Chapter 72 Chapter 72 Canning Production Line

Ding Mingxia really couldn't understand why her daughter, who was originally stubborn and bad-tempered but could be easily fooled, became like a hedgehog after getting married, who couldn't be touched or bitten, and was also prickly.

She did originally want to get some money from Liu Mianmian, but she didn't find her last time. Later, she fell down and stayed in bed for a month or two. Things at home did get better.

Ding Mingxia was now thankful she hadn't found Liu Mianmian the last time. She was actually a very proud person, so it was best if she could avoid having to lower her face and ask for help. Especially since this person was Liu Mianmian, who always made her feel embarrassed.

Liu Mianmian had previously complained about her favoritism towards Liu Jinshi, but Ding Mingxia wondered if she could really be blamed. Her family were all workers in a state-owned factory, and Liu Zhigang was even a workshop director. For so many years, she had lived with her head held high. Suddenly, a daughter of her own, unsophisticated and uncouth, showed up, bringing disgrace upon her in the compound. How could she be happy?

It’s Liu Mianmian’s own fault for not being sensible at the time.

If she were like this now, dressing stylishly and making money, would she be dissatisfied?

Of course, this was Ding Mingxia's inner thought, and she knew that it was useless to say these things now. The important thing now was to win Liu Mianmian back and let her help with the family.

Ding Mingxia held back her anger and said gently, "Mianmian, you misunderstood me. If you don't like braised pork, I can make you something else. Of course, your father and brother are looking forward to your return. You really misunderstood us."

"I'm not here to ask you for money. Why would I ask you for money? I have my own salary. Think about it, if I was after money, why would I let you take all the betrothal money back then?" Although she said so, only Ding Mingxia herself knew how much she regretted giving the two thousand yuan to Liu Mianmian for the sake of face.

So, speaking is an art.

It was obvious that she was holding back the betrothal gift and didn't want to give it, but when it was discovered, she had to give it to save face. However, in Ding Mingxia's mouth, it became that she didn't want a penny and let Liu Mianmian take it all back to her in-laws' home.

Ding Mingxia said earnestly, "Besides, what woman would stop associating with her parents' family after getting married? The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is the most difficult, and there are bound to be conflicts between husband and wife. In times like this, doesn't the wife's family have to help? You can't write two Liu characters with one stroke. You are a member of the Liu family, my biological child, so how could we ignore you?"

Liu Mianmian thought to herself, if I hadn’t been called this in my previous life, do you think I would change my name?

"If you have something to say, say it. If not, goodbye," she said.

Ding Mingxia was choked again.

Since the conciliatory policy was useless, Ding Mingxia thought about it and decided to talk about interests.

She had inquired clearly before coming. This girl was doing business with Jiang Hongmei next door and had made a lot of money. I heard that she had recently opened a fried chicken shop and the business was booming.

Thinking of the New Year's gifts Jiang Hongmei had bought for her family, Ding Mingxia felt a pang of frustration. Everyone knew Jiang Hongmei used her earnings to buy her parents all sorts of things, but this girl hadn't even set foot inside the military industrial complex. Because of this, she was once again being trolled by the gossipy women there. They said Liu Mianmian was afraid she'd be sold to human traffickers again, and that there was no way she'd been mistakenly adopted and deliberately thrown away. It was completely baffling.

However, Ding Mingxia thought that this girl was only interested in making money, and she would definitely be interested in what she was talking about.

"Last year, our military factory started converting its military products to civilian use and bought two canning production lines. We don't have much fruit in Nancheng, so we originally had an agreement with Gancheng in the neighboring province to source all our fruit from them. Everything was going well before, but at the beginning of this year, they announced they had opened a canning factory and would no longer sell us peaches or oranges."

Ding Mingxia looked around and lowered her voice, saying, "The factory can't get enough fruit, and the two production lines are useless, so they're planning to sell them at a discount. Your dad said he can find a buyer, so when the time comes, we can buy them from the factory first and resell them for a good profit."

Disarmament savings and the subsequent investment in economic development were policies set by the leadership. With fewer troops, military orders naturally slashed. To keep so many military factories around the country going, they had to shift from military production to civilian production.

In her previous life, Liu Mianmian heard from her mother that when she was a child, she ate ice cream produced by a military factory, which was very soft. She also used electric fans produced by the military factory, which were of excellent quality.

In this tide of the times, there were naturally some military factories that successfully transformed, but there were also many that failed to transform, suffered losses for years, and even went bankrupt.

In the original book, the Nancheng Military Factory went through many ups and downs, and finally went bankrupt in the early 1990s. It was acquired by the heroine Jiang Yingxue and the supporting actress Liu Jinshi. The two fought frequently in the process of acquiring the military factory. In the end, Liu Jinshi was defeated, and Jiang Yingxue successfully acquired it, laying an important foundation for her career empire.

Whether it was a military factory or a state-owned factory, they originally produced according to plan. Production targets were issued from above, and their main task was to meet the production targets.

