Chapter 833: Above, Answering to the State; Below, Answering to the Masses

Li Ye’s actions were much faster than Lai Jiayi had imagined; by the next morning, he had gathered all shift leaders and above for a meeting.

At the start of the meeting, Lu Zhizhang said: “Everyone’s here! Today we’re mainly discussing welfare housing allocation. Before we get into details, each department and shift should take down these employee housing registration forms.”

Then Xiao Zhiyu from the computer room began distributing a large stack of forms.

“Machine Maintenance Team, Workshop One, Team Leader Wang—you’ve got four people, right? That’s correct.”

“Transport Team, Team Leader Li—you’ve got twenty-six people, so twenty-six forms. Please take them.”

“.”

As the forms were distributed, everyone grew serious. Printers were still rare and valuable in those days; for thousands of employees across the entire factory, each person received a printed sheet—it looked incredibly “official.”

“After taking the forms back to your departments and teams, make sure to distribute them to every single employee and fill them out carefully as required. Now I’ll explain the key points for completion.”

Li Ye even set up a slide projector, projecting a magnified version of the housing registration form onto the white wall behind him.

“For the first item, you must state the current ownership status of your residence: whether it belongs to your parents, your spouse, or if you’re living with your children.”

“You must fill this out truthfully! Because once housing allocations are finalized, these details will be posted publicly outside each department and workshop. If anyone is caught falsifying information and reported, don’t blame the factory for being harsh.”

“For this housing allocation, first priority goes to actual housing conditions, second to seniority and age, third to marital status.”

As Li Ye carefully explained each point, Lai Jiayi’s expression grew colder and sharper.

She felt she’d been tricked.

Clearly, Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang had their own ideas about welfare housing—so why had they handed the research over to her?

And this move by Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang had shifted knowledge and oversight of welfare housing down to the shift and even individual level—absurd beyond belief.

Welfare housing was best handled by keeping workers confused about the rules—“special cases handled specially”—so management could manipulate and control outcomes.

If everyone knew the exact criteria, how could the allocation remain controllable? How could I give houses to my own people if there’s no room for maneuver?

In those days, many workers never knew why they were rejected; when they went to the housing office, they were ignored, given no explanation—just a flat “it’s the factory’s decision.”

And from Li Ye’s tone now, seniority, age, and per-capita living area were paramount—rank and position were pushed to fourth or fifth.

For decades, it was standard: only after a section chief got a new apartment would an old one be passed down to a team leader. Isn’t this turning things upside down?

Then Li Ye’s next words nearly made Lai Jiayi explode.

“I must emphasize this: we only recognize spouses and direct relatives. Don’t list distant relatives—cousins, nephews, aunts-in-law, sons-in-law.”

“You must also list the housing status of your direct relatives. It’s your business if you want to support your whole family, but that can’t be used as a reason for housing allocation.”

Lai Jiayi currently lived with her husband in one apartment—technically, she wasn’t eligible for another. But on her application, she claimed she lived with her in-laws and her daughter and son-in-law, in overcrowded conditions, and needed housing.

In reality, her in-laws owned an old apartment; if she got a new unit in Factory One, she’d move her daughter into the current one.

But under Li Ye’s new criteria, Lai Jiayi didn’t qualify for housing at all.

As the third-in-command of Factory One, she couldn’t get a new apartment? What kind of joke is this?

Lai Jiayi glanced at Lao Qi, Lao Li, and others in the audience.

She’d already spoken to them yesterday; now Li Ye’s actions confirmed her suspicions—they wouldn’t get housing either.

Lao Qi immediately raised his hand to speak.

“Deputy Factory Director Li, isn’t this housing standard too heartless? Parents and in-laws are old—living together makes care easier. Why must we draw such clear lines?”

Li Ye raised an eyebrow. “Lao Qi, if we don’t draw clear lines, it invites exploitation and breeds conflict. Soon everyone will compete over who has more relatives—how would we ever allocate fairly?”

“And if your parents or in-laws don’t own a home, of course they qualify for priority. But if they do own one, will they return it to the factory when the new unit is allocated?”

