The following day, at the Squadron Departnt.
"...Special Service Cup."
"Tsck."
"That’s actually feasible."
He Yongjun’s tongue slid into the gap between his left molars, nudging the remnants of a cabbage leaf from his morning dumplings.
With surgical precision, his tongue gently prodded.
He tightened his lips and put a little force into it.
He sucked it out.
Mmm, sour and satisfying.
He looked around. There was no trash can in sight, so he just chewed it two more tis and swallowed it down.
Afterwards.
"Hhhhh...he..."
Ye Jiahong, quick on his feet, promptly pulled a trash can from the corner and drew a piece of paper from the desk, handing it to Old Teacher He.
"Ptooey."
Spitting out a glob of tobacco-laced phlegm, Old Teacher He took the tissue and wiped his mouth.
"Mmm... should smoke less."
Who knew who he was talking to with that comnt.
"These things are necessary; they demonstrate the diversified developnt standards of a squadron. Also, that differentiated personal training standard of yours is quite a bright spot.
The key lies in lowering the difficulty of its implentation to enhance its spreadability.
I can give you a way of thinking about it; start by making a chart based on your ideas, and if your Squadron’s Duty Squad Leader follows the chart to the letter, then it’s good enough!
The pressure is on, you know. To my knowledge, a few other fire brigades nationwide are also applying for upgrades this year.
Though there’s no direct conflict, each Detachnt’s materials will all be delivered into the hands of the leadership at the General Bureau. It’s inevitable they’ll be compared. There’s one squadron you might have heard of, the Shanghai Huangpu Station Squadron."
At this, both Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong were taken aback.
"The one that was awarded the ’Model Fire Brigade’ honor by the GW Hospital and the Military Commission in ’99?"
Old Teacher He smiled and nodded, "And another honor went to the Jinggang Mountain Fire Brigade’s First Squadron.
Of course, Huangpu from Shanghai is one of the new economic centers of the nation, and Jinggang Mountain is the cradle of revolutionaries. You can’t compare with their special circumstances.
Nonetheless, because of that, their leadership will wonder even more: what qualifies you guys to apply for an upgrade?
The leadership’s intent is to unearth more highlights within you, to enrich your application materials. However, you also have to create those highlights yourselves!"
Upon hearing this, Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong’s faces reflected their turmoil.
In those days, it wasn’t the era of rampant smartphones and networks; everyone’s thinking wasn’t as divergent. To get work done and achieve highlights, they had to rely on their own ideas.
At that mont, Fang Huai fell into contemplation outside the door and then knocked.
"Reporting in!"
Hearing Fang Huai’s voice, Cao Yi’s face showed delight and a sudden clarity.
Right, isn’t there a ready-made strategist right here?
"Co in!"
Fang Huai pushed the door open and, seeing the Instructor, pretended to be surprised and saluted:
"Instructor, good day!"
Old Teacher He scoffed, "You little rascal, standing at the door eavesdropping for two minutes now and you still put on an act for ? With the sun so bright, I saw clearly the footprint under the door crack!"
Feeling sowhat awkward, Fang Huai glanced outside. The rising sun from the window at the end of the corridor shone through the open door, casting his silhouette askew onto the entrance area of the office.
In the thick-skinned world, there is no embarrassnt.
"Heh heh, Instructor," Fang Huai said with an embarrassed chuckle as he walked in, pulling out sothing resembling a bench vise from his hand, "I’ve co to pitch an idea."
"What kind of idea? One worthy of a Nobel Prize?" Old Teacher He snarked, not in the best mood.
Just seeing the feet under the door of his office, he felt the urge to erupt. Eavesdropping on leadership discussions? Where was the sense of order?
But seeing Fang Huai deflated his anger by a third, turning the fury into a jest.
Fang Huai’s mouth twitched slightly, "Well... just a small idea, not even worthy to be called an invention... but very practical! I specifically looked up our current equipnt list, and we don’t have this!"
Old Teacher He perked up, crossing his legs, "Oh? Tell about it, enlighten !"
Cao Yi also stared at the object in Fang Huai’s hand, pondering for a mont before saying, "That’s a bench vise, isn’t it?"
Fang Huai imdiately nodded, "Yes! Similar to those popular pencil sharpeners that schoolchildren used to have as a base!
Just tighten it with a screw into the hole and it can clamp the pencil sharpener firmly onto the table!
I ca up with this while struggling to find a suitable place to tie a rope during knee-hang sit-ups yesterday at the Cultural Palace rooftop!
With this, we can clamp it onto many wall pillars or window edges! Attach a handle externally, slip so rope through, and secure it to the handle, creating an anchor point!
This way, our firefighters can carry out abseiling or escape maneuvers in complex environnts where appropriate anchor points are hard to find!"
"Psht." Old Teacher He snorted upon hearing this:
"I thought it was going to be a Nobel Prize. Turns out it’s more like a Progress Award for laborers! Isn’t this just like the tightening devices used by construction workers? Twist here and there, and it’s easy to lose tension!"
