Chapter 617: Breaking the Deadlock in a Year of Disaster

He Yuzhu had completely buried himself in the tractor and water pump project during this period, so busy he barely touched the ground.

He recruited talent everywhere to expand production capacity; with those millions of tons of steel smelting furnaces in his hands, the steel supply issue was finally resolved, and with no more worries, he directly ordered the entire factory to work in three shifts, keeping the machines running continuously—the people rested, but the machines did not.

Not long after, a tough task was handed down from above: to produce extra-large water pumps, the kind that could draw water directly from the great rivers.

He Yuzhu scratched his head.

He truly could not spare the hands to develop large diesel engines, so after pondering it over and over, he set his sights on those captured tanks.

Liu Xiaohua had previously taken away ten, and there were still over thirty lying in his space, along with twenty-five spare engines.

He gritted his teeth and decided to just use these tank engines, wrap them in a shell to serve as power, and pair them with the large water pumps.

After tinkering for a while, he actually managed to pull it off.

When he handed these dozens of big machines over to Secretary Liu, the Secretary circled the water pumps three times, his eyes turning red and his voice trembling: "In the Northwest, with these things, we can draw Yellow River water into the fields. How much land, how many crops—they are saved!"

Starting from January, the Tractor Factory of the Red Star Rolling Mill could produce twenty thousand sets of pumping equipment every month.

These things were of great use; batches of water pumps were shipped to severely drought-stricken areas, and those winter wheat crops that were about to wither to death finally saw water.

At the same time, Chen Xueru's clothing factory also saw orders explode.

The order volume for January shot straight up to thirty thousand pieces.

That shrewd and capable Chen Xueru had returned; now she walked with a spring in her step, spoke with confidence, and had a light in her eyes.

This day, He Yuzhu returned home and, seeing her enter, couldn't help but tease: "It used to be you waiting for me, now it's me waiting for you. It's truly not easy to see Factory Director Chen these days."

Chen Xueru took off her coat and hung it up, her eyes and brows smiling: "The leaders of the foreign trade department came to me, saying that since I've secured such a large order, I should pull up three other clothing factories in Beijing that are on the verge of bankruptcy. I do want to acquire them, but I'm afraid that these orders might disappear one day, and then what would I use to support so many people?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said: "The domestic market is huge, don't be afraid! We are suffering from a disaster now, but that doesn't mean it will last forever; the disaster situation should ease up by next year or the year after."

Chen Xueru's eyes lit up: "You still want me to make work uniforms?"

He Yuzhu nodded: "I'll state my position today: our factory will order sixty thousand work uniforms from you. But you don't need to deliver them immediately; just give them to us slowly when you have no other work."

Chen Xueru rushed over and hugged him, laughing: "Having a husband who is a factory director is truly great."

He Yuzhu comforted her: "If the state asks you to take over those dying clothing factories, just take them. For many years to come, it will be a seller's market."

"You are so accurate; the leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Trade said the same thing, telling me not to worry about the domestic market and to focus on exports. Also, they won't restrict our cloth quotas." Chen Xueru smiled very happily.

"That's wonderful, wouldn't you be making a fortune then?" He Yuzhu raised an eyebrow.

"We might earn three hundred thousand this month." Chen Xueru lifted her chin, looking proud.

"What? Is making clothes that profitable?" He Yuzhu was very surprised, "Our factory only makes two million in profit a month, and that's a big factory with forty or fifty thousand people. You can earn so much with only two or three thousand people?"

"We are exporting!" Chen Xueru smiled like a flower, "Zhuzi, hurry up and get us some grain; the staff is working three shifts, and their bodies can't take it. High-priced grain is fine too."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "I'll give you one hundred thousand catties first. But this grain is something I obtained privately, so you have to pay me."

Chen Xueru chuckled: "Then let the grain money be owed for now."

He Yuzhu glared: "That's called damaging the private to benefit the public. If you owe me, what will I use to get grain elsewhere?"

