Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 893 Adjusting the Direction
With the "imperial sword" in hand and having finalized the investment intentions of "foreign capital," Yang Kangnian began to undertake large-scale construction.

With the commissioner and the first secretary working together, and with approval from above, once they got going, there was absolutely no resistance when the three plans were being implemented.

A meeting every day quickly assigned specific tasks.

However, he wasn't very happy.

"The plan looks perfect when you're planning it, but you only realize how troublesome it is when you actually do it."

Yang Kangnian took a sip of wine, ate a bite of food, and sighed, "The vegetable basket project is alright. The province has given a lot of support, and even the plastic film needed to build vegetable greenhouses has been approved. It's just that we can't use it now. We can bring it over from the provincial capital after the autumn harvest."

The various communes and production teams below also cooperated well. Mainly because the success of Lujiawan in the past two years had set a good example, and the benefits of breeding and growing vegetables were evident. Previously, there was no market for Lujiawan, and the supply and marketing cooperatives couldn't absorb the output of so many production teams, so they could only watch with envy.

Now, the administrative office has issued a document saying that it will help them establish vegetable bases and breeding bases, and will also expand farmers' markets in various counties and districts. All products will be given priority to the market to improve the supply of non-staple foods for urban residents.

Their enthusiasm immediately soared, so the project shouldn't have any major problems; it just depends on whether the people responsible for its execution can settle down and do it wholeheartedly.

But the other two are in big trouble.

Yang Kangnian spoke for a long time without hearing a sound, so he couldn't help but turn his head to look. His old face immediately darkened. "Hey, I'm talking, did you hear me?"

Well, Chen Fan is drawing something on a piece of white paper next to him, and Ye Yufeng is craning his neck to watch intently. Did all his previous explanation go to waste?
It has been more than ten days since he officially took office on April 5th, and today is April 15th.

Except for Mondays when Chen Fan had to go to the provincial capital to give lectures, Yang Kangnian treated this place as his second office. After get off work, he would not go home first, but would rush here.

There was no other way; he had never done this kind of work before. Unlike back in the factory, where as long as the machines didn't break down, the products were guaranteed to be good. Now that he was in the local area, the formulation of a policy affected thousands of households and was closely related to people's lives. If no one helped him with advice and suggestions, he always felt uncertain.

Although he took two people with him when he left the car factory, one was his secretary and the other was his office director, both of whom were his trusted confidants for many years.

But like him, these two men had extensive experience working in factories, but only a superficial understanding of local affairs. In the end, they could only be used as trusted confidants; they were good at getting things done, but not as "strategists."

It just so happens that Chen Fan is a very resourceful person, and at such a young age, he has learned a lot of things from who knows where, including a good understanding of local policies and administration. In addition, these projects were originally his ideas, so it was the perfect person to consult with him.

Anyway, he won't admit that he came here to freeload a meal.

Chen Fan's attitude seems a bit uncooperative?
Without looking up, Chen Fan scribbled on the white paper and said, "It's been over ten days, and we still can't even allocate shareholder shares properly. How can this not be troublesome?"

Ye Yufeng looked up, pursed her lips, and nodded. "Exactly. I've been very busy there, and I've been stuck here for almost half a month. When can we sign the contract?"

Yang Kangnian looked at her speechlessly. If she weren't a foreign business representative, he would have retorted: "You seem to be having a good time here and don't want to leave. You're eating and drinking well every day. You don't seem to be in any hurry to go back."

Of course Ye Yufeng didn't want to go back. If she went to Shenzhen, she would be the head of the company and have to worry about everything. If she stayed here, she would have delicious food cooked by the young master every day, and she would only need to make a few phone calls to coordinate her work. Who would want to go back to be a beast of burden?
Of course, this is also because there are still four of her own people in Shenzhen who are taking on the work she is responsible for, so she can confidently take the opportunity to shirk her duties. Otherwise, she would have run back to work long ago without anyone having to say anything.

Yang Kangnian had no idea. Seeing Ye Yufeng so engrossed in her work, he knew she was very happy here.

But now that I hear her say this, I think about it again. Maybe she has a good attitude. She has to get things done before she can leave, otherwise how can she explain herself to her "young master"?
Besides, you can't always have a stern face when you're with "Young Master Cousin".

After thinking it through, he resolutely said, "Tomorrow, at the latest tomorrow afternoon, I will definitely finalize the shareholding agreement. I won't delay any longer."

Ye Yufeng blinked. Actually, you don't need to be in such a hurry.

