Chapter Thirteen: The Beautiful Big Cake

  Leng Yueming said it so hard, but when the factory director Zhai Jianguo asked Du Xinxin to hand over the meeting notice to him, he still gave in. At the appointed time, he came to the factory conference room with a hum and sat down with a group of middle-level cadres of the same age, exchanging helpless glances with each other.

  In the Ning Zhongying era, when Qingfeng Factory held a meeting for middle-level cadres, it was always presided over by Ning Zhongying. The old man would stand in front of the conference table and scan the room with hawk-like eyes, able to tell who was absent. At this time, someone would naturally report the reason for the absence to Ning Zhongying. If the reason was reasonable, Ning Zhongying wouldn't say a word; but if the reason wasn't reasonable, Ning Zhongying would call in Wei Baolin, the director of the factory office at that time, and have him go to the broadcasting room to announce through the loudspeaker that the absent person must attend the meeting immediately, with severe punishment for violators.

  What punishment will be received for being absent from Ning Zhongyi's meeting is something that everyone has always wanted to know, but the answer has never been found. The reason is very simple, that is, no one dares to challenge Ning Zhongyi's authority, so until Ning Zhongyi retired, not a single person has truly received such punishment.

  After Wei Baolin took office, in accordance with the requirements of modern management science, he vigorously promoted institutionalized, humanized and economic management reforms. He believed that using a loudspeaker to call people was an act of infringing on workers' rights, so he stopped using it from then on. At the same time, he introduced economic means into enterprise management, stipulating that absentees would be fined a certain amount of bonuses for each meeting, and if there were no bonuses, their wages would be deducted. Due to the poor economic efficiency of Qingfeng Factory, workers' bonuses and welfare had long since disappeared, so no one dared to make fun of their wages in hand. Therefore, every time Wei Baolin notified a meeting, middle-level cadres would immediately put down whatever they were busy with and attend the meeting obediently.

  "Now, let's start the roll call." Di Jian Guo took out a notebook and began to call out the names of middle-level cadres one by one. Each person called had to respond with "Present", just like primary school students responding to their teacher during roll call.

  "Be brave!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Qīng yù míng!" -> "Clear Jade Bright!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Wei Changzhang, all the factory leaders and mid-level cadres, a total of 35 people, except for those who are sick or on business trips, should have 32 people present, but actually only 31 people are here. The meeting can now begin." Jia Jianguo finished taking roll call, closed the booklet, and respectfully said to Wei Baolin, who was sitting upright in the main seat.

  "Hmm." Wei Baolin nodded, noting that the actual number of attendees was one less than expected. This had become a habit at every factory meeting since he took office. The missing person was Ning Zhongying, the current head of the research department and former factory director. Although Ning Zhongying had stepped down to a secondary role, he was not retired and still considered a leader in the factory, so it should have been expected that he would attend the factory meeting. However, since receiving notice of his reassignment, Ning Zhongying had moved all personal items back home and refused to participate in any factory activities. Wei Baolin was at a loss for what to do; the rule about docking pay did not apply to Ning Zhongying, and even if he were given the courage, he would not dare touch Ning Zhongying's "tiger whiskers".

  "Comrades, today's meeting is a matter of life and death for our Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory. I hope everyone will listen carefully and speak enthusiastically, offering suggestions and ideas..." Wei Baolin began with a solemn tone, but completely forgot that he had already said the same thing several times before, and as a result, the factory had been "on the brink of life and death" numerous times.

  "At present, the situation of our Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory is obvious to everyone, that is, the products are backward and cannot adapt to the new situation and new requirements of the market. Practice has shown that continuing to stick to the agricultural machinery industry, which is a sunset industry, is a dead end. We must respond to the needs of the market, strive for innovation, and march into sunrise industries, so as to reverse the current difficulties and move towards comprehensive development."

  At this point, he paused slightly, and Di Jian Guo timely responded with a sentence: "Director Wei's words are well said! It's worth our deep consideration!"

  The mid-level cadres present felt a chill run down their spines, including those like Xiang Jiayong who were quite disgusted with Wei Baolin, as well as some new cadres promoted by Wei Baolin. Although there were not a few mid-level cadres who often flattered Wei Baolin, it was hard to find another one who could flatter him in such a timely and righteous manner like Di Jianjun.

  In movies and TV shows, those who are good at flattering others usually have a sly appearance with a smile that spreads across their face. However, Di Jian Guo is a handsome man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. When he praises Wei Bao Lin, his facial expression appears very solemn, looking like it's coming from the bottom of his heart.

