Siheyuan: a better life

Chapter 839 Those involved are confused!

"Dingling! Dingling! Dingling!"

Wu Aiguo was at the warehouse door. After all the employees had received their New Year goods, he went to the warehouse to get his own share of goods. He put the goods in the jeep and walked towards the office on the second floor. However, before he reached the office door, he heard a hurried phone call in the office.

When he heard the phone ring, Wu Aiguo immediately walked into the office, picked up the black phone on the desk, and greeted politely: "Hello! I am Wu Aiguo, who is this?"

"Hello, Director Wu! I'm Li Huaide. What have you been busy with this afternoon? I called your office three or four times in a row, but no one answered." As soon as Wu Aiguo finished his question, Li Huaide's smiling voice came from the phone.

Hearing Li Huaide's smiling voice asking over the phone, Wu Aiguo showed a surprised expression on his face, and asked Li Huaide with a smile: "Director Li! The closer it gets to the end of the year, the more things there are in the company, but why did you suddenly think of calling me today?"

Li Huaide heard Wu Aiguo's answer, nodded in agreement, and replied: "Director Wu! You are right. The closer it gets to the New Year, the more things we leaders have to do, especially logistics procurement. In order to let the workers have a good New Year, I have been begging for help during this period, and finally arranged the workers' New Year's goods. As for why I called you today, it was mainly because I was entrusted by someone."

Wu Aiguo learned the reason why Li Huaide called him, and asked Li Huaide with a smile: "Director Li! Who asked you to do this? There is no need for you to beat around the bush between us. Just tell me what you want to say."

Wu Aiguo's words made Li Huaide feel very proud. He said to Wu Aiguo happily, "Director Wu! The situation is like this. The director of the Fei Ge Bicycle Factory in Jingu City is named Zhou Jianmin. He heard that your Trade Department has been exchanging equipment with the factory for unplanned goods recently. He asked me to help him ask if he can use the unplanned bicycles to exchange a batch of equipment with you?"

In order to seize power, You Changzheng was used by Li Jianshe, who proposed to exchange equipment for unplanned goods. As a result, the foreign exchange earning task of the Red Star Trading Company was greatly affected.

Now the director of Fei Ge Bicycle Factory contacted him through Li Huaide and wanted to exchange the unplanned bicycles for equipment from their Trade Department. Wu Aiguo suddenly had an idea.

Bicycles of this era were expensive and required tickets to buy, so they were almost the same as BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes of later generations.

The Trade Department is a subordinate unit of the ministry, and it only receives five bicycle tickets every year. Therefore, half of the employees in the Trade Department now have to walk to and from get off work because they do not have bicycle tickets.

If the equipment can be exchanged for a batch of unplanned bicycles, then the subordinates in the company who want to buy bicycles will no longer have to worry about not being able to get bicycle tickets.

With this thought in mind, Wu Aiguo quickly asked Li Huaide, "Director Li! What equipment does Director Zhou want to replace? What is the approximate price of the bicycles they provide?"

Seeing Wu Aiguo's interest, Li Huaide immediately smiled and said to him, "Director Wu! I'm just a middleman. How about you meet with Director Zhou in person and have a good talk?"

Wu Aiguo thought for a moment after hearing what Li Huaide said, and immediately said to Li Huaide: "Director Li! We haven't gathered for a while, so I'll ask the canteen to prepare a few dishes, and you bring Director Zhou to our Trade Department, and we can eat and talk at the same time."

Li Huaide had originally thought of inviting Wu Aiguo to the steel mill for dinner. When he heard Wu Aiguo's suggestion, he remembered Sha Zhu's cooking skills and replied happily, "Director Wu! It just so happens that I haven't tasted Sha Zhu's cooking skills for a long time. Thanks to you, I can taste Sha Zhu's cooking skills tonight."

After hearing Li Huaide's answer, Wu Aiguo smiled and asked Li Huaide, "Director Li! How many people are coming from your side? I will arrange for the canteen to prepare now."

Li Huaide thought for a moment after hearing Wu Aiguo's question, then smiled and said to Wu Aiguo: "Director Wu! There are five of us here, just make the arrangements."

When Wu Aiguo heard what Li Huaide said, he smiled and said to Li Huaide: "Director Li! See you at 6 o'clock in the evening."

After hanging up the phone with Li Huaide, Wu Aiguo quickly came to Lin Xuemei's office. Seeing Lin Xuemei packing up and preparing to go home, he immediately said to her, "Sister Xuemei! There will be a reception in the canteen tonight. Please notify Deputy Director Qiao and Deputy Director Liu and have them have dinner together tonight."

Wu Aiguo paused for a moment, then instructed Lin Xuemei, "Oh, by the way, Sister Xuemei! After you send the New Year's goods home, come back to attend the reception tonight." When Lin Xuemei heard Wu Aiguo's instructions, she showed a puzzled expression on her face and asked Wu Aiguo curiously, "Director! What kind of guests are you going to receive tonight? You actually want Deputy Director Qiao and Deputy Director Liu to come together?"

