Chapter 43: Riding a Tiger is Hard to Get Off

  Da Hu and Lao Wan both looked at Chu Tian Shu with pitiful eyes.

  The high-ranking leaders, who are out of touch with the hardships of laid-off workers and cannot hear their voices, what good solution can Chu Tian Shu, a humble and insignificant person, possibly have?

  "The plan for the reform of the instrument factory has been reported to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Once it is approved, it will be difficult to change. Chu Tian Shu thought for a moment and said: "Zhang Wei, this matter not only concerns the interests of the dozen or so families in the small courtyard, but also the vital interests of several thousand employees of the instrument factory. I think you should go and discuss with General Manager Wu, and find a way to reflect everyone's opinions."

  Laid-off workers want to reflect their opinions upwards, apart from "petitioning", what other channels are there?

  Zhang Wei and Da Hu, Lao Wan exchanged a glance, as if they understood something, suddenly stood up and said: "Let's go, we'll find Wu Zong."

  After Zhang Wei and the others left, Chu Tian Shu returned to the house, searched out all the money, gathered over 3,000 yuan, took out his salary card and calculated it, adding up to around 20,000 yuan. He then got dressed, said goodbye to Tan Yu Fen, and went straight to the First People's Hospital of the city.

  On the way, Chu Tian Shu sent a message to Zheng Xiao Min and learned that she was taking care of her mother in the ward, so he asked her to wait at the toll booth.

  They arrived at the hospital, where Zheng Xiaomin was waiting at the cashier's desk. Chu Tian Shu took the overdue payment slip from her hand and directly paid all the money on his salary card into the hospital's account. After completing the formalities, Chu Tian Shu handed over 3,000 yuan in cash to Zheng Xiaomin and said in a low voice: "The overdue payment has been made up for, you take this money first, I won't go to the ward to visit your mother now, as for the cost of the second surgery, I'll think of another way."

  Zheng Xiaomin was at a loss, excited to the point of tears, and hurriedly pushed the money back, saying: "Chu Gege, you helped me pay off my debt, I'm already very grateful to you, how can I still take your money?"

  Chu Tian Shu said with a straight face: "Xiao Min, listen, take it, saving your mother's life is the priority."

  Zheng Xiaomin finally wiped away her tears, and Chu Tian Shu comforted her saying: "Don't worry, there will be a way. Xiaomin, don't cry, no matter what, you have to be strong, otherwise your parents will be even more heartbroken."

  Zheng Xiaomin wiped away the tears in her eyes and said: "Okay, I'll listen to you. Brother Chu, I won't forget your kindness, and I will repay it in the future."

  Chu Tian Shu shook his head and said: "Xiao Min, you don't have to do stupid things again, that's already repaying me."

  Zheng Xiaomin's face turned pale and then flushed, she lowered her head, her lips moved for a long time, but nothing came out.

  "Alright, you go back to your ward now, I'm leaving."

  "Brother Chu, wait!" Zheng Xiaomin shouted to stop Chu Tian Shu, pulled out a note from her pocket and quickly stuffed it into his hand, then turned around and didn't dare look at Chu Tian Shu.

  Chu Tian Shu opened the note and saw that it was written: "Brother Chu, my body is clean and pure, whenever you want, I can give it to you at any time."

  "Xiao Min, you misunderstood me, I didn't mean it that way." Chu Tian Shu explained.

  Zheng Xiaomin's face turned bright red, and she turned around and ran away.

  After leaving the hospital, Chu Tian Shu originally planned to find Wei Shi Jie and ask him to treat himself to a good meal, but thinking about what he said to Zhang Wei and others during lunch, he had a feeling of being unable to get off the tiger's back.

  Although Chu Tian Shu did not directly point out the words, Zhang Wei and others fully understood the meaning of the words. To reflect their opinions upwards, it is no longer very realistic to go through the leadership of the Instrument Factory. At present, the only way to choose is to visit the municipal SASAC, which is the superior competent department of the Instrument Factory.

  They will probably take action after going to work on Monday.

  The reception of letters and visits from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is centralized in the office, although theoretically the division of labor is not within the Comprehensive Affairs Department. However, since the director of the office is currently vacant, as a person in charge of a subordinate department under the office, it's hard to say that I won't be involved.

  In addition, Chu Tian Shu deeply understands the difficulties of the laid-off workers in the instrument factory, especially when he sees Zheng Xiao Min's family on the verge of collapse. He has always hoped to be able to help them get a fair deal during the restructuring process of the instrument factory. Although with his current status, it is likely that he has more heart than ability, but if there is an opportunity, being able to make some suggestions would also be good.

  Forethought is easy, afterthought is hard.

  Chu Tian Shu went to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission office building, quietly found Zhao Pingyuan of the Secretarial Department, coincidentally he was with Huang Li of the Document Processing Room, so he asked them to help copy a set of relevant materials from the process of transforming the Instrument Factory, then collected some information online, and began researching in the office.

  Data shows that the instrument factory is one of the large state-owned enterprises in Qingyuan City, with a glorious past, and its production equipment and technical level are also among the best in the domestic manufacturing industry. At its peak, it had nearly 10,000 employees and was a major taxpayer in Qingyuan City.

  Just a few years ago, the instrument factory replaced its leadership team, spending huge sums of money to introduce an advanced German production line. However, it coincided with the wave of the international financial crisis, and the domestic manufacturing industry was not doing well. In addition, internal management was chaotic, various burdens were heavy, efficiency declined year after year, and more and more workers were laid off.

