A request for tutoring

Beneath the flag of the Xi County Second Militia Regiment, Duan Hua sat on a green ammunition crate with a cigarette in his mouth and four grenades hanging from his belt, talking up a storm.

Yang Rui looked at the ammunition crate, then the grenades, then the cigarette glowing and dimming in front of his mouth. Very reluctantly, he moved closer and called from a distance, "Uncle."

The combination of objects beneath the flag struck him as dangerous. Yang Rui was now absolutely certain that all the weapons and ammunition here were real. The grenades were real, the ammunition crates were real, and naturally, so was the lit cigarette.

Militiamen really are brave.

With that reflection, Yang Rui took his position behind the sandbags.

Duan Hua waved vigorously, patted the ammunition crate beside him, and shouted, "Come sit here."

Utterly resigned, Yang Rui continued forward and sat on the crate his uncle indicated, which bore the words "40 mm rockets" in white lettering.

Although these were an older version of the rockets, their appearance and operating mechanism were no different from the RPGs that would become famous in later years.

In other words, the contents of the crate beneath Yang Rui's backside were enough for seven or eight attacks on the American imperialists, with enough left over to make three to five Hollywood blockbusters.

Forget sitting on a powder keg. Rockets are even more powerful than gunpowder, aren't they?

Duan Hua took a long, hissing drag. The bright red tip glowed for quite some time... By the time he comfortably exhaled a gray smoke ring, the unfiltered Baocheng cigarette was down to a stub.

With a flick of Duan Hua's index finger, the still-glowing cigarette butt struck the machine gun's ammunition belt before bouncing to the ground, where his uncle ground it out beneath his foot without a change of expression.

"Uncle, did you want me?" Yang Rui hurried to ask, lest he light another cigarette.

"Let me introduce you." Resting a hand on the grenades at his waist, Duan Hua first introduced him to a man opposite them who was fiddling with a rifle. "Engineer Shao, this is my nephew, Yang Rui. Fine-looking lad, isn't he? He was the one who came up with the idea of replacing the vertical sterilizing retorts."

Turning back, Duan Hua introduced the other man to Yang Rui. "Engineer Shao is the most capable man at our Xibao Meat Processing Plant. He's the head of the technical department, a senior engineer, and the deputy commander of our militia battalion. He came along with the unit this time specifically to meet you."

"What's there to see about me?" Yang Rui feigned an innocent look, then added, "A senior engineer-that's the senior professional rank, right?"

"That's right, the senior rank." Duan Hua secretly gave him a thumbs-up. In a factory, the senior engineer rank represented both technical authority and a rare honor. For someone like Engineer Shao, who had only just passed forty, earning that rank was particularly difficult, but having others mention it was also particularly gratifying.

A faint smile inevitably appeared on the latter's face. He pulled the bolt open with a clack and adjusted the sights like a professional soldier. "No need to keep mentioning my senior rank. Calling me Engineer Shao is honor enough."

"Engineer Shao is right, and so is Senior Engineer." Duan Hua played along readily. He was the deputy director in charge of production at a branch plant, while Engineer Shao headed the main plant's technical department. They had plenty of dealings with each other.

"Director Duan is always so polite." Engineer Shao laughed twice and, under Yang Rui's anxious gaze, took out his cigarette pack and tapped out two cigarettes. He handed one each to Duan Hua and Yang Rui, struck a match, and lit their cigarettes before casually flicking it away, letting it fall onto... a sandbag.

Yang Rui let out a great sigh of relief and hurriedly took a deep drag to steady his nerves.

Only after exhaling all the smoke did he cough twice and say, "Thank you for coming to our rescue on such short notice, Engineer Shao. Without your Militia Regiment here, we really wouldn't have known what to do with such a large bus station."

Xi County was not far from the provincial capital and even closer to the prefectural seat, so road traffic was fairly frequent. There were always dozens of vehicles and over a hundred drivers in the bus station, with even more people depending on it for their livelihoods, not to mention the passengers coming and going. A single Militia Company could not have blocked them all.

People in those days were not so docile. Fights over a disagreement were common. Only with such an overwhelming advantage would drivers and passengers who felt their journeys had been delayed calm down and agree to cooperate.

Engineer Shao shook his head dismissively. "That idea of yours about horizontal sterilizing retorts earned our Xibao Meat Processing Plant so much profit, and solved a major problem for our technical department. Never mind having the Militia Regiment come out for a show of force-we'd even fight a real battle for you. Back when we fought the Seven Stars Sect at Guan Di Temple, I grabbed a machine gun and charged straight into their grenades..."

"Engineer Shao, don't tell the youngster about that." His uncle stopped the engineer just as he was warming to his tale.

Engineer Shao chuckled, waved a hand, and said, "All right." Then he changed the subject. "The cannery's product acceptance rate went up quite a bit this month, didn't it?"

