NOVEL FULL

1979 My Life in the Era

Chapter 212: 1 Boats

Chapter 212 A Boat Qin Huairu continued with some anticipation, "When you cooked for that great director, you should know how hard it is to get in touch with these people. If you can come and feed these two well, and if Huaihua and Ning Wei's affairs are settled, then if there is anything happening in our family in the future, then we don't have to worry about it." He Yuzhu was still a little hesitant: "If I come here, what will happen to my work at the factory?" Qin Huairu pursed her lips, but there was no perfect solution. At the same time, in the yard, Ning Weidong walked in slowly. Duan Mingzai immediately came out from the east wing. Currently, Ning Wei and his men are the main people in the east wing, and Duan Ming is also here. The west wing is used by Wang Kaixuan and Hu Bayi. There are several desks in the rooms on both sides, and the other positions are empty, but they can only accommodate about ten people at most. If you want to hire more people later, you will have to expand the space. "Manager~" Duan Ming trotted over. Ning Weidong waited for a few steps before continuing to walk into the north room and asked, "Any news from Zheng Tong?"

Duan Ming followed him into the room and replied, "I went to see him yesterday and was planning to ask him out for dinner tomorrow night, but Zheng Tong said he had no classes this afternoon so he could come out, so forget about the dinner..." Ning Weidong said "hmm", but he was not surprised by Zheng Tong's attitude. This person is quite cunning. Although he knows Duan Ming, he may not consider him as a friend. Ning Weidong must be on guard if he rashly looks for him. Ning Weidong said: "Then let him come over this afternoon~" Duan Ming nodded quickly: "Okay, I'll go now." Ning Weidong responded. It happened that he was going to meet Li Yuanchao in the morning and meet Zheng Tong in the afternoon. After tidying up a bit and checking the time, Ning Weidong got up and went out, riding his bicycle westward. I called Li Yuanchao yesterday and made an appointment to meet at a club on the outskirts of the city. Ning Weidong had been here with Zhao Ruyu before, and it was there that he first shot guns with the Li siblings. Ning Weidong was familiar with the route and arrived at the destination in about forty minutes. He directly introduced himself as Li Yuanchao. The staff immediately called inside, and Li Yuanchao immediately came down from the second floor. He saw Ning Weidong from a distance and smiled before saying anything: "Weidong, long time no see~" He came up to me and shook my hand warmly. The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Li Yuanchao pulled Ning Weidong inside, saying as they walked: "Weidong, you came at the right time today. We just got two purebred Arab white horses from Syria the day before yesterday..." He paused for a moment and asked: "Can we ride horses~" Li Yuanchao also thinks inertially. Almost all the people in his circle are children of military personnel, and almost all of them can ride a horse. Including Zhao Ruyu, everyone could ride a horse. But he had forgotten Ning Weidong's background, and only now that he remembered it did he realize that it was a bit abrupt. Ning Weidong smiled and said, "Yes, I can ride it~" Of course the original body didn’t know how to ride a horse, let alone ride a horse, he had never even touched it. At most, you would see a slow horse pulling a cart on the main road, and because of the stench, you would avoid it from afar.

But Ning Weidong knew how to ride a horse before he traveled through time, and he was quite good at it. Li Yuanchao smiled, he was not too surprised. Ning Weidong had been to the countryside before, which was a buff. One could really learn a lot of skills by going to the countryside. For example, driving a tractor, riding a horse, driving a cart, and farming are all basic skills. Some people even became barefoot doctors... Li Yuanchao just thought that Ning Weidong had the opportunity to learn horse riding during the years he went to Northeast China. He took Ning Weidong directly to the horse farm behind. Behind the two-story building of the club, there is a road on the left that leads to the shooting range, which is where I shot last time. On the right is the horse farm, which is connected to a large open space on the west. Li Yuanchao was obviously a horse lover and he talked incessantly along the way. Ning Weidong also had some knowledge in this area, so he was able to connect with him and avoid letting the words drop. Until we arrived at the stable, there were more than a dozen horses inside, most of which were Mongolian horses. Although there were some taller ones, they were much shorter than the two Arab white horses. He is really a head shorter. The Arab White Horse is tall and majestic, but in terms of appearance and sprinting ability, it is indeed far superior to the Mongolian horse. Mongolian horses have greater endurance for long-distance running. The two men came over and someone was already installing saddles and reins here. After waiting for a while, the horses were fully equipped. Ning Weidong and Li Yuanchao each took the reins and pulled the horses out of the stable. When they got outside, Ning Weidong took some corn kernels from the staff next to him, which served as snacks for the horses. Feed the horse while touching and kneading it to get it familiar with the animal so as not to scare it by riding on it rashly. Li Yuanchao didn't need these procedures. He was already familiar with the two horses, but he was not in a hurry. Originally, Ning Weidong came here today to discuss something. Riding a horse or shooting a gun is a kind of diversion and also a kind of attitude. We were friends first and then partners, so I didn’t meet Ning Weidong in the office or conference room. After a while, feeling that it was almost time, Ning Weidong grabbed the saddle with both hands and jumped up suddenly. He was tall to begin with, and he jumped onto the horse's back. The horse sniffed twice and took two steps on the spot. They were all well-trained horses and not that wild. Li Yuanchao's eyes lit up and he laughed, "Weidong, you are so good!" Ning Weidong smiled. Li Yuanchao also got on the horse at this time, shook the reins, and urged the horse forward. Ning Weidong followed immediately, lagging behind by one horse head. Li Yuanchao took a look and knew that Ning Weidong really knew how to ride a horse, and his level was not low, otherwise it would not be so easy to control the speed and fall behind the horse by a head. Li Yuanchao tilted his head and said, "Weidong, you ride the horse well~"

