Chapter 54: Reorganization (Part 1)

  The first watch

  Just as Shen Huai was about to close the door, Jinzi squeezed in through the gap; Shen Huai smiled at Chen Dan who came over to pull Jinzi away and said: "It's okay, anyway I have to support it even if it lives in the old house, now it's just cultivating feelings..."

  "It's really strange, it seems that Jīnzi has also taken a liking to Secretary Shěn. Chén Dān heard Shěn Huái say that he wanted to cultivate feelings with the dog, and she smiled sweetly, her face inexplicably flushing again. Looking at Jīnzi poking its head out from the door crack to lick her hand, she lazily patted its head and didn't bother with this lively dog."

  Looking at Shen Hua stroking Jinzi's smooth neck, they turned and entered the house together. Chen Dan still felt strange in her heart. To a stranger like Jinzi who was timid as a mouse, how could she suddenly become so close to Shen Hua? Was it really fate?

  Unable to think of a solution, Chen Dan rubbed her swollen forehead and turned back into the house to wash up and go to bed.

  Chen Danping rarely slept so late, and should have been exhausted to the extreme, but today's events made her change into pajamas, squeeze into a quilt with Xiao Li, yet she couldn't fall asleep.

  The scenes that happened during the day and the palpitations and panic that Shen Hua gave her just now were replaying in her mind one after another like a running light.

  In a daze, she fell into a dreamy sleep, while Shen Hua's face appeared and disappeared vaguely. Her consciousness was clear, but it wasn't until she heard Jinzi calling from outside the door that Chen Dan suddenly woke up...

  The sky outside the window was already bright, Chen Dan picked up the plum blossom watch on her dresser and took a look, it was already six thirty. She leaned back in bed, trying to recall what she had dreamed about, what Shen Hui had done to her in the dream, but it was completely forgotten; only this dream made her feel limp and weak, yet there was an indescribable comfort.

  Chen Dan hastily woke up the still fast asleep Xiao Li, hearing Jinzi crying outside the door, opened it to see Shen Hua and Jinzi sitting on the cement steps in front of the house, eating meat buns together.

  Jinzi was probably dissatisfied with the half bun that Shen Hua had handed over to it, which only had a bun skin but no filling, and it whimpered in protest there.

  The cool autumn weather, Shen Huai only wore a single shirt, with sweat stains on his back, revealing the faint outline of his trapezius muscles, looking very good, apparently just returned from running with Jinzi.

  It wasn't until then that Chen Dan noticed a plastic bag hanging from the doorknob, containing steamed buns, fried dough sticks and soy milk for breakfast. She had originally planned to prepare breakfast for Shen Huan, but ended up oversleeping.

  Shen Hua and Jinzi were eating baozi with relish, and she couldn't help but purse her lips and smile as she leaned against the door watching them.

  Shen Huai heard the commotion outside and saw Chen Dan's face still had a sleepy look, her pale face was spotless, but her sleepwear was too conservative, although it was tight at the chest, it didn't reveal anything, the sleepwear was a bit short at the waist, revealing a small piece of skin, as white as jade.

  Shen Huai said, "Shouldn't Little Li get up and go to school? By the way, that room, if there's no other use for it in town, just leave it for me. I'll probably be spending a lot of time at the steel factory every day, so it's convenient for me to rest here too."

  "Alright, you're the secretary, and I'm just a small fry like this, so I have to listen to your instructions..." Chen Dan said with a smile, her face soft and sweet.

  Shen Hua asked again: "The reception station of Zhen is affiliated with the Party and Government Office. Is your staff still in the Party and Government Office?"

  "Hmm," Chen Dan tilted her head and asked, "What's wrong?"

  Shen Huai said: "The reception station is an outsourced entity, you, and He Yuelian, may also have others, are all occupying the town's quota. Next, we need to clean up this area. I'll tell you in advance, if you want to scold me, scold me twice now to vent your anger; you also know that what needs to be done in the township is to turn against each other and not recognize people." He joked again, "If you're worried about having no food to eat, as long as you don't eat more than gold..."

  "Go," Chen Danjiao said with a pout, "if I don't take up the town's quota, I won't be able to eat myself?"

