Chapter 212: A Boat

Qin Huairu continued with a hint of expectation: "When you cooked for that big leader back then, you should know how hard it is to get in touch with these people. If you can come over and keep these two satisfied, plus if things work out between Huaihua and Ning Wei, will we ever have to worry if our family needs anything in the future?"

He Yuzhu remained somewhat hesitant: "If I come over here, what about my work at the factory?"

Qin Huairu pursed her lips, but she had no perfect solution.

At the same time, in the courtyard, Ning Weidong walked in unhurriedly.

Duan Ming immediately came out from the east wing room.

Nowadays, the east wing room is mainly for Ning Wei and a few others, and Duan Ming also stays here when he comes.

The west wing room is used by Wang Kaixuan and Hu Bayi.

Both rooms have several office desks, and while other spots are empty, they can accommodate at most a dozen more people; if they want to find more people later, they will have to expand the space.

"Manager~" Duan Ming trotted over.

Ning Weidong waited for two steps before continuing to walk into the north room, asking: "Is there any word from Zheng Tong?"

Duan Ming followed him into the room and replied: "I went to find him yesterday, originally intending to ask him to have a meal tomorrow night, but Zheng Tong said he has no class this afternoon and can come out, so the meal is off..."

Ning Weidong gave an "mm," not surprised by Zheng Tong's attitude.

This person is quite calculating; although he knows Duan Ming, he doesn't necessarily consider him a friend, so Ning Weidong rashly wanting to find him must have made him wary.

Ning Weidong said: "Then let him come over this afternoon~"

Duan Ming nodded quickly: "Alright, I'll go now."

Ning Weidong acknowledged it; it just so happens he is meeting Li Yuanchao in the morning and can see this Zheng Tong in the afternoon.

After tidying up a bit and checking the time, Ning Weidong got up and headed out, mounting his bicycle to head west.

He had made an appointment with Li Yuanchao over the phone yesterday to meet at a club in the suburbs.

Ning Weidong had been here before with Zhao Ruyi; the first time he went shooting with the Li siblings was right there.

Familiar with the road, Ning Weidong arrived at his destination in about forty minutes and reported Li Yuanchao's name directly upon entering.

The staff immediately called inside, and Li Yuanchao came down from the second floor right away, smiling before he even spoke when he saw Ning Weidong from afar: "Weidong, long time no see~"

He came up and shook his hand enthusiastically.

After the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, Li Yuanchao pulled Ning Weidong inside, saying as they walked: "Weidong, you came at just the right time. The day before yesterday, we just got two purebred Arabian horses from Syria..." He paused slightly here and asked: "You can ride, right~"

Li Yuanchao was also thinking out of habit; almost everyone in his circle is the child of a military officer, and they can all pretty much ride horses.

Including Zhao Ruyi, who can also gallop on horseback.

He had forgotten Ning Weidong's background, and only realized it was a bit abrupt when he thought of it just now.

Ning Weidong said with a chuckle: "I can ride~"

The original owner certainly couldn't ride; let alone ride, he had never even touched one.

At most, he had seen those draft horses pulling carts on the main road, smelling foul, and he would avoid them from afar.

But Ning Weidong knew how to ride before he transmigrated, and he was actually quite good at it.

Li Yuanchao smiled, not too surprised; Ning Weidong had been sent to the countryside, which counts as a buff—going to the countryside really allows one to learn many skills.

For example, driving a tractor, riding horses, driving carts, and farming are all basic, and some educated youths even became barefoot doctors...

Li Yuanchao just assumed Ning Weidong had the opportunity to learn to ride during those years in the Northeast.

He led Ning Weidong straight to the stables in the back.

Behind the club's two-story building, the path to the left leads to the shooting range—the place where they came to shoot last time—and the path to the right is the horse track, which connects to a large open space to the west.

Li Yuanchao was clearly a horse lover, talking incessantly along the way.

Ning Weidong also had some knowledge in this area and could keep up with him, so the conversation didn't fall flat.

Until they reached the stables, where there were over a dozen horses inside; most of them were Mongolian horses, and although some were quite tall, they were a head shorter compared to the two Arabian horses.

They were truly a head shorter.

The Arabian horses were tall, large, and spirited, and in terms of appearance and sprinting ability, they were indeed far superior to the Mongolian horses.

The Mongolian horses were better at the endurance of long-distance raids.

When the two arrived, someone was already there fitting the saddles and reins.

After waiting for a moment, the horses were fully equipped, and Ning Weidong and Li Yuanchao each took the reins and led the horses out of the stables.

Once outside, Ning Weidong took some corn kernels from a staff member nearby, which served as snacks for the horses.

He fed the horses while petting and rubbing them to get familiar, so as not to startle the horses by mounting them rashly.

