Siheyuan: Taking over the steel mill

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Su Chen, the director of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill?"

Su Chen nodded slightly and asked, "When can we have a formal interview?"

The reporter replied: "Anytime, anywhere, just please wait a moment for us to adjust the machine."

So he found a seat and settled down waiting for the filming to begin. Occasionally, he could feel people looking at him - there were very few men in this era who dared to pay so much attention to their appearance, so he attracted many people's curious glances.

In particular, Su Chen also managed two industries at the same time: a steel rolling mill and a tractor factory, which made him stand out from the crowd.

In comparison, other private enterprise leaders are not as attractive as him; on the one hand, their appearance is not as good as their peers, and on the other hand, their career achievements cannot reach Su Chen's.

As a result, the entire evening's show became Su Chen's solo performance stage.

Soon after all the preparations before the live broadcast were completed, the camera lens turned to the designated position. The staff instructed Su Chen to sit within the camera range, opposite the host who was responsible for asking questions, and Yang Xue was on standby in case of emergency.

After a brief communication and confirmation with the photographer, they entered the 3, 2, 1 timing preparation, and the host began the program's opening speech facing the camera.

"Good evening, audience friends. Welcome to the evening report of Sijiucheng. Tonight we are honored to invite Director Su Chen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, this outstanding corporate leader, as our special guest!"

After the host's lively words, Su Chen also smiled and greeted the camera.

The promotion of this program started early. Even though the time for notification from the leaders was limited, the TV station responded quickly and carried out a lot of pre-promotion work on multiple platforms. This also made many people now keep a close eye on the live broadcast, not wanting to miss any details.

After a brief introduction, the reporter pointed the microphone at Su Chen and asked, "Excuse me, are you aware of the fact that the safety gas cylinders produced by the steel rolling mill are used as drugs in Camel Country?"

The TV reporter had not communicated with the leaders of the Ministry of Labor in advance, so the first question was straightforward.

Faced with this sharp question, Su Chen immediately defended his identity as an entrepreneur: "This is the first time I've heard of this. The safety gas cylinders we produce have never been used for such dangerous purposes. Camel Country's behavior of changing it to ** really forces me to strongly condemn it!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for whether the gas cylinder is safe or not, it's like a kitchen knife - it was originally a tool for cutting vegetables and chopping meat. If someone uses it to commit a crime, it doesn't mean that the maker is at fault. What Camel Country needs is the safe gas cylinder we make."

The reporter was a little surprised to hear this logical response. He thought he would emphasize the safety of the product or simply acknowledge its use; however, the private entrepreneur in front of him chose to compare it to a kitchen knife. In desperation, the reporter decided to change the topic: "Your answer is very interesting, so let's talk about something else. We received news that Ethiopia uses your factory's tap water pipes as gun barrels. What do you think about this?"

The reporter tried to avoid dwelling too much on the gas tank issue, after all, Su Chen's answer was very clear. So, the other party immediately gave his own opinion: "As mentioned before, we produce high-quality seamless steel pipes, and the flow rate optimization design is specially set inside. As for its use, it is the user's independent decision, and our factory cannot interfere."

Su Chen once again used his previous arguments to answer the reporter. At this time, many residents in the whole city were watching this interview on live TV. Su Chen's witty and humorous answers left a deep impression on everyone. People looked at him with admiration and said, "Look at this factory director's eloquence. This gas tank can play such a powerful role. It's hard to believe that he claimed that he didn't know!" Another person also said, "But then again, the production of gas tanks is really similar to the production of kitchen knives. How the user uses it has nothing to do with the manufacturer."

Su Chen's series of remarks attracted widespread attention in the city of Beijing. The originally unremarkable talk show became very attractive because of his words, and the number of viewers increased rapidly.

The reporter noticed the director's hurried gesture and had to continue questioning Su Chen.

On the TV screen, Su Chen continued to explain his private factory policy and answered patiently. The audience in front of the TV was discussing it. Many factory employees were watching the program attentively, as if it was the most interesting thing for them in the day.

When Su Chen talked about the factory's production content, a worker got angry and slammed his chopsticks on the table, shouting: "That steel rolling mill is basically a ** factory. What is he talking about?"

"The seamless water pipes produced there are clearly being made into gun barrels."

