Chapter 48: Lingyun's Worries

  The sunset is the wing of time, when it flies away, there is a moment of extremely gorgeous unfolding.

  Autumn's clear sky is like a vast and tranquil emerald sea; strong white light dances in the air, as if ripples are rising on the surface of the sea; the sky emits soft and ethereal light, making people want to hear the song of a high-flying cloud magpie, just like gazing at the emerald sea thinking of seeing a white sail.

  Li Bing said goodbye to Zhu Jianjun and returned home, it was already 7 o'clock in the evening.

  Mother Li Yuafen and grandmother Zhou Wenjing are preparing dinner, while father Leng Yunru is watching the news broadcast in the living room. As an official, he must always understand and study the country's policy trends at any time.

  "Back already?" Lingyun asked, still staring intently at the TV with both eyes.

  "Yeah, I'm back." Leng Bing Han replied, walking towards his room with his backpack on, he always took a shower after coming home every day.

  Since moving to Changfu County, the living conditions at home have improved greatly. The two-story small building has enough rooms, and Leng Bingxue also has his own room, unlike when we were in Suqi, when he had to squeeze into one room with his two brothers.

  Big Brother Ling Zhengxiang graduated from high school last year and was admitted to Yuqing Medical University with excellent grades. He had always aspired to be a doctor who saves lives and treats injuries, and he also liked the military career. Originally, he wanted to attend the Third Military Medical University the most, but his scores were slightly lower, so he could only settle for Yuqing Medical University instead. It's unknown whether it was fate or coincidence, but this is completely identical to his past life.

  Er Ge Leng Zheng Lin also graduated from junior high school in '88 and went to high school, still attending Yi Zhong. Perhaps because he attended a different school, his grades were much better than in his previous life, but he was still mischievous and had become a notorious little overlord at Yi Zhong, giving teachers a lot of headaches.

  Before Leng Bing Han walked into the room, Leng Yun Yi asked again: "I heard from your teacher that you didn't attend class this afternoon?"

  "Yes, I called him to ask for leave." It seems that taking a bath is not possible for the time being. Leng Yunfei had no choice but to turn around and sit next to his father, watching the news broadcast with him. He knew that Leng Yunfei must have something to say to him, otherwise he wouldn't usually ask about these trivial matters.

  After more than twenty minutes of patiently watching the news broadcast, Lingyun asked, "I heard that Manager Zhu from Feiyuan Company has come to Changfu?"

  "Huh? You know this too? Your information is quite thorough, old man!" Leng Binghan said, but in fact, he wasn't surprised at all. As the deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Fuchang City, who was in charge of the city's economy and politics, Zhu Jianjun had made such a high-profile visit to Changfu, accompanied by Chen Yaxin, the general manager of Feiyuan Company, and even had dinner at the Feiyuan International Hotel. If he hadn't known about it, that would have been dereliction of duty.

  Leng Yun has been transferred to Changfu for several years, with the strong support of Wang Peiyuan and Fei Yuan Company, his official voice and prestige have increased day by day. He has also risen from a ranking member of the Standing Committee to the third-in-command, second only to the Municipal Party Secretary and Mayor.

  They say it's easy to be an official when you have someone in the imperial court, but Leng Yunfei not only has Wang Peiyuan and his behind-the-scenes forces strongly supporting him from above, but also has the full support of Feiyuan Company. For anything that is beneficial to Leng Yun, Feiyuan Company spares no effort. With such strong backing, many of Leng Yun's policies and measures are implemented extremely smoothly. All aspects of the city, including the party, government, military, and even ordinary people, have benefited greatly from Leng Yun's work, naturally supporting him wholeheartedly, and his words carry great weight.

  Leng Yunfei is now in Changfu, and his prestige can be said to surpass that of the municipal party secretary and mayor.

  "How's your relationship with him?" Cold Yun Ying had a tone that meant to get to the bottom of things.

  "Hmm, okay, can talk. " Leng Bing Han felt a bit strange, why did his father suddenly ask these questions?