"It's just so-so~" Ning Weidong smiled, turned to look into the distance, and went straight to the point: "Brother Yuanchao, there are quite a few Japanese TVs on the market recently..." Li Yuanchao was slightly surprised. He didn't expect Ning Weidong to bring up this matter. Previously, their cooperation was limited to the approval area, but Li Yuanchao’s company is not limited to this business. Li Yuanchao said, "You've noticed it, too? There are quite a few people doing this in the south recently. How come... you're interested?" Ning Weidong didn't beat around the bush and said straight to the point: "I can't do this. If something really happens, I can't handle it." Li Yuanchao understood the implication. Ning Weidong's situation was different from his. Ning Weidong did not have much cost for trial and error. He had to protect the interests of the Wang and Zhao families. But Li Yuanchao knew that Ning Weidong was not just saying this casually, so he just waited patiently for Ning Weidong's next words. Sure enough, Ning Weidong changed the subject and said, "But I have an idea. I wonder if you are interested, Brother Yuan Chao." When Ning Weidong came out of the Red Star Factory and arrived at the Dongyi Company, the first thing he had to do was to further strengthen his relationship with Li Yuanchao. Therefore, the little bit of benefit from getting approval documents alone is not enough to catch the big fish like Li Yuanchao. What's more, behind Li Yuanchao is her sister Li Kangmei. Ning Weidong must come up with something more practical and attractive, and build a big ship for Li Yuanchao to sit on. Ning Weidong said, "How about we produce televisions?" Li Yuanchao was stunned at first, then frowned. Ning Weidong certainly understood the difficulty of this matter, and explained: "In fact, it is not considered production. We just purchase some main components from Japan, and we match some accessories with relatively low technical difficulty in China, and then assemble them..." Li Yuanchao understood Ning Weidong's meaning and quickly considered the feasibility of doing so. Ning Weidong continued, "In the next few years, televisions will surely be gradually popularized in cities. Our urban population is about 10 million. Even if there are five people in a family, that's million households. If each household has one television, that's million sets. If we only take up % of the market share, that's million sets, and there will be color TVs later..." Li Yuanchao reacted quickly and knew the current price of televisions. Putting aside color TVs, black and white TVs alone cost four or five hundred yuan each. It would be a shame to achieve four million units! If one TV set makes one hundred yuan, four million sets would make a full four hundred million yuan! Four hundred million, what does that mean in this era? Even someone with a family background like Li Yuanchao couldn't help but breathe heavily. But he soon calmed down, realizing that things were not that simple and that the accounts could not be settled that way. But no matter what, Ning Weidong's proposal was enough to make him take it seriously. If he really succeeded in doing this, it could even change his status in the family. In fact, because of the problems in previous years, Li Yuanchao had long since cut off his path to becoming an official. The company he has is actually a kind of compensation for him. But once this thing can be accomplished and generate hundreds of millions of output value, the situation will be different. Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that after improvements with Europe and the United States, we have mushroom bombs in our hands. For China, in a sense, the question of life and death no longer exists. This is the foundation laid by the older generation. We can take a breather in the future and devote more energy to economic development. ……

