Chapter 1308: Walking Ahead of Development

The gold content of an Olympic champion is truly very high.

And the people of this era are also very fond of recognition from the international world; because they long for the international, they crave recognition.

Everything Jin Ling placed in its direct-sales stores is selling extremely hot.

The direct-sales stores called the Level-Two Warehouse to transfer goods, the Level-Two Warehouse called the Level-One Warehouse to transfer goods, and the Level-One Warehouse called Jin Ling, urging Jin Ling to ship goods over there immediately.

In addition, state-run stores from various regions were calling frantically; the phones in Jin Ling's office were about to be blown up. Leaders at all levels related to Jin Ling were busy in a frenzy, and the workers below were also restless, working overtime and around the clock in three shifts.

The inventory produced over the previous half-year, judging by the current trend, is not even enough to last half a month. Jin Ling's production capacity is already not low, but the enthusiasm of the people across the country is even higher.

All of Jin Ling has suddenly sped up; the workers are bustling and working day and night, yet they are all very motivated. Because the factory announced it would invite the Olympic delegation to Jin Ling to meet the people of Jin Ling; even though everyone had already met many leaders who came to inspect, they were still quite looking forward to the Olympic champions.

Of course, working more also means earning more, even though the people of Jin Ling no longer view money as so important.

For clothing, several sets of work uniforms are issued each year; for food, the factory provides three meals a day; for medical treatment, the factory reimburses everything; parents and the elderly have pensions; shopping and dining are discounted; children's schooling costs not a penny, and if they study well, they can even earn a bit for the family.

When children reach adulthood and marry, there is no worry about building houses, nor are there betrothal gifts or dowries; even if one marries a Miss from another place who moves to Jin Ling, no betrothal gift will be demanded. As for the new house's furniture, a few months' wages for a worker are enough to furnish it properly. With the whole family pitching in to pool funds, nothing gets delayed.

Their wages are just for feeding their children, drinking heavily themselves, playing mahjong, taking baths, and so on.

Of course, it's impossible to spend it all; many people still save. Otherwise, why would Wang Yan go to such great lengths, debating a crowd of scholars in Beijing to establish the Jinfa Bank? The greatest short-term benefit is concentrating the workers' savings for centralized use. As for long-term financial operations and flexible financial turnover, those can be established later; there is no need for Jin Ling to be the vanguard in this...

This wave for Jin Ling has truly maxed out production capacity. This single Olympic fever will allow Jin Ling to eat well until the end of the year. Selling three or even four years' worth of goods in one year, people bought everything they should and shouldn't have bought.

The most terrifying thing is chasing trends; what is even more terrifying is being that trend oneself.

However, compared to Jin Ling's other leaders, who looked red-eyed and were fiercely making money, Wang Yan, the helmsman, was much calmer. He set aside quite a bit of work, held meetings with leaders to emphasize production safety and production quality, convened a Workers' Representative Congress to stress that worker representatives and outstanding workers must fully play their leading roles, control various tasks in the production link, and once again emphasized safety and quality.

He also went into the workshops to communicate with the workers and listen to the opinions of grassroots employees; whether in the factory or in life, it was about constantly finding problems and solving them; when more problems are found and more are solved, society progresses. Wang Yan is not the kind of leader who is lazy and solves the person raising the problem.

He cannot control other places, but in Jin Ling, Factory Director Wang rules with an iron fist; no matter how large the interest group, none can escape his grasp—everyone go to work! Do heavy work!

"Brother-in-law, with things this busy, how can you be so relaxed?" Song Yunhui looked at his excellent brother-in-law, who was holding a child and swaying back and forth, feeling quite unable to understand.

Wang Yan smiled and said, "As a leader, especially at times like this, it is better to be relaxed. 'One whose chest holds thunder while their face remains as calm as Pinghu Lake may be appointed a supreme general.' If I were as anxious as an ant on a hot pan right now, what would the other leading cadres and the factory workers think? Wouldn't everything from top to bottom descend into chaos?

By being a bit relaxed and not transmitting pressure onto other leaders and workers, everyone continues to do what they need to do; although it is busier, there is order within the busyness; with order, there is no chaos, and fewer mistakes occur. Production safety and production quality are thus guaranteed. What I told them at the general meeting was precisely these two points, without demanding output volume; the faster things go, the more stability is required. Otherwise, trouble will arise.

