Chapter 141
Xia Zhujun doesn't like working overtime or socializing with others.
Ye Manzhi worked as her secretary for half a year, and only accompanied her to three dinner parties, and they were all gatherings with many people.
The leaders sat at one table, and the secretaries sat at another.
Secretary Xiao Ye's role in accompanying the leader to the dinner was to send him home safely when he was drunk.
Xia Zhuyun is hosting the dinner today, and the venue is set at the guesthouse of the Industrial Bureau.
Ye Manzhi had initially assumed it was another large gathering, likely filled with people other than the leaders of the Commerce Department and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. She had already prepared for a feast at the secretary's table, but upon arriving at the guesthouse, she learned that only two guests were being entertained.
One is Deputy Director Sun of the Provincial Department of Commerce, and the other is Deputy Director Jiang of the Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
As the host today, Xia Zhujun arrived at the guesthouse a quarter of an hour early to personally greet the guests.
Five minutes before the agreed time, Deputy Director Sun's secretary came hurriedly.
Seeing Xia Zhuyun at the door, he apologized profusely, "Director Xia, I'm so sorry. Our Director Sun received an emergency notice just before leaving, so he went to the Provincial People's Committee with Director Zhang. Director Sun called your office but no one answered, so he asked me to come over quickly to explain. It was really an emergency today, and Director Sun said he'll find a time later to treat you to a meal and apologize."
“…”
Xia Zhujun's smile faltered slightly, and after a moment, a look of regret appeared on her face as she said, "The leader summoned me for serious matters. Since Director Sun is not available today, let's find another opportunity another day."
Secretary Chen said many polite words of apology on behalf of his leader before saying goodbye to Xia Zhuyun.
Ye Manzhi took the initiative to see the guest off for his leader, and did not leave immediately after sending the person to the intersection.
After the other person's figure completely disappeared, she returned to the guesthouse and said to Xia Zhuyun, "Director Chen's car wasn't going to the Provincial People's Committee."
As secretaries of leaders, they cannot leave as long as the leaders are working overtime.
Deputy Director Sun just went to the Provincial People's Committee. Logically, Secretary Chen should rush over and continue to be on standby.
But the direction he was riding was clearly the opposite of the Human Resources Committee.
Ye Manzhi suspected that what he just said was just an excuse for Director Sun not to keep the appointment.
If you don't want to keep the appointment, why did you agree to it in the first place?
If you agree to come but then don't come, wouldn't that offend people even more?
The leaders of the provincial department can’t be so incompetent, right?
However, she soon found the answer to her question from Deputy Director Jiang of the supply and marketing cooperative.
"Old Sun must have been the Monkey King in his previous life. He called me before he got off work and was so scared to come when he heard it was just the two of us at the dinner." Director Jiang had no qualms about revealing someone's shortcomings behind their backs. He said cheerfully, "Xiao Xia, if I were you, I'd invite a few more people and create a sleight of hand to trick them into coming first."
Xia Zhujun smiled and said, "It's just right that he's not here. Today, all the people at the dinner table are women. Let's have a good chat."
The purpose of her dinner today was to discuss the closure of the small factory with the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
The shutdown work lasted for more than three months, but she always knew how to act in a measured way, boiling the frog in warm water. Apart from issuing a notice at the beginning, the provincial department did not take any other major actions.
More than 600 small factories were closed across the province, but it did not cause any strong response in society.
The leadership team is strict inside but loose outside on this work. If outsiders do not pay special attention to it, they may not even realize that this is an important task of the Industry Department in the near future.
The battle had dragged on for more than three months, and many people had relaxed their vigilance. She felt it was time to tackle the toughest challenge.
However, Deputy Director Sun was born in the Year of the Monkey. When he found out that she had only invited two people to dinner, he immediately thought of the shutdown work a while ago.
Now he goes back on his word and finds an excuse to get away.
Director Jiang took a seat graciously, poured some white wine into Xia Zhuyun's glass, and sighed, "Xiao Xia, don't think Old Sun is disloyal. To be honest, I didn't really want to come today. I heard a while ago that you guys secretly closed down a lot of factories."
Xia Zhujun laughed: "We closed it openly and honestly, and never did it secretly."
