Chapter 2416: Head of the Art Troupe

Li Wancheng sent his daughter to the workshop entrance, and only after watching her safely enter the workshop did he turn around and leave with peace of mind. Then, he hurried back to the factory office and went straight to the fourth floor. He stood in front of Dong Wenjuan's office door, took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and knocked gently.

"Secretary Dong, does the Factory Director have time?"

Dong Wenjuan looked up and saw it was Li Wancheng, and said with a smile, "Deputy Factory Director Liu hasn't left yet, you wait a moment."

After speaking, she took a stool from the office and placed it in the corridor outside the door: "Sit and wait."

"Thank you, thank you!" Li Wancheng felt relieved, thanked her repeatedly, and then sat on the stool leaning against the wall.

Dong Wenjuan returned to the office and continued to be busy with her own work. But after sitting down for a few minutes, she felt a figure appear at the door, followed by a 'thump, thump, thump' knocking sound, and then a low and magnetic voice sounded.

"Secretary Dong, does the Factory Director have time?"

Dong Wenjuan looked up, her gaze falling on the person standing at the door. She saw that he was fair-skinned, handsome, with small curly hair draped behind his head, just reaching his shoulders.

He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt on his upper body, paired with suit pants on his lower body, and a pair of black leather shoes on his feet. The whole person looked spirited and had an extraordinary temperament. From the outside, he looked to be about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old.

"Troupe Leader Liu!" Dong Wenjuan hurriedly stood up, greeted him with a full face of smiles, and enthusiastically invited Troupe Leader Liu to sit in the office.

"The Factory Director is talking with Deputy Factory Director Liu, I reckon they will finish talking very soon. You wait a moment, I'll go see how their talk is going."

Dong Wenjuan said while walking quickly to the desk, picked up the thermos to pour a cup of water for Troupe Leader Liu, then turned back and placed it on the coffee table in front of Troupe Leader Liu.

"No rush, no rush, it doesn't matter if I wait a while." Troupe Leader Liu was none other than Liu Chunhua, the head of the Woolen Mill's Art Troupe. Although he looked only thirty-seven or thirty-eight, he was actually forty-three. He was not only a national first-class actor but also a famous Peking Opera old man (laosheng).

After Liu Chunhua showed his face at Zhou Andong's inauguration meeting, he never appeared in the factory again. Even the all-factory cadre meeting convened by Zhou Andong two days ago, he found an excuse not to attend.

This was not because he didn't put Zhou Andong in his eyes, but because he really didn't want to get involved in the power struggle in the factory. In his view, rather than wasting time on these things, it was better to take on more performances to pay more bonuses to the staff of the Art Troupe.

As for whether he would be made difficult by the new Factory Director, he didn't take it to heart at all. The Art Troupe was already finding its own way, going everywhere to take on commercial performances to support itself. The factory couldn't even pay wages, so why would he care if the Factory Director would give him a hard time?

Moreover, he was a national first-class Peking Opera actor, enjoying a special contribution allowance from the State Council. The artistic achievements he had made and the contributions he had made were not something an ordinary person could compare with. Let alone the newly appointed Factory Director, even if Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun were dissatisfied with him, they had to endure it and didn't dare to easily do anything to him.

Let's put it this way, the wages of the teaching staff of the factory-run school and the wages of the Art Troupe had been stopped by Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun. Those three principals had begged for help everywhere, looking for this department and that department, but the results were all futile, and they could only go hungry.

But he was different; he could poke this matter up to the central authorities. The main reason he hadn't done so, going to the central authorities to find leaders to reflect the situation, lay in Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun's attitude toward the Art Troupe.

They allowed the Art Troupe to undertake commercial performances to support itself, which made the Art Troupe's days better than before. Whether it was wages or bonuses, they were better than when the Woolen Mill was at its most glorious. Facing such a situation, he naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to go to the leaders to ask for those insignificant wages.

At first, Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun never expected that the Art Troupe's commercial performances would be so profitable, which made them regret it endlessly. They had even talked to Liu Chunhua more than once, full of expectations to bring the management rights of the Art Troupe's commercial performances under the factory's ownership, let the factory be responsible for contacting commercial performances, and then pay wages to the Art Troupe's staff.

Not to mention Liu Chunhua, even the Art Troupe's staff couldn't possibly agree to this request. After all, the income obtained by the Art Troupe through commercial performances was quite large. Who would hand over the fat meat already in the bowl to others, and then go drink the soup the other party gave as charity? Wasn't that a fool?

And Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun, watching such huge benefits placed in front of them, how could they be willing to give up? Therefore, they constantly exerted pressure on Liu Chunhua, attempting to force him to submit.

It was just that Liu Chunhua wouldn't care about their pressure. Facing Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun's step-by-step approach, in the end, he didn't even bother to answer their calls. But those two guys still wouldn't give up, because the benefits involved were truly too great.

Such a piece of fat meat that made people drool, the Art Troupe staff were all eating until their mouths were oily. And Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun, as the top leaders of the factory, could only stare from the side, drooling but unable to eat a single bite. How could they be willing?

More importantly, many of these commercial performances had hidden income, which left them with too many places to play tricks, and it wasn't easy to be investigated.

Therefore, Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun issued an ultimatum to Liu Chunhua: if he didn't hand over the management rights of the Art Troupe's commercial performances back to the factory, they would revoke Liu Chunhua's position as Troupe Leader.

Liu Chunhua didn't indulge them either; he went directly to the City State-owned Assets Office to find Shi Guoqiang, pointed at that guy's nose and cursed, and mockingly said that just revoking his position as Troupe Leader was useless; if you have the ability, you can cancel my special allowance and first-class actor title.

Shi Guoqiang was cursed until his face turned iron-blue, but he didn't have any temper at all. Because the Woolen Mill Art Troupe was a department-level unit, and Liu Chunhua, as the Troupe Leader, was also a department-level leader. Under the circumstance that Liu Chunhua hadn't violated any discipline or regulations, it was impossible to revoke his position at all; at most, they could only adjust his leadership position.

More importantly, Liu Chunhua possessed extremely high prestige in the Art Troupe. No matter who was changed to serve as Troupe Leader, this fact couldn't be changed. No one would listen to the new Troupe Leader's command. Even if they took on commercial performances, the actors would refuse to perform.

As for saying that whoever didn't listen would be fired, for the current Art Troupe staff, it had no deterrent power at all. Because people were making a fortune by taking on commercial performances, and they were all eating until their mouths were oily. If they were fired, they would be even freer, so they weren't afraid at all.

As for canceling the special allowance and first-class actor title, he, Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun, even if they grew two heads, didn't have the ability to cancel them. Because this didn't belong to their jurisdiction at all, and their hands couldn't reach that far.

And today he came to see Zhou Andong because he received a call from Liu Lijuan yesterday. The new Factory Director attached great importance to education, and as soon as he took office, he solved the problem of the wages of school teaching staff.

Not only that, Factory Director Zhou also personally went to the school and teaching staff dormitory to inspect, and after witnessing the miserable living conditions of the teaching staff, he immediately decided to arrange a performance next Tuesday and invite all teaching staff to watch.

Because Liu Chunhua had always been very busy and didn't want to participate in the factory's struggle, he naturally didn't pay too much attention to the factory's affairs. So, after he received Liu Lijuan's call, he specifically went to understand the relevant situation.

The result was that Zhou Andong was indeed as Liu Lijuan said, not only solving the wage problem of the school teaching staff but even deciding to rebuild the teaching building and teaching staff dormitory, and it had already been put on the agenda.

He had seen some news reports about Zhou Andong in various media, so he wasn't completely ignorant about Zhou Andong. He knew that Zhou Andong was extremely concerned about and attached great importance to education, but deep in his heart, he still had a certain degree of doubt about this statement.

After all, the current social environment was like this, and he had never truly seen any leader who attached such importance to education. Moreover, Zhou Andong was also a businessman and had nothing to do with the education field.

In his concept, let alone private enterprise bosses, even state-owned enterprise leaders usually paid more attention to economic benefits and profits, and for things like education that seemed to have little to do with business operations, they usually wouldn't invest too much energy and resources. And Shi Guoqiang and Hu Dajun were living examples.

But when he learned about Zhou Andong's actions after taking office, and then collected quite a bit of news about Zhou Andong, his view underwent a fundamental change.

If Zhou Andong didn't have an extraordinary degree of importance attached to education, then even if he wanted to buy people's hearts, he would definitely not have hesitated to restore the teaching staff's wages just after taking office and not yet knowing the specific situation of the factory. This kind of decision-making not only required courage but also required a firm belief and a high sense of responsibility for the cause of education.

