1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 304 Director, you've finally arrived!
Xuzhou Railway Station.

As the green train slowly pulled into the station, puffing out white steam, the carriages immediately became lively.

The people getting off the train began to pack their belongings.

Some were carrying sacks, some were carrying baskets, and some were even carrying poultry. For a moment, the entire carriage was filled with noise and the sounds of things bumping and banging.

After Su Wenchen struggled to squeeze out of the station carrying his rattan suitcase, he was finally able to breathe in the fresh air with a sense of relief.

Zhao Weiguo, who was leaning against his jeep by the roadside, immediately reacted as if he had seen a relative when he saw Su Wenchen.

He quickly ran towards Su Wenchen.

He excitedly took the rattan box from Su Wenchen's hand.

"Director, you've finally arrived!"

"You must have had a tiring ride in the car!"

Su Wenchen took a deep breath and shook his head.

"It was alright, it was just during the short time when I got off the train. It would have been much worse if I had been in the regular carriage the whole time."

To be honest, he understands now why they stopped allowing live animals on the bus later.

Because poultry don't care about rules or things like not being able to defecate anywhere; they just defecate whenever they want.

In a crowded train carriage, if there are even a few more poultry that can't hold their breath, the air in the entire carriage becomes unbearable.

When combined with the other random flavors, the mixture was sour and pungent that Su Wenchen felt it even just from passing by for a short while after getting out of the car!

After opening the car door and getting into the passenger seat.

Su Wenchen then took a serious look at Zhao Weiguo and noticed that the other man's ears were red and swollen. He frowned and said...

"You guys were still working during the Chinese New Year holiday? Your ears look frozen!"

"Is everyone else alright?"

To be honest, although we do need to speed up development here, it's still not appropriate to work outside in the dead of winter when supplies are insufficient.

Although this area isn't exactly in the far north, it's still quite cold in winter.

Without proper insulation, working outdoors in winter can result in frostbite.

If rushing to save a few days results in a bunch of people getting frostbite or catching colds, it would definitely be a losing proposition.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Weiguo waved his hands repeatedly and stammered with an embarrassed expression.

"Director, it wasn't from frostbite while working!"

"I went to queue up late at night, but I underestimated the temperature here at night, and my ears got frozen!"

Su Wenchen was somewhat puzzled.

"Queue? What are you queuing for?"

"Is it to collect grain? Wasn't it all sent to the commune's granary?"

To be honest, when Su Wenchen left, he felt that the arrangements were almost complete. The grain had already been stored in the former commune granary, which is now the branch farm granary.

There's no reason why people should have to queue up to buy food so late at night!

As for the rest, he doesn't recall anything else that he urgently needed.

Zhao Weiguo scratched his head.

"It's not food! We've been eating vegetarian food all the time lately because of the Lunar New Year!"

"I was thinking that since this is my first time being a cadre, I wanted to take advantage of the New Year to buy some meat with my own money to improve the meals for our colleagues in the aircraft maintenance department."

Su Wenchen blinked.

"What's the connection? Are you short of money and they're keeping you there to work?"

Zhao Weiguo then started talking non-stop and began complaining to Su Wenchen.

"Director, it would be fine if it were just work, but I was exposed to the cold wind for half the night!"

"After I arrived here, I went to the meat processing plant to ask around and found that the meat processing plant does not sell its live pigs. They are all supplied to large factories such as mining bureaus and heavy machinery plants. The factories take them back to give as welfare to their own employees."

"We're new here and not familiar with the area. We couldn't find anything on the black market, so in the end, I had no choice but to join a long queue at the state-run butcher shop with many other ordinary citizens."

"We lined up from midnight until about five or six o'clock before the slaughtered pig was brought over. In the end, we only managed to grab three pounds of bones that had been trimmed so badly that there wasn't even a trace of meat left."

"What? You're already in line this early and there are people ahead of you in line?"

Zhao Weiguo immediately showed an angry expression.

"They said we farm workers don't belong to their city, so they can't use our quota here!"

"Director, aren't they bullying us?!"

"Not only have we suffered hardships here, but we've also lost our monthly pork ration."

"Moreover, it's one thing that the director doesn't have the quota, but now other units are starting to intercept our supplies."

Su Wenchen frowned upon hearing this.

"Wasn't it said that there was a problem with the imported meat rabbits? How come there's also the issue of them intercepting our goods?"

"what is going on?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Weiguo quickly offered an explanation.

"Director, are you referring to Master Hou's matter? Didn't they start importing various breeds of breeding rabbits from other rabbit farms after the New Year?"

"At first, we thought we should lay a good foundation before you came, but now the rabbit hutch has only just been built."

"But shortly after we moved in, problems arose. Several breeds of breeding rabbits started having issues one after another."

