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Chapter 168: We are from the same village, please don’t make things difficult for me

Ma Da Nao always felt that his luck had started to turn bad since his father died.

People are forgotten about them. After my father passed away, the old man’s comrades seemed to have forgotten that they had served the country and saved their lives on the battlefield.

When his father was alive, although he was disabled and had always lived in the countryside, he was still able to help him with his comrades-in-arms.

Relying on his father's connections, Ma Da Nao first worked as a telegraph operator in the commune, and later went to the Zhongping Commune purchasing station as a buyer, responsible for purchasing pigs raised by various production teams on behalf of the state.

This was a good job at that time. The fat level of the pigs sent by each production team, as well as the weight and amount of skin to be peeled off all depended on his words.

Pork was very valuable at that time. If you peeled off one pound less of skin, the production team could earn a few more cents.

Therefore, if the production team wanted to peel less skin and earn more when selling pigs, they had to think of various ways to curry favor with me. At the very least, they had to give me some cigarettes and alcohol, and treat me to a meal, hoping that I would be good at weighing and skinning the pigs so that less weight could be deducted.

Within a few years, he became the webmaster of a purchasing station.

Later, the commune replaced Secretary Yin. Perhaps because some people felt that there was hope with the new secretary, there were always people reporting to the commune that Yin was a big-headed man who used public resources for personal gain.

Secretary Yin is a very good person. He knew how to take the old man's emotions into consideration and suppressed the matter. However, he tactfully stated that he could no longer be the director of the purchasing station to avoid exacerbating conflicts among the masses.

But it's not that there is no plan for himself. Secretary Yin gave Ma Da Nao an idea and advised him to let the old man follow the path of his comrades again and take advantage of the momentum of the state encouraging various communes to set up factories, get support from the county, and open a community-run factory.

The old man propped himself up and went to the county to curry favor with people. Finally, the county agreed to provide support and allowed Zhongping Commune to set up a glass factory, with Ma Da Naotou as the factory director.

As soon as he took office, he transformed himself from the director of the commune's purchasing station to the director of the commune's glass factory.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Just a few years after I became the factory director, my father died.

During the years when my father was alive, the glass factory performed well, and his old comrades-in-arms were always able to help with part of the glass factory's sales, and it seemed that he could make money no matter how he did business.

But as soon as my father passed away, the glass factory began to go downhill. Not only did the number of order contracts decrease, but it also became increasingly difficult to borrow money from the commune and write IOUs.

What’s even more terrible is that the Zhongping Brigade below is not concentrating on farming, but has set up a steel rolling mill run by the brigade.

A group of farmers, instead of focusing on farming, actually started to study setting up factories. Isn't this going against the will of Heaven?
Does the country need you, the peasants with dirty minds, to help with the work of workers?

What made Ma Da Nao most uncomfortable was that he heard that the steel rolling mill in Zhongping Brigade was actually thriving.

The factory was set up without spending a penny from the Zhongping Brigade and the commune. Moreover, Xie Hushan was a big appetite guy and dared to ask the brigade for money openly. He handed over 20% of the profits to the brigade every year, took 10% for himself, and left the remaining 70% in the factory for development.

Han Laogou from Zhongping Brigade actually agreed.

It is said that Han Laogou has been a farmer all his life. So it was not that Xie Hushan took 10% of the profits, but 80%. As for the 70% left in the factory, isn't it the factory director who has the final say on how to spend it?
Why didn’t I dare to do the same as this young man and tell the commune that I would only pay 20% every year?

For this reason, Ma Dabo would run to the steel mill every now and then, just like a wife-waiting rock, and look from afar at the tractors that were always lined up waiting to unload and load goods on the crushed road.

Looking at those tractors, he knew that the Zhongping Steel Rolling Mill was doing good business.

With this situation, even if the steel rolling mill hands over 20% of its profits to Zhongping Brigade at the end of the year, it would probably still cost around 10,000 or 20,000 yuan.

If the commune knew that a brigade-run enterprise had a 20% profit, while its own commune-run factory had been losing money year after year...

Before, the commune only had one factory, so there was no comparison. Now that there is a comparison, my situation must be getting more difficult.

The grassroots don't have any macro perspective and have always judged heroes by their performance. If your profit is not as good as that of a steel mill, then your leader must be a waste.

Considering his popularity, Ma Da Nao estimated that he might not be able to keep his position as the director of the glass factory securely.

After much thought, Ma Da Nao thought that the best way was to give some bait to the factory director Xie Hushan, let the other party taste the sweetness and then send him in.

