Chapter 63
Section Chief Sun directly announced that Qiao Wei had passed the exam.
Clear enunciation, perfect pronunciation, and logical speech. These few points alone were enough for her to pass.
In truth, even if the military family member sent by the Military Unit failed the exam, they couldn’t be sent back; she would still have to be given a position. But this time, they were looking for someone who could actually do things. If the military wife who came was truly incapable, they would have to find another.
This is how personnel redundancy was created.
Several employees might exist for one position, but perhaps only one person actually did the work.
Qiao Wei passed the exam but did not immediately get up. She said, “I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”
Section Chief Xie said, “Go ahead.”
Qiao Wei asked, “To whom do I report my work?”
“Me,” Station Chief Lu said. “I am your direct superior. If I can’t decide something, we’ll find Section Chief Xie.”
That meant the Broadcasting Station was placed under the Propaganda Section.
Qiao Wei continued, “I have a child who is less than four years old. Can I bring him to work with me daily?”
Section Chief Xie said, “I remember there’s a nursery in the Military District Residential Compound?”
Qiao Wei said, “The teachers at the nursery are all military family members, from various places… um, communes. Many of their childcare philosophies conflict with mine, so I haven’t put my child in the nursery.”
The two leaders instantly understood.
Although Qiao Weiwei was also a military wife, she was clearly an educated urbanite. They also knew that most military wives were genuine rural people.
See, when Qiao Weiwei spoke, she avoided “rural” and used “commune” instead.
Naturally, this was to show that she didn’t look down on the countryside or her peasant brothers and sisters. But… the meaning behind it, both of them understood.
After all, the urban-rural gap was undeniably there.
Just from how white this female comrade’s shirt was, like snow, they could guess that she probably couldn’t stand those military wife nursery teachers.
Qiao Wei added, “My child is very quiet, likes to read, and doesn’t talk much.”
From the description, they thought it was a little girl. The stereotype was that girls were calmer than boys. And the working hours for a broadcaster were also very short, so the two leaders didn’t mind: “Yes, that’s fine.”
Once this was confirmed, Qiao Wei had no more questions to ask for now.
Everyone stood up. Station Chief Lu said, “Bring your grain ration book tomorrow and transfer your affiliation.”
Qiao Wei patted her military satchel: “I brought it today.”
The middle-aged people all laughed: “Comrade Qiao is very thoughtful.”
Qiao Wei smiled: “Just call me Xiao Qiao.”
Section Chief Xie said to Station Chief Lu, “I’ll leave it to you.”
Station Chief Lu and Qiao Wei saw Section Chief Xie to the door, and he returned to his office.
“Follow me.” Station Chief Lu led Qiao Wei. “The Broadcasting Station is over here.”
The Broadcasting Station was in a corner of the Town Committee Residential Compound.
“This is the office. When you have nothing to do, you can stay here, write scripts, read books, or newspapers.”
“I have to stay here all day; I’m on duty. You broadcasters don’t need to. Two shifts a day, just don’t be late.”
Further ahead was the broadcasting room.
“Next
door is the telecommunications room. Calls to our town, then transferred to various townships and communes, all go through here. Our requirement is that broadcasters, in addition to their own duties, must also learn how to transfer calls. Telecommunicators, in addition to their phone specialty, are also required to know how to operate the broadcast equipment. This way, in special circumstances, they can cover for each other.”
Qiao Wei: “Okay.”
She even pulled out a plastic-covered notebook from her satchel and held it to take notes.
Leaders loved this kind of behavior.
Station Chief Lu was very pleased, nodded, and led her into the broadcasting room.
In the broadcasting room, there was a young girl with two low ponytails. She turned her head, saw them, and put a finger to her lips, making a “shhh” gesture.
The machine was enormous, as big as the old elm wood chest used for clothes at home. It was wiped very clean, but its design was truly ancient and outdated.
It was full of the marks of time.
Station Chief Lu nodded, pointed to a row of square wooden stools under the window, and led Qiao Wei over.
Qiao Wei followed Station Chief Lu and sat obediently by the window.
There was a wall clock in the room, and the time was exactly 10:05.
Station Chief Lu cupped his hand to his mouth and whispered to Qiao Wei, “The machine has already warmed up.”
Qiao Wei nodded and wrote down in her small notebook: Machine warm-up.
It was meaningless; she would be taught all these specific things from scratch later.