  "Everyone has invited you to have a big meal at Fei Yuan International Hotel, and the relationship is just okay?"

  "Wow, even you know about this?" he exclaimed in a cold sweat. He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, as he had always kept a low profile. Even if the people at the Flying Far International Hotel knew that Zhu Jianjun and Chen Yaxin had brought a child to dinner together, they shouldn't have known his true identity.

  It's also a coincidence that today, the working group from the Provincial Audit Bureau happened to come to Changfu on official business. As the Executive Vice Secretary in charge of economics, Leng Yunying naturally had to show up to receive them, but lunch was not necessary, as the leaders of the Finance Bureau and Audit Bureau were accompanying them.

  At noon, Du Guoping, the full-time secretary of Leng Yunying, sent them to Fei Yuan International Hotel as a representative of Leng Yunying. Coincidentally, he saw Leng Binghan and Chen Yaxin, the general manager of Fei Yuan Company's China region, and Zhu Jianjun entering the best box of Fei Yuan International Hotel together. As Leng Yunying's secretary, he was naturally very familiar with Zhu Jianjun, Chen Yaxin, and Leng Binghan. Although it was a bit strange and unclear how they would gather together, he still told Leng Yunying about this news in the first place.

  Leng Yun looked at him and said, "The manager Zhu from Hong Kong and the general manager Chen of Fei Yuan company are accompanying you to dinner together. Your face is quite big."

  "Actually, they wanted to invite you to dinner, but were afraid you wouldn't give them face, and then said they tried to bribe corrupt government officials, which made me look good." Leng Bing Han said with a cold smile, he was also worried that his parents would not let go of this issue, trying to divert the conversation.

  Leng Yun glared at him and said, "Stop spouting nonsense over there. If I find out you're using my name to cause trouble outside, just wait and see how I'll deal with you."

  He coldly said with disdain: "What's so great about your signboard, if you want to fight, go fight against the master, don't look at him being in Shu now, but he's definitely more famous than yours."

  "You..." One sentence made Leng Yunyi speechless, but thinking carefully, this child has always been relatively low-key. Even when Wang Peiyuan was the mayor before, he didn't do anything out of line that would make him worry, making things quite easy for him. It seems that his concerns in this regard are somewhat unnecessary.

  But it's also good to knock on the edge of the drum early, prevent trouble before it happens. As the child grows up, he will recognize the benefits of privilege more and more. He doesn't want his children to suffer, nor does he want them to become spoiled brats who rely on their parents' power to bully others.

  "Don't drag me into these useless things, I have important matters to discuss with you." Although Leng Yun was presiding over the meeting, she was not a match for Leng Bing Xue in an argument. Originally, she wanted to show off her father's authority and suppress Leng Bing Xue's momentum, but it seemed that was a miscalculation. She had to quickly steer the conversation back on track, or else who knows where it would lead?

  Another victory, and Cold Ice secretly raised two fingers on his forehead, forming a "V" shape for victory. On the surface, however, he remained solemn and serious, holding his breath and listening intently with an air of utmost seriousness.

  The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Leng Yun seemed to hesitate for a moment: "You help me make an appointment with Manager Zhu and President Chen tomorrow, I want to talk to them about something."

  If it were someone else, they might be puzzled. Why did you have to trouble your son when you had something to discuss with Zhu Jianjun and Chen Yaxin from Feiyuan Company? You could have just let the secretary contact and arrange it.

  However, the cold and icy tone was deep in flavor. Dad had something to ask of others, but he was afraid that others would not give him face, so he hastily joined in, losing face without saying anything, and it was also a heavy blow to his own prestige. Letting Leng Bing Han make an appointment was just a test, if it worked, he would go deeper into contact and negotiation, if not, others wouldn't say anything, it's only natural for one's own son to help bear the blame, besides, he was just a kid, what face could he lose?

