1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 559: Paradox (1)

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Yang Mo, who had just returned from a meeting at the municipal office building, returned to Dahua Company with no expression of sadness or joy.

He pushed open the car door and walked slowly through the rows of red brick bungalows in the office area, while leaning his head to instruct, "Xiao Zhuo, put down your work for a while and help me pick out two pieces of pork belly at the market. Remember not to pick the bottom pork belly, but the fattest top pork belly."

"Then take it to the canteen and ask the chef to marinate it for me. And leave a pot for me. I will need it after 7pm... Remember to ask the chef not to pass it around."

Zhuo Junyue was a little surprised when she heard this: "Boss Yang...you want to cook for me yourself?"

It’s no wonder that Zhuo Junyue reacted like that.

As everyone knows, Yang Mo is the son-in-law of the Mu family. Although with his current status, no one would really make a fuss about dietary taboos, and he would eat non-halal meals in private from time to time, but if he made something like braised pork by himself, it would have a bad impact if it got out.

Besides, although Yang Mo is an absolute macho man in the eyes of most people at work, he is also a notorious idiot in life. Many people even believe that if he had not reached such a high position now, if he had not entered the oil system with excellent salary and benefits, but had the misfortune of entering an ordinary unit with poor performance to be an ordinary employee, with his poor ability to take care of himself, he would definitely starve to death in his dormitory.

Therefore, a useless person like this, who can't carry anything, can't even tell the difference between sugar and salt, and may not even know to put oil in cooking, actually thought of making a pot of twice-cooked pork on his own initiative. The sensation caused would definitely be no less than if everyone met an alien on the street.

Yang Mo nodded, with a slightly sad tone in his voice: "I haven't made braised pork for a long time, I don't know if my skills are still there."

Zhuo Junyue's eyelids twitched, and she managed to suppress the distrust on her face. After a slight hesitation, she mustered up the courage to ask in a low voice, "Boss Yang, are you planning to send this braised pork... to Manager Lu?"

Different from the currently popular delicacies from land and sea, Yang Mo is not only not picky about food, he even actively avoids foods that are high in salt, sugar and oil. This eating habit is not only not like that of a powerful department-level cadre, but even not like that of a young man in his twenties.

Therefore, when Zhuo Junyue heard that Yang Mo was going to make braised pork, he knew that this was not a treat for him;

Besides, it is no secret that the popular local dog likes fatty meat.

When Yang Mo heard his secretary ask this, he laughed, "Well, after eating porridge and liquid food for several days in a row, I guess the girl couldn't bear it anymore... Rather than letting her sneak out of the hospital with a plaster cast to find food secretly, I might as well take the initiative to deliver it to her. It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. The girl still has nails in her arm, and the soft tissue of her waist injury hasn't fully recovered. If she accidentally falls again, it will be troublesome."

After saying that, he suddenly remembered something and added, "That girl has a strange taste. She likes fatty meat and sweets, but she doesn't like fatty meat with sugar. Besides that, she particularly hates pepper and star anise. I guess the chef in the kitchen can't handle her taste, so I have to do it myself."

Zhuo Junyue had a slightly strange expression when she heard this.

Although Yang Mo and Tu Gou were childhood friends and had been friends for more than 20 years, it was not surprising that he knew Lu Yingying's taste preferences;
but,

You are a very busy person with a lot of things to do every day.
A useless person who can't even cook noodles at home...

Thinking of this, Zhuo Junyue quickly lowered her head, fearing that Yang Mo would notice the strangeness on her face.

The moment she lowered her head, a hint of envy flashed in Zhuo Junyue's eyes.

Just now when Yang Mo mentioned Lu Yingying, there was a hint of pity and tenderness in his tone and expression; can you tell me that this is the expression that should exist between ordinary childhood friends?
I’m afraid even Miss Mu may not be able to enjoy this kind of almost doting care, right?

Thinking of the murderous and stern verbal sparring at the city meeting this afternoon, Zhuo Junyue couldn't help but be a little dazed.

If a woman can meet a man who is willing to fight for her,

Even if we cannot live together or die together in this life,

I guess...it's worth it, right?
………………

Ten minutes later, Yang Mo returned to his office, pinched his eyebrows, sighed softly, and was about to start dealing with the two rows of neatly arranged folders on the table.

Knock knock knock~
When I looked up, it was a certain Peach who appeared at the door.