"From seventy-five percent to eighty-five, and sometimes ninety." Mentioning the acceptance rate brought an irrepressible smile to Duan Hua's face. "Engineer Shao, you should have seen Han Sen's face. He banged on the table and accused us of falsifying the figures. I had two truckloads of canned goods unloaded in the main plant's yard and asked him, 'I'm not the Monkey King. Can I conjure up first-grade goods out of thin air?' That liver-colored face of his looked like it had gone rotten."

Engineer Shao smiled knowingly. "I'd say you're Tripitaka, and young Yang is the Monkey King. He plucks out a hair, and look how many defective products of ours turn into first-grade goods. Your bonuses all went up this month, didn't they?"

"An extra fifteen yuan each. Damn it, ever since we installed that canned pork rib production line, the main plant's stockpiled ribs disappeared, and all became defective goods at our cannery. We hadn't had a bonus in almost six months." Duan Hua had been unhappy about this for a long time.

A little embarrassed, Engineer Shao nodded. "Han Sen was chasing a reputation for integrity. He really did take it a little too far."

Selling the main plant's ribs to the branch generated a profit, which meant the main plant could pay bonuses. With its funds tied up, the branch fell short of both its production and sales targets, and naturally received no bonuses. As the main plant's Party secretary, Han Sen only needed to please the people there. When an opportunity to succeed the plant director arose, the Party's democratic evaluations and consultations would also be confined to the main plant, regardless of what anyone at the branch thought.

Engineer Shao belonged to the main plant's technical department and was among those who had received bonuses. As department head, he also bore some responsibility for the cannery's processing problems. Taking the money without doing the work was somewhat embarrassing, and he felt his face redden now.

Duan Hua was very shrewd. With a chuckle, he said, "You're too thin-skinned, Engineer Shao. If Han Sen was handing out money, were you supposed to refuse it? Wouldn't that offend people? Han Sen was the one who acted badly here. It had nothing to do with anyone else."

Given a way out of his embarrassment, Engineer Shao immediately said, "Han Sen has lost a great deal of face. You'll need to be extra careful."

"I'm not afraid of him. All right, let's stop talking about that thug. Bad luck." As Duan Hua spoke, he took out his own cigarette pack, offered Engineer Shao one, and continued puffing away among the ammunition crates.

Feeling rather woozy, Yang Rui asked, "Well, if there's nothing you need me for, I'll head back."

"There is. We do need you." In one swift movement, Engineer Shao ground his cigarette out on the machine gun barrel. "My main task on this trip is to donate a batch of supplies to your school. Since I'm not familiar with Xibao Middle School, I've decided to put you in charge of allocating them."

Seeing that Yang Rui did not understand, Duan Hua flicked his cigarette ash and said, "This is the plant's way of thanking you, along with Engineer Shao and the others. Everyone's delighted that you solved a technical problem for the plant. But you're not one of our employees, and you don't have a job yet, so the goods can only go to your school first. Engineer Shao has already explained it to Principal Zhao, and he agreed that everything the Xibao Meat Processing Plant gives you will be entirely at your disposal. This donation is earmarked. Nobody else is allowed to touch it."

Hedong Province was not at the forefront of reform and opening up, and most officials acted cautiously. Under normal procedures, handing money to an individual was difficult. Even one or two hundred yuan could not be paid out without an authorized purpose; otherwise, it was corruption.

The Xibao Meat Processing Plant had therefore adopted a collective-to-collective, public-to-public approach, sending a batch of earmarked goods to Xibao Middle School for Yang Rui to distribute entirely as he pleased. He could give them to whomever he wanted, earning goodwill and taking a little extra home himself.

Of course, the amount he could take for himself would never be very much. The Xibao Meat Processing Plant had gone around in a great circle and spent over ten times as much, while the actual benefit Yang Rui could ultimately receive was no more than one or two hundred yuan at most. But that was how the current allocation system operated.

With surprise mingled with puzzlement, Yang Rui exchanged a few polite words and tucked the official letter Engineer Shao handed him inside his clothes.

Strictly speaking, although he had only given his uncle a couple of pointers, the benefits to the Xibao Meat Processing Plant were far more than a couple of remarks could encompass.

Without his explanation, even if the Xibao Cannery had found a suitable expert and conducted high-level research, it would still have needed time and more than ten thousand yuan in funding to arrive at those few sentences of his. The savings alone were far greater than ten thousand yuan. Thus, even a gift worth tens of thousands would have seemed perfectly justified to Yang Rui.

But that was not how things worked in China in 1982. Would the Xibao Meat Processing Plant really go to all this trouble just to reward him personally? That was hardly the style of a state-owned enterprise.

Whatever the case, Yang Rui still thanked them happily.

These were times when even money could not buy good things. Giving goods was more useful than giving money.

Engineer Shao now gave a hearty smile and told Yang Rui, "Your uncle and I go way back. This little favor is only right. By the way, I heard you put together those test papers Huo Laosi pirated?"

