

Qiao Wei: “Who are you scolding?”

Yan Lei denied it, “I didn’t scold anyone.”

“You scolded me for being incompetent in all aspects. Don’t think I didn’t hear it.”

“Then can you distinguish between wheat seedlings and leeks? Can you tell the difference between winter melon seedlings and watermelon seedlings?”

“…” Qiao Wei changed the subject, “How about we plant watermelons in the courtyard? In the summer, we won’t need to buy watermelons. We can just pick them from our own yard.”

Yan Lei remained silent for a moment before leisurely saying, “So you really thought that sapling of mine was a winter melon seedling?”

Qiao Wei: “…”

In this aspect, Qiao Wei was completely defeated.

It didn’t matter, victories and defeats were common in the military, as long as they had watermelons to eat next year.