I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

Fu Sanjun vacated his office as the municipal party secretary and gave it to Zhou Zhonghai as a temporary office.

He set up an office next door, while Xu Haochen, the secretary of the municipal party committee, and the secretary of the vice governor set up an office opposite the leader's, waiting for the leader's orders at any time.

A short while later, the two secretaries saw Fu Sanjun carrying a cup of tea, bowing, and wearing a fawning smile, walk from his office to Zhou Zhonghai's office.

Xu Haochen blushed. "My old boss, there's a limit to flattery. How can I hold my head up in front of other people's secretaries when you're so shameless?"

Gu Quan looked on, deep in thought, and wondered, "Why is it that Fu Sanjun and Jiang Deshan are making the same phone call to Beijing as the vice governor?"

Could it be that they all inherited the vice governor's secrets?

He also needs to study hard, otherwise he will have little chance of getting ahead.

"Governor Zhou, take a break and have a cup of tea."

Fu Sanjun cautiously pushed open the door, carrying a cup of tea, and tiptoed to Zhou Zhonghai's desk, whispering something.

Zhou Zhonghai held a list in his hand, which was compiled by Fu Sanjun of all the state-owned enterprises in the city.

He categorized them, with the top-tier enterprises being state-owned enterprises like machinery plants and chemical plants.

The second tier consists of relatively outstanding local enterprises, such as cement plants, chemical plants, timber mills, cotton mills, power plants, water plants, and so on.

Third-class enterprises are auxiliary units, such as popsicle factories, match factories, and disinfection factories.

Each unit is followed by a description of the previous year's profit and loss.

The losses at both factories were quite significant, which was rather strange.

The fertilizer plant lost 12 yuan, and the disinfection plant lost 3 yuan.

"Fu Sanjun," Zhou Zhonghai looked up and said, "Tell me, how are these fertilizer and disinfection plants losing money? Fertilizer is a scarce commodity, people are fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on it, how can it be losing money? And this disinfection plant, all the linens from hospitals and guesthouses in the city are sent to it, it's such a tiny unit, the business is fixed and fixed-quantity, how can it be losing money?"

"Perhaps the cost is too high?"

Fu Sanjun had only been mayor for six months, and he was focused on the renovation of the machinery factory and steel plant. He didn't really investigate the other smaller units thoroughly.

"Cost? Bullshit. The price of raw materials and fertilizer for fertilizer plants is set by the government. Who dares to raise prices? Unless... unless they sell the fertilizer cheaply," Zhou Zhonghai muttered to himself.

"Really? Who would be so foolish as to sell something so sought-after cheaply?"

Fu Sanjun wholeheartedly echoed Zhou Zhonghai's topic.

"If I were the factory manager and wanted to embezzle, I would either accept gifts from others and give them extra fertilizer. This method would only amount to a few hundred or a thousand yuan, which wouldn't have much impact on the factory. Once the goods are sold and the money is recovered, there would be no loss."

Another method is to sell them cheaply to relatives and friends, who then resell them at higher prices to agricultural technology stations in various counties, profiting from the price difference. This way, the profits are substantial…”

"Oh, Governor Zhou, that can't be! This is a crime!"

Fu Sanjun's mouth dropped open. Zhou Zhonghai pointed at Fu Sanjun with annoyance and said, "Vice Governor Zhou, the word 'Vice' cannot be omitted. It's not good if outsiders hear that."

"Isn't it just a matter of time?" Fu Sanjun said with a lewd smile.

"Of course they're different. A vice governor is a vice governor. You, as an official, pay attention to details."

"Yes, Vice Governor Zhou, the leader is right."

Zhou Zhonghai straightened up and said, "The disinfection plant is an auxiliary unit, and the workers are all temporary. If it continues to lose money, we should contract it out. What do you think?"

"Private contracting?"

"yes."

"Governor Zhou, there's no precedent for this. How can a state-owned enterprise be privately contracted out? Isn't that capitalism?"

