Chapter 1282: A Pure Team

After being away for more than half a month, Wang Yan finally returned to Jin Ling.

He first delivered the items he had brought back to Song's father and mother, but before he could even learn about the factory's situation over this period, County Head Xu summoned him to the county seat.

"Finally willing to come back? You truly have guts."

Watching Wang Yan smoke and drink tea across from him, County Head Xu momentarily did not know what to say.

Escorting his wife to university, he smoothly set up a lecture platform at the entrance of the library of one of the highest and most influential institutions, captivating all the students, attracting reporters, and reaching the very ears of heaven.

Starting from the third day, his phone lines were nearly blown up from constant calls; offices and various departments at both the provincial and municipal levels, including the Development and Reform Commission, all called, followed by relevant inspection teams from Beijing setting dates...

Wang Yan smiled and said, "Leader, we cannot just keep our heads down and work; we must let higher-level leaders see our efforts. Just look at this magnificent situation in our Jin Ling; our jeans are already being sold outside the province. I just saw a crowd gathered outside our footwear and garment factory, all wholesalers from other places coming to buy our jeans.

Buildings are half-finished, three kilometers of asphalt roads have been built, ten kilometers of concrete roads laid, tap water is beginning to enter households, and traffic jams occur even with bicycles during commute hours in the county. With so many major achievements, they are only known within relevant departments, while top leaders remain largely unaware. How can this be acceptable? Who in the entire nation performs better than us? The child who cries gets the milk.

If funding and policies are granted to us, we can develop even faster. That road to the city—how long has it been? The city simply refuses to repair it. Let me tell you, Leader, if it were me with your temper, I would block the entrance of the Municipal Party Committee, serve as the leader's secretary, and go wherever the leader goes; let's see if he approves it then."

"Just see if he doesn't punish you," County Head Xu said wordlessly, waving his hand.

"What is there to fear? The 240,000 people of Jin Ling County are your strongest backing."

"The more you talk, the more absurd it becomes."

County Head Xu lightly tapped the table and turned to serious matters: "The inspection team will arrive in three days; you will accompany me in receiving them. As for the reception arrangements..."

"Leader, are you unwilling to spend even this small amount of money?" Wang Yan said. "I won't argue with you; let's count it under the textile factory. They will stay at the guesthouse, and their meals will be at the special kitchen for the textile factory's leaders, cadres, and advanced workers."

"This inspection is indeed for the textile factory, but do you know how many people? Fifty-six! Plus another fourteen on standby! With so many people staying for eight to ten days, requiring high-standard food and drink, do you think this is a small sum?"

"The textile factory will cover it. You are the leader; you decide how to host them, and that is how it will be done."

"Let's proceed as you suggested; the county cafeteria truly cannot meet the standard."

"Are you testing me, Leader? How about this: give us the county government cafeteria. Based on your existing standards, we will count that amount as a subsidy, and we will add more to improve the meal quality, hiring master chefs to prepare everything properly. Leaders and cadres must eat well; how can they serve the people if they do not eat well?"

"This is typical corrupt thinking."

"Just say whether you want it or not."

"Of course we want it; handle it today, and start tomorrow. Rest assured, Wang Yan, not a single penny of this money will be shortchanged from you."

County Head Xu was also a pragmatist; a fool is one who does not take advantage of a bargain. He naturally knew that because he had granted too much authority to the textile factory and because the two of them got along and cooperated so well, Wang Yan was supporting him; this was a case of returning kindness for kindness.

After all, it was not just for a day or two that some county leaders and cadres had harbored complaints, feeling unbalanced regarding the treatment of the textile factory's leaders, cadres, and even workers. Leading such a group inevitably brought a mess of chaotic issues, but since the textile factory's situation had improved, using some surplus funds to improve the treatment of the county's leaders and cadres would definitely be credited to County Head Xu first, and secondly to Wang Yan.

In fact, a considerable portion of leaders and cadres had received gifts from the textile factory during festivals; these were collectively purchased and uniformly distributed by the textile factory, leaving no room for criticism.

The textile factory was now deeply intertwined; some county leaders and cadres were family members of textile factory cadres, while others had arranged distant relatives or rural kin for positions, basically tying the local leaders together.

Seeing that Wang Yan showed no objection, the matter was settled, and County Head Xu continued, "There is another matter: the Canton Fair begins next month. Our looms have quotas; hurry and arrange for factory leaders to lead a team and transport two machines there for exhibition. Regardless, as long as we sell them, we earn foreign exchange, which the whole nation lacks. This will also benefit us.