No matter how good the other factory is, it is a criminal enterprise, and my factory has poor efficiency, but I am honest and upright. In this comparison, I am still excellent. I will find some connections and strive to manage the steel rolling mill for the brigade as a commune cadre and a local of Zhongping Brigade. It just so happens that Li Xingyuan is also dissatisfied with the county steel pipe factory and wants to pry over the business of the county steel pipe factory. The two hit it off. As soon as I took office, I helped Zhongping open another pipe factory, at least I can make a living in peace and comfort for a few more years.

As for Xie Hushan, he didn't take him seriously. He was just a greenhorn who had just grown up. He was lucky and was said to know a Hong Kong businessman. He gave the businessman's money to the county, and the county rewarded the team with a bunch of junk.

Isn't this pure idiocy? Anyone with a brain would know how to put the 100,000 yuan into their own pocket.

And look at the things he did, either beating this person or hitting that person, always causing trouble and being so rude, how can he do business like that?

In other words, the county gave him some order contracts because he brought in money.

Once the hype wears off, the glass factory will end up like this sooner or later.

Therefore, Ma Da Nao was certain that as long as Li Xingyuan offered enough benefits, a reckless and arrogant man like Xie Hushan would definitely take the bait.

When Ma Da was thinking this, Xie Hushan actually came to visit him on his own initiative.

"Director Ma, are you busy?" Xie Hushan stood at the door of Ma Da Nao's office, knocked on the half-open door, and spoke with a smile.

When Ma Dabo saw Xie Hushan, he was stunned for a moment, then he greeted him with a smile on his face:
"Hu San, what a rare guest! How come you thought of coming to see me? Come in, come in!"

He and Xie Hushan did not have much friendship, and they only greeted each other when they met on the road. Otherwise, according to the relationship in the village, Xie Hushan should call him Fourth Uncle instead of Director Ma.

Xie Hushan walked in rubbing his hands. Ma Laowu smiled brightly and asked Xie Hushan to sit down:

"I heard that you are now the factory director. How do you have time to visit me? Sit down, sit down and talk."

"I'm not a factory director. I'm just a workshop run by a brigade. I'm different from you, Director Ma. You're a serious cadre. I'm just lucky. When I was delivering cattle to Hong Kong Island, I met a fellow villager who donated money. The county thought I had done a good job, so they gave me a bunch of junk as a reward and set up a workshop for our brigade." Xie Hushan sat on the chair opposite Ma Da's head and said straight to the point:

"Director Ma, you have been the director of the glass factory for so many years, and you have connections everywhere. I came here to ask you for some advice."

Ma Dabo picked up his Peony cigarette case and threw it to Xie Hushan: "Smoke it and talk."

"It's like this. I have a friend who I'm not very familiar with. He used to work in the county steel pipe factory and is now the director of the county wire drawing factory. A few days ago, he suddenly came to me and asked me to set up a new factory, also to make pipes. He would help me find equipment and help me make business contacts. I said I had no money, and he could still help me with a loan. Although he wouldn't help me for free and I had to get benefits, I was still very nervous. So I thought of you..." Xie Hushan looked at Ma Da Nao with a serious face and told him the problem he had encountered from beginning to end.

Ma Dabo suddenly understood. No wonder Xie Hushan came to him. It turned out that he couldn't make up his mind after listening to what he had said, so he wanted him to help him and give him some advice.

Thinking of this, he frowned slightly and nodded like an elder:
"Li Xingyuan, I know him. He's pretty good at what he does. How about I find out for you later to see if this is true or not? You have to be careful with this kind of thing. If you end up taking out a loan, it's no joke."

Xie Hushan picked up Ma Da Nao's Peony cigarettes, took out one, lit it, took a deep puff, and then looked at Ma Da Nao with the same serious expression:

"Director Ma, you didn't understand, right? Can I say it again?"

Ma Dabo looked at Xie Hushan in confusion:

"What didn't you understand?"

"I said, I just thought of you." Xie Hushan's smile disappeared, and he stared at Ma Da's head expressionlessly, repeating the last sentence word by word.

Ma Dabo looked at Xie Hushan's expression and his heart sank suddenly.

"Do you understand?" Xie Hushan continued to ask Ma Da Nao.

Ma Dabo felt that his forehead was about to sweat, and he tried to maintain his expression: "Hu Saner, what on earth do you mean by this..."

"Come with me, I'll make you understand clearly." Xie Hushan said to Ma Dabo while holding a cigarette in his mouth:

"We are from the same village, please don't make things difficult for me."

(End of this chapter)