My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 373 On Humanistic Concern: This is the Source

Wei Dong's attitude is really peculiar these days.

Even without the title of an Apple-listed company, a foreign billionaire like Steve Jobs should be fawned over and adored.

Even if the current policies on attracting foreign investment are still unclear, it's always good to cultivate good relationships.

Many grassroots staff may not have grasped the situation yet, and some local leaders also regard foreigners as a scourge. It's not right to let a reform expert like Wei Dong, who has already opened his eyes to the world, be allowed to do this.

Besides, Steve was someone he brought back, and the two sides have a bunch of cooperation agreements.

I'll give you two cars; you can wander around as you like. I'll take care of my own business.

Not at all serious.

Even these days, the only precautions against foreigners are that Lao Gao and two drivers accompany them.

Now we're driving directly towards the desolate riverbank in Gangnam District.

Instead of catering to their tastes by taking them to famous mountains, rivers, Taoist temples, or Buddhist monasteries to showcase cultural traditions and shock the self-important foreigners.

If Steve hadn't been accompanied by his security guards who had allowed him to roam freely for several days, they might have thought he was committing a robbery.

Steve didn't ask any questions, but instead curiously observed the scenery outside.

He certainly didn't see himself as a businessman who was racing against time to make money: "I saw the injection mold samples that you rectified, and the improvement was significant, but it's still not enough."

The kind of thing that involves directly arguing with suppliers is something the big boss doesn't really have to do.

But Steve is notoriously picky, reportedly to the point of being obsessive.

Dong Xueqing was a little nervous about starting her translation job.

Rang Weidong didn't hold back: "The production process and manufacturing methods are certainly lacking, but our focus and efficient management are not a problem. The equipment you discarded for us is still on its way. If you can provide more technical support, I believe we will be able to learn and improve to meet the requirements."

The abacus beads were gradually revealed.

In any case, all aspects of the situation have been presented to foreign businesses. If they want high-quality and high-volume production support, then production line support must be provided.

This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, ensuring that Weidong won't have to use his precious foreign exchange reserves to import these products himself. The so-called advanced production lines that are now being exploited are practically like bloodsuckers.

This is what puzzled Steve: "If you were to build a factory and provide supporting facilities in a coastal area, that would be fine, but this place is just too far away."

In the previous life, the reform and opening up led to the development of the coastal areas, while the western regions could only supply labor for decades. Later, the Western Development Strategy had to be launched, which made Wei Dong want to take a leap forward this time.

At least he tried his best to push for some change: "Look, this city is already the largest and best in the western region. Although my factories may seem far from being the best, they can already provide for the livelihoods of thousands or even tens of thousands of people..."

The Phoenix Chick translated it with neither arrogance nor servility.

By this time, the four-wheel drive minivan had arrived at an open space along the bumpy dirt road by the river. In a row of simple sheds, many people were busy working.

A strong, pungent smell of ink wafted out.

On a large drying area built with bamboo poles, hundreds and thousands of T-shirts were neatly laid out, their colorful colors quite pleasing to the eye.

It turns out that the entire screen printing process is located here.

All the plain fabric T-shirts produced are brought here, where patterns are manually painted onto each one. Only after the ink has evaporated and dried completely can they be bagged and sold.

Wei Dong pointed to the river nearby and said, "This factory was added later, so the water pollution isn't too bad. The main problem is the strong odor. The real pollution comes from this..."

Passing through the screen printing "workshop," there is an even larger washing pool where river water is directly pumped up. After simple sedimentation and filtration in the newly built circulation pool, a large number of jeans are thrown in to be manually tumbled, washed, and worn out!

The visual impact is very strong.

It's like the artificial laundry facilities in the legendary Indian country.

Simple, half-person-high cement pools, about one square meter in size, are laid out in hundreds or thousands, with water troughs winding through the middle, and people washing and pounding in each compartment.

Then someone pushed a cart to collect the wet jeans one by one and hung them to dry on almost half a hillside.

But there's a sandblasting workshop after the drying process is complete.

An air compressor drives a high-pressure spray gun to mechanically polish the jeans stretched on the rack, creating marks of wear and tear, and whitening.

The production line was made with the help of Hongyan Machinery Factory. It was a box-like structure with an observation glass, and jeans that were put on the "fake legs" were automatically moved into it from one side.

The mask-making workers reached into the box and grabbed the spray guns, "spraying" and washing out various worn and shaped patterns.

Duan Lixia was clearly seeing for the first time that the super-selling jeans in the clothing and home appliance market were produced in this way. She found it hard to understand why the jeans were intentionally worn out!
I thought it was some kind of pattern, but it really is just scratched.

Wei Dong was asked to take the industrial masks from the doorway and distribute them: "The iron filings are secondary; the fabric fibers they grind off float in the air, and the dust is extremely harmful to the lungs."

Even Steve, who loves wearing jeans, frowned and watched.

In reality, the production line from Hong Kong didn't have such an environmentally friendly process at all; it was added at Wei Dong's own request.

"The biggest problem with jeans production is this blue dye. The mainstream is synthetic chemical indigo, which is cheap and easy to use, but it is rich in a bunch of harmful substances such as formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. The dyeing process of the fabric also requires a lot of chemicals. They explained that these are corrosive wastes such as sulfates and sulfites. The bleaching process pollutes the fabric again..." I grabbed a pair of fashionable jeans and showed them to the foreign boss for inspection.