Production is not child's play; lightly, it leads to broken hands and feet; heavily, it results in lifelong paralysis. From 1978 to now, in just six years, over five thousand people have been disabled due to work incidents, and over two hundred have died; these are all bloody lessons.

In my position, if I scold a deputy factory director today, that deputy director goes back and scolds the heads of various departments under him, those heads go back and scold their subordinates, passing it down level by level. If I say earning one hundred million this year is enough, by the time it reaches the workers, it might well become two hundred million.

You are now an engineer with two people under you; with further development, you can also ascend to a leadership position. Distinguishing priorities, how to differentiate them, how to coordinate, and how to execute and implement—this is the key to leadership ability. Ponder this in your spare time; it will all be useful to you."

"I feel it's particularly meaningless; you don't know, brother-in-law, meetings at our factory are especially strenuous; they never get to the point, just a basketful of nonsense."

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "How could I not know? You have a technical mindset; the things you think about concern only your own patch, which is relatively incomplete. Meetings indeed have a lot of nonsense; some people talk rubbish, some shift blame, some shirk responsibility. Jin Ling is pragmatic enough, yet its meetings are still full of nonsense. After all, many things cannot be said directly; one cannot just come out and say how I am or how he is.

Do not resist, do not harbor feelings of disgust; look at every meeting objectively. If you are attentive enough, you will discover who is allied with whom, who is targeting whom, and who is fighting for power and profit; as long as you observe and ponder, you can see it clearly. Little brother-in-law, the road ahead of you is still very long."

"You are only three years older than me." Song Yunhui felt somewhat powerless; he thought he was quite strong, but his excellent brother-in-law was so awesome that it made him feel ashamed of his own inferiority.

"Perhaps I am a true genius." Wang Yan, holding the child, wore an expression of a master feeling lonely at the peak.

"On this point, I agree; you can do everything; if you aren't a genius, it's hard to explain."

"Convinced?"

"Long ago convinced; I admit, I was too young before."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Ruzike, young comrade, you still have great room for improvement."

Song Yunhui was speechless and choked up, turning his gaze toward the window.

He happened to see someone peering outside the courtyard; he stood up, took a look, and said, "Yang Xun has arrived."

As he spoke, he had already risen, went out the door, and called for Yang Xun to come in.

"Sister, brother-in-law, Uncle, Aunt, sister-in-law, I only returned today; hearing from my mother that my sister gave birth, and that Brother Hui also brought his sister-in-law back, I came over to see the child and meet my sister-in-law."

Holding gifts in his hands, Yang Xun entered the room and exchanged greetings with everyone.

Wang Yan nodded with a smile, and Song Yunping said, "Don't be so polite; we are all family. Since you're here, just come in; why bring gifts? Sit down quickly and eat some watermelon."

"These are all ginseng and deer antlers from the Northeast, plus some cordyceps from Western Tibet; sister, since you just gave birth, you need to supplement your nutrition heavily."

After chatting and laughing for a while, the three men went to the courtyard to smoke. Wang Yan asked, "It's been two years since we last met; how have things been going for you in Jinzhou?"

"Not bad; I've been trafficking goods from Guangdong Province, all sorts of miscellaneous items, selling quite well in Jinzhou. Previously, someone in our market sold counterfeit and shoddy goods, the mall was smashed, and its reputation was ruined; I burned all the goods in the market, took over contracting that market, and even made the newspapers. Only now that I'm finished with that busyness and have some free time did I think to come home for a visit."

"When did this happen? How come I didn't know about it?" Song Yunhui frowned.

"It was back in March; Brother Hui, you probably weren't paying attention."

"It's not that I wasn't paying attention; I was abroad during that time. That's why I hadn't heard about these events. Even if I weren't paying attention, you made the newspapers; for something this big, I should have known."

"Oh my, Brother Hui, you went abroad? That's truly impressive."

"It was just inspecting a project; twenty-some days in total, nothing particularly impressive, just a normal work requirement."

