Chapter 433: Nothing Stops: What's Next?

Nemtsov was indeed acting like he was on steroids.

He went back to his room, put down his luggage, tidied up briefly, and when he came out again, Secretary Fang said that he must be tired from his journey and should rest first, and that a welcome banquet would be held for him that evening.

This guy simply emphasized, "I'm not tired, I don't need to rest."

Well, now that things have come to this, Wang Xiao just wanted to facepalm. Dude, where's your social skills? Weren't you quite adept at handling things in Russia?

Nemtsov realized something was wrong after blurting it out; the host must have had their own arrangements.

As he was pondering how to smooth things over, Secretary Fang spoke first with a smile: "Since you're not tired, let's have a meeting first and explain the situation."

Once at the table, Nemtsov experienced his first shock.

It's not that the Jiangdong Provincial Government's conference room was particularly luxurious, grand, or high-class. In terms of pomp and circumstance, the Soviet state government offices were no less impressive, not to mention the Kremlin, which he frequented.

What truly surprised Nemtsov was that the provincial government leaders at the conference table introduced themselves in Russian.

Nemtsov is not so narcissistic as to think that everyone in the world should be able to speak Russian.

Especially since China broke with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, it would never have made Russian a compulsory foreign language course. Judging from the ages of the officials at the meeting, he estimated that most of them only learned it later for work purposes.

What kind of need? It couldn't possibly be the need to follow the Soviet Union.

Although relations between China and the Soviet Union had improved by the mid-1980s, and the first president of the Soviet Union even visited China, he was also the last president of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union dissolved within a few years, leaving him with virtually no global influence.

If it wasn't for the Soviet Union, then their only reason for learning Russian was for trade with Russia.

Because there is an international trade city here, with direct flights to Moscow, a large number of merchants come here every day to purchase goods.

To meet their needs, or, in Wang Xiao's words, to better serve businessmen, these provincial-level officials actually learned Russian.

Good heavens, this is a huge province, a province with 70 million people, one of the top provinces in China.

Their officials were actually capable of going to such lengths to facilitate the movement of merchants.

Nemtsov involuntarily straightened his back; he felt he should perform better so as not to embarrass himself too much.

Wang Xiao was quite surprised when the projector lit up.

Sure enough, times are changing rapidly. The last time she attended a meeting at the provincial government, she was still using handwritten slides, those plastic sheets that she changed one by one by hand.

And yet, in such a short time, the provincial government's office equipment has undergone a complete transformation, upgrading directly to PowerPoint presentations connected to computers.

The person who gave the explanation to the Russian visitors was a deputy director of the provincial government office, whose daily work involves the economy, and who spoke fluent Russian.

He started by talking about the concept of small enterprises, then moved on to the "Down to the Countryside Movement" and the Third Front construction.

As Nemtsov listened, he suddenly realized that the development of township and village enterprises in China was completely different from what he had imagined.

This includes the "five small enterprises," such as small steel, small coal mines, small machinery, small cement, and small fertilizer enterprises. In fact, these are not true township enterprises, but rather county-level industries, with the industrial concentration area located in the county seat.

Their workers are also legitimate workers, not farmers.

The proper township enterprises, those that catered to both farmers and workers, were called community-run enterprises at the time, and their origins are even more unbelievable.

For example, a typical township enterprise industrial zone shown in the PPT is a product of the Down to the Countryside Movement.

According to regulations in the 1960s and 70s, urban youths were generally required to go to the countryside to engage in agricultural production.

The same applies to the children of military personnel in the Jiangdong Military Region. Their fathers did not use their privileges to recruit them all into the army, but instead sent them to the countryside.

But they love their own children, and they can't bear to let their children actually work in the fields to earn work points to support themselves.

So the military factory set up a branch factory in the commune where they were sent to work in the countryside. As long as the commune provided the land and labor, the military factory would provide the rest of the building materials, machinery and equipment.

After the factory was set up, these educated youths were recruited into the factory. Although they were still farmers, they did the work of factory workers, which was much easier and their income would increase significantly.

As for the orders, raw materials, and sales channels of these community-run factories, the military factories took care of them all.

Later, other large factories in the city followed suit, trying to solve the problem of their factory workers' children living in hardship and their parents feeling sorry for them.

