There were only Lu Feng and Huang Youwei in the private room of the restaurant. They ordered a few dishes and a few bottles of beer. The weather was a bit hot. Although the restaurant was not small, it was not possible to equip each private room with an air conditioner.
The electric fan was on level five, which was quite cool. After the waiter finished serving the dishes and left, Lu Feng finally spoke up: "It's been a long time since we sat together."
“You have your own things to do, and I’m busy too. The investment promotion work is in full swing.” Huang Youwei picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of cold dish, and handed a glass of baijiu to Lu Feng while eating.
Lu Feng opened the bottle cap, poured him a drink, and said, "I didn't really want to bother you, I know you're busy, but this loan thing is making me a little nervous."
"Why are you so nervous? What are you thinking?" Huang Youwei said, somewhat displeased.
"Mr. Huang, you were transferred here in 1990, right?" Lu Feng asked.
“Yes, I even treated you to dinner before you left. I know what you’re thinking.” Huang Youwei picked up his wine glass, took a small sip, and said, “Try to pay back the loan if you can. You’re not short of money anyway.”
"My money is useful!"
"Whose money is useless?" Huang Youwei said irritably. "Paying back this money won't affect the normal operation of your company. With less debt, you can run more happily."
"Just tell me, are you leaving?" Lu Feng asked.
"Don't worry about that. Who told you that you'd be transferred immediately after three years? I've been keeping an eye on you lately. I know you've got a batch of goods you want to sell in the foreign trade sector. What I want to tell you is that the international community's opinion of our country and the evaluation of our manufactured products is really not high right now!"
Huang Youwei stared intently at Lu Feng and said, "I have been abroad for research and study many times. I know the steel industry best. The gap is not small. In 1990, the total steel production reached 66 million tons, but the annual steel import volume was still very large, and the export volume was almost zero."
"What kind of steel does the Yegang Group produce? Can it be used to make cars? Airplanes? Machine tools?"
"First, we need to implement internal competition and upgrade our industry. Then, we need to connect with international standards and meet those standards before we can sell our products. You think your TV can go international? Do you really think I've never seen a foreign TV before? When you turn it on, the picture is so blurry... to put it bluntly, it's a pile of crap!"
“I’ve actually wanted to tell you this for a long time. You have a big appetite and you take big steps, which makes it easy to mess things up.” Huang Youwei took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit one, and said, “When I asked you to sell Jiafeng Electronics before, it wasn’t purely for my own political achievements. If I wanted to achieve political achievements, I could have built an industrial park and done some water conservancy projects. Wouldn’t that have been enough?”
"My idea at the time was to sell Jiafeng, attract foreign investment, and then introduce a group of excellent local companies to engage in healthy internal competition. They would learn through competition and compete through learning. As long as they want to produce locally, they will need the supporting technologies and a complete industrial chain, right?"
“You’re arguing with me because you won’t sell. Fine, don’t sell then. You can do it yourself. You’re very capable. Jiafeng Electronics invested 100 million yuan in R&D at the beginning of this year, which I greatly appreciate. I wrote a long article about Jiafeng in my report.”
"You really should settle down and stop being so aggressive. You've gone from a small cannery to where you are now in less than four years, with two factories and nearly 40,000 workers at Jiafeng Electronics. Do you have the resources?" Huang Youwei stared at Lu Feng and asked, "Do you know how frivolous Jiafeng Electronics is right now? What technology do you have? You're supporting 40,000 people all by yourself, by your mouth!"
“I realized that too, which is why I’ve invested heavily in R&D. I’ll also increase R&D funding next year. So when the banks tightened their lending, I had to invest less.” Lu Feng said to him, “The money from the banks…”
"Forget about the money, just drink the wine in front of you," Huang Youwei interrupted.
Lu Feng picked up his glass and drank it all in one gulp, then continued, "What I mean is, we don't have much capital right now. It's a loan of 200 million, and I have to pay interest every year."
"Do you know how much interest this money would accrue in a year?" Huang Youwei asked.
"Back then, it was supposed to be a fund to support private enterprises. I think the annual usage fee in the terms was around two million," Lu Feng recalled. "I don't remember exactly."
"Two hundred million, and you only need two million a year?" Huang Youwei laughed and said, "If you deposited those two hundred million in a bank, even at the current interest rate, it would be worth more than two million. With the increasing efforts to attract investment, local banks are under a lot of pressure."
“I was here first! You can’t take my money and use it to subsidize other companies!” Lu Feng shouted.
"What do you mean by your money? Lu Feng, are you really shameless? Just because it's in your pocket doesn't mean it's yours. You should pay this money back as soon as possible." Huang Youwei said coldly, "Also, cool down your company. What I mean is, stabilize its development for three to five years, accumulate solid technical patents, and then make a push into foreign trade."
“If you don’t pay back the money, the bank will take over the factory. I bought it for almost 300 million yuan, and I gave them 200 million yuan.” Lu Feng was not giving an inch.
"Try it if you don't give it back!" Huang Youwei was completely enraged; this guy wouldn't let go of money once he saw it.
“At worst, I can just close the factory and leave. Before the end of this year, I can still get preferential policies from other provinces and resume production as usual next year!” Lu Feng also challenged him.
"You fucking..."
Huang Youwei poured himself a glass of wine, drank it all in a fit of anger, and then ate the cold dishes in large mouthfuls.
"Let me tell you something first, I'm not leaving." Huang Youwei reassured him, "Don't think that I'm leaving to collect some money from the local banks to reduce the local debt, and then let you borrow more when the new leader comes. That's not what I mean. You're just afraid that I'll run away."
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