Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 705 The Tycoon

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Wang Ting said, "Nonsense, the suggestion came from your father-in-law. Do you think I didn't know you had your house renovated? I'm asking if it's necessary."

Xiao Wei scratched his head and said, "Why can't you ask me about this? I'm not one of your department staff. If you have money, just buy it. If you don't, let everyone buy it themselves. The department can just help contact the manufacturer."

By 91, range hoods had already become popular in larger cities.

In 1984, Shanghai and Hangzhou began research and development on range hoods, but only Shanghai produced 629 units that year; Hangzhou did not start production. In 1985, Shenzhen, Harbin, Guangzhou, Wuchang, and other places also began research and development in this area, but only Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Harbin started production, producing a total of 15,900 units that year. This year is regarded by the industry as the first year of range hood development in China.

In 1986, Kyoto, Dalian, and Guangzhou joined the company, bringing the total annual production of the six companies to nearly 110,000 units.

In 1987, there were 52 manufacturers with an annual output of nearly 400,000 units, most of which were concentrated in the Shanghai and Guangzhou areas.

By 91, the annual production of range hoods had exceeded four million units.

Director Wei asked, "Are you going to install these three buildings or not? How do you plan to do it?"

Xiao Wei said, "I really hadn't thought about this. I'll just follow the crowd. I can't possibly come up with something different on my own, that would be too much of a problem."

Wang Ting said, "The renovation, including the range hood, will cost around 900,000 yuan. We can't possibly ask everyone to contribute any more money now. To put it bluntly, Lao Wei and I have discussed it, and we've decided that you should pay for it yourself. The hall doesn't have any money either, so we'll use the building as collateral. You contribute one million yuan, and we'll give you this building. What do you say?"

The funds raised were not actually enough. The more than 10 million yuan in project costs were eventually supplemented by the government department. In other words, nearly 1,200 houses, a quarter of which were unclaimed, belonged to the government department.

These houses cannot be allocated as welfare housing. Other comrades paid for them, so why should they be given them to you for free? But leaving them unallocated is also problematic. First, they are afraid of being investigated by higher authorities, and second, they are afraid of causing trouble by their subordinates. No one can avoid or bypass the issue of personal relationships, but once they start asking, it will cause a big problem. Several leaders in the department are also having a headache.

Uncle Wang mentioned this matter a few times when he got home, and Xiao Wei was already aware of it. After listening to Director Wang's words, Xiao Wei said, "Okay, Uncle Wang, you decide. If you tell me to buy it, I'll buy it. You can also take care of the rest."

Director Wei asked, "Are you kidding? You can eat it all?"

Xiao Wei said, "Yes, there are over three hundred sets in total. It's not at market price, so it's not a big deal. You can decide."

Director Wei waved his hand and said, "Alright, these three annex buildings are yours anyway, you can just take the three main buildings as well, it'll save you the trouble. What do you think, Lao Wang?"

Director Wang said, "Okay, I actually had this idea a long time ago, but I was afraid that it would put pressure on the child and I wouldn't be able to refuse. Let's do it this way."

For them, keeping cash in a secret stash is what matters; houses are meaningless.

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, I'll come tomorrow to complete the formalities and pay the money. Thank you all for your consideration."

Director Wang laughed and scolded, "You slippery fellow, you've even learned some polite talk now. Everyone knows you've done the department a huge favor. Don't worry, you'll be rewarded in the future."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "I didn't lose anything, I might even make a profit. I'll treat all the uncles and elders to a meal then."

Wei Ting said, "There's no need for a meal. Just get some of your champagne over, and we can each have a few bottles."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, three bottles each, is that alright? I'll bring them over tomorrow." Excluding Uncle Wang, there were only five people from the Construction Department, so fifteen bottles of champagne wouldn't affect the overall situation.

Director Wei patted Uncle Wang on the shoulder and said, "You must have accumulated a lot of good karma in your past life. Look at your attitude, you treat 50,000 yuan like it's nothing."

Uncle Wang said, "It is his duty to be filial to his elders, and this is a matter that cannot be settled with money."

Xiao Wei asked, "Uncle Wang, this batch of buildings won't be delivered this year, right?"

Director Wang said, "I got up a bit late, so it's hard to say now. You've taken away so many people when you built the police station. I have all seven teams under my command, and they're still complaining about being short-staffed. We've already added two batches of temporary workers."

Xiao Wei said, "It's okay. We have as many people as we can get in the hall. There's plenty of work. I have a batch of work that I've already given to Jian'an. If necessary, I can take it over later. We need to work on Dalian Anshan Beixi soon, and we'll be building in Xidu and Bingcheng next year. We definitely won't have to worry about work."

Director Wei said, "That's great. It can solve the unemployment problem for a large number of people. Okay, I'll issue a notice tomorrow and tell all the unemployed people down here to come to work."

Xiao Wei said, "Can the Public Security Bureau recruit some people who are willing to come? If so, I'll talk to Director Liu, and then you can discuss the details in person."

Director Wang said, "Okay, go ahead and tell them. If they want to come, they can. This job isn't easy, you know. These days, young people aren't so sure."

Director Wei shook his head and said, "Then we can't worry about that too much. These days, it's good enough to have a job at all. Are you planning to be picky?"

In the early 90s, the state had gradually stopped assigning jobs and the succession system had ended. Most state-owned enterprises began to decline, and small factories, collectives, and other similar units went out of business on a large scale. The market economy was just beginning to emerge, and private enterprises were generally very small. People of working age suddenly became dependent on their families. It wasn't that they didn't want to go out to work, but that there were no places to work.

At that time, there was no concept in society that one job was high-class and another was low-class. Everyone was working and earning a salary. After work, you could take off your greasy and dirty work clothes, take a shower, and fix your hair. You were still a confident and handsome man or a beautiful woman. Workers carrying bricks and government employees could hang out together, arm in arm. No one looked down on anyone else.

Later, it seemed that jobs were also divided into high and low classes, and people were clearly distinguished by social class.

……

Ran Tu and Mo Lijuan were hit once again.

The two men were a little bewildered as they watched Xiao Wei chatting and laughing with Wang Ting and Wei Ting.

"Hey, didn't you say your dad was a minor official in the county?" Ran Tu nudged Xiao Hong.

Xiao Hong said, "Yes, we're planning to stay in Fengtian, so Xiao Wei got my dad transferred here. What happened?"

Mo Lijuan asked, "What department are they from? They sound like they're all high-ranking officials."

Xiao Hong said, "Construction Department, that's the director, and those are the deputy directors. These are houses built with funds raised by their department. We also have one in our family. We just came to take a look at the houses."

Ran Tu said, "Your family owns three buildings here? And now you're being asked to buy three more?"

Xiao Hong smiled slyly and said, "They had some problems with raising funds and couldn't raise enough, so Xiao Wei asked me to pay for it. He said the house would be valuable in the future and we could make a profit by selling it. Hahaha, then my savings will be enough."

Mo Lijuan was stunned: "You have so much hidden money? You're rich!"

Xiao Hong said, "That's all, I've spent almost all of it. I don't even have enough to buy a house in Kyoto."

(End of this chapter)