Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 940 A Suitable Development Path
Shunfeng Transportation Company is not located in Shekou Industrial Park, and naturally it is not located in Wanmuchun Industrial Park either.

However, the two companies are not far apart, right next to the industrial park. They have fenced off a plot of land of more than 1,000 acres, with a small part used for parking and most of it used for cargo transshipment. They haven't built many warehouses; most of the buildings are simple sheds. From a distance, all you can see are piles of goods.

After Wang Jianguo left, he went out through the side gate next to the freight park, walked through the piles of goods, flagged down a light truck that was shuttling a shuttle bus, and sat down to the office building not far away.

The office building has three floors, and his office is on the third floor.

The original design stipulated that managers and above would have individual offices, but after sitting in their respective offices for less than half a day, they all started visiting each other's offices and crowding together.

These days, there are no computers, and they don't like to read books. They even find newspapers a headache. Moreover, just a year ago, they were all veterans who had been discharged from the army and were unemployed, so they naturally don't have any bureaucratic tendencies.

So after discussing it, they decided to clear out a meeting room to serve as a shared office for everyone.

From the general manager to the vice president, and then to the various managers and team leaders, a dozen or so people were all crammed together in the office, making it quite a lively place.

When Wang Jianguo returned, there were only three people in the office.

He walked behind his desk, pulled out a chair, sat down, picked up his large tea mug, took a sip, and casually said, "They've all gone out?"

Li Nan stretched and turned to look at him. "Old Kong led a team to Hong Kong, and Old Zhao, Old Jiang, and Old Wang went north, as you know. Your brother took some people to a training school, and they probably won't be back until five or six in the evening."

Wang Jianguo put down his teacup, took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked at him, asking, "What class are you having this time?"

Having been here for a year, I've not only done a lot of work, but I've also had to pick up my books again and be forced to attend many training courses, which has really put those of us with low levels of education in a difficult position.

Li Xingwen, who was holding a newspaper and looking worried, looked up and said with a bitter face, "It's supposed to be a logistics management course, arranged by General Manager Fang. They invited a college student from Hong Kong to teach it. The class is held at the workers' school run by the city. The city and the industrial park also arranged for a group of students to participate."

To avoid disrupting company operations, we require three people to go each period for half a month. Everyone must go; no one can be left out.

That workers' school was originally a "secondary vocational school" run by Shenzhen itself, with the aim of keeping up with the trend. After all, now that it is a prefecture-level city, each region has its own secondary adult vocational education, and Shenzhen naturally must have one too.

The school was later renamed "SZ City Third Vocational Technical School", and at the same time, it also had the names "SZ City Staff Continuing Education College" and "SZ City Federation of Trade Unions Migrant Workers School", implementing a "three names, one team" management model.

Just then, Wanmuchun Company needed to train a large number of workers, so it cooperated with this school to open vocational training classes, such as car driving, repair, clothing cutting and sewing, television assembly, etc. All of them were trained here before they went to work in the factory.

Hearing Li Xingwen's words, Wang Jianguo blinked, paused for two or three seconds, and then said, "None of you want to go, so you're letting my brother, Xiao Qin, and Xiao Tang go for the first episode?"

On the other side, Xiang Dong raised his head and said, "When something good happens, of course we have to take care of the younger ones first, otherwise people will say we're being unreasonable."

Wang Jianguo snorted twice, exhaled a puff of smoke, pointed at them and said, "In my opinion, all of you scoundrels should go to class first. If you don't study and improve, how will you manage the company in the future?"

Li Nan glared at him and said, "You're quite the talker. Fine, you're the class monitor and the general manager, so set an example for us and we'll learn from you."

Wang Jianguo instinctively replied, "I'm busy with work..."

He had barely started when the three men stood up and turned to leave.

Xiang Dong waved his hand, "Ah, I suddenly remembered I have something to do, I'm off to get busy."

Li Nan said, "I need to check if the car that came back has been repaired. Safety is not an issue that can be ignored, and we cannot be careless."

Li Xingwen looked around and suddenly pretended to realize something. "I just remembered that there's a batch of clothing that needs to be packed up and taken away today. It's top-grade merchandise, and I heard it was designed by Consultant Chen's wife. We can't delay it."

Seeing that the three were about to slip away, Wang Jianguo slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "All of you, come back here!"

Before the words were even finished, the three of them nimbly turned around on the spot and returned to their seats.

Li Nan looked at Wang Jianguo and said helplessly, "Class monitor, look at you, you don't even want to go to class..."

He had only spoken halfway when he saw Wang Jianguo say with a serious face, "Who said I don't want to attend class? Put my name on the list for the next term."

After he finished speaking, Li Nan and the other two stared at him blankly.

After a while, Li Xingwen looked around, then looked at Wang Jianguo and asked cautiously, "Squad leader, what's wrong?"

Xiang Dong nodded slightly and said softly, "Yeah, why did you suddenly become so irrational?"

