Chapter 75: A Grand Opening

Li Xian discovered that a man's posture is indeed closely related to the thickness of his wallet. With the sudden addition of hundreds of thousands of yuan, he felt a mysterious confidence in everything he did, even the way he urinated seemed to be a little more assertive.

However, there were also problems. For the first time in his life, Li You refused to give up the travel bag filled with money. As he put it, "Rather than letting you mess around with it or use it to supply toilet paper, I'd rather keep it myself. In case your factory fails, at least we have a backup."

Li Xian tried to reason with him, using historical and contemporary examples to explain the principle of no investment, no return.

Unfortunately, Li You wasn't swayed by his son's arguments. According to his own logic, once money was earned, it had to be saved. Good times were accumulated, and risks should be avoided.

Faced with Li You's firm refusal, holding onto the money with a "I won't reason, I don't want to be reasonable! There's no logic to discuss now! I don't care about dignity, generosity, or anything but money" attitude, Li Xian was quite helpless.

Eventually, with no other options, Li Xian turned to Li Daoyun.

Li Daoyun, using his cane and his "I'll die right here if you don't give me the money!" technique, perfectly demonstrated the Li family's dynamic where the big fish eats the small fish.

After holding the money for just five hours, it was returned to Li Xian.

He immediately split the money into two parts: 100,000 yuan was deposited into the Agricultural Credit Union, and 72,000 yuan was allocated for the factory's operational funds.

The first expenditure of these funds was to clear all the overdue wages owed to the factory workers.

For the second time in his life, Li Xian experienced the correlation between a man's posture and the thickness of his wallet. After paying off the six-month overdue wages, the workers no longer treated him with the indifference they had before.

Wherever he went in the factory, they greeted him warmly with "Factory Director Li."

With the money, the previous plan for the sales department went unchallenged. Chen Shulin and several sales staff immediately went to Banye Forestry Bureau, the county, and surrounding areas. They began channel development with urban-rural cooperatives, supply and marketing cooperatives, and wholesale departments.

With enough funds to sustain production, the factory began full-scale operations. About a hundred workers were divided into two shifts, implementing a 16-hour workday with continuous production.

As raw materials like wood pulp and cotton pulp were continuously fed into the production line, the white toilet paper rolled out in large sheets from the paper machines, was cut into rolls, and packaged with "Xinhua Paper Industry" labels.

In a few days, the previously empty factory was now filled to the brim with towering stacks of toilet paper.

On the other side, the sales department also made significant progress. Under the aggressive sales strategy, they secured deals with the Banye Forestry Bureau, the county, and surrounding four counties including Tielin and Hailin, as well as most channels in Beilin City.

The timing was now perfect!

On November 2nd, the eighth day of the lunar month, a good day for starting and signing contracts. It was a date that neither two months before nor two months later could match.

Although it was only a few days before the start of winter, the day was sunny and exceptionally clear. Li Xian stood at the entrance, smiling as he awaited the auspicious time of 10:15, which Li Daoyun had calculated, and chatted with the well-wishers who had come to congratulate him.

For such a significant event, everyone from the rest home was present, even those who were able to move, including Wang Linhe, who had been troubled by rheumatism, came with the support of Wu Shengli to join in the celebration.

Yang Hongshan from the tile factory, Cai Wencheng from the cement factory, several villagers from the Ba Jiu Linchang, and Wang Qinghe from the decoration team were all waiting at the entrance for Li Xian to unveil the plaque.

Aside from the Li couple who were busy selling grain at the forest farm, everyone else in the family was present. Even Li Pi, who was still in school, took a special leave to support his second brother.

Seeing the crowd in front of the door, Li You sighed, "Damn it, such a big event, and only a dozen or so people showed up. It's embarrassing..."

"Dad," Li Jie, who had been arranged by Li Xian in the factory's finance office, was displeased with her father's endless complaints, "It's a happy day today, so just keep quiet."

Recently, Li You felt embarrassed about going back to the forest farm, and with the nursery no longer having much to do, he had stayed at the rest home. The whole family was at the bureau, which made Li Pi very happy. He ran to the rest home every weekend, and the dormitory seemed like a second Li family home.

Li Pi, the youngest in the family, echoed his third sister, "Yeah, Dad, just say less today. It's my second brother's grand opening. As long as our family is here, it doesn't matter if others come or not!"

"Why say that?" Li You sighed again, "There's no atmosphere, and it's not presentable?"

Just as Li You was feeling dejected, a BJ212 slowly drove up and stopped at the factory gate. After a moment's hesitation, the door opened, and Xu Chaoyang got out from the back seat.

Seeing Li Xian among the crowd, Xu Chaoyang walked over quickly.

"Ah, Director Xu. What brings you here?" Li Xian immediately approached him upon seeing the visitor.

It was clear that Xu Chaoyang was still troubled by the previous incident. He waved his hand and said, "I didn't come intentionally. I was passing by on official business and saw the commotion, so I stopped by to have a look."

Whether he was telling the truth or not, Li Xian quickly took out a handful of candy and said, "Director Xu, since you're here, please come in and sit for a while."

Xu Chaoyang hesitated for a moment, took a piece of candy, peeled off the wrapper, and put it in his mouth. The overly sweet candy did help lessen the bitterness in his mouth.

He really hadn't come intentionally.

Two days earlier, the Provincial Forestry Group's party committee had called, reporting that the Banye Forestry Bureau's sale of bureau-owned enterprises had been reported, and the provincial authorities were considering it. An investigation team was expected soon, and Xu Chaoyang was asked to prepare.

His actions had no precedent in the entire forestry region. Although policies had changed, the provincial forestry still played a crucial role in the national plan, and his actions were not the same as Zhao Guang's.

Despite numerous inquiries, Xu Chaoyang could not determine the nature of the investigation, its targets, or who had reported him, nor which interests had been affected by the reform of the bureau's enterprises.

This made him exceptionally anxious and uneasy.

Chewing the candy, Xu Chaoyang, with his hands on his hips, looked at the newly renovated paper factory, the production line that hadn't stopped even during the grand opening, and the factory chimney emitting white smoke, with muscles in his face twitching.

After a while, he said, "Do a good job," and without further looking at Li Xian, he greeted Wang Linhe and got back in the car, leaving.

Watching the 212 drive away, Li Xian scratched his head in confusion.

As he pondered Xu Chaoyang's intentions, Li Daoyun, who had specially changed into a new coat for the occasion, reminded him that it was time.

Putting aside his doubts, Li Xian went to the factory gate. In front of everyone, he pulled off the red silk covering the plaque.

A gentle breeze lifted the red silk, which fluttered in the air as Li Xian, excited, looked on. Meanwhile, Li Pi finally struck a match and lit the firecrackers.

Amidst the crackling sounds, the large characters "Banye Forestry Bureau Xinhua Paper Industry" on the factory gate plaque stood out prominently under the bright sun and smoky haze.