  Chen Dan wasn't worried at all about being laid off, and instead seemed pleased, with a hint of coquetry in her expression. Shen Huan's heart skipped a beat as he looked at her, and he subconsciously touched his nose, saying: "If you have time later, can you help me pick up some spare clothes from the old mansion? Haipeng and Chen Tong should have moved all my stuff there by now."

  Chen Dan took the breakfast in her hand, smiled gently, and didn't say that she would be removed from the town's personnel roster for cleaning up, and would no longer be considered a town employee. Her expression had a gentleness that was not seen before.

  Jinzi couldn't eat the filling of the baozi on Shen Hua's side, so he jumped over to Chen Dan's side and poked his head into the plastic bag, causing Chen Dan to hastily retreat into the house.

  Shen Huai tilted his head in puzzlement: Yesterday she was still so sensitive and jumped away, but today she's acting as if nothing happened? He thought to himself that women were just impossible to understand.

  Listening to Chen Dan and Xiao Li talking inside, Jinzi wagged his tail and went in. Shen Hua returned to the dormitory to make a phone call with Tan Qiping.

  Yesterday's events ended late at night; but it would be inappropriate to report this matter to Tan Qiping too late, or let Tan Qiping learn about it from other channels first.

  Tan Qiping is a diligent and energetic person who has the habit of starting work early in his study. Shen Hua called him to report on what happened yesterday, briefly and concisely.

  "Uh-huh, I see," Tan Qiping said, "I'll probably need to wait another half month before going to Donghua. You and Xiong Wenbin can go ahead and break the ground first, that's fine..."

  The level of the town is after all a bit lower, even if something goes wrong, it won't be directly exposed to the province. Tan Qiping doesn't worry that Donghua will lose the support of the province because of some incident, and Shen Huai's tough attitude in Meixi Town can help him pry open a gap in Donghua's cover.

  Tan Qiping was also satisfied with the handling of Xiong Wenbin: for now, he had not officially taken office at Donghua University, and unless absolutely necessary, there was no need to formally confront Gao Tianhe or Wu Haifeng.

  Tan Qiping is currently not dissatisfied with Shen Hua in any way. If there's anything to worry about, it's whether Shen Hua has the ability to manage a large-scale steel enterprise well. However, he's not too worried, as Meixi Steel Factory has already reached that point, and if things go wrong, Tan Qiping is confident that he can take over for Shen Hua.

  After reporting to Tan Qiping, Shen Hua changed his clothes and went to the steel plant.

  At this time, the streets are already crowded with cars and people, buying vegetables at the market, sending children to school, rushing to work in distant factories, and exercising early. The short section of Xuetang Street to the south is also bustling with people.

  From the dormitory of the town to the south to the steel plant, many residents along the street are employees of the steel plant, including the onlookers yesterday, who are mostly family members of the employees.

  After experiencing the events of yesterday, they also knew the new director of Mei Xi Steel Factory. Most of them were simple-minded and didn't know much about what was going on behind the scenes, thinking that Mayor Gao Tianhe's appearance to calm things down was the people's government standing up for justice. But in their hearts, they had also accepted this new director, full of hope that he could bring a turnaround to the steel factory; when they saw Shen Huai on the road, they frequently greeted him.

  Although it was still some time before work hours, Shen Hua rushed to the factory early, and the news quickly spread throughout the workers' residential area. When Shen Hua arrived at the main gate of the steel plant, which is located at the intersection of Xuetang Street and Steel Factory Road, more than a dozen workers wearing their uniforms hurried over, wanting to show off in front of Shen Hua.

  Among them was Hu Zhigang, who performed very actively yesterday and left a deep impression on Shen Hui.

  Shen Hua stood at the factory gate, pulled Hu Zhigang and said: "Oh, I'll be entering the production area soon, but I don't have a work uniform or safety helmet. You're about my size, can you help me out and lend me a set to send to the factory office?"

  Hu Zhigang didn't say another word and rode his bicycle back home to help Shen Huai fetch her work uniform.

  Shen Hua arrived at the factory office, Zhao Dong followed the municipal steel plant and came out, Xu Xiting, who was hired as the deputy chief engineer of Meixi Steel Plant, had already rushed over from the city, earlier than him; several deputy factory directors and heads of various departments did not see anyone coming.