From a cloth bag behind him, he took out a stiff-covered set of test papers. It was none other than the Rui Study Group Secret Papers, which had prompted this large-scale militia deployment.

Yang Rui nodded. "I did."

"Nobody helped you? Where did you find the reference materials, or..."

"I came up with most of it myself. There probably aren't any similar papers in the province. I'm not particularly clear on what research they're doing in the capital."

"Oh... So you founded this Rui Study Group?"

"That's right." Yang Rui told him the whole story of the Rui Study Group. It had never been intended to make money, but to build a reputation. Keeping it hidden would be a loss.

In the eighties, reputation was unquestionably more important than money. In the decade past and the decade to come, countless famous figures would rise and fall. While they were famous, local governments willing to put up tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of yuan to work with them were everywhere.

In this era, capital was not valued purely in money.

Engineer Shao listened very attentively, then asked, "Your uncle said you can get perfect scores in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Does that have something to do with this Rui Study Group too?"

This was a by-product of the explanation Yang Rui had given his parents when he had "called in the parents." Secretary Yang had probably enjoyed a moment of private satisfaction and left it at that, but Rui's Mom had definitely spread it all over the township as a conversation piece.

Yang Rui merely said, "The Rui Study Group's study methods definitely work. Perfect scores will become very common in the future."

"My son says there are plenty of problems even the teachers at his school can't solve." Engineer Shao looked at Yang Rui eagerly, his fingers wrapped around the gun barrel.

His son attended the Xibao Meat Processing Plant's Factory-Run Middle School. Its teachers were hardly any better than those at Township Middle School. It was where employees' children went after failing the high school entrance examination.

At that, Yang Rui understood completely. His tutoring instincts activated at once. "There isn't a high school mathematics, physics, or chemistry problem I can't solve. Our Rui Study Group members' grades are steadily improving too. You may have looked into that already, Engineer Shao. If your son has any questions about a problem, just have him come straight to me."

There was no need for Yang Rui to play hard to get. Tutoring was a lengthy process, and the college entrance examination was the most important matter imaginable to people in the eighties. Engineer Shao might head the main plant's technical department, but unless he rose to provincial or ministerial rank, he would still have to ask favors for his son's college entrance examination.

Compared with the various college entrance examination reforms people in modern times imagined, an examination based purely on scores was the greatest source of fairness in Chinese society. More people had their destinies changed and gained opportunities to rise through it than at any other time, and the value it created was greater than ever, with an impact no less than that of war.

Engineer Shao had indeed looked into the Rui Study Group.

The Xibao Meat Processing Plant's Factory-Run Middle School was itself one of the sales outlets for the Rui Study Group Secret Papers. He had seen his son using the papers and had learned the relevant details because of the Militia Regiment's deployment.

As one of the plant's few junior college graduates from the sixties, Engineer Shao knew better than anyone how much accumulated knowledge it took to compile test papers. The words "Rui Study Group" had appeared before his eyes quite often.

Thinking of his son's grades and future, Engineer Shao had made preparations in advance. He had called in favors to obtain those supplies for Xibao Middle School, precisely as a precaution against the hot-blooded Yang Rui refusing outright.

Having received such a perfect response, Engineer Shao clasped Yang Rui's hand with genuine sincerity. "Thank you so much. This son of mine-I really can't teach him myself. But your Rui Study Group's test papers, he does well with those, and his teachers say they're good too..."

"It's fine. You're my uncle's friend. Of course I'll help however I can. If your son has time, please have him come to Xibao Middle School. Weekends are fine too. I board there... But our Rui Study Group has clear rules. New members start as reserve members. At present, apart from the name, there isn't much practical difference. It's just a matter of a probationary period..."

"Being a reserve member is already more than he deserves. Don't worry, I'll lay it all out before he comes. If he misbehaves, discipline him. Making him stand as punishment or giving him a beating is only right. Whatever your Rui Study Group does, do the same to him." Engineer Shao laughed, then lowered his voice. "My son, Shao Liang, studies at our Xibao Meat Processing Plant's middle school. His grades aren't very good..."

"Good grades or bad, it doesn't matter. Education is for everyone." Yang Rui assumed his tutoring manner, then fixed his gaze on him. "You said I could make him stand or beat him, and I really will. You know the situation here. I can guarantee your son's grades will improve, but you mustn't blame me for making him suffer..."

"Of course, of course." Engineer Shao nodded repeatedly, no trace of his senior engineer's bearing remaining. After shaking Yang Rui's hand, he even took Duan Hua's arm and shook it vigorously.

Yang Rui kept a composed expression, but inwardly he was delighted. Things were only truly good when they were good for everyone. The Rui Study Group he had designed had never been intended to serve only himself, or just Xibao Middle School. If his uncle could gain another couple of allies through it, nothing could be better.