Winning a big order

  The Second Fertilizer Plant would not let Xie Chunyuan pay for the treat, and Hanhua Factory's successful trial production of the main shaft this time had won over the Japanese with its technology and courage, with the Second Fertilizer Plant being the biggest beneficiary. Director Yuan Feng ordered that according to Director Xie's instructions on eight dishes and eight bowls, while implementing the central government's standard of four dishes and one soup, they would entertain their counterparts from Hanhua Factory in the small canteen.

  Eight plates and eight bowls with four dishes and one soup, seemingly two contradictory concepts, but in a state-owned enterprise rich in creative spirit, they can achieve perfect integration. A group of people followed Yuan Feng into the small canteen, and suddenly everyone's eyes lit up, shocked by the scene before them.

  In the small dining hall, a large round table with a diameter of over two meters was set up. On the table were four large plates and a soup bowl in the middle. Each plate had a diameter of about two feet and was filled with various dishes. The soup bowl was also specially made, with a diameter of about two feet, and was divided into four compartments, each containing a different type of soup. This is the legendary "four dishes and one soup".

  "Haha, Old Yuan, you guys really have a way." Zhu Tiejun burst out laughing.

  Yuan Feng said with a mixture of shyness and pride, "Well, this is also an unavoidable thing. You say if the leaders from above came down or comrades from brother units came over, could we really let them eat just four dishes and one soup? Policies are rigid, but people are flexible, right? Come on, Director Xie, Old Zhu, please take a seat. And, all the masters, please take a seat as well. Today you are all great contributors, I represent the two teams of Erhua, tonight we must toast to everyone's wine."

  Xie Chunyan said: "Good, let's borrow Director Yuan's wine to celebrate everyone's success!"

  Everyone began to take their seats in a lively and noisy manner. Xie Chunyan, being the leader of the office, naturally sat at the top seat, with Yuan Feng and Zhu Tiejun sitting on either side of her. Further down were the people from Hanhua Factory, including Fan Shibin, Lin Zhenhua, Sun Changyuan, etc., while some younger workers like Sun Xiaodong sat at the lower end. The table was just large enough to seat everyone comfortably.

  Xie Chunyan first represented the Light Industry Hall to express praise and gratitude to the cadres and workers of the Hanhua Factory. Then, she picked up her glass and toasted each of the personnel who made contributions in this battle. When it was Sun Changyuan's turn, he asked somewhat nervously: "Director Xie, did I break the rules today?"

  Xie Chunyan said: "The rules were indeed violated, but I also asked Director Fan about it, and he said that safety can be guaranteed, so I didn't stop you. Don't let this happen again in the future."

  "I know, I know." Sun Changyuan said repeatedly. He was not afraid of foreigners, but somewhat afraid of officials. After Xie Chunyuan spoke up, he felt at ease.

  Xie Chunyan continued, "Master Sun, although you broke the rules, I still want to thank you for what happened today. These little devils need to be dealt with like this. Master Sun, if it weren't for you handling them like this today, they would always use our axle as a topic of conversation."

  Sun Changyuan said indignantly: "I just can't stand the way they look, if I don't take them in and teach them a lesson, they won't even know who their ancestors are."

  Zhu Tiejun also walked over with a wine glass, asking Xie Chunyuan: "Old Xie, I'm worried, will these devils go and report us? Does this count as violating foreign affairs discipline?"

  Xie Chunyan said: "If they dare to sue, I'll take the blame alone, you don't have to worry. Last time after the negotiation, I told my old father about it, and he told me at that time, don't be afraid of them, these little devils just need a good scolding. If the foreign affairs department wants to make trouble, I'll let them go talk to my father."

  "Ha ha, thanks to Old Zhai's backing, we really have nothing to fear now."

  Lin Zhenhua listened to their conversation, somewhat puzzled. He quietly asked Yuan Feng: "Director Yuan, listening to what they're saying, it seems that Director Xie's father has a pretty high position, which level of leadership is he?"

  Yuan Feng said in a low voice, "Xie Lao's position isn't very high, probably just a deputy military rank. But he has seniority, he followed Fang Zhimin back then, think about it, how many people are still around from Fang Zhimin's side?"

