“I’m not having any more children, where would I find the energy to manage all that?” Shen Mingzhi said.

Aunt Wang sighed, "It's true that having many children brings many blessings, but I still respect your opinion."

Shen Mingzhi didn't care about their urging. Since Jiang Shaozhen supported her, she would listen to him.

She played with the child for a while, then went to her driving lesson.

In mid-May, Shen Mingzhi also finished her driving lessons. She and Jiang Shaochen always practiced together in the evenings, and she was finally able to drive on the road.

She drove to the factory early in the morning, and everyone who saw her military green car couldn't help but look at her with envy.

"The deputy factory director can drive now?"

You should know that owning a car is extremely rare these days.

Shen Mingzhi's car belonged to Jiang Shaochen's father. She didn't expect the Jiang family to be so generous as to let their daughter-in-law drive it.

"Yes, I took advantage of the relatively quiet time at the factory recently to learn a bit." Shen Mingzhi got out of the car, looking quite spirited.

As soon as he entered the office, Director Sun asked, "Haven't we received any news from customs yet?"

The goods were loaded onto the cargo ship a few days ago, and since then, Factory Manager Sun has been asking about them every three days.

Shen Mingzhi sighed, "It's not that fast. It takes about a month from our customs to the foreign customs. Let's just wait."

“That’s true.” Director Sun sat down. “Do you have any plans for Children’s Day? If we successfully export this time, Baoli will definitely reach a new level.”

"Forget about climbing to the next level. First, let's focus on getting the 500,000 loan. It's almost June, and we still don't have a new production line. Do you think this is appropriate?" Shen Mingzhi sat down and opened the documents that Lin Xiaoyu had compiled.

Factory Director Sun said, "The mayor said that the loan of 500,000 yuan will only be approved if your products can pass through foreign customs. If they can pass through this time, all our daily chemical factories will have to follow Baoli's example."

"It will take another two weeks or so for customs to process the request..."

“Zhizhi, I know you’re anxious, but the mayor’s idea is that the customs has approved this time, and they’ll give us a budget of one million. Do you want this one million?” Factory Director Sun said.

Upon hearing "one million," Shen Mingzhi immediately sat up straight. "Really?!"

"Really, they said they'd give us an extra 500,000 yuan for research funding, so you should wait a bit!" Director Sun replied.

“Okay, then I’ll grit my teeth and wait a bit longer. But we’ve already developed that anti-aging serum, and what we need now is new equipment. If the export fails, the anti-aging serum will be gone, right? Wouldn’t all our research have been for nothing? You still need to think about it and find another way to get a loan of 500,000.” Shen Mingzhi felt that relying on exports was too unrealistic.

"The mayor won't approve it, what am I supposed to do?" Factory Director Sun was extremely worried.

“If the mayor won’t approve it, then there’s the governor. Go ask the governor. If the governor can’t do it, ask other leaders,” Shen Mingzhi said.

In short, isn't it just a matter of needing one person's signature?

"You make it sound so simple..."

"Director Sun, do you think it's easy for me to sell goods at the Canton Fair? I'm in charge of production and sales, and you're in charge of getting loans approved for us from above. You always say it's easy for me to make it sound simple, but let me ask you, which one is easy: product production and R&D, developing distributors, or exporting?" Shen Mingzhi asked him.

Factory Director Sun was speechless when asked the question. After a moment, he finally spoke up, "Then I'll go ask again for you."

“This funding must be approved. We also need to start production on this new product. Many customers have already placed orders. If we ship it out, we can earn around two million by the end of the year,” Shen Mingzhi told him.

"So many?" Factory Director Sun clicked his tongue in amazement.

“That’s the basics,” Shen Mingzhi replied. “If we work a little harder, we might even reach three million.”

"Three million..." Factory Director Sun murmured. If they really made that much, it meant that the money from the goods sold would more than double.

Wouldn't this make it a model enterprise in the city?

"Then I'll give it a try." Factory Director Sun scratched his head and left.

"Keep it up!" Shen Mingzhi said.

Factory Director Sun snorted and left.

In June, Shen Mingzhi at Baoli didn't plan any events; instead, she was urging the creation of new product design drawings.

Shen Xiuzhu sat in his office, his backside burning hot.

Although he has been working for more than a month, he would prefer to be self-employed.

Unfortunately, his father wouldn't allow it and even had Shen Mingzhi keep an eye on him.

“I told you, you can’t add your own little tricks. Look at these foreign products, their styles are all very consistent. You can add something eye-catching to this style, but it can’t be too outlandish.” Shen Mingzhi felt a headache coming on when she saw his new drawing.

She could understand that artists all have their own ideas, but right now... he had to restrain himself from having those ideas.

In this day and age, many aesthetic standards are uniform.

"I've been drawing for so long... and you're still not satisfied? That just means I'm not cut out for this!"

"Shen Xiuzhu!" Shen Mingzhi shouted immediately after he finished speaking.

Lin Xiaoyu didn't dare to say anything.

Shen Xiuzhu immediately sat up straight.

“Your dad entrusted you to me hoping you could find a decent job here, and I also hoped you could design usable drafts, but you keep going like this, what am I supposed to do? Although we're familiar with each other, I really don't know what to say about your progress.” Shen Mingzhi finished speaking and took a deep breath.

Shen Xiuzhu wanted to become a self-employed individual. Yes, being a self-employed individual was indeed a good prospect in the future, but he wasn't as clever as Qian Manguan.

"If you really want to be self-employed, then wait until around 1985. Not now!" Shen Mingzhi said coldly. "You must work as a designer obediently for the next two or three years! If you really want to go, apply to your father for permission to go with Qian Manguan. Do you really think you're suited to be self-employed then?"

"Then I'll try again." Shen Xiuzhu was startled by her expression.

Shen Mingzhi took a deep breath and said to him, "If we get the loan, we'll start making new goods right away. How can you do that without packaging? These things should have been sorted out last month, but you're still at zero."

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Lin Xiaoyu and said, "Keep an eye on him."

Lin Xiaoyu couldn't keep an eye on it either.

But he still nodded slightly, with a blank expression on his face.

Shen Mingzhi glared at Shen Xiuzhu. "Hurry up and design. I want to see the draft before I leave work today. Let me tell you, if you really have no inspiration, look at the products of European and American brands a few more times. Don't bother with your little tricks. Just make sure there are highlights in the original European and American style. That's the main thing I need!"

After she left, Shen Xiuzhu whispered to Lin Xiaoyu, "I feel like she's getting more and more irritable."

"That's because you couldn't submit your manuscript. If it were someone else, do you think she would still be so good-tempered?" Lin Xiaoyu said with a speechless expression.