The conference room was very quiet, with only the deputy director of the office explaining and the sound of him clicking the mouse.

Nemtsov listened intently, trying to suppress his laughter.

He now believes that the Jiangdong Provincial Government truly treats him as one of their own, even bringing up such dark history to tell him.

Isn't this a classic example of privilege?

If these educated youth sent to the countryside had a hard time, then weren't the farmers also having a hard time? Weren't the ordinary educated youth without family connections also having a hard time?

However, these are not the main points. The main point is that after the educated youth returned to the city, the factory's branch plants could not be moved along with them.

Moreover, during this process, large factories also discovered the benefits of branch factories, namely, greatly reducing production costs. The land was provided free of charge by the commune, and farmers who came to work in the factory earned only half or even one-third of the wages in the city. Furthermore, the factories did not have to be responsible for their housing, medical care, or children's education.

Under these mutually beneficial circumstances, these factories founded by educated youth survived and gradually flourished as orders increased.

Nemtsov was quite annoyed. Why couldn't the Soviet Union have done this in the first place?

Although the Soviet Union was an industrial country, before its collapse, only 12% of its population was engaged in agriculture. However, if this 12% were utilized properly, it could at least alleviate the shortage of civilian goods in remote areas and also leave an industrial foundation for farms.

He sighed heavily in his heart, and then suddenly realized that the direct trigger for the Third Front construction and the Down to the Countryside Movement in China was the military threat from the Soviet Union.

In a sense, Chen Bing's initial investment of one million yuan actually contributed to the development of township enterprises in China.

Nemtsov couldn't help but think that this was truly preordained.

In that short time of his daydreaming, the style of the PPT presentation had already changed, from achievements to questions.

The presenter's definition of these township enterprises was rather bleak: processing of supplied materials under a planned economy.

Nemtsov shuddered, not daring to move an inch, and listened intently as the explanation pointed out the problem—without technology and without a market, these township enterprises would immediately fall into difficulties if the upstream factories cut off supplies.

For example, the price reform failed in 1988, resulting in a large number of enterprises having serious product backlogs and factories shutting down. Township enterprises that relied on them for orders also stopped working, and some have not resumed operations to this day.

For example, the recent reform of state-owned enterprises, which focuses on large enterprises and lets go of small ones, has caused a number of township enterprises of this type to lose orders, become unable to maintain production, and have no choice but to close down.

The conclusion of the PPT was that it's better to rely on yourself than on others; you must have your own brand, build your own sales team, and open up your own market.

As a control group, another type of township enterprise is Honghe Town in Jiaxing. It was originally brought there by educated youth from Shanghai who went to the countryside. However, they quickly established a sweater trading market, attracting a large number of merchants from other places to come to the area to select sweaters and establish their own sales channels.

While many of the commune-run factories closed down at the same time, Honghe became a well-known wool textile city.

Nemtsov found it increasingly interesting and quickly jotted down notes in his notebook: We must seize opportunities, but also continuously create more.

No wonder Ivanov often said during meetings: "Don't expect to rely on others; no developed place has ever achieved its success through waiting and relying on others."

The presentation lasted for nearly two hours, only ending abruptly when it was time for lunch.

But Nemtsov was still not satisfied. When he went to the canteen for dinner, he kept asking the leader in charge of industry for advice. He didn't even bother to eat a bite of the fragrant stewed beef and potatoes on his plate.

The provincial government canteen now operates on a buffet model, serving five dishes and a soup. Customers choose what suits their taste, and then find a seat to eat.

Secretary Fang did not respond to Nemtsov's questioning. Instead, he invited Wang Xiao to sit down next to him and said with a smile, "You've spent quite a bit of time in Africa this time."

My hands, face, and neck got tanned and turned wheat-colored.

Wang Xiao spoke with great reluctance: "Beautiful, truly beautiful. Every frame of South Africa could be made into a postcard."

In fact, she did just that.

Greeting cards, postcards, and calendars are now quite popular. Landscapes are an important category of images on these printed materials. In addition to beautiful domestic tourist attractions, foreign landscapes are also a great choice and are quite popular.

Wuzhou has a printing factory that specializes in this area, and with its own overseas advantages, it naturally wants to make full use of those advantages.

