"Da Mao, this is the new factory manager's first day at work. Why aren't you over there? What are you doing here?"

When Li Xuewu saw Xu Damao approaching, he said he didn't want to come over, but he was secretly delighted. His office, which used to be second only to Yang Zhenhua's in terms of liveliness, was noticeably quiet today.

"Wait a moment. I just came to report to you first and see if you have any instructions. This new factory manager came and immediately asked to visit our machine repair shop and auto repair shop. I'm not sure what to do," Xu Damao said.

Xu Damao's meaning was very clear: going to the factory director's place was a courtesy visit, while this place was his true home.

"The new factory director is different from the previous one. He's young, has worked at the lower levels, and is experienced in power struggles."

Although he lacks experience working in our steel rolling mill, he does have some understanding of the metallurgical industry, so he's practically one of us. This kind of self-proclaimed expert won't listen to others' opinions and will do things according to his own ideas.

"But don't worry, there are tall people to hold up the sky if it falls, and the machine repair shop is still ahead of you," Li Xuewu said.

Li Xuewu's words revealed that this person was indeed still thinking about the machine repair shop, and the auto repair shop was just a side project.

"There's one more thing you should be aware of. According to his former colleagues, this Factory Director Huang is someone who likes to be unconventional. Just be careful."

No matter what requests or ideas the other party makes, don't oppose them directly and upset them. Delay as much as possible; Yang Shuji and I are here at the factory, we won't let him do anything reckless.

Li Xuewu continued, "Xu Damao's machine repair shop can be considered his private territory, and there's absolutely no way he'd let Huang Xian interfere."

This defeat in the competition for factory director was a huge blow to him, and it would take him at least 3-5 years off. Now, he either has to wait for Huang Xian to step down as factory director so he can take over, or he has to leave the steel rolling mill and find another way out. But there are no suitable positions available right now, so he can only continue to stay in his position as deputy factory director.

Li Xuewu was deeply entrenched in the steel rolling mill, so naturally he was unwilling to give up the territory he had built to Huang Xian. It was obvious that there would be problems in the relationship between the two.

After leaving Li Xuewu's office, Xu Damao went to report to Huang Xian. Sure enough, there was a long line of people waiting to be summoned, and it looked like it would take at least an hour to finish the meeting.

But since he was already there, he couldn't leave, so Xu Damao could only continue queuing like everyone else.

Around noon, Huang Xian's secretary brought him a meal, but instead of telling everyone to go home for lunch, he said they should wait a little longer.

It was finally past one o'clock when it was Xu Damao's turn.

"Comrade Xu Damao, I've looked at your resume. You're quite young." That was Huang Xian's first sentence.

"Thank you for your kind words, leader," Xu Damao said.

"Hmm, what do you think is the importance of auto repair shops to steel rolling mills?" This is another difficult question to answer.

"Our business originally developed from the transportation department. Later, the leaders paid attention to it and gave us a pilot quota, which can be regarded as the diversified operation of the steel rolling mill."

Our auto repair shop is now considered one of the larger auto repair businesses in the city, making significant contributions to the city's vehicle repair industry and bringing considerable honor to the steel mill.

Xu Damao spoke eloquently. In this era, factories don't focus on efficiency or how much money they make, but rather on their contribution to the country and the people.

"Okay, you're right. I'll try to visit your place when I have some time soon."

Xu Damao talked a lot, but Huang Xian's mind was clearly not on it. He interrupted Xu Damao, who was about to say more, and abruptly ended the conversation. To him, the auto repair shop and the steel rolling mill's main business were not closely related, and the two were too low-level to have any impact on the overall situation.

If it weren't for the need to quickly get things going, he really wouldn't want to go to the auto repair shop.

Xu Damao came out of Huang Xian's office; he had already started work in the afternoon. Looking at the crowd still queuing behind him, he felt a little better. There were too many fools; at least he wasn't too conspicuous.

Back at the auto repair shop, I was surprised to find an unexpected guest in my office.

"Chairman Lou, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

Sitting in the office opposite was Lou Hongsheng, who, judging from the teacup, had been sitting there for a while.

"No, it's my sudden visit that caused you trouble. I just arrived and heard about your new factory manager."

Lou Hongsheng felt a little resentful that no one had informed him of the arrival of the new factory manager, as he had founded the steel rolling mill himself.

Xu Damao led Lou Hongsheng to his office and sat him down. After brewing tea again, he began to speak.

"Chairman Lou, what brings you here today?" Xu Damao asked.

Lou Hongsheng glanced outside, and Xu Damao, understanding, immediately got up and closed the office door.

"Da Mao, the parts you mentioned last time should arrive in Beijing soon. There are quite a few of them. How do you plan to hand them over to you?" Lou Hongsheng said softly.

To be honest, as an industrialist, Lou Hongsheng was also unclear about the current situation and didn't know what would happen next. However, he had accumulated all his wealth in Beijing, and he was really unwilling to abandon everything and go to another place.

The task Xu Damao asked him to do this time wasn't difficult, and he wanted to use it to test the level of supervision and, incidentally, do Xu Damao a favor.

Xu Damao was surprised that the other party had resolved the matter in such a short time. Keep in mind that this was an era without high-speed rail, and where all transactions required a letter of introduction. Lou Hongsheng's ability to transport goods from Hong Kong to Beijing in such a short time demonstrates his immense influence.

“Chairman Lou, I’m not really prepared for today. But what I mean is that we’ll meet outside the city. Once you’ve decided on the location, our people can go there.”

The goods they were transporting were all legitimate, and there were no city gate checks at the time, so they weren't too worried. The only thing they needed to be careful about was keeping the matter a secret from too many people, otherwise someone might deliberately report them.

As for the payment issue, this batch is not a large amount, and Xu Damao himself is the factory director, so he has relatively free power to purchase unplanned materials. He just needs to keep good accounts.

Even so, Xu Damao planned to pay for some of the parts himself first, only recording a portion in the factory's name. The rest would be recorded in batches later, otherwise it would attract attention.

It's still too difficult to get things done.

"I'm just giving you a heads-up, in case you don't have time to deal with it. By the way, Damao, what's your take on the current situation?" Lou Hongsheng suddenly asked after the main matters were settled.

Xu Damao hadn't expected the other party to discuss such a sensitive issue on their second meeting. Perhaps the local authorities were considering their involvement in such a sensitive event together. However, given the circumstances, many things couldn't be discussed casually, leaving Xu Damao speechless for a moment.