Li Nan, "Class..."

Wang Jianguo glared at them and said, "Get lost. Whoever got upset couldn't be me who's come to terms with things and wants to improve?"

Upon hearing this, Li Nan immediately leaned back, his face full of smiles, "Squad leader, you're not just having come to terms with it, you're still not coming to terms with it, aren't you?"

He then turned to Xiang Dong and Li Xingwen and said, "Studying and attending classes, can you understand the newspaper?"

The two men gritted their teeth, but they still couldn't hold it in, and their breaths started to escape in a hissing sound.

Wang Jianguo wanted to get angry when he saw their expressions, but the next second, he shook his head helplessly. "You don't know, just now, I chatted with Consultant Chen for a while, and I felt like I had a pig's brain, I didn't understand anything."

Li Nan blinked, looked at the other two, and said with a blank expression, "Isn't that normal?"

Xiang Dong's smile vanished, and he gasped, saying, "That's right, class monitor. Advisor Chen is a great writer, skilled in medicine, and can even build cars. He's famously a man of both literary and martial talents, a true polymath. You want to compare yourself to him? That's just asking for trouble!"

Li Xingwen looked at Wang Jianguo and nodded vigorously, "Agreed."

Wang Jianguo was speechless. He pointed at them and said, "When did I say I wanted to compete with Consultant Chen? I just said I'm a pig-brain."

Li Nan nodded slightly, "Yes, we know, no need to emphasize it."

Li Xingwen and Xiang Dong just nodded with their lips tightly pressed together, without saying a word.

Wang Jianguo felt like punching someone after seeing this.

Seeing that the class monitor was about to lose his temper, Li Nan and the other two prepared to run away again.

Wang Jianguo rolled his eyes, swallowed his anger, and then banged on the table, "Get the hell serious, let's get down to business."

Upon hearing this, the three of them stopped fooling around, immediately sat up straight, picked up their pens and notebooks, and looked at Wang Jianguo with serious expressions.

Wang Jianguo coughed, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and said to Li Nan, "Contact Lao Fang and tell him I need to talk to him."

Li Nan was stunned for a moment, blinked, and asked, "Wait, class monitor, why are you looking for him?"

Xiang Dong, who was standing next to him, rolled his eyes slightly, leaned forward, and asked Wang Jianguo, "Squad leader, did you tell Consultant Chen that he gave instructions?"

Wang Jianguo glanced at him and said, "Don't you know the rules? Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

Xiang Dong immediately covered his mouth and obediently sat down in a different position.

Then Wang Jianguo said to Li Nan, "Just contact him and tell him as soon as possible. Don't ask anything else."

Li Nan nodded solemnly, "Understood." He then immediately took out a small contact book from the drawer, flipped to the back, found the phone number, and dialed it.

The call was quickly connected. He said a few words and then hung up. He turned to Fang and said, "It just so happens that Lao Fang is in the mainland these days, in the same old location. You can go see him anytime."

Wang Jianguo tapped the table twice and said, "Come with me."

He then pointed to Dong and Li Xingwen, saying, "Keep your mouths shut and stay here to watch the house."

The two men immediately stood up and saluted, "Yes, sir."

……

Li Nan grabbed a car key, ran downstairs first, unlocked a van, and slowly drove up to Wang Jianguo.

Wang Jianguo opened the door and got into the car, which quickly drove out of the freight station and headed towards Luohu.

This section of the road was still a dirt road, and it wasn't easy to walk on. It took us more than half an hour to finally reach Luohu.

However, the car did not stop, but continued forward, driving for quite a distance before finally stopping in front of a fishing village.

This place is not far from Wutong Mountain; you can see the mountain as soon as you look up, and the famous "Shatoujiao Sea" is not far away.

The world-famous "Chung Ying Street" is located less than two kilometers away from here.

A van approached, immediately alerting the villagers, and people began to walk over from a distance.

But when they saw Wang Jianguo and Li Nan getting off the bus, they just waved and went back inside.

The two walked through a cluster of low houses and stopped in front of one of them.

The door wasn't closed, and a person immediately crawled out. He was of medium height, with a shaved scalp that was shiny and even had a bluish sheen. His skin was dark, his nose was slightly sunken, and his eyes had a cunning look. He grinned, revealing eight big white teeth.

This person was exactly the one Wang Jianguo was looking for: Lao Fang, Fang Guoan.

When Wang Jianguo saw his appearance, he was slightly taken aback. "Why did you shave your head?"

Old Fang scratched his head, then smiled with a憨厚 (honest and simple) expression, "It feels good to shave."

Wang Jianguo curled his lip, "Dishonest."

Don't let Fang Guoan's honest appearance fool you. Anyone who actually believes him to be honest is probably being sold out by him and still counting the money for him.

Despite his cunning nature, he was also known for his loyalty to his brothers.

He was originally in the same class as Wang Jianguo and Li Nan, but because he failed to get promoted and reached the age limit, he had to retire and return to his rural hometown.