After the reform and opening up, the planned economy was broken and factories had to find their own markets and sales channels to cope with competition. As a result, many factories that were not able to adapt to the local environment would quickly collapse.

The Nancheng Military Factory has a strong foundation and has been struggling for a long time. However, no matter how strong the foundation is, it cannot withstand you opening a canning production line and then a bicycle production line at the same time. Such a headless fly-like struggle will only lead to greater losses.

What's more, there are many people like Liu Zhigang who take advantage of the situation to fish in troubled waters and harm the public interest for their own benefit.

A canning production line may cost tens of thousands of yuan to buy from the factory, and two of them will cost fifteen to twenty thousand yuan. By buying at a low price and reselling at a high price, you can easily make a few yuan.

However, the Liu family does not have that much capital.

Originally, the family had only a few thousand dollars in savings, but after speculating in Clivia, all the savings were emptied out, and it was even more difficult to withdraw the money, so he came to Liu Mianmian.

Liu Mianmian naturally guessed it.

Logically, she didn't want to have anything to do with the Liu family anymore, but she suddenly thought that Nancheng was indeed not a major fruit producing area, so there was actually no inherent advantage in running a cannery. But who said that canned goods could only be canned fruits?

Instead of letting Liu Zhigang and his team take advantage of these two production lines, it would be better for her to buy them and do some practical work, which could also create some employment and tax revenue for the local area.

Although she had an idea in her mind, Liu Mianmian didn't show it on her face. Instead, she looked a little impatient: "I won't do this kind of business with high investment and low profit. Besides, I just opened a fried chicken shop and I don't have any money."

Liu Mianmian dared to bet that if she really took out 10,000 or 20,000 yuan to help Liu Zhigang buy a production line, the couple would embezzle the money and not return it to her.

She was able to get back the 2,000 yuan betrothal gift from them because, at that time, they were still respectable people praised by everyone in the compound. They still cared about their reputation and had to consider Liu Yongjie and Liu Jinshi in any way.

After the subsequent human trafficking incident and the Clivia incident, their family's image collapsed severely and their reputation plummeted.

Now the couple are planning to resell the factory's production line. They probably don't care much about their reputation and are just going for the money. In this case, Liu Mianmian feels that if they get a penny, they may not be able to get it back.

So, of course she had to refuse.

Ding Mingxia didn't expect her to refuse so bluntly, and tried to persuade her: "You don't have any money, but what about your parents-in-law? They must have money, right? Weizhou's grandmother is the daughter of a capitalist, so she must have left something for them. You can ask your mother-in-law. It's not that we don't want to pay it back. We can get the money back by selling the production line, right?"

Liu Mianmian shook her head: "My mother-in-law is not that easy to talk to."

Ding Mingxia still believed this. Although Yu Wan usually looked gentle and good-tempered, she was said to be very decisive at work. Everyone who had come into contact with her at the military factory knew this.

Ding Mingxia then continued, "Aren't you in business with Jiang Hongmei? Didn't she open a fried chicken shop with you? Why borrow some money from her first? You're doing well, so why did you open a fried chicken shop? It's a smoky, fusty business, and it doesn't look decent."

Liu Mianmian stared at her and said, "What business do I have with you when I open a shop?"

Ding Mingxia: “…”

This is really, my temper is getting worse and worse.

Liu Mianmian didn't want to waste time with her anymore and waved her away: "I have no money, and Jiang Hongmei has no money either. Besides, doesn't she live next door to you? If you want to borrow money, go there yourself. Go back quickly. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll call the human traffickers to kidnap you!"

Ding Mingxia was so angry that she almost died. She said angrily: "I am your mother, your biological mother! What human trafficker are you talking about?!"

Liu Mianmian said confidently, "You are my biological mother, yet you abandoned me in the countryside. You almost sold me, your good daughter, to human traffickers! Do you believe that if I shout 'human traffickers', someone will definitely rush out and beat you with a stick?"

Ding Mingxia cried: "Why am I so miserable——"

Liu Mianmian immediately shouted: "Hurry up, help! Human traffickers..."

Ding Mingxia screamed, "I'm leaving! Can't I just leave?! How could I have given birth to such an ungrateful person like you? I'm really worse than I was back then..."

Liu Mianmian shouted: "Human traffickers——"

A voice came from the yard by the roadside: "Hey, is someone calling for human traffickers?"

“It seemed like there was, but it’s gone.”

Ding Mingxia immediately stumbled and ran away.

Liu Mianmian smiled.

With such guts, you still want to extort money from her?

Liu Mianmian walked into the yard and saw Shen Weizhou sitting on her usual recliner reading a book. She asked curiously, "Why did you come back so early today?"

Shen Weizhou put down his book and stood up: "I have completed the project at hand, but theirs is not yet completed, so I plan to take a few days off."

Liu Mianmian felt that Shen Weizhuo was probably the most unruly worker of this era.

