Chapter 59 of Volume One: The Monkey Who Was Wrongly Killed

  Shen Hua and Guo Quan understood some financial situation of the steel plant, Guo Quan answered fluently, and had a good grasp of the business. Shen Hua only confirmed now that because there were people like Guo Quan and Qian Wen-hui in the steel plant, the financial work became the only bright spot of the steel plant, today was really wrong to kill Guo Quan.

  Shen Huai said to He Qing: "Since I've already kicked Old Guo out to the town, even if I want to make amends, I'm afraid Old Guo will still hold a grudge against me. As for Old Guo's work in the town, you'd better arrange it, Town Head He."

  Wrong killing is wrong, Shen Hua will not hit his own face for the first time and let Guo Quan go back to be the deputy factory director; if he doesn't let Guo Quan return to the steel plant, he can arrange a job for him in the town through He Qing She, which is also a compensation.

  He Qing also knew that Shen Huai was unlikely to let Guo Quan return to the steel plant, otherwise what authority would he have left in the steel plant?

  He Qingxia smiled and said: "Guo Quanzhou is not suitable to go back to the steel factory, but he still has some ability. Secretary Shen, if you have another place where you can use him, just let him play a role..."

  Mei Creek Iron and Steel Plant is a town-owned enterprise, although it has no administrative ranking, but because the factory director has been concurrently serving as the head of the town government for a long time, the deputy factory director's position is actually not much different from that of a deputy mayor or a member of the town party committee.

  Kuo was kicked out of the steel factory by Shen Hua in public, and even if He Qing arranged a position for him, he couldn't directly arrange for him to be vice mayor. Directly appointing a vice mayor would exceed He Qing's power, but He Qing believed that this matter wouldn't be difficult to handle with Shen Hua.

  Even if Shen Hua is now for his own face, will arrange a low position for Guo Quan, it is also possible to make up for him in the future.

  "Lao He kicked the ball to me," Shen Hui said with a smile, "so it's good now. Since the company is under my management, I'm not very familiar with the situation of the company either. Lao Guo will go to the company as deputy director first and help me get some work done..."

  "That's it for today." Shen Huan settled the matter, stood up and bid farewell, without even greeting the other deputy town heads or deputy secretaries, and directly left the town government.

  He Qing stood at the window, watching Shen Huai leave the government compound, then turned back and asked Guo Quan to sit down.

  In name, the steel plant is under the management of the enterprise office, but previously, the head of the steel plant was concurrently held by the town's number one leader, Du Gui, who also served as the director of the enterprise office and the factory director of the steel plant. The actual status of the town enterprise office and the steel plant in Meixi Town is also evident from this.

  From a deputy factory director who was no lower than the deputy mayor, he was directly demoted to the deputy section level (deputy stock) of the enterprise management office, just because he did not change into labor insurance shoes when entering the factory area, and was almost demoted by two levels. Guo Quan's heart could not help but feel a sense of loss.

  In the early 1980s, He Qing was the deputy town head of Hétáng and was in charge of education. Guo Quan had just started working at that time and was a teacher at Hétáng Middle School. The two became familiar with each other from then on.

  Having known each other for many years, He Qing and Guo Quan didn't have any boundaries between them. Seeing his gloomy expression, he knew that he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss inside. Patting him on the shoulder, he said:

  "Director Shen is coming, and his ambitions are high. He wants to accomplish something, and any obstacles in his way will likely be cleared away decisively. This matter of yours is a bit unfair, but you can't get bogged down in details. I just spoke with Director Shen, and I wanted him to take charge of the work of both the Finance Bureau and the Economic Management Station, but he declined. In the end, he only agreed to be in charge of the Enterprise Office. You have ability, and after going to the Enterprise Office, you can show Director Shen your capabilities. Actually, there are more opportunities for development there than in other departments."

  “……” Guo Quan smiled wryly, he was at least ten years older than Shen Huan, and being asked to act like a junior in front of him made the proud and arrogant him feel somewhat humiliated. With a tone of self-abandonment, he said, “What else can I do besides going to the company?”

  He Qing knew that Guo Quan had a knot in his heart, and he also knew that giving him some time would make him understand, so he didn't persuade him much. He said: "You, there are some opportunities, not like me, maybe this town head will be done..."

  "Unlikely, Du Jian is going down, then it's your turn to be secretary?" Guo Quan asked.

  He Qing shook his head and smiled, saying: "Your business level is higher than mine, and your learning is also better than mine. But when it comes to being an official, you're not as good as me. If Du Jian doesn't stir up more trouble, I think Secretary Shen won't use his backstage connections to make him step down directly. Maybe it won't even take a year, as long as Secretary Shen can achieve results in Meixi, he can directly replace Du Jian as the top leader, which is obviously more suitable than asking Du Jian to step down at this time..."

  The ranking of the town is: Du Jian first, He Qing She second, Shen Huai third.

  Normally speaking, no one parachuted down from above, Du Jian stepped down and He Qing should have been the secretary.

  It's just that society doesn't always operate according to reason, and He Qingyu saw through this.

  The person behind Shen Hua can force Mayor Gao Tianhe to bow his head, and He Qing She will not be blind enough to compete with Shen Hua for the position of party secretary in the future.

  People like Shen Hua, at the age of 24, were already regular members of the Communist Party and had accumulated experience and achievements in the countryside, laying a good foundation. After that, they jumped up one level every two or three years, rising rapidly like rockets.

  For someone with a background like Shen Hua, being a county head or county party secretary is just a matter of time, and it's not impossible that he could even become a city mayor or city party secretary. How could He Qing She be so blind as to think of becoming an obstacle for such a person?

  He Qing thought Du Jian should have seen this coming and was suddenly knocked out.