After talking with Li Yuanchao for nearly two hours, Ning Weidong came out of the club. Although Li Yuanchao did not give a definite answer and said he would discuss it with her sister, Ning Weidong knew that he would not refuse this opportunity. As for leaving Ning Weidong behind and eating alone. Li Yuanchao is not a brainless person. Ning Weidong can only turn this idea into reality by seeking help from Li Yuanchao. The resources of the Wang family and the Zhao family are concentrated in the ministries and commissions. These are all clear accounts, one is one, two is two. Li Yuanchao can leverage some labor resources. In the past few years, during the Third Front Construction Project, many factories in Northeast China and North China were directly divided in half, with the best parts taken directly to Southwest China. Although the remaining factories still retained their original names, their production and technical capabilities were greatly reduced. These factories have been facing great difficulties in operation in recent years, with many of them running at a loss and barely maintaining their operations. This situation will not be alleviated until the second half of next year, when the Iran-Iraq War breaks out and a large number of orders pour in, but it will not solve the fundamental problem. The final result can only be closure, shutdown and transformation. If we can integrate some resources through Li Yuanchao to produce televisions, even if it is through S channels, we can get the main components from outside, bring them back and assemble them, and set up the stall first. In the future, whether it is a copycat or an imitation, this step will eventually have to be taken. Of course, this matter is different from obtaining approval documents. It cannot be achieved overnight. It requires several years or even more than ten years of hard work. This is also one of the reasons why Ning Weidong sought cooperation from Li Yuanchao on this matter. Once this is accomplished, he and Li Yuanchao will be in the same boat for at least the next twenty years. …… Ning Weidong thought about this while riding his bicycle back to the company's courtyard. The midday sun in autumn is particularly hot. Ning Weidong also had to think that it was time to get another car. In addition to the car, he also needed a few motorcycles, which would make it convenient for Ning Wei and others to go out for business in the future. As for Wang Kaixuan and Hu Bayi, since they have the title of deputy managers, it would not look good for them to go out riding bicycles. However, buying a car through formal channels is still quite troublesome. Ning Weidong decided to go back to An Ning to see if he could get a few machines from Hong Kong. After returning to the company, Ning Weidong put the bicycle in the front yard. Just as he was about to go inside, Qin Huairu came out from the small kitchen and said, "Manager Ning, have you had lunch? I left some food for you." Ning Weidong smiled and said, "Thank you, I've eaten outside." I just went to Li Yuanchao's place, and of course I couldn't let him come back hungry. Qin Huairu nodded and said quickly: "Manager Ning, there is one more thing..."

"Well, you say~" Ning Weidong stopped and listened. Qin Huairu subconsciously wiped her hands with her apron and said, "It's like this. You saw my husband this morning. Don't think that he cooks big pot meals in the cafeteria. It's actually a family skill. You have tasted his cooking..." Ning Weidong nodded. When Qin Huairu first came, she didn't come to work early in the morning like she does now, but rushed to cook a meal in the afternoon. There were a few times when we were caught off guard and had the food cooked at home sent directly to me in lunch boxes, one of which was made by He Yuzhu. Qin Huairu continued, "Manager Ning, we have more and more people in the company, and I can't handle the cafeteria by myself. I want him to come and help me cook. What do you think..." Ning Weidong certainly knew that He Yuzhu’s cooking skills were extraordinary. As long as he didn’t fool anyone, he would definitely be much better than Qin Huairu. But it would definitely not be possible to hand over the canteen directly to the couple. To be honest, He Yuzhu is indeed a good person, but being a good person does not mean that he is not cunning. Qin Huairu is no pushover either. Although the cafeteria only provides food and drinks, it's no big deal if they are a little greedy. But Ning Weidong didn't want them to think he was a fool. He said with a smile: "Aunt Qin, this is good news. Even if you didn't say it, I would have thought that we need to add more people to our cafeteria, otherwise it won't be enough just relying on you." Ning Weidong thought for a moment and said, "Well... a friend of mine will be here this afternoon. You can ask Chef He to cook a few dishes that he is good at." With these words, Qin Huairu's eyes lit up. She believed in He Yuzhu's craftsmanship and thought that as long as she was willing to let him try, there would be no problem. He quickly said: "Just hold it up~" Ning Weidong added: "Also, I will add two more people to the cafeteria." A strange look flashed in Qin Huairu's eyes, and then she smiled and nodded. Of course she hoped that the cafeteria would be reserved for the two of them, but when Ning Weidong suggested adding more people, she couldn't object. Ning Weidong would not do it himself: "Let Xiaowei take care of the details later." When Ning Wei was mentioned, Qin Huairu's eyes lit up again. (End of this chapter)