"I understand the province's original intention to shut down these small factories. Raw materials are scarce, and they want to concentrate their efforts on major projects," Director Jiang sighed. "In principle, I support this. After all, the overall situation should be prioritized. But when this happens to us, it becomes a different matter. Take our supply and marketing cooperative, for example. Which city or county doesn't have factories? Even the supply and marketing cooperatives in the communes have factories. Your industrial sectors are short of supplies, so we have to find a solution ourselves."
"I'm not asking you to shut down all the factories," Xia Zhuyun explained. "Factories that have already established scale can continue production, but small factories that are squeezing out raw materials and have poor efficiency must be shut down this time."
Director Jiang laughed. "How do you define a small factory? How many people are considered small? I heard that among the factories you shut down, there were small ones with seven or eight people, and there were also ones with seventy or eighty people. Seventy or eighty people wouldn't be considered small, right?"
Xia Zhujun put down her chopsticks and gave her a brief introduction to the closure standards.
Director Jiang waved his hand and said, "Xiao Xia, shutting down hundreds of factories is no small matter. Even if I verbally promise today that I will shut them down, it won't do any good. The supply and marketing cooperatives have an extensive sales network, stretching from the prefecture-level districts to the cities, counties, communes, and production teams. Something like what you're trying to do can't just be done by any random leader saying something."
Unless the provincial supply and marketing cooperative officially issues a document requiring supply and marketing cooperatives at all levels to cooperate with the work of the Ministry of Industry and shut down non-compliant small factories.
However, the leaders of the provincial supply and marketing cooperative are not crazy. How could they do such a self-defeating and disloyal thing?
The commercial departments set up their own factories, produce and sell their own goods. The supply and marketing staff do not have to rely on the factories and can also earn considerable extra income.
Therefore, the Provincial Department of Commerce and the Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperative would never give up such a sumptuous table of food.
Although only small factories are to be closed this time, the impact on them is not significant, but if we can close small factories now, we can close large factories in the future.
This hole must not be opened!
Xia Zhujun and Deputy Director Jiang have an old relationship, and the atmosphere at the dinner table has always been harmonious, but after the dinner, her purpose of treating others today was not achieved.
However, compared with Deputy Director Sun who changed his mind at the last minute, Director Jiang's willingness to speak the truth was already giving her a lot of face.
Ye Manzhi had a sumptuous dinner with her leaders. When she returned home to write a diary to summarize the meal, she thought for a long time.
Finally, he concluded with a sense of sympathy: "Leaders can also be stood up. Work hard and don't take yourself too seriously."
The reason why she had such feelings was mainly because she had heard too much praise and flattery since she became the leader's secretary.
In addition to those from her colleagues at work, leaders of the directly affiliated bureaus and enterprises, there are also those from her alumni and classmates.
Xia Zhujun doesn't like socializing, so many people set their sights on her.
Many managers and factory directors of directly affiliated enterprises gave her gifts and invited her to dinner.
Although she found excuses to decline, she was a person who admired herself very much. After being in this kind of environment for a long time, she couldn't help but feel a little proud.
Witnessing Xia Zhujun's repeated setbacks today, her tail, which was almost flying high in the sky, drooped down again.
After Ye Manzhi expressed his feelings to himself, he also expressed his feelings to Wu Zhengrong, and then wrote a thought report to reflect on himself in time.
The next morning, when she sent her daughter to school, she specifically reminded her child not to brag about her mother being a swimming champion who could swim across the Binjiang River, and to be more humble in the future.
*
Xia Zhuyun's process of tackling the tough problem was not smooth.
After the dinner that day, she tried to contact other leaders of the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but unfortunately, they were all rejected with excuses.
Since personal relationships didn't work, she planned to negotiate publicly.
He organized a symposium attended by several units.
However, the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative only sent two directors to attend the meeting, and neither of them could make the final decision.
The refusal is obvious.
Things just came to a dead end and came to a complete stalemate.
The department only gave the leadership group half a year to rectify and shut down small factories, and the work must be completed before next Spring Festival at the latest.
However, negotiations between several units reached a deadlock, and there was no significant progress until the end of the year.
