Chapter 106: A Drastic Change at Beilin Paper Mill

Through Kaja's translation, Li Xian learned that Alyosha was a member of the Chita Economic Committee. Since they had just met, Alyosha seemed to be cautious about revealing too much personal information and instead focused on probing Li Xian.

In response to his questions, Li Xian casually told a lie, claiming that he was a procurement officer for a private trading company from China, visiting Chita to explore the market.

During their conversation, Li Xian intentionally or unintentionally hinted that his company was looking for business opportunities. Upon hearing Li Xian's identity and purpose, Alyosha became more interested.

After about ten minutes of discussion, Alyosha's colleagues joined the conversation.

Faced with the group's probing questions, Li Xian pretended to realize that he had spoken too much and shifted the topic to trivial matters about Russian customs and local color.

Half an hour later, citing safety concerns in Chita at night, Li Xian took his leave with Wang Tielin and Kaja.

Over the next two days, Li Xian secretly inspected factories around Chita during the day, while at night he continued to dress in fine clothes, frequenting clubs and making a show of wealth to build connections.

In just three days, many of Chita's upper-class knew about a Chinese private trader who was lavish with US dollars and was aimlessly seeking business operations in Chita.

Li Xian's unusual behavior left Xu Maoheng baffled. His batch of down jackets had already been sold, and he was now focused on finding a way to ship the twenty motorcycles he had exchanged for back to China.

The train between Ice City and Moscow ran once a week, so according to the plan, he needed to export his goods within the next four days and then return to China.

Seeing that Li Xian was not in a hurry to choose goods and was spending his time idly, Xu Maoheng could no longer hold back. He had a serious talk with Li Xian, urging him to get back on track and not be swayed by the allure of the foreign world.

Faced with Xu Maoheng's earnest advice, drawing on his rich experience as a trader, Li Xian could only smile and seriously ask Xu Maoheng to quickly prepare as much US dollars as possible.

Although Xu Maoheng knew that Li Xian was clever and full of tricks, he was unsure of Li Xian's actual intentions this time. Nonetheless, under Li Xian's repeated requests, he reluctantly called his cousin in China to arrange for the acquisition of US dollars.

While Li Xian was busy fishing for information in Chita, a special seminar on the pilot enterprise reform project mandated by the provincial government was being held in Beilin City.

Beilin City, not particularly prominent in the province with few enterprises, had been chosen as the first reform pilot area due to its "small ship turning quickly" characteristics.

In the city government's conference room, Secretary Liu Wanfa was conveying the higher-ups' directives: "At the provincial briefing, Comrade Guoliang told me that state-owned enterprise reform is a key task for economic system reform in the near future. Currently, there is not a high level of consensus in society, especially in our province, so our task at this stage is to explore practical implementation at the grassroots level. We will use the reform of state-owned enterprises in our city to summarize experiences and develop a set of guiding opinions."

Seeing that everyone was taking notes seriously, Liu Wanfa nodded, "So, the question is, which enterprises should we start with?"

Faced with this question, the two sides of the conference table started whispering among themselves.

"If you have any opinions, don't just discuss them privately. Speak up!" Liu Wanfa emphasized, banging the table.

Seeing the hesitation among the attendees, Liu Wanfa added, "Don't be so cautious. This is in response to higher authorities' instructions. Let me give you a hint. We won't touch the large enterprises at first. According to the 1989 'Interim Measures for the Transfer of State-owned Small Enterprises' issued, we should start the pilot phase with the following three types of enterprises: those that are insolvent or close to bankruptcy, those with long-term poor performance and continuous years of losses or minimal profits, and those that the local government considers need ownership changes to optimize the industrial structure. This seems reasonable, right?"

After this speech, there was another round of silence.

Seeing that no one spoke up, Liu Wanfa lost his patience.

He banged the table, looked around, and finally focused on District Secretary Wu Sitian sitting on his right: "Each district should propose an enterprise for reform! Let's start with one in our own area. Old Wu, you know the situation in your district best, so you start!"

Wu Sitian was momentarily taken aback. He had not intended to voice an opinion. However, facing direct questioning, he had no choice but to stand up.

After some thought, he said, "The situation in our district is quite complicated. Most of the enterprises are our own, and I don't want to cause trouble. According to the 1989 measures, even most enterprises in the district would have to be listed."

Faced with Wu Sitian's vague response, Liu Wanfa persisted: "Then just pick a representative one. Don't be vague."

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it any longer, Wu Sitian sighed internally. After considering all the enterprises in the district, he suddenly remembered the Beilin Paper Mill, where he had served as a factory leader for five years.

Thinking that the Beilin Paper Mill's ownership was the clearest and its situation met Liu Wanfa's standards, and given his thorough knowledge of the factory and his current influence among the workers, he decided to propose the Beilin Paper Mill.

"This factory's situation is quite poor. There was a previous incident of worker unrest due to dissatisfaction with the factory leadership. To be honest, I've been worried about this factory recently."

After Wu Sitian described the situation of the Beilin Paper Mill, Liu Wanfa made a decision: "Then it will be the one!"

He then named several other district leaders, and after confirming the first batch of pilot enterprises, Liu Wanfa stood up from his chair.

"Comrades, our city has been chosen as a reform pilot area, which shows the organization's trust and attention. Therefore, we must uphold our party spirit, principles, and practical approach. In the process of implementing the reform, we need to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of enterprises while effectively preventing the loss of state assets. You need to submit the specific plans to the city. The meeting is dismissed!"

After the city leaders left, the heads of various counties and districts gathered together.

Among them, Wang, the secretary of Hailin County, walked up to Wu Sitian and sighed, "What should we do? We need to come up with a plan, but the reform involves many aspects like how to define the enterprise, dispose of assets, and arrange employees. Secretary Wu, do you have any ideas?"

Wu Sitian pondered for a moment and then sighed, "I'm not entirely sure either. Let's first announce it to the public and see if any individuals or enterprises are interested in the factory, and then we'll figure out the next steps."

The next day, the Beilin Daily published a notice.

"Due to the implementation of higher-level policies, the ownership of Beilin Paper Mill is being transferred. Interested parties should contact the district government office."

At the Beilin Paper Mill, the employees were in an uproar upon hearing the news. After having had a couple of good meals, they were now facing another change, and their emotions once again spiraled out of control.

Seeing the employees' discontent, the production line came to a halt. With the next batch of orders for the market at risk of being delayed, Xu Dequan, who was stationed at the mill on Li Xian's behalf, quickly called back to Xinlang Paper Industry, asking Li Jie to contact their factory manager.

This caused Li Jie considerable frustration. With Li Xian in Russia and no way to locate him or find his contact information, she was at a loss for how to get in touch with him!

In Chita, Li Xian, who was completely unaware of the chaos back home, had spent several days establishing "liquid assets friendships" with Alyosha and other Chita elites.

Seeing that the calendar had turned to December 10, after five days of playing the wealthy man, Li Xian finally revealed his intentions.

"My friends, I'm afraid I won't be able to come tomorrow. The company has confirmed the business in Chita. Starting tomorrow, I need to acquire 20 and 40 lathes for the company."

At the dinner table, facing Alyosha and the others, he said.