Chapter 213 Chapter 213 [VIP]
Was the first factory they looked at really that good?
After most of the day's inspection, which ended at night, Amy considerately gave the client a few days to consider, saying that he could be contacted at any time. When they returned to the small building, Arthur asked this question.
Even though he was still disguised as Arthur, his expression changed slightly, and he lost Arthur's gentleness and ordinariness, and instead became meaningful, from an "ordinary man" to an old-fashioned gentleman who seemed to have inherited the style and temperament of the last century.
When he asked this, Megan was still changing into her plush slippers at the entrance. Without even looking up, she said, "Dad, I don't think it's good." Her tone was very firm, but what was the basis for her judgment?
"It's too crowded in there." What kind of weird excuse is that?
As Megan walked towards the clown, she grabbed a stuffed animal from the toy rack. Then, sitting next to him, she said something she didn't quite understand. "The factory is already built and has reached a certain scale, and so are the machines. If I take over, it'll seem like everything is just as planned, following the same path as before."
So, has that past trajectory carried over into the future and into the present? The answer is no. That factory never made it through the millennium, never reopened. Like the others, it was abandoned, proving that this path was unworkable. Even if the policies of the time were relevant, would those old products still sell well today?
Maybe she didn't think so much, but this judgment was undoubtedly correct. Taking over the existing factory buildings and machines would not be of much use. If they wanted to make new products, they would have to change the assembly line first. Even if they could negotiate the price, it would be enough to exhaust all their current assets, and they would even need to go to the bank for a loan. This was a very risky behavior.
Taking over an established factory is even more of a sunk cost than Megan's, requiring continuous investment to see little, if any, return. Business, after all, is never easy. It's not like a child with cash wandering the shopping mall, expecting a vast selection and the possibility of returns.
Once they choose to buy the factory, they will have to devote all their energy to it and then fall into financial difficulties again. They will have to think twice about everything they do to avoid dragging the family back into an abyss of no return.
The clown asked leisurely, "So, what do you think of the second factory?" But he was almost certain of the child's choice.
Megan picked up the doll in her arms, covered the lower half of her face, and said, "Not really, I've got my eye on the one next to the second factory—"
“It looked shoddy, made of reinforced concrete, not the panels used in many factories nowadays. There was also a building inside that was just a frame, but I liked that.”
"It's empty, with no tall, solid buildings that could be demolished and rebuilt. Its gate is next to the river. Will crabs crawl up there when it rains?"
She spoke childishly, "It must be cheap. Then, after we build a simple factory, we can go to the market to buy second-hand machines. We don't need large ones, small ones will be enough. We can hire some people to start working and make simple products." She didn't know that there was a missing link in the middle, which was to go to the state government to set up a company, but she already had her own ideas. Although what she wanted to buy was actually land rather than a factory, this was not a difficult thing.
The clown patted her shoulder firmly, forcing a smile on his face, "Since you have made the decision, it will come true."
After several days of contemplation, Arthur told Amy he wanted to check out the factory Megan had chosen. He knew the only things there were useless. The brick buildings would have to be torn down and rebuilt, and the machinery inside? They were already old and outdated! They were probably covered in rust and wouldn't fetch much at a scrapyard.
As he expected, everything inside was scrapped. Except for the land, nothing could be included in the list. They went to the pub for drinks several times. Amy also advised him that it was basically useless to ask for a piece of land in the East District. After all, everything would be troublesome later. Even if the factory was successfully opened in the early stage, the environment in the East District was really bad, and there would be countless troubles later.
Amy did her job conscientiously, but Arthur declined his suggestion and said, "I know it's bad enough over there, but someone has to do something, right?" To be honest, Arthur doesn't like to drink much, because there was a precedent in his family where an alcoholic gambler drowned in a roadside ditch. It didn't cause his own misfortune in life, but it was closely related to it.
He asked the bartender for a low-alcohol drink, but didn't drink much. He just lowered his eyes and stared at the slightly shaking glass in his hand. Inadvertently, some of the wine spilled out, but it was also obvious that he had no training, and his reaction to seeing the wine spilled was a bit too big. But he had just escaped from his impoverished situation not long ago!
Even if his thoughts and horizons were broadened and his personality was improved due to the gradual realization of social values, some things were deeply rooted and could not be changed by these "good" things later. He smiled apologetically at Amy, then took out a tissue from the table to wipe the wine. After doing all this, he was still in a daze.
