Sail across the sea

Chapter 434 Throwing him out of the conference room
Tan Jianjun often feels that his situation is a dream.

Even when he was very young, Tan Jianjun knew that "foreign countries" were very wealthy and prosperous places. Correspondingly, foreigners represented high-end, sophisticated, and classy people, and were creatures from two different worlds from the country bumpkins on Yanxiu Street.

When he was 15, he went to Beijing with his father, who worked in the Yanxiu County government. He happened to see a foreigner on the street, which became a highlight of his memory.

He had regretted and fantasized countless times, imagining that if he had such an opportunity again, he would not stand timidly outside the crowd, but would go up to the other person to chat, or at least say "hello"—what a wonderful experience that would be!

On an ordinary day, he learned from his shift that a foreigner had just left the factory, so he and a few friends chased after him from a distance and greeted him.

"Hello, Are You USA?"

That was exactly what he said when he greeted them. After that, every time he thought of those words, he felt incredibly embarrassed, because he knew he had made a fool of himself.

However, it was this poorly spoken English that changed the course of his life.

An American named Bob Hatch became interested in him and, after some evaluation, decided to hire him as his assistant.

Two months after that encounter, Tan Jianjun boarded a plane, crossed the ocean, and arrived in the United States, the country he had always dreamed of. There, he saw so many "foreigners" that he felt dizzy, so many that he no longer thought that seeing a foreigner was anything special.

After three months of language training in the United States, he finally stopped greeting people with "Are you USA" and was able to give a presentation to his American boss in fluent English for more than half an hour.

He also learned some basic marketing knowledge, essential for an observer at the Hatch Group. Bob's task for him wasn't complicated: to fully participate in the daily production and operations of the Canghua Vitamin Factory, record useful information, and report back to Bob, who was in the United States, every week. To accomplish this task, he needed to learn these fundamental common sense principles.

Bob had obtained Gao Fan's prior consent before hiring Tan Jianjun as an observer. Hachi Group owned a 10% stake in the vitamin factory and also held nearly 100% of its debt; Gao Fan had no reason to refuse Bob's oversight of the company's daily operations.

During his time in the United States, Tan Jianjun also eagerly learned various Western etiquettes, from clothing to dining, in their original form, as if there were no other places to change.

The only regret was that his training time in the United States was not long and his schedule was very full. He didn't even have a chance to go out and explore the surrounding area, such as to see the famous Twin Towers in New York.

With a distinctly Western air about him, Tan Jianjun returned to China and was appointed as the assistant factory manager of the newly established vitamin factory.

When Yin Baowen, the former director of Yanxiu Fertilizer Plant and the current director of the Vitamin Plant, announced the appointment to him, he looked rather displeased.

Yin Baowen had never had a good impression of this amateur overseas Chinese under his command, but he refrained from doing anything to make things difficult for Tan Jianjun because Tan's father had considerable power in the county.

Who would have thought that such a lowly fellow would somehow gain the favor of foreign guests and become their agent? This reminded Yin Baowen, who was not highly educated, of the idiom "a monkey wearing a crown."

Yin Baowen wasn't a time traveler like Gao Fan. As a business leader in this era, he still held the term "foreign guest" in some respect. Now that Tan Jianjun had become the foreign guest's agent, Yin Baowen couldn't be too harsh on him. There's a saying: "Even when beating a dog, you have to consider its owner."

As the assistant factory manager, Tan Jianjun was entitled to attend factory affairs meetings. Following the principle agreed upon by Bob and Gao Fan, decisions made at these meetings should be promptly relayed to Bob; therefore, Tan Jianjun was certainly qualified to attend.

Tan Jianjun, attending the factory meeting for the first time, felt a sense of pride. He believed that he had received training in the United States, knew a lot about American business management, and was certainly much more knowledgeable than a country bumpkin like Yin Baowen, the factory manager.

So, when everyone was discussing production, operation and management, he couldn't help but express his own opinions. Two out of every three sentences he made included modifiers like "the United States," which left the factory leaders and middle-level managers completely bewildered.

"What nonsense is this guy spouting!"

Does what he said relate to the issue we are discussing?

"Is this guy here to cause trouble on behalf of the Americans?"

These were the whispers among the people in the hall, but no one dared to stop him or argue with him. Most people didn't know he was an agent for foreign guests, but they at least knew that he had received training in the United States, which naturally gave him a certain aura.

Yin Baowen was also unsure whether Tan Jianjun's words represented himself or Bob, so he could only try to smooth things over and hastily end the meeting.

After the factory meeting ended, Yin Baowen immediately called Gao Fan to discuss the matter and cautiously inquired about how he should handle his relationship with Tan Jianjun in the future.

Gao Fan happened to be in Cangtang at the time, and upon hearing the news, he found a car and rushed to Yanxiu. When he arrived at the vitamin factory, he first went to Yin Baowen's office, and at the same time asked someone to call Tan Jianjun over from the factory manager's assistant office next door.

After Tan Jianjun came in, Gao Fan first asked him very gently about his training in the United States and other trivial questions such as Bob's health, and then casually said:

"Xiao Tan, the appointment of you as the assistant factory manager of the vitamin factory was a decision made by Bob and me. I need to explain your job responsibilities to you. Your job is to act as Bob's eyes and ears, and to have the right to know about the production and operation activities of the vitamin factory within the prescribed scope. You don't need to worry about anything else."

"What do you mean?" Tan Jianjun didn't understand for a moment.

Gao Fan said, "It's very simple. Being an eye and ears means you can listen and see, but you don't need to say anything or do anything. How the factory makes business decisions is none of your business."

Tan Jianjun then understood Gao Fan's meaning, and he stammered in protest, "But before I returned to China, Mr. Bob instructed me..."

Gao Fan glared at him: "What can Bob tell you? Even if Bob himself came, he only has the right to know about the operation of the vitamin factory. If he dares to say another word, I'll kick him out of the meeting room immediately."

(End of this chapter)