Chapter Fourteen: The Ideal of Making Money

  The middle-level cadres' meeting lasted until the end of work, and when they came out of the factory's administrative building, each of them had different expressions on their faces. Some were eager to try, some were worried and depressed, but most were expressionless. In the hearts of many cadres, there was a common thought: As long as my salary is not reduced, I don't care how they mess around. The sooner Qingfeng Factory goes bankrupt, the better; maybe I can go to a better unit then.

  The benefits of a state-owned unit lie in the fact that it provides a stable income, and you will never go hungry. No one worries that the company will go bankrupt and make them unemployed, everyone is more concerned about whether this year's performance can be improved a bit, so that they can see some long-awaited bonuses.

  Like Xiao Dongping, Xiang Jiyong and Leng Yuming, the three of them are worried about the future of the factory, belonging to another type in the middle-level cadres. The three people walked together with a tacit understanding, exchanging a glance, and they all knew each other's thoughts.

  "It seems that Wei Baolin has made up his mind." Xiao Dongping broke the silence first.

  "He won't rest until he's driven Qingfeng Factory into bankruptcy." Xiang Jiyong said with a huff.

  "Making washing machines, do you think it's feasible?" asked Xiao Dongping.

  Xiang Ji Yong retorted: "What do you think? You're from the sales department, don't you think our washing machines can be sold?"

  Xiao Dongping thought for a moment and said, "I haven't really considered this, but what Wei Baolin said is true. Now the washing machines are selling too well in the market, even my wife has been nagging me to save money to buy one."

  "What I'm worried about is whether we can produce the washing machines," said Leng Yueming. "Zhai Jianguo said that those township enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are capable of producing washing machines, but I've heard that their product quality is extremely unstable and completely relies on manual workshops. It's no big deal to produce a hundred or two hundred units like this, but if we really want to mass-produce them without any quality control measures, it would be very dangerous."

  Xiang Jiyong said, "Now Wei Baolin's mind is all focused on washing machines, no matter what anyone says. Our agricultural machinery market is also not doing well, if we don't switch to producing washing machines, I'm afraid the only result will be waiting for death."

  Speaking of farm machinery, Xiao Dongping interjected and asked: "By the way, did you guys see Qin Hai today? Is what he said reliable or not?"

  Xiang Ji Yong pointed at Leng Yu Ming and said, "Old Leng has examined him, and he says that his ideas are actually quite good. If we follow them, they can completely improve the quality of our blades."

  "Why not do it?" said Xiao Dongping, "If we can solve the quality problem of the rotary tiller blades, we can produce 180,000 pieces a year. Can't we alleviate our factory's urgent need? In this way, we have reason to tell Wei Baolin that we don't need to work on the washing machine project for now. To be honest, I'm really not at ease with this project."

  Xiang Ji Yong nodded and said, "Just now at the meeting, I was also thinking about this matter. If Qin Hai's method really works, let's first solve the problem of the rotary tiller blade and open up the sales channel. This way, we'll have a reason to talk to Wei Baolin. Wei Baolin says that the county supports our factory in converting to produce washing machines, but ultimately it's because our factory has no other choice. If the county knew that we could still make a go of it in the agricultural machinery market, they might not be so determined to support Wei Baolin."

  Leng Yueming said: "Since that's the case, what are we waiting for? Let's go find Qin Hai now and discuss it together."

  "Now?" Xiang Ji Yong and Xiao Dong Ping both looked at Leng Yu Ming, "Old Leng, isn't it too early for this?"

  Leng Yueming said, "When I was in the meeting, I kept thinking about Qin Hai's high-frequency induction welding. There are a few technical details that I still need to verify with him. As for the effect and cost of this technology, we haven't had an in-depth discussion yet, so how do you know if it will work or not? It's already after work hours now, I reckon he's probably in his dormitory right now, why don't the three of us go visit him together?"

  "Do you know which dorm he lives in?" Xiang Jiyong was at a loss, and for a technical otaku like Leng Yuming, he really had no way to deal with him.

  Leng Yueming said, "The single dormitory is just that big, ask one sentence and you'll know. By the way, he said he and Wang Xiaochen are opposite doors, let's ask Wang Xiaochen which dormitory she lives in?"

  Facing Cold Yueming's persistence, Xiang Jiyong and Xiao Dongping had no choice but to give in. In fact, they didn't have anything to do after work, their wives took care of cooking, and all they needed to do was go back home on time for dinner. With nothing better to do, the three of them decided to head to the bachelor's dorm together.