After returning home, he encountered the same problem as Wang Jianguo.

A comrade's family had an accident and urgently needed money, but they were all rural soldiers who had not been able to get jobs. Where would they get the money to cover the losses?

They weren't as lucky as Wang Jianguo and his group, who were able to meet Chen Fan and make money by staying here.

Finally, two years ago, I went to Hong Kong with a group of comrades.

However, Wang Jianguo wanted to go to Hong Kong last year, but it had nothing to do with him. It was only by chance that the group reconnected some time ago.

Despite being scolded by Wang Jianguo, Fang Guoan wasn't angry. He cheerfully welcomed the two inside, poured two cups of water from the teapot, and said, "As soon as I received Lao Li's call, I sent people out to wait for you here."

He placed the teacups in front of the two men before pulling out a chair and sitting down, saying with a smile, "What brings you here? Are you having some trouble in Hong Kong that's hard to resolve? Luckily, things aren't so tense right now. Give me the documents, and I'll get it done perfectly in three days to a week at the latest."

Wang Jianguo rolled his eyes. "If I were in trouble, would I need your help? Do you know who my company's backer is? It's a big American corporation, even the Governor of Hong Kong has to give them face."

Hearing this, a hint of envy flickered deep in Fang Guoan's eyes. His eyes narrowed slightly as he picked up his teacup, brought it to his lips, and lowered his head to drink. At the same time, he chuckled, "So what do you want from me? You can't possibly be trying to persuade me to follow you, can you? Don't forget, even though you're the squad leader, I've been in the army longer than you. When did it become your turn to ride roughshod over me?"

"Just keep being stubborn."

Wang Jianguo glared at him irritably, took a breath, and winked at Li Nan.

Li Nan blinked, picked up his teacup, dragged a chair to the doorway, sat down, crossed his legs, lit a cigarette, and slowly sipped his tea.

Fang Guoan glanced at Li Nan, then turned back to Wang Jianguo, his smile fading slightly. "You're doing very well now, but don't try to follow my example and do shady things."

Wang Jianguo shook his head, not responding to his words. Instead, he tossed him a cigarette, lit one for himself, and after a while, said, "After thinking it over, I realized that you can't just drift along like this. So, after careful consideration, I've finally found a suitable path for your development."

Fang Guoan lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, paused for several seconds, and then said with a smile, "That's called careful consideration and meticulous planning. You only have a primary school education, you can't even use idioms, how could you possibly come up with a solution?"

Wang Jianguo's expression changed. "Hey, hey, you can talk, but don't make personal attacks."

Fang Guoan chuckled and was about to speak when his eyes suddenly flickered. He glanced at Li Nan first, then turned to stare intently at him. "Writer Chen is here? You told him about us?"

Wang Jianguo's eyes widened instantly, but he quickly regained his composure and said with a straight face, "What Writer Chen? What does Writer Chen have to do with this? What did I say to him? This is ridiculous!"

Sitting by the door, Li Nan glanced back and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "No wonder the old company commander still thinks about Lao Fang. This guy is smart. How come he didn't get promoted back then? And he didn't even become a squad leader?"
Fang Guoan narrowed his eyes, silently smoking, and looked at Wang Jianguo through the smoke.

After several seconds, seeing that Wang Jianguo's expression was somewhat unnatural, he suddenly grinned and said, "Okay, tell me about your career path, and let me see what kind of level you, a high-achieving student with only a primary school education, can achieve."

Wang Jianguo's expression changed. "Can you please stop focusing on your elementary education? Mr. Li once said that we shouldn't look at things with old perspectives. I've taken quite a few training courses this past year, you know?"

Did I know how to drive before? Probably not, but now I can. Did I know how to manage a company and a fleet of vehicles before? Probably not, but now I can…

Fang Jianguo smoked a cigarette, watching him ramble on with a smile, without interrupting him.

After Wang Jianguo had been rambling on for a while, he finally remembered the important matter, quickly coughed, and tried hard to recall how Chen Fan had spoken that morning.

Hmm, it seems like she's leaning back in her chair?

He then crossed his legs, holding a cigarette in his left hand and a cup of tea in his right.

Okay, this is the correct posture.

Wang Jianguo slowly raised his head, looked at Fang Guoan with wise eyes, and said seriously, "Old Fang, do you know that the other side is determined to take it back?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Guoan narrowed his eyes slightly, paused for two seconds, and then nodded gently, "I know."

Wang Jianguo was stunned, looking at him with surprise and doubt, "How did you know?"

Fang Guoan pointed to the pile of newspapers in the corner, "You'll know if you read the news. Whether it's mainland newspapers or Hong Kong news, they're all discussing this matter, and most people believe that we can and will definitely take it back."

Watching Fang Guoan speak eloquently, Wang Jianguo lowered his head and pondered silently. If it were Consultant Chen, what would he say at this moment?
(End of this chapter)