Chapter 47

After Lin Qiangsheng got out of the car, one of the two people who got out of the 202 Jeep, the driver, loudly said, "Kid, we've been waiting for you!"

Lin Qiangsheng, impatient, retorted, "Why are you waiting for me! What do you want to do?" Seeing the two men in military uniforms, one of whom had the air of an officer, Lin Qiangsheng remained cautious and did not act rashly.

The officer just smiled, but his driver shouted, "Kid, making us wait so long. This morning, you even played a trick on us! Come, let me teach you a lesson for your father!"

Lin Qiangsheng, hearing this, immediately retorted, "Who do you think you're teaching a lesson for!"

The driver grunted and rushed over, kicking towards Lin Qiangsheng.

Although Lin Qiangsheng's face was filled with anger, his mind was clear.

Seeing the driver's kick coming, Lin Qiangsheng slightly dodged to the left, avoiding the driver's kick. He then kicked back, hitting the driver's thigh.

"Ouch!" The driver, kicked in the crotch, immediately cried out in pain, squatting on the ground, losing his fighting ability.

Lin Qiangsheng looked at the driver who was slumped on the ground, wagged his finger mockingly, and said, "Haven't practiced in a long time, have you? Your skills are really bad!"

In his previous life, Lin Qiangsheng had participated in the Vietnam War, serving as a transport soldier on the front lines, always having to deal with Vietnamese reconnaissance and militia attacks. The skills he had were all lethal. The driver's casual kick was easily countered, and Lin Qiangsheng kicked him in the groin.

Real soldiers on the battlefield could endure being kicked in the groin and still counterattack, but this driver couldn't.

"You, ouch!" The driver, squatting on the ground in pain, pointed at Lin Qiangsheng, managed to say a few words, and then his testicles started to hurt again.

Seeing his subordinate at a disadvantage, the officer quickly walked over, looked at the driver, and then raised his head to angrily ask Lin Qiangsheng, "Why did you kick him like that?"

Lin Qiangsheng countered, "Why did I kick him? Didn't you see just now? He kicked me first, and I was forced to defend myself!"

The officer pointed at Lin Qiangsheng and said, "He!... You!"

The officer said two words and ran out of words. He couldn't say that since the driver was a soldier and Lin Qiangsheng was a civilian, Lin Qiangsheng should have endured the kick and stood still.

"Is Dong Cheng okay?" the officer asked the driver.

The driver, after a while, felt the pain lessen and his face gradually returned to normal. He shook his head, looked at Lin Qiangsheng, gritted his teeth, and stood up, saying, "I'm fine!"

The officer turned to Lin Qiangsheng and said, "We just want to ask where your car came from? Why do you have a car?"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded, took out a car registration from his pocket, and threw it to the officer.

The officer flipped through Lin Qiangsheng's car registration, suspiciously comparing the photo. He checked Lin Qiangsheng's registration unit.

After seeing that the photo, seal, and unit were all correct, the officer had no choice but to return the car registration to Lin Qiangsheng.

Lin Qiangsheng's car was registered under an automobile manufacturing plant.

In this era, individuals were not allowed to own private cars, so he came up with a way to register the car under the plant.

The officer sized up Lin Qiangsheng and said, "So you're from the Jiang'an Automobile Plant! We were just about to go there. Young man, do you work there?"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "I'm the team leader of the mold workshop at the automobile plant. What do you need from the plant?"

The officer was surprised and asked, "Oh? You're a team leader in the plant!"

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "Just a coincidence. What do you need from the plant?"

The officer nodded and said, "We do have something to ask!"

He turned to look at the Jeep Wrangler Lin Qiangsheng was driving, walked around it, and examined it from front to back, observing the vehicle's height and pressing down on the body.

After inspecting the Jeep Wrangler, the officer felt very satisfied.

He smiled and said, "Young man, it's a good thing we met you today. Our unit needs a batch of Jeeps to be modified. Can you help us and introduce us to your plant manager?"

Lin Qiangsheng, puzzled, asked, "If it's official business, why don't you send a letter? Our plant would modify the cars for you directly."

The officer hesitated and said, "This... I don't know how to explain it."

At this moment, the driver said, "We need to transfer some vehicles to the mountainous area. We hope your plant can modify our vehicles to have a higher ground clearance. We have our own auto repair shop, but our processing capabilities are limited."

