Scholars in the courtyard.

Chapter 3214 The Quietly Changing Era

Chapter 3214 The Quietly Changing Era

As the jeep left the performing arts troupe, the sky had already darkened, and the temperature in the air added a layer of warmth to the passing wind, making people want to wrap their clothes tighter.

Yang Xiaotao sat in the car rubbing his temples, thinking about the Spring Festival performance.

What was originally just an event for nine departments is now turning into a nationwide event.

Moreover, this matter needs to be reported to higher authorities, since it's the first time and a nationwide event, requiring their consideration.

Furthermore, some procedures for such a nationwide live broadcast cannot be copied from past experience. At the very least, the content of the awards should be modified. While the solicitation of awards can be done on the spot, the prizes should be awarded privately.

We also need to consider the award presenters, confirm the audience, set up the stage properly, and choose a host—we can't just pick anyone. The program format also needs to be carefully considered; it can't just be singing and dancing. There must be skits and crosstalk performances, and they need to be meaningful.

As for the deeper impacts, such as people's demand for culture and entertainment, promoting social and economic development, and fostering social harmony, Yang Xiaotao thought about them more and more, and finally simply stopped thinking about them altogether.

Let Yang Youning and Chen Gong do what they want!

Anyway, it's just a party.

If it really goes wrong, we can just stop doing it in the future.

Anyway, the nine departments don't rely on this to make a living.

"Let things take their natural course."

Liu Lixue listened from the side without responding. There were some things she could chime in on, but it was better to play dumb about others.

Especially since there are more important things to do right now.

After exchanging glances with Wang Hao, Liu Lixue finally mustered up her courage and asked, "President Yang, what are the arrangements for Comrade Liu Feng?"

Yang Xiaotao replied with his eyes closed, "Arrange it however you see fit!"

Wang Hao opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but Liu Lixue stopped him. Then she spoke again, "President Yang, didn't you say so yourself?"

"We can't let good people be bullied. If this were handled according to normal procedures, this issue of conduct wouldn't be a minor offense; it could potentially lead to..."

"President Yang, we have to give Secretary Liu an explanation, don't we? We can't do that even if we don't care about the monk, we have to give him some face."

Liu Lixue spoke cautiously, and Yang Xiaotao finally opened his eyes and looked at her, then sat up straight. "You seem quite concerned. What's wrong? Are you about to take action?"

Liu Lixue was taken aback, then realized what she meant and snorted coldly, "President Yang, this is harassing a woman!"

Yang Xiaotao scoffed, "I'm doing this for the sake of revolutionary construction, to encourage older single women to get married as soon as possible, so that we can better contribute to the revolution."

"Who's an 'older single woman'? Who's too old? Explain yourself clearly..."

"It's very clear. Who's older and who's unmarried, isn't it obvious?"

"what…"

Liu Lixue was provoked by Yang Xiaotao's words, but Yang Xiaotao showed no fear whatsoever.

Wang Hao, who was driving in the front, quickly ducked his head and pretended not to hear.

"Let him go to Japan."

After a moment, seeing Liu Lixue turn her head to look out the window and pretend to be angry, Yang Xiaotao finally spoke.

Then, the car stopped, and Yang Xiaotao got out and walked towards the courtyard house.

"Japan?"

After seeing Yang Xiaotao off, Wang Hao turned back to his car and looked at Liu Lixue, "Sister Liu...Secretary!"

Seeing Liu Lixue's unfriendly look, Wang Hao immediately changed his address, "What are you going to the Japanese islands for?"

Liu Lixue understood Yang Xiaotao's meaning at this moment, and then said, "We need an engineer to repair the computer on the Japanese island."

"Let him go with us. Firstly, it will get us away from the vortex and allow us to calm down."

"Secondly, this is also a merit. If we come back, it won't be a case of the merits and demerits canceling each other out, and we won't have to go cutting down trees!"

After Liu Lixue's analysis, Wang Hao immediately felt relieved. His good brother didn't have to go chop wood anymore, and might even be able to stay in the Ninth Division. This was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

"I'm telling you, this matter cannot be spread, especially not to Liu Feng, otherwise it won't work, understand?"

"I understand, I understand, I promise I won't tell anyone!"

Wang Hao immediately nodded and then drove Liu Lixue home.

The next day.

News about the television broadcast of this year's arts festival circulated within the Ninth Department.

