Chapter 24: The Factory-run Large Collective

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Ye woke up leisurely on the bed in the hotel room.

Lying there, smelling the faint scent of smoke, and gazing at the ceiling adorned with yellowed newspapers, he felt an indescribable sense of relaxation. After all, the period since his rebirth had been mentally draining, from the initial confusion and shock to subsequent excitement and joy.

Not to mention the subsequent tasks: setting future goals, devising development plans for the Red Star Machinery Factory, applying to the Ministry of Machinery Industry, convincing everyone who stood in the way, witnessing the production of gas cylinders, and finally, signing the contract that morning!

Step by step, Wang Ye had scarcely slept a wink until today.

"Already four in the afternoon? I can't stay in bed any longer."

"I need to get up and report the news to the factory and Director Li."

After struggling for a while, Wang Ye finally climbed out of bed and left the hotel after washing his face.

In this era, even pagers had not yet entered the domestic market, let alone mobile phones. According to the normal historical timeline, it would be next year before pagers made their way into China. However, due to high prices, few carriers, and insufficient base stations, they only gradually became popular in the late 1980s.

So, if Wang Ye wanted to make a phone call now, he had to go to the telegraph office.

Of course, compared to making phone calls, there was a more economical means of communication: sending telegrams. Telegrams were still charged per word. Each word of the main text cost seven cents, and each word of the address cost five cents. However, they were slow.

Before the telegraph office closed for the day, Wang Ye hurried to the counter. Since making a phone call was expensive, there was no need to queue. He said to the girl behind the counter:

"I'd like to make a long-distance call."

At the same time, he handed over a "Great Unity" banknote, the largest denomination of currency at the time.

Then, Wang Ye picked up the phone and said to the operator at the switchboard:

"I'm Wang Ye, the factory director of the Red Star Machinery Factory in Luqi Province."

"Please connect me to the Industrial Development Office of the Industrial Bureau in Yuntai City, Luqi Province, and find Director Li."

Hearing Wang Ye's request, the girl behind the counter couldn't help but look surprised. After all, in her eyes, this young man was at most in his early twenties. How could he be a factory director?

Meanwhile, after several transfers, the operator finally connected to Director Li's office. Upon hearing Director Li's familiar voice saying 'Hello? Who is this?', Wang Ye smiled and said:

"Director Li, it's me, Wang Ye."

"The contract has been signed. Have you received the two hundred thousand dollars in earnest money?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the girl behind the counter, who had been surprised before, turned to look at Wang Ye, completely dumbfounded. After all, in this era, even twenty thousand dollars was considered a huge sum, let alone two hundred thousand dollars!

She even suspected that this young man was bragging! But who would incur such high phone charges to boast?

At the same time, on the other end of the phone, Director Li, upon hearing Wang Ye's voice, felt relieved and couldn't help but laugh:

"Haha! Yes, I received it! I received it! You young man, you should have called earlier."

"You made me uneasy all afternoon. I thought there was something wrong with the money!"

Upon hearing Director Li's words, Wang Ye casually explained and then added:

"I didn't sleep well last night, and I slept as soon as the contract was signed this morning."

"This two hundred thousand is the earnest money. The remaining two hundred thousand can only be paid when the goods are loaded onto their ship."

"I'll hang up now! We'll talk more when I get back!"

After Wang Ye hung up the phone, the girl behind the counter was still in shock. Wang Ye then dialed the phone number of the Red Star Machinery Factory and reported the news.

As the news spread rapidly throughout the factory, the room erupted into chaos again!

"I told you! It must be our young director!"

"This is four hundred thousand dollars! According to the exchange rate, it's over five million! Incredible!"

"As the finance chief, I've never seen so much money in my life. It must be enough to build a small mountain, right?"

"Indeed, it's thanks to our young director! If it weren't for him, we'd be in for tough times in the second half of the year!"

"Yeah, just thinking about our young director, I feel so relieved. We don't have to worry about salaries anymore!"

"Haha, he's the backbone! With our young director, we'll have better days ahead!"

"Wait a minute! I suddenly realized, we have to keep our young director! If he leaves... I heard our young director just graduated this year, he probably isn't married yet, right? Why not introduce him to someone? If he becomes the son-in-law of our factory, we'll be a family!"

"Right, that makes sense! Let's go talk to Director Liu!"

In the evening, the factory was filled with workers and their families, all happily smiling and chatting while having their meals. As they chatted, they seemed to have discovered the key to the problem. They all directly went to the Women's Federation director's house!

The next day, Wang Ye set off on his journey back.

It was another day and night journey, until he returned to the gate of the machinery factory on the third day in the afternoon. This time, his return was completely different from the first time. Almost all the workers and their families were gathered at the gate, giving Wang Ye the warmest welcome!

"Director Wang! Director Wang! Director Wang!"

"Wang Ye! Wang Ye! Wang Ye!"

The deafening cheers echoed in the air, and finally soared into the sky. When Wang Ye saw that Director Li was also there, he jokingly said:

"Why are you here too? Are you here to celebrate with me?"

"I dare not! I have something to discuss with you. Come!"

Then everyone returned to the conference room on the second floor of the office building. While the girl was pouring tea, Director Li said directly:

"Wang Ye, the province is going to reform the factory-run large collective enterprises."

"Now that your Red Star Machinery Factory has been transferred to the local jurisdiction, you need to be in sync with us."

"So, how do you plan to reform your large collective? "

Upon hearing Director Li's words, the six key figures of the machinery factory sitting there immediately turned pale, as the entire factory, including both cadres and workers, actually only had slightly over 1,200 official employees. There were at least another 1,000 individuals under the factory's collective administration.