After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 242 The program is broadcast
Mai Liangping used to work in the customs business.

Customs will seize many smuggled or non-compliant goods. These goods still have market value after processing. After approval, they will be sold to distributors.

The distributors then sell these high-quality goods that have leaked out of customs to the market.

Mai Liangping made several million yuan from this business.

This is how she met Young Master Lu.

Having met a big shot, Mai Liangping was naturally unwilling to remain a middleman any longer. Under Lu Shao's arrangement, he officially entered the real economy and established the Sancai Printing Factory.

The reason for this choice is Lu Shao's family connections, mainly in the publishing industry.

Last year, the state issued the "Opinions on Deepening Enterprise Reform and Improving Large and Medium-sized State-owned Enterprises," the purpose of which is to "focus on the large and let go of the small," meaning that only large state-owned enterprises are being focused on, while local small and medium-sized state-owned enterprises are allowed to be sold.

This prompted a shift in the port's printing industry.

With official support, the best state-owned printing plants in the harbor were merged to form the Harbor Printing Group. From then on, all major official publications would be produced by this Harbor Printing Group.

As for the remaining small and medium-sized state-owned printing plants, well, goodbye.

If you have the skills, then keep living.

If a company is not up to par, it should go bankrupt or be sold off; it shouldn't become a financial burden on the country.

This means that a large portion of the printing industry will shift from state-owned to private ownership.

Of course, there are even more important things.

Lu Shao wasn't after the profits from printing. He had Mai Liangping establish the Sancai Printing Factory, which was merely a name—a name for acquiring and integrating numerous state-owned printing factories.

Acquiring state-owned enterprises presents a good opportunity for a redistribution of wealth.

A state-owned printing factory with assets of 1000 million yuan can be sold to Sancai Printing Factory for 100 million yuan... Thousands of small and medium-sized state-owned printing factories in the port will gradually transform. Even if Lu Shao only takes one-tenth of this market, it will be enough for him to make a living.

Unexpectedly, Mai Liangping proved to be a disappointment.

The Sancai Printing Factory, equipped with brand-new equipment, couldn't compete with a small, privately-owned factory with outdated equipment.
When Lu Shao saw him running over for help again, looking miserable, he became furious. "Mai Liangping, are you even capable? What did you promise me?"

Mai Liangping stood humbly in front of him, "Young Master Lu, the situation is very complicated right now."

Lu Shao said angrily, "The regulatory bureau's people are all over there, what more do you want?"

"We don't have any orders right now!"

Mai Liangping stood to one side, not daring to sit down.

Young Master Lu was furious. "This is your business!"

"Young Master Lu, how about... how about we find someone again to shut down Changxing Printing Factory? They're the ones causing trouble in the entire printing industry."

Mai Liangping felt this was the only way.

"That's easy for you to say!"

Young Master Lu isn't the kind of person with connections to the highest levels, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.

If one has truly powerful connections, they can directly acquire a large state-owned enterprise for their own use, as their own money bag. Why would they need to personally engage in such embezzlement of state-owned assets?

Ruin of reputation and risk.

Mai Liangping sighed, "The printing plant's cash flow dried up quickly, and the number of orders is still far from sufficient."

Lu Shao waved his hand, "Figure it out yourself, I won't help you anymore! That's not how you use favors!"

"That Sancai printing factory will go bankrupt before the end of the year."

Mai Liangping also lost his temper.

"Ok?"

Young Master Lu raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

Mai Liangping said with a bitter expression, "Young Master Lu, this matter is really not my fault. Li Changxing must have had a mastermind behind him, otherwise we wouldn't be in such a passive position."

"Stop making excuses." Young Master Lu had lost trust in him. "I went through so much trouble to get the foreign exchange and loans for you, to bring back the complete set of Japanese equipment. What guarantees did you give me back then? Didn't you say you could become a flagship private printing factory in the harbor?"

Mai Liangping struggled to say, "This was truly an accident, Young Master Lu. Please give me one last chance. As long as Changxing Publishing House is shut down and forced to rectify its operations, there's still a chance for things to turn around!"

Young Master Lu's face darkened.

He's had enough.

But he was unwilling to give up at this point. To reasonably complete the merger of a large number of state-owned printing plants, a landmark private printing plant was needed.

During the process of mergers and acquisitions, huge dividends from state-owned assets will be released.

Sancai Printing Factory's orders are currently sporadic, and its revenue can't even cover debt interest payments. During the qualification review, they discovered it's a company on the verge of bankruptcy—how can they possibly conduct business with it?

Forcing a transaction would be too ugly and blatant.

Seeing him hesitate, Mai Liangping was secretly delighted and quickly said, "Young Master Lu, Changxing Printing Factory has received a lot of orders, but their production capacity can't keep up. If we shut them down for two or three months, they won't be able to pay the penalties for breach of contract."

Lu Shaowen: "What are their backgrounds?"

