Courtyard House: Inheriting the Restaurant, the Jia Family Wants to Get It for Free

"This is our initial list of factories with potential and foundation for transformation. They include food, textiles, and daily chemicals." Old Zhao's expression turned serious again. "The higher-ups require a detailed pilot program within three days, based on your earlier ideas, that can truly be implemented."

Cheng Shuhai took the heavy list and nodded.

He knew that from this moment on, he would no longer be facing Xu Damao in the courtyard, nor Section Chief Ma in the factory.

His opponents will be the deeply entrenched old forces, the entrenched departmental interests, and countless eyes lurking in the shadows, waiting for him to make a mistake during the entire industrial transformation process.

Outside the window, Chen Xueru looked at her husband in the study, who was once again buried in piles of documents. For the first time, a genuine and deep worry appeared in her eyes.

She knew that her man was walking a path that was both incredibly glorious and incredibly dangerous.

Three days later, in a small, closed-off meeting room of the municipal government, a coordination meeting on the "Sino-Soviet Industrial Cooperation Project" was underway.

Besides Mr. Zhao and Cheng Shuhai, attendees included heads of various departments such as the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Finance Bureau, and the Light Industry Bureau. These individuals were all seasoned veterans who had honed their skills in their respective fields for many years.

The atmosphere was somewhat delicate from the very beginning of the meeting.

After briefly introducing the background and importance of the project, Mr. Zhao handed over the speaking authority to Cheng Shuhai.

"Next, please let Comrade Cheng Shuhai introduce the preliminary pilot plan he has developed for our project."

Cheng Shuhai stood up and walked to the small blackboard at the front of the conference room. Instead of reading from a prepared statement, he picked up the chalk and drew a structural diagram.

"Distinguished leaders, my plan can be summarized as a 'three-step' approach."

"The first step is to consolidate our existing advantages. Centered on the North China Canned Food Factory, we will further expand the production scale of mature products such as braised pork canned food and Mapo tofu canned food. At the same time, we will utilize existing 'special supply channels' to develop several new non-staple food products, such as dried beef and spiced peanuts. The goal of this step is to secure our existing export orders to the Soviet Union, stabilize our core business, and exchange them for the first batch of most urgently needed equipment and raw materials."

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged cadre sitting in the corner, wearing black-rimmed glasses, cleared his throat.

"Consultant Cheng, forgive my bluntness," he began, his tone carrying a subtle scrutiny. "This plan seems a bit too conservative. The higher-ups want us to 'expand' exports. In my opinion, we don't need to develop so many fancy new products. Just concentrate all our resources and expand the North China Cannery tenfold. Canned braised pork alone will be enough to meet this year's export targets. Simple and efficient."

These words immediately garnered the support of many people.

"Yes, Director Wang is right. We need to concentrate our resources on accomplishing major tasks!"

"Building so many new factories is spreading the business too thin. If something goes wrong in any part of the process, it could actually affect the overall progress."

Cheng Shuhai recognized the speaker, Director Wang, as the person in charge of production planning at the Municipal Light Industry Bureau. His words, seemingly sound, actually concealed a hidden agenda. If all projects were concentrated at the cannery, the Light Industry Bureau, which oversaw the cannery, would undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiary.

"Director Wang has a point," Cheng Shuhai said, not directly refuting him, but instead changing the subject. "But I'd like to ask Director Wang a question. If we put all our eggs in one basket—canned braised pork—what if the Soviet Union suddenly reduces its canned pork orders for some reason, or they develop their own alternatives? What should we do then?"

"This..." Director Wang was taken aback by the question.

"At that time, the production lines we have invested heavily in expanding will immediately become idle. The tinplate we imported at high prices for canned goods will rust in the warehouse. Our entire export plan to the Soviet Union will be completely strangled by them."

Cheng Shuhai's tone wasn't harsh, but every word struck the hearts of everyone present like a hammer blow.

"Therefore, I proposed the second step: to explore new growth points. While consolidating food exports, we must immediately begin building new textile and daily necessities processing plants."

"In return for our canned goods and non-staple foods, we shouldn't just get tinplate; we should also get cotton spinning equipment and chemical raw materials. We can use high-quality domestic cotton to produce the bed sheets and fabrics they need. And we can use the chemical raw materials and stamping equipment we get to produce the thermos flasks and enamel basins they are in short supply."

"These products have low technological barriers, giving us a huge advantage. They can complement food products. If one sector is unsuccessful, another will be. The overall trade situation will not be affected by fluctuations in a single product."

"When our product line is sufficiently diverse, we will have the bargaining power. Only then will we move on to the third step: establishing unified standards and gaining control of the industry's discourse."

"I propose establishing a 'Sino-Soviet Trade Product Quality Supervision and Packaging Standards Center,' independent of all factories. All exported products, regardless of which factory they come from, must undergo inspection by this center and use standardized packaging and labeling. We want to make 'Made in China' synonymous with 'high quality' in the Soviet market."

Cheng Shuhai's "three-step" plan is progressive and logically sound. From stabilizing the situation to diversifying efforts and then mastering standards, a grand yet clear industrial blueprint is presented to everyone.

The meeting room was completely silent.

Even Director Wang, who had just raised questions, frowned and fell into deep thought. He had to admit that Cheng Shuhai's plan was far superior to his simple idea of ​​"expanding tenfold."

But just then, another discordant voice rang out.

"That sounds quite reasonable." The speaker was Liu, an official from the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce responsible for enterprise restructuring. "But I still have the same question: no matter how good the plan is, who will implement it? Consultant Cheng, you're not part of the system, and you're not familiar with the work processes of our government departments. You...excuse my bluntness, a businessman who started out running a restaurant, guiding the construction and production of so many state-owned factories...is this...is this in accordance with regulations?"

That's a very blunt way of putting it.

He directly brought up Cheng Shuhai's "background" issue. The implication was clear: what right does an outsider like you have to criticize us "regulars"?

The atmosphere in the meeting room instantly plummeted to freezing point.

All eyes were on Cheng Shuhai.