Chapter 434 They're all evil cultivators: Taking advantage of someone's illness to kill them

Wang Xiao certainly didn't have time to accompany Nemtsov on his inspection tours of township enterprises; that wasn't her job.

But almost every December, she would selectively visit front-line factories to wish everyone a Happy New Year in advance, give out red envelopes to show her warmth, and tell everyone: Follow me and you'll have meat to eat, work hard.

Since she returned early this year, she decided to visit several factories to reassure the public.

Ms. Chen Yanqiu's description of the reactions of employees in steel mills and other large factories made her fully realize that in this era, it is truly believed that marrying well is worse than working hard.

Moreover, no one thinks that just because you have a big business in China, you're a big tycoon and won't leave easily.

Because selling one's assets and immigrating abroad is now seen by mainstream society as a very promising and prestigious thing to do.

No, she had to warn them; she had no intention of retreating.

These are all her businesses; she has to manage them all well.

When she went to the factory, she brought Nemtsov along, along with Deputy Director Xie from the Provincial Party Committee Office, who was the same guy who had explained the history of township and village enterprise development in the Yangtze River Delta in the conference room yesterday.

When Wang Xiao saw the person, he greeted him with a smile and a handshake: "Thank you for your hard work, Director Xie, running around in the twelfth lunar month."

Director Xie was quite happy and very optimistic: "Go out and about more, instead of staying cooped up in the room writing reports every day, it's so annoying!"

Wang Xiao almost died laughing; no working person doesn't hate PowerPoint.

Their first stop was a packaging paper mill, which, as the name suggests, specialized in making all kinds of packaging boxes and cartons.

This factory is a typical example of adapting to local conditions. There are large areas of reeds growing on the local riverbank, and they started making straw paper as early as 1975.

Wang Xiao, worried that Nemtsov might not understand what straw paper was, explained: "It's the kind of paper that Chinese merchants in the container market use to worship their ancestors."

Director Xie laughed: "Back in 1975, you couldn't worship at temples, much like you weren't allowed to go to church back then. At that time, toilet paper was used as toilet paper."

This is why the factory later switched to making packaging paper.

Toilet paper has lost its primary function, but the practice of worshipping ancestors is still limited to a few fixed days in this area, such as the Ghost Festival in July and New Year's Eve.

As a result, its market demand has dropped significantly.

The factory realized this couldn't go on. They had nearly a hundred employees, and they couldn't all starve.

So they tried to find their own way out.

They originally planned to continue their efforts in the funeral industry and develop more financial products for the Heaven and Earth Bank.

When they went to do market research, they found that the equipment required to make those exquisite Tiandi Bank products was quite high-level, and the factory simply couldn't afford it.

The sales representative happened to run into a colleague he knew from before, who asked if their factory still made cardboard boxes. If so, he wanted to see the goods.

After further inquiries, the sales representative discovered that the market seemed quite large. He reported this to his superiors, and the factory began to shift its focus. Later, the business grew larger and larger, and they started producing all sorts of customized packaging.

They also plan to expand their production line to include plastic packaging.

Nemtsov listened with great interest and praised the factory's achievements without reservation.

The factory manager also speaks some Russian—those who do business in the trade city inevitably have to deal with Russians, and almost none of them are completely unable to speak Russian.

Now that the factory director had heard from a high-ranking Russian official, equivalent to a provincial party secretary, he was quite embarrassed: "No, no, no, we were just lucky that they came to us."

Nemtsov, however, emphasized: "That's because you yourselves went out and found the way first."

He truly admired the factory workers; in his view, they were the ones who truly considered themselves the owners of the factory.

When the factory encounters difficulties, they don't just sit there waiting for instructions from their superiors to find a way out; instead, they find their own ways to solve the problems.

Nemtsov once saw a famous military factory that lacked funds and could not maintain its expenses, so it could only give its workers one loaf of bread a day.

Despite this, these employees continued to work diligently and rarely left the factory.

Americans were deeply moved when they saw it, saying they had never seen a factory like this anywhere in the world, where people were working even though they weren't getting paid.

Some might see this as praise, a compliment to the employees' diligent work ethic.

But now, looking at the comparison, Nemtsov only feels ashamed.