"Boss Yang, let me make this clear first. I called the general manager's secretary's office before I came here, but no one answered the phone. I was in a hurry to report to you, so I came directly here... This doesn't count as a violation of procedure, right?"

Zhuomali explained with a smile, but there was no fear on her face.

Hearing this, Yang Mo glanced at her unhappily, then stood up and led Zhuo Mali to the sofa: "Xiao Zhuo has gone out for something, and the phone over there can't be reached. Can't you just transfer the call to me directly?"

In Dahua Company, Zhuo Mali is still the director of her legal and compliance department; but in Urban Property Fund Company, Zhuo Mali is the assistant to the general manager who is highly valued by Yang Mo, so there is no need for them to be so formal... This peach was just teasing him.

Yang Mo picked up the kettle and made a cup of tea and placed it in front of Zhuomali. He sat down and glanced at the briefcase Zhuomali had placed beside him. "I just came back and Sister Zhuo came over immediately... Is there something important that needs my decision?"

The briefcase was bulging, and it was obvious that it was filled with materials;

This is quite different from the usual practice.

Generally speaking, when executives like Zhuo Mali report to their superiors, if there are a lot of materials, they will put them directly in folders or file bags and carry them over, instead of stuffing them all into a briefcase like they are doing now - after all, this is the company's office area, not outside.

So it is obvious that the information that Zhuomali brought with her is not only very important, but also something she does not want others to see for some reason.

Zhuo Mali heard this but did not answer directly. Instead, she asked a question that sounded somewhat irrelevant with a smile: "Boss Yang, I will report to you about work later... Didn't you go to the city for a meeting today? How was the result?"

Yang Mo was stunned, not understanding why Zhuo Mali asked this, but he knew that although this old sister often looked unserious, she would never do anything without a purpose when it came to work.

He nodded slightly, "It's going relatively smoothly. After my persuasion, the city has agreed to hold a meeting to discuss the establishment of a special investigation team. In addition, they have also agreed to issue a document requiring all counties to coordinate local vegetable planting work in accordance with market guidance to ensure the promotion and circulation of the vegetable basket project is carried out in an orderly manner."

Although these two things seem to be downplayed and even seem insignificant in the written description, the things hidden behind them are far from that simple. As a prefecture-level city that has just been upgraded for less than half a year, the city obviously intends to show great courage to push forward these two tasks.

Zhuo Mali's expression turned serious when she heard this: "What's the price? Has the city asked us to expand the scope and intensity of cooperation with local companies in various fields, or... directly asked us to inject capital into or restructure some companies?"

Yang Mo pondered for a moment, shook his head slowly, and pinched his brows again: "No."

This is also the point that makes him most puzzled and uneasy.

Anyone with a little social experience knows the reason behind this.

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Mali sighed softly, then smiled bitterly: "I was originally considering whether I should report this matter to you specifically, but after hearing what you said... I have no choice but to report it."

After that, Zhuo Mali unzipped her briefcase and placed three thick file bags in front of Yang Mo: "This is the material that Director Wang Jing of the Special Asset Investment Department handed over to me... It's about the Solitary Island No. 2 project."

After a slight pause, Zhuomali showed a trace of difficulty on her face: "Forget it, you should take a look first."

The information that Wang Jing from the Special Assets Department handed over to you?
Or is it about the Solitary Island II project that is under construction?
Yang Mo was startled, and a bad premonition arose in his heart. Then he picked up a document bag and slowly opened it.

In theory, the scope of work of the Special Asset Investment Department is mainly to invest in those "non-performing assets" that may be underestimated after evaluation, or have sufficient room for value rebound in the medium and long term, so as to complement the asset protection department in terms of business;

But in fact, since China is in a stage of rapid economic recovery and is vigorously promoting the urbanization process, all land-related investments and businesses can be included in the business scope of the Special Asset Investment Department based on the length of the payback period.

So this leads to a situation where, for projects within the system such as the Solitary Island II project, which has a huge investment amount, a huge land area, a long construction period, and a long payback period, the headquarters has formed a special project construction team for practical reasons. However, the construction funds required by this project construction team need to be allocated from Dahua Company's special account, and it is also affiliated with the Special Asset Investment Department... although it is only in name. Therefore, although Yang Mo has always maintained a sufficiently decentralized attitude towards the early infrastructure work of the Solitary Island II project, and even openly put on a posture of not intervening and not asking, from the perspective of procedural justice, the most basic supervision and review work must be done; otherwise, once there is a big problem, even if the main responsibility lies with the project construction team, Dahua Company is still inseparable from the relationship.