Wu Aiguo did not intend to hide the matter of exchanging equipment for bicycles from Lin Xuemei. Facing Lin Xuemei's inquiry, Wu Aiguo immediately introduced to Lin Xuemei: "Sister Xuemei! The situation is like this. Director Zhou of Fei Ge Bicycle Factory heard that we used to exchange equipment for unplanned goods, so he wanted to exchange a batch of unplanned bicycles for equipment with us."

"Considering that many of our company's cadres still don't have bicycles, I thought of using our equipment to exchange for a batch of unplanned bicycles from the Fei Ge Bicycle Factory. Director Li from the Steel Rolling Mill will bring Director Zhou here later."

When Lin Xuemei learned the reason why Wu Aiguo arranged the reception, she suddenly felt her eyes brighten. However, when she thought of the reason why You Changzheng was taken away, she reminded Wu Aiguo with some worry: "Director! Deputy Director You was taken away because of this matter. If we do this, will the higher-ups know about it?!"

Wu Aiguo heard Lin Xuemei's reminder, how could he not understand Lin Xuemei's thoughts, he said to Lin Xuemei nonchalantly: "Sister Xuemei! You can rest assured, right? You Changzheng used equipment to exchange for goods, that is abusing power for personal gain, harming the interests of the public."

"We exchanged equipment for unplanned bicycles, which is a normal unplanned purchase, just like our unplanned pork purchases. It's the same principle. Even if the higher-ups knew about it, they couldn't say anything. After all, we didn't embezzle the money."

After hearing what Wu Aiguo said, Lin Xuemei felt that what he said was not unreasonable. However, considering that the funds for purchasing equipment belonged to public funds, Lin Xuemei reminded Wu Aiguo: "Director! We are using the canteen's funds to purchase pork, which is within a reasonable range."

"But the funds needed to purchase equipment are not a small amount. It is simply impossible to do it with the little money in our logistics account."

When Wu Aiguo heard Lin Xuemei's reminder and thought of the plan that had already been formed in his mind, he smiled and said to Lin Xuemei: "Sister Xuemei! You are confused because you are in a difficult position! We can issue a notice in the company, and comrades who need to purchase bicycles can first go to the logistics department to pay, and then use the money to purchase equipment from the Wang family, and then use the equipment to exchange for bicycles that are not planned with the bicycle factory. Isn't this reasonable?"

When Lin Xuemei heard Wu Aiguo's plan, her eyes lit up again. She gave Wu Aiguo a thumbs up with admiration and agreed, "Director! Your plan is simply brilliant. I believe that the comrades in the department will definitely participate enthusiastically when they know that they can buy the bicycles they have always dreamed of without using bicycle tickets."

When Wu Aiguo heard Lin Xuemei's words and saw the admiring expression on her face, he smiled and said to her, "Sister Xuemei! Please find a way to notify Deputy Director Qiao and Deputy Director Liu. I'm going to the cafeteria and ask Director He to prepare a small meal for dinner."

When Lin Xuemei heard what Wu Aiguo said, she immediately assured him, "Director! Don't worry, I promise I will notify Deputy Qiao and Deputy Liu."

After Wu Aiguo finished chatting with Lin Xuemei, they came to the cafeteria. Because the cafeteria didn't need to prepare dinner in the evening, Sha Zhu was leading the cafeteria staff to prepare ingredients for tomorrow night's dinner party.

Sha Zhu saw Wu Aiguo walking into the cafeteria from outside, and greeted him with a smile: "Director! How come you have time to come to our cafeteria at this time?"

When Wu Aiguo heard Sha Zhu's question, he smiled and said to Sha Zhu, "Director He! There will be a reception for about ten people later. You can arrange four meat dishes and four vegetable dishes!"

When Sha Zhu heard Wu Aiguo's instructions, he showed a puzzled expression on his face and asked Wu Aiguo curiously, "Director! Didn't you say that you didn't have any reception today? How come there are guests suddenly?"

When Wu Aiguo heard Sha Zhu's question, he remembered that Sha Zhu had asked him about bicycle tickets not long ago, so he smiled and said to Sha Zhu, "Director He! Didn't you want to buy a bicycle some time ago, but didn't have a bicycle ticket? The reception tonight is ready. After the New Year, I guarantee that you can buy a Fei Ge bicycle that doesn't require a bicycle ticket."

After hearing Wu Aiguo's promise and knowing that he could buy a bicycle without a bicycle ticket, Sha Zhu asked Wu Aiguo with a curious look on his face, "Director! Could it be that the guest we are going to receive tonight is the director of the Fei Ge Bicycle Factory?"

Wu Aiguo nodded subconsciously when he heard Sha Zhu's question, and whispered to Sha Zhu, "Brother Zhu! You guessed right. The guest tonight is the director of Fei Ge Bicycle Factory. If things go well tonight, not only you, but everyone in our company will have the opportunity to buy a bicycle without a ticket."

(End of this chapter)