  It didn't take much effort to find Qin Hai's dorm, but when the three of them arrived at room 208, they found that Iron General was guarding the door and Qin Hai wasn't in the room.

  "Director Xiang, Director Xiao, Director Leng, are you looking for Qin Hai?" Wang Xiaochen heard the commotion and came out to ask the three directors.

  Xiang Jiyong said: "Wang Xiaochen, do you know where Qin Hai went?"

  Wang Xiaochen shook his head and said, "I don't know, as soon as he got off work, he was pulled away by Pangzi and Miao Kuai. I guess they went out to have some fun."

  "This fatty!" Xiang Ji Yong cursed, "He doesn't study well every day and drags Qin Hai down with him. I'll have to talk to Qin Hai later and tell him not to hang out with this fatty all the time, it's not a good influence."

  "Alright, Qin Hai is not in the room, Leng Qing, you can give up now?" Xiao Dongping stretched his waist and said to Leng Yuming, "Let's go back and have dinner instead. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow."

  "Alright, sigh, these few places don't want to understand, I reckon I won't be able to sleep well tonight." Leng Yuming said with a worried and bitter expression.

  "Three department heads, when Qin Hai comes back later, do you want me to tell him something?" Wang Xiaochen asked.

  Xiang Jiyong thought for a moment and shook his head, saying: "Never mind, just tell him to report to the casting workshop on time tomorrow, no need to mention that we came."

  "Alright, goodbye, three department heads." Wang Xiaochen waved his hand at the three people and watched them go down the stairs.

  Qin Hai was now with Ning Mo and three others, sitting at a fried noodle stall outside the steel mill, eating beef fried noodles while discussing their plans to make money.

  Ning had known Qin Hai for less than 30 hours, but in this short period of time, Ning Mo had already thought of countless ways to make money with Qin Hai. Although he was a lazy bum, the genes he inherited from his father, who was a factory director, were not few, and he had always had the ambition to make big money since childhood.

  In Ning's view, the greatest significance of life is to be able to buy two big pork knuckles, eat one and save one for the next day. To buy pork knuckles, you must have money. To afford buying a pork knuckle every day, you need a lot of money.

  To make money, he can run to the street on a hot summer day to sell farm tools, and is also willing to enter Zhang Lao San's ironwork shop to endure the high temperature of the coal ball furnace. However, all his efforts so far have not been enough to enable him to achieve his dream of eating enough meat, at most only allowing him and his little friends to go to a restaurant once every half month.

  After discovering Qin Hai's possession of a set of extraordinary skills, Ning Mo was thinking about how to make the most of this new acquaintance to achieve his own dream of making money.

  "Qin Hai, are you interested in partnering with us three brothers to expand our farm tool business?" Ning Mo looked at Qin Hai with a sincere gaze, making him feel a sense of crisis.

  "What's this, Fatty? Are you planning on setting up your own agricultural machinery factory?" Qin Hai asked with a smile.

  Ning Mo shook his head: "How is this possible, I mean, we can take some scrap iron from the workshop and make some farm tools. The three of us will be in charge of forging, you'll be responsible for heat treatment. If our farm tools are as good as yesterday's, then every Sunday we can sell dozens of yuan worth of stuff."

  "Isn't taking scrap iron from the workshop considered stealing?" Qin Hai asked curiously.

  "Who doesn't do that?" Ning Mo said indifferently, "Wei Baolin has made the factory a mess, and bonuses can't even be issued. How can people make a living if they don't find some extra ways to earn money?"

  "But everyone is scrapping iron, are there so many scraps in the workshop?" Qin Hai said.

  Yu Haitao nodded and said, "You're right, it's getting harder to get rid of scrap iron now. Some workers also steal materials to sell them, I'm in the warehouse, so I know this best."

  "Let's not do this kind of thing," said Qin Hai. "I don't understand the situation in the factory, but this kind of blatant theft is illegal. There are many ways to make money, we don't need to do this kind of illegal business."

  "What can you do?" Ning Mo stared at Qin Hai with his eyes wide open and asked.

  Qin Hai smiled and said, "As the saying goes, knowledge is power, knowledge is money. In this era, it's a time when gold is everywhere, how can you not make money? However, I just arrived in Pingyuan and don't understand the situation here yet, so it's not easy for me to come up with a way to make money right away... Hmm, maybe the opportunity has already arrived."

  He was about to say the last sentence when he suddenly changed his words, because he found a familiar person holding a small cloth bag and hurrying in this direction. When he saw Qin Hai and others, a joyful smile appeared on that familiar person's face.