Master Wang Jianguo's heavy three hundred yuan was like the first boulder thrown into a calm lake; the ripples spread rapidly and eventually converged into an unstoppable torrent. Once a crack was broken in the ice of trust, the passion for survival and change burst forth.
In the following days, the temporary fundraising point set up at the factory's labor union became the liveliest and most touching place in the Hongxing Factory.
People poured in from every corner of the factory. There were veteran workers in their work clothes, still covered in grease from their night shifts, pulling out banknotes wrapped in several layers of handkerchiefs from their inner pockets; there were young apprentices with still-childish faces, shyly handing over a few "ten-thousand-yuan" bills they had saved up through frugality; there were female employees from the logistics department, coming in twos and threes, taking out money they had prepared to buy new clothes or pay for their children's tuition; there were even retired workers who had rushed back to the factory after hearing the news, trembling as they handed over their retirement subsidies.
The amounts varied, but every penny carried warmth and embodied a family's hopes for the future of the Hongxing Factory and their unwavering determination.
"This is the money I was saving to buy a bicycle for my child. I'll use it for the factory first!" A middle-aged machinist stuffed a roll of banknotes into the cashier's hand, turned around and left, as if afraid he would regret it.
"I don't have much money, just this thirty yuan, consider it a small token of my appreciation!" A young female inspector blushed as she put down the money and hurriedly left.
Old Zhao, the head chef of the canteen, came over carrying a bulging cloth bag. When he opened it, besides some banknotes of varying sizes, there were also quite a few grain coupons and food vouchers. "We logistics guys have to do our part! The factory can find a way to exchange these coupons for cash, or at least improve the meals for the project team!"
Zhang Shulan was in charge of the registration, her hands trembling slightly with excitement. Watching the names and amounts rapidly increasing in the register, seeing those faces filled with anticipation or a sense of resignation, her eyes welled up with tears again and again. This wasn't just fundraising; it was the entire factory's workforce voting for the future of Hongxing Factory with their most precious possessions!
In the finance department, the accountants were working overtime to count the endless stream of payments. Crumpled banknotes and small bills stained with sweat and oil piled up like small mountains on their desks. The clicking of the abacus beads was as dense as a sudden downpour, and each person wore a solemn and dignified expression.
When the final figures were calculated and presented to the factory leadership, everyone was shocked.
Seventy-eight thousand six hundred and forty-three yuan and fifty-two fen, plus some grain coupons and industrial vouchers.
This number far exceeded everyone's expectations! It is not just money, but also the hearts of thousands who share the fate of the factory, an amazing cohesion and will to survive that burst forth under dire circumstances!
Holding the heavy list, the factory manager's hands trembled slightly. After a long while, he said to Liu Li in a hoarse voice, "Liu Li... this... this is the lifeblood of all the people in the factory! You... your project team, you absolutely... you absolutely cannot let them down!"
Liu Li nodded emphatically, her throat feeling as if something was blocking it, unable to utter a single word. She felt that the burden on her shoulders had never been so heavy, yet also so full of strength.
The arrival of funds was like injecting a stimulant into a dying body. The stalled production line immediately started running again!
The cupola furnace in the foundry was reignited, smelting molten iron according to the optimized formula; in the machining workshop, cost-optimized parts drawings were distributed to each machine tool, and the instructors carefully operated them to ensure that every product was used to its fullest potential; on the assembly line, the workers carefully assembled the parts into threshers and water pumps that embodied the hopes of the entire factory.
The workshop once again echoed with the purposeful roar of machines, the sound no longer muffled, but carrying an urgent and uplifting rhythm. Every worker involved in production knew that what they were processing was not just products, but also their own invested hopes, and the key to the survival of the Red Star Factory.
Hope, fueled by the collective effort, has been rekindled. The gloom of despair that had shrouded the Hongxing Factory for months has been largely dispelled by this flame forged from trust and sweat. Now, it remains to be seen whether this batch of products, embodying the factory's hard work and expectations, can carve out a path in the market and bring the first ray of dawn for Hongxing Factory's rebirth.
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