"Hello, Secretary Huang, I'm Xing Baohua from the Logistics Department of the Municipal Machinery Factory. You can just call me Xiao Xing." Xing Baohua quickly introduced himself.

He continued, "Well, recently there have been directives to encourage contracting out businesses, and I'm thinking of finding a factory to contract out to give myself some experience."

Huang Shunan sized up Xing Baohua and said, "You're just a little rocket, thinking you can fly off the planet? You want to test yourself? Do you even have the ability? How old are you to want to contract a factory? There are so many factories in the city, why are you running around here?"

“Secretary Huang, this matter can’t be explained to you in a short time. Why don’t you come over and sit down so we can talk, or…” Xing Baohua was interrupted by the other party’s wave of his hand before he could finish speaking.

"There's nothing to discuss here. If you want to take on the contract, fine. Take your company's letter of introduction, write up some contracting documents, and go to the town to find the Party Secretary or the Mayor. Let them make the connections." Huang Shunan clearly didn't believe that this young man, Xing Baohua, had any real ability.

Even if the village factory is dilapidated, it's not something that just anyone can take over.

Xing Baohua happily rode away on his bicycle. He had found a place that met his location criteria. It wasn't far from the city, and even if the city expanded in twenty years, the factory would still be within the city limits.

Now he's going back to figure out how to raise money and get production equipment. There's some cash in Pitmont, but not much. He'll need to make an international long-distance call and wire it over.

Xing Baohua wasn't in a hurry; he hadn't prepared anything.

If he couldn't get the production equipment from Factory No. 4, he would find a machinery factory to customize a production line. The production lines in the 1950s and 60s were simple, all made according to the old Russian standards. They were sturdy, durable, and of excellent quality, but they were old and outdated.

During this period, apart from large enterprises that had robotic arms for semi-automated circuit board welding, small and medium-sized enterprises had none at all; everything was done manually. Of course, manual labor was cheap, but inefficient.

Xing Baohua didn't have the capability to build robotic arms or anything like that; it was a massive systems engineering project that one person couldn't handle. He wasn't going to bother with that; he'd wait until he had the money to buy one. Harbin University was quite famous for its research on this kind of thing, but he didn't know what level of technology they had reached at that time. He'd find some time to go and investigate.

Back at the shop, I ran into Zhao Shanhai again.

Were we specifically blocking him?

"Comrade Xing Baohua! I went back and did some research, let me tell you about it." Zhao Shanhai walked over and spoke before Xing Baohua had even finished parking his bicycle.

"Wait a minute, Director Zhao. I've been out all day and haven't even had a sip of water. Let me have some water first." Xing Baohua ignored him and went straight into the house.

When Xu Shuai saw him return, he said, "I've been waiting for you for a while."

"I understand. Xu Shuai, the refrigerator in the house looks okay, let's get it set up. It's getting hotter and hotter, we need to get some drinks and beer, or even just a watermelon to cool us down." Xing Baohua walked to the table, picked up a mug and started drinking, not caring whose mug it was.

"Hua Zi, I really can't do this. Why don't you go and take a look and see what's wrong? I've disassembled those machines several times, but I still can't find the problem," Xu Shuai said.

“I can’t fix it either. Really. You’ll have to be the mechanic to fix it,” Xing Baohua said.

“Alright, I’ll ask Master Gao to come over later. He’s your teacher after all. You can give him some tuition fees to teach you,” Xu Shuai said.

"No, you can learn it if you want, I'm not interested in that stuff," Xing Baohua said, waving his hand. He really didn't want to touch refrigerators or washing machines! He hadn't even secured his main job yet; why bother with that?

While drinking water and chatting with Xu Shuai, Zhao Shanhai walked in and turned his head to look at Xing Baohua.

After Xing Baohua put down the jar, he quickly took two steps and said, "Comrade Xing Baohua, let me tell you what I mean, listen to me."

"Okay, go ahead and say it, then hurry up and leave. I have a lot of things to do."

“If the factory adopts a contract system, I have 49% of the shares. I will contribute 3% as your technology investment, and you won’t have to pay a single penny,” Zhao Shanhai said, moving closer to Xing Baohua.

"I don't have any money! Forget about investing, it wouldn't sound good to others! Is my crappy horn worth 3% of the shares? But Director Zhao, how come you have 49% of the shares? Who's taking the lion's share?"

As Xing Baohua spoke, he tried to get information out of Director Zhao.

“The Municipal Machinery Bureau takes the lion’s share. And our factory doesn’t have to pay the contract fee, but the profits generated are still handed over according to the rules.” Zhao Shanhai said, shaking his head with a wry smile.

"Wait a minute, how much is the contract fee? Don't you have any idea what 51% of the shares is? And is the profit to be handed over the total profit or the profit distributed according to the shares?" Xing Baohua was really surprised. He had thought that Wusi Factory would have harsh conditions, but he didn't expect the conditions to be this harsh!

After handing over profits, what's left? Liabilities?

"It's not the total profit, but the profit after the share distribution. The Machinery Bureau will use a portion of the profit to support the retirement and medical expenses of the former No. 138 Cave Factory's sick and retired employees. They'll establish such a fund within the Machinery Bureau." Zhao Shanhai was going all out, with nothing to hide.

If Xing Baohua goes to the factory and discovers he was tricked into coming, the conflict between the two will escalate. It's better to be open and honest.

"Just to support those veteran employees, the Municipal Machinery Bureau actually demanded 51%. What a bastard set that condition!" Xing Baohua said angrily.

The factory already had nothing, yet they imposed such harsh conditions. They're trying to ensure that Factory No. 4 will never recover! Whoever takes over as factory director will be doomed. Luckily, I heard this person explain the details.

"Director Hou of the Machinery Bureau."

"Hou Liwei's father?" Xing Baohua asked again in surprise.

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