Yang Kangnian downed his drink in one gulp, then ate a large bowl of rice. After eating and drinking his fill, he wiped his mouth and said, "Your 49 percent, Lujiawan's 2 percent, and Zengjiabu Commune and Nanwan Commune contributing land as shares, each accounting for 10 percent of the shares—all of these have been finalized."

The remaining 29% of the shares are now being contested by several entities…

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Fan frowned slightly, turned to look at him, and asked, "Uncle Yang, how many companies are vying for it?"

Yang Kangnian paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yes."

He then smiled and was about to speak when Chen Fan asked again, "Are they all existing units?"

Yang Kangnian exclaimed "Ah!" and looked at him in confusion, "Otherwise what?"

What else could it be?

Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh and said, "Uncle Yang, now that you're here, you need to change your way of thinking. You can't still be like you were in the factory, where everything is so rigid. Things are different here than in the factory."

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian frowned and stared intently at him. "The provincial leaders also said this to me when they talked to me. What do you mean by saying it now?"

Chen Fan put down his pencil and gave him a weak smile, "You need to step back and look at the problem from a holistic perspective. If several units are vying for shares, are you going to let them fight it out or mediate between them?"

Yang Kangnian frowned and said, "They've all started arguing, so of course I have to mediate. Didn't I say the other day that I was thinking of getting a few organizations that would be helpful to the film studio..."

Before he could speak, Chen Fan waved his hand to interrupt him, "There are plenty of organizations that can help. They help with everything from food and clothing to housing and transportation. Are you planning to set up a market there and then have the market invest in you?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian was immediately speechless.

Chen Fan continued, "Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong have already set an example. You can always copy answers, right?"

Yang Kangnian's eyes darted around, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "You mean, establish a Yunhu Tourism Company and use that company's name to take a stake?"

Seeing Chen Fan nod, he immediately shook his head, "Let's forget about it. I was just about to tell you. That industrialization plan, isn't it about splitting off some production processes to support small factories to grow bigger, or even directly establishing new factories?"

The factory hasn't even started construction yet, and everyone's scrambling to get their hands on it. Some people are even bringing gifts to my house, which I just kick out.

If I were that kind of person, would I have suffered so much on such a windy day?!
The situation over there is still not sorted out. If another travel agency comes along, I think we'll go crazy.

It doesn't matter who's crazy or not, I have to keep a close watch on things and not let those parasites spoil the whole pot of porridge.

Looking at Yang Kangnian, Chen Fan couldn't help but click his tongue.

He now understands why the emphasis was repeatedly placed on liberating the mind in the early stages of reform and opening up.

You can't say that someone like Yang Kangnian is incompetent. Absolutely not. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to manage such a large machinery factory, and later, he was able to build up an automobile factory from scratch.

In terms of morality, he's impeccable. He has principles, yet he's flexible. For the sake of the factory's development, he's willing to give gifts and pull strings, but he keeps public and private matters separate, at least not pocketing a single penny. In this respect, he's better than Deputy Factory Director Li.

But sometimes I just can't think straight.

In the words of the leaders, it's called not being open-minded enough.

He believes that the personnel of the newly built factory must be well controlled, otherwise it would be irresponsible to the public. But as the Commissioner of the Administrative Office, can he manage so many things?

Moreover, who says that someone who gives gifts is necessarily a bad factory manager?

Chen Fan looked at him and said, "What you said is correct. We can't let parasites ruin a good pot of porridge. But what are your criteria for judging parasites? Are they giving you gifts, or vying for the opportunity to become the leader of the new factory?"

Don't forget, you yourself gave quite a few gifts for the machinery factory in the past, at least many of the things in this house were given by you on behalf of the machinery factory.

Even if we take a step back, your responsibility is to make this industrialization project a success. You've done your job of selecting and employing people before when you were in the machinery factory and automobile factory, so you know the principles involved without me having to explain them.

Some people may have flaws in their character, but their abilities are simply superior to others. Would you hire such a person?

After a pause, Chen Fan took a breath and continued, "Your task is to implement these three projects and turn them into tangible results, especially the factory industrialization project, which could expand to dozens of factories. Can you really keep all of these factories under your control?"

After he finished speaking, Yang Kangnian frowned.

Chen Fan stopped talking and let him think about it himself.

He was already quite capable, but he just couldn't adapt to his new identity and his mind hadn't quite caught up with it.

After a while, Yang Kangnian suddenly patted his head, then turned to Chen Fan and smiled, "You've woken me up. I suddenly realized that the most important task right now is not to push the three projects to be implemented, but to figure out the situation of the administrative office and find the most suitable 'person'."

