Chapter 282: Wealth in the Deep Mountains Brings Distant Relatives (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Because of the factory in the Mainland, Wu Feng's connection with his hometown had never been severed.

In the name of the factory, he cooperated with the local government back home to recruit about four hundred to eight hundred workers every year.

For this reason, his mother received some special consideration and became a minor official at the county Labor Bureau.

She was specifically responsible for maintaining contact with the factory in Pengcheng.

Her main task was to hope that the factory would increase its recruitment efforts, the more people recruited, the better.

According to Sanjiu, back home, people were almost breaking their heads trying to fight for a recruitment quota.

If it weren't for the factory's requirements that the townships where the workers came from were guaranteed a certain number of spots each time, it was feared that the lower-level townships wouldn't even get a single quota.

There was no helping it; the treatment and benefits at the factory were simply too good.

The base salary was at least two hundred a month, and with various overtime pay and subsidies, one could bring home at least three hundred and fifty.

The dormitories and cafeteria at the factory were quite cheap, and the various recreational facilities were becoming increasingly complete.

They had even started building kindergartens and primary schools, and there was no shortage of things like hospitals.

It could be said that the interior of the factory was a small residential community with complete living facilities!

As long as one didn't envy the flashy world outside, one could save at least three thousand big ocean dollars a year.

Three thousand yuan at this moment was truly a large sum of money in a small county in the central provinces!

When calling to wish him a Happy New Year, Sanjiu laughed and said that in their home village, most of the families with workers in the factory planned to build new houses after the New Year.

For the families of workers in the county seat, their living conditions had improved significantly, and they could even help their younger brothers and sisters either with their studies or by buying local factory recruitment quotas; the changes were quite obvious.

Right now, the county government back home placed great importance on the factory's recruitment quotas.

There were even young people who had just been assigned jobs who wanted to take unpaid leave to come to the Pengcheng factory as workers.

"Sanjiu, you must keep a tight grip on things; don't recruit any trash or scoundrels!"

On the phone, Wu Feng spoke very bluntly: "Guys like that are just like a rat turd in a pot of soup; they have a pile of problems themselves and can easily corrupt the atmosphere of the factory!"

"If any problems arise, who knows if the people back home will blame the factory!"

Wu Feng didn't care about people using connections, but the key was that the workers recruited this way had to abide by the production and living rules set by the factory.

"Rest assured, I already made this clear to the county government back home!"

Sanjiu said confidently: "If they aren't qualified, we'll just send them back!"

"At that time, the vacated recruitment quota won't be subject to the government's restrictions!"

"Dafeng, you don't need to worry about the county government back home being dissatisfied; there are plenty of surrounding counties that are green with envy that our county government has a proper labor dispatch partnership!"

Wu Feng laughed along; it seemed Sanjiu's methods in handling recruitment affairs in the home county were quite flexible, which was just right.

Regardless, his purpose in opening a factory in the Mainland and immediately establishing a labor dispatch partnership with his home county government was to help the local folks.

He didn't want to end up in a situation where he was wholeheartedly trying to do good to repay his hometown, only to have it fail because of all sorts of messy business, and end up getting himself into trouble.

One could only say that the folks in the Mainland were still relatively simple at this time, and their moral bottom line hadn't yet dropped as low as it would later.

At this time, there were already over twelve hundred workers from his hometown at the Pengcheng factory, not including the retired soldiers.

If it weren't for the fact that the factory scale was constantly expanding and these workers from home were scattered and settled, they might have banded together to form cliques and caused a bunch of unnecessary trouble.

After all, the factory Boss was their fellow townsman, and the factory Sales Department Manager was also their fellow townsman.

With such a relationship, it was sometimes truly difficult to manage them strictly.

Sanjiu was busy with work and couldn't possibly keep an eye on these workers from home at all times.

Fortunately, the current situation was still quite good; at least there hadn't been any cases of people using their connections to throw their weight around.

"By the way, Dafeng, there are more and more workers from home resigning from the factory!"

After chatting for a while, Sanjiu brought up a new situation: "They all want to go out and try their luck in Pengcheng!"

"Try their luck at what?"

Wu Feng sneered: "I suppose they feel that working in the factory has no 'money-making prospects'?"

"Also, don't think I don't know that they are very dissatisfied with the county government back home taking a cut from their wages, right?"

Sanjiu gave an awkward laugh, which counted as tacitly admitting his statement.

"Since they have such grand ambitions, there's no need for us to stop them!"

Wu Feng said indifferently: "For this matter, Sanjiu, have the factory side make it clear to the resident liaison officer from back home, and give the recruitment quotas of these resigned employees back to the hometown!"

At this time, for labor export partnerships like the one between the Mainland factory and the home county, the county government back home would certainly send resident officials to keep an eye on things.

The first resident official was Sanjiu, and the current one was the second.

"Is it really okay to do this?"

Sanjiu hesitated for a moment before saying: "You should have heard about the environment outside; it's not that friendly to outsiders!"

"Sanjiu, we just need to do our own job well!"