As long as we can earn foreign exchange, future business for our textile factory will be much easier to develop. Moreover, we can secretly take our jeans along; even if we are not given quotas to sell clothing, we can secretly approach those foreigners to negotiate. If deals are struck, the profits will certainly be greater than what we have now.

You must pay attention to this; I heard that other places have started selling jeans too, which means they have solved their production problems. Before long, the entire nation will be selling jeans, and our good days will be over."

Wang Yan smiled: "There is indeed some impact, but the problem is not significant. The masses know good from bad. The quality of our jeans is far superior to those from Hong Kong or foreign countries; I do not believe theirs can match ours, and the masses are not fools.

In a few days, I will research and launch denim jackets, then produce a pair of sports shoes, creating a complete set ensemble. When they follow suit, we will release new products again. This is a trend; foreigners call it 'fashion.' As long as we remain the pioneers, always standing at the forefront of the tide, we will ultimately earn more.

Why do I always emphasize that we must build a brand? It is so that when our vast masses hear 'Jin Ling Brand,' they immediately think of 'good' and 'fashion.' Once we achieve this level, we will have succeeded."

"It is good that you have ideas, but never let yourself become passive. There are already over a thousand workers in garment production, some of whom came from rural areas. It is easy to bring them here, but if efficiency drops and we try to send them back, that will be difficult and could lead to chaos."

"Not only will I not send them back, but I will also bring even more people here to escape the bitter life of facing the yellow earth and looking up at the sky. I dare not promise too much, but I am confident that all 240,000 people of Jin Ling can lift themselves out of poverty."

"Stop boasting; we must work with heart. Words alone cannot achieve results; actions must. The good situation the textile factory and the county enjoy today relies entirely on the water-jet loom you developed, yet we only have one such loom, and it is not even the most advanced. This is no time for complacency; we must roll up our sleeves and work hard."

"That is why you are the leader; you possess this sense of crisis. The ideological awareness of some cadres in the factory is severely lacking; they think the current state is sufficient, begin to rest on their laurels, and lack ambition, which is too disappointing. Later, I must organize a class and have the old factory manager lecture them on ideology and convey the spirit."

After offering a compliment, Wang Yan asked, "Leader, are there any other instructions?"

"Just these two matters; for the reception arrangements, have someone coordinate with Chen Pingyuan."

Chen Pingyuan was the future County Head Chen who supported Lei Dongbao in the drama; currently, he was the Director of the County Party Committee Office and a member of the County Standing Committee, naturally holding a very high status in the county.

County Head Xu hummed in agreement, then asked curiously, "You have fooled everyone at Peking University, Anyun University, and the Institute of Technology; are there any college students willing to come to our place?"

"Certainly there are, just not that many. But it does not matter; our county's development is changing with each passing day. I have already communicated with these three universities; next summer, led by the school authorities, our factory will reimburse the expenses for one hundred students and ten faculty members from each school to visit Jin Ling and see our new look."

"Everywhere is construction sites, big pits, and dust; where is the new look?" County Head Xu shook his head with amusement.

"This is the new look; it demonstrates our vitality. Is there any other place with so much money and so many projects underway? Is there any other place with the spiritual demeanor of our masses like ours? Is there any other place like us, bringing farmers into the city? This is our success, Leader."

Wang Yan smiled and said, "During this trip to Beijing, I saw that the worker comrades there mostly do not live in apartment buildings; they all live in large courtyard compounds. We are actually ahead of Beijing in this regard."

"What you say is indeed the truth, but Beijing has too many people—nine million. A single factory there has several thousand or even tens of thousands of workers; how could they afford to build apartment buildings?"

"You see, Leader, our work has not been in vain; in just one year, we are already living better than the people in the capital. On this trip, I was too busy fooling people and promoting Jin Ling to take many photos. Later, I must arrange for the factory's propaganda officers to go to Beijing and take pictures everywhere, so our county people can see exactly how the capital's people live, thereby enhancing the happiness of our masses."

"You are quite malicious. If this gets out, the leaders in Beijing might get so angry they end up in the hospital, or perhaps even march over here."

"That shows their hearts are too narrow."

County Head Xu smiled: "The key is that you are just too infuriating."

"We really must publish this. Our county has a county newspaper; later, we will release an issue with a full page of photos. I will go back and arrange for the propaganda officers to go to Beijing immediately. We must display our county's ambition to surpass the living standards of the capital's people."