“At first it was just an isolated case, but in the last two days it’s said that more and more problems have arisen, so Master Hou had no choice but to call you, Director, in advance.”

Su Wenchen frowned.

"What do you mean by 'interception'? Does it mean that something from our site was intercepted by that organization?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Weiguo felt a little embarrassed, because this was something that happened because of his lack of ability.

However, I'll just say it directly.

"That's how it is, Director!"

"After the New Year, the farm office at the main farm called and said that the ministry had allocated four large tractors, which had been transferred from the Changzhou Tractor Manufacturing Plant to the agricultural machinery factory in the city for temporary storage."

"After we received the notification, our maintenance department was able to prepare people to come and receive the equipment, but when they arrived, it turned out to be three large tractors."

"At first, the airport said there was only one vehicle left on the way. We called Changzhou to ask, and they said that all four vehicles were sent together, and they only went back after receiving the receipt from here!"

“We went to the tractor factory that handles the transfer here to ask, and they insisted that the tractor factory in Changzhou had only sent three tractors over.”

"It's no use going to their door; they just insist there are only three!"

Su Wenchen frowned upon hearing this, as he had indeed heard of instances where items were intercepted by certain organizations.

But he never expected that it would actually happen to their workplace.

He then took a deep breath and said.

"What were their claims? Didn't you try to report this to the city authorities?"

Zhao Weiguo scratched his head.

"I went to the city once, but I was stopped at the door! They said they would tell Director Liu and I should just wait for their notification."

"Director, I think they must have received approval from the city to have the audacity to intercept them directly!"

"So I stopped going after that."

"Director, shall we go back to the field?"

Su Wenchen thought for a moment, but still directly asked Zhao Weiguo to drive the car.

"Let's go to the municipal agricultural machinery factory first, and I'll personally ask what's going on."

Before knowing the specifics, Su Wenchen did not go directly to the city government.

He wanted to see whether the city's stance was the decision, or whether it was made by the agricultural machinery factory itself.

If it's the decision made by the agricultural machinery manufacturer, it's much easier to resolve.

However, if the city instructed them to intercept the goods, then Su Wenchen would have many more things to consider.

However, he felt that the possibility of it being authorized by the city was not high.

After all, as an industrial city in East China, and a coal-producing city, it's not to the point where it needs a tractor.

Offending their farm for this is clearly a losing proposition, and Su Wenchen felt that this was not a decision a rational local leader would make.

Soon, the jeep stopped again at the entrance of the city's agricultural machinery factory.

As soon as Su Wenchen got out of the car, he saw that the security guards at the other party's door immediately showed an impatient expression and said to Zhao Weiguo.

"Hey bro, aren't you annoying me?!"

"I've told you so many times, it's no use coming to us. You should go directly to the unit that allocated the funds to you!"

"Our leader really doesn't have time to see you."

"Go back to where you came from!"

After saying that, he impatiently waved his hand, signaling them not to park their car in front of their door.

Su Wenchen could tell from the tone of the other party that Zhao Weiguo must have come many times.

Now that one tractor is missing, we must find out the truth!

Moreover, this thing isn't an ordinary item that can be easily discarded; it's either because the Changzhou Tractor Factory directly sent over three of them.

Or they were detained by some unit en route.

In Su Wenchen's view, if the Changzhou Tractor Factory had indeed transferred three tractors, there would be no reason for anyone to lie.

Since the manufacturer itself has the capability to produce such large tractor equipment, even if the goods on hand are temporarily insufficient, you can simply tell them directly.

There's no need to deliberately tell such a lie.

Therefore, it is highly likely that one of the vehicles was intercepted by some organization.

Su Wenchen just didn't see the point!
Are you expecting them to suffer in silence and not pursue the matter? That's incredibly naive!

This isn't a matter of a dollar or two.

Or are they really so powerful that they don't care if their employer complains to them?

If the background is really that strong, is it really necessary to intercept a tractor?
If the other party were to intercept all four vehicles, Su Wenchen might think that possibility was more likely.

Zhao Weiguo glanced at his superior before continuing.

"Do you think I have nothing better to do all day? This time, even our farm leaders came, and your factory leaders have been avoiding us."

"Moreover, the Changzhou Tractor Factory said that they directly transported the disassembled and reassembled equipment, which consisted of four Dongfanghong-75 large tractors, to your agricultural machinery factory by train!"

"In the end, after organizing everything, there were only three vehicles left to be transported to our site."

The other person impatiently picked at their ear.

"I don't know about that. All I know is that you're blocking our factory gate right now."

"Move quickly, you're blocking the road to our factory. I'll have someone tow your car away."

After hearing what the other person said, Su Wenchen roughly understood the situation and immediately turned around and got into the car.