  At first, everyone really thought that Jia Jian Guo was just a brain-dead fan of Wei Bao Lin, blindly worshiping his ideas. But when they found out that Jia Jian Guo could even interpret the sound of Wei Bao Lin's cough as having profound significance, all that was left for everyone was endless disgust.

  Perhaps it was a case of "the insider is confused", Wei Baolin had always been very pleased with Zhai Jianguo's praise, he nodded his head in satisfaction and continued to say:

  "Based on this consideration, I and several others including Xiao Di, have been traveling north and south over the past few weeks, visiting more than a dozen cities to investigate local markets. We found that with the implementation of rural contract responsibility system and the smooth progress of urban reform, people's wallets are getting thicker and their demand for household appliances is increasing day by day."

  In Pujiang City, we saw that washing machines in shopping malls were snapped up as soon as they were put on sale. Even faulty machines that broke down during testing were bought by customers. Customers told us that the faulty machines could be repaired and reused after purchase, but if they didn't buy them, they would have to wait several months for new stock to arrive in the market.

  "Thus, we discovered a huge business opportunity, that is to enter the washing machine market and achieve the most thorough strategic transformation in the history of Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory."

  Wei Baolin swung his hand in the air with force, imagining that the participants below would applaud enthusiastically for a long time to celebrate the new life of Qingfeng Factory. However, the scene he imagined did not appear, except for Di Jianjun and a few other middle-level cadres who clapped a few times, Xiang Jiyong and many others gave a cold reaction, as if Wei Baolin was talking about something that had nothing to do with everyone.

  "Lao Xiang, what's your opinion on the factory department's plan?" Wei Baolin could only nod his head, and his first target was directed at Xiang Jiayong, the production section chief.

  Xiang Ji Yong stood up and said, "Director Wei has a broad vision and makes strategic plans. The direction he chooses is naturally very correct. I am the head of the production department, what I care about is whether our factory can produce washing machines."

  The first half of his words were full of praise for Wei Baolin, but everyone could hear the irony in them. In the second half of the sentence, he directly attacked Wei Baolin, saying that a washing machine was a good product, but could an agricultural machinery factory produce a washing machine?

  For Wei Baolin, he was well-prepared for Xiang Jiyong's question. He chose Xiang Jiyong to speak out, also in order to bring out his own plan. Xiang Jiyong had a certain prestige in the factory, and everyone knew that this man was strict and reliable. If he could convince Xiang Jiyong, then Wei Baolin's proposal for converting production to washing machines would be able to reduce many obstacles.

  "Lao Xiang, I knew you'd ask that question." Wei Baolin said with a smile, pointing to Zhai Jianguo and saying: "Xiao Zhai, tell Director Xiang about the situation we've figured out. Once Director Xiang hears it, he'll understand that this isn't just empty talk or pie in the sky, but rather something that's been thoroughly scientifically proven."

  "Alright." Jia Jian Guo stood up, opened a notebook and began to tell everyone:

  "Comrades, everyone has not deeply contacted the field of washing machines, and there may still be some mysterious feelings about washing machines. In fact, washing machines are a very simple household appliance, whose structure and technical requirements are even far lower than the water pumps, transplanters and other machinery we produced in the past."

  To understand the production technology issues of washing machines, Director Wei led our research team to the Pearl River Delta region and visited some township enterprises that produce washing machines. Everyone listened clearly, they are township enterprises, and it's that kind of small-scale township enterprise with only a dozen or dozens of people.

  In those enterprises, we saw with our own eyes how washing machines were manufactured on the most primitive production lines. The financial strength, technical level and worker quality of our Qingfeng Factory are far superior to these township enterprises. If they can manufacture products, why can't we?

  "But how high can their output be? Can it meet the requirements of mass production?" Xiang Jiyong also wasn't a rookie, and he still understood some things about production. He immediately asked back.

  Duan Jianguo said, "They can't meet the requirements of mass production, and that's exactly our advantage. Manager Wei means we should strive for bank loans to build two fully automated production lines, produce branded washing machines, occupy the market, and squeeze out products produced by those small town factories."

  "Bank loans are not easy to get now, and when we borrow money from the bank to pay wages, they require guarantees from our parents. How can we borrow money for investment?" reminded Yu Yongping, deputy head of the finance department. This matter of running loans will ultimately fall on the finance department's head, he must say the ugly words first, otherwise, if they can't get the loan in the future, Wei Baolin will blame them.

  Wei Baolin waved his hand and said with a confident tone: "Don't worry about this, Old Yu. After the meeting today, the factory will summarize everyone's opinions and form a plan to submit to the county. County head Guo Ming is very supportive of our plan and is ready to go to the city to fight for us. If the city can support us, then getting a loan won't be a problem."