78: Bringing his wife and children to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 149 Facing the Battle

Ye Bingwen rode his bicycle back to the factory, pedaling rapidly all the way.

When he arrived at the factory gate, he shouted inside before his bicycle had even come to a complete stop.

"Everyone, come to the meeting."

Hearing the shout, Chen An poked his head out of his office.

"Director Ye, what happened?" Chen An asked nervously.

"It's good news, you all come over here quickly," Ye Bingwen replied.

About five minutes later, everyone in the factory gathered together. In the middle of the workshop, Master Li, Liu Xiaojun, Chen An, and Old Hu the carpenter stood in a circle.

Ye Bingwen gently placed the document on the table.

"The city currently has a quota for subsidized loans, totaling 100,000 yuan, with a loan term of three years. Half of the interest will be subsidized by the government," he said slowly.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaojun's eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly asked, "Can our factory apply for this loan?"

"This requires review. First, the Economic Commission organizes experts to conduct a review, and only after the review is passed can the loan be disbursed," Ye Bingwen explained.

Master Li then asked, "When will the experts come to conduct the review?"

"We need to act quickly, so we must prepare the relevant materials as soon as possible," Ye Bingwen said.

Chen An took the document and flipped through it. Looking at the contents listed, he said with some surprise, "There's so much to prepare here. There are application forms, basic information about the company, financial statements, project feasibility reports, technical certification materials, and even order contracts—can we finish all this?"

"Prepare all the materials one by one. Chen An, I'm entrusting you with the technical aspects. Make sure all the relevant data is complete," Ye Bingwen instructed.

"Okay, I understand," Chen An nodded in agreement.

"Xiaojun, tidy up all the equipment in the factory. Wipe it clean and repair what needs repairing. Experts will likely come to the site for the review," Ye Bingwen said to Liu Xiaojun.

Liu Xiaojun scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled, and said, "Wiping the equipment is no problem, but that old press has peeling paint on its casing. Even if I wipe it clean, it still won't look good."

Ye Bingwen thought for a moment and said, "Then let's spray it with paint. Go buy a few cans of paint and spray it."

"Spray paint? Is it really going to work?" Liu Xiaojun was somewhat skeptical.

"Of course we can spray it. As long as it looks new after spraying, that's fine. It's not like we're asking experts to take the machine apart to see its internal structure," Ye Bingwen said.

Master Li chimed in, "Xiao Ye, should I also spray paint the milling machine I'm using?"

"Spray them all! Spray every single piece of equipment that can be sprayed!" Ye Bingwen said decisively.

Old Hu, the carpenter, listened to their conversation and couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "This isn't preparing materials; it's clearly just fooling people."

Ye Bingwen turned to look at Old Hu the carpenter and said, "Master Hu, this is not called fooling people, this is called packaging. Think about it, when you carve a wooden mold, don't you also have to polish and wax it to make it look more exquisite?"

After hearing this, Old Hu the carpenter didn't say anything more.

After the meeting, everyone got back to their own tasks.

Chen An returned to his office and pulled out all the previous technical documents, spreading them out on the table. The table was covered with test reports, process records, pass rate curves, raw material inspection records, and equipment maintenance records.

He carefully examined each document and meticulously checked each item. During the process, he discovered that some data records were not detailed enough. For example, the temperature fluctuation range during pressing only recorded the maximum and minimum values, without recording the intermediate changes.

So he picked up a pen and began to fill in the original notebook. When he was halfway through, he felt something was wrong and took out the notebook that Liu Xiaojun had kept.

Liu Xiaojun had his own way of keeping track of things. Temperature, pressure, and time were all written on one line, separated by diagonal lines. Although it looked a bit messy, the necessary information was complete. Chen An copied Liu Xiaojun's notebook from beginning to end and then reorganized it into a table.

After processing the temperature-related data, he began to organize the size inspection data. Each of the 102 products produced in the first batch had an inspection record. The original records were handwritten, and some numbers were written rather sloppily, so he rewrote them, even using a ruler to draw grids, making them neat and tidy.

In the afternoon, Zheng Shuyun came to the factory to help out. She saw Chen An hunched over the table copying data and asked, "Do you need to be so meticulous when doing this data?"

"6

Chen An said without looking up, "It will come in handy. When the experts are reviewing the case, they look at these kinds of details."

""

Zheng Shuyun didn't ask any more questions and sat down to help copy. The two of them each held a notebook and copied from afternoon until dark.

