Chapter 251: Chapter 251: Reversal
Zhou Xinyu also understood when Feng Yiping said this. Mayor Fang asked them to get Jia involved in order to prevent Lv Youfu and the others from getting their way. Now, after all this time and effort, they still end up with the same result. Do you really think that mayors are born teachers, and that female teachers are good-natured?
She is also a strong-willed woman. Back then, in order to build the No. 1 Middle School, she dared to go into debt for tens of millions of yuan in the early 1990s. There were probably more than one construction company that she threw into the pit at that time. Although the No. 1 Middle School has an extremely strong ability to attract funds, the money can definitely be repaid, but can the value of the old one be the same as the current one?
Now she, in her capacity as mayor, is personally involved in the restructuring of a small factory, and the result is so unsatisfactory, so it's strange that she would be happy! And, being a lesbian, don't expect her to be unexpectedly generous.
Zheng Lezhi asked from the side, 'So do we still need to go see my aunt?'
'Forget about that for now, let's go back to the provincial capital first, I'll give you two days off.'
Mayor Fang had a lot on his plate, and once he arrived at the office, he often didn't have time to arrange things himself.
This morning, she saw off a senior provincial official, then attended a welcome reception for a delegation from a sister city at lunchtime, and in the afternoon, she held another mayor's office meeting on several key municipal projects such as the new railway station under construction, and then received several county-level leaders who came to report on their work. After that, she dealt with urgent documents. When she had some free time, it was already past six o'clock.
She leaned back in her big chair and rubbed her temples. It suddenly occurred to her that the negotiations with the city of Yujia had been going on for two days and should be coming to a head. 'Secretary Wu, how are the negotiations with Yujia going?'
Secretary Wu removed the lid from her teacup and placed it in front of her. 'Not very well. They've stalled for the time being.'
'Oh, what's the reason?'
'Some comrades in the city don't agree to being completely acquired by a private enterprise. They prefer a joint venture, but Yujia doesn't agree.'
Mayor Fang gently blew away the floating tea on top. 'I can understand their feelings. No matter how useless their son is, he is still their son. What's the next step?'
'There is no plan for now. All of Youjia's people have already returned to the provincial capital.'
'And Le Zhi? He hasn't come to see me in the past two days?'
'No.'
'Call him for me and ask what they think. Aren't negotiations all about mutual compromise? No one would just give up completely after the first setback.'
'Mayor, I can't get through. It's turned off.'
'Forget it, tell them to bring both proposals and the negotiation records tomorrow morning.'
The next day, as soon as he arrived at the office, Secretary Wu placed the two proposals and the negotiation records on Mayor Fang's desk. A moment later, he heard a loud noise from inside the room. He walked in and saw Mayor Fang pacing back and forth by the window, with the two folders on the desk.
'What logic? One party's investment is less than half of the other party's, and the city is still helping to finance most of it. There is no clear plan for production and sales afterwards. All debts will also be borne by the new company after the joint venture. Just because they were promised 49% of the shares, they are inclined to favour this plan. Are they responsible for their work? Are they responsible for the collective property? You call them and tell them to come over.'
Mayor Fang herself made the call, to the senior city official Ji. 'Secretary Xu, it's me. Is everything okay? I just want to ask, is there any new progress on the aluminium factory scandal, are they still following up the investigation? Thanks!'
The three deputy directors involved in the negotiations arrived at the mayor's office. Mayor Fang signed the document at one end of the table. 'You have ten minutes to give your reasons for choosing the Zhuanghao Group plan.'
This statement, of course, had to be made by the deputy director of the Light Industry Bureau, Liu, who was a strong advocate of the joint venture. Deputy Director Liu concisely stated his reasons: 'Judging from the various data of the aluminium products factory over the past few years, it is true that some problems have been encountered, but they are not yet at a level where the factory must be sold. As long as new capital is introduced and new forces that are familiar with new blood who are familiar with the market, carry out technological transformation, produce marketable products, and do a good job of sales work, the aluminium products factory will definitely be able to rejuvenate itself once again, creating greater benefits for the city. For the sake of the city and the aluminium products factory, I personally think that a joint venture is acceptable, but I oppose being bought up.'
'I don't know the figures you mentioned, but I do know who the aluminium factory's biggest customer has been for the past few years. I'll tell you: the city government! The new railway station, the new bus station, the new office buildings for all the various departments – they've let the factory produce whatever it can. If it wasn't for that, it would only have a debt of a little over two million yuan.'