  "So that's how it is." Lin Zhenhua nodded and said, so Commissar Xie was also a red second generation, no wonder he had such confidence.

  After three rounds of wine, after chatting with the host and guest about some idle talk, Zhu Tiejun said to Xie Chunyuan: "Old Xie, this time we defeated the Japanese devils, solved a big problem for the Light Industry Hall, did the hall have any rewards for us?"

  Xie Chunyan smiled and asked in return: "What rewards do you want? Tell me."

  Zhu Tiejun said: "The housing conditions of our factory's employees are very tense, can't we ask the department to approve some money for us to build two more buildings to improve the conditions? We don't want much, 100,000 yuan is enough, and we will raise the rest ourselves."

  Xie Chunyan shook her head: "This hall can't afford to meet your requirements, the hall's funds are very tight, and now there is a shortage of houses, not just your factory. If you can raise the money yourself and want to build a house, the hall will not interfere."

  "We ourselves are also saving money, but now the task is small, we can barely break even, it's too difficult to save enough money to build a house."

  Xie Chunyan's face revealed a mysterious smile as she asked, "Old Zhu, there is an opportunity right now. I wonder if Hanhua Factory is interested?"

  "What chance?" Zhu Tiejun asked with interest.

  Xie Chunyan said: "It's the second phase of this large fertilizer equipment introduction, the introduction price is over $3 million per set. The provincial government originally planned to introduce a set for Guixi Fertilizer Plant as well, and the funds had been approved by the Planning Commission. After the main event came out this time, the leaders in the provincial government changed their minds and decided to use our system's strength to develop and produce it ourselves. Now, the Chemical Design Institute has expressed that they can complete the design. As for manufacturing, are you interested in taking it down?"

  "Over 30 million US dollars?" Zhu Tiejun's eyes widened, "Then it goes without saying, we'll take the whole thing."

  Xie Chunyan asked: "Can you take it down?"

  Zhu Tiejun pointed to Fan Shiben and said, "Old Fan, you come and answer Commissar Xie's question. Tell me, can we take down such a large fertilizer equipment?"

  Fan Shiben thought for a moment, nodded and said: "I think we should be able to get it down. The several tanks in this set of equipment are all second-class containers, and our factory's second-class container certificate has been taken down, so there is no problem with manufacturing. As for the main machines, the most technically difficult part is actually just the ice machine main shaft, after this breakthrough, I think we can completely complete these core components, so taking down such a large fertilizer equipment is not a problem."

  "Good!" Xie Chunyan replied, "The leaders in the hall also mean that. This time, Hanhua Factory can take the initiative to tackle the main axle, and the leaders are very satisfied. They instructed that if the tackling is successful, then stop negotiating with Japan's Nihon Heavy Industries about the second set of equipment and hand over the equipment to Hanhua Factory to do it. As for the cost... "

  "We can do it for as little as 2 million." Fan Shibin said eagerly. He knew that the profit from this set of equipment was extremely high, and after rough calculations, including all costs, 1.5 million yuan would be enough to complete the device, so he hastily quoted 2 million, with the intention of making a profit of 500,000.

  "Ouch!" Fan Shibin had just shouted out a sentence, and he felt that his foot was trampled by someone, so painful that he cried out. He turned his head to look at Lin Zhenhua sitting next to him, and asked inexplicably: "Little Lin, why did you step on me?"

  "Did I step on you?" Lin Zhenhua had an innocent look, "Director Fan, I just can't express my admiration for you, and you actually snatched the answer."

  "What does it mean?" Fan Shibin was confused and couldn't understand what Lin Zhenhua meant.

  Lin Zhenhua ignored him and turned his head to Xie Chunyuan, smiling and saying: "Director Xie, look, our Hanhua Factory is concerned about the country's concerns and thinks about what the country thinks. We import a set of equipment for over $30 million, but we can't use that much. Director Fan just said that $20 million would be enough, and we'll try to absorb the cost."