So the situation is very clear now. Since Wang Jing from the Special Asset Investment Department handed the information over to Zhuo Mali from the Legal and Compliance Department, there must be violations in the infrastructure work of the Isolated Island No. 2 project, and they are the kind of violations that cannot be laughed off. Otherwise, Wang Jing, who has seen a lot of ups and downs in Dongying, would not behave so "untactfully".

He opened the file bag, took out the materials inside and took a look.

Ok?
To Yang Mo's surprise, what was contained inside was not a lengthy letter of complaint, but a contract and several quotations.

Cement purchase agreement?

Yang Mo glanced at Zhuo Mali, then opened the contract and read it quickly.

Ok?
Yang Mo was not an idiot, so he naturally knew that the most problematic part of this kind of contract was the quotation and payment method. Since there were several quotations from other units in the information bag, the meaning was self-evident.

hiss~
After repeatedly comparing the figures on the contract and several other quotations, Yang Mo took a deep breath: "For the same high-grade Portland cement 625R, the price quoted by this selected supplier is % higher than that of other suppliers!?"

"Even the ordinary 525R cement is % higher than other companies!?"

With a gloomy face, he threw the contract on the coffee table: "I think the people in the procurement office of the project construction team are tired of living. They dared to sign such an outrageous contract... It's a full 1440 million. It's enough to feed them a few peanuts!"

In the early 1990s, bidding was not popular for state-owned enterprise projects, and the various materials needed for the projects would often be provided to sister units within the state-owned system. Therefore, the quotations for various materials were often the market price, or even slightly higher than the market price.

Therefore, for a huge project like the Solitary Island II project, the price of materials with the highest demand, such as cement and steel bars, was 30% higher than that of peers. This was an extremely exaggerated figure. The idiots in the procurement department actually dared to sign a contract that clearly exceeded the "normal flexibility"...

For a contract worth 1440 million, the inflated premium is at least 400 million. In this era when the average worker's monthly income is just over 400 yuan, swallowing up million in one go is really death!
Zhuo Mali hesitated for a while after hearing this, and finally reminded carefully: "Boss Yang, I think...why don't you take a look at the information of that supplier?"

As he spoke, he picked up a much thinner file bag from the coffee table, opened it, and took the initiative to hand over a dozen pages of paper.

Yang Mo took the dozen pages of information suspiciously and glanced at them.

Ok?
Yangxin County Industrial Materials Sales Company?
Yang Mo's pupils shrank and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

Then turn to the last page.

Although the name sounds like a local state-owned enterprise, it is actually a private enterprise?
Legal representative…Ma Xiaojie.

Ma Xiaojie! ? ?
Yang Mo couldn't help but twitch his eyes twice. Although the name Ma Xiaojie was very common, it was not surprising at all.

But if the other person has another sutra name called "Alia", then it would be completely different.

My own mother-in-law! ? ?
Seeing Yang Mo in a daze, Zhuo Mali sighed again: "This company was registered and established eight years ago. It can be regarded as one of the earliest private enterprises established after the reform and opening up;"

"Although the older generation lacked the necessary business knowledge and simply filled in the blanks as the legal person, I have to say that your mother-in-law has made rapid progress."

As she spoke, Zhuo Mali reached out and pulled out the few pages of information that Yang Mo had just skipped over, and placed them on the coffee table: "Although Yangxin County also has its own cement factory, the Yangxin County Industrial Materials Sales Company does not purchase all of its cement from the local area. Instead, it distributes about 70% of its cement supply to the four local cement factories in DZ City... This is the supply contract signed between the Yangxin County Industrial Materials Sales Company and the four cement factories."

He smiled with mixed emotions: "Although there is no floating price, and the cement is only supplied at the market price, the total contract amount signed with these four cement factories is only 687 million. However, this 687 million contract is enough to temporarily support the four old cement factories whose product quality can only be regarded as barely up to standard... The reason why the city is so supportive of you, Mr. Yang, at the meeting today must be that these four contracts have played a certain role."

Chinese people have always been more reserved in their speech. Since Zhuomali used the words "quality barely meets the standards", the meaning is self-evident.

Yang Mo suppressed his thoughts and smiled noncommittally: "After all, the infrastructure work of the Solitary Island No. 2 project is in charge of the people assigned by the headquarters... My job is just to revitalize the tertiary industry enterprises and solve the problem of the diversion of tens of thousands of employees this year. I don't want to get involved in the rest of the headquarters' affairs, and they know this."