Fu Sanjun was terrified and bent over even lower.

"Fu Sanjun, what have I come to Huailin for? To audit the accounts? No, I'm here to reform. The capable will rise, the incompetent will fall, and the loss-making units will either go bankrupt or be contracted out to individuals." Zhou Zhonghai slammed his fist on the table and said sternly.

Fu Sanjun quickly picked up the teacup and respectfully handed it to Zhou Zhonghai: "Governor Zhou, are you serious?"

"You think I'm playing around? We'll start by targeting fertilizer plants and disinfection plants."

Zhou Zhonghai took the teacup, took a sip, and found it to be 40 degrees Celsius, just right. Drinking hot tea in the middle of summer is much more comfortable than eating popsicles.

"Governor Zhou, let's put aside the fertilizer plant for a moment, just look at the disinfection plant. With so much equipment and such a large factory, who would dare to take it on? The rent alone would be twenty or thirty thousand yuan, right? And then there are the salaries of more than twenty full-time employees. Who could afford that much money?"

"As long as the news is released, someone will definitely take the bait. A disinfection plant is a business that absolutely cannot afford to lose money, but look at the workers, twenty-eight workers, including Fu Sanjun. Even if you were to do hand cleaning and disinfection, you wouldn't need that many people, would you?"

What's the difference between this and eating from the same pot as the farmers? Whether we work or not, we get the same pay. It's one person's job, three people doing it—no wonder we lose money. Besides, I've already received approval from Beijing leaders; Huailin City is a model city, the same as our designated Tonggang County. Fu Sanjun, you're not going to back out halfway, are you?

"Governor Zhou, I'll do whatever you say, I won't back down. Okay, since the disinfection plant can be contracted out to individuals, there's also the unit with the biggest drawbacks that can be contracted out to individuals as well."

"What?"

"The canteens of various units. Compared to the disinfection plant, the canteen is a major breeding ground for filth. In one unit, out of 100 jin of pork a day, less than 70 jin is actually cooked; the rest is divided up by the canteen staff. There's also rice, flour, side dishes, chicken, duck, fish, and so on. The canteen is every company's money reservoir; many leaders' family members work in the canteen."

"Fu Sanjun, you're not completely clueless, are you? You even know about the pork embezzlement in the canteen? You're absolutely right. Don't underestimate canteens and vegetable shops. Vegetables may be cheap, but they add up. Your suggestion is excellent. I'll bring it up at the meeting. Issue a notice that next Monday, all enterprise leaders in the city will come to the Municipal Party Committee for a meeting."

"Yes, I'll make the call right away."

Fu Sanjun scurried away, while Zhou Zhonghai sipped his tea and quietly gazed out the window.

Soon, Fu Sanjun returned: "Governor Zhou, except for Tang Ping from the machinery factory, all other factory directors will be in the meeting on Monday as scheduled."

"Is Tang Ping very busy?"

"Didn't their steel plant explode? They've brought in experts from Shanghai to renovate it. It's a critical time, and he's on-site every day."

"Shanghai experts?"

"Yes, the explosion at the beginning of the year was due to uncontrolled temperature. Now we need to control the ignition point. When the temperature rises to a certain level, it will automatically drop. If the modification is successful, it will be a great thing for industry. There will be no more burns to people in the future."

"This is indeed a big deal. The foreman who was burned at the steel plant was Yang Zheng's mentor. What a good man, an eighth-level fitter, who can never enter the workshop again."

"Hey, speaking of this old master craftsman, he contributed a lot to the renovation of the machinery factory. I heard that it was he and the experts from Shanghai who developed the ignition interrupter."

"Really? It's light; it shines everywhere. When are they going to do their experiment? I'll go check it out when I have time."

"It's not confirmed yet, you can't go. The experiment might not be successful, and if something unexpected happens, I can't afford the consequences."

"That's true. I can't go and cause trouble. I'll go and inspect their work after they succeed."