Wu Feng said slowly: "Managing too much not only invites resentment, but they might even think we are blocking their path to riches, and in the end, it could turn into enmity!"

"Then, we can't just ignore them completely, right?"

Sanjiu still hesitated: "After all, they were brought out by us!"

"Then have them sign a supplementary agreement!"

Wu Feng said directly: "Make them and their families sign it!"

"Well, that's the only way then!"

Sanjiu wasn't a fool; although he had the connection with Wu Feng, his ability had been recognized by the entire Mainland factory group, otherwise, how could he be the head of such an important department as the Sales Department?

The main responsibility of the factory's Sales Department was to deal with state-run department stores in various places.

Anyone who knows anything about the early nineties in the Mainland knows that state-run department stores were not easy to deal with; they were all incredibly arrogant and haughty.

The Mainland factory's products certainly didn't have to worry about sales at this time, but the necessary networking still had to be done.

It was also because he had traveled all over the country that his knowledge and experience had increased.

This was why he was quite uneasy about those workers back home who wanted to leave the factory to strike out on their own.

It can only be said that the sense of responsibility in Sanjiu's generation is exceptionally strong.

At the same time, they are also quite kind-hearted, full of empathy, and cannot bear to see the suffering of the world.

Wu Feng had grown accustomed to the restlessness and indifference of people in later generations, and in Hong Kong, he had also seen plenty of unsavory, underhanded dealings; although his conscience remained, he could not bring himself to be overly sentimental.

"Sanjiu, you must make it clear to those workers back home who are voluntarily resigning to leave!"

After thinking for a moment, Wu Feng cautioned: "Once they go out to venture on their own, they must not use the name of the factory group; otherwise, don't blame the factory for being heartless if something happens!"

"Dafeng, isn't that a bit extreme?"

Sanjiu did not quite understand and asked curiously: "Did you hear something?"

"Just taking precautions!"

Wu Feng smiled faintly: "There is no need to mention the reputation of the Mainland factory in Pengcheng; it is absolutely well-known!"

"If things develop well, it is no exaggeration to say that our factory group alone could support the entire economy of Shekou in the future!"

"At the same time, we have spent a great deal of energy and cost to build the reputation of the factory group!"

"I certainly don't want the reputation we worked so hard to build to be ruined overnight by the reckless actions of some resigned workers; that would be a massive loss!"

Seeing that Sanjiu did not speak, it was clear he did not quite agree with his reasoning.

Wu Feng smiled, not minding to explain patiently: "Sanjiu, you must know the situation in Pengcheng better than I do; describing it as a place where dragons and snakes mingle is not an exaggeration at all!"

"There are many people willing to work honestly and steadily, but there are also no shortage of those who take crooked paths and look for shortcuts!"

"Think about it, are those workers back home who want to voluntarily resign and go out to venture on their own really law-abiding folks? I am just preventing trouble before it happens!"

In the Mainland of the nineties, the general moral standard was still relatively high.

If a criminal appeared in a family, it was a truly terrible disaster.

Not to mention the immense public pressure the family would face, even the local village committee and the township would have their names tarnished; it would be no exaggeration to say it was a disgrace to the entire family line.

"Alright then, I will follow up on it!"

Sanjiu was silent for a long time before speaking slowly.

Hanging up the somewhat hot receiver, Wu Feng gave a faint, bitter smile and didn't take it to heart.

If Sanjiu didn't have this kind of character, he really wouldn't dare to entrust him with so much!

In fact, the eldest uncle and second uncle, who were also back home, had long since used various connections—especially their relationship with his mother—to send word to Wu Feng: they also wanted to go to the Pengcheng factory!

They claimed that since they were all relatives, it would be more reassuring to have them there to keep an eye on things.

Wu Feng didn't pay them any mind at all; as for how these two uncles might badmouth their nephew back home, he couldn't be bothered to care, as he couldn't hear it anyway.

Once the Mainland factory group's momentum grew and Sanjiu's status rose with it, the two uncles changed their tune: with such a large operation, if there weren't a few of their own people, it would be easy for outsiders to take advantage!

This time, Wu Feng didn't even bother to acknowledge them.

Neither the eldest uncle nor the second uncle were easy to deal with; they had long since shown their nature of putting profit first.

They both had proper, steady jobs and were part of the glorious worker class of this era.

They were not close to his mother or the rest of the family; otherwise, when Wu Feng sent his mother back home, he wouldn't have had to call Sanjiu to pick her up at the provincial capital train station.

If they wanted to advance further in the factory back home, or even become cadres, it wouldn't have been difficult for Wu Feng to help them with his current influence.

But as for them wanting to come to the Pengcheng factory group, that was out of the question—it was impossible.

In fact, after Wu Feng's Mainland factory group became a hit, his mother told him that all sorts of relatives had been coming to ask for favors.

For those with decent relationships, his mother helped out where she could.

For other relatives who were hard to refuse, Sanjiu was responsible for handling them.

As for the rest, they were relatives in name only.

They were so distantly related, or had such significant problems and flaws, that his mother and Sanjiu wouldn't dare let them disturb Wu Feng.

(End of chapter)