The implication is simple. Since the legal representative of the Yangxin County Industrial Materials Sales Company is his mother-in-law, it goes without saying that his father-in-law, or even the Lin and Song families, are unlikely to distance themselves from the company. And since his mother-in-law dared to offer a 30% premium to sign the contract, it means that she is confident that she can suppress the matter.

He didn't want to get involved in the mess in the headquarters. Not only did his father-in-law and mother-in-law know this, but the rest of the people in the headquarters should also be able to see it after more than a year of dealing with them. So no matter whether his father-in-law and that group of allies could eventually keep the lid on it, those people in the headquarters probably wouldn't be stupid enough to involve themselves in the matter.

In a word, the Isolated Island No. 2 project is a key project of your headquarters. You can do whatever you want with it, just don't involve me. Anyway, I have made it big now, and even if my father-in-law retires early, I can still protect my wife.

Seeing Yang Mo's annoyance and impatience, Zhuo Mali smiled bitterly: "If this matter is just like this, then it's fine. There is no need to report it to you alone and leak the news quietly. The headquarters can argue as much as they want. I am the director of the Legal and Compliance Department of Dahua Company, not a member of the inspection team of the headquarters. There is no need to worry about this matter."

"But the problem is... your mother-in-law's actions have had a very bad impact on your plan, Mr. Yang. As the director of Dahua Company's Legal and Compliance Department, I may not care, but as your assistant, I have to remind you that I think it would be better for you to say hello to Uncle Mu!"

Yang Mo frowned and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"

Zhuo Mali looked a little embarrassed, but she finally showed the quotation sheet she had taken out earlier to Yang Mo: "Brother, you are very busy, and you have to go through at least 80 documents every day. In addition, you are in charge of such a big plate, so it is normal for you to forget some minor details."

"Let me put it this way. Do you still remember the equity design you asked me to do for your childhood friend?"

Yang Mo reacted immediately: "You mean, this matter has something to do with Manager Lu?"

Zhuo Mali glanced at him and nodded slowly: "That's right. In the series of equity designs made for Manager Lu, a considerable part of it was dispersed and held in local township enterprises. Then these township enterprises, through the form of exchange of shares, owned a small part of the shares of chemical, equipment manufacturing, and industrial product manufacturing companies."

"So, have you seen these dozen quotations? Three of them are from cement plants with cross-shareholdings."

"The original intention was to win orders, and then make a profit from the infrastructure project of the Solitary Island II super project. We will then use this profit to fully transform equipment and upgrade technology. We will then win orders for the second phase of the project and open up other markets with more competitive products, thus forming a positive cycle."

"But now that your mother-in-law has done this, not only will we lose the order for the first phase of the project, but we will also most likely not be able to get the second phase of the project... The reason why those companies were willing to cross-hold shares at a loss was because they valued the resources and influence behind the shares;"

"But in this situation, if we just watch your mother-in-law eat all the food, then the cross-shareholdings will be meaningless. And if it happens again and again, I'm afraid..."

Zhuo Mali didn't finish her words, but everyone could understand what she meant.

Yang Mo weighed the pros and cons for a while and shook his head slightly: "They are just a few cement factories. An order of several million is not small, but it is not particularly large either. DZ City is about to enter the era of large-scale urban infrastructure. As long as the products of these companies are indeed competitive, there will be plenty of opportunities to make up for it in the future."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Mali sighed again, "It's not that simple. If it really only involves a cement order worth several million, then it's naturally not a big deal. You don't even need to show up. I can coordinate the subsequent compensation."

As she spoke, Zhuo Mali pulled out an unopened file bag from the coffee table and pushed it in front of Yang Mo: "The city will not make such a big concession to you just because of a few medium-sized cement plants; and I will not come to you for a special report just because of a few million cement orders;"

"I just said that if you don't say hello to Uncle Mu and coordinate things well, it may have a great impact on your plan; the cement contract signed by your mother-in-law is just an insignificant matter... The real problem is this!"

Ok?
Yang Mo looked at the peach in confusion, then slowly opened the much thicker file bag.

Just like the previous file bag, it also contained only a contract and several other documents; the only difference was that the other documents were not quotations, but rather a fairly large number of technical plans and parameters.

hiss~!

After seeing the name of the contract clearly, Yang Mo couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, and his whole face couldn't help but turn cold...

(End of this chapter)