State Cotton Mill No. 3 was at its peak, with over ten thousand workers and annual profits of twenty to thirty million yuan. It was a major foreign exchange earner among Shang City’s state-owned enterprises.
For such a factory, one can imagine how busy a Deputy Factory Director would be.
Yuan Hong Gang was constantly on his feet. With factory workers operating in three shifts, he as Deputy Director couldn’t possibly be idle. When his father recently injured his foot, Yuan Hong Gang had only visited the hospital once and made one home visit – this was his second.
He had noticed Liu Yong last time. While he couldn’t say he liked Liu Yong’s behavior, the man was sincerely helping. As a son who couldn’t properly care for his injured father, how could Yuan Hong Gang drive Liu Yong away?
Liu Yong had done what he as a son hadn’t managed to do. Yuan Hong Gang felt uneasy around him, fearing future difficult requests.
Currently, most unit leaders are genuinely honest, focusing solely on factory matters without complicated thoughts.
In a later era, with a state enterprise as large as Cotton Mill No. 3, would Deputy Director Yuan worry about finding someone to care for his injured father? Subordinates would likely compete for such an opportunity. But now, nobody thought that way. Deputy Director Yuan managed factory housing allocation, often getting cursed by workers for failing to satisfy everyone.
Though thin, his face was round, earning him the workers’ private nickname “Big Head Yuan.”
Did Yuan Hong Gang know?
He was well aware!
But what could he do? Some workers had been with State Cotton Mill No. 3 since its establishment in the 1950s, with more seniority than him. When facing unreasonable demands, he could only avoid confrontation. These workers were bold enough – they weren’t afraid of being fired. With the factory’s good performance, workers could walk past Yuan Hong Gang with their heads high, and for the sake of production, Yuan Hong Gang had to appease them.
Despite his authority, he found no place to exercise it. Busy with work while enduring pressure from his wife and mother, unable to properly care for his injured father… In such circumstances, how could Deputy Director Yuan handle Liu Yong’s familiar, attentive enthusiasm?
He felt no smug satisfaction about his position deserving such flattery – Deputy Director Yuan was anxious!
Finally finding time to return home, he missed his father’s hospital check-up.
The old lady had made him pork dumplings. As Yuan Hong Gang ate greedily, before he could put down his chopsticks, his mother spoke:
“Are the dumplings good? Young Liu kneaded this dough today – he’s stronger than your useless mother… You’re eating dumplings made with his effort, while he’s fulfilling your filial duties caring for your father. How can you be so complacent without addressing this?!”
The “Young Liu” she mentioned kept waving his hands, saying it was nothing.
The old lady snapped at Yuan Hong Gang: “You can’t take advantage of honest Liu!”
Anyone unfamiliar with the situation might think Yuan Hong Gang was adopted and “Young Liu” was the old lady’s real son.
“Comrade Liu Yong, please sit down. Let’s talk properly.”
Yuan Hong Gang also felt the debt of gratitude growing. How could he repay it? Better let Liu Yong speak his mind – if it didn’t harm factory interests, he could help.
Hearing Liu Yong was from the countryside, Yuan Hong Gang thought he might want to arrange factory jobs for relatives. State Cotton Mill No. 3 performed well, but with the first batch of workers from its establishment aging, their grown children had to queue for factory positions. The factory wasn’t short of workers.
Some workers in their forties were taking early retirement to make room for their children to enter the factory.
If Liu Yong wanted help getting a factory position, Yuan Hong Gang thought it would be difficult but would try to manage it. The factory only hired workers’ children or those with urban household registration – rural household registration was problematic… Especially since workers demanding housing allocation watched his every move closely.
“Director Yuan, it’s like this. You see, I came to the city to make a living. Without skills or household registration, finding work is difficult, so I thought about becoming self-employed. With the cold weather, street vending is increasingly inconvenient. I want to expand a bit and give relatives something to do, so I thought about opening a shop… I heard the three empty storefronts at 45 Second-Seven Road belong to the Cotton Mill. I was hoping you could help see if the factory would agree to rent them to me for a shop.”
The building on Second-Seven Road?
Yuan Hong Gang remembered it well.
That property had been disputed and sat empty for over a year. Originally, State Cotton Mill No. 3 had a display store there selling their textiles – just for show, as the factory’s production was fully absorbed by the market and exports, leaving no energy for retail operations.
Later, claims emerged that the building was privately owned and the state planned to return it to the original owner. The lonely building stood there, and when considering housing allocation, everyone fought over it, each wanting the standalone building and refusing to compromise. The factory grew frustrated and simply left it vacant… It had been over a year, and if Liu Yong hadn’t mentioned it, Yuan Hong Gang might have forgotten.
He’d heard of private individuals renting from units for business – some quick-moving self-employed people had already opened shops.
Considering whether this could work, Yuan Hong Gang casually asked, “What business do you plan to do?”
“Sell clothing.”
Liu Yong didn’t hide anything. Yuan Hong Gang thought, selling clothes in Shang City?
Clothing factories were everywhere – clothes were the last thing the city lacked, though success required competing in a crowded market. He wanted to advise Liu Yong but feared misunderstanding, so remained silent.
The old lady urged him, “Can’t this be arranged? It’s just sitting empty, and the factory won’t let workers live there. You’re in charge of this – just decide to rent it to Young Liu!”
Yuan Hong Gang shook his head, “Mom, it’s not that simple. I can make decisions for the factory, but there’s a property rights dispute… It’s still unclear who owns the building.”
Yuan Hong Gang was troubled, and Liu Yong saw the difficulty, but he knew Yuan Hong Gang agreed to help. Liu Yong didn’t understand property rights disputes – he just knew city buildings belonged to the state or units like the Cotton Mill. If the Cotton Mill said someone could open a shop, that was that. Going directly to Deputy Director Yuan was the right approach.
With Deputy Director Yuan’s tentative agreement, other matters could be worked out.
Liu Yong had now made himself known to the factory leadership.
The storefronts were three connected units – from the start, Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t considered renting just one. If others saw the clothing business doing well and opened next door, that would be infuriating.
If they were going to rent, they’d rent all three.
When Yuan Hong Gang’s father returned from his hospital check-up, Liu Yong again carried him upstairs. Yuan Hong Gang was truly busy – he only stayed for a plate of dumplings and half an hour’s chat with Liu Yong before leaving.
When Liu Yong next saw Xia Xiao Lan, he told her they had a fifty percent chance of getting the shop space.
“Director Yuan is quite reasonable, not a difficult official to deal with. We’ll likely be able to rent those three shops at 45 Second-Seven Road.”
As Liu Yong said this, Feng Mei Li had gone to pick up her child from school. Xia Xiao Lan and Fen Liu were organizing goods under the eaves. The snow had stopped, and Grandmother Yu had gone out again with her big broom. While sorting clothes, Fen Liu kept glancing toward the door.
Grandmother Yu slowly returned with her broom – Fen Liu had swept her streets again, making her work easy these past days.
Hearing Liu Yong mention 45 Second-Seven Road, Grandmother Yu’s steps faltered.
— There are no favors without reason, so this was the motivation.