Chapter 419: A physician cannot heal himself

"They are just confused for a moment and have gone astray..."

"I will go talk to Guo Guo Tianyong right now; I'll solve the problem in an hour."

The saying "a physician cannot heal himself" has been proven to be a golden rule since ancient times.

It is not that the physician's medical skills are not good, but that as a human being with seven emotions and six desires, they cannot cast aside the selfish thoughts in their hearts.

Many smart people, when helping others analyze a matter, can hit the nail on the head very sharply and make precise judgments.

But if this matter falls on their own heads, they often involuntarily harbor lucky thoughts, fantasizing about the matter in the best direction, or even an unrealistic direction.

For example, a child playing the stock market, when seeing the stocks in others' hands start to fall, will immediately make a sound suggestion: "Sell quickly, run quickly."

But when the stocks in their own hands start to fall, their first reaction is probably: "It will rise back in a few days."

Take another example, an older unmarried youth who always feels: "As long as I lower my requirements a little, I'll easily be a hot commodity." But in fact, the requirement they lowered doesn't even have a shred of sincerity.

Factory Manager Wang, at this moment, harbored lucky thoughts, his mind full of fantasies, thinking that by lowering his posture a little, he could return to the past.

He first left the office and walked to the playground, saying with a firm face: "Everyone go back first; in any case, production cannot be delayed. In addition, after work, the leaders of each morale group stay behind to discuss and solve the problem together."

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds... no one spoke, no one dispersed. Everyone stood on the playground, staring straight at Factory Manager Wang.

"Isn't it just that wages were paid a few days late? What are you doing?"

"Who is it? Who instigated and incited you to interrupt production and violate discipline..."

"Return to the workshop immediately now, and I can let bygones be bygones. If you do not listen to instructions, your monthly bonus will be deducted."

By this time, no matter how slow Wang Qinshan was, he knew that things were serious. This must be someone pushing behind the scenes; otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence, and how could they be so united?

But even if he used the method of deducting bonuses, everyone remained motionless.

"Sasha, sasha, sasha..."

A fine autumn rain suddenly fell from the sky, and in a moment, it shrouded the entire playground in a misty fog.

Everyone's hair and clothes were soon soaked by the fine rain, and the damp, cold air gathered and flowed along their skin, finally pouring into the workers' shoes.

But even so, they all stood quietly and neatly on the playground like lifeless terracotta warriors; only their occasionally blinking eyes revealed their status as living people.

Factory Manager Wang suddenly felt a strong sense of fear. These workers at this moment were erupting with the very "power of unity" he had always emphasized.

But this power was used on him, the factory manager.

"What exactly do you want to do? Speak! Speak! Speak!!!"

No one answered.

In the damp, cold rain curtain, only Factory Manager Wang's irritable and panicked voice echoed alone.

Li Ye received the specific news on the third day. Li Li Dayong and Pei Pei Wenhui participated in the negotiation meeting held by both sides at the Changbei Machinery Factory and obtained first-hand information.

"Brother, that Factory Manager Wang repeatedly guaranteed that he would absolutely not interfere with the Hong Kong side's technological research, sales, and operations in the future, and that he would accept whatever they did to him, as long as the Hong Kong side injected funds again, so the factory wouldn't stop production and could return to a state of healthy operation."

"But not to mention that Guo Guo Tianyong doesn't believe it, even the relevant departments don't believe it, because you can't imagine what a big hole they dug in the few months they pushed us aside—millions..."

"That Zhu Caide ran away, taking away nearly 300,000 in business expenses, leaving only a stack of IOUs. Guess whose signature is on those IOUs?"

Li Ye listened with great interest. This person Wang Qinshan was not a qualified factory manager, but he had the commonality of many factory managers in this era—bold, and when facing responsibility, always wanting to turn big problems into small ones and small ones into nothing.

While Li Ye was racking his brains writing the script for the anti-Japanese war drama, he asked Li Li Dayong casually: "Then what did Guo Guo Tianyong do?"

Li Li Dayong nodded and said: "Guo Guo Tianyong actually thought the same as you, Brother. This time, we must take the opportunity to take the controlling stake of Changbei."

"So he proposed two points at the negotiation meeting: Wang Qinshan's behavior violated our cooperation agreement; either compensate according to the agreement, or we withdraw our capital."

When Li Ye's Seres Company spent money to form a joint venture with Changbei, they didn't get the controlling stake. After all, the general environment at that time was like that.

But there was a clause in the cooperation agreement: if one party unilaterally breached the contract and caused operational losses, the other party had the right to propose withdrawing shares.

