"Aunt Wang, I'm not a deputy factory director at the Light Vehicle Company. I'm only a deputy factory director at a subordinate branch factory. Please don't spread rumors about me, or people will laugh."
"Hey, why would I spread rumors about that?"
Aunt Wang smiled. "Here's the thing: the number of unemployed young people in our neighborhood has been growing year by year, while every work unit's performance has been getting worse and worse.
"The neighborhood leaders are worried sick! So they assigned us a task: any deity with even a bit of power has to be worshipped and offered incense. Even solving the problem for one person would count as boundless merit.
"Director Li, you don't understand! These kids don't have proper jobs, so they wander around the streets all day. If they go bad again like they did a few years ago, it would break people's hearts."
"..."
"Aunt Wang, we're a state-owned unit. Hiring has to go through the Labor Bureau. We aren't even in the same district, so there are quite a few difficulties involved."
Li Ye did not immediately agree to Aunt Wang's request, but he did not reject her outright either. If he had been in the neighborhood leaders' position, he would have done the same.
Just imagine it: faced with more and more unemployed youths in their jurisdiction, faced with more and more fights and brawls, shouldn't they mobilize every connection they had and find ways to stuff those idle kids into factories and work units?
Think of those kids executed in 1984. If they had had a workplace back then, they might not have gone down the wrong path.
Aunt Wang was a shrewd woman. The moment she heard Li Ye's words, she knew there was hope.
"Director Li, you don't need