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Chapter 12: Chemical Industry Bureau

Li Yingchun was well prepared and presented a plan that covered all aspects, speaking on stage for more than ten minutes straight.

He was originally the general manager of the shipyard and had a certain level of authority, so after his speech ended, he received the support of more than half the attendees and successfully assumed the role of the first Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

Next, more than a dozen individuals who intended to serve as Cabinet Members took the stage one by one to demonstrate their professional competence and abilities, and described the work they planned to promote if appointed, seeking support.

It wasn't until twelve noon that the first Cabinet of the Republic of Nanhua was fully formed.

In addition to Li Yingchun as the Prime Minister, the other ten Cabinet Members were—

Finance and Economy Member: Ni Junhua, formerly Deputy Director of the Finance Department at Bohai Ship Group.

Industry and Mining Member: Chen Wenyun, formerly Director of Shipbuilding Management and Chief Engineer at Bohai Ship Group.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Member: Wu Fanli, a retired agronomy professor from Jilin University.

Construction and Transportation Member: Zhao Chengming, former owner of Hengda Machinery Factory.

Civil Affairs and Welfare Member: Song Juan, former Deputy Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau in Longgang District.

Culture, Education and Science and Technology Member: Sun Debo, former Principal of Longgang Middle School.

Trade and Diplomacy Member: Jia Shaoming, former Manager of Bohai Industrial Trade Company, a subsidiary of Bohai Ship Group.

Policing and Justice Member: Xia Chunze, a retired city chief prosecutor.

Navy Minister: Yang Yunfeng, former Navy Captain and Captain of the Destroyer Guiyang.

Army Minister: Jiang Yi, former Director of the Armed Department at Bohai Ship Group and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel.

Within the Cabinet Committee, counting Li Yingchun, five members came from the Bohai Ship Group, two were retired elders from Happy Home, one was the Navy Minister, one a machinery factory owner, one a middle school principal, and one a former female official from the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Overall, the internal balance of factions within the Committee was fairly even; the shipyard faction held five seats and had a strong advantage, but couldn't fully control the entire Committee, resulting in a broadly acceptable arrangement for all.

During the meeting, some incidents occurred—many shipyard workers called for Jiang Weiguo to be the Prime Minister, but Jiang Weiguo personally declined and persuaded the crowd to support Li Yingchun.

Additionally, both Zhao Chengming's bid for Construction and Transportation Member and Song Juan’s for Civil Affairs and Welfare Member faced competitors, but neither challenge succeeded.

At noon, after having a lunch of dry rations in the school cafeteria, each Cabinet Member began nominating heads and deputies for various departments and bureaus, and publicly accepted questions from the people.

By 2:00 PM, the leadership candidates for the seventeen bureaus and the Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff were fully confirmed.

Then, Li Yingchun publicly read out the principles established at today’s meeting: that the highest authority of the Republic belonged to the National Assembly, everyone was equal, modern civilization and morality must be respected and maintained, and the interests of the Republic came above all else.

Finally, Li Yingchun and the Committee Members stood on stage and pledged to respect the authority of the National Assembly and the sanctity of the law, taking the interests of the Republic and all its citizens as their work’s objective, and officially began fulfilling their duties.

At 3:00 PM, the meeting ended and the crowd dispersed.

Li Yingchun kept all Cabinet Members, the seventeen bureau directors, the two Chiefs of Staff for the Army and Navy, and several expert consultants for a joint meeting to immediately begin planning tomorrow's work.

The rest returned home to sort through their personal belongings and consider what they should do in the future.

After all, the words of Li Yingchun and others today had shattered everyone’s illusions—it was time to face reality.

“…Xiao Han! Han Yuan! Wait a minute!”

On the playground, a middle-aged man in gray work clothes and glasses called out to a young man also in work clothes who was about to leave.

“You are… Director Dong?” Han Yuan turned around and, upon seeing it was Dong Ruofeng, the former Deputy Director of the Shipyard's Logistics Department, exclaimed in surprise, “…Do you need something from me?”