Previously, Yang Youning only had the idea and quietly facilitated the matter, but after confronting Yang Xiaotao yesterday, he stopped being secretive and directly spread the news, which can be considered as creating momentum in advance.

Of course, it would have to pass the approval of higher-ups.

So, upon arriving at the Ninth Department early in the morning, Yang Youning was caught by Yang Xiaotao and Li Hongfeng, and the three of them drove directly to Old Chen's office.

The three of them spent half the morning with Old Chen, mainly discussing the recent work of the Ninth Department, including the West-East Gas Pipeline project, which was of most concern to Old Chen.

This had become Old Chen's precious possession; he would ask about it every time he visited.

As for the oil pipeline transportation, that's Chen Laoda's next big priority.

We must have both; we cannot afford to lose either one.

As for the live broadcast of the Spring Festival performance, Mr. Chen wasn't that concerned.

Perhaps in Mr. Chen's eyes, this is just like listening to a radio broadcast.

As for the television, they do have one at home, but it's mostly just for decoration and is rarely turned on.

Firstly, there are fewer TV programs available, and most of the time there are no programs to watch.

Secondly, televisions require electricity, and these days saving electricity is deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Thirdly, the television screen is not large, and for an elderly person like Mr. Chen, watching a movie is better than watching television.

After hearing all this, Old Chen simply told the nine departments to do their jobs well and not to lose face in front of the whole nation, and said nothing more.

Yang Xiaotao had similar thoughts. In his memory, it would be at least ten years before television sets became widespread across the country.

Back then, individual business owners had more spare money, and there were more TV programs available, which is why television sets entered homes and became the main form of entertainment.

Therefore, the two of them didn't take the live TV broadcast seriously enough.

So after returning to the Ninth Department, Yang Xiaotao continued to work on his tasks, while Yang Youning pulled Chen Gong into the preparations for the live broadcast of the Spring Festival performance.

Gradually, as news of the live broadcast of the Spring Festival performance spread, things began to change.

First of all, it became a hot topic of conversation throughout Beijing. After learning that they could watch programs on television, many people flocked to the supply and marketing cooperatives to inquire about television sets.

Secondly, the move by the nine departments to equip each factory with television sets spurred other factories to follow suit.

Finally, after the news was released, the demand for entertainment and culture among the farmers increased significantly, and after being reported up the chain of command, the local government had no choice but to take it seriously.

As a result, some villages that had the means began to buy television sets and install power lines.

All of these factors led to an explosive growth in demand for television sets, forcing television manufacturers across the country to accelerate production and increase output.

The increase in the number of television sets has in turn increased the demand for electricity.

Electricity was originally an important energy source for industrial production, and most of it was used for industrial production, while residential electricity use was restricted.

However, with the Dengzhou Nuclear Power Plant operating at full capacity, the power shortage in North China has been alleviated, and the original electricity price has also decreased.

This also allows more households to use electricity.

This also brought the nuclear power plant project back on the agenda.

Yang Xiaotao agreed to Chen Lao's request to cooperate with the Second Ministry of Machine Building to select a suitable location in the south to build a nuclear power plant.

Local governments provided manpower, the Second Ministry of Machine Building provided technology, and their main contribution was money.

To be honest, the investment was considerable, but unfortunately, Old Chen gave the profits from the special medicine to the Ninth Department. Yang Xiaotao didn't know if Old Chen regretted it afterward, but his tone was different every time the topic came up. Now, the Second Ministry of Machine Building has made progress, the location has been selected, and they are preparing to officially launch the project after the New Year.

This incident has given the Second Ministry of Machine Building even more motivation.

Leaving aside the nuclear power plant project, the increased electricity demand alone has kept local power departments very busy.

The increased demand for electricity has spurred the accelerated construction of power plants, the increase in power stations, the demand for high-voltage power transmission, and the transportation and use of coal resources.

All of this requires people to do it; it requires a large number of workers to build it.

This has indirectly boosted economic development once again.

Yang Xiaotao, sitting in his office, was unaware of all this; he only felt that the live broadcast of the performance seemed to be getting more and more exciting.

The excitement was so great that even the Yangjiazhuang brigade headquarters bought five television sets, saying they wanted to organize everyone to watch programs together.

Several other villages in the surrounding area followed suit, with some buying three to five units and others buying one or two.

Stone Village, Caozhou, Shandong.

The cold winter wind swept in from the north, and the earthen walls were swept by the wind, making a sharp sound.

Cool air began to seep into the room from all directions.