With so many employees, most of whom are well-educated, the entire factory is inferior to a small rural factory.

It should be noted that the highest level of education among the cadres and staff in the latter group was only high school, and that was the nine-year compulsory high school in the commune back then, the kind of high school that you could finish if you wanted to go and your family was willing to support you.

Even so, they still dared to venture out and find a way to make a living for themselves and their factory.

The factory manager waved his hand and chuckled, "There's nothing we can do, it's all unavoidable. We have to find a way to survive. We weren't allowed to do it before, but now that we are, how can we not do it?"

The group ate lunch at the factory.

The paper mill workers brought rice from home, put it in aluminum lunchboxes, and took it to the canteen to be steamed. The factory also cooked a large pot of stewed vegetables with pork cracklings, a large pot of braised chicken carcasses with radishes, and a bucket of pickled vegetable and tofu soup.

It's fresh out of the pot, steaming hot, and smells delicious.

The factory manager invited everyone to sit at a separate table. The dishes on the table were the same, but served in a basin. He also added a braised pork dish, a pot of potato stew with beef, and replaced the pickled vegetables in the pickled vegetable and tofu soup with fish balls.

He chuckled and said, "Knowing that our leaders all want to get along with the masses, I won't treat you to a meal at a restaurant. We'll eat in the canteen, four dishes and a soup, which is perfectly in line with the hospitality standards, right?"

Actually, he didn't expect the leaders who came today to be of such high caliber. He originally thought it would be just an ordinary inspection, at most a couple of idle officials would come to take a look, write a report and assign tasks.

When such a high-ranking leader arrived, it was too late for him to book a private room at a restaurant in town.

It's the end of the year, and everyone's busy with accounting, so restaurants are bound to have good business.

Let's just go all the way with this down-to-earth approach and let them eat in the cafeteria.

He had dealt with the Russians quite a bit and found that they really liked braised pork with caramelized sugar. As for beef stew with potatoes, that was a standard communist dish. Who wouldn't like to eat that if they grew up in socialism?

Deputy Director Xie nodded with considerable satisfaction: "Very good, very good, that's how it should be done."

Knowing that the Russian was not good at using chopsticks, the canteen staff specially brought Nemtsov a spoon.

Wang Xiao laughed when he saw the spoon and teased Nemtsov, "If you're not used to using a spoon, you can use a fork. I saw that when I was in South Africa, the local white people all ate with forks."

Nemtsov still preferred the spoon, but he wondered, "Do white people in South Africa eat rice too?"

In his mind, most white people in South Africa were descendants of European immigrants and should not eat rice.

“It was the Indians who brought their habit of eating rice with them,” Wang Xiao explained. “There are quite a few Indians in the area.”

Nemtsov, nicknamed the "Baby Governor," is known for his boundless curiosity, and he is currently extremely curious: "There's something I've always found particularly strange, which is why you use chopsticks to eat rice? But Indians eat with their hands? And it's the same in Central Asia; they also eat with their hands. I mean, when you use chopsticks and see them eating with their hands, don't you find it strange?"

Wang Xiao thought for a moment: "It's probably because hand-grabbed rice is made with rice and vegetables together, so you can just grab it and eat it. Our rice and vegetables are served separately, so it's different. As for whether it's strange or not? I think it's alright. You see, when we eat steamed buns, we also grab them with our hands. Including when we eat hamburgers, sandwiches, and fries, we just grab them with our hands, whatever is convenient."

The factory manager of the cardboard box factory had limited German proficiency and couldn't understand long passages of speech, so he didn't really understand.

Deputy Director Xie admired him in his heart, thinking that he was indeed a boss who could build such a large business.

Look at their perspective and mindset; they are so tolerant.

When you notice differences, you can earnestly try to understand and objectively consider issues from other people's perspectives, instead of immediately assuming that they are inferior to you.

No wonder she can sell her products all over the world; she truly treats her customers like gods.

Because no alcohol was consumed, this proper work meal was eaten quite quickly, taking only about half an hour in total.

During the short lunch break, everyone stayed in the cafeteria, sitting around the tables and continuing to talk.

Nemtsov pondered all night but couldn't come up with a good solution, so today he simply asked the factory manager of the cardboard box factory: "If you ship the goods out and they don't have the money to pay you, is it okay if they give you something else in return?"