'Deputy Director Liu, tell me, someone else is taking on all the debt, paying the city 500,000 yuan, and preparing to invest 3 million yuan to renovate the factory buildings and equipment, but they can only get no more than 50% of the shares. This is the first time I've heard that the assets of the aluminium products factory are worth tens of millions of yuan. Did your bureau audit this out?'
'Isn't negotiation just bargaining? I'm just asking for a price,' Deputy Director Liu argued.
'What do you think this is? Selling clothes? You name a price of 100, I'll name 30. I see that people are right in saying that some of our comrades don't name a price, but just blurt it out.' Mayor Fang didn't even want to talk about why Zhuang Hao could get 49% of the shares for just over 1 million. Some things are better understood than explained.
'And you two, the Finance Bureau knows the annual expenditure of the aluminium products factory, right?'
'Personnel wages, plus various expenses, amount to 500,000 to 600,000 yuan a year.'
'Okay, you all think that the joint venture proposed by Zhuang Hao is a good deal. Does he have a plan for subsequent technological reforms and for products and sales? No! Can you guarantee that after the joint venture, there will be no more requests for funding from the city? Without renovating the factory building, can you guarantee that there will be no more accidents during the rainy season next year? Is it that, if we wait until next year, we can start a new round of reforms?'
She was right. Vice-District Chief Jiang and Deputy Director Liu were thinking exactly the same thing.
'This is not being responsible to the city, it's just adding to its burden. Hundreds of thousands of yuan in subsidies go into the aluminium factory every year, and you can't even hear a sound. The workers are full of complaints, but I only need 200,000 yuan to transform a rural middle school from a mud brick building into a building. You are all first-level leaders, you should have a long-term perspective, comrades.'
A son who leeches off his parents can be tolerated for a few years, but this son not only leeches off his parents, he also conspires with outsiders to get money from his parents. Such an unfilial son is better off being cut off from all ties.
Mayor Fang's words stopped there. If things came to that point and the person in charge still acted in a perfunctory manner, then it would be easy for her to deal with. She was just worried about not being able to find someone to establish her authority.
On the other hand, she heard that Mayor Fang had once again reported the situation of the aluminium products factory case to the Discipline Inspection Commission. Vice-District Chief Jiang was a little restless now. The idea of developing the land of the aluminium products factory and making a fortune from it to get a generous pension could only be postponed for the time being. Digging deeper into Fat Liu and the others, it was estimated that he would not have to worry about his pension and could go directly to the bureau to enjoy his retirement.
At this time, he could not care about Lv Youfu's initial investment. As a result, some of the people involved quickly changed their stance. Someone from the Economic and Trade Bureau called Zhou Xinyu and invited him to come back to restart negotiations. Zhou Xinyu answered the phone, but said, 'I'm busy right now, I'm dealing with related matters with several districts in the provincial capital.'
Although they knew that this might be a negotiating tactic on his part, this time they couldn't afford to be impatient. Secretary Wu finally got through to Zheng Lezhi on the phone and told him what Mayor Fang had said. Then the city government sent a car from the Investment Promotion Bureau to personally pick them up in the provincial capital and bring them back.
When they met again, the atmosphere was much more harmonious. Deputy Director Liu said with a smile to Zhou Xinyu, 'Mr Zhou, you're really not being fair. We just made an offer, and you're not even bothering to respond.'
'Sorry, I'm not used to negotiating like this, and I've never come across such an outrageous offer.' He had no intention of giving Deputy Director Liu face. If it had been the Trade and Industry Bureau or the two taxes, he would not have dared to offend them like this, but after the successful merger, it had nothing to do with your Light Industry Bureau, so what was there to care about? Besides, Deputy Director Liu had not given him face last time.
'Haha, Mr Zhou is really a sincere person.'
However, when they heard Zhou Xinyu's new conditions, they frowned again. Not only would the bank loan have to be repaid over two years, but the 500,000 yuan they had to pay to the city would be gone. How were they going to explain this to Mayor Fang?
The deputy director of the Economic and Trade Bureau, who was hosting the meeting, dared not be negligent this time and immediately reported back to Secretary Wu. Secretary Wu helped to mediate several times, as he still had to save face, mainly for the person behind him. In the end, both sides made concessions: the bank loan would be repaid within one year, and the amount to be handed over to the city would be reduced from the original 500,000 to 400,000, which was almost exactly the amount that had been reduced to cover the share of the Light Industry Bureau.