"Then I am afraid I will never be able to return to Beijing."

Wang Yan laughed heartily, finished his tea, extinguished his cigarette, and stood up: "I will leave first, Leader, to go back and make arrangements."

County Head Xu smiled and waved his hand...

Returning to the factory, he called together the old factory manager and other main leaders; everyone walked outside together, during which Wang Yan also gained a fairly detailed understanding of the situation over the past half-month.

Overall, everything went smoothly. Several simple factory buildings were newly constructed, over two hundred workers were added, and two new garment production lines and one textile production line were established.

Of course, the textile factory could not devote all its efforts to producing denim; it also had to supply various fabrics to the county. This was not an economic issue, but a livelihood issue.

The fabrics for the supply and marketing cooperatives in the towns below were overwhelmingly supplied by the textile factory. Farmers used their hard-earned money and precious coupons to buy cloth, either tailoring clothes themselves or making quilt covers and the like; this was a necessary guarantee.

In fact, most of the factories currently merged into the textile factory were essential to people's livelihoods.

For instance, the chemical factory producing soap, laundry detergent, chemical fertilizers, and so on; the paper mill producing notebooks; the small workshops producing stationery; agricultural machinery and tools, etc. —all these were merged into the textile factory and required proper guarantees...

Thus chatting and laughing along the way, they unknowingly arrived at the construction site.

The project had already reached four stories, and the topping-out would definitely be completed before the New Year. The reason for the slow progress was not due to other factors, but because the supply of materials could not keep up.

In the seventies and eighties, or rather before the nineties, the buildings constructed were all brick-concrete structures. Naturally, the strength of such buildings was not high, so they were generally five or six stories tall. By the eighties and nineties, construction adopted reinforced concrete, but the floor slabs used were mostly precast panels assembled together, resulting in relatively poor indicators for earthquake resistance and waterproofing.

The buildings constructed by the textile factory adopted modern architectural models, entirely consisting of slab-type buildings cast with reinforced concrete frames. However, the factories in the county had to guarantee the operation of the entire county; with construction sites everywhere now, it was naturally impossible to supply everything to this side.

Furthermore, they did not dare to expand continuously like the textile factory; they feared that benefits would deteriorate later and personnel issues would become unsolvable. Although the textile factory had already promised to cover the bottom line, they still did not dare to enlarge the production scale, including the county's intention to proceed cautiously, so Wang Yan did not say much more, after all, the time for major construction projects had not yet arrived.

On another aspect, the workers building the houses did not work year-round. Like Lei Dongbao from before, these were laborers provided by the commune, and they had to return during busy farming seasons. Here in Jin Ling, wheat is harvested twice a year, which also requires a considerable portion of the labor force to engage in farm work.

This was precisely what extended the construction timeline.

However, it did not cause too much delay, after all, work on the roads and landscaping within the newly built residential complex could still proceed.

The reason they did not build larger or taller was that, for the time being, there was no such necessity; it was not yet time for enjoyment. Another point was that elevators were not well-developed now, and a single elevator was quite expensive, making it not cost-effective...

"It will be completed in another two months." Factory Director Old Qi stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the bustle on the construction site, his face full of smiles.

The other leaders accompanying him looked much the same, all showing quite a bit of longing. In the past, they had never imagined that one day their own factory would be constructing buildings.

"Apartment buildings are indeed good; look, occupying just this large an area has accommodated two thousand three hundred and fifty-six people." Factory Director Old Qi turned to look at Wang Yan and said, "If we build another twenty blocks, all the employees in the factory will be moved in."

"How could that be enough?" Wang Yan smiled. "We still need to build two hundred blocks, two thousand blocks; we must ensure that all the people in the entire county can enjoy this."

"I have always felt what you say is unrealistic; that is because some people are unwilling to leave their villages. 'One becomes humble when leaving one's hometown,' and 'fallen leaves return to their roots'—these are all traditional old thoughts that you simply do not believe in."

"The city offers a better life, higher earnings, and easier work; moreover, we are not confiscating their homesteads. I do not believe they would be unwilling to enter the city."

Wang Yan did not continue speaking on this issue; instead, he said, "The Canton Fair is next month; does Factory Director Old have any ideas?"

"With these old arms and legs of mine, I can no longer endure it. Besides, I do not understand foreign bird language; how can I negotiate business with people? You are a university student who understands bird language; why don't you go instead?"