  "I didn't say..." Fan Shibin wanted to explain, he really hadn't meant to say US dollars, what he had meant to say was RMB. However, he wasn't able to finish speaking because Lin Zhenhua kicked him under the table again. Fan Shibin finally understood: the price he had quoted seemed a bit low.

  Xie Chunyan naturally detected Lin Zhenhua's conceptual theft, but she didn't expose this point. Instead, she said: "US dollars are definitely not available; the hall can only settle accounts with you in RMB."

  "We know this point, then calculate it according to the national standard price, 34 million RMB." Lin Zhenhua said.

  Xie Chunyan glared at Lin Zhenhua and said, "You little Lin, you're really too greedy. I'm telling you, for a set of equipment like this, the most we can give you is 30 million, if it's more than that, we'll just transfer it to another factory."

  She then turned her head and whispered to Zhu Tiejun, who was sitting next to her: "Old Zhu, I'll let you in on a secret. The department leader said that this set of equipment can be sold to the Hanhua factory for at most 3 million yuan. If the Hanhua factory can't take it, other factories can come and get it, but the department can only give them 2.5 million yuan at most. You understand what's going on with this difference, right?"

  Zhu Tiejun's face broke into a smile: "I understand, I understand. Old Xie, you can rest assured that our quotation will absolutely not exceed 3 million."

  "How about it, shall we give you a reward in the hall now?"

  "It's okay, it's okay, thank you for the concern of the hall leaders." Zhu Tiejun replied. He understood that by assigning this large fertilizer equipment to Hanhua Factory, in fact, it was a disguised reward for Hanhua Factory. The provincial hall wasn't heartless either; whoever did the work, the provincial hall had a count in their hearts. It wasn't good to give open subsidies, so they used this method to subsidize them instead, and no one could say anything about it.

  The 210,000 yuan main shaft incident is a bad thing for the hall. If they finally have to spend $30,000 to buy a new main shaft, it will be difficult for the Light Industry Hall to pass the examination of the Planning Committee and the Economic Committee. Now that Hanhua Factory has solved this problem for the Light Industry Hall, won't the leaders think of giving some rewards?

  Fan Shibin's words just now have made it very clear that with this set of equipment, the Hanhua factory can make a profit with just 20 million, but Xie Chunyuan pretended not to understand and instead agreed to give the Hanhua factory 30 million based on Lin Zhenhua's words. In fact, this is equivalent to giving the Hanhua factory a reward of 10 million yuan, which is unprecedented in its magnitude.

  Xie Chunyan said: "Old Zhu, after you go back, quickly organize the technical personnel to make a quotation, and also write down the relevant process route. Then rush to report to the hall as soon as possible. The profit of this task is relatively high, and the leader of the hall means that you should take out part of the profit to reform the equipment and improve the technical level. In the future, if there are similar projects, the hall will continue to care for you."

  Zhu Tiejun said: "Old Xie, does this mean that from now on, we and the Petrochemical Department can also sit together as equals, and the office will no longer be biased?"

  Xie Chunyan said: "The performance of the Petrochemical Machinery Department this time has made the leaders of the hall very dissatisfied. Their technical level is much higher than yours, but in the end, it was your factory that helped the leaders of the hall solve the problem. The task of large-scale fertilizer equipment this time should have been undertaken by the Petrochemical Machinery Department, but the leader said that they wanted to punish them a little and assign the task to you to complete."

  "Thank you for your trust in me, I will definitely make the greatest effort to ensure quality and quantity, and complete the task on time." Zhu Tiejun replied with a pat on his chest.

  Lin Zhenhua watched all this, and after the large fertilizer equipment matter was basically settled, he picked up a glass of wine, walked to Xie Chunyuan's side, and said: "Director Xie, I'd like to toast you with a cup of wine, because I also have something to ask for help from the hall."

  "What's wrong, Kobayashi, is it something personal?" Xie Chunyuan asked.

  Lin Zhenhua shook his head: "No, it's my personal matter, how dare I disturb the Light Industry Bureau. I am representing Hanhua Industrial Company and came to ask for help from the Light Industry Bureau."

  Xie Chunyan suddenly said: "Oh, right, I remembered, you are still the manager of Hanhua Industrial Company. Tell me, what do you want?"