"Moreover, the absence of an environnt where ropes can be tied reduces the applicability; it isn’t very strong!"
"I just listened to Cao Yi, and those two ideas of yours, they’re actually reliable. But it seems like you lack a bit of novelty in invention and creation!"
Fang Huai was speechless for a while.
His competitive spirit started to rise gradually.
"Instructor, our firefighting equipnt really is lacking in variety right now. It’s far from the point where it needs innovation. Just by referencing tools from other industries, there can be great improvents! This ’L’-shaped design, supported by a single fulcrum, is prone to loosening, but wouldn’t it work if you just increase the contact area?
The range of applicability for this thing isn’t large, but isn’t a lot of our firefighting equipnt used in extre conditions?
Also, Instructor, about that differentiated training, to truly spread it and make it practical, it’s definitely not enough to just make a table for the squadrons to fill in the soldiers’ physical performance. We also have to create corresponding physical training standards.
My idea is to create a complete set of training package tables for different physical abilities and areas of strength. Squadron Leaders and squad leaders could use these tables to find the training package that is closest to a given soldier’s abilities for reference.
Of course, this set of packages can only be designed to achieve excellence in all performance areas for most soldiers within a year. The specific implentation still needs to be tailored to different training goals and individual differences."
"Oh?" Old Teacher He turned over the paper he had used to wipe his mouth, blew his nose, and threw it into the trash can.
"Can you do it?"
"It will take ti, and I’ll need to consult a lot of materials and cooperate with personnel. So of the training techniques I’ve used myself can also be incorporated."
Fang Huai actually only needed a day or two to spend so points to exchange for so "paid knowledge" related to scientific training and create the entire plan.
However, when facing leadership, one always needs to put so thought into it.
Having a project in hand ans having special authority to do sothing.
And indeed, things that co too easily, no matter how good, will still be nitpicked by leadership, like the high-rise anchor point he brought, which is clearly useful, but leadership finds it too simple and of little value.
He now had to play with anchors as well.
Psychological anchors.
To anchor the leadership’s expectations a bit higher.
Sure enough, the Instructor perked up when he heard these conditions.
The prospect of consulting a wealth of materials and Fang Huai’s own training techniques, the techniques that allowed a new recruit to beco a Corps Martial Arts Competition champion, sounded promising.
"Do you need funds?"
Fang Huai shook his head: "This has nothing to do with money."
Old Teacher He laughed.
Benefit without cost.
He imdiately slapped the armrest: "Go for it! Just do it!"
Cao Yi felt half relieved.
Anything Fang Huai was willing to take on, no matter how bad, would score at least an eight out of ten.
"By the way, Fang Huai! When you ca back yesterday, you ntioned the normalization of fire prevention promotion. Do you have any good ideas?"
Cao Yi didn’t want the Instructor to think they hadn’t thought of anything, so he casually brought up the topic they had discussed over lunch yesterday.
In reality, it was just chitchat, but ntioning it now made it seem like they were proactively seeking solutions!
Fire Protection Publicity is also a very important part of daily work. Achieving so outcos would highlight their efforts!
Fang Huai smiled: "I actually do have a solution for that. We could schedule it for Wednesday mornings, but this will require funds."
This disappointed Cao Yi.
If there’s funding involved, what’s the need for an idea? Who doesn’t know how to spend money?
And hearing "Wednesday morning", Cao Yi frowned and said:
"Wednesday, in the morning? And it’s a fixed slot? You’re not thinking about spending money at the radio and television station, are you?"
Fang Huai revealed a "you’re an idiot" smirk.
"Instructor, that’s sothing for the Detachnt to do, not our place, right?
I picked Wednesday because there are often etings on Monday and Tuesday, and on Thursday and Friday, there might be train station days or sothing. My plan will require a few people, and I’m worried about conflicts.
Plus, the funds I’m talking about, it’s just fifty bucks, but once and for all, the promotional effect and the benefit to our firefighting reputation will far surpass that of a broadcast station."
Now, even Master He was shocked.
"Hey, I’ve never heard of a one-ti fee of fifty bucks with lasting benefits. You’re really going to open my eyes today!
Lay it out, I will push for it!"
Fang Huai grinned: "As far as I know, others in the Second Squadron really can’t do this. I just don’t know if the Big Team has soone that skilled."
...
When Fang Huai ca out of the office, the three people inside all had faces shocked beyond belief.
Master He, gripping the armrest, muttered:
"Damn, this kid is really multi-talented... Last ti, at the funeral parlor, I t his father, Director Fang, a true military man through and through, very straightforward!
But a bit blunt, too.
I didn’t expect his son to be the one who made up for all the lost cleverness in their family."
Cao Yi was also sowhat astonished: "I didn’t expect him to be capable of this... Instructor... letting him go do it, won’t cause any safety accidents, will it?"
Old Teacher He gave Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong a once-over and raised his eyebrows: "How about you two try it out first?"
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