Sail across the sea

Chapter 435 Even carrying Gao Fan's shoes isn't enough.
Gao Fan's aura completely intimidated Tan Jianjun.

He then remembered that Bob had once told him in the United States that Gao Fan was his boss on the vitamin factory project.

Perhaps it was because Bob's tone was somewhat flippant, coupled with Tan Jianjun's preconceived notions, that he subconsciously took Bob's words as a joke he couldn't understand.

In his view, since the investment in the vitamin factory was provided by the Hatch Group, Bob was undoubtedly the big boss of the vitamin factory, and Gao Fan was at most a professional manager hired by Bob.

In other words, Gao Fan, like himself, was Bob's lackey; the only difference was that Gao Fan was the front leg, and he was the back leg.

Only now, upon hearing Gao Fan's domineering claim that he had the right to kick Bob out of the meeting room, did Tan Jianjun vaguely realize that he might have misunderstood something, and perhaps what Bob said back then was true.

However, he just couldn't understand how a Chinese person could be the boss of an American.
This is unscientific!
As the weekend approached, Tan Jianjun waited in his office at the appointed time for Bob's long-distance call. After reporting the week's production situation at the vitamin factory to Bob, Tan Jianjun timidly mentioned the prohibition Gao Fan had imposed on him.

After listening to the call, Bob frowned and asked, "Did you do something outrageous that displeased Gao Fan?"

"I only expressed some of my opinions on a few topics at the factory meeting," Tan Jianjun said, avoiding the real issue.

He certainly wouldn't dare say that he was arrogantly pointing fingers and trying to show everyone what genuine American management concepts were all about.

“But when I assigned you the task, I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Bob said.

"I was only trying to protect the interests of the Hachi Group. I think Director Yin and the others made the right decisions..."

"No, I don't think you should comment on the vitamin factory's operations. Hatch Group hired you just as an observer."

"...Okay, I understand. I'm very sorry."

This phone call completely broke Tan Jianjun's spirit. He finally realized that in Bob's eyes, he and Gao Fan were on completely different levels. He was merely Bob's informant, while Gao Fan was Bob's collaborator.

He was filled with resentment, but there was nothing he could do. If the foreign dignitaries didn't support him, he would be nothing more than a stray dog, and even Yin Baowen had a hundred ways to deal with him.

For more than a year afterward, Tan Jianjun dutifully and conscientiously fulfilled his duties as an "eyes and ears," serving as a background figure at various meetings and daring not to say another word.

Of course, even away from the sight of Yin Baowen, Gao Fan, and others, Tan Jianjun could still act like a big shot as a foreign comprador. As an agent for the Hachi Group, his salary was paid by Bob. Bob set Tan Jianjun's salary at 500 yuan per month, which was ten times Tan Jianjun's previous salary and double that of Yin Baowen. This salary made Tan Jianjun quite the star among his friends.

Gao Fan had no objection to Tan Jianjun's presence. After all, the vitamin factory had no secrets to hide from the Hachi Group, so if they wanted to place an observer in the factory, he'd let them. Bob had previously told Gao Fan that he was treating the cooperation with Canghua Science and Trade as an academic research project, and Tan Jianjun was essentially his hired lab technician, specifically responsible for collecting data for his paper; he wouldn't have any other tasks.

Bob said this, and he truly believed it. In his view, Tan Jianjun wasn't even qualified to carry Gao Fan's shoes; how could he possibly expect Tan Jianjun to participate in the management of the vitamin factory?

Tan Jianjun's role remained unchanged. When Canghua Science and Trade was renamed Canghai Chemical and the vitamin factory was merged into a biochemical company, Gao Fan did not forget to retain the title of assistant manager for Tan Jianjun, since he did not need to pay him a salary.

In addition to the two operating entities, Canghai Chemical also has a non-profit organization called Canghai Chemical Experimental Base, whose responsibility is to conduct research and development on various new chemical technologies.

The reason this institution is called an experimental base rather than a research institute is that most of the researchers in the institution come from other units, with the majority being teachers and students from the Department of Chemistry at Peking University, followed by some engineers from the Provincial Chemical Engineering Design Institute.

According to the company's promotional materials, the chemical experimental base is an open platform that welcomes experts and scholars from universities and research institutions to conduct scientific research activities. Canghai Chemical is willing to provide venues, equipment, and corresponding experimental funding for these research activities.

All visiting researchers must first propose their research topics, which will then be evaluated by an expert team led by Gao Fan. Projects deemed worthless or lacking in necessary conditions by the expert team will be politely rejected. Projects that are valuable and show promise for breakthroughs will receive funding from the base.

Undoubtedly, this funding is not free. Before the research project begins, researchers will be required to sign a cooperation agreement with the base, the most important clause of which stipulates the ownership of the research results.

Generally, researchers can obtain academic authorship rights for their research results, but the resulting patents may belong entirely to the base, or be jointly owned by the researcher's institution and the Canghai Chemical Base, depending on the circumstances.

Gao Fan certainly wanted to have his own group of researchers, thus turning the chemical plant into an internal research institute. But in this era, getting a senior researcher to give up a stable job within the system and join a private company was harder than climbing to heaven.

Professor Hai Qingwen of Peking University was temporarily appointed as the director of the base. The coal chemical project he was in charge of had previously been the project with the largest amount of funding from the base. However, that "largest" is now a thing of the past.

At the time of the establishment of Canghai Chemical Group, Gao Fan announced that the chemical experimental base would launch a new research project: the refining process of heavy rare earth elements in southern China. Gao Fan invested 1000 million yuan in this project in one go and even boasted that he could add more investment at any time, with no upper limit.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, the college graduation season of 1985 arrived. Gao Fan welcomed two old classmates to his office. They were both children of fertilizer factory workers, from the same graduating class as Gao Fan, but had gone on to junior colleges and had now graduated.

"Mr. Gao, Yueyue and I are thinking of coming to work at Canghai Chemical. You won't refuse, will you?"

The speaker was Wang Hui, Gao Fan's childhood friend, and standing next to him was his girlfriend, Peng Yueyue.

(End of this chapter)