Another worker seconded the proposal, "That's right. I worked at the ** factory for a while, and what Director Su said is simply nonsense."

Originally, Su Chen intended to make people mistakenly believe that their steel mill was a law-abiding private manufacturing plant, but after the spread of this statement, most viewers were certain that the steel mill was actually a ** factory.

As the first outstanding private business owner interviewed in China, his appearance on the show undoubtedly attracted the attention of many people familiar with national strategies. When they first saw Su Chen's young and bright appearance, many people even shook their heads and sighed: How could such a person be qualified for this position? However, when they heard what he said, they suddenly realized that this might be the overall situation of the country.

An elderly man with white hair analyzed it this way: "The country is making a blatant move, pushing Suchen into the public eye as a distraction. How could such a conspicuous object as a steel mill not attract people's attention? These lies told by Suchen must have a deeper meaning, telling us to know these **."

Another elder nodded and said, "At first he seemed a little uncomfortable, but this young man is quite courageous. He has done a lot of business and even sold it overseas. To be able to do this, there must be support from the country. It seems that all these measures have been arranged. I also want to support the steel mill and buy one of their electric fans."

After hearing the explanations of the two old men, the others nodded in agreement.

A younger elder asked, "Why does Red Star Steel Mill only sell fans in China? What about other products?"

Someone booed, "This may be part of the national security strategy. Don't make a fuss. Not everyone can afford this kind of product. Look at the huge size of the Camel gas tank. Do you want to try it at home?"

The young elder immediately agreed and said, "That makes sense. I don't dare to use that kind of gas tank. An electric fan is more suitable."

At this moment, almost everyone's discussion center was the Red Star Steel Mill. Su Chen's goal of attending the interview this time had basically been achieved; although in the eyes of the public, the ** factory and the steel mill were almost equated, and he did not eliminate everyone's misunderstanding during the interview, but deepened this understanding, and he himself was completely unaware of this.

After Su Chen appeared on TV, the employees of the steel mill heard the news and quickly turned on the TV to watch the show. Almost all the employees in the steel mill stared at Su Chen on TV intently. A technical backbone said: "I didn't expect that our factory director is actually quite handsome. You can't tell normally. How come he looks so good in front of the TV camera this time."

Another technical backbone laughed and said, "The factory director is going to appear on TV, so he has to dress decently. He can't be covered in grease like us in the workshop." Su Chen's answer on TV and the helpless look on the reporter's face made the employees laugh and commented, "Our factory director still speaks in the same tone as usual. Who can believe him?"

Another person echoed, "You see, the factory director always brags to us that our steel mill is a private enterprise. How can a private enterprise do this? It's obviously a government-owned factory!" The workers nearby nodded in agreement, because they all felt that the products produced by this factory did fall within the scope of the ** project. However, in order to save the factory director's face, everyone discussed it privately but did not point it out in public.

What Su Chen didn't expect was that the identity of the company he had believed in was already questioned by the employees; they even regarded the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill as a potential ** department factory! If he knew this, he would be so angry that he would want to settle accounts with everyone. But at this time, Su Chen knew nothing about his colleagues' thoughts and was still immersed in the process of communicating with reporters.

The main purpose of the entire program was to promote the relevant policies of the Ministry of Labor. In addition to Su Chen, who was interviewed, there were several other corporate representatives, but their attention was obviously not as high as Su Chen. When the host saw another reporter approaching Su Chen to ask questions, he immediately spoke up to help Su Chen relieve the pressure. "This program is about interviews with all ** company leaders. It should not only focus on Mr. Su. There are still many topics worth discussing about the policies and measures of the Ministry of Labor."

Following the host's advice, the reporter had to give up his barrage of questions to Su Chen and talk to other people instead. The host secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that Su Chen would reveal more surprising opinions. The program was fast and compact, and ended successfully in just half an hour.

During this half hour, Su Chen was more like a member of the audience watching silently in the second half of the interview. Fortunately, this period of time was not long, and Su Chen had a little time to relax and plan some work for the next step, and it ended quickly.

When the camera was turned off, there was a burst of jubilation and everyone felt relieved. This type of live broadcast is not common in the mainland, and this is also the first attempt by a local TV channel. Fortunately, this first demonstration received good feedback and significantly increased the number of viewers.