"Xiao Ye, prepare the materials for the leadership team. Director Luo has returned from Beijing and may need to hear a report." Xia Zhujun glanced at her watch and said, "You stay home and prepare the materials. I'll need them after the meeting."
Ye Manzhi nodded in agreement and, together with other members of the office, summarized the results of the past six months.
She was ready, but the leader's meeting was still taking a long time to end.
A meeting lasted until the end of the working day.
After Xia Zhujun returned to the office, she seemed to have completely forgotten the previous instructions. She waved goodbye to Ye Manzhi and did not mention the topic of closing the small factory again.
Ye Manzhi was full of doubts, so he put away the documents and left work.
It was not until the next morning that I heard the big news from Director Xie.
Director Luo went on a business trip to Beijing and brought back the latest news.
The State Economic Commission intends to pilot a trust enterprise in Binjiang and establish a provincial sugar industry company.
Ye Manzhi's four years of university study were not in vain. When others had not yet figured out what a trust enterprise was, she already had an idea of it.
Trusts are capitalist monopoly organizations. Many Western countries have trusts, which exercise a high degree of monopoly from raw materials to production.
If a trust enterprise is really to be tried out in Binjiang, then this provincial sugar industry company must implement centralized and unified management of the province's sugar industry.
At that time, all sugar factories in the province, as well as upstream and downstream industries related to sugar production, will be under the management of the Provincial Sugar Industry Corporation!
As a pilot project of the State Economic Commission, the Industry Department has to bear great responsibilities and pressures in trying out capitalist monopoly organizations.
While the leaders were holding meetings to discuss the pilot work, the junior cadres were more concerned about the selection of the company's head.
The heads of the Provincial Textile Industry Company and the Provincial Leather Industry Company have not yet been finalized, and now there is a vacancy in the Provincial Sugar Industry Company.
For a moment, the entire industrial hall became active.
Any cadre who has the slightest chance of taking up a leadership position in a professional company secretly uses connections.
Even Ye Manzhi had people asking about gossip about personnel arrangements.
Ye Manzhi was not interested in who could become an official. Anyway, it would never be her turn as a small deputy section-level cadre.
She was thinking about another problem.
"Xiao Ye, have you sorted out the information I asked you to prepare before? It's about the rectification and closure of the small factory." Xia Zhujun asked as she opened the door.
"Okay." Ye Manzhi handed the information to her and stood in the office hesitating for a while, not knowing whether to speak.
"What's wrong?" Xia Zhujun asked.
Ye Manzhi struggled internally for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Leader, can we use some extraordinary measures to shut down the small factory?"
Xia Zhujun raised her eyebrows. "What extraordinary measures do you intend to use?"
Since it is an extraordinary measure, it is probably not very glorious and may even be related to violent closure.
She placed the materials on her desk and crossed her arms, waiting for what would come next.
Ye Manzhi scratched his face and explained, "The Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative are commercial departments. Logically speaking, running stores and supply and marketing cooperatives is their real job. If we carefully divide them by their functions, they shouldn't actually open factories, right?"
"You could say that, but they opened it and no one held them accountable. The business sector has money, and we should try to use all available funds to develop industry."
Ye Manzhi said, "I think they're just relying on this to feel safe and secure. Closing down small factories outside the industrial sector is clearly a provincial requirement, but they're passively resisting and refusing to cooperate. So far, no leader has spoken up to negotiate with us. Instead of passively waiting, I think it's better to let them come to us and discuss cooperation."
"Well, that's good. So, how do you plan to get people to come to you on their own initiative?" Xia Zhujun asked curiously.
Ye Manzhi lowered his voice and said, "What do you think about us giving them a taste of their own medicine? They're running a factory, so why don't we open a store?"
"..." Xia Zhujun said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Commercial departments can open factories, but we are an industrial department and really don't have the qualifications to open a store. Industrial products are subject to unified purchase and sales. If any unit can open a store, wouldn't it be a mess?"
"We can start with a deception. The State Economic Commission is planning to pilot a trust here. Western trusts completely monopolize every link, from raw materials to production to the sales market. Mr. Xia, although we can't open a store, can we use this pilot trust as a deception?" Ye Manzhi said sheepishly. "We can take advantage of this opportunity to trick them by saying our industrial sector is going to start operating businesses. Then, we'll have a complete supply chain, all managed by ourselves."