  "Alright, I should get some wind of what's going on so I can talk to the other party." My own dad won't help, who else will? If it weren't for giving my dad a political achievement, he would have moved Fei Yuan company's domestic headquarters to Shu Du long ago.

  "What else could it be? It's a matter of the steel mill!" Leng Yun furrowed his brow and let out a soft sigh.

  "What's wrong with the steel factory? What happened?" Cold Ice Han glanced at his father's hair, which was slightly grayish white, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. His father had been working too hard for the past two years, always worrying about this or that. Sometimes Cold Ice Han even wondered if he was right to push his father so hard. Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish, it sounds simple, but wanting to do it well, being worried before the whole world is worried, is not as simple as it seems.

  Changfu Steel Plant, formerly known as the 410 Factory of the Ministry of Metallurgy, was built in 1959. It is a metallurgical intermediate test base constructed by the state to develop and utilize the vanadium-titanium magnetite resources in Panxi. Therefore, locals are used to calling it the 410 Factory. With steel as its foundation and vanadium-titanium as its mainstay, it has won numerous national and provincial major scientific and technological achievement awards.

  However, as time went on, various problems gradually emerged, and the situation of the steel mill was getting worse year by year. Especially in 1989, China implemented macro-control, and the steel market turned from hot to cold. Many small steel enterprises went bankrupt due to poor capital turnover.

  Changfu Steel Plant was no exception, and it also suffered a huge impact. On the one hand, the price of raw materials such as iron ore rose due to the closure of small coal mines that did not meet safety production standards or were operating without permits. On the other hand, Changfu Steel Plant is relatively large in Changfu but its scale is not impressive nationwide, with weak economic strength, outdated equipment and technology, and many problems such as low product quality, repeated construction at a low level, high energy consumption, and backward production processes. As a result, sales of steel products plummeted, and a large amount of finished steel was piled up in warehouses, unable to be sold, leading to a lack of funds, which in turn made it impossible to purchase iron ore, creating a vicious cycle.

  Currently, Changfu Steel Factory has stopped production in almost all areas except for a very small number of factory districts that are still operating. However, even those districts that are still producing are facing a critical situation and the workers have not been paid their wages. Moreover, there is always the possibility of stopping work at any time, and it's possible that one night they will wake up to find themselves in the same situation as everyone else.

  Currently, more than 7,000 employees in the entire factory have not received their wages for nearly half a year, affecting the lives of tens of thousands of people in the family quarters. Although there has been no chaos so far, this situation cannot be overcome by relying on the steel plant itself; if a proper solution is not put forward and dragged on, major problems will eventually arise.

  This is a matter of life and death for tens of thousands of people, heaven knows what will happen.

  Leng Yunhua, the cold and ruthless fourth uncle, also serves as the director of a branch factory in Changfu Steel Factory. He says that the problems within the factory go beyond this, with severe corruption and embezzlement among high-level officials. The factory is unable to pay wages, yet top leaders take their families on overseas trips under the guise of "market research". The equipment purchased at a high price from R several years ago remains unused in storage, allegedly because top leaders took huge kickbacks and bought a bunch of useless scrap metal.

  After listening to Leng Yun's introduction, Leng Bing Han felt a sense of unease and realized that the situation had reached an extremely critical moment.

  Changfu Steel Plant has become a densely populated area with hundreds of acres of land, complete with schools, canteens, hospitals, vegetable markets and sports fields, due to the large number of employees and their families gathering here. If the factory stops production, it will affect the survival of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

  The reason why nothing has happened yet is that the ordinary Chinese people are the most tolerant and enduring, but this is like a volcano on the verge of eruption. Although it looks calm for the time being, once it erupts, the consequences will be so severe that no one can bear them.

  It's unclear whether the butterfly effect caused by Leng Bing Xue's appearance led to this event, or if he didn't pay enough attention in his past life, or if the government finally came up with a suitable solution. In any case, there was no impression of this in Leng Bing Xue's memories from his past life. So hearing this news now is quite astonishing.