Liu Xiaojun wasn't idle either. He disassembled the two mixers, cleaned each part thoroughly, and then reassembled them. One of the old mixers had a rust mark on its casing, which he sanded for a long time without success. Later, he went to the warehouse and found half a can of paint, which was military green and he didn't know which year it was left over. He brushed it twice, and the rust mark was covered up, but the color was different from the original, with some parts being darker and some lighter.

After Mr. Li came over and saw it, he said, "What kind of paint are you using?"

"Paint," Liu Xiaojun replied.

"I'm not talking about the paint, I'm talking about your workmanship. It looks like a dog chewed it up, it's awful," said Master Li.

Liu Xiaojun said somewhat unconvinced, "Then you try to swipe it."

Master Li took the brush, readjusted the paint, and then started brushing from the edge of the mixer, pressing down firmly to brush evenly. After one coat, he waited for the paint to dry before applying the second coat. After two coats, the mixer's exterior looked brand new.

Liu Xiaojun squatted down and watched for a long time before asking, "Master Li, did you used to work as a painter?"

"I've done it before, I've done all sorts of jobs," said Master Li, then washed the brush clean and put it back in the storeroom.

The old press was the focus of this preparation. Its outer shell was badly rusted, and the paint had peeled off in some places. Liu Xiaojun used a scraper to remove the peeling paint and then sanded it again. Master Li mixed a large bucket of grayish-white paint, the color of which was similar to the original. The two of them took turns painting one side and spent the whole afternoon painting. After they finished, they stepped back and looked at it. The effect was indeed quite good, and it looked pretty good.

Old Hu, the carpenter, walked over with his hands behind his back, circled the press, and said, "This press looks more energetic than I am."

Master Li smiled and said, "What's the use of spirit? The key is to be able to do the work."

"Wouldn't it be better if you could work and were more energetic?" After saying that, Old Hu the carpenter went to the warehouse to carve his wooden mold. Although the factory already had steel molds, Ye Bingwen had said that wooden molds should also be prepared. In case the steel molds had problems one day, the wooden molds could take their place. Old Hu the carpenter knew this and carved one wooden mold every day, applied the coating, and then left it there to dry.

By the third day, Chen An had almost finished preparing the materials. The application form was filled out, and the company's basic information was written on two pages. However, he encountered a problem with the financial statements. Chen An had been managing the accounts of Hongqi Factory on a part-time basis. All the inflows and outflows were recorded, but no formal reports had been made. He took out last year's account books and summarized them one by one.

In terms of revenue: military orders of 84,000 (not yet received), civilian orders of 36,000, and other miscellaneous items of 2,000.

Expenses: 52,000 for materials, 21,000 for wages, 6,000 for electricity, 3,000 for equipment maintenance, and 4,000 for other expenses.

The profit was 12,000, but that was just the figure on paper; in reality, the factory had no cash left.

He filled in the figures in the form, and after finishing, he looked at it again. He felt that the data didn't look good. The factory was currently operating at a loss, and wages were still in arrears. If he wrote these figures down, what would the experts think? But he didn't dare to change them, because if he did, it would be considered falsification.

Having no other choice, he took the report to Ye Bingwen.

"Director Ye, the data in this financial statement doesn't look very good," Chen An said.

Ye Bingwen took it and looked at it, then said, "Just report it according to the actual situation."

"But this—" Chen An wanted to say something more.

"We didn't falsify the accounts. The situation is what it is. The experts aren't stupid. If you report impressive figures, and they see there's no money in the accounts, wouldn't that be even more troublesome?" Ye Bingwen interrupted him.

Chen An didn't say anything more, and put the report back into the file folder.

On the fourth day, with all the materials ready, Ye Bingwen made a phone call to Li Jianguo of the Economic Commission.

"Director Li, all our materials are ready. When should I send them over?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'll schedule a review time for you and let you know once it's set," Li Jianguo said.

"Director Li, will the experts come to the site to observe during the review?" Ye Bingwen asked.

"They'll usually come. Clean up the scene carefully," Li Jianguo said.

"We've already packed up," Ye Bingwen said.

After hanging up the phone, Ye Bingwen told everyone about the situation: "The materials have been submitted, and now we are just waiting for notification. Experts may come to the site to take a look. When that time comes, those who should be in the factory should be in the factory, those who should be working should be working, and those who should be conducting tests should be conducting tests. Let's not let them think that we are just sitting around doing nothing."

Liu Xiaojun asked, "Should we line up to welcome the experts?"

"No need, just do your job normally. They're here to see if you can do the job, not to see if you can take sides," Ye Bingwen said.