Chapter 1584

Hearing Zhou Andong's words, everyone's eyes became eager.

Zhou Andong said with a smile: "When I was eating in the cafeteria at noon today, a new employee asked me when Jiang Xiaobai's employee building would be built."

"I thought, since the branch factory employee buildings will start construction in July or August, in that case, let's build the employee buildings for Jiang Xiaobai, Xurishang, the electronics factory, and the beer factory all together."

Everyone's spirits lifted, and Chen Li even muttered to herself, what is this employee's name? I'll reward him personally.

Chen Li and the others were middle-level leaders in their previous units, and their living conditions were relatively better compared to ordinary employees.

But in this era, except for large factories like the No. 2 Petroleum Factory, the conditions in other enterprises were just so-so, and most were in "tube-shaped" apartment buildings.

Even in the family quarters of the municipal party committee and municipal government, except for the main leaders, this section chief and that director were all generations squeezed into small tube-shaped apartments.

Didn't you see that before Cheng Zhanjun was transferred, Chen Wenqi came and had to live in the military district dormitory, just because housing was so tight—it was truly one radish for one hole.

Chen Li was the same; a family of three, along with her parents-in-law and her twenty-five-year-old unmarried sister-in-law, were squeezed into a tube-shaped apartment of less than sixty square meters.

Logically speaking, a middle-level cadre like Chen Li would definitely be allocated housing, regardless of quality. But she didn't catch a good time; when the factory had money, the welfare housing that was built had already been distributed.

By the time she moved up, the factory's efficiency was far worse than before, and even if they wanted to build welfare housing, they lacked the ability. Moreover, in 1988, the first housing reform was launched, and although it was highly controversial and no formal policy had been issued, it was still a start.

But during the transition between the old and the new, restlessness was normal. Many people with foresight could see that the central government's determination for housing reform was exceptionally firm.

Therefore, enterprises and institutions with money were stepping up construction, while those without money took this opportunity to completely cancel welfare housing.

In addition, many real estate enterprises had emerged in recent years, such as Vanke and Wanda, which entered real estate after the first housing reform in 1988.

Subsequently, Country Garden was established in 1992, SOHO China in 1995, and it wasn't until 1998 that housing reform was officially introduced, comprehensively canceling the welfare housing system and entering the commercial housing era.

Most of the real estate giants that would dominate in the future were established during those ten years from '88 to '98.

It's just that for enterprises that entered real estate before 1998, life wasn't very easy.

For example, the SOHO Modern City developed by that Mr. Pan first had no source for loans.

Immediately after, the project encountered sales difficulties, and the sales center was deserted.

In desperation, they invited Deng Zhiren, who had founded the largest agency company at the time, Lida Hang, to manage the operation.

After Deng Zhiren came, he made the advertisements for SOHO Modern City thunderous, but there was still no improvement at all.

However, after that Mr. Pan parted ways with Deng Zhiren...

... as the central government successively introduced policies to support the development of the real estate industry, the market inadvertently became hot.

Starting in November 1998, SOHO Modern City, without the operation of the Xiangjiang marketing master, actually sold out quickly.

That Mr. Pan's unexpected good market situation just fell from the sky like that, and this "fall" lasted for twenty years.

The reason Zhou Andong wanted to stretch the construction period so long was actually to wait for the arrival of the 1998 housing reform.

And now it is already 1994; for real estate, four years is not long—it's just the cycle of a commercial project.

Seeing their joyful expressions, Zhou Andong smiled: "Director Qian, tomorrow call Director Man, Director Gu, and General Manager Liu of the electronics factory to my place for a meeting to study this."

"Alright!" Qian Zhen nodded; he was also very happy in his heart.

Zhou Andong asked: "Is there food in the cafeteria now?"

"Yes!" Qian Zhen said with a smile: "There are people working overtime tonight, so they definitely have to cook. I haven't eaten yet either; let's go together."

Jiang Hongshan said: "I'm not going home to eat either; I'll go to the cafeteria with you."

Immediately after, Chen Li also said: "I'll go eat at the cafeteria too."

When the others saw this, they all followed along toward the cafeteria; their goal wasn't to eat, but to hear more news about the construction of the employee building.

…………………………

Jingcheng!

I don't know when, but snowflakes began to drift from the sky again, though they weren't large, just sparse and scattered.

In Pingfang Township, a man wearing a cotton hat and a military overcoat, wrapped up tightly, came before a very ordinary residential house.

The already rusted large iron gate was half-open; the man walked straight in and closed the gate behind him, which made a loud "clanging" sound.

Because no one had cleared the courtyard, the snow on the ground from the gate to the house door had been packed hard.

The man had just reached the door when his foot suddenly slipped, and he lost his balance.

Reflexively, his hands, tightly wrapped in the overcoat, were raised, flailing back and forth, trying to grab something.

At the same time, a package of roast duck wrapped in oil paper and some spiced meat fell out from his bosom.

With a "bang," as the man fell heavily to the ground, the roast duck and spiced meat also fell to the ground.

His head hit the ground, and the man's head buzzed, his vision going pitch black.

Immediately after, chaotic footsteps came to his ears, along with someone cursing.

"Damn it!"

A guy with gauze wrapped around his wrist, his whole hand swollen like a steamed bun, cursed.

"You idiot, you left at one o'clock in the afternoon, and now you've finally brought the roast duck and spiced meat back—and now, damn it, it's all fallen on the ground."

"If it fell, it fell." Another guy said: "The ground is covered in snow, it shouldn't be a big deal."

Yet another guy squatted down: "Idiot, are you dead yet?"

The "idiot" lying on the ground shook his head, his blank gaze slowly regaining its focus.

"Damn it." This guy used his hands to push himself up from the ground: "That fall almost sent me to see the King of Hell."

"If you're fine, get up. You want me to help you?" The squatting guy stood up: "Hurry up and pick up the roast duck and spiced meat and get inside; it's too cold out here."

There were three more people inside the house, sitting cross-legged around a heated-bed table.

On the table were a few small dishes, and in front of each person was a bottle of Jiang Xiaobai.

This group of guys was Qi Honghai and his crew; before New Year's Eve, they had intended to burn down the first bar.

They had been schemed against by Tang Lin, losing millions in goods, and they thought it was Hong Rong, who had sold them the goods, who had betrayed them, so they wanted to find Hong Rong to get the goods back.

But Hong Rong suddenly disappeared, and they had been searching for a long time without finding him, which made them even more certain that Hong Rong had taken the goods.

Therefore, they hadn't left Jingcheng and had been searching for Hong Rong's whereabouts.

"You damn idiot, you went to buy roast duck at one in the afternoon." Qi Honghai's face didn't look good either: "Look what time it is now; we all thought you had died outside."

The "idiot" rubbed the back of his head and said with some grievance: "I saw Hong Rong and have been following him."