To be honest, Su Wenchen originally thought that if it was just a matter of being detained for a period of time, as long as he could drive the car back when he came, then the matter would be over.

Since as long as the tractor can be driven back, their farm has not suffered any losses.

But judging from the current situation, the other party is clearly trying to deny everything!

If it were a small organization, they might not be able to do anything about it, but for Su Wenchen, if he swallowed this loss, then everyone would be thinking of taking advantage of their territory in the future.

So he spoke directly to Zhao Weiguo.

"Drive to the side of the road and find a place where you can make a phone call."

After finding a place to make a phone call by the roadside, Su Wenchen first called the Changzhou Tractor Manufacturing Plant. He confirmed the delivery slip and learned that four large tractors had been delivered.

Su Wenchen then dialed the city's phone number.

Because these heavy-duty tractors are generally not transported in modules, unlike light-duty machines, which are all disassembled.

They are usually assembled once they arrive at the destination.

This is both convenient and saves time.

This is why they send the goods to the agricultural machinery factory here, instead of sending them to their farm.

Because the equipment needs to be assembled at the agricultural machinery factory, their farm currently lacks the capability to assemble such large equipment themselves.

If it's just a matter of missing an arm or a leg, Su Wenchen thinks that maybe the other party simply forgot to release a module.

But the fact that one car is missing means it's not a matter of negligence at all.

After several transfers, Su Wenchen finally got through to Liu Guangde, the director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee.

"Hey! Director Su, what brings you here to call me, you busy man?"

“I heard it all from the people at our animal husbandry bureau. They said there’s a meeting in Beijing at the end of the year, and they can’t even get a chance to invite you to dinner.”

"When will you come to our area? I'll personally treat you to a good meal then."

Clearly, Liu Guangde also attaches great importance to the promotion of white pigs, especially since many of the jobs at the city's mining bureau involve heavy physical labor.

Meat supplies are prioritized for these units, but for every bit of meat allocated to these units, some food must be reduced from other sources.

They are naturally in dire need of white pigs that can increase growth rate and thus reach market weight quickly.

Su Wenchen's expression flickered when he heard Liu Guangde's tone on the phone. Did the other party know or not?

However, one shouldn't hit a smiling face, so since the other party had said so, Su Wenchen responded with a smile.

"Director Liu, I'm currently in your city, but I'll skip the hospitality."

"Let's deal with the tractor issue first before we talk about anything else!"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Liu Guangde on the other end of the microphone asked in confusion.

"tractor?"

"Didn't I have someone send those ten hand tractors to you before the New Year?"

"It was allocated along with the grain, didn't your farm receive it?"

Su Wenchen said directly.

"It's not those ten hand-held tractors, it's the four large agricultural tractors that the ministry has newly allocated to us."

"Only three units have been delivered so far!"

"The Changzhou manufacturing plant said that it has been transferred to your city's agricultural machinery factory, and they have entrusted your factory to complete the final assembly so that we can drive it back!"

"But when we went to pick up the vehicles, the agricultural machinery factory said there were only three available! When our people kept asking, the municipal agricultural machinery factory said they didn't know."

After saying that, he glanced at the agricultural machinery factory not far behind him.

"Director Liu, I'm right here at the gate of your city's agricultural machinery factory, but they won't even let me in."

"This large agricultural tractor was just allocated to us. We can't just have one of these disappear silently from your territory before we even use it, can we?"

After Su Wenchen finished speaking, a righteous and indignant voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Director Su, don't worry, a large tractor can't just disappear for no reason!"

"Please wait a moment, I'll be right there and give you an explanation."

"what do you think?"

Upon hearing Liu Guangde's words, Su Wenchen immediately nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave this to Director Liu. I'll wait for news here."

hang up the phone.

After paying the phone bill, Su Wenchen walked to the Jeep, lit a cigarette, and fell into deep thought.

He wondered whether Liu Guangde knew about this or not.
Zhao Weiguo asked directly.

"Director, what do we do now? Should we go back to the field and think of a solution later?"

"So what if I stay a few more days?"

Su Wenchen opened the car door and got in.

"No need, just wait at their factory gate for a while, someone will come and take care of it!"

"Besides, even if you want to solve it, coming here won't help. In fact, they'd love for you to come here every day and waste your time here."

"If you have this much time to spare, you might as well go directly to the main gate of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee."

"If you really wanted to do that, I reckon it would have been resolved long ago."

After speaking, he rolled down the car window and flicked the cigarette ash off his hand, but his eyes remained fixed on the gate of the agricultural machinery factory.

Zhao Weiguo rubbed his frostbitten, red ears nervously and asked in a low voice, "Director, are we really going to be able to wait for them? What if the city government just gives us the runaround too..."

Su Wenchen shook his head, his tone resolute.