"If we absolutely must obtain foreign exchange, I would certainly personally go out to bluff the foreign devils. However, our looms are currently in short supply, and there is no rigid requirement to earn foreign exchange, so it is sufficient for us to just make a sale. Relatively speaking, our competitiveness lies in low prices; in terms of technology, we currently have no advantage.

Currently, one US dollar exchanges for one point five of our yuan. I think we should set the price according to our current rate, simply changing the unit to US dollars; earning half again as much per unit would be about right. When negotiating the price, ask for a higher amount first, then concede some, and basically, that will be the final price. Factory Director Old, if you do not wish to go, then let Old Li go; since there is no quota, it does not matter whether we sell or not."

"Let him go; he is reliable in handling matters. Just find a reliable translator as well, and that will suffice."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Old Li?"

Old Li, who had once been cornered by Wang Yan in the office and scolded to his face, nodded in response: "I have no problem; I will obey orders and follow commands. With these old bones of mine, I can still work for a few more years."

"In your fifties, you have not yet reached the stage of 'old bones.' Those experts and professors are still working hard to overcome difficulties, are they not? The leaders in Beijing, in their sixties and seventies, are still planning for the nation, are they not? One must be old in age but young at heart, maintaining a fighting spirit."

Wang Yan stood with his hands behind his back and said, "Speaking of fighting spirit, today I discussed the issue of ideological awareness with County Head Xu. Recently, some of our factory's leading cadres have become slack; they have started caring about food and drink, caring about rules and protocols, caring about hierarchy and status! Even worse, I heard some are harassing female comrades? Looking down on our factory's peasant workers?

On what grounds? Hmm? Who do they think they are?

To speak bluntly, for the textile factory to reach its state today, my personal contribution accounts for fifty percent, while the remaining fifty percent comes from the collective working together with one heart and striving hard. With such a Da De Gong of mine, I still did not dare to Ju Gong, nor dare to claim that I alone propped up the textile factory. Yet they feel perfectly at ease, thinking they created today's success, claiming a Ju Gong Zhi Wei?

Acting arrogant, engaging in corruption, and lacking the drive to improve—is this the behavior expected of our Party's leading cadres? How will the people view our Party? This is cutting oneself off from the people!

These people must be investigated! Once investigated, they must be dealt with! Regardless of connections or contributions, arrest them all and send them to dredge the Xiao Qinghe or build reservoirs!

At the same time, we must attach great importance to this issue. I propose forming a study class for leading cadres to conduct collective ideological study; on one hand, this will correct the thinking of older comrades, and on the other, it will serve as a Party school within our factory to cultivate our young backbone members.

A nation has its laws, and a family has its rules. Our factory has safety production systems and codes of conduct, and the Party Constitution has requirements for Party members, yet there are still people causing destruction and opposing the collective. They hide within the collective as borers, and only when matters explode and can no longer be covered up do we find out and deal with them. This will not do!

We must establish a sound internal supervision and inspection system for the factory. I think we can set up an inspection department, and at the same time, we must establish a reporting system. Some people have too many concerns and dare not report; this will not do. We must struggle against unhealthy tendencies and fight against the evil thieves who destroy the collective, allowing no one to undermine the achievements of our collective.

Issue the notification: tomorrow morning, all leading cadres of the entire factory, along with advanced and excellent workers, must come to the factory for a grand meeting, which I will personally host. What is spoken at tomorrow's meeting must be implemented for every single worker!"

No one dared to speak; Wang Yan's attitude, as well as some of the terminology he used, explained everything.

Only Factory Director Old sighed and said, "Wang Yan, now is a critical moment; should we be a bit more moderate? Should we avoid internal strife?"

"Factory Director Old, every day is a critical moment. Regarding the behavior of certain people, we absolutely cannot tolerate it; early discovery and early punishment are essential, otherwise it will only cause greater damage to our collective.

Whoever does not want things to be good, then we will make sure things are not good for them. We must continuously purify our ranks; only in this way can our factory achieve better development. Factory Director Old, please do not persuade me further; this matter is settled; strict punishment is mandatory!"

Factory Director Old shook his head and ultimately said nothing more.

Wang Yan did not feel any sense of disappointment or otherwise, because this was inevitable; people are always changeable. A few months ago, they were all conscientious and good comrades, but with the factory's rapid expansion and the growth of power, it is normal for some people to fail to hold the bottom line.

Correspondingly, at this time, establishing supervision and inspection systems is naturally normal; it is necessary to severely deal with a batch of people...