novelraw Chapter 550: 1950s Cannon Fodder Tagalong 29
Chapter 550: 1950s Cannon Fodder Tagalong 29
In 1963, once Eldest Sister succeeded in getting into high school, An Ning finally put one major worry to rest and threw herself completely into her studies. While holding onto the top spot in her grade, she occasionally helped professors finish statistical estimates and sometimes published articles in political or economic journals.
Because she had mastered building and applying mathematical models and possessed a fairly accurate eye for data, she successfully simulated—or more precisely, predicted with very low error margins—the growth of certain domestic economic indicators a few times, and soon gained a small reputation within the field.
Naturally, given the political climate of the next few years, her articles avoided any sensitive wording.
It wasn’t that she craved the spotlight. Jing University’s economics program was a five-year course at the time, meaning that at the latest by next year, 1965, barring surprises, she would graduate from university.
By then she would only be at most seventeen years old, and she didn’t want to miss opportunities because of her age, so she prepared multiple backup plans.
As for the professors’ suggestions that she stay on at the school, An Ning never seriously considered them. She politely declined citing other ambitions—the coming years would be chaotic, and a school would be too risky a place to stay.
Fortunately, her preparations paid off.
Starting her junior year, because of her excellent professional grades and outstanding calculation skills, An Ning began helping Professor Lin solve difficult projects assigned from above. Naturally, this involved some contact with several leaders in the Ministry of Finance.
By the time graduation in 1965 approached, Manager Yang even asked her if she wanted help. But An Ning had already received her official assignment certificate from the Ministry of Finance, assigned to one of its main departments, the Budget Department.
The final boot finally dropped into place.Holding the newly issued assignment certificate, An Ning relaxed a little and hummed a tune as she walked home.
You couldn’t blame her for liking the idea of assigned placements—they sounded appealing—only the autonomy left something to be desired. If you were assigned somewhere you didn’t want, changing it would cost you serious effort.
Still, this job was a settled fact An Ning had expected, and for the whole Old Wang household, it was nothing short of a huge surprise.
“So that means our Ning Ning is an official now—ah, no, no, not just an official, she’s a state cadre!”
On the day she officially reported, Wei Qiao prepared a large table of dishes and stared at the work certificate for a long time.
An Ning wore a plum-red long coat, black trousers, and shiny leather shoes. She looked more spirited than ever.
Even after all the bustle into the evening, Ms. Wei couldn’t sleep. She kept staring wide-eyed and kept exclaiming.
“How wonderful! A university graduate really is different. Ning Ning just graduated, and her salary is nearly fifty yuan!”
In the 1960s, fresh university graduates before probation had an administrative rank of 23, with a salary of 49.5 yuan. After probation the rank rose one level, and the salary became 56 yuan.
There was no doubt that this surpassed most people at the time—higher than some veteran workers who had labored for decades—and the benefits in government agencies were well known to be good.
No matter what, the youngest daughter’s life would not be bad.
To Wei Qiao, this felt like the sky dropping a treasure. She was so excited she couldn’t sleep.
Old Wang, on the other hand, rolled his eyes in the darkness where faces couldn’t be seen and felt speechless.
Was this just about salary? This was the Central Finance Bureau, a core department. Their little daughter hadn’t leaned on anyone—no connections—she’d gotten there on her own. Now that was real ability!
In the darkness, Old Wang couldn’t help but marvel again: you really can’t compare people. Look at his own brat—thanks to his father-in-law’s connections he could only hope for a district government position, and in the end Yong Hua still ended up back at the machinery factory.
According to his father-in-law, the situation hadn’t been great lately, and with Yong Hua’s brainpower, home turf was safer.
Wang Ming De naturally believed it. With his father-in-law and his wife’s emphasis on Yong Hua over the years, there would be no reason to deny his grandson a better future unless the future was truly unsafe.
At that time, vocational colleges usually took three years. Wang Yong Hua got into a vocational college in 1962, majoring in administrative management, and this year he was just graduating.
Although a little regrettable, family matters were family matters. Yong Hua’s health really couldn’t take much rough handling, so it was better to keep him on their own turf.
This household’s future still had to rely on the youngest daughter!
“By the way!” In the dark, Wang Ming De’s eyes lit and he suddenly remembered something. “Yun Yun also graduated high school, right? The other day my father-in-law mentioned that the propaganda office next door happens to be short a staff member. Yun Yun’s handwriting has always been good, so why not have her try the exam…”
Propaganda office—an actual formal position!
Sure enough, once he said it, Wei Qiao had no objections.
As for higher education after that, even if she couldn’t get into a university she could at least try for a vocational college like Yong Hua did. Thinking how Eldest Daughter had been staying up late, and had slimmed down after the graduation exam, Wei Qiao sighed and decided not to push her daughter too hard.
Besides, An Ning had said earlier that times were different now. A few years ago, college talent had been scarce; as long as you graduated high school, vocational college admission was almost certain. After several years, vocational colleges had become more competitive.
What An Ning didn’t say was that even if she got in now, the education might never end, and she could also become one of those unlucky kids assigned to a remote place.
Luckily, with high school credentials she did fine. An Yun always listened to her younger sister on these matters. After a graduation exam, she was too exhausted to object and immediately agreed. Phew… finally getting through this.
The next day, with the help of their little sister, they started preparing for the propaganda office exam.
The three sisters had some fate together: they had taken exams earlier together, and although they attended different schools, they all happened to graduate the same year and find jobs in the same year. What a coincidence!
Chewing on the fragrant braised pork, An Ning couldn’t help but be pleased. Not to mention, the new workplace canteen was pretty decent!
Anyway, once An Ning settled into her new work environment, it was no surprise when An Yun officially joined the machinery factory’s propaganda office.
Well then, the Old Wang household suddenly had three children with jobs, and in these times when decent jobs were hard to find, that was notable.
People in the alley were green with envy, but there was nothing they could do. Apart from Eldest Sister, the other two had been officially assigned by higher education institutions. Even An Yun had entered the factory through its exam under everyone’s watchful eyes.
No one could accuse them of nepotism. Besides, these days everyone tried to look out for their own; recruitment often favored employees’ children.
Sigh, what could they do? Their kids had done well!
“Isn’t that success? Whose kid has the national top scorer helping them one-on-one all the time—no wonder they turned out well!”
Of course they did!
A middle-aged woman in a floral jacket couldn’t help but snark. They all lived at the same alley entrance; everyone’s eyes were sharp. If only these people knew that within the Old Wang household, only Ning Ning was truly intelligent.
But what could they do—after all, she really had the national top scorer status!
Talk all you like, Old Wang was clever; he managed to get all the good things into their bowl early!
Soon, though, nobody had the headspace to think much longer. Within less than half a year past the new year, the atmosphere around them suddenly tightened…