This calendar, postcard, and greeting card should be available on the market now.

Secretary Fang smiled and nodded: "Then I really have to buy it and take a look, to see what Africa is really like."

Wang Xiao thought to himself, "Surely not? Your son has been in Africa for two years now, hasn't he taken any photos to show you?"

I guess the leader was just being polite.

The next second, Secretary Fang pressed on, asking, "Besides South Africa, do you have any other investment plans in Africa?"

Wang Xiao shook his head: "I'm too busy, so there's no plan for now."

When Secretary Fang tried to persuade her to travel more and explore more, hoping she might find more opportunities, she directly stated her reasons for refusing: "Except for South Africa, most African countries have no laws, and the rules are a mess. Doing business there is too exhausting."

If you make money but can't take it with you, wouldn't all your efforts have been in vain?

Secretary Fang also wanted to persuade her that the country is now encouraging enterprises to go global, explore overseas markets, and adopt various forms of cooperation. This can, on the one hand, transfer excess capacity, and on the other hand, enhance China's international influence, which is beneficial to long-term development.

But Wang Xiao firmly shook his head: "No, they haven't been slapped by us, they haven't learned to be afraid. If we invest in those countries, we might lose everything. In that case, will the local embassy help us collect the debt, or will it compensate us for our losses?"

Ultimately, development depends on internal strength.

For example, when Singapore gained independence in the 1960s, it was still an agricultural and port-based economy with low levels of education among its people and rampant gangs. Lee Kuan Yew admired Saigon, Vietnam, and hoped that one day Singapore could be like Saigon.

Singapore adopted a strict policy of internal suppression of organized crime, cracking down on hooligans and thugs, and punishing the bad habits of its citizens with harsh and severe laws, which transformed the social atmosphere of Singapore in a short period of time.

Then came the opportunity to take over industrial transfers, develop high-tech and financial industries, and make Singapore one of the Four Asian Tigers.

Most parts of Africa are not yet capable of absorbing industrial transfers, and Wang Xiao is not involved in education and has no interest in educating the locals.

If your qualifications don't meet my investment standards, then let's shake hands politely and say goodbye.

She didn't start from scratch; she had to find a place to earn her first pot of gold. It wasn't that there were too many people in the group with nowhere to go and a lack of promotion opportunities, so she had to risk her life to explore the market.

Why take such a risk?

Secretary Fang stopped trying to persuade him and sighed, "That's true, it's risky outside."

She did not speak on behalf of any African country, including Zambia, where her son Wu Haoyu lives.

She immediately changed the subject, asking Wang Xiao, "When will the president return to power? What's the situation in Russia now?"

According to the information Fang learned, the Russian president was supposed to return to office this month.

He made a brief appearance at the Kremlin last month, at the end of December.

But after that, there was no further news of him. This led everyone to speculate about his health.

Did he really survive a major heart surgery that involved opening his ribs and replacing five arteries?

Wang Xiao shook his head: "The president is still recuperating; he has caught a cold."

She only stayed in Moscow for an afternoon and an evening, and Ivanov didn't talk much about politics, so the situation shouldn't be serious.

Secretary Fang nodded, then asked curiously, "If he's not here, who's in charge of things for him?"

Wang Xiao could answer this directly: "It's Chubais."

In fact, theoretically speaking, when the president is unable to perform his duties, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, as the second-in-command of the Russian Federation, should step in directly.

He only briefly filled in for a few hours on the day of the president's surgery, and after that, he stayed in the White House and never touched anything related to the Kremlin again.

Given this division of labor, rather than the fact that no one could help him with his duties as prime minister, Wang Xiao was more convinced that the president was paranoid and afraid that he would really be replaced by the prime minister.

Chernomyrdin has a decent reputation and is quite popular among officials, so it's no wonder the president is worried.

Chubais was different; his economic reforms failed, and he is still hated by many Russians to this day.

His acting presidency was met with more ridicule than acclaim; he was seen as a servant behind the throne rather than as its new master.

Secretary Fang himself was a person in the officialdom, so he was naturally sensitive to power and quickly figured out the intricacies of the situation.

But there are some things she sees but doesn't say, and she doesn't comment, only sighing, "Winter is really hard for older people."