Deputy Director Xie helped with the translation, and only then did the factory manager cautiously ask, "That depends on what it is."

Nemtsov originally wanted to say potatoes or eggs, but then he remembered that the area was rural, and they saw large fields of green wheat when their car arrived.

At the entrance of the small house by the field, there were chickens and ducks, all pecking at their food with their heads down, and they all looked very energetic.

It's estimated that they have neither a shortage of eggs nor a need to use potatoes as their staple food.

So he changed his words and said, "Beef, what if we exchange it for beef?"

The factory manager immediately pressed, "How much beef did they offer in exchange?"

Nemtsov instinctively held up one finger: "One ton."

"That won't do." The factory manager shook his head vigorously. "Our factory only has 150 people in total. How much beef would one person need per ton?"

Wang Xiao had already calculated the amount: "6.67 kilograms, which is equivalent to more than 13 jin (6.5 catties)."

The factory manager shook his head even more vigorously: "That's too much. Not every household has a refrigerator these days. It's different here than where you are. Look, it's December now, which should be the coldest time of the year, but if you go outside right away, the sun will still warm you up. Without a refrigerator, all this beef would spoil. Beef isn't like pork, and it's not easy to cure into bacon. You can't just keep it and eat it slowly."

Deputy Director Xie helped translate the message, and Nemtsov quickly followed up, "If it's pork, would that be acceptable?"

The factory manager nodded reluctantly: "If it were pork now, then we'd just have to grit our teeth and accept it. We can't just not get the money and the goods, can we?"

But seeing Nemtsov's satisfied smile, he immediately emphasized, "This is a last resort, it can only last once or twice at most, it definitely won't work in the long run. First, it'll be harder to cure the pork when the weather gets warmer. Second, when our factory distributes pork to the employees for the New Year, it's arranged in advance with the pig farmers. To say we don't want their pigs now would be breaking our promise, wouldn't that be bad!"

If something like that really happened at his factory, he wouldn't know how to explain it when he got home.

The pigs that their factory plans to distribute this year were raised by his father-in-law and his parents.

If he were to say no now, oh my god, he wouldn't be able to have a good New Year this year.

Fearing that his words might be too decisive and leave a bad impression, the factory manager quickly added, "Even if the workers are willing to take this loss and use pork as their wages, what about paying for their children's school fees, buying things at the store, or seeing a doctor when they're sick? They can't just use a piece of cured meat as money, can they? They'll have to carry a knife with them, cutting off a piece when they buy this, and cutting off another piece when they buy that."

He described it so vividly, with such a strong sense of imagery, that Wang Xiao was amused and could only try her best to purse her lips.

Nemtsov, however, was racking his brains. Tuition and medical expenses shouldn't be a big problem, as the Russian government was currently covering them. But going shopping was a real issue; without money, it would be extremely difficult.

Alas, the gold ruble and silver kopek of yesteryear have somehow come to this.

Since he couldn't get the answer he wanted, Nemtsov didn't want to waste the factory director's time any longer.

It's obvious that the factory is very busy and is still rushing to meet orders.

The two sides waved goodbye politely.

The next stop was not a township enterprise, but a village-run factory, which was originally run by the production team.

As the car drove into the village, Nemtsov looked at the rows of neat little villas on both sides of the road and was extremely surprised: "Are these houses allocated to the farmers?"

If it's a house built by oneself, then each one should have its own style.

He never imagined that the rural economy of China would develop so rapidly!

The government is now even providing funds to build houses for farmers and distributing them to them.

This is almost as big as Moscow.

As the head of a local government outside the capital, Nemtsov simply couldn't like Luzhkov.

Because the parent companies of most large companies are registered in Moscow, one-quarter to one-third of these companies pay taxes in Moscow.

It was like a behemoth, sucking the blood of the whole country to sustain itself.

But he had to admit Luzhkov's urban management abilities.

The latter built a large number of luxury apartments and sold them to the wealthy, then used the money to build new houses for ordinary families with housing difficulties.

Nemtsov is now very curious about how the local government managed to raise so much money. Did they simply rely on collecting taxes from township and village enterprises?