Considering that Dong had just been appointed Director of the Materials Bureau by Industry and Mining Member Chen Wenyun, he more or less guessed why Dong had called him over.

“Director Dong, do you need my help with something?”

Dong Ruofeng smiled gently and said, “Yes! I remember you majored in Applied Chemistry at university, right?”

“Yes!”

Dong Ruofeng nodded, “…Seems I remembered correctly!

Actually, yesterday I talked with Old Kong—Kong Yucheng, who’s now Director of the Chemical Industry Bureau—about finding you and a few other chemistry majors to start setting up the Chemical Industry Bureau.

I’ll provide the materials and equipment from my side so we can launch a few urgent projects.

But time was tight yesterday, so I had to wait until the meeting to find you… How about it?

Would you be willing to work at the Chemical Industry Bureau?

Don’t worry! I heard you performed very well in the outfitting department. Now that you’re coming to the Chemical Industry Bureau, Old Kong will treat you as a technical core member, and you’ll be in the first housing allocation group…”

Dong Ruofeng’s warmth left Han Yuan a bit flattered. Though he was a university graduate, he was just a junior technician in the paint shop of the outfitting department.

Dong, however, was a real power figure in the group.

Had they still been in the original timeline, a position like Dong’s would have been forever out of reach for him, even with a lifetime of effort.

Faced with Dong Ruofeng’s gracious invitation, Han Yuan couldn’t refuse and immediately nodded, “Director Dong… Director Dong, of course I’m willing to join the Chemical Industry Bureau!

I really admire Director Kong’s technical skills and would be very happy to work with him!”

“That’s great! That’s great!” Dong Ruofeng smiled in satisfaction and patted Han Yuan on the shoulder, “Xiao Han! Let’s go! I’ll take you to meet your future colleagues. Most of them are chemistry majors too…”

And so, Dong Ruofeng led Han Yuan through the crowd and found three people waiting at the middle school gate.

Two men and one woman—one tall and one short among the men, both wore glasses. The taller one was about the same age as Han Yuan, around twenty-five or twenty-six, and looked a bit shy.

The shorter man was middle-aged, with thinning hair and an honest-looking face, his clothes dirty and unkempt.

As for the girl… she wore a noticeably oversized gray work uniform, had fair skin, and two dimples on her round cheeks—a sweet and cute type.

Seeing the trio, Dong Ruofeng quickened his pace and approached with a smile:

“…Engineer Liu, Xiao Di, Xiao Zhou, sorry to keep you waiting. This is Han Yuan, a technician from the outfitting department and also a chemistry major… Xiao Han, from now on you’ll follow Engineer Liu, Liu Zhi!

Engineer Liu, please look after Xiao Han… You all go ahead and chat, I need to get back to the meeting!”

After a quick round of introductions, Dong Ruofeng handed the slightly dazed Han Yuan over to the dirty, middle-aged man and hurriedly returned to the middle school—he was the new Director of the Materials Bureau and couldn't miss the first Cabinet Committee meeting.

Han Yuan looked at his hastily retreating figure, opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, the cute girl in workwear gave him a friendly tap on the arm with her sleeve, showing two little tiger teeth as she smiled playfully, “So you’re Han Yuan? Don’t stare! Old Dong is a big shot—he’s got a meeting to attend!

Let’s get to know each other!

I’m Di Yilu, this silly tall guy is Zhou Qi, and this is Liu Zhi, Engineer Liu, our Deputy Director of the Chemical Industry Bureau! Quick, call him Director!”

Han Yuan blankly listened to the girl’s introduction, then turned to look at the honest-faced, scruffy middle-aged man. He truly hadn’t expected this guy to be a deputy director.

And also… such a pretty girl… how had he never seen her before?

“Ahem!”

The scruffy middle-aged man gave the tiger-toothed girl a mildly scolding look, cleared his throat, and shook his head at Han Yuan, “Xiao Han, don’t listen to this girl’s nonsense. Just call me Engineer Liu like everyone else… It sounds better!

And welcome aboard!”