Trapped by Your Factory

Inside the car, faced with Senior Official Zhuo's inquiry, Zhao Guoyang gave his answer clearly: he had no thoughts of pursuing further studies in that direction for the time being and still hoped to build a successful career at the factory.

Zhao Guoyang's candor took Senior Official Zhuo quite by surprise.

If it were any other young person, receiving such a promise from a senior official, they would undoubtedly have headed straight for the government organs without looking back.

Seeing that Zhao Guoyang's attitude did not seem feigned, Senior Official Zhuo dropped the subject for the rest of the journey and instead asked about Zhao Guoyang's ambitions for the Hongda Machinery Factory.

Regarding this question, Zhao Guoyang remained rather reserved, avoiding grandiose statements and simply discussing a few short-term goals for the factory, such as increasing sales revenue, boosting profits, and raising the production volume of new products.

Listening to Zhao Guoyang's well-organized and unpretentious words, Senior Official Zhuo nodded inwardly.

……

The journey from Songjiang City back to Jinling City covered a distance of three hundred kilometers, and the car took a full four hours to arrive.

There was no help for it; parts of the Song-Ling Expressway were still under construction, and travel between the two places had to rely on secondary highways, which naturally slowed the pace.

Upon reaching Jinling City, under Director Wang's arrangement, Zhao Guoyang rested for the night at the provincial machinery committee's guesthouse.

The next morning, accompanied by Liu Yaohong, he was picked up by a car from the Guangling City Machinery Committee.

Before leaving, Wang Ziqing specially met with Zhao Guoyang and Liu Yaohong at the machinery committee office. Smiling, he patted Zhao Guoyang's shoulder and said that in a few days, he intended to visit the Hongda Machinery Factory for an inspection and survey.

At this, Zhao Guoyang did not feel any particular abruptness, but tactfully expressed his gratitude to Director Wang.

As for Liu Yaohong standing nearby, upon hearing Director Wang's declaration, he was overjoyed to the point that even after getting into the car, he continued to issue a flurry of instructions to Zhao Guoyang.

The gist of it was that upon returning to the factory, he must report to Director Mu and make thorough preparations for Director Wang's potential inspection.

It had to be said that on this trip to Songjiang, Liu Yaohong was truly stunned by Zhao Guoyang.

He never imagined that this young man's mastery of mechanical engineering would run so deep, to the extent that describing it as miraculous would hardly be an exaggeration.

At present, Liu Yaohong regarded Zhao Guoyang as an absolute treasure.

Although he had not personally witnessed that high-level forum, on the way back to Jinling, Liu Yaohong had listened as Researcher Zhao Siyan recounted every single detail from start to finish.

As a professional cadre without a specialized background, Liu Yaohong viewed matters more intuitively.

In his eyes, titles such as expert, professor, or researcher were mere labels and far less important than actual working capability.

And Zhao Guoyang's capability in this regard undoubtedly surpassed that of many figures holding various academic titles.

Ordinarily, considering the distance, the car should have dropped Director Liu off in Guangling City first, after which Zhao Guoyang would have caught a ride back to Ninghai City by himself.

However, owing to Director Liu's insistence, Zhao Guoyang had to yield to his wishes and let him drop him all the way back to Ninghai City first.

Once they reached Ninghai City, Liu Yaohong's car refused to stop until it had delivered Zhao Guoyang right to the gates of the Hongda Machinery Factory.

At the main entrance of Hongda Machinery Factory, Liu Yaohong cheerfully shook hands with Director Mu and Secretary Zhang, who had hurried over upon hearing the news, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then took his leave.

Before parting, Liu Yaohong did not forget to lavish praise on Zhao Guoyang to Director Mu: "Director Mu, your Hongda Machinery Factory certainly has an eye for talent. A technical cadre as exceptional as Guoyang has been completely secured by your factory."

