Chapter 159
The time agreed upon by both parties was six o'clock in the afternoon, but Wu Zhengrong finished his work and rushed to the train station to wait for someone before five o'clock.
He went to the exit to inquire and found out that the train from Beijing to Shanghai had already arrived.
Judging from Ye Lai Ya's personality, it is impossible for her to just wait there obediently. She has probably taken her children for a walk somewhere.
So, he was not in a hurry even though he didn't see anyone at Wuhelou Restaurant.
I was standing in front of the restaurant, and soon I spotted the mother and daughter on a bus that had just arrived at the station.
Youyan jumped out of the car first.
She wore red sandals, a yellow floral blouse, and a yellow sun hat.
He carried a round faux leather bag and a large military water bottle slung across his body.
The whole person is flashy and lively.
Ye Lai Ya, who was walking behind her, was wearing a green skirt. She looked much plainer than the girl, but the handkerchief she tied her hair with was the same pattern as the skirt You Yan was wearing.
The mother and daughter both had the same conceit, which made Wu Zhengrong couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips.
The green military uniform on him was eye-catching enough, and Wu Yuzhuo jumped out of the car and ran towards him.
"Dad, do you miss me? I miss you so much!"
"It's no use saying nice things," Wu Zhengrong said, picking the child up and shaking him. "Who told you to come with me? You don't go to kindergarten!"
"My great-grandfather and my mother both said they'd take me to Shanghai! My great-grandfather told me to stay with you!" Wu Yuzhuo said with emotion, hugging his neck. "My mother was so kind! She took me on two long train rides, even ate dumplings and bought me grapes on the train. But when I go out with you, I can only take the small train!"
Ye Manzhi walked over and heard this. She couldn't help but laugh and said, "You know you're going to follow your dad, why don't you say something nice now!"
Wu Zhengrong took the bag from her hand and led her to a jeep on the side of the road. He whispered, "Bringing her here is too much trouble. You'll have to take care of her on the way."
A wonderful world for two people, but now there is an extra third wheel.
"Our factory can only reimburse hard seat tickets. I had to pay several hundred dollars out of my own pocket to buy a sleeper. Bringing Youyan here makes this ticket especially worthwhile!"
Before getting on the bus, Ye Manzhi showed him the two letters of introduction in her bag.
"Why are the accommodations so tight here? We just went to the hotel service company to apply for a room, and they only gave us two chairs in the barber shop."
Wu Zhengrong opened the car door and let her get in, then casually stuffed two letters of introduction into his jacket pocket.
"Enterprises and institutions across the country were all emulating Shanghai and trying to catch up. There were so many people coming to Shanghai that I didn't have a room for the first two days I arrived, so I stayed at the home of Deputy Director Huang of the East China Institute for two nights."
Wu Yuzhuo sat in the back seat and greeted the driver in military uniform.
Ye Manzhi also greeted him with a smile, then asked cryptically, "Captain Wu, what are our plans from now on?"
"Let's stay here first."
…
The jeep took the family of three to the door of the hotel on Tibet Road.
Wu Zhengrong asked the driver to drive back first, and he took his wife and daughter to the front desk to complete the check-in procedures.
Ye Manzhi asked in a low voice with surprise: "Captain Wu, did you book a room for us in advance?"
Wu Zhengrong took the room key, walked up the stairs, and said, "You really can't book a room without a letter of introduction and work ID. The office director of the East China Institute helped me arrange this room. It's said to be the permanent residence of a machinery factory in Shanghai. No one's been on business trips recently, so they let us stay for a few days."
The permanent residences of large state-owned factories not only have a superior geographical location, but also a good environment inside.
It actually comes with an indoor toilet!
As Wu Yuzhuo entered the door, she cheered and ran in with her little skirt lifted up.
Finally, the follower of her parents could leave for a while. Ye Manzhi stared at the man and asked, "Wu Zhengrong, tell me the truth."
"What truth?"
"This Shanghai Industrial Exhibition didn't seem to make much of a splash. There wasn't even much coverage in the newspapers!" Ye Manzhi took his arm and asked, "Did you call me to Shanghai because you missed me?"
Wu Zhengrong nodded in acknowledgement as he took off his military jacket, "Well, so why did you bring Wu Yuzhuo with you?"
He never expected that he would have a little tail with him on a business trip.