Chen Fan smiled slightly, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Finding 'people' won't delay the progress of the project. In fact, the process of advancing these three projects is precisely the best time to find 'people'."

He had never worked in the system and didn't understand its intricacies. He was indeed a little slow to react to Yang Kangnian's actual situation and hadn't mentioned it before, for fear of disrupting Yang Kangnian's own thinking.

But he's watched TV dramas.

In TV dramas, when a new leader takes office, doesn't it always start with "recruiting people"?

So as soon as Yang Kangnian said it, he understood where the problem lay.

It turns out that even though he's been in office for over ten days, he's still preoccupied with project implementation and hasn't even recruited one or two people around him.

If there were an "insider" to guide them and figure out who belongs to whom, the cake would have been prepared and distributed long ago, and there would be no need to wait so long.

Yang Kangnian was, after all, someone who had been a leader in his unit. He was just a bit straightforward, not stupid. He knew all the rules and regulations.

Now that he understands the problem, Yang Kangnian should be able to find the clue soon and resolve the current "trouble".

After all, he had been in Yunhu for more than 20 years. Although his direct superiors were in the provincial capital, his work unit was in Yunhu, so he had plenty of opportunities to deal with the locals. Unlike those leaders who were parachuted in, he didn't know who was who except for some collected paper information. That was truly being completely in the dark.

Having figured out the crux of the problem, Yang Kangnian was no longer worried. With just a slight adjustment in direction, many problems would no longer be problems.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said to Chen Fan and Ye Yufeng, "We can sign the contract and establish Yunhu Film and Television City Co., Ltd. by tomorrow, or at the latest by tomorrow afternoon. As for the specific implementation, that will depend on you."

Ye Yufeng immediately smiled and said, "Although I've been here these past few days, I haven't been idle. We have selected an outstanding talent who will represent our company and be stationed in Yunhu."

Yang Kangnian's eyes lit up. "That's great! When are you coming?"

He was just worried about how to proceed with the foreign investment side after Ye Yufeng left after the contract was signed.

We can't just stop acting and let Chen Fan take charge directly.

Thinking of this, Yang Kangnian couldn't help but glance at Chen Fan, thinking to himself, "If only Chen Fan were in charge, it would be much better. Not only would communication be easier, but with Chen Fan's reputation in Yunhu, none of the other shareholders would object, which would save a lot of trouble."

Once the idea came to mind, it was impossible to suppress it.

As he was thinking, Ye Yufeng said, "I should be able to start work by the end of this month at the latest. I'll need Commissioner Yang's help in the future."

She had already told Chen Fan about this, so Chen Fan sat next to her without any reaction.

The newcomer was also a servant of the Zhou family, from another of the four surnames and six families, the Ma family. His name was Ma Jiajia, but he was much older than Ye Yufeng, already over forty, and his daughter was already in college.

She has a family and no one knows why Zhou Yali would send her here.

Upon hearing Ye Yufeng's words, Yang Kangnian immediately came to his senses and laughed repeatedly, "Of course, of course."

He turned to look at Chen Fan and said with a smile, "Although the contract hasn't been signed yet, I've already arranged for someone to talk to the people of Zengjiabu Commune. On that old street in Zengjiabu, apart from the houses built later, there are a total of 79 old houses."

As you intend, we will rebuild two dormitory buildings for them in another location under the name of Yunhu Film and Television City, and resettle them there. Furthermore, we will resolve their employment issues this year, ensuring one job opportunity per household.

As he spoke, he glanced at Ye Yufeng, then at Chen Fan, and chuckled, "Did you calculate that industrializing factories would create dozens more factories, absorbing a large number of workers, and that's why you're using that as leverage in your negotiations with them?"

Chen Fan grinned and said, "This is called resource integration. Although these two projects are unrelated, ultimately, Gongfang Shares are both managed by the Yunhu Regional Administrative Office. If the film and television city develops well, you will also benefit. It is reasonable to allocate resources appropriately."

After speaking, Chen Fan flipped open the white paper he had just scribbled on and placed it in front of Yang Kangnian, saying, "This is a simplified plan of the film and television city I drew. Such a large area cannot all be used for filming. Instead, a series of filming bases and studios will be built selectively, and other areas will not affect the production and life of local residents."

However, according to my plan, once the film and television city expands to a certain size, these residents will also be integrated into the film and television city and become a part of it.

Whether they stay or leave is up to them, and also to your arrangements.

As long as it doesn't affect the construction of the film studio, I have no objections.

(End of this chapter)