But writing down whatever the leader said would obviously make the leader very happy.
As expected, Station Chief Lu smiled and nodded, expressing approval for the diligent attitude of the new Comrade Qiao Weiwei.
The girl with two braids began broadcasting: “Xiahekou Town People’s Commune Broadcasting Station, now beginning its broadcast. At 10:05, we are rebroadcasting programs from the Yongming County People’s Broadcasting Station.”
Then she flipped a switch, changing the sound from the microphone in the room to the county Broadcasting Station’s frequency.
Qiao Wei then heard the voice of the county Broadcasting Station’s announcer on the radio: “Yongming County Broadcasting Station, now beginning its broadcast. At 10:05, we are rebroadcasting the news and newspaper summary from the Central People’s Broadcasting Station.”
Then the voice from Beijing came through the radio: “Central People’s Broadcasting Station, now broadcasting news and newspaper summaries. August 9th, Comrade XXX cordially met with model worker representatives from XX Province in the Great Hall of the People…”
Well, this layering, one inside the other, was just like a Russian nesting doll.
The girl with two braids stood up: “The microphone is off, we can talk now.”
Qiao Wei stood up with Station Chief Lu and listened as he introduced, “This is the new Comrade Qiao Weiwei.”
Before he could finish, the girl asked, “Didn’t they say a military family member was coming?”
She was expecting a sturdy older woman, but a pretty young lady arrived instead.
Qiao Wei said, “I am a military family member. My husband is an active-duty officer.”
Station Chief Lu reprimanded, “Can’t you let me finish my sentence?”
He was speaking to the girl with two braids. The girl stuck out her tongue and giggled.
Qiao Wei guessed she was under twenty, and it was clear that she and Station Chief Lu had a good relationship, like an elder and a junior. The reprimand even carried affection.
Station Chief Lu said, “This is Lu Man.”
“Manman!” Lu Man said, “My full name is Lu Manman.”
“It’s all the same,” Station Chief Lu finished, then said to Qiao Wei, “Can we call you Qiao Wei from now on?”
Northerners like to drop syllables, so for names like Lu Manman and Qiao Weiwei,
they just drop the last character and call out the first two. That’s all there is to it.
Yan Lei called Qiao Wei this way. Probably only when angry or arguing would he call her by her full name, “Qiao Weiwei.”
It was just as she wished. Qiao Wei happily said, “My family calls me that.”
Station Chief Lu said, “Alright.”
He added, “Just call her Manman; she’s younger than you.”
Lu Man said, “I’m 19.”
Qiao Wei replied, “I’m 22.”
Lu Man was a little surprised: “You look about my age.”
Station Chief Lu said, “Oh, shameless. She’s much more mature than you.”
It was very affectionate, and Lu Man also had the surname Lu. Qiao Wei was discreet and didn’t press about their relationship. She would find out eventually anyway.
Station Chief Lu gave Lu Man a task: “You take Qiao to transfer her affiliation.”
Lu Manman said, “I’m broadcasting.”
“Alright.” Station Chief Lu rubbed his nose and chuckled, “I forgot.”
He then took Qiao Wei out of the broadcasting room.
Outside, the loudspeakers blared the voice from Beijing, reporting the latest current events and news, conveying the central government’s ideology to every place.
Qiao Wei followed Station Chief Lu into the Broadcasting Station’s office.
Two people were in the office, drinking tea and chatting, a man and a woman.
Station Chief Lu brought Qiao Wei to meet them: “This is Lu Tianming, our line technician. For machine malfunctions, line malfunctions, he’s the one to find.”
Then he introduced the woman: “Do you two know each other? You’re both military family members.”
Qiao Wei and the older woman both shook their heads. Qiao Wei smiled and said, “There are quite a few military family members. I live in the old district, how about you?”
The older woman looked unfamiliar. Sure enough, she said, “I live in the Residential Compound.”
Perhaps they had met in the Cafeteria, bathhouse, or public restroom, but they didn’t know each other and wouldn’t have paid attention.
“Hu Sui manages the hygiene in our room,” Station Chief Lu said. “Qiao Wei will be a broadcaster from now on.”
Hu Sui said, “I’m also a broadcaster.”
“Ah, yes, yes, yes, you all are, you all are.” Station Chief Lu was very perfunctory, then assigned the task he hadn’t given out earlier to the line technician Lu Tianming, “Tianming, you take Qiao to transfer her affiliation. And tell her about our Broadcasting Station’s situation.”