He even joked: "This is the fashion you pursue, the exquisite beauty that you demand so strictly. In fact, it can only be achieved in third-world countries by destroying the environment. European and American countries can just enjoy it and then condescendingly criticize these poor people for destroying the earth's environment and not treating our mother well."

Chi Shiming sneered. The environmental protection trend in Hong Kong has been quite popular and fashionable in recent years.

Steve had certainly never seen such a sweatshop production scene before. The notoriously picky man was utterly shocked, stunned by this industrial perspective.

Wei Dong looked around for a moment before pulling out a pair of cheap, domestically produced jeans belonging to one of his employees to show the foreigner: "But the Chinese are clever and have a long tradition. We have our own plant-based indigo system. More importantly, we don't really care about this kind of bullshit fashion. As long as it's blue, it's fine. We're not that particular. So, our domestically sold jeans are basically made with plant-based indigo supplied by the neighboring province, hahaha..."

He genuinely found it funny when he talked about it.

At that time, cotton mills and dyeing factories didn't have much environmental awareness. They were also major polluters, discharging a lot of sewage into the river.

Wei Dong learned about the production process brought by the HK team. When he saw sandblasting, he subconsciously thought of mine tuberculosis. He found out that the incidence of the disease was indeed very high in the factories in HK that produced this product, which is why he moved to the Guangdong East factory.

That means we have to implement all the necessary safety measures, such as labor protection procedures and industrial-grade dust covers.

Sandblasting must be done in a closed box, and the natural ventilation conditions by the river are more suitable for this kind of workshop production.

The funniest thing is this synthetic indigo. Domestic production is not up to standard, and the Hong Kong side has been nitpicking and complaining to Wei Dong about it.

It turns out that the dyeing and printing production lines in Jiangzhou were relatively closed and outdated, and they still basically used plant-based raw materials that were widely used 20 or 30 years ago...

In addition, the neighboring province is a major producer of this plant-based indigo.

This was a lucky accident!

Therefore, almost all jeans sold in China do not undergo distressing or aging processes, nor do they use synthetic indigo.

Only the "fashionable" export models, which are now being produced in increasingly larger quantities, use dyes imported from Hong Kong to meet color requirements.

In short, we have minimized this pollution as much as possible.

It's only because there aren't any comprehensive pollution detection methods at the moment; otherwise, even if natural dyes were washed into the river in such large quantities, it would definitely cause changes in water quality.

What Wei Dong was chatting with Lao Geng about was whether they could simply move the workshop to the mountains, to the riverside dock of their secret project.

Anyway, the river water is now as green as blue.

There are hardly any people around, and nature's ability to absorb and dilute this natural raw material is reduced to almost zero.

Unlike this river surface, where there are likely civilian water intakes everywhere.

Beyond this large area lies a workshop for screen printing of jeans and clothing, employing nearly two thousand workers.

Steve then said seriously, "Then you can tout this kind of environmental protection in your Citibank jeans ads, and I believe it will trigger a huge buying frenzy."

Wei Dong, who didn't actually have such a keen business sense, or rather, who subconsciously scoffed at Citibank's environmental issues and didn't really understand them, said: "Oh? Then I'll have to ask you to help me out when you have time. I think what you said is very true. Edison may have contributed more to the world than Marx or that Barbara guy combined. I want to produce here not to make more money, but to help improve the lives of the people here as much as possible..."

Following the rough dirt road, after a few dozen meters, you turn at the riverbank and find a small backwater with four barges moored inside!

Two more were dragged ashore, turned upside down, and were being cleaned and painted.

It's like a small shipbuilding workshop.

Wei Dong proudly pointed to the small, non-powered barges, which were about 20 meters long: "As for the 2,000-kilometer distance you mentioned, I have my own fleet of ships that transport goods to the sea. Apart from being a little slower, the transportation costs are almost negligible. So if we can reach this cooperation, I will give you as much profit as possible. As long as you can teach us the supporting processes and production technology, I will definitely complete the task with high quality and quantity."

Dong Xueqing must be surprised that these barges also belong to our family?

While translating, he pulled Rang Weidong's arm and curiously stood by the earthen slope, craning his neck to look.

The temporary dirt road, which hadn't been fully converted into a factory dock, was quite slippery. She tripped and fell down the road.

Fortunately, the crowd made Wei Dong quick-witted and nimble. He managed to reach down her collar, but the thin T-shirt collar was too fragile to tear. He tried to grab the horizontal strap, but it was too elastic and bounced back. He finally managed to reach her waist and grab her waistband with satisfaction.

There was even a strange sense of vengeful pleasure in my heart. Hmph, serves you right for grabbing me like that before, I'll crush you to death...

He almost sang it out loud.

As expected, Fengchu was startled and cried out in surprise, but without hesitation, she grabbed her brother-in-law and climbed onto him with all her might!

So what was originally meant to be grabbing the back of her waistband turned into Wei Dong holding his sister-in-law in his arms. Not only did he not choke her, but he also lost his composure.

How can such a young body be so easily aroused?

Duan Lixia, being an experienced woman, immediately suppressed a laugh and pulled Chi Shiming back, pretending not to have seen anything.

Only Steve was left to experience it up close, but he wasn't interested in the romance at all. Instead, he was deep in thought: "Okay, I'll go back and arrange the equipment and plans for the supporting contract manufacturing right away."

Rang Weidong advised him instead: "Why don't you wait another day? You're already here, come and see our Labor Day celebrations."

Looking back, the problem probably stemmed from that day.

(End of this chapter)