After flattering him a few sentences, Yang Xun immediately asked, "Brother-in-law, I'm quite curious; how are those people from Jin Ling who went out to do business on their own faring?"

"Basically, they are all trafficking goods and running all over the country; a few of the better ones have taken over some local factories and are operating independently. There are a few doing freight transport, and a few trafficking goods from the Soviet Union. Someone like you, who has set up a market on your own, stands out."

What Wang Yan said was the truth; Yang Xun had indeed done quite well. The market was good at this time, but for contestants like Yang Xun, doing business was actually not easy. If he was willing to traffic goods and be a street vendor, that was no problem; he could do very well and earn a lot. But if he wanted to develop upward, his resources were insufficient to support him.

Things he wanted to buy were unavailable; matters he wanted to handle had no one to approve them; and so on.

But those with connections were different; whether leveraging shareholding reforms to embezzle assets or trafficking approval permits, they were all acting legitimately and found it convenient to get things done.

Therefore, to a certain extent, those later wealthy individuals of humble, grass-roots origins were not entirely lucky; indeed, there were dividends of the era, but rising to success was actually not easy.

Daring to think, daring to act, and able to find the right path are all very rare. Otherwise, if it were truly that simple, everyone would possess a fortune of tens of millions.

"It is truly not easy for us individual entrepreneurs," Yang Xun shook his head and sighed.

"You are doing quite well; now you have your own career, which is already very good."

"But I want to do better. Brother-in-law, you have seen much; given my current situation, how can I operate on a larger scale and do better? Or should I do something else? After all, the market is good right now, so I have a certain foundation."

"You don't understand technology, so you can't handle high-end things; sticking to your current work is fine. You can continue wholesaling goods, or trafficking items from Hong Kong, or you could venture into logistics; the demand for goods turnover is enormous. Why is the country vigorously building roads? Precisely to accelerate transportation efficiency and enhance cargo transshipment capacity.

I am not pointing out a specific path for you; rather, whatever the people need, if you identify that point and devote yourself to it, you cannot go wrong. You can also start from the intermediate links; just look at the merchants in your market—what are they selling? Where do they source their goods? Leveraging the advantages of your market, you can beat down prices at the manufacturers, take the price difference yourself, and that alone will be enough for you to earn."

"That's truly the case, brother-in-law; I really hadn't thought about this issue. There are so many people in our market; with many people comes great power, enabling price negotiation. As long as it's cheaper than the current purchase price, they will be willing, and I will still have profit to make. Brother-in-law, you are so smart; you thought of this immediately." Yang Xun's mouth was full of flattery.

This seemed to have become Yang Xun's instinct; young in age, without background, yet traveling north and south, having a soft tongue suffers no loss; wherever he goes, he has a basketful of kind words—this is his way of survival.

Song Yunhui said, "Now is a time of opportunity; as long as you want to do it, there is always a way to make money."

"I feel like I'm struggling for survival in the cracks; it's too hard to get anything done," Yang Xun couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"If money were that easy to earn, we would have achieved communism long ago," Wang Yan said with a smile. "Resources are actually limited; if you earn more, someone else earns less. Doing business is really just about one thing: demand. That is what I mentioned earlier—what the people need. Look at Jin Ling; apart from the textile industry, everything else is built upon the people's demands."

"Even our textile industry, when expanded to the national scale, represents the people's demand. Jin Ling is constantly doing this: producing toilet paper to solve the comfort problem of wiping one's bottom, sanitary napkins to solve women's physiological health issues, the meat market to solve our people's problem of eating meat, daily chemical products to solve our people's personal care problems... and so on."

"But the masses will eventually be satisfied one day, brother-in-law; what will we do then?"

"There will never be a day of satisfaction. Having earned a thousand coins, one wants ten thousand; born on earth, one wishes to become an immortal. Human desire grows infinitely. Once material conditions reach a certain level, naturally, the demands increase. Take luxury goods, for instance; why are they sold so expensively? Why do so many people buy them? Because people want to prove their wealth and show they are superior to others. Vanity is also a demand."

"In the future, emotions will be a demand, spiritual culture will be a demand, making friends will be a demand. As productivity develops, demands naturally rise with the tide, becoming all sorts of things. If there is no demand, one can even fabricate a concept to create demand."