"Do you know? Even Chairman Mao of the Songqi Group spoke in glowing terms of Zhao Guoyang, saying he wanted to offer him a high salary to stay at Songqi Group..."

Hearing this, Mu Aijun and Zhang Zhizhong looked at each other, both wearing bewildered expressions.

Seeing the two of them looking puzzled and perplexed, Liu Yaohong did not say much more. He raised a finger and pointed at Zhao Guoyang, saying, "As for this matter, Director Mu, you can just ask Guoyang yourselves. I have a meeting this afternoon, so I won't stay any longer..."

Being showered with such exaggerated praise by Director Liu left Zhao Guoyang feeling rather helpless.

Catching the awestruck gazes directed at him by Director Mu and Secretary Zhang out of the corner of his eye, he could only scratch his head and say, "Um, Director Mu, Secretary Zhang, why don't we head back inside the factory first, and I can report to the two of you then?"

To Zhao Guoyang's proposal, Mu Aijun and Zhang Zhizhong naturally gave their immediate assent.

In the factory director's office, Zhao Guoyang roughly recounted the events of his trip to Songjiang to the two leaders.

Upon hearing Zhao Guoyang's report, both leaders gasped inwardly.

"Director, the Songqi Group is a sub-ministerial-level large-scale state-owned enterprise. Chairman Mao must hold a rank above full bureau-level, right?" Zhang Zhizhong asked with a trace of doubt.

Mu Aijun held the highest administrative rank in the entire Hongda Machinery Factory, standing at the full bureau level.

In comparison, strictly speaking, Zhang Zhizhong was only a full department-level cadre enjoying sub-bureau-level treatment.

Moreover, Mu Aijun possessed deep connections, with rumors suggesting he had powerful backing even within the central ministries and commissions. With such an assertive director, Secretary Zhang naturally appeared much more subdued.

Major and minor matters in the factory were basically decided by Mu Aijun, and Zhang Zhizhong followed Mu's lead in all things.

After Zhang Zhizhong posed this question, Mu Aijun nodded and said, "Indeed, the Songqi Group is a sub-ministerial enterprise under the State-owned Enterprises Administration, and its chairman is indeed a sub-ministerial official..."

Having his guess confirmed, Zhang Zhizhong became even more astonished: "A sub-ministerial high-ranking official actually went out of his way to invite our Guoyang to work at their enterprise. This... this is simply incredible."

Just as Zhang Zhizhong finished expressing his amazement, Ma Jian's familiar voice rang out from outside: "Secretary Zhang, there's nothing incredible about it. In Songjiang City, I saw with my own eyes how our Jiangnan Province's Director Wang guarded our Guoyang as if he were protecting a precious treasure..."

Seeing Ma Jian walk in, Zhao Guoyang quickly stood up from the sofa to greet him.

"Alright, no need for formalities, Guoyang, sit down." Ma Jian waved his hand cheerfully, handed out cigarettes to Mu Aijun and Zhang Zhizhong in turn, and finally tossed one to Zhao Guoyang.

After lighting his cigarette, Ma Jian explained to Mu Aijun, "Director, on this trip to Songjiang City to procure the laser spot welding machine, I truly witnessed Guoyang's brilliance. With a few rounds of debate, he left even the manager who had handled imported products for years with no choice but to concede..."

Naturally, Mu Aijun and Zhang Zhizhong had no reason to doubt Ma Jian's words. The two exchanged glances, seeing an undisguised look of shock in each other's eyes.

Faced with the frequent, probing gazes shot at him by the three leaders, Zhao Guoyang blinked, looking thoroughly helpless.

"Well, Director Mu, if there's nothing else, I'd like to head over to the technical department to take a look. During the few days I was away on business, I've no idea how those fifty frames are coming along with the welding..." Zhao Guoyang finally thought of an excuse, stood up, and said.

"Ah, go ahead, go ahead!" Seeing Zhao Guoyang rise to his feet, Mu Aijun snapped back to reality and nodded repeatedly in assent.