  After a simple organization of thoughts, he rubbed his nose and asked, "Dad, are you looking for Zhu Jianjun this time to let Feiyuan Company take over the steel plant?"

  Leng Yun covered her mouth and smiled wryly, "I don't know either, I guess it's a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures. Currently, the most powerful company in Changfu is Fei Yuan Corporation. If they're willing to take over, maybe they can revive these assets and give these employees and their families a way out."

  "As far as I know, Feiyuan Company is not involved in the steel industry, and heavy industries like steel mills. Whether the country agrees to allow foreign capital to enter or not, I'll still help you make an appointment to see if they think this is an opportunity and are willing to move into the steel mill."

  "Foreign capital intervention isn't a big problem after all, since the country is now open to reform and development and welcomes foreign investment step by step. Moreover, Hong Kong will eventually return, which is different from other places. If possible, let's arrange for them to have an in-depth discussion at Fei Yang International Hotel in the morning."

  Leng Bing Han touched his head and said, "Tomorrow afternoon may not be possible, they have an important meeting to attend, Chen Ya Xin will be called back to Hong Kong, this matter can be directly discussed with Zhu Jian Jun, he can decide."

  Leng Yun looked at Leng Bing with curiosity and asked, "You also know about their high-level changes?"

  "Heh heh, I overheard them talking about it while eating." Leng Bing said with a cold smile, also secretly warning herself to be more careful with her words in the future, or else she would attract unwanted attention.

  Lying in bed at night, feeling cold and chilly, thinking about things related to the steel factory, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

  This matter concerns two close relatives, his father and fourth uncle, as well as the survival of tens of thousands of people, so he can't help but worry.

  For steel mills, being cold and ruthless is not a viable strategy, unlike financial investments where being informed early can quickly accumulate wealth. Even if reborn as a super expert, one can only know the trend in advance, follow it, and make some impact, but cannot change the overall situation, like the current domestic and international steel industry downturn, even if Cold Ice and Frost invests everything, it is impossible to reverse this trend.

  Now that the problem is in front of us, taking over is unquestionable. Even if we don't make money, as long as we can solve the problem, throwing in tens of billions won't be a concern for Cold Ice and Chill. The key is to concentrate all funds on R's economic bubble to take advantage of this rare opportunity, which only happens once in a lifetime. Secondly, how to take over and operate afterwards also requires careful consideration, so that we can solve the problem, develop and gain profits, what's not to be delighted about?

  In the previous life, how did the government solve this problem? Changfu Steel Plant had such a problem, and Panzhihua Steel Company, which is less than 100 kilometers away, what about it? Ah, yes, Leng Bingxue suddenly remembered that in his previous life, Changfu Steel Plant was reorganized and merged by Pansteel, and later called Pansteel Group Changfu Steel Co., Ltd. Could it be that the government at that time just threw this burden to Pansteel?

  It's not unreasonable to do so, as it saves time and effort, and meets the needs of the country's overall resources. However, for local governments, it's a bit embarrassing, not only did they let others help clean up their own mess, but also had someone take away a chicken that would lay golden eggs in the future. It's worth noting that in later generations, with economic development and the heating up of real estate fever, urban construction accelerated, and the demand for steel is changing daily, this market is huge.

  In the end, for a steel mill to survive and develop, equipment and new technology are first-rate. If you can't produce better products, with single products and low scientific and technological content, you won't have an advantage in market competition, and you won't have the right to speak. Second is the stable supply of raw materials. No matter how good the equipment is or how capable the personnel are, without raw materials, nothing can be produced.

  After a moment of confusion, my mind was still in disarray, without a clear direction. After some thought, I had to give up on the cold and icy idea, and wait until tomorrow to discuss it with Zhu Jianjun again. At that time, we would ask professionals to conduct some research and analysis, and if necessary, spend a large amount of money to purchase advanced equipment and technology from abroad, improve our products, and win over the market.

  As long as we get through this cold winter, we will surely win a bright and beautiful spring.