Wang Xiao guessed that she was probably thinking of her own elderly relative who was bedridden for many years, and said with a smile, "After the Laba Festival, it's almost New Year. It will be better when the weather warms up after the New Year."

Secretary Fang nodded: "I hope so."

She then asked some questions about South Africa, expressing great interest that she definitely wanted to visit South Africa sometime.

Wang Xiao laughed out loud: "Then you must be careful to prevent theft. In South Africa, Russian diplomats are proud of Moscow's security."

Secretary Fang nodded with a smile: "That's really quite serious."

Dinner lasted nearly two hours, only ending when the TV station started broadcasting a drama series.

Secretary Fang personally escorted Nemtsov back to the guesthouse, thus completing the day's hospitality duties.

Wang Xiao didn't rush to leave, but listened to Nemtsov talk at length about his experiences.

The latter spoke with exaggerated gestures, as excited as a child: "Miss Wang, I should have come earlier. If I had come earlier, we wouldn't have wasted so much time."

He felt that his previous misunderstanding of China was too deep. It was not a rigid, puppet-like country at all. Their flexibility and pragmatism were astonishing.

That makes sense. How could a country that can cultivate talent like Miss Wang be rigid?

After listening to his enthusiastic explanation, Wang Xiao felt compelled to remind him: "These township enterprises that can build their own markets all share a common characteristic: clustering and scale. Whether it's bedding from Nantong or sweaters from Jiaxing, their factories can be very small, even family workshops, but they cluster together, so as long as customers come, they can always find the products they want."

She sighed. "Boris, there's something you need to be aware of: in remote areas of Russia, especially in rural areas, nobody uses rubles anymore; they just barter."

Even though the Russian Federation adopted austerity measures last year to curb the ruble's sharp decline, it is difficult for the public to regain the confidence they have lost in the ruble.

To prevent their hard-earned goods from turning into rubles and then becoming worthless paper, people preferred to barter.

Nemtsov's excited expression froze. Without the ruble as a medium of exchange, the road ahead for Russian farm enterprises would obviously be much more difficult.

Wang Xiao nodded to him: "I think you need to keep this question in mind and integrate it into the entire investigation process, figuring out how to adapt to local conditions."

She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Alright, Boris, it's getting late. Please get some rest. We'll go to the factory tomorrow."

After hearing her question, Nemtsov wondered if he would be able to sleep tonight. She didn't know, nor did she care. She was going home to sleep anyway.

This time, Wang Xiao returned to the villa in Jiangzhimen.

As usual, except for holidays and weekends, Wang Tiejun and Chen Yanqiu live in the steel plant's residential area.

There's no other reason than it's convenient for commuting. Otherwise, having to drive such a long way every time would be a waste of gasoline, wouldn't it?

The elderly couple, raised with a tradition of thrift and frugality and having endured a lifetime of hardship, felt embarrassed to be so wasteful. For them, living among the community was the life they truly deserved.

But this time, they didn't just move back to the Jiangzhimen villa from the steel factory's residential area on short notice; they had actually been living there for almost half a year.

It wasn't that they had come to their senses and realized they needed to increase consumption to boost domestic demand and stimulate economic development; rather, they simply couldn't stay at the steel mill any longer.

Good heavens! Who would have thought that the Russian who was happily eating at the steel mill canteen during the Chinese New Year would become Russia's Deputy Prime Minister in the blink of an eye?

What kind of official is a vice premier?

When the Vice Premier of China came to Jiangdong, the entire provincial party committee leadership felt like they'd been strangled.

That always cheerful Russian guy actually became the vice prime minister?

Good heavens, so the girl from the Wang family has become the wife of the vice premier?

Faced with the immense influence of the position of Vice Premier, the prestige of Wang Xiao's title as "General Manager" rapidly diminished; she became merely a symbol, a symbol that made countless people's eyes light up.

The entire steel plant, or rather the entire large factory area, was in an uproar, with countless people, both acquaintances and strangers, rushing to the Wang family's residence.

In their words, it's about sharing in the joy.

If it were just that simple, Wang Tiejun and Chen Yanqiu could tolerate it, since they see each other all the time.

The worst part is that the way these people try to share in the joy is too much for the elderly couple to handle.