Once this news gets out, she doesn't believe the leaders of the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative will be able to sit still.
Nine times out of ten they will come to you to negotiate.
The industrial sector has a large supply of goods. If it opens its own store, what role will the commercial sector have?
They are reluctant to even close the small factory, let alone share the business operation rights.
Xia Zhujun put her fingers on her chin and frowned as she thought for a while.
"Your idea is quite interesting," she said with a playful smile, "It can be considered as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Ye Manzhi sneered, "It's just that lying to others is a bit unkind."
"It's a matter of reciprocity. It's nothing." Xia Zhujun picked up the documents on the table. "This is a good idea. Let's go discuss it with Director Luo."
However, the director is much more decisive than the secretary.
"What are you trying to cheat about? We don't cheat!" Director Luo patted his shiny forehead and said, "Since we're a pilot trust enterprise, we must conduct various experiments. Xiaoye's idea is a good one. We can provide a seamless production, supply, and sales process. We can produce and supply, and now all we need is sales. I think we should have the Sugar Industry Company take charge of the sales work as well."
Seeing him constantly scratching his forehead, Ye Manzhi was a little worried about the director's hair, which was not very thick to begin with.
I really want to persuade him to cherish his hair and stop torturing it.
But Director Luo was completely absorbed in the business war, muttering, "Old Zhang mentioned before that we should take over our tobacco and alcohol business and put it under their Department of Commerce to establish a tobacco and alcohol monopoly company. I've always said that tobacco and alcohol production has always been organized by our industrial department. Why should we transfer the business to them? Even if we establish a tobacco and alcohol monopoly company, it should be under our department!"
Xia Zhujun and Ye Manzhi said nothing.
Director Luo said to himself, "This is a great opportunity. We can set up a sugar industry company and provide a one-stop service for the production, supply, and sale of sugar products. We can also add tobacco and alcohol to the mix. Then, we can sell tobacco, alcohol, and sugar all in one store. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
Ye Manzhi: “…”
Sales business has always been under the jurisdiction of the business department. She really just wanted to find an excuse to attract the leaders of the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to discuss the closure of the small factory.
But the director's courage and appetite are much greater than hers.
This is the true meaning of tit-for-tat.
After leaving the director's office, Ye Manzhi asked, "Leader, what about closing down the small factories? Should we spread the word about our integrated production, supply, and sales?"
"No, let's not make this public for now." Xia Zhujun shook her head.
Trying to set up trust enterprises to monopolize the entire industry, including monopolizing the sales market, is obviously more important than closing small factories.
Once the business sector gets wind of this, they are likely to file a complaint and nip their attempts in the bud. This will no longer be a matter of shutting down a few small factories.
After making up her mind, she emphasized again, "Xiao Ye, your idea is very good. But please keep it confidential. Don't mention it to anyone else yet. Wait for the unified arrangements from the hall."
"Then what about the work of our leadership team?"
Ye Manzhi is not in the position to interfere in matters other than hers. The game among the top leaders has nothing to do with her.
She only cared about whether the first project she participated in could be completed successfully.
She became the office director of the leadership team and wanted to achieve results through this project!
She finally came up with a good idea, which was adopted by her leader, but the leader asked her to keep it a secret!
Then how can we get people from the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to come to our door?
Xia Zhuyun pondered for a moment and said, "Let's first send a letter to the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, urging them to close the relevant small factories. Regardless of whether they close down or not, we can start preparing the report materials to submit to the Provincial People's Committee."
Ye Manzhi carefully pondered the meaning of her words.
That is to say, whether the other party closes down the small factory is no longer important to the Ministry of Industry, right?
She understood her leader's intention, but she felt that the result of this work was still very important to her.
Therefore, in the following period, Ye Manzhi was very busy. He sent letters to the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative every four or five days, asking them to quickly close the small factories that were named.
After sending it four times to no avail, she organized people to write a work report to be submitted to the Provincial People's Committee in accordance with Xia Zhuyun's request.
Let’s talk about the results first.
The closure of 632 small factories has greatly alleviated the shortage of raw materials for large factories.
