After leaving the city hall, Lin Mai went to Puji High School, where she once studied, as promised.
With the help of the principal, Teacher Wang has already recruited all students from the first year of junior high school to the third year of high school back to school.
As soon as Lin Mai arrived, the principal gathered all the students in the playground to listen to her speech.
Lin Mai's speech of about twenty minutes had only one focus.
That is, study hard and serve the motherland.
She was very eloquent and able to inspire people. After a speech, many students were so excited that their hands turned red with excitement.
The principal also kept praising her for speaking well.
After the speech ended, many junior students gathered around Lin Mai and wanted her autograph.
Lin Mai signed autographs for more than a dozen junior students and wanted to leave. She still had things to do.
At this time, a thick notebook filled with English notes stretched out and almost reached her mouth.
Lin Mai cursed in his heart, who was so rude? When he looked up, he saw that it was Mei Jun.
Mei Jun smiled at her: "Classmate Lin Mai, you asked me to study English well, and I did as you asked.
Now my English score ranks among the top fifteen in the class."
Lin Mai praised him a few words, signed his name, and left in a hurry, taking a taxi to inspect the newly built factory.
Whether it's a food factory or a clothing factory, workers are working in an orderly manner.
The factories were quite large in scale, and the venues were certainly not small either. As soon as Lin Mai walked down the street, it was already noon.
As soon as the bell rang, the workers walked towards the canteen in small groups, carrying their lunch boxes, talking and laughing.
Before Lin Mai went to the capital, he didn't have time to arrange work in the canteen.
She was very curious about how Zheng Xudong arranged it, so she asked the two junior cadres from the personnel department who had been accompanying her on the inspection.
The two junior cadres told her one by one that the food in the staff canteen was sold to employees at cost price.
It is very cheap, everyone can afford it, and eat well.
Lin Mai became the focus of everyone's attention as soon as he walked into the cafeteria.
Some old workers cheered: "Mr. Lin is here! Mr. Lin is here!"
Lin Mai smiled and nodded to everyone.
The employees who entered the factory later saw Lin Mai and only dared to say hello in a formal manner.
Those older employees are much more courageous.
After greeting Lin Mai, he asked about when the fund-raising house would be built.
Lin Mai was busy with so many things every day that he forgot about this matter.
But she couldn't tell the truth to the employees, which would be too disappointing for them.
She smiled and said: "I returned to Jiangcheng as soon as the winter vacation came out this time, just to solve two things.
One is to get back the project money that the light factory owes us.
The other thing is to implement the fund-raising housing issue for you.
Anyone who wants to apply for housing should register with the Personnel Department.
Whether you want one bedroom and one living room, two bedrooms and one living room, or three bedrooms and one living room, please register clearly.
We will give you two days to register, and then two days to hand over the funds.
I will spend another two days implementing it, and you will be able to live in a new house next year."
The employees cheered with joy.
Lin Mai smiled gently and said: "Hurry up and grab some food before it gets cold."
When the employees saw her wanting to eat, they made way for her to eat first.
Lin Mai walked to the window and took a look. All kinds of food were indeed very cheap, comparable to the canteen of Qingda University.
But there weren't many good dishes, only one dish of fried pork belly with carrots.
Although a portion of stir-fried pork belly with carrots only costs 35 cents, which is basically the cost price, very few people order it.
People in the 1980s were very thrifty and could not bear to eat meat or vegetables even if they cost a few cents a portion.
Lin Mai didn't eat pork belly, so he ordered a spicy and sour potato shreds and a homemade tofu.
Together with the free sour radish strips pickled by the chef in the cafeteria and two taels of rice, the total cost was thirty-five cents.
At this price, even if a worker eats three meals a day in the staff canteen, it only costs thirty yuan.
In 1983, wages in Jiangcheng had generally risen to fifty or sixty yuan.
Vantone Group has good profits and wages are much higher than those in state-owned enterprises.
Even the janitor uncle and the cleaning lady earn at least sixty or seventy yuan a month.
Not to mention frontline workers, whose monthly salary plus performance bonus is at least seventy or eighty yuan?
This thirty yuan meal money is not stressful for anyone.
Lin Mai walked to a small dining table and ate the food. It tasted pretty good. The heavy oil and red sauce was just the taste of small hotels that everyone liked.
It seems that Zheng Xudong carefully selected the chef.
Gao Yuanzhong came over with food and sat down opposite Lin Mai.
Lin Mai raised his eyes and looked at him: "Are you okay? You didn't get frostbite."
Yesterday, Gao Yuanzhong was soaked by people from the light factory. He arranged for all the other employees who were soaked to go to the hospital, but he never went. He didn't leave until Lin Mai asked everyone to go home.
Lin Mai was still somewhat worried that he would get frostbite after being frozen for such a long time.
Plateau made a gesture to show off his muscles: "It's just a shower, how can you get frostbite!"
He took a bite of pork belly and said, "I just went to the police station to ask for medical expenses."
"What did the police station say?"
"The police station asked me to hand over the receipt for the medical expenses, and they will collect the medical expenses for us within three days."
Lin Mai understood that the police would handle this matter so quickly, probably to appease her.
