Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

Xu Damao glanced at the crowd and found that Li Huaide was nowhere to be seen. "Has anyone seen our factory director?"

Everyone checked and said they were not in the same team. When everyone was discussing where Li Huaide had gone, a car horn sounded at the factory gate. After the security guard confirmed it, he let several cars in directly.

Soon the car door opened, Li Huaide got out first and went to the back to open the car door, and soon several leaders of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry got out. Li Huaide's father-in-law, Vice Minister Wang, and the big leader in the play, Vice Minister Zhao, were also there, but the leader was a gray-haired, energetic old man, this was the minister, Xu Damao remembered that his surname should be Chen.

As for how Xu Damao knew, it was that they had met at xxhai and had a meeting together.

No one expected that their factory director would not only go directly to the department, but also invite all the leaders of the department. However, Deputy Factory Director Wu still hurriedly took everyone to greet him.

After a round of greetings, Li Huaide pointed at Xu Damao who was sitting in the corner and said, "Leader, this is the inventor of the speed-changing bicycle, Xu Damao, the head of the Propaganda Department."

Deputy Minister Zhao said: "Oh, the young man is good. He can invent things at such a young age. But how do you employ people, Xiao Li? Such a young and promising young man should obviously work in the technical department!"

Xu Damao was not embarrassed and walked up to shake hands with the leaders. He also helped Li Huaide explain, "Dear leaders, I used to be a projectionist in the Propaganda Department, and I have been working in the Propaganda Department since then. Last time I chatted with several factory directors, I had some ideas in my mind, and I tinkered with it for a while and finally made something."

Minister Chen didn't say a word since he came in, he just stared at Xu Damao. The more he looked, the more familiar he seemed. Although Xu Damao was wearing a mask at the time, his figure and voice could not be changed.

Minister Chen turned around and whispered a few words to his secretary, who nodded and left.

"This is not the place to talk. We have seen everything in the ministry. Let's go to the meeting room first." Deputy Minister Wang said.

"Yes, yes, it's my negligence. Why don't we go to the private room to eat first." Li Huaide also said.

Minister Chen said: "There is no need to go to the cafeteria, but we still need to eat. No one can send hungry soldiers. Let's have someone deliver the food directly to the meeting room. Time is precious, so let's eat while we have the meeting."

Li Huaide quickly arranged for Xu Dabao, who had been reinstated, to return to the cafeteria, and specifically told him not to order small stir-fries but just the big pot dishes cooked by Nan Yi.

After receiving the order, Xu Dabao trotted to the cafeteria. This was something that would allow him to show off in front of his superiors, and doing it well would make his position more secure.

Soon, the superiors, senior steel rolling workers and Xu Damao gathered in the conference room. Coincidentally, Xu Dabao also brought lunch boxes with the canteen staff.

Minister Chen took a lunch box and said, "Since the meal has arrived, let's eat first. It is said that your steel mill has a good chef. Today is a good opportunity for me to try him."

The lunch box contained pork stewed with vermicelli and a lot of beans. Of course, it was basically just some minced meat, but there were quite a lot of vermicelli and beans.

Minister Chen took a bite of the dish, put it into his mouth, chewed it slowly and swallowed it. "You know what, even though there's not much meat, the dish tastes pretty good. It seems like your steel mill does have some talented people!"

Other leaders also praised the meal, while Minister Chen's secretary and his entourage had dinner next door.

Minister Chen was not only efficient in his work, but also very fast at eating. He glanced at everyone who had not finished eating and said, "You don't have to get up and continue eating. I'm going to walk around the corridor outside to help digest the food."

The secretary knew the minister's habits and had been waiting outside. When he saw the minister come out, he went straight up to him and whispered something in his ear. The minister's eyes lit up, thinking that his guess was correct. This Xu Damao was most likely the 'Mr.'

The minister was in a good mood. He lit a cigarette and thought about things quietly.

Ten minutes later, Minister Chen returned to the conference room. By then everyone had finished eating and the conference room had been cleaned up.

Minister Chen sat in the first seat and spoke first: "Everyone already knows why we are here this time, so let's discuss the issue of the speed-changing bicycle. Xiao Li, you are the host, so you go first."

Li Huaide was actually a little nervous. Usually he only reported work to his father-in-law. This was his first time meeting Minister Chen.

"Leaders, this technology is not very advanced and is not suitable for large-scale promotion, so I want to keep it in our city and the steel mill. Currently, bicycles are in short supply across the country, and our city, as the capital, still does not have its own bicycle factory, which is very unfavorable to the city's reputation. I think people across the country will think of our city when they mention speed-shifting bicycles."

"After the expansion, our steel mill has tens of thousands of workers, and various types of work, equipment and workshops are relatively complete, which enables us to quickly put into production and transform this technological achievement into finished products. On behalf of all our steel mill owners, I would like to ask the leaders to entrust this task to us and believe in the strength of our steel mill."

"Everyone, please feel free to share any ideas you have! Let's speak freely today."

"Just like Huaide said, the conditions at the steel rolling mill are unique and can be used for a pilot project. This technology is not one that needs to be popularized. On the contrary, I think we can use the finished products to export and earn foreign exchange. Don't foreign countries like these strange and eccentric things? We can make appropriate investments in the domestic market and see how the response is before deciding whether to expand production." Vice Minister Wang naturally spoke for his son-in-law.

Vice Minister Zhao said: "Why don't we choose the three major factories from the beginning? They have greater production capacity and more skilled workers."

"The three major brands of bicycles they produce are now widely accepted by everyone and in short supply. They don't have extra capacity to produce variable-speed bicycles. Piloting in the steel mill and then building a factory can not only provide more jobs, but also help raise the international profile of our city."

"Okay," Minister Chen finally spoke after seeing them arguing endlessly, "Since you, Old Wang, support us, let's do a pilot project at the steel mill first. If the product sells well, we can build a branch factory. Sijiu City really should have a bicycle factory."

Li Huaide was overjoyed when he heard this. In fact, his bottom line was that no matter where the production was done, the steel rolling mill must have a share. Now the steel rolling mill was allowed to produce exclusively, how could he not be happy!

Li Huaide immediately stood up and said, "Please rest assured, leaders. On behalf of tens of thousands of workers in the entire steel rolling mill, I guarantee that the task will be completed resolutely and successfully."

All the leaders of the steel mill also stood up together, "We promise to complete the task successfully!"

"Okay, everyone please go away first. I want to talk to Comrade Xu alone." Minister Chen said.

When Xu Damao heard this, he knew that Minister Chen must have noticed something, but he was not panicked at all. There was nothing in this world that could scare him.

When the two deputy ministers heard that their boss wanted to talk alone, they took the lead and walked out. Li Huaide was cautious and walked at the end. He was slowly closing the door. He wanted to hear what Minister Chen would say to Xu Damao.

"Sir, you made us look so hard!"

Li Huaide almost fell to the ground. Minister Chen actually called Xu Damao Mr.! He was so scared that he quickly closed the door and chased after the main force.