"No, if Director Liu wanted to brush me off on this matter, he wouldn't have used that tone just now; he would have just evaded the question."

"However, I'm not entirely sure whether the city knows about this."

"Wait a bit, let's see how things go when they get here!"

After Su Wenchen finished speaking.

Sure enough, less than twenty minutes later, a black Shanghai-plated sedan with a local license plate sped past their car.

After braking at the entrance of the agricultural machinery factory.

Liu Guangde, director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee, got out of the car with a sullen face, followed by a staff member.

The city's vehicle security personnel naturally recognized him and hurriedly pulled open the iron gate.

At this moment, Su Wenchen's jeep slowly followed from behind.

After parking, Liu Guangde naturally saw it as well.

He immediately strode towards Su Wenchen's jeep and shouted through the car window,

"Director Su, thank you for waiting. Don't worry, a large agricultural machine can't just disappear for no reason."

"If any problem arises on our side, I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation."

Su Wenchen immediately opened the car door, got out, and said.

"Director Liu, before we're sure, none of us know exactly where the problem lies. I think we should go in and ask first."

Then he looked at the people who had stopped them earlier and said...

"Comrade, are we allowed to go in this time?"

"Or are you planning to do what you said before, that no leader can do anything about it?"

Su Wenchen wasn't a particularly generous person. Since the other party hadn't given him any face, he naturally wouldn't give them any face in return.

The security guard knew he was in trouble as soon as he heard Su Wenchen's words.

Sure enough, Liu Guangde immediately frowned and glanced at the other party.

"Who gave you permission to block the Blue Water Farm people at the gate?"

The man stammered for a long time but couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

“My director, I didn’t stop this leader. What I mean is, that comrade from Blue Water Farm comes over every day.”

"I said that because I was so annoyed!"

However, Liu Guangde did not let the other party fool him and stared at him sharply.

"I'll ask you one more time: was it your own idea to block the people from Blue Water Farm, or was it the idea of ​​one of your factory's leaders?"

When faced with such a direct question from the city's top leader, the other party broke out in a sweat.

My heart is in turmoil, torn between my inner thoughts and my own inner conflict.

I told you, offending the factory leaders means I'm afraid I won't have a good life in the future.

If I don't tell, it seems like I can't get through this!
After all, if it turns out he was the one who ordered it in the end, wouldn't he lose his job?

So he could only confess with a long face.

“It was our factory manager. At first, he asked me to deal with the people from Blue Water Farm.”

"But later on, they kept coming over, and I started to get a little impatient with dealing with them!"

Upon hearing what the other party said, Zhao Weiguo couldn't help but interject.

"Do you think I like coming here? Who told you to hold onto one of our tractors? Otherwise, who would bother coming here every day?"

Su Wenchen raised his hand to stop Zhao Weiguo from continuing.

He turned to look at Liu Guangde.

"Director Liu, what do you think is the best way to arrange this?"

Liu Guangde took a deep breath and looked at Su Wenchen with a hint of self-mockery.

"Director Su, it seems that the problem is indeed on our side now."

"Don't worry, I will definitely get to the bottom of this. Let's go in and see what's going on!"

Su Wenchen nodded.

Just as the group was walking into the factory area.

At this moment, in an assembly workshop of the agricultural machinery factory, a middle-aged man wearing dark blue overalls was sweating profusely, urging a group of experienced workers in the workshop to hurry up.

"Master Pang, how's it going? Can it be put back in?"

"A security guard just said that the farm's leaders have come to our door this time, and I really can't keep dragging this on any longer."

"I reckon the city will be calling us soon."

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, an elderly man with graying hair waved his hand.

"Stop arguing, aren't we trying our best to do the research?"

"It's not that easy to put all of this back together!"

“If it’s just the outer shell, it’s easy to assemble according to the installation manual. But if we take everything inside apart, we’ll have to figure it out slowly.”

"This is a great opportunity. If we can master this technology, we might be able to produce such large agricultural machinery ourselves!"

Upon hearing the old man's words, the other person immediately gave a wry smile.

"It's easy to say. Would this be any better if it were our factory's machine? This is the machine from Blue Water Farm."

"Why should we let their farm stay here and get demolished?"

The old man waved his hand impatiently.

"I don't care what kind of farm it is!"

"That's your business as leaders. When we suggested demolishing it, your leaders agreed!"

"And at worst, the factory will just push me out in the end, and I'll take full responsibility for whatever happens!"

The middle-aged man sighed deeply.

"If only it were that simple! Do you know how much one of these large pieces of equipment costs? It's not something just anyone can carry!"

The middle-aged man clearly knew that he would likely have to shoulder the burden himself in the end.

He took one last look at the workshop where he had worked hard for half his life, and he didn't know if it was all worth it.

(End of this chapter)