Lao Qi pursed his lips, weighed it quickly in his mind, and nodded. “If we get a new apartment, the old one should be returned to the factory.”

Lao Qi’s family currently lived in two rooms; swapping for a two-bedroom apartment would still be worthwhile.

But Li Ye’s next words stunned him.

“This situation must also be noted on the form. When you get the new apartment, just hand the old key over to Factory One’s General Office.”

Lao Qi’s parents lived in a unit owned by the main factory—how could he return it to Factory One’s office?

If he returned it, Factory One would effectively be helping the main factory ease its housing shortage.

Li Ye looked at several people frowning below, then explained again: “I know this seems heartless—you work at Factory One but still live in another unit’s dormitory.”

“But this is temporary. We’ll keep building welfare housing and aim to give every employee a new apartment within five years.”

Lao Qi looked at Li Ye, then turned away with resentment.

He believed Li Ye was deliberately making things hard.

But Li Ye had clarified the definition of direct relatives to prevent chaos, opportunism, and endless excuses.

Workers, driven by self-interest, could invent endless reasons to wheedle and beg—better to set clear rules upfront and first help those truly in housing distress.

If parents and children share only one apartment and still can’t get priority, how can we help families who already own two apartments but just live together?

“Ahem, let me add a few words.”

Lu Zhizhang took over from Li Ye, speaking plainly: “Under these new housing criteria, neither I nor Deputy Factory Director Li will participate in welfare housing allocation. Please understand the factory’s difficulties.”

“But what Li Ye said isn’t empty talk—we’ve invested tens of millions of U.S. dollars to import two advanced automobile production projects from Japan. If we all pull together, our profits will multiply several times over in five years—then a few apartments will be nothing.”

“Tens of millions of U.S. dollars? Good heavens—that’s even bigger than the main factory’s investment in Isuzu technology!”

“But the main factory’s Isuzu line still hasn’t started mass production, while we—”

“Can we compare? How much did you get paid last month? Don’t compare Factory One with the main factory—they’re not even in the same league.”

“.”

In any era, some people willingly swallow big promises—and Lu Zhizhang’s promise was real. When he finished, a wave of enthusiastic discussion erupted among the workers.

But Lai Jiayi stared at Li Ye in shock. She finally understood why, after returning from Japan, Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang still refused to raise the profit remittance to the main factory from three months to six.

They’d borrowed so much money, yet planned to give every worker a house—were they going to pour every cent into Factory One and leave zero profit for the main factory?

Lai Jiayi couldn’t help asking: “Deputy Factory Director Li, will Factory One have to repay this tens-of-millions-of-dollars debt? Won’t each worker end up owing thousands of dollars?”

The workers fell silent.

Tens of millions of U.S. dollars in debt was an enormous sum.

But Li Ye replied calmly: “No matter how this debt is repaid, no worker will pay a single cent—so don’t worry.”

“Hahahaha~”

“That’s right! If the sky falls, the factory takes the blame—why should we care?”

Li Ye looked again at Lai Jiayi and added: “Since its founding, Factory One has followed one principle: above, we answer to the state; below, we answer to the masses.”

“Every month we pay ten percent of our profits to the state as required—that’s our duty to the state.”

“When we make money, we improve workers’ housing and raise wages and bonuses—that’s our duty to the masses. So however Factory One develops, I have no regrets.”

“.”

The workers fell silent for a moment, then burst into applause.

They’d heard countless grand speeches from leaders since childhood, but Li Ye was one of the few who actually delivered and truly cared for the masses.

Yet Lai Jiayi didn’t understand why Li Ye said this now—she thought it was inappropriate timing.

But Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang exchanged a glance and smiled.

Workers’ mouths can’t be controlled—this phrase, “above, we answer to the state; below, we answer to the masses,” would spread through the entire factory within days.

Factory One’s imported projects had exceeded expectations; someone would surely accuse Ma Zhao and Li Ye of acting unilaterally.

When that happened, if anyone accused Factory One of “reckless borrowing” or “blind overreach,” we could retort:

“You’re so capable—do you answer to the state? Do you answer to the masses?”

“I do. You don’t. Then what’s left to say?”