  He Qing She doesn't have a solid background, except for the former county magistrate Chen Bing who was transferred to the city last month to serve as the director of the Sports Committee, and now he is only familiar with one or two deputy county magistrates in the county. These relationships are not enough to help him get promoted to a higher position.

  No need to compete with Shen Hua for anything. On the surface, it seems that Shen Hua has taken the position of party secretary, and his time as the first-in-command will be delayed again. But there are also some benefits. He is already over 40 years old, even if he becomes the head of the township as he wishes, it's almost the same, what's the harm in delaying for another two years?

  Shen Huai returned to the dormitory, it was already past eleven o'clock. Chen Dan and Xiao Li had fallen asleep, but Jinzi was still lingering in his room, sneaking out of the darkness to rub against his legs, giving him a warm feeling of being back home.

  Turn on the light, Chen Dan helped him get a change of clothes, all neatly stacked beside the bed. Next to it was also a note left by Chen Dan, with elegant handwriting, listing several things in detail, dense and messy, like a nagging little wife.

  Looking at the note, Shen Hua only then realized that he had indeed mixed up the face cloth and foot cloth. Looking again at the washbasin stand, Chen Dan had already helped him switch them back.

  Shen Huai sat down, gazing at the night sky outside the window, serene and distant. Although he hadn't met Chen Dan and Xiao Li, seeing the neatly stacked clothes by the bed made him feel a sense of comfort knowing they were just sleeping soundly in the next room.

  Although it was late at night, Shen Hua still had no time to sleep. He had to look over the steel factory's financial reports and read some books, which were his daily tasks. He also needed to write a reform plan for the steel factory.

  The rectification plan handed over to Xu Xiting, Zhao Dong and others is still mainly focused on the production link, paying attention to details. However, the overall decline of Meixi Steel Plant and state-owned and collective enterprises in Donghua area is not without deeper reasons.

  Shen Huai has been working in a steel factory for many years and has a deep understanding of the operation of state-owned enterprises.

  He wanted to use the rectification of Mei Xi Steel Plant as a wedge, and sort out some ideas from before, as well as some insights gained from studying economics for his PhD at Yan Da over the past two years.

  Spread out the paper, when Shen Hua wanted to start writing, he found that there were indeed a thousand threads and countless thoughts.

  Many foreign experiences, but at that time there was no way to draw lessons domestically, and domestic economic policies were also relatively conservative. In 1993, there wasn't even a Company Law in China, so imitating foreign management experience and separating ownership from operating rights would inevitably touch some people's sensitive nerves.

  Whether to go or not, Shen Hua was also very hesitant...

  Soon, the news that Tan Qiping will arrive in Donghua City as the new municipal party secretary spread quickly. Ordinary cadres cannot infer too much mystery from it, but for Wu Haifeng, Gao Tianhe, Tao Jixing and Ge Yongxing, this news is enough to determine their next actions.

  The county government subsequently issued a document specifically on the rectification work of Meixi Iron and Steel Factory, emphasizing the rectification work, implementing the spirit of the factory director's responsibility system, and basically confirming that the power of the Meixi Town Party and Government Meeting is limited to supervising the factory director. The production arrangement, business decision-making, organizational setting, and management personnel appointment and removal of the steel plant are all the responsibility of the factory director.

  It also means that as long as Shen Hua's position as the steel plant manager is not revoked, the power of the steel plant will be concentrated in Shen Hua's hands, and Du Jian and other town leaders will have no reason to intervene in the steel plant.

  At his young age, Shen Hua is managing an enterprise with over 800 employees and an annual output value of nearly 100 million yuan, which is quite difficult to reassure people in terms of management.

  However, Tan Qiping also had no opinion on this. He had always thought that Shen Hua's starting point in the countryside was a bit low compared to his family background, but being able to directly manage a large-scale enterprise could only be seen as a kind of compensation.

  As for whether the Meixi Steel Plant can be effectively rectified and improved, or whether it can be saved, Tan Qiping will not particularly care about this. The level of the Meixi Steel Plant is low, and its influence is small. Even if Shen Hua thoroughly messed things up, Tan Qiping does not need to worry that there will be any major problems that will implicate him.

  For the next half month, Shen Hua was rooted in the steel plant except for reporting to Tan Qiping three or five days a time.

  Things in the town, Shen Hua also rarely managed, he let Du Gui return to the town, the factory director's position was vacated, and Zhao Dong took over as his assistant, still using Shao Zheng as his driver.

  Du Gui returned to the town, and Shen Hua still let him continue as the director of the enterprise office, not in a hurry to drive him away. Mainly because Shen Hua temporarily didn't have the energy to take care of other town-owned enterprises, he just let Guo Quan, who was serving as deputy director of the enterprise office, help him with some daily work, and didn't give Du Gui another chance to stir up trouble.

  With He Qing She, Shen Huai could barely meet for three to five days at a time. As for Du Jian and other town leaders, Shen Huai didn't even have the opportunity to meet with them.

  It was said that the old house was rented out, and all the furniture and electrical appliances were moved there. In fact, after arriving in Meixi Town, Shen Huai lived and ate in the town, and never went to the old house once.

  Chen Dan and Xiao Li both live in the town, so Shen Hua doesn't need to stay at the old house; besides, he lives in the town, usually eats and drinks at the factory canteen, but washing clothes and doing household chores can be left to Chen Dan for help.

  Shen Hua leaves early and returns late, catching up on important work shifts. He and Zhao Dong directly take a nap or sleep in the rest room of the workshop, and they don't even have a chance to meet with Chen Dan and Xiao Li.

  Shen Huai had a mobile phone, but Chen Dan rarely took the initiative to call Shen Huai's mobile phone. Whenever there was something, they would leave notes on paper at home; as a result, whenever Shen Huai had something, he also got into the habit of leaving a note for Chen Dan.