Most of them brought their daughters, nieces, and other female relatives, insisting on entering Xiaoxiao's room, touching her room, and lying on her bed, hoping to share in her good fortune and marry a rich and powerful foreigner in the future.

Chen Yanqiu couldn't stand it; she was a doctor herself and paid great attention to hygiene.

Besides, given Xiaoxiao's temper, if so many people were to come and go in her room, touching everything, she might just burn the room down!

So the couple discussed it and, using the excuse that no one was taking care of the flowers and plants in the yard on the Jiangzhimen side, and that their cats and dogs liked to run around, they moved back to Jiangzhimen.

Wang Xiao was utterly speechless when he heard about the elderly couple's ordeal.

Women hold up half the sky, and we've been saying that for so many years, but it's all been in vain.

How incredibly foolish and short-sighted one must be to place their hopes for a lifetime of happiness on a stranger with whom they have no blood relation.

What she truly deserves to be envied for is not the power and influence she wields, but the business empire she created.

Hearing her complain about her headache, Chen Yanqiu simply waved her hand and said, "Alright, alright, stop telling me this useless stuff."

Wang Xiao pressed his face and said bluntly, "How can you call me useless? Chairman Chen, as the chairman of the trade union, the thoughts and feelings of these comrades, especially the female comrades, are within your scope of work!"

Chen Yanqiu slapped her on the back, his sharp gaze piercing through her face: "You better shut up!"

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she was almost about to grab her daughter's ear. "Tell me honestly, what were you thinking? How did you manage to make Ivan the deputy prime minister?"

She considered herself to have a good eye for people; Ivan was essentially the kind of young man who had no ambition and no strong desire for power, and he would do whatever Xiaoxiao told him to do.

She couldn't think of any other possibility besides Xiaoxiao causing trouble. This perfectly good boss suddenly became the vice prime minister.

From the moment she received the news, this matter had been weighing on Chen Yanqiu's mind.

But she didn't dare ask. She was worried that her daughter's phone calls might be tapped, and if it were exposed, wouldn't it make her appear as Xiaoxiao interfering in other countries' internal affairs? That would be completely against basic principles!

So she could only hold back until today to question her daughter.

Wang Xiao raised an eyebrow, his face full of innocence: "Isn't being a vice premier good? There are plenty of people who want to be officials."

Chen Yanqiu wanted to poke her forehead, but she swallowed the words, "Aren't you afraid that once Ivan becomes the deputy prime minister and rises to a higher position, he'll start having ulterior motives and find someone else?" which were on the tip of her tongue.

Because she knew that this brat was truly fearless and still hadn't settled down.

Chen Yanqiu was burning with rage, feeling as if her insides were being consumed by fire. She pursed her lips repeatedly to calm her anger, finally letting out a sigh: "You should probably behave yourself from now on. Don't just dump Ivan so easily. Things are different now. He's the Vice Premier now. What if he turns to hatred and retaliates against you? We can't let ourselves suffer such injustice. He has power; even if he doesn't die, he'll make you suffer greatly!"

Wang Xiao laughed: "Oh, Mom, you've watched a lot of Hong Kong and Taiwan prime-time dramas, haven't you?"

Look at this sea of ​​hatred and love.

Chen Yanqiu slapped her on the back again and glared at her fiercely: "Don't you dare laugh it off. Your mother has eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. Listen to me!"

Wang Xiao yelled in pain as she was slapped, muttering in rebuttal, "It's no wonder you didn't die from the saltiness, how much salt did you have to eat?"

Chen Yanqiu pretended to look for a feather duster, but Wang Xiao, quick-witted and agile, scooped up the cat and dashed upstairs, muttering, "Mom, I'm going to sleep. I'm so tired and sleepy."

Chen Yanqiu shouted from behind, "Did you even hear what I said? You better remember this!"

Hey! That brat, the only response she got was the sound of the door closing.

Wang Xiao lay down on the bed with her cat in her arms. Even if there were no fish or shrimp, or a big-tailed red panda, she would just sleep with her cat in her arms.

Alas, it's a pity that Moscow's environment is probably not suitable for ostriches. To this day, the ostriches in the zoo haven't been successfully bred. It seems that in the future, we won't be able to eat ostrich meat in Moscow; we'll only be able to watch ostriches play.

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[Let me see] Good morning!