Chen Xueru pouted: "I don't believe you can't get it! We did earn three hundred thousand this month, but just thinking about taking over those three or four clothing factories gives me a headache; I have to keep some working capital in the account, right?"

He Yuzhu had no choice but to nod.

"Take A Zheng back to the Ninety-five Courtyard. My parents haven't been well lately and can't look after him." Chen Xueru suddenly remembered.

Little He Zheng, upon hearing this, pursed his little mouth and burst into tears.

Chen Xueru hurriedly squatted down to coax him: "A Zheng, don't be afraid, Mom will come home to see you no matter how late it is every day, and hold you while you sleep."

The little guy then sobbed and stopped crying.

He Yuzhu took his son back to the Siheyuan.

Unexpectedly, this time, He Zheng played quite well with He Yulu, the two of them chasing the little dog in the courtyard, giggling non-stop.

A few months passed in a flash, the sky still hadn't rained, and food became increasingly scarce.

He Yuzhu's Red Star Rolling Mill still issued over twenty catties of grain and over ten catties of dried fish to its staff every month; this benefit made the surrounding brother units jealous to the point of bleeding.

Units with not-so-close relationships and superior departments that didn't usually interact all came to the door to beg for favors.

He Yuzhu gave them nothing; want to take things? Fine, bring something useful from your factory to trade.

It was easy to dismiss related units, but it was difficult when superior departments came asking for grain.

If you don't give it, they'll turn around and strangle you; if you do give it, once this precedent is set, the entire factory's grain reserves would be emptied in a few days.

He Yuzhu had just sent away a few groups of people when Secretary Liu's call came through.

"Zhuzi, the superior units really are in a difficult spot; you should help if you can. Otherwise, if you run into any trouble in the future, why would people speak well for you?"

He Yuzhu was silent for a while and spoke the truth: "We are currently working three shifts to rush production, sending out batches of water pumps and diesel engines. If we suddenly cut off the grain and meat for the staff, everyone will lose their motivation, the task won't be completed, and who will take responsibility for that?"

Secretary Liu paused on the other end, knowing he was truly in a difficult position, and softened his tone: "In this case, if any superiors come to you for things in the future, give them my number directly and have them come to me."

He Yuzhu was stunned, his heart warming up, and he hurriedly added: "Leader, it's not actually that I'm stingy, it's that I'm afraid once this precedent is set, it won't be stoppable. How about this, Liushi Trading Company will soon ship in two hundred tons of flour; if you help me fend off those beggars, will that work?"

"Good!"

He Yuzhu could feel the sudden surge of excitement on the other end through the phone.

He added another sentence: "Do you want whales? There should be about a hundred tons."

Secretary Liu's voice went up an octave: "Whales? That thing is a treasure from head to tail! The oil can be refined into lubricating oil, the meat can serve as rations, and the bones ground into powder are all good things! Where can you find that these days? Yes! Where is it? I have to go see it myself!"

He Yuzhu was willing to take them out because those gray whales in his space were simply too gluttonous.

A lot of the fish he had collected before were almost eaten up by them.

How could he have so much food to feed these big guys? He might as well slaughter them and let everyone eat meat.

Qianmen Small Courtyard.

Xiaomei dragged her exhausted body home; the house had a cold stove and was pitch black.

She had been working continuously at the factory for several days and would just nap on the hard board bed in the breakroom when tired.

Having worked for Chen Xueru for seven or eight years, she was gradually entrusted with more responsibility because she was sharp.

This time, Chen Xueru swallowed up several clothing factories in Beijing and couldn't spare herself, so she sent her to manage production at a branch factory.

The time spent working overtime increased even more. Xu Damao simply stopped returning to this home.

The courtyard gate was suddenly knocked upon.

She had just laid down to sleep, so she threw on some clothes and pulled open the door; seeing it was Yan Jiefang, she couldn't help but yawn: "Xu Damao hasn't returned, what business do you have with him?"

Yan Jiefang scratched his head and said in a lowered voice: "Didn't you ask me to look into his affairs in the countryside? I made a trip and found out. He is keeping a mistress outside, a widow with a boy of four or five years old."