You have to know that people at this time are extremely enthusiastic about their work. It is absolutely impossible for them to be late, leave early, or be absent from work for no reason. Even many people who have reached retirement age are eager to be re-employed and return to their jobs to continue to contribute.

However, Shen Weizhuo would often be late or leave early, or simply not go to work. This was certainly due to his poor health, but Liu Mianmian felt that the main reason was that Shen Weizhuo had no intention of devoting himself to his work.

This person is quite careful about his life and knows how to balance work and rest.

In this respect, he is not like a person of this era at all. He is quite similar to her, a modern person who believes that "the only way to relieve worries is retirement."

Although she complained in her heart, Liu Mianmian naturally knew that the main reason why Shen Weizhuo could give himself a holiday from time to time was that he was smart. Even in a place like the research institute where there were many academic masters, his ability was far higher than others. The part he was responsible for was always completed far ahead of others, so naturally he had time to rest.

Having said that, the comrades who did research with him really worked hard.

"Then let's go to the movies tonight?" Liu Mianmian asked while washing her hands.

Shen Weizhou handed her a towel to wipe her hands, then responded and asked, "Aunt Liu said you went to the dance hall?"

"Well, I've talked to Boss Wu about the video parlor, and the deal is basically done."

Shen Weizhou also knew that Liu Mianmian had asked Lin Zhe to help her find out about Wu Heng. Although Shen Weizhou felt that Wu Heng had a complicated background, especially since no one knew how he made his fortune in the south, such a partner was not very reliable.

However, Shen Weizhuo also knew that he had such thoughts because he had been in a foreign world surrounded by wolves for a long time and would not easily trust someone he did not know. In peacetime, this mentality of being paranoid was actually unnecessary.

Just like Liu Mianmian said, it's just business. As long as the other party doesn't commit crimes, there is no problem. Even if he commits crimes, there will naturally be legal sanctions against him.

So Shen Weizhou didn't interrupt Liu Mianmian when she was talking about how she and Wu Heng had agreed on a collaboration. Only when he heard about the division of labor they had agreed on did he couldn't help but smile and pinch her cheek. "Are you so afraid of trouble?"

Liu Mianmian slapped his hand and said, "I just washed my face."

I simply poured a basin of water and washed it again.

Shen Weizhuo looked at her with a smile and listened to her continue chattering, talking about Wu Heng's ex-girlfriend, how she was mistakenly identified as Xu Haitang, and finally how she met Ding Mingxia at the entrance of the alley and how she was scared away when she shouted "human trafficker".

He looked at her expression carefully, making sure he didn't see any sadness on her face.

Even though I knew she probably wouldn't care, I was still a little worried. Only when I saw that she didn't take it seriously did I secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

"Converting military industry to civilian use is not just a matter of changing a production line. If you lack the ability to capture the market, it will be useless even if you buy more production lines." This is how Shen Weizhuo commented on the decision-making mistakes of Nancheng Military Factory.

"That's right." Liu Mianmian said with a smile, "I guess there are quite a few people in the military factory who have the same idea as Liu Zhigang. There's no point in keeping these two production lines in the military factory. There's no cannery in Nancheng, so naturally there's no way a state-owned enterprise will take over. So, they can only be sold to township collective enterprises or foreign companies."

Compared with foreign companies, it is naturally more in line with the interests of Nancheng to sell to local companies. However, since the local area is not suitable for running a cannery, why would they buy the production line?

The answer is obvious, of course they are bought and resold.

Liu Mianmian wiped her hands and face clean, then suddenly stood on tiptoe, pinched Shen Weizhou's face, and said with a smile, "My handsome brother, when I buy the production line, I'll make canned food for you!"

She wanted to run away after she finished speaking, but just as she ran out, she was pulled back by Shen Weizhou. He kissed her on the face and then let her go: "I'll wait."

"Oh my!" Aunt Liu came out of the kitchen and was about to call them to eat. Seeing this scene, she quickly turned around and went back into the kitchen, shouting, "Hurry up and eat when you are done!"

Liu Mianmian looked at Shen Weizhou with a smile. She still had a blank expression on her face, but her ears were red. She was so happy that she said, "I'll make a phone call first and be right back."

Jiang Hongmei, a workaholic, can only accurately find her during meal times.

"Canning production line? Oh, my parents are talking about that, too. Everyone says the factory leaders just made a snap decision and bought two production lines without even figuring out the raw material problem. It's just sheer madness."

On the phone, Jiang Hongmei was eating while talking: "It's definitely cheap, but what are you going to use it for?"

Liu Mianmian smiled and said, "It has many uses."

Jiang Hongmei didn't ask any more questions and agreed immediately: "Okay, I'll ask my mother to go out and find out what the rules are." Since she made money, Jiang Hongmei's status in the family has been rising steadily, and her parents now listen to her.

After discussing with Jiang Hongmei, Liu Mianmian called Yu Guoliang again and asked him to quickly report to the township and prepare to set up a cannery.

Yu Guoliang on the other end of the phone: "..."