Give her a little sweetener and make her give up asking for project money.
Lin Mai asked: "How much do you estimate the medical expenses will be?"
Some people on the plateau said: "There are twenty or thirty people who have colds and colds. I have given them all medicines to prevent wind and cold. The course of treatment is every seven days."
The Chinese medicine alone cost about ten yuan per person.
Those suffering from colds and colds also need injections, and the total cost is about two to three hundred yuan.
Although it's not much, the light factory can barely pay wages.
We asked the people who shot us with water cannons to pay ten yuan each, and they were all very embarrassed."
Lin Mai sneered: "You really think this small amount of money comes from those who shot you with water guns!
They are not shooting water cannons at you for personal gain.
They are shooting water cannons at you for the benefit of all workers in the factory, and this small amount of money must have come from the factory."
Gao Yuanzhong muttered: "It doesn't matter who pays for the medical expenses, as long as someone pays for it."
He asked shamelessly: "Mr. Lin went to see the city leaders this morning. Is there any progress?"
Lin Mai shook his head: "No progress."
Then he told Gao Yuanzhong all about his experiences at the city hall.
Gao Yuanzhong said angrily: "Why are the city leaders so protective of the light factory?
Even if the state-owned unit is the biological son of the municipal government, it cannot treat our private factory like this, even refusing to allow us to ask for project funds."
Lin Mai took a mouthful of food and said, "Of course the city doesn't want us to ask for project funds.
Light factories can't even pay wages.
Factory Director Hu had to report to the city for monthly wages, otherwise the workers of the light factory would not have had enough to eat eight hundred years ago.
The light factory cannot even pay wages, so it really has no money to pay for the project.
If we have to pay for the project, Director Hu can only ask for it from above.
The city's finances are so tight, and the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and there are so many places to spend money.
Who is willing to use the money to pay our project payment for the light factory? Of course they want us to give up asking for the project payment!"
Gao Yuanzhong asked worriedly: "Then our project funds will not be returned?"
Lin Mai raised his eyes and said: "Didn't Mr. Chen say that even if the light factory cannot settle the project payment, he can guarantee that our Wantong Real Estate will not suffer losses.
Didn't you ask him what he is going to do to protect our interests?"
As soon as this topic was brought up, Gao Yuanzhong became dejected: "Although I didn't ask Brother Feng, Brother Feng gave me a clear explanation before leaving.
If Director Hu did not pay for the project, he would sell their house and use it as a mortgage to pay for the project.
It's a pity... I'm a soft-spoken person, so I let the people from the light factory move in first."
Lin Mai was speechless. It was because Plateau made a key mistake that made Wantong Real Estate so passive.
She waved her hand: "We have already done something wrong. There is no point in regretting it. You can't be soft-spoken in the future."
Gao Yuanzhong nodded shamefully, and then said: "The superiors don't want us to ask for project funds, and we can't violently kick out the family members of employees who have moved into new houses and are indifferent to the factory director.
Well, then, I'll hire a group of father-in-law and mother-in-law to block the door of the light factory every day to prevent their employees from entering the factory to work.
Force Director Hu to show up and pay us for the project."
Lin Mai shook his head: "This trick is useless, the light factory has almost stopped production.
If you find someone to block their door and prevent employees from going to work, it won't have much impact on them."
There was absolutely nothing I could do on the plateau, and I was frustrated and unwilling to eat.
Lin Mai ate his meal without a bite and said for a long time: "Although it is useless to send old people to block the door of the light factory, it is better than doing nothing.
Whatever you want to do, just do it.
It's best to send a few old ladies to live at Factory Manager Hu's house and drive his wife and children crazy, maybe he will show up."
He didn't even eat in the plateau: "I'll go make arrangements right away." After that, he was about to leave.
Lin Mai stopped him: "There is no hurry at this moment, just eat your food before leaving."
Plateau Zhong then continued to eat.
Zheng Xudong came to the cafeteria to eat after work and saw Lin Mai talking to Gao Yuanzhong.
He came over, smiled and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Lin Mai said to him: "You came just in time, I have something to tell you."
Zheng Xudong sat down on her right hand and asked, "What do you want Mr. Lin to give you?"
Lin Mai glanced at the employees present: "The lunch and overtime meals are free for front-line employees."
Gao Yuanzhong and Zheng Xudong were both stunned.
Zheng Xudong smiled sarcastically and said: "The total number of workers in the factory now totals about two to three thousand.
Even if we only provide one free working meal every day, it will cost more than 300 yuan a day.
Nearly 10,000 a month, 120,000 a year, which is not a small amount.
I think it’s enough to sell working meals to employees at cost price, it doesn’t need to be free.”
Lin Mai insisted: "Frontline employees do the hardest work and work overtime at every turn.
They have created value for the company, so aren’t they even entitled to free work meals?
Don't focus on the meal money.
If front-line employees can eat well without spending any money, they will work better.
The value created by this will be far greater than the value of the free work meals the company pays for them."
Linmai stipulates that the free breakfast provided to front-line employees must include meat buns and soy milk.
There must be a meat dish and an egg for each person at noon.