  According to the liquidation statement organized by the instrument factory itself, it has approached insolvency and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Therefore, the municipal government requires the SASAC to take the lead in implementing restructuring and reform of the instrument factory.

  The initial restructuring plan was for Lijiang Electrical Machinery Group to take over the company as a whole, but for some reason, both parties failed to reach an agreement, and Lijiang Electrical Machinery Group gave up on the takeover citing too heavy a burden.

  For this reason, the leadership of the instrument factory put forward a comprehensive relocation plan, which is to auction off all the land of the instrument factory. The proceeds from the auction will first be used to repay bank loans and outstanding social security, medical insurance and other expenses. The remaining part will be paid to workers in a lump sum according to their years of service.

  The factory is located in the Qingyuan city, when it was built, it occupied more than 200 acres of land along the Qinglian River for the convenience of raw materials entering and leaving. This is a big fat meat in the bustling city where every inch of land is worth gold. The overall relocation plan has not been officially released yet, but it has already been targeted by real estate tycoons from this province and other provinces.

  However, provincial and municipal leaders all have the idea of "not letting the fat water flow into outsiders' fields", so currently, there are several companies with high popularity, including Lingyun Group in Linjiang City, Kunpeng Industry, and Qingyuan City's Qingtian Real Estate.

  Among them, the most comprehensive strength is Lingyun Group, which not only engages in real estate development but also has business logistics, equipment manufacturing, electronic technology and other industries, with strong capital, one of the earliest listed companies in Dongnan Province; however, Kunpeng Industry rose rapidly, reportedly having a significant influence on high-level officials in the province; while Qingtian Property is the leader in the Qingyuan City real estate industry, receiving support from municipal leaders, its competitiveness should not be underestimated.

  Chu Tian Shu studied for more than two hours, relying solely on the written materials, and still couldn't make sense of the complex bidding situation. He had a vague feeling that whether the rights and interests of laid-off workers could be guaranteed depended entirely on the price offered by the bidders.

  However, being profit-driven is the nature of businessmen. To pin one's hopes on them fighting to the death and auctioning off a good price seems a bit like gazing at plum blossoms on a withered tree - it's really not reliable.

  Chu Tian Shu thought about it over and over, but he was still at a loss as to what he could do to help the laid-off workers. However, one thing was clear in his mind: even if they managed to sell the factory for a good price and each worker received an extra 10,000 to 20,000 yuan to buy out their seniority, they would still not be able to afford housing, medical care, or education, and the laid-off workers would not be able to live with dignity in their later years.

  At this thought, Chu Tian Shu suddenly slapped the table and stood up: No, the previous thinking was upside down. The real issue is not how much money the land of the instrument factory can be sold for, but that the overall transfer scheme itself is not a good scheme to protect workers' rights.

  However, the plan is about to go through the approval process. Can it be overturned? Is there a better plan that can replace the overall transfer plan? Is the plan beneficial to employees acceptable to bidding enterprises?

  A string of problems left Chu Tian Shu helpless, he was extremely depressed and suddenly pushed open the office window, taking big mouthfuls of the fresh air outside. Only now did he truly feel that in order to bring happiness to the several thousand employees of the instrument factory, his own power was how small!

  Chu Tian Shu let out a long sigh, looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. He put away the documents, but his heart couldn't calm down. In his mind, he kept thinking of Tan Yu Fen's worried face and Zheng Xiao Min's painful expression.

  The warm spring breeze blows in our faces, peach blossoms bloom one after another...

  The phone on the table rang, and Chu Tian Shu walked over to take a look. It was an unfamiliar number.

  "Hello! Is this Mr. Chu Tian Shu?" It was a female voice.

  Chu Tian Shu thought it was a telemarketing call and said: "I'm busy right now."

  "Mr. Chu, please wait for a moment."

  "Hello Uncle Chu, I'm Ling Rui, the one you saved at Dream Fantasy Cafe yesterday afternoon. Do you remember me?"

  "Rui Rui, is that you?" Although he only took a few glances, the round face with tear stains left a deep impression on Chu Tian Shu. "Are you okay? Are you looking for Uncle for something?"

  Ling Rui said: "Uncle Chu, my mom wants to invite you to have dinner together, are you free?"

  "Thanks, thanks a lot. Please thank your mom for me." Chu Tian Shu immediately thought of the young woman who had been crying and wailing outside the coffee shop that day.

  "Mr. Chu, we just want to express our gratitude, so let's just do it at home, don't be polite." It was the voice of that young woman again, apparently the phone was on speakerphone, and the mother and son were both talking to Chu Tian Shu at the same time.

  Warmly invited, but declined with courtesy.

  "Okay. Where are you?" Chu Tian Shu felt that declining again would be a bit too pretentious, so he agreed to it.

  "Osmanthus fragrans is floating in the air. Building 2 of Dan Gui. Mr. Chu, would you like me to send a car to pick you up?"

  Dan Gui fragrance? Too famous, almost everyone in Qingyuan City knows it.

  This residential area is located on the north bank of Beihu in Qingyuan City, a quiet place in the midst of noise, and is a typical rich district.

  "It's okay, it's not too far, I'll just take a taxi."

  Chu Tian Shu came out of the office and took a taxi directly to Dan Gui Piao Xiang.