Chapter 84

In the compound, gloomy clouds covered the sky.

The lighting in the conference room was not very good. The dim light cast on the wooden chairs, making the atmosphere even more serious.

A middle-aged man with slightly wrinkled eyes quietly flipped through the petition in his hand.

There were two rows of people sitting on both sides, all silent.

As the page of the petition was turned, there was a rustling sound.

The staff member in charge of adding tea and water pushed the door open and saw this atmosphere. His already light movements became even lighter, and he quietly carried a green thermos and shuttled between the leaders attending the meeting.

Boiling water was poured into a white porcelain cup with floral patterns, and wisps of white smoke rose up.

The middle-aged man closed the petition and began to look through the internal reference again, folding a corner of an article to mark it. After reading both manuscripts, he put them on the table and asked with a smile: "What do you think about the Fourth Food Factory?"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one was willing to be the first to speak.

The middle-aged man turned his gaze to Editor-in-Chief Xu who was sitting next to him:

"Editor-in-Chief Xu, was this article in the internal reference recommended by you?"

As expected, Editor-in-Chief Xu pushed up his glasses and said, "It should be a submission. It's quite interesting."

That article was written by Chen Lanjun. It started with how the rural contract responsibility system stimulated productivity, and wrote about how the institutional reforms greatly liberated productivity. It was well-reasoned and the tone was very positive. The main purpose was to improve people's living standards, make the country prosperous, and so on.

Although the article was good, Editor-in-Chief Xu pondered over it for a long time and still did not dare to publish it directly in the newspaper. Instead, he submitted the manuscript to an internal reference magazine.

Newspapers and magazines in the early days of reform and opening up were very outspoken, especially in the south. The whole atmosphere had a sense of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend", so Chen Lanjun's anonymous article did not seem particularly unusual when published here.

Those who want to pay attention will naturally pay attention to it. As for those who don’t want to pay attention to it, since it is an internal publication with limited influence and does not involve the general public, just pretend that this article never existed.

Now, the article has been noticed by city leaders.

Editor-in-Chief Xu was not as calm as she appeared. Although the city leader was a reformist, what if she bet on the wrong horse? Even if there was no major impact, a small bad impression would be enough to make her suffer.

However, if she bets right, she will be awarded the title of being the first to report on the corporate contracting system, which is also a huge achievement.

She answered, staring at the city leader a little nervously, waiting for a response.

However, the city leader was not in a hurry. Instead, he picked up the teacup, blew away the hot steam, and slowly took a sip of tea.

During the few seconds when the city leaders were drinking tea, Chief Editor Xu's mind flashed back to the confident expression on Chen Lanjun's face when she handed the article to her. She prayed silently in her heart that this girl seemed to always have good luck, and she hoped that this time would be just as smooth.

After finishing his tea, the city leader said slowly, "Are those workers still waiting outside?"

The secretary nodded and said, "Yes, but they are all very quiet, not noisy or noisy."

If there was anyone making noise, we could use the excuse to call for people to drive them away, but they really didn't make any noise. They just sat on the curb holding a small banner, and brought melon seeds and newspapers to put the shells in!

The city leader seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "Then let's ask their representatives to come in. Oh, it's been so long, the factory director should have come here too, so let's ask them both to come in together."

Outside the compound, Director Qian rushed over with his hands on his hips, shouting until his voice was hoarse: "Go! If you continue to do this here, you will be given a serious warning and fired! What, aren't you afraid that it will be left in your files?"

He was answered by the crisp sound of a melon seed shell cracking.

Mujie in the workshop was chewing melon seeds with her mouth full of fragrance. She spat the shells into the newspaper roll with a nonchalant "Puh".

"You keep repeating these two sentences. I'm already sitting here. If I leave now, you won't take it seriously? Do you think I'm your child?"

With just one sentence, she calmed down two or three workers who were worried and slightly unsteady in their stance.

Yes, with Director Qian's character, even if we listen to him and leave now, will he not bring up the past?

Dream on.

Since they had already offended him, there was no turning back. They had no choice but to offend him to death, or else they would suffer the consequences. So the two of them sat more firmly on their seats.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade this stubborn old man, Director Qian turned to glare at the younger Atong.

"Tong Tong! Do you really want to rebel?"

Atong's demeanor was still the same as before, but her attitude was firm: "Director Qian, I don't want to do it, but you forced us to do it. It doesn't matter if I don't want to be a supply and marketing department cadre or even get fired, but I have to give the bonuses I promised to my fellow workers."

"You!" Director Qian became angry and raised his hand to hit someone, but was stopped by the quick-eyed and quick-handed Mu Jie.

"What are you doing? How dare you beat people at the gate of this compound! Guards, guards, someone is beating up the people!"

The sharp voice disturbed the original peace, and the patrol officer nearby immediately rushed over and shouted: "What are you doing! Be quiet!"

Amid the quarrel, the secretary came out, found out the cause of the quarrel and the people involved, and then took Director Qian and Atong in.

There was a car not far across the street with its window half down, just enough to see what was going on.

"Sister Lan, Atong and Director Qian have been called in! Nothing will happen, right?" Pang Xiaopeng, who was sitting in the back row, turned his head nervously to look at Chen Lanjun.

Chen Lanjun was reading a required course textbook. Upon hearing this, she glanced outside and observed for a moment.

She retracted her gaze and looked back at the textbook. "It was the secretary who came out to call someone. His attitude was not bad. It's probably the city leader who wanted to meet someone to discuss things in person."

Pang Xiaopeng seemed to be hesitant to speak, with a conflicted look on his face.

"Just say whatever you want to say." Chen Lanjun said without raising her head.

Pang Xiaopeng moved closer to her: "Sister Lan, are you really not worried?"

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'When faced with a crisis, stay calm.'"

Chen Lanjun closed the book and tapped Xiao Peng's forehead with her finger: "The more things you have to do, the more you need to be quiet. There will be many more important things for you to deal with in the future."

Even if you are nervous inside, don't show it on the surface, otherwise you will lose momentum.

She caught a glimpse of Shao Qinghe's upturned mouth in the front row and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Shao Qinghe put one hand on the steering wheel, in a very casual posture. The rearview mirror was adjusted, and the small lens just reflected Chen Lanjun's reflection.

He stared at the reflection and smiled slightly: "Learn from Comrade Chen Lanjun."

Chen Lanjun was amused by this sentence and curled the corners of her mouth slightly.

Pang Xiaopeng's attention was still outside, and he only asked, "Indeed, I still have a lot to learn."

After enduring for a while, she finally couldn't help herself and asked, "What will they say if we ask them to go?"

Chen Lanjun thought for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. But Atong just needs to tell us what we should say. Since he is a pragmatic person, he should know the significance of contracting."

Chen Lanjun had an impression of this city leader. He had always been a staunch reformer who would step over minefields to do anything that was beneficial to the people and the country.

That's why she dared to plan such a thing.

The most important thing for Atong this time is to say one sentence, which is also the most important sentence.

There was an undercurrent in the conference room.

The city leader asked Director Qian and Atong about the origin of the incident. After listening, he said, "Both of you actually wanted to do good for the factory."

"That's right!" Factory Director Qian said first, "Some comrades, secretly instigating people to go on strike, are seriously disrupting production order!"

Atong was too lazy to pay attention to him and said, "My fellow workers and I are all thinking about the construction of the factory. We have the confidence and ability to do it, as long as there is no interference from the ever-changing superiors."

She took a deep breath and said the important words that Sister Lan had told her: "As long as the Fourth Food Factory can be contracted to us, we guarantee that we can pay three times the profit next year!"