Li Yuanchao didn't need these procedures; he was already familiar with these two horses, but he wasn't in a rush either.

Ning Weidong coming over today was originally to discuss business; riding or shooting were just ways to relax and also a gesture.

We are friends first, and partners later, which is why the meeting with Ning Weidong wasn't in an office or a conference room.

A moment later, feeling it was about time, Ning Weidong gripped the saddle with both hands and leaped up fiercely.

He was already tall, and with the jump, he flipped onto the horse's back.

The horse snorted twice and took two "clop-clop" steps on the spot; they were well-trained horses and didn't have that much wildness.

Li Yuanchao's eyes lit up, and he laughed: "Weidong, good form!"

Ning Weidong smiled.

Li Yuanchao mounted his horse as well, flicked the reins, and urged the horse forward.

Ning Weidong followed immediately, trailing by one horse's head.

Li Yuanchao glanced back and knew that Ning Weidong could truly ride and that his level was not low; otherwise, controlling the speed to stay exactly one horse's head behind wouldn't be so simple.

Li Yuanchao turned his head and said: "Weidong, you ride well~"

"It's alright~" Ning Weidong smiled, then looked into the distance and got straight to the point: "Brother Yuanchao, a lot of Japanese televisions have been appearing on the market recently..."

Li Yuanchao was slightly surprised; he hadn't expected Ning Weidong to bring this up.

Previously, their cooperation was limited to the area of Approval Documents, but Li Yuanchao's company didn't only have this business.

Li Yuanchao said, "You noticed it too? Recently, quite a few people in the South have been doing this. Why... are you interested?"

Ning Weidong did not beat around the bush and got straight to the point: "I can't do this. If something really goes wrong, I can't shoulder the consequences."

Li Yuanchao understood the subtext; Ning Weidong's situation was different from his own. Ning Weidong did not have much room for trial and error, and he had to safeguard the interests of the Wang Family and the Zhao Family.

But Li Yuanchao knew that Ning Weidong would not have brought this up just to make small talk, so he simply waited patiently for Ning Weidong to continue.

Sure enough, Ning Weidong changed the subject: "However, I have an idea. I don't know if you are interested, Brother Yuanchao."

After leaving the Red Star Factory and coming to Dongyi Company, the first thing Ning Weidong had to do was to further bind his relationship with Li Yuanchao.

Therefore, the mere profit from obtaining an Approval Document was simply not enough to hook a big fish like Li Yuanchao.

What's more, behind Li Yuanchao was his sister, Li Kangmei.

Ning Weidong had to bring out something more practical and attractive, to build a big ship for Li Yuanchao to board. Ning Weidong said, "How about we produce television sets?"

Li Yuanchao was stunned for a moment, then frowned.

Ning Weidong certainly understood the difficulty of this matter and explained further: "Actually, it doesn't count as production; it's just purchasing some main components from Japan, having our domestic side provide some accessories with lower technical difficulty, and then assembling them..."

Li Yuanchao understood what Ning Weidong meant and quickly calculated the feasibility of doing so in his mind.

Ning Weidong continued: "In the next few years, television sets will definitely be gradually popularized in cities. Our urban population is about two hundred million. Even if there are five people in a family, that's forty million households. One television per household is forty million sets. If we only capture 10% of the market share, that's four million sets, and there will be color television sets later on..."

Li Yuanchao's reaction was not slow; he knew the current price of television sets.

Setting aside color TVs, even a black-and-white television set cost four or five hundred yuan each. If they could really manage four million sets! If they earned one hundred yuan per television, four million sets would be a full four hundred million! What kind of concept was four hundred million in this era?

Even with Li Yuanchao's family background, he could not help but have his breathing become heavy.

But he quickly calmed down, knowing that things were not that simple and that the accounts were not calculated that way.

However, no matter what, Ning Weidong's proposal was enough to make him take it seriously. If he could really pull this off, it could even change his status in the family.

In fact, because of the problems from a few years ago, Li Yuanchao had long since cut off the path to an official career.

The company in his hands was actually a form of compensation for him.

But once he could accomplish this and form an output value of several hundred million, the situation would be different.

Now, anyone with a discerning eye could see that after improving relations with Europe and America, they held the mushroom bomb in their hands.

For China, in a sense, the problem of life and death no longer existed.

This was the foundation laid by the older generation, allowing them to catch their breath later and invest more energy into economic construction.

After talking with Li Yuanchao for nearly two hours, Ning Weidong left the club.

Although Li Yuanchao did not give a definite answer, saying he wanted to discuss it with his sister, Ning Weidong knew in his heart that he would not refuse this opportunity.

As for casting Ning Weidong aside and eating the whole cake himself.

