Sail across the sea

Chapter 543 Ask my mother-in-law for reimbursement
Canghai Chemical is nominally a star enterprise and a major foreign exchange earner in Maolin Province, but those in the know understand their own situation. Gao Fan is well aware that the company is still just a makeshift operation to this day.

The mainstream societal view still holds that private enterprises are beneath people's dignity, and that anyone with a modicum of ability prefers to stay within the system, where both job security and social status are far superior to those in private enterprises.

Under this mindset, Canghai Chemical finds it difficult to recruit outstanding talent. When they go to universities to recruit, most of the applicants are students with poor grades, and they are all arrogant, as if submitting their resumes to Canghai Chemical is a sign of favor, and that the company is ungrateful if it doesn't offer them a general manager position.

Xiao Pei's grades were in the middle to upper range in high school. She attended Maolin Finance and Economics College, which is the second-best college in Maolin Province after Maolin University, and is on par with Maolin Institute of Technology and Maolin Normal College.

After graduating from university, Xiao Pei joined the Foreign Trade Department, where she currently serves as deputy section chief. Although this is only the lowest-ranking cadre in a department-level agency, it at least shows that Xiao Pei is not just a pretty face, but has some ability.

If someone like that were willing to switch jobs and join Canghai Chemical, Gao Fan would certainly welcome them. At the very least, they wouldn't be any worse than Xu Dan or Peng Yueyue, who are vocational school or junior college graduates, right?

As for the statement that Xiao Pei could choose any position except for the chairman, it was just a polite remark. If Xiao Pei believed it, then her years of work experience in the department would be wasted, and even dogs wouldn't eat her.

Having made a one-month appointment with Gao Fan, Xiao Pei's dejected expression finally faded considerably, and her eyes regained some vitality. She invited Gao Fan to dinner to thank him for his help. Gao Fan naturally declined the awkward invitation, saying he needed to consult with the leaders of the Provincial Economic Commission, leaving Xu Dan to dine with Xiao Pei.

A few days later, Gao Fan accompanied Xu Ying to Beijing by plane, where they were greeted at the arrival gate by Lin Ruoyi and staff from the Economic Commission's General Office. Xu Ying exchanged a few words with her daughter before sending her back to school with Gao Fan, while she herself went to her new workplace with the General Office staff. Needless to say, she received a great deal of welcome and accommodation.

In the taxi, Gao Fan told Lin Ruoyi about Xiao Pei's situation, and Lin Ruoyi sighed deeply, finally commenting:

"I never imagined that there would be such a rogue in the United States."

"What kind of talk is that?" Gao Fan said, displeased. "Why can't the United States have scoundrels? And let me tell you, in terms of the number of scoundrels, the United States can surpass China by a whole Pacific Ocean."

"Here comes your nationalist rhetoric again," Lin Ruoyi said, covering her mouth with a laugh.

Gao Fan said, "What is nationalist rhetoric? This is historical materialism. Think about it, how was the United States established? Those people who sailed to America on the Mayflower were all second-rate scoundrels who couldn't make it in old Europe. Shouldn't a country established by such a group of people be full of scoundrels?"

"You mean, the people of old Europe were the civilized ones?"

"What kind of civilization is this? Go back five generations, and they were all pirates."

"You swore again, you deserve a beating!"

"I was just stating the truth."

"I meant what you said earlier... never mind, by the way, Yuan Xiaoyan has resigned. She got a publication number and started a company. The company is called Fourth Dimension Cultural Communication Company, and the magazine they're going to publish is called Fourth Dimension Weekly." "She actually used that name," Gao Fan laughed.

The name "Fourth Dimension" was Gao Fan's idea. He remembered that some media outlets in later years liked to use names like "one, two, three, four," which sounded cool.

The so-called fourth dimension doesn't actually have a precise definition; it generally refers to examining various social and cultural phenomena from a new perspective. As for why it's the fourth, and not the third or fifth, that's left to the audience's imagination. After all, Steve Jobs didn't explain who bit his rotten apple, did he?

"Is your intention in having Yuan Xiaoyan start a magazine related to Xiao Pei's matter?" Lin Ruoyi asked.

Gao Fan said, "There is indeed some connection. Xiao Pei is actually a very meticulous person, but she was fooled by Siward because she imagined foreigners to be too good. By the way, you just said that you didn't expect that there would be such a scoundrel in the United States. Actually, you subconsciously thought that the United States must be very developed and civilized, and that there couldn't be any swindlers there."

“They’re just more developed and civilized than us. As for scammers, there will always be one or two,” Lin Ruoyi argued.

Gao Fan said, "It is a fact that the United States is more developed than us. But to say that it is more civilized is a psychological suggestion brought about by long-term propaganda. In fact, the standard of civilization in American society is much lower than that in China. For example, the Vietnam War. In recent years, the American media has exposed many scandals from the Vietnam War, including the massacre and Agent Orange. This fully proves that the United States still retains the blood of pirates in its bones."

Lin Ruoyi remained silent.

They had had similar conversations many times. Lin Ruoyi had to admit that she had been brainwashed by Gao Fan and was completely intimidated by Western countries.

Sometimes she would argue with Gao Fan like this, simply because she couldn't stand his "always right" attitude. But in every debate, she was the loser, because Gao Fan's examples were always just too compelling.

Lin Ruoyi once used her programming-savvy mind to analyze Gao Fan's remarks and compared them with mainstream opinions in society. She found that Gao Fan's views, even if not absolutely correct, were at least more objective and comprehensive. Mainstream opinions, on the other hand, often viewed through a biased lens, selectively ignoring negative situations abroad and excessively whitewashing "foreign countries."

Indeed, Lin Ruoyi can now see the embellishments in various inspirational articles, which is undoubtedly due to the influence of Gao Fan.

"Of course, my main purpose in having Yuan Xiaoyan run the magazine was not to influence people like Xiao Pei, but to influence people at a higher level, such as leaders of various organizations. Only when these leaders have confidence in China can our products be sold."

"Your mother's job in coming to Beijing this time is to establish a core industrial chain that is independent and controllable. In this process, it is very necessary to unify the thinking of the leaders of various units, to make them full of confidence in China's rise and to be vigilant against foreign blackmail."

"Oh, so in that case, the money for Yuan Xiaoyan's newspaper should be reimbursed by my mother-in-law..."

Gao Fan suddenly had an inspiration.

(End of this chapter)