The Hong Kong side had invested real money and foreign exchange. Withdrawing capital at this time—not to mention that the foreign exchange had long been exchanged by the regulatory authorities, even if RMB were returned, no one would take this responsibility.

Li Ye finished writing a section of the script and said indifferently: "Don't be in a hurry about this matter. If we don't achieve our goal, it's better to be content with the status quo. If others bow and apologize and want us to pay, that's dreaming while awake!"

Li Li Dayong nodded and said: "I know, Brother. But what if they really agree to let us withdraw shares? The research center we set up is just at the time of recruiting troops. If we lose the golden signboard of the joint venture factory..."

"They won't," Li Ye said firmly. "Wang Qinshan isn't worth that much. Losing a few million or losing one person—anyone can see that clearly."

No one would take the responsibility for withdrawing capital, but someone could take the responsibility for breach of contract and mismanagement, and Wang Qinshan was just right.

However, the development of the matter was much slower than Li Ye expected. Guo Guo Tianyong and the interior side went through many negotiations, and in the end, the Changbei Machinery Factory was completely shut down for more than half a month before finally reaching the set goal with difficulty.

The Hong Kong Seres Company invested some funds again, increasing its shareholding ratio from the original 49% to 66%. The management rights of the Changbei Machinery Company finally fell to the Hong Kong side.

The temperature in Beijing drops below zero every year in the second half of November.

Before the first snow of winter arrived, the two things Li Ye was concerned about had reached the stage of drawing to a close.

The filming of the movie "Spring Returns Again" had reached its end, and the Changbei Machinery Company, which had been shut down for more than half a month, had also set the date for restarting production.

Coincidentally, the final filming location for "Spring Returns Again" was in the countryside near the Changbei Machinery Factory.

So when Li Li Dayong asked Li Ye if he was going to attend the resumption meeting of the Changbei Machinery Company, Li Ye readily agreed.

When it was November 21st, Li Ye arrived at the Changbei Machinery Company and sat with Wu Yan and others from the technical department.

Last time because of drinking, Wu Yan and this bunch of tech guys were all won over by Li Ye, and this time when they saw Li Ye, they were all very affectionate.

"Brother, why haven't you come to play for so long? We've all been waiting for you to come again!"

"I haven't graduated yet! How can I compare to you guys being free and easy? But I'm free today; let's have a drink together tonight."

"Hmm, have a drink, but each person can only drink half a jin. Since you came last time, our mentor set this rule. Whoever dares to drink more will have their bonus deducted..."

"Damn, bonus deduction? Is it that ruthless?"

"That's for sure, two or three hundred at a time. That's not drinking, that's drinking gold!"

"I say, Group Leader Wu, your monthly bonus has reached two or three hundred?"

"Hehe, we work hard, so people are generous. I'm treating tonight; order whatever you want to eat. Let me tell you, don't look at us eating in the cafeteria here, but that cook is a master chef invited from Beijing, the taste is superb..."

Li Ye was chatting with Wu Yan and others in the audience while aiming at Wang Qinshan in the front row.

Although Wang Qinshan was no longer the factory manager, he still bore an important task—clearing debts.

Although the accounts of the Changnan Trading Company were all pinned on the runaway Zhu Huaide, the forged signatures on those IOUs were all related to Wang Qinshan.

Therefore, Wang Qinshan had no way to follow the usual practice of moving to another place to serve as a unit head, and could only stay in Changbei to collect debts.

This was the result of coordination from many parties; otherwise, he wouldn't be sitting on the stool in front right now, but eating steamed buns behind some iron bars.

It's just that Li Ye was quite impressed by Wang Qinshan's straight back.

The investigation team checked him for half a month, and he really didn't embezzle a single cent.

So he might feel... he has a clear conscience!

The time had come, Guo Guo Tianyong went on stage to speak, and the audience suddenly became quiet.

In the more than half a month of shutdown, it was no exaggeration to say that Changbei was in a state of panic. No one knew if the prosperous days of the past could ever return.

However, Guo Guo Tianyong only used two sentences to stir up the atmosphere.

"I won't talk about production; you wouldn't understand if I told you. I'll just talk about wages and housing."

"We guarantee to increase the employees' wages by another 20% within one year."

"We will build three dormitory buildings within one year. Newlywed young people will have priority in applying, so friends who haven't received their marriage certificates yet should hurry up and propose to their girlfriends' families..."

"Clap, clap, clap, clap..."

The applause was like thunder. All the workers stood up, clapping excitedly with flushed faces.

And Wang Qinshan, sitting in the front row, suddenly hunched over and couldn't sit straight anymore.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 420 =====