The list of grades alone took up seven or eight pages.
Then talk about the shortcomings of this work.
It was emphasized that the commercial departments were trying to form their own factions, and some units refused to cooperate with this work, which caused great resistance to their work.
Ye Manzhi completely let himself go and used extremely sharp words in the report, leaving no face for the business department at all.
Anyway, the final signature of the report is "Industry Department Rectification and Closure Leading Group", and she doesn't have to worry about offending anyone by not writing her name, so she just writes whatever is beneficial to her side.
She and other members revised several versions and finally handed the most satisfactory version to Xia Zhuyun before New Year's Day.
Xia Zhujun read the report twice.
When she read it for the first time, she felt that the wording was too harsh and might not be conducive to unity.
When I watched it for the second time, thinking about the rejections and humiliation I had experienced in the Commercial Hall in the past few months, I felt that Xiao Ye's move was quite satisfying.
"Okay, let's use this version for now. If the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative still refuse to cooperate before Spring Festival, we'll submit this report to the Provincial People's Committee!"
First, the commercial sector refused to shut down small factories, and then the Industrial Department implemented a monopoly on the entire sugar products industry, providing a one-stop service for production, supply, and marketing.
Even if the case is brought to the provincial party committee, they are still right!
*
After finishing the report, Ye Manzhi felt much more relieved.
Every time she finished reading the report she wrote, she felt as refreshed as drinking ice water in the hottest days of summer.
She even paradoxically hoped that the Department of Commerce and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative would simply be tough to the end and refuse to close the small factories before the Spring Festival.
At that time, the leading group will hand over this sharply worded report to the Provincial People's Committee.
Hehehe~
She locked the report in the drawer and went home humming a song to celebrate the holiday.
This New Year’s Day, the city will hold a science and education film exhibition.
Ye Manzhi had just received a call from the principal of the kindergarten at Factory 656. The science and education film "Exercise from Childhood" that her son Youyan filmed in the kindergarten has been officially released.
This time it will be exhibited as one of the science and education promotional films in the "Science and Education Film Exhibition" on New Year's Day.
The head teacher gave the movie tickets to the fourth brother who often picks up the children. Parents can take their children to the cinema to watch the finished film during the New Year's Day holiday.
As it was the first time for their children to make a movie, several parents took it very seriously.
After finding out the start time, the parents made an appointment to take their children to the cinema to watch a movie.
When young comrade Wu Yuzhuo saw a taxi at the cinema entrance, he shouted, "Brother Cheche, I miss you so much!"
When he saw Qiqiu, he changed his tone to: "Brother Qiuqiu, I miss you so much. Do you miss me too?"
Three little kids who hadn't seen each other for only four or five days huddled together at the entrance of the cinema.
Ye Manzhi: “…”
What a touching brother-sister relationship!
After the movie started, the three siblings sat together, and the other parents had to find their own seats.
Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong sat in the row behind their daughter.
Wu Zhengrong also brought a camera, ready to capture some pictures of his daughter.
After the prelude, the first scene that appears is the kindergarten playground.
Judging from the time, it should be morning.
Children wearing colorful children's clothes gathered in the playground waiting to do morning exercises.
The focus of this picture is actually the kindergarten teacher, but the parents still found their children accurately from the corner at a glance.
The fourth brother said, "Hey!" "My pilling is quite photogenic!"
At this time, three children were gathered together, talking about something. Suddenly, a little boy ran over and pulled Wu Yuzhuo's braid.
Because this is a long shot, the dispute between the children is a little unclear.
But it was obvious that Youyan was angry and wanted to hit the boy but missed.
Seeing his daughter being bullied, Wu Zhengrong frowned subconsciously. However, before the wrinkles between his brows could deepen, he saw Qiqiu step forward to block the boy, and the fat taxi driver also reached out and pulled the little boy back.
Although the camera quickly moved away, Dr. Wu had good eyesight and clearly saw that his own Wu Yuzhuo also pulled the boy's hair.
Wu Zhengrong: “…”
He had heard Ye Lai Ya talk about her idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth a lot recently.
It is obvious that Wu Yuzhuo inherited Ye Lai Ya's genetic trait.
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