The traditional method of brewing rice wine has a certain seasonality. If you miss this season, it will be next year, so negotiations began immediately.
The biggest challenge in acquiring the Kezhen Winery was valuation.
At that time, there was no clear third-party evaluation company in the country. Except for the bottling workshop which had assembly line machines, the rest of the winery was brewing according to traditional techniques.
How much are those jars and pots worth? How much are those wooden presses worth? And how much is this simple, old factory building worth?
So it is difficult to estimate the valuation.
Anyway, the government at that time would never have dreamed that the most valuable land would not be evaluated. This situation is the same as the acquisition of Yuezhou Pharmaceutical Factory.
Ye Shirong sat in the conference room and looked at Qin Weimin and said, "County Magistrate Qin, our Pumpkin Vine Pharmaceutical Company wants to acquire the winery. I wonder what the county is offering?"
Qin Weimin took out a piece of information and said with a smile:
"Manager Ye, our county's proposal is 1 million RMB. Of course, this price is negotiable, but our requirement is that it be paid in foreign currency, Hong Kong dollars and US dollars are both acceptable."
It's a pity, but for the sake of foreign exchange, everything can be negotiated.
One million RMB, converted into Hong Kong dollars, is about three million Hong Kong dollars based on the exchange rate in 1985. This price... is a bargain...
If he bargained further at this price, Chen Xia was afraid that it would be discovered decades later, and that would be a clear case of capital sin.
Ye Shirong did not have the final say, so his eyes unconsciously looked at Chen Xia. People who were not aware of the situation at the scene were quite puzzled. Why did a foreign businessman always have to listen to a small section chief of the People's Hospital?
Chen Xia nodded.
Ye Shirong immediately replied: "Then let's go by your county's purchase price. 3 million Hong Kong dollars is no problem."
Hearing that the Hong Kong merchants were so easy to talk to, the cadres at both the county and town levels breathed a sigh of relief, and then they were delighted. With so much foreign currency, after it was converted into RMB, the slush fund would have more money.
Only the factory director Zhang Xinglong felt very unhappy at the scene. As the "last factory director", he had become extremely doubtful and unconfident about his abilities.
The main price has been negotiated, and the rest is just a matter of signing an agreement. Kezhen Winery is a collective enterprise, not a state-owned factory, so there is no need to report to the region, and the procedures are quite simple.
When everyone came out of the conference room with smiles on their faces, they found that the entrance of the conference room was surrounded by workers, a large group of men and women. No one spoke, just waiting quietly.
Qin Weimin swallowed his saliva and thought to himself that this was bad. Workers these days were very ruthless. When they heard that the winery was going to be sold, they would probably beat him, the mastermind, to death.
Mayor Ke Zhen quickly stepped forward and said, "Don't worry, don't worry. Listen to me. We are transferring the winery to Hong Kong merchants this time because of difficulties. This is also for you..."
The mayor was interrupted by the workers before he could finish his words.
A worker representative stepped forward and said, "Leaders, we'd like to ask, is the company that acquired our winery Xiangjiang Pumpkin Vine Pharmaceutical Company? It's the parent company of Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Company."
The mayor was stunned. Why didn't these workers play by the rules?
Ye Shirong remained calm, nodded, and said, "Yes, we are from Xiangjiang Pumpkin Vine Pharmaceutical Company. The Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory you are talking about is our branch factory."
The worker representative then asked, "Boss, we'd like to ask, will the treatment at our pharmaceutical factory be the same as at Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory?"
Ye Shirong was about to answer, but Chen Xia spoke first:
"Whether the treatment is the same or not depends on whether you can generate economic benefits. As long as you work hard and complete the production tasks with guaranteed quality and quantity, the treatment will be the same as that of Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory.
But if everyone still wants to work casually and do whatever they want like in the "big pot" era, and fail to meet production targets, how can they expect good treatment? Not only will they not get high wages, but some lazy people may even be fired.
Qin Weimin swallowed his saliva again. Young people are impulsive after all. How could they mention the word "dismissal" at such a critical moment? This would only add fuel to the fire.
As soon as Chen Xia finished speaking, there was an uproar below, and hundreds of employees were talking about it.
Just when the cadres on the scene were extremely anxious, they found that the workers were not angry at all, but all had smiles on their faces.
"Did you hear me? I said the treatment is the same as at Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory."
"Hey, I heard that the monthly salary of the employees at Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory is much higher than that of the people in the city. They are among the best in the region."
"That's right. Our winery is saved this time, and we can get high salaries."
The chatter reached everyone's ears, and everyone was stunned. Where was the crisis? Where was the mass incident? Why were they all so happy?
The cadres with traditional old ideas just can’t understand: the factory is about to be sold, what is there to be happy about?
In fact, the cadres didn’t understand at all that the people of Yuezhou have always been very open-minded. No matter whether it is a state-owned factory, a collective factory, or a foreign-funded factory, whoever pays high wages is a “good factory.”
Moreover, to put it bluntly, most of the employees of the collective winery still have agricultural household registration and are not real workers. So whoever they work for is not the same as working for them.
It has to be said that Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Factory's reputation for high salaries and good benefits played a key role.
When Zhang Xinglong saw the workers' joy, he couldn't help feeling sad. A new emperor appoints new ministers. The workers were able to stay and have a good job, but he, the factory director, would definitely be purged.
Just as Ye Shirong and Qin Weimin were explaining the winery's new assessment system to the workers to reassure them, Chen Xia quietly pulled Zhang Xinglong aside.
"Director Zhang, are you interested in continuing to be the director?"
Zhang Xinglong opened his mouth wide and said in disbelief, "Section Chief Chen, can I still stay as factory director? You can decide?"
"Nonsense, the chairman of Pumpkin Vine Pharmaceuticals is my grandfather. Do you think I can make the decision?"
"Your grandfather?"
Zhang Xinglong's mind was already full of question marks. He said shamefully, "But I bankrupted the factory before. I'm afraid I..."
Chen Xia patted the old man's shoulder and said, "Director Zhang, I've inquired about this matter. You are indeed responsible for the factory's failure, but you are quite knowledgeable about winemaking, right?"
Zhang Xinglong nodded. "Yes, my master is the rice wine master Li Quanning. I have been learning from him at Xifeng Winery for decades. I have been his apprentice since I was a child."
"That's settled. You stay and continue to be the factory director. The quality and output of the rice wine will be up to you. As for how to sell it, you don't have to worry about it. We want to transform this traditional rice wine into a health wine, and we will take over the sales when the time comes."
"Health wine?"
Zhang Xinglong has more and more questions in his mind. When can rice wine become a health wine?
What exactly is health wine? Can it really revive a winery?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