Deputy Director Xie quickly waved his hand with a smile: "No, no, to be honest, the lower you go, the more headaches the local governments have. There are too many places where money needs to be spent, and too little money can be collected. This was built with money paid for by the farmers themselves."

He then explained the whole story of building houses together, and pointed to Wang Xiao, saying, "It was President Wang who suggested it."

Wang Xiao didn't expect them to move so quickly; they had already finished building it in just two years.

The buildings looked remarkably like European villas on postcards, and every house had flowers planted on its walls. Wang Xiao couldn't identify the specific varieties, but they were blooming quite brightly even in the dead of winter.

Nemtsov exclaimed, "The fact that they can build such beautiful houses proves that the farmers here are quite wealthy!"

He found it amazing.

How exactly did she come up with this method to revitalize the economy?

With the government halting large-scale infrastructure projects and banks tightening credit and ceasing lending, urban infrastructure construction came to a standstill. She then shifted her focus to rural areas, preserving the construction group's production capacity, ensuring that many employees did not lose their jobs, and simultaneously meeting the farmers' desire to improve their housing conditions and obtain higher-quality housing.

This gave Remtsov an idea: perhaps Russia's economic reforms could also focus on residential housing.

In the late Soviet era, during the 1980s, a large number of urban residents were living in poverty due to a lack of housing, and the line of people waiting to register for new housing was estimated to be a century away.

Therefore, people had no choice but to settle for second best and pin their hopes on rural residences, building better and more spacious houses next to their own homes in order to improve their living conditions.

However, the Soviet Union at that time implemented a strict planned economy. Let alone wood and steel, even a nail was not available to ordinary people even if they had the money. So how could they build a complete house?

This problem doesn't exist now; the house should be able to be built.

That's how the economy works: when things are stagnant, as long as one point starts moving, the other areas can follow suit.

Take, for example, Miss Wang's housing delivery program. The first step was to develop township enterprises. Once farmers started working in factories, they would have money in their pockets, which would then enable them to improve their housing conditions.

But this brings us back to the same problem – how can transactions be conducted without the ruble as a medium?

The only solution is probably financial reform to restore public confidence in the ruble.

But how difficult is this? Even before he got involved, he felt a throbbing pain in his temples and couldn't continue thinking about it.

Nemtsov exclaimed once again, "The workers here are really rich."

Wang Xiao laughed and said, "They're so-so. If you say they're rich, they won't admit it."

Nemtsov shook his head and said seriously, "No, no, no, they are very rich. I saw many people with pagers hanging from their waists."

Before coming to China, he made several trips to China's commercial streets and container markets to learn about the country.

He had heard that carrying a mobile phone and having a pager on your waist were standard accessories for rich people.

Wang Xiao burst out laughing upon hearing this.

Deputy Director Xie slapped his thigh and laughed, "Oh, Mr. Nemtsov, you've really misunderstood. They're not using high-end products like Motorola; it's something that General Manager Wang and his team made themselves."

To be precise, it was something that came to mind when the heads of the chip factory and the LCD screen factory were having dinner together.

A pager is actually quite simple; it's just a core chip, an LCD screen, and an outer casing.

The outer casing has the lowest technical content and is very simple.

As for chips and LCD screens, aren't those exactly what they're doing?

Why can't they build their own electronics factory and produce pagers? It's simple, it's just assembly.

Pagers are so expensive now; even a basic pager with a Chinese display costs one or two thousand yuan, not including service and network fees.

They estimated that, with some control, they could reduce the actual production cost to two or three hundred yuan.

Without saying a word, they each transferred technical personnel from their factories to an electronics factory that was neglecting smaller, more important tasks, and started tinkering with their pagers.

Believe it or not, those heretical cultivators acted quickly; they actually managed to get their hands on a pager.

However, given the current average income level of ordinary people, pagers are considered a luxury item.

The products they manufacture aren't from big brands like Motorola, and they don't advertise on television, so they have absolutely no brand recognition.

Consumers are willing to spend a lot of money on pagers, so they will definitely prefer well-known brands.

How would they sell their pagers? They turned their attention to the lower-tier markets, directly utilizing the sales platform of the commercial city and taking a wholesale approach.