Lu Tianming took Qiao Wei out and asked outside, “You’re a military family member? Is your father an officer?”
“No, it’s my husband.” Qiao Wei laughed.
She should have worn a dress. Lu Manman was wearing a dress.
The white shirt, green military trousers, and satchel were truly the pinnacle of pure allure, always causing others to misunderstand her age and marital status.
They walked all the way to the Personnel Relations Section, transferred Qiao Wei’s grain ration affiliation to the Town Committee, and then walked back. During this round trip, Qiao Wei roughly learned about the Broadcasting Station’s personnel structure from Lu Tianming.
The direct leader was Station Chief Lu. Besides Lu Tianming, who was a line technician and therefore technical personnel, there were four officially registered broadcasters at the Broadcasting Station.
Lu Manman was one.
Hu Sui, as she said herself, was indeed registered as a broadcaster.
There were two others. One was on long-term sick leave, and the other had severe pregnancy reactions and had no choice but to lie down at home.
Among these four, only Lu Manman and the recently pregnant one were truly working broadcasters.
The recently pregnant one was
the one nicknamed “Can’t Control It,” who always pronounced “Broadcasting Station” as “Can’t Control It” and couldn’t be corrected. (Come $ read the latest chapters $ complete chapters)
With such a level of Mandarin, she could still be employed.
“What about Hu Sui?” Qiao Wei wondered. “I think her accent is alright.”
It was certainly better than “Can’t Control It.” The accents in most northern regions were generally understandable.
“Hu Sui… is a diligent person,” Lu Tianming said. “Yes, very diligent. Look how clean our office is.”
Qiao Wei: “?”
“But—” Sure enough, there was a ‘but.’ Lu Tianming very solemnly warned Qiao Wei, “You must remember, do not let Hu Sui touch the machine. If she enters the broadcasting room, you must keep an eye on her.”
When Hu Sui was sent over by the Military District, they said she was educated, but in reality, she had only attended literacy classes.
She was quite diligent, though. Military family members generally had strong work ethics and practical skills, and were very capable of physical labor.
On Hu Sui’s first day, she diligently used a soaking wet rag to wipe the machine.
“…” Qiao Wei, “Soaking wet?”
Lu Tianming looked at her with new respect: “You even know about short circuits.”
The machine, of course, broke down when water got into it.
Lu Tianming repaired it, replaced parts, and got it working again.
Hu Sui went to touch the machine again.
She didn’t follow the steps she was taught—which switch to turn on first, which second, which to turn off first, which second. She couldn’t understand why there needed to be a specific sequence.
In short, she just messed around.
“…” Qiao Wei, “A short circuit?”
Lu Tianming looked at her with new respect: “You even know about short circuits.”
The machine even sparked, then went silent.
“In short, the station chief forbade her from entering the broadcasting room again. He changed her to a fixed-schedule position, responsible for office hygiene. Her official title is still broadcaster.”
“Can’t you just teach her a few more times?”
“No use, she’s incredibly stubborn.”
Qiao Wei fell silent.
Her social circle had recently expanded, and she indeed felt this way when interacting with military family members. Many military family members, lacking education and understanding, were particularly stubborn.
And the less they understood, the more stubborn they were, single-mindedly believing only their narrow perception.
Conversely, people like Sister Yang, who had followed their husbands out early and seen more of the world, were very aware of their own shortcomings. When facing someone with more knowledge than themselves, they were more willing to listen.
Because they were talking about Hu Sui behind her back, neither Lu Tianming nor Qiao Wei was in a hurry to go back immediately.
The task Station Chief Lu gave Lu Tianming originally included “telling about the Broadcasting Station’s situation.”
After Lu Tianming finished chatting with Qiao Wei about the basic situation, the two returned to the office: “It’s done.”
“I’ve told Comrade Qiao about the station’s situation.” Lu Tianming gave Station Chief Lu a look.
Station Chief Lu had actually just wanted him to tell Qiao Wei about Hu Sui, and it was clear he had conveyed it. He nodded and asked, “Is there anything else Xiao Qiao wants to know?”
Qiao Wei smiled and said, “Not for now. I’ll always come to you for learning and advice in the future.”
She didn’t ask why Lu Tianming also had the surname Lu!