"Maybe you think I'm funny, Amy, but I thought I could change, I could do something, you know what I feel? I thought I should do something like that."
How contradictory is Arthur? He thinks he is ridiculous and pathetic, but on the other hand, he believes that he should be a good person and do good things. However, in Gotham, if someone really said this, they would be close to being admitted to a mental hospital. Therefore, most of them have this strange sense of shame. Or, in the minds of most Gotham people, "good people and good deeds" are not equal to "good".
After all, if good people are not rewarded here, if there really is a savior or a heaven in the world, and that high and mighty figure is willing to send angels to patrol the world, then there would not be so many painful, sad, bad and crazy things in the world.
They were all in Gotham, so what else could they believe in? The churches here were little more than bread spawning points. Only the special churches visited by the middle and upper classes had a so-called religious atmosphere. The average person wasn't religious, and at most, they might pretend to be religious briefly to get benefits from missionaries, or turn "Oh my God" into a humorous habit.
The people of Gotham are really humorous, although this humor probably comes from the "self-defense mechanism produced by being in a bad environment". In the entire social system, the lower you go, the funnier people are. Even if they realize this themselves, it's no big deal.
At this moment in the tavern, Amy was obviously stunned by what Arthur said. He really didn't understand why the man in front of him had such an idea, because with his eyesight, it was not difficult to see that this customer had not had a good life in the past. He saw the vicissitudes of life on Arthur's face, the wrinkles and the skin on his hands and neck were all evidence of this. His life should have improved in the past one or two years, so what made him feel that he should be a good person?
——Only the selfless help from others can change a poor man, and the reason why he is not as stubborn as many people in Gotham is because he has a daughter.
Arthur might have been a terrible adult who accomplished nothing, but he was definitely a good father, so the "good" he received should have been passed on to his daughter, which led to his current appearance. He was willing to buy land in the East District to open a factory and did not mind the harsh environment here. However, after the factory was opened, it was difficult to recruit workers from outside the East District due to geographical reasons. He should not have thought of such a problem, that is, he had already thought about it, but he wanted to provide jobs for the people in the East District and was willing to help them.
It wasn't difficult to figure these things out. After all, in Amy's career, she had already come into contact with and seen all kinds of people, including big bosses, small figures, and people like him who were struggling to make a living. And to find someone like Arthur...
It's difficult.
Amy said, "I don't think so, brother. Maybe you don't want to hear that, but I have to say you're a good man." He also said something irrelevant to the current situation, "You raised your daughter well. She will be proud to have you as her father."
Upon hearing this, Arthur showed an expression of surprise and embarrassment on his face. Perhaps there was a more complicated meaning hidden. He picked up the wine glass and took a sip, only tasting a little bit of the wine, but using it to cover up his face, he said softly: "Oh my God, this is really..."
…
What was even more surprising was that when they were drafting the contract, Arthur checked the previous clauses, but when he came to the price, he found that it was a figure far lower than their valuation of the land. Even because of the special environment of the East District, the price should not be so low. He had no intention of taking advantage of this, so he asked about it immediately and tried to revise the issue.
Amy laughed and said, "You want to do something good, but some people don't have the ability or perseverance. She said, 'Do what you want to do, regardless of success or failure.'"
The factory was very small, and almost all of its employees, from the boss to the workers, were from the East District. Seeing the outsiders' factories thriving here, they were inevitably influenced by it and jointly raised funds to choose to open a factory for the East District. However, everyone present knew about the subsequent developments. It was the political situation that chose to sacrifice this piece of land, and the big bosses who got the news in advance had already made preparations, so the lagging factory suffered.
At that time, they had just made some money and tried to turn the small workshop into a big factory. However, bad news struck when the construction was in progress and everything was ruined. The factory soon stopped operating and was later bought by a female worker in the factory.
More than a decade has passed, and the people who once lived there have all grown old. Most of the original inhabitants of the East District have dispersed or fallen into decline with the arrival of outsiders. However, there are still some elderly people and young people who remember what the East District used to look like and what they had in the past, but they themselves have long been unable to change.
So when they heard more than ten years later that someone had looked at many factories and finally chose their piece of land, wanting to tear down those long-abandoned and dilapidated things and rebuild the factory, they tried to lend a hand. Maybe they could see their previous wish come true?
The author has something to say:
Destiny's Child Megan (nods)
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