At this time, Liu Chunhua's heart was extremely respectful to Zhou Andong, so he came today, and he came without any avoidance. He wanted to tell everyone that he, Liu Chunhua, supported Factory Director Zhou.

Time was slowly pushed by an invisible hand, quietly passing minute by minute. When the hour hand of the quartz clock on the wall of Dong Wenjuan's office stopped at the eleven o'clock position, the door of Zhou Andong's office opened, and Liu Lijuan walked out from inside, first seeing Li Wancheng sitting against the wall.

"Comrade Li Wancheng, you're back so soon?"

Li Wancheng hurriedly stood up and said hurriedly, "Li Fang agreed, so I hurried back to report to the Factory Director."

Liu Lijuan sighed slightly. "Did you explain the pros and cons clearly to her?"

"I explained it clearly!" Li Wancheng's tone was low, carrying a trace of anger. "The child has never walked out of the shadow, and she very much hopes to be able to send Hu Gang to prison."

Liu Lijuan nodded and said softly, "You don't need to look for the Factory Director, follow me, come to my office, I have some things I need to explain to you."

"Factory Director Liu!" Liu Chunhua walked out of Dong Wenjuan's office and greeted Liu Lijuan very enthusiastically.

When Liu Lijuan saw Liu Chunhua, a strange look flashed in her eyes. Because Liu Lijuan knew very clearly in her heart that Liu Chunhua never participated in the power struggle within the factory, and would not choose a side. Especially since the Factory Director took office, Liu Chunhua's attitude had become even more obvious.

At Factory Director Zhou's inauguration meeting, although Liu Chunhua attended, he never showed his face in the factory after that. So, Liu Lijuan couldn't help but feel very surprised; why did Liu Chunhua suddenly come to find the Factory Director today, and even come so blatantly?

You must know that the current situation in the factory was extremely complex, and a slight carelessness could lead to being involved in it. At such a sensitive moment, Liu Chunhua's move was truly incomprehensible; could it be that he wasn't afraid of being misunderstood by some people, thinking that he had already chosen a side?

"Troupe Leader Liu!" Liu Lijuan's thoughts were like lightning, but the smile on her face didn't change at all, and she enthusiastically reached out her hand and said, "Coming to find the Factory Director to report on work?"

Liu Chunhua hurriedly stepped forward, tightly held Liu Lijuan's hand, and responded with a smile, "Yes, yesterday you notified me to prepare a performance, inviting the school teaching staff to watch on Tuesday. Some things couldn't be explained clearly on the phone, so I came to find you to chat in detail. As a result, when I arrived at your office, I found you weren't there, so I could only come to find the Factory Director."

Liu Lijuan's eyes flashed slightly. Everyone said Liu Chunhua's personality was straightforward, but looking at it today, this rumor was really not credible at all. This guy definitely didn't go to her office, but came straight to the Factory Director's place.

The smile on Liu Lijuan's face remained bright. "Since you've already come, then you can go directly to find the Factory Director. If you have any matters, he can directly make the final decision. If you tell me, I'll have to report to the Factory Director later anyway."

"I really didn't think that much." Liu Chunhua said with a smile, "Mainly because the performance is next Tuesday, and today is Thursday, counting today there are five days, the time is a bit tight, you weren't in the office, so I could only come to find the Factory Director."

At this time, Dong Wenjuan had already finished reporting to Zhou Andong and came out: "Troupe Leader Liu, the Factory Director lets you go in!"

Liu Lijuan said, "Alright, we can chat at any time, you should go see the Factory Director first."

"That's it, I'll go see the Factory Director first, we'll chat when we have time."

Liu Chunhua shook hands with Liu Lijuan again, then turned and came to the door of Zhou Andong's office, raised his hand, and knocked. Although he was only the Art Troupe Troupe Leader, he was also a national first-class actor, so everyone in the Woolen Mill was very polite to him.

Zhou Andong had some understanding of Liu Chunhua, so he was also pondering Liu Chunhua's purpose in suddenly running to his place. As for saying he was chatting about the performance on Tuesday, he reckoned that was just an excuse.

"Pa, pa, pa..."

The light knocking sound interrupted Zhou Andong's contemplation, and he looked up and shouted, "Come in!"

The office door was slowly pushed open, and Zhou Andong saw an old handsome guy walk in. ===== CHAPTER 2417 =====