Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 317 Anton

After having lunch, we got back in the car and continued our journey, going around Phoenix Mountain, passing Tanghe Wulongbei, and then we arrived in Andong after exiting the mountain.

Andong is a long and narrow city that stretches along the Yalu River, with Uiju in North Korea right across the river.

This is a border city open to North Korea, with a railway line directly connecting to Pyongyang on the other side via a bridge.

At that time, Andong Railway Station was one of the few railway stations in the country that would lock its doors and close for the day. The tall statue of Mao Zedong in the square in front of the station looked westward, waving his big hand to protect his little brother North Korea behind him.

Walk five or six hundred meters east from the station square to the riverside park, where you can see the Yalu River Bridge connecting China and North Korea. You can see the opposite bank directly from the park.

You can also take a yacht to cruise on the river. The yacht will occasionally cross the river to the opposite bank and sway a bit. There are factories on the opposite bank, and the riverbank is not well maintained. Often, groups of children will crowd on the bank watching this side, waiting for tourists to throw something off the boat, such as cookies or apples, and then they will rush over to grab it.

There are vendors in the park that sell these things: cheap biscuits and shriveled apples in a bag for five yuan a bag. They're just for you to buy and throw them across the river. It's a lot like the bear and monkey food vendors at the entrance of zoos in China.

The railway bridge marked the border, with soldiers from both countries standing guard right next to each other. Residents on the other side were not allowed on the bridge, and the penalties were severe. Back then, our side wasn't so strict; as long as you didn't cross the border, it was fine. The soldiers guarding the bridge on the other side would also ask our side's soldiers or tourists for things like cigarettes, apples, or biscuits.

In the early 90s, the other side was very poor, extremely poor. I had heard the legend of Yizhou where people exchanged children to eat, but I didn't know if it was true or not, since I had never been there to see it. However, because there was no river separating the borders of Kuandian, quite a few people came across. Exchanging a bag of rice for two wives was definitely not just a legend.

Koreans have a tradition of coming to our side whenever something happens, a tradition that has never been interrupted throughout history. Most of the Koreans in northern Jilin Province came from this group, mainly during the period when Russia and Japan were causing trouble on the peninsula, around 1900.

The car arrived in Andong at 2:30 pm.

Han San's equipment was delivered to a biscuit factory on the outskirts of the city. After unloading the truck, Han San led Xiao Wei and Chen Hui to the factory manager's office. Xiao Hong and Chen Xiao didn't come over; they got out of the car and were free to do as they pleased.

These days, it's rare to find a private company with a dedicated factory manager's office; it seems quite strange. Moreover, the factory manager never showed his face after the goods arrived and were unloaded; the workshop foreman was always in charge.

He pushed open the door and entered the room, greeting him warmly, "Director Yu, busy, huh?"

A thin old man wearing reading glasses looked up from behind a large, old desk, glanced at Han San, nodded slightly, and said, "San'er, sit down. The machine has arrived?"

Han San sat down, took out a cigarette, lit one for Director Yu, and said, "Yes, I've brought them all for you. I transferred them from home, so there won't be any problems."

Factory Director Yu nodded and said with a smile, "I trust you to get things done. Who are these two young men?"

Han San turned around and pulled Xiao Wei to his side, saying, "Director Yu, this is the Xiao Wei I told you about last time. He's from the countryside and came to Fengtian to accompany his wife to school. This is his friend Chen Hui. These guys set up a stall to do business, the one I told you about last time."

Factory Director Yu said "Oh," nodded, and said, "I remember now, you opened a food factory, right? Okay, what's the monthly output?"

Han San turned to look at Xiao Wei, who smiled at the factory manager and said, "We're not producing much right now. We're just finding people to sell them for us at a few farmers' markets in Longcheng. Not many people are eating biscuits these days. How many do you need, Factory Manager Yu? I'll see if we can produce enough."

Factory Director Yu nodded slowly, thought for a moment, and asked Xiao Wei, "Would 50,000 be enough?"

An old-fashioned biscuit weighs about five grams. The biscuit machine Xiaowei bought last time could produce about 60 jin (30 kg) per hour, less than 15,000 jin (7,500 kg) per month. The biscuit machines back then were much inferior to those of later generations in terms of both production capacity and technology.

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, I'll just add one more piece of equipment; there's a place for it."

Factory Director Yu chuckled and said to Han San, "This kid is honest. My supply contracts with that company are for 400,000 jin of mooncakes and 100,000 jin of steamed rice cakes. The production capacity can't keep up. Look at my small place, I'm even adding equipment. That's why you guys delivered a batch today. There's nothing I can do. The factory is only so big. It's a contracted factory. We submitted our expansion application half a year ago and no one has paid any attention to us. We want to buy it but we don't have the money. Don't be fooled by the small size of the factory. We only have about 200 workers, and quite a few of them are retired. We also have to pay rent to the food company every year. There's not much money left."

Xiao Wei asked, "Then why bother hiring him?"

Factory Director Yu sighed, shook his head, and said, "I used to be the factory director here. Two years ago, production stopped and we couldn't even pay wages. That's why I led everyone to work hard and manage. At least we can pay wages and everyone has food to eat. I can't just watch myself starve to death, can I? Many of the retirees are my old colleagues. Everyone has had a hard time."

Xiao Wei looked around the room and asked, "Uncle Yu, how much would it cost to buy this factory?"

Factory Director Yu glanced at Xiao Wei from behind his reading glasses and said with a smile, "What? You want to buy it? The factory doesn't have much money, around 200,000 yuan. There are about 320 workers, both retired and still on the job. The key is that there are also about 1 million yuan in outstanding debts. To buy this factory, you'd have to throw in at least 1.6 million yuan. With that money, you could build a pretty good one."

He shook his head: "Now that I've taken over the contract, everyone can earn a little money every month and their families can make a living. Don't worry about anything else."

Xiao Wei said, "You have orders for hundreds of thousands of kilograms a month, so wouldn't six months to a year be enough?"

Factory Manager Yu said, "It's not that simple. I got the orders by using my connections. If I can't raise the price, the other party still needs to make a profit. There's not much left. I get 80 cents a pound of biscuits, but if I want your goods, I can give you 70 cents. I can produce about 200,000 pounds a month, and the rest I have to scavenge."

Xiao Wei said, "Why don't you just install more equipment?"

Han San and Factory Director Yu both laughed. Han San patted Xiao Wei on the shoulder and said, "Brother, I like your honesty. This factory is contracted out. Buying or replacing equipment is decided by the food company. If you buy it on your own, they won't recognize it, and you'll have to pay for it yourself."

Xiao Wei then understood and nodded.

Factory Director Yu said, "Your business is private. If you have spare money, you can expand the production capacity. Nowadays, no one in China eats old-fashioned biscuits anymore. Many factory directors have switched to other products. If you increase the production capacity, I won't have to look for suppliers everywhere. Last month, I had to ask someone to help me produce some."

(End of this chapter)