Mai Liangping chuckled and said, "I know Li Changxing. What kind of background does he have? He used to be just an ordinary section-level cadre at the newspaper. He went into business in '92. He doesn't have the ability. I guess he got some advice from that kid Zhou Haoran. He had his business shut down for a few months, and then they started acting all high and mighty."

"Um……"

Young Master Lu was furious.

But there was nothing we could do.

At this point, all we can do is support him.

It seems we'll have to use the old man's remaining connections to ask for favors.

This is his home, an old-fashioned villa with luxurious interior decoration and thick carpets on the floor.

The TV was on, playing the "People's Livelihood Investigation" program on the lifestyle channel.

"This is……"

Young Master Lu sat on the sofa, facing the television, and froze when he saw the blurry, secretly filmed footage. "Young Master Lu?"

Mai Liangping had his back to the television, but seeing the change in his expression, he still didn't know what had happened.

But what I heard was the sound coming from the television—

"As long as no one checks, it's considered safe production!"

"What is this? It smells awful!"

"This is a fixative."

"Is this poisonous?"

"It's alright, it's not very toxic."

"Safety in production is still paramount!"

……

Mai Liangping heard the sound and sensed something was wrong.

Why does that voice sound so familiar?
Depend on!
Isn't that my own voice?
Mai Liangping shuddered, his face turning ashen, and he turned his head sharply, only to see a scene that made him want to vomit blood.

The images of workers dressed casually and working on the production line without any protective gear were all captured on camera!
There were even shots of him alone.

Although the camera blurred out people's faces, he sat cross-legged on the office sofa, proudly showing off his brand-new, uncut Japanese-style equipment, the only one of its kind in the entire private printing factory in the harbor.

"It's over!"

Mai Liangping looked ashen-faced and collapsed onto the carpet.

Lu Shao picked up a glass from the coffee table next to him and threw it at him, yelling, "You bastard!"

……

"People's Livelihood Investigation" is the most popular column in the harbor.

During the same time slot, it achieved a local viewership rating of over 30%, ranking first!

The similar program on Crown TV, "Focus Interview," only had a 4% viewership rating, failing to even rank in the top five.

Last night, the program "People's Livelihood Investigation" aired a short special episode titled "Right and Wrong in the Printing Factory".

This is related to safe production.

This also resonated with many laid-off workers.

The response from the public was enthusiastic.

Li Changxing was undoubtedly the happiest person, and his admiration for Mr. Zhou was even greater than the Huangpu River.

In the morning, Zhou Haoran went to the printing factory.

I happened to see Li Changxing meeting with guests.

"President Zhou is here. This is President Qi Deqiang. They're here to discuss cooperation."

Li Changxing came to introduce the project with great enthusiasm.

Zhou Haoran shook hands with him and said with a smile, "Mr. Qi, are you here to place an order?"

Mr. Qi said, "Yes, our company is going to produce the complete works of Gu Long. I was hesitant about whether to go to Sancai Printing Factory. I collaborated with them before when I was working on other people's martial arts novels."

Zhou Haoran feigned ignorance, "Then why are you here to collaborate?"

President Qi chuckled and said, "Those who do many unrighteous deeds will surely perish."

Li Changxing also burst into laughter, "Last night's 'People's Livelihood Investigation' was truly wonderful!"

General Manager Qi agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "Yes, it's shocking. I just took a walk around our printing factory, and the contrast is truly striking. We're in the book business, so we're practically cultured people. If we can't even have a basic conscience, are we still cultured people? We're not even human!"

Li Changxing said seriously, "President Qi, you're right! We all acknowledge that Sancai Printing Factory's equipment is indeed good, but they are the black sheep of the entire industry."

"Who says it isn't?"

Mr. Qi was still considering it, but after watching "People's Livelihood Investigation" last night, he no longer hesitated.

I went to the Changxing printing factory early this morning to sign the contract.

Zhou Haoran's heart stirred slightly, and he asked, "President Qi, did you have any cooperation with Sancai Printing Factory before?"

"Sigh!" President Qi sighed, "I've misjudged people."

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, Mr. Qi. How big of an order did you sign with them?"

"150 million." President Qi looked very regretful. "If I had known, I would have come here to cooperate. The same order would have only cost seven or eight hundred thousand."

Li Changxing laughed and said, "Who says it isn't?"

Zhou Haoran pressed further, "President Qi, how much of the balance are you still paying?"

Changxing Printing Factory offers low prices, but there's a prerequisite: payment must be made in advance before printing.

This is not standard industry practice.

The normal procedure is to first pay the deposit, and then start printing.

I will pay off the remaining balance gradually over 3 months, 6 months, and 10 months.

In other words, Mr. Qi should still owe Sancai Printing Factory a large sum of money.

Mr. Qi said, "30 has already been paid, leaving 120 million. The second installment of 50 will be paid at the end of this month."

"If Mr. Qi is experiencing cash flow problems, we can appropriately delay the payment."

Zhou Haoran came up with a terrible idea.

(End of this chapter)