"It's too pitiful to leave Youyan alone at home, and it's a rare opportunity for her to see the world." Ye Manzhi waited until he was stripped down to his shirt before leaning over to kiss him, "Don't look down on your daughter."
Wu Zhengrong kissed her lightly on the lips and muttered, "What a waste of a double room."
Amused by his strong resentment, Ye Manzhi leaned over to him and asked, "Where are you sleeping tonight?"
"What do you think? The driver has left."
Ye Manzhi suppressed her laughter and said, "It's been almost a month since we last met. Let's sleep together tonight, our family of three."
Wu Yuzhuo didn't feel any disgust from her father at all. After going to the toilet, she ran out with her little skirt lifted up, shouting that she wanted to eat.
The hotel was not far from Nanjing Road. The couple took their children out and found a state-owned restaurant on Nanjing Road.
While waiting for the food to be served, Ye Manzhi asked about the business.
"Have you been to the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition? Are there a lot of canning equipment?"
"I haven't had time to look yet, but I heard there are some."
As soon as Wu Zhengrong arrived in Shanghai, he immersed himself in the research institute here and had no time to visit the exhibition.
Ye Manzhi: “…”
It turned out that he deceived her!
"Even if the exhibition really has the equipment you need, given the current state of the food factory, you can't afford it, right?"
"..." Ye Manzhi said speechlessly, "Then why did you send me a telegram?"
It can't be just for that double room, right?
That would be too much trouble.
When the dishes arrived, Wu Zhengrong put food into the bowls of the two women and said with a smile, "Some things can't be explained in a few words. We'll use the Shanghai Industrial Expo as a pretext. Even if we don't find the right equipment on this business trip, it won't disappoint your factory too much."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
really.
No one thought that she could really bring the equipment back to the factory during this business trip.
After all, the exhibits at the industrial exhibition cost money, and they might be quite expensive.
Niu Enjiu didn't want to waste travel expenses, so he was reluctant to send out even the equipment engineer.
Wu Zhengrong handed her another piece of pickled duck and said with a smile, "Didn't I tell you before? I'm staying at the home of Deputy Director Huang of the East China Institute for two nights."
"Um."
"His third son responded to the call and went to the countryside to work in a production team near Shanghai this year..."
Ye Manzhi's focus was rather off-topic, and she asked curiously, "None of the deputy director's children have jobs?"
Binjiang was also mobilizing educated youth to work in the countryside, and most of the people who signed up were those who couldn't find jobs.
"He has a high level of ideological awareness and volunteered to go to the countryside," Wu Zhengrong said, changing the subject. "He comes back from the countryside every weekend, and I stay in his room."
"You two won't share a bed, will you?" Ye Manzhi's focus shifted again.
"We squeezed together all night, and this kid poured out his heart to me for half the night. Xiao Huang is quite ambitious, though a bit idealistic. Life in the countryside wasn't what he imagined. He thought he could bring scientific and cultural knowledge to the countryside, but the reality is that he has to work in the fields every day, tending to tomatoes." Wu Zhengrong corrected the topic again, "Who do you think their production team sells those tomatoes to?"
"Who is it?"
Wu Yuzhuo also looked over, and the mother and daughter had the same curious expression.
"This year, their production team signed a contract with Yimin Food Factory No. 2 to supply tomatoes," Wu Zhengrong emphasized. "It was signed just last month. Xiao Huang said that besides their production team, two other production teams also signed supply and marketing contracts."
Ye Manzhi thought to himself, the child has been confessing his feelings to you for half the whole night, and you are only concerned about the tomatoes in the production team?
However, this point is indeed worthy of attention.
After she became the deputy director of the First Food Factory, she specifically learned about the business operations of several large domestic food factories.
Yimin Food Factory No. 2 has a large scale of canned food production. Its product list includes canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, and it has its own planting base.
The sudden signing of a tomato supply and marketing contract with a nearby production team was most likely because they had received more canned food production tasks and wanted to expand production.
However, expanding production is not that simple.
By signing supply and marketing contracts with three production teams at once, the supply of raw materials has increased significantly.
"Is their factory going to install new equipment?"
Wu Zhengrong said, "I asked Xiao Huang to help me find out. Yimin Food Factory No. 2 is planning to replace its tomato sauce production line. The new line will have a higher output, so the old line will be disposed of."