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Thank you, Director Xie. Our Hanhua Industrial Company is also a subsidiary of the Light Industry Bureau and has resettled over 100 young people who were waiting for employment, which has alleviated a lot of burden on the Light Industry Bureau. This time's main axis attack, we also sent out many comrades to participate. By the way, Peng Gang and Sun Changyuan, both masters have retired, are now re-employed by our Hanhua Industrial Company, so strictly speaking, their identities are our employees."

  Xie Chunyan smiled and said: "Hmm, you're right, how do you want the Municipal Bureau to reward you?"

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Director Xie, we don't need the Light Industry Bureau to give us any material rewards. We just want to ask the Light Industry Bureau to give us an authorization, allowing us to produce electric fans."

  "What does it mean to produce electric fans?" Xie Chunjuan didn't react for a moment.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Thank you, Director Xie. To be honest, our Hanhua Industrial Company has never had a clear business direction from the start. We've been doing things haphazardly and only making enough money to pay our employees' salaries. After researching, we plan to develop a stable product and have currently chosen electric fans as our direction. I'd like to request approval from the Light Industry Department to proceed with this project."

  Xie Chunyan said: "You are a collective enterprise, what products you produce, have autonomy, as long as it does not harm the national interest. Now there are four or five enterprises in the province that produce electric fans, and you can produce them at any time. What do you need to be approved by the Light Industry Department?"

  "Thank you, Director Xie," said Lin Zhenhua. "Producing electric fans is not technically difficult, but the raw materials are a big problem. We need iron sheets, iron wires, silicon steel sheets, enameled wires, and other auxiliary materials like paint. These are all state-controlled materials, and if the Light Industry Bureau doesn't approve our project, we won't be able to buy them."

  Xie Chunyan smiled and said: "So you had this idea? How much output are you planning to have, tell me."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "We plan to make the initial scale a bit smaller, with an annual output of 50,000 units, and then..."

  "Is 50,000 units a small number?" Xie Chunyan interrupted Lin Zhenhua's daydreaming. "Little Lin, the materials needed for these 50,000 electric fans are not a small figure. Moreover, with your production capacity, can you achieve it?"

  "Thank you, Director Xie," said Lin Zhenhua. "Don't worry about production, we'll figure it out. The key is the supply of raw materials, that's the big problem. If we can't solve this problem, we're like a skilled cook with no rice to cook."

  Xie Chunyan said: "In terms of raw materials, a report needs to be submitted to the Materials Bureau. However, the supply of raw materials is extremely tense at present. What makes you think that the Light Industry Bureau will replace you in submitting this report? After all, you are just a collective enterprise."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Our collective enterprise is to pay profits to the Hanhua factory. Ask Director Zhu, have we paid money to the factory? Moreover, by solving the employment problem of young people for the country, aren't we also making contributions to the country? Director Xie, this time 210,000 ice machine main shafts were tackled, and our Hanhua Industrial Company also made a contribution. The Light Industry Department gave rewards to the Hanhua factory, shouldn't we also get some credit?"

  "Okay, fine. You guys go back and write a report for me, I'll go fight for it." Xie Chunyuan's attitude finally relaxed a bit. Asking the Material Bureau for some raw materials was not a big deal, but Hanhua Industrial Company was a pilot project approved by the central leadership, so the Ministry of Light Industry should support them.

  "Then thank you, Director Xie." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile, he raised his wine glass to Xie Chunyuan and said: "Come on, Director Xie, I represent the more than 100 unemployed youth and elderly of Hanhua Industrial Company, let's toast to you. I'll finish it, you can do as you please."

  Xie Chunyan burst out laughing: "Alright, I'll do it too. Xiao Lin, work hard, maybe in a few years when I retire, I'll come to your company as an intern old man."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "No way, Director Xie, you look like you're just over 20 years old, young and vigorous, how can you talk about retirement?"

  This flattery was so great that even Xie Chunyan, who was normally steady and dignified, couldn't help but laugh until she was doubled over: "Alright, Little Lin, just because of this sentence, I'll make sure to get your electric fan production underway."