The first wave of buyers were salespeople from township enterprises. They brought the cheap pagers back to the factory, and then one coworker after another started buying them. In this way, they carved out a path to survival and managed to keep the electronics factory's pager production line running.

Wang Xiao was still in South Africa at the time, and when he heard about this, he didn't know how to react.

If you ask her whether it's necessary for workers in township enterprises to buy pagers?

Wang Xiao really couldn't say that it was necessary.

Because the workers in township enterprises had very limited mobility, mainly concentrated in their local area. Moreover, pagers were one-way communication tools, unlike mobile phones which allowed for instant communication.

To put it bluntly, apart from people who are frequently out and about, most people in this era don't have an urgent need for pagers.

Moreover, even with the significant losses, the electronics factory sold pagers for 500 yuan each—their main purpose was to increase sales of LCD screens and chips to boost the production capacity of the two factories, thereby alleviating the economic pressure of building the second-generation factory.

However, to use a pager normally, you need to pay a network access service fee, which can cost several hundred yuan.

The whole setup would cost the workers, who carried pagers on their waists, at least 1,000 yuan, which is no small sum.

But in any era, people find it hard to resist luxury goods that they can easily reach by standing on tiptoe.

Especially when luxury goods symbolize status, wealth, and prestige, they become even more irresistibly attractive.

So where does Wang Xiao get the right to stop others? Who says buying things has to be extremely practical? Making yourself happy is also a function of shopping, isn't it?

Nemtsov felt a mix of emotions upon hearing this. He knew that the chip factory Wang mentioned had a large number of technicians from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

He initially thought they were just going abroad to work, but he never expected them to treat it as a career and even actively expand the scope of this business.

Is it because they have never given up their beliefs to this day, and regard this land as their ideal home?

However, this topic is somewhat sensitive and delicate. As a liberal, Nemtsov believes it is best to respect other people's choices.

So he didn't bring up that, but instead showed great interest in Wang Xiao's second-generation factory: "So who do you plan to cooperate with next to introduce new chip technology?"

As far as he knew, Huaxia was working on Project 909 in Shanghai, hoping to cooperate with foreign capital to introduce 0.5-micron process technology.

The reason why China chose this technology, which is no longer considered advanced, is that after the dissolution of COCOM in 1994, there was only a two-year gap before the United States led 33 countries to sign the Wassenaar Arrangement last July.

According to the agreement, in transactions between member states and non-member states, the latter can only acquire advanced technologies that are two generations behind. This includes semiconductor technology.

The 0.5-micron process is the most advanced technology that China can currently acquire. With some effort, we might even be able to purchase key equipment.

Unfortunately, likely due to tensions between mainland China and Taiwan last year, a US aircraft carrier even sailed into the Taiwan Strait in March. Then, in October, the US Department of Commerce publicly stated that it believed China's advancements in microelectronics technology could pose a potential challenge and threat to the United States.

With the official statement, American companies' attitude towards "Project 909" has naturally cooled.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry is currently in a downturn, and international semiconductor giants lack sufficient enthusiasm to invest heavily in semiconductor factories in China.

Nemtsov learned that, to date, the factory for Project 909 has been built, but the technology has not yet been finalized.

He was very curious: how would Miss Wang find a new way to introduce the ideal technology for a project that even with the full support of the nation (Good heavens, an investment of 10 billion RMB, that's a huge sum!), and even with the Premier of China personally overseeing it?

Wang Xiao spread his hands and said seriously, "I am prepared to rely on our own efforts and achieve new breakthroughs by relying on our engineers and technicians."

That's obviously a lie; how could it be so easy to break through?

In this era, if you don't join the international semiconductor industry and instead try to work in isolation, there's only one outcome—death.

But she never considered importing anything.

Negotiations are such a waste of time. Even with the national team involved, they still haven't reached a result. Does she think she can fly to the sky?

Why bother talking? Let's just take it!

Listen to what song is coming from the TV outside the car window? It's "My 1997"!

What happened in Asia in 1997? The financial crisis swept across Asia, crippling many countries and directly altering the fate of numerous nations.

So, is she going to resolve the crisis?

No, she's a businesswoman; she values ​​profit.

She took advantage of the situation, exploiting people's misfortune to acquire her desired semiconductor company.

————————

[Let me see] Good morning!