  Shen Huai was very familiar with Xu Xiting. When he first started working at the municipal steel factory, Xiong Wenbin assigned Xu Xiting as his master.

  Xu Xiting's technical level is very high, but his personality is a bit soft.

  In the steel industry, most workers in the workshop are rough men with strong personalities. Those who are not tough enough will find it difficult to take on production management roles. This is also one of the reasons why Xu Xiting was unable to get promoted at the municipal steel factory despite being able to get along with both sides.

  After Xu Xiting went to Meixi Steel Plant, he was also unable to bring his technical advantages into play, and the factors involved were even more complicated.

  If Xu Xiting's technical level is brought out and a batch of qualified engineers are trained, the annual design capacity of Meixi Steel Plant will not be able to play even 40%.

  "Director Xu, hello! I'm glad to finally meet you," said Shen Hua, as he quickly walked over to where Xu Xiting and Zhao Dong were standing in front of the factory office building. He shook hands with Xu Xiting and continued, "Zhao Dong has been suggesting that we get together for a while now, but since my appointment as Vice Secretary of Meixi Town was confirmed, I've been putting off meeting you because the steel plant's situation wasn't settled yet. Yesterday was all about formalities, so today is our official introduction..."

  Xu Xiting hastily shook Shen Huai's hand.

  Although Zhao Dong mentioned several times that before Shen Hui officially joined the company, they should meet and communicate with each other, Xu Xiting kept putting it off. He was afraid that after Shen Hui arrived at Meixi Town, he would not be able to grasp the situation of the steel plant and drag him into the pit as well.

  Xu Xiting couldn't sleep all night after seeing Shen Hua's tough attitude that made even the mayor bow his head, worried that Shen Hua had a grudge against him and would purge him along with other steel plant management.

  At this moment, seeing Shen Huan take the initiative to shoulder the responsibility that he had not been able to meet before, Xu Xiting's heart was also burning with anxiety, and his previous worries were all gone.

  To be honest, Zhao Dong was also worried that Shen Hui would have an opinion about Xu Xiting and not value his technical level, but seeing Shen Hui proactively eliminate Xu Xiting's tension and worry towards him, he knew that his previous worries were unnecessary.

  "As for the problems existing in Mei Xi Steel Factory, Xu Gong told Zhao Dong a lot, and Zhao Dong also fed back to me truthfully,"

  Shen Huai still didn't know where his office was, and from yesterday afternoon to evening, he sat in the conference room on the first floor of the factory building, chatting with Xu Xiting and Zhao Dongxian.

  "What I said yesterday wasn't just talk, when we hold the staff meeting, you'll also go up on stage to give a presentation. Of course, I believe in your abilities, Zhao Dong and Director Xiong both think highly of your technical skills, and I trust their judgment. It's not suitable to hold a staff meeting immediately before understanding the situation clearly. Before that, I'd like to temporarily appoint you as acting chief engineer, with Zhao Dong temporarily serving as your assistant. You two should review the steel plant's technical foundation again, see how much potential we can tap into, and establish a clear target for our future production adjustments..."

  Xu Xiting is not the best candidate for the position of general manager, but currently there is no one more suitable than Xu Xiting. Zhao Dong's technical skills are not inferior to Xu Xiting and he is more suitable for management work, but after all, he is still not familiar with the steel plant.

  The technical strength of Meixi Steel Plant is very weak, and it needs a relatively long period to cultivate by itself. The most convenient way is to dig people directly from the municipal steel plant through Zhao Dong - before Shen Hua gets the recognition of the steel plant workers, he does not plan to promote him to the position immediately, so as to avoid the management layer of the steel plant being divided into two factions, Meixi Steel and Municipal Steel, in the future.

  Xu Xiting was still hesitating about whether to speak out his own suggestion, which might be rejected, when Shen Hua unexpectedly grasped the key point of production rectification and directly pointed out the crux.

  Xu Xiting didn't think Shen Hua had experience managing a steel factory, but rather that Shen Hua had been following Zhao Dong's advice from the start. He thought to himself, since the new factory director trusted Zhao Dong so much, it seemed like he could really do something, and so he agreed.