Li Yuanchao was not the kind of person without a brain.

And Ning Weidong could only turn this idea into reality by finding Li Yuanchao.

The resources of the Wang Family and the Zhao Family were all concentrated in the Ministry, and these were all clear accounts; one was one, and two was two.

Li Yuanchao, however, could leverage some military industry resources.

A few years ago, during the Third Front Construction, many factories were split in half directly from the Northeast and North China, with the essence directly taken to the Southwest, while the remaining factories, although keeping their original names, had their production and technical capabilities greatly discounted.

These factories had been operating with great difficulty in recent years, with many unable to make ends meet and barely maintaining.

This situation would have to wait until after the second half of next year, when the Iran-Iraq War broke out and a large number of orders poured in, to be somewhat alleviated, but it still could not solve the fundamental problem.

The final result could only be closure, suspension, merger, or conversion.

If he could integrate some resources through Li Yuanchao to produce television sets, even if it meant taking main components from outside through Smuggling channels and assembling them upon return, he could at least set up the stall first.

Then wait for later; whether it was copying or imitating, this step had to be taken eventually.

Of course, this matter was different from an Approval Document; it could not be achieved overnight and required several or even more than ten years of deep cultivation.

This was also one of the reasons why Ning Weidong sought cooperation with Li Yuanchao on this matter.

Once this was done, at least for the next twenty years, he and Li Yuanchao would be in the same boat.

While thinking, Ning Weidong rode his bicycle back to the company's Siheyuan.

The autumn noon sun was exceptionally scorching.

Ning Weidong also had to consider that it was time to get another vehicle. Besides a car, he also needed to get a few motorcycles so it would be convenient for Ning Wei and the others to go out and handle affairs in the future.

There were also Wang Kaixuan and Hu Bayi; since they held the title of Deputy Manager, it didn't look good for them to ride bicycles when going out.

However, buying a car through formal channels was quite troublesome.

Ning Weidong calculated that he would look for An Ning later to see if he could get a few from Hong Kong.

Returning to the company, Ning Weidong parked his bicycle in the front courtyard.

Just as he was about to walk inside, Qin Huairu came out of the small kitchen and said, "Manager Ning, have you eaten lunch? I saved some food for you here."

Ning Weidong smiled and said, "Thank you, I ate outside."

Having just been to Li Yuanchao's place, he certainly couldn't let himself return on an empty stomach.

Qin Huairu nodded and hurriedly said, "Manager Ning, there is one more thing..."

"Hmm, go ahead," Ning Weidong stopped to listen.

Qin Huairu subconsciously wiped her hands with her apron and said, "It's like this, you saw my husband this morning. Don't look at him cooking mass meals in the cafeteria; he actually has a family-inherited craft, and you have tasted his cooking..."

Ning Weidong nodded. When Qin Huairu first arrived, she didn't come to work early in the morning like she did now, but rushed to cook a meal in the afternoon.

There were a few times when they were caught off guard, and she had sent food that was made at home and packed in a lunch box, which was made by He Yuzhu.

Qin Huairu continued: "Manager Ning, look, there are more and more people in our company. I can't handle this cafeteria by myself, so I want to have him come over to help me with the cooking. What do you think..."

Ning Weidong certainly knew that He Yuzhu's cooking skills were extraordinary. If he could come over to cook, as long as he didn't slack off, he would definitely be much better than Qin Huairu.

But handing the cafeteria directly to the two of them would certainly not work.

As for He Yuzhu, he is indeed a good person, but being a good person does not mean he is not cunning and slippery.

Qin Huairu is no pushover either.

Although the cafeteria only deals with food and drink, it is no big deal if they skim a little.

But Ning Weidong does not want them to think he is a fool.

He said with a chuckle: "Qin, this is a good thing~ I was thinking about it even if you hadn't mentioned it; our cafeteria needs more people, otherwise relying on you alone is not enough."

Ning Weidong thought for a moment and pondered: "How about this... it just so happens that a friend of mine is coming over this afternoon, have Master He prepare a few of his signature dishes."

Hearing this, Qin Huairu's eyes lit up.

She trusts He Yuzhu's culinary skills; as long as he is given a chance to try, there will definitely be no problem.

She hurriedly said: "Just leave it to us~"

Ning Weidong added: "In addition, I will add two more people to the cafeteria."

A strange look flashed in Qin Huairu's eyes, but she immediately nodded with a smile.

Of course she hopes the cafeteria will be left entirely to the two of them, but she cannot object to Ning Weidong adding more people.

Ning Weidong, however, will not handle it personally: "I will have Xiao Wei take care of the specifics later."

And the mention of Ning Wei made Qin Huairu's eyes light up again.

(End of this chapter)