"Do you think our factory can buy their old production line?" Ye Manzhi asked.
"The old production line is reasonably priced, so it should be a good deal for your factory," Wu Zhengrong whispered. "The new equipment hasn't been put into operation yet, so it might be a little early to contact the old equipment now. But with things like this, it's better to act sooner rather than later. By the time the new equipment is officially put into operation, the old equipment may have already been sold to other factories."
Ye Manzhi nodded thoughtfully.
The matter is quite complicated and cannot be explained in just a few words.
Wu Dacongming used the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition to seduce her, which was concise and had the same effect.
Nothing wrong.
Ye Manzhi picked up the bowl of Yangchun noodles, took a big sip of the soup, and sighed, "It's really a drought or a flood. Our factory is almost going bald from worrying about getting a few sets of equipment, while the equipment at Yimin Food Factory No. 2 is clearly still usable, but they're upgrading and installing new equipment!"
Wu Zhengrong smiled and said, "I heard it was imported from Hungary."
"Oh, you're really rich."
Ye Manzhi sighed and muttered a few words.
After a while, she suddenly had an idea and asked, "Is that imported equipment called the Tomato Sauce Double-Effect Automatic Production Line?"
“The specific name is unclear.”
"It must be!" Ye Manzhi clapped his hands and said, "It's imported from Hungary, and it produces tomato sauce. It has to be this production line!"
This production line has a long history!
Like the Japanese soda production line that their factory had just acquired, this tomato sauce production line was also given to the local area by the light industry department.
If the production line of Yimin No. 2 Factory was really allocated by the Ministry of Light Industry, then they wouldn't have to spend any money to change the production line!
Alas, Ye Manzhi was jealous again.
However, if they could take advantage of the opportunity of others replacing their production lines to buy old equipment at a low price, it would be a good thing for their First Food Factory.
The information provided by Dr. Wu is indeed worth a double room.
Ye Manzhi glanced at Wu Yuzhuo, whose mouth was full of sauce.
It's a pity that with a little tail sticking around, Dr. Wu's efforts were in vain.
*
According to the original plan, Ye Manzhi was going to visit the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition as soon as possible.
However, plans have changed now. She needs to think about the equipment at Yimin Food Factory No. 2, so the industrial exhibition can be postponed.
Wu Zhengrong still had to report to the East China Institute and could only join them in the evening.
Ye Manzhi took her daughter alone with her in the hotel room during the day, thinking about her own problems.
When she heard about the Hungarian import line last month, it had not yet been finalized.
It is said that Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangxi are all vying for it.
Producing tomato sauce is different from producing soda. It is not enough to just have a water source, but also requires a sufficient supply of tomato raw materials.
The Ministry of Light Industry is sending people to conduct an on-site inspection of the production environment. Can the results really come out so quickly?
Moreover, Yimin Food Factory No. 2 already has a production line. Can the Ministry of Light Industry give them another one so easily?
The more Ye Manzhi thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
The sudden signing of a contract between Yimin No. 2 Factory and the production team could not be related to their sudden opening of a pig farm, right?
They originally opened the pig farm in order to get the luncheon meat production task from the China National Food Import and Export Corporation.
The contract with Yimin Food Factory No. 2 was most likely to obtain this tomato sauce production line and show it to the higher-ups!
She lay in bed speculating all morning, then got up, washed, and went out with Wu Yuzhuo.
I walked into the nearby post office and made a long-distance call to Niu Enjiu.
Making long-distance calls across provinces is extremely difficult.
She dialed seven times but failed to get the call transferred successfully.
Just when she was about to give up, Niu Enjiu's voice finally rang out on the other end of the line.
Time was limited, so Ye Manzhi didn't waste any time: "Director, please submit an application to the provincial government immediately. Tell them that our factory wants to apply to the Ministry of Light Industry for that tomato sauce production line imported from Hungary!"
The quality of long-distance calls was poor and her voice was intermittent, but Niu Enjiu could guess roughly what she meant.
"Director Ye, we just got a Japanese soda production line. There's no way the department will give us this tomato sauce production line!"
"I know!"
Ye Manzhi was of course clear that this imported production line would never fall into their hands.
However, her target was not the imported production line, but the old production line that was replaced.
If Yimin Food Factory No. 2 can use the new production line for free, why should they spend money to buy the old production line?
She wants it free too!
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