Inside the room, sunlight streamed through the white paper windows, illuminating the not-so-spacious room and the unfinished sweater.

At this moment, a middle-aged man in his forties sat on the kang (a heated brick bed). There was no fire in the room; it was cold, and there wasn't much firewood. The fire was only used for cooking, so the man could only wrap his tattered cotton-padded coat around himself.

Normally, he would go out and sunbathe with the villagers, which was an activity to pass the time and an important way to keep warm.

But today is different, because a letter was delivered from the brigade headquarters.

A letter written by his daughter.

The long hours of work had hunched his once straight back, and his fingers were cracked from the cold. He leaned against the window and looked at the words on the envelope, a kind and gentle look in his eyes.

"Xiaoping!"

The middle-aged man murmured his daughter's name, tears welling up in his eyes before quickly wiping them away.

The middle-aged man gently tore open the envelope and took out the contents.

A thick folded letter, and five dollars.

"Why is this child handing over money?"

The middle-aged man felt a warm feeling in his heart, but at the same time, he was also a little worried.

However, thinking back to my daughter's letter last time saying that she had joined a performing arts troupe, I finally have a stable job.

Of course, he also knew that his daughter was only reporting good news and not bad.

Because he knew that his actions had implicated too many people.

His wife divorced him and remarried. In order not to implicate his daughter, he had no choice but to let her live with her mother.

But these days, he knows perfectly well how a girl is doing in her stepfather's house.

Because there are such examples in the village.

She starts work early every day to support her younger siblings.

Whenever he saw this scene, he would put his daughter Xiaoping in his shoes, and as he thought about it, his heart would ache.

Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged man began to open the letter and read it.

The handwriting on the letter wasn't pretty, but it reminded him of the time he taught his daughter to write when he was a child, and a warm feeling returned to his face.

Then I looked at it carefully.

But halfway through, an excited look appeared on the middle-aged man's face.

When he finished reading it all, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

Then came the second, third, and tenth times.

He didn't realize what was happening until tears streamed down his face and fell onto the letter. He quickly wiped them away, afraid of blurring the words on the paper.

The next second, the middle-aged man covered his face tightly, a suppressed sound escaping his throat, yet he dared not roar out loud.

It can only produce a dull sound.

Ah~~~

Two days later, the middle-aged man received a notice from the village party secretary that the town's primary school wanted him to be a teacher and asked for his opinion.

The middle-aged man readily agreed without hesitation.

So, that morning, the middle-aged man started to light a fire, boil water, and cook.

Then he washed his hair, took a shower, trimmed his beard with scissors, and took out a pair of glasses from the box.

Wearing glasses is inconvenient when working in the countryside.

Moreover, if your glasses break, there's no place to repair them, let alone get new ones.

I found the clothes I'd been reluctant to wear and put them on, which made me feel much more energetic.

When the middle-aged man left his house, the village party secretary, the brigade leader, the accountant, and the women's director were all waiting outside, their faces beaming with smiles.

The middle-aged man walked up and hugged the village secretary tightly.

"Old He, leave this place and live a good life."

The village party secretary, who was quite old, gave instructions to the middle-aged man.

"Old Party Secretary, I will come back to visit everyone again."

"We should let you know in advance so we can prepare accordingly."

"No need to prepare anything, just leave this door for me."

As the group talked, several more villagers came out to see them off.

The middle-aged man greeted everyone, then boarded the village tractor and headed towards the town in the cold wind.

Upon arriving at the town's primary school, after saying goodbye to the villagers, the middle-aged man stood on the road, looking around.

Looking at the pedestrians walking on the straight street and the shops with their doors open on both sides of the road, the middle-aged man was at a loss for what to do.

How long has it been since I last came to town?

three years?

Five years?

He couldn't remember, but he was certain that it wasn't like this the last time he came.

Back then, there weren't so many shops along the roads, nor were there any telephone poles, let alone streetlights.

Long queues formed in front of the supply and marketing cooperative, all in order to buy grain as early as possible, because if they were late, they wouldn't be able to buy any.

Pedestrians all looked like they were in a hurry, and bicycles were hard to find.

But what I see now is the same town I saw back then.

Power lines, streetlights, broadcasts, bicycles, and even cars appeared.

Pedestrians chatted and laughed; the children, their faces chubby, chased and played.

Men and women entered and exited the store, each with a smile on their face, but all of this made him feel a sense of unreality.