"Xiaohui, you've been back for over ten days; tell me, what are the current demands of our Jin Ling people?"

Song Yunhui thought for a moment and said, "Motorcycles, perhaps? Even cars? I see every household has bicycles, sometimes even one per person. But bicycles have too short a range and are difficult to ride on slopes. Motorcycles are more convenient, while cars can shelter one from wind and rain, offering more stability and safety on the road; that would be even better."

"Also, I noticed our home still has a black-and-white television. I've heard that in recent years we've introduced many color TV production lines, and color TVs are already on the market. I imagine Jin Ling certainly has a demand for color TVs as well. And refrigerators; summers are too hot, so chilling some drinks and fruits to relieve the heat is a rare enjoyment, and leftovers can be stored for longer."

"And washing machines, which make laundry more time- and labor-saving. Given the wealth of the Jin Ling people, they would certainly be willing to spend the money; there is a need for this too."

"You've been staying at home for over ten days and even discussed work with your sister; didn't you notice that the black-and-white TV in our home bears the Jin Ling trademark?"

At this, Song Yunhui was stunned; he widened his eyes: "Jin Ling can already produce black-and-white televisions? Why didn't I see them at the Jin Ling direct sales store in Jinzhou?"

"The problem of mass production hasn't been solved yet, and black-and-white TVs are destined to be eliminated anyway; it's better to go straight to the source and produce color TVs directly."

"Color TVs can be manufactured already?"

"If your sister weren't pregnant, they would be hitting the market about now. No need to be so surprised; televisions are also semiconductors. By the end of the year, our Jin Ling color TVs will be distributed nationwide."

"Does that mean washing machines are ready too?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "There are also fans and such; we are already researching better air conditioners. This category is called home appliances; as the name suggests, these are household electrical appliances, including any electrically powered devices in the home. This will be another pillar industry for Jin Ling's future, following the textile business."

If leaders from other counties were here, they would probably roll their eyes at this moment. Because in Wang Yan's mouth, any systematic industry he proposes becomes the next pillar industry. Those already proposed include semiconductors, the automotive industry, home appliances, daily chemicals, high-end machinery, military industry, and so on.

Jin Ling is engaged in all these industries, but currently, the main business is still textiles-related, followed by daily chemicals, and then motorcycles. As for the military industry, Jin Ling lacks the qualifications to manufacture weapons. It has only accepted some orders for military supplies, such as military uniforms, boots, tents, gauze, masks, etc.; speaking of which, these are still textile matters.

However, regarding certain special materials, Jin Ling also cooperates with other national projects. Over these many years, Jin Ling has accumulated considerable technical expertise.

The Patent Law was proposed in 1979, passed in 1984, and implemented in 1985. Currently, Jin Ling has submitted over 8,600 patent applications, which will take effect starting January 1st next year. Jin Ling has also registered over 1,000 patents abroad. Of course, none of these are confidential; if they were truly secret, there would be no question of patents.

These are all ideas born of whimsy, implementations of trivial technologies. For example, designs for certain valves, improvements to mechanical structures, and so on—all are patented. As for the over 8,600 domestic applications, undoubtedly, they involve preemptively registering foreign patents; quite a few have already been rejected. The relevant staff members are cursing under their breath, working overtime to screen through them.

The same logic applies to trademarks. The Trademark Law was implemented in March 1983; Jin Ling similarly preemptively registered various foreign trademarks, registering a chaotic multitude of them, and did the same domestically. For instance, an entire copy of the Classic of Mountains and Seas was registered by Jin Ling; this is also making money...

If Wang Yan were doing this alone, such play would certainly be problematic. But with Jin Ling as the main entity, it is quite joyful; there will be plenty of excitement in the future...

"Truly impressive," Song Yunhui couldn't help but exclaim.

He also realized that Jin Ling was walking ahead of development; currently, televisions are in short supply. When Jin Ling's refrigerators, color TVs, and washing machines hit the market, coupled with the long-standing public recognition of the Jin Ling brand, they will surely face similar shortages, and moreover, earn even more.

Thus, for the next five to ten years, or even twenty, Jin Ling will have another layer of security; it is truly a pillar...