Hu Lei had originally only intended to explain to the adult training institution the reasons why he could not expand the scale of training, never expecting to get into an argument with the government. Faced with the problems Hu Lei raised, the other party repeatedly acknowledged that his points were valid, yet insisted that Hu Lei solve these problems himself. Hu Lei felt a surge of anger and couldn't help but retort over the phone.

The other party finally dropped a cold remark, "Headmaster Hu, you must shoulder the responsibility," and hung up. Furious, Hu Lei slammed the phone down and sat back in his chair, fuming. After this rather unfriendly exchange, Hu Lei felt that things were not quite as he had imagined. At the very least, it sounded to him as if the government side treated his training site as a school.

Initially, Hu Lei was displeased, feeling they were deliberately making things difficult. But after calming down for a while, a thought occurred to him: had he misunderstood something? or perhaps his old classmate Feng Qian had gotten something wrong when helping arrange the training site and technical development in Shanghai?

Thinking of this, Hu Lei dared not act on his own initiative. He wrote a long letter detailing what had happened to Feng Qian. After finishing it, he found the address Feng Qian had left behind, thought for a moment, and then, following telegraph regulations, wrote six characters: "Address unchanged, please reply." He then sent someone to dispatch the urgent telegram.

The next afternoon, Hu Lei received the reply: "Unchanged, write letter."

Only then did Hu Lei send the letter via Credit Aviation Express. Two days later, Feng Qian received the letter. Reading it through once, he too felt quite puzzled. According to what Feng Qian knew, such training institutions should provide sufficient teachers, or the labor unions should provide assistance. It shouldn't be as Hu Lei described in his letter, with Hu Lei responsible for everything. Even a single factory had various departments with different people in charge. How was it that when it came to Hu Lei, he was the only commander without soldiers? And for such a large factory, where was the organization?

He wanted to write back, but after thinking it over, Feng Qian went to the ministry to apply for a business trip. The ministry leadership frowned slightly after reading the trip report. Hu Lei's case was interesting; clarifying exactly what had happened would make for an excellent typical incident report. However, precisely because it was unclear what was happening at this stage, there was a possibility that the Shanghai Education Bureau's work was lacking. Reading Hu Lei's letter again, the leader found Hu Lei's views on worker quality somewhat jarring. Hu Lei clearly had objections regarding the quality of the workers, and some of his phrasing was quite sharp. This conflicted with the policies currently being implemented.

After pondering for a moment, the leader said, "Little Feng. The Central Committee has recently begun implementing '3+1' education for citizens who have not previously attended school. This policy will absolutely not be shaken."

Feng Qian couldn't quite gauge the leader's intent, so he could only nod. The leader continued, "Your classmate's factory and training scale are not small. He graduated after 1924, so he counts as the new generation. If you go, you must be prepared to conduct a thorough investigation. If you're thinking of acting like an Imperial Envoy or a 'Blue Sky' magistrate, then there's no need to go."

Hearing this, Feng Qian subconsciously sat up straight. The leader's requirements were not low, and the tone had been set. The so-called "3+1" referred to the policy where, following the start of compulsory education in 1925, the population that had already passed school age would undergo mandatory education over the next few years to reach a third-grade primary school level, followed by one year of technical education.

The "3+1" program was designed to give eligible workers in rural and urban areas who had missed educational opportunities a chance to enter factory work. Given China's massive population and the intensity of education efforts, the chances for an illiterate person to enter a factory were already very low. But China was currently undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction, and many assembly line positions requiring repetitive labor were emerging. "3+1" was intended to provide industrial employment opportunities for these eligible laborers.

Although it was not yet certain what level of workers Hu Lei looked down upon—since Hu Lei had only expressed general displeasure with the workers he found unsatisfactory, providing neither educational statistics nor employment figures for them—this letter, which could have been an excellent case study, had been written by Hu Lei as a prose piece for complaining and expressing personal demands.

Feng Qian finally spoke, "I plan to start with the gap in thinking between entrepreneurs and government personnel. To see if I can write a good research report."

The leader immediately approved of this angle, and his concern about Feng Qian instantly diminished by more than half. The He Rui administration had been in power for eight years, and the country had been completely stable for four. Hu Lei had graduated after 1924 and was an alumnus of Premier Wu Youping. Now throwing himself into industrial manufacturing and making a small name for himself, such a person could be seen as a part of China's future. Carefully studying the problems Hu Lei encountered and understanding his thoughts was research into the future.

Feng Qian now had a train of thought, and follow-up ideas came naturally. "It seems the education received by enterprise managers is far from sufficient to become a capitalist. Hu Lei is just a domestic business owner, far from the level of a capitalist. I suddenly feel, should we perhaps implement a '3+1' training for business owners as well?"

"Haha." The leader laughed. "If you can carry the investigation to that extent, Little Feng, I'll take you to see the Minister."

Hu Lei had no idea what kind of good fortune was about to fall on his head. Until his old classmate pushed open his office door, Hu Lei was still fuming. That morning, he had scolded someone; the person scolded was a trainee worker who had failed to master the basic techniques for operating the new equipment. If not for Hu Lei's quick eyes and hands stopping the guy's erroneous operation, there might have been an accident.

The basic skills of this batch of trainee workers were too poor. Hu Lei realized he had truly overestimated them. To turn these people into qualified skilled workers—or at least skilled workers who wouldn't cause trouble—was no longer something that could be accomplished with simple training. Although Hu Lei kept telling himself not to get angry, not to mind, he really couldn't help it, because he himself was someone with a super-strong sense of responsibility toward work. If he accepted that such things were inevitable, Hu Lei could not accept himself.

When Feng Qian pushed the door open and entered, he saw Hu Lei ask without lifting his head, "What happened now?"

Seeing his old classmate looking both angry and dejected, Feng Qian deliberately teased him, replying in a calm tone, "You called me here with a single letter, I don't know what happened either."

Hearing this, anger rose in Hu Lei's heart, and he immediately looked up to retort. But seeing that the person before him was actually Feng Qian, he froze with his mouth open. Feng Qian pulled two packages of snacks from his bag. "Kaifeng peanut crisp, mint cakes. Brought them specially for you."

"I... damn." Hu Lei sighed deeply.

Half an hour later, Hu Lei, mouth dry, had roughly finished recounting the events. Feng Qian, who had been listening quietly, thought for a moment before asking, "Since so many people are being trained, hasn't a study management committee been established in your factory? Hasn't a Party group been established?"

"...You, do you think I'm a state-owned enterprise?" Hu Lei asked back, feeling Feng Qian must be joking.

Feng Qian was not joking at all. He had begun to feel that his old classmate's complaints were likely because the classmate himself hadn't managed things well. Or perhaps he simply didn't truly understand what he was doing. However, Feng Qian wasn't angry; instead, he felt this matter had become interesting. If he could help his old classmate Hu Lei truly straighten out the management model, the content of this investigation report would be even more substantial.

"Hu Lei, let's first write down everything you need to do and go over it. I think once it's written down, you'll be able to figure it out more clearly," Feng Qian suggested.

Hu Lei shook his head. "Where would I find the time for that? I can't even finish my work."

This time, Feng Qian did not let Hu Lei decide. "Since I'm here, you have to give me an explanation. Cut the crap, start working!"