He looked at Lin Qiangsheng's Jeep Wrangler and said, "Like this car, but even higher!"

The officer nodded and said, "Yes, and more powerful! Like your car, it should be able to climb slopes!"

Lin Qiangsheng looked at the two men and said, "I'm Lin Qiangsheng. What are your names? Let's go to the plant and talk."

The officer nodded and said, "Okay! I'm Gao, Gao Jun. He's Dong Cheng."

The three of them got into the car, and Gao Jun sat in Lin Qiangsheng's car. On the way, he carefully felt the car and noticed that it was much more advanced than the 202 Jeep.

When they arrived at the Jiang'an Automobile Plant, Gao Jun was completely impressed by the performance and ride of the Jeep Wrangler.

Gao Jun praised, "Your car is like a high-ranking official's car! What level of official rides in this car?"

Lin Qiangsheng chuckled but didn't respond to Gao Jun's probing. In the current domestic market, there were strict regulations on the levels of officials who could ride in certain types of cars.

Those who could buy cars were not necessarily unable to afford them but were restricted by national regulations on what type of car they could buy. Car manufacturers also had to verify the purchasing unit and the buyer, ensuring they were state officials and confirming their level before selling them a car!

County-level officials could only ride in domestically produced Jeeps. Lin Qiangsheng's car looked like an imported one, and it might be the only one of its kind in the country!

Lin Qiangsheng remained silent, and Gao Jun felt embarrassed. After entering the plant, the three of them got out of the car.

The Jiang'an Automobile Plant had undergone extensive renovations and expansions, with new workshops built, making it look very different. The old workers of the plant all said they didn't recognize the current factory.

The wide, eight-character-shaped factory gate led to a large open area. The gate was newly built and expanded, making the area inside the gate very spacious.

The walls of the factory workshops were painted white, extending all the way to the ceiling, which was different from the style of many brick wall workshops today.

"This plant is really good! The buildings are quite different!" Gao Jun stood by the car, looking at the factory building and the other buildings in the distance.

Lin Qiangsheng smiled proudly. When designing the factory, he had tried to adopt the Bauhaus style, with a simple and clear design that made it stand out.

"This is the new assembly workshop, just built, so it looks different," Lin Qiangsheng said nonchalantly.

Gao Jun looked at the building and nodded seriously. After seeing the large workshop, Gao Jun began to take the factory more seriously.

As the new plant manager, Lin Xiangrong placed great importance on production.

He often walked around the workshops, and if he couldn't be found in his office, he would be in the casting workshop, machining workshop, or the assembly workshop.

Lin Qiangsheng asked the two soldiers to wait outside and went in to look for his father.

At this moment, Lin Xiangrong was in the assembly workshop, watching the workers assemble vehicles.

In the current domestic factories, there was a widespread egalitarianism where workers were paid the same regardless of how much they worked or how well they performed. Workers of the same position received the same wages and benefits.

The plant managers had no concept of quality and efficiency management. Ordinary factory management didn't think about it, and the state didn't allow it!

The first person to implement reforms in state-owned enterprises, breaking the egalitarian system and focusing on production efficiency and quality, was reformed in 1983 and dismissed in 1987!

Taking this as a lesson, Lin Qiangsheng wouldn't let his father implement any enterprise reforms. In his mind, he didn't care about state-owned enterprises. If the market was bad, they could go bankrupt or transform. After all, a new leader would come in and clear out everything from the previous leader, replacing it with their own style. No matter how much you reformed, it was useless! This was a problem of the mindset, quality, and the social environment!

However, the Jiang'an Automobile Plant didn't have to worry about this. The biggest bottleneck for the plant's development was the lack of funds, equipment, and experienced workers!

What Lin Xiangrong was most worried about were the issues with the new workers. These newly recruited workers were really hard to manage!

They had just come from the countryside or society, and it was really difficult to turn them into assembly line workers!

In Lin Qiangsheng's view, if they didn't bring tools into the factory or use them in the factory, that was already good!

The main issue was that the factory didn't have a say in the recruitment of these workers, as they were directly assigned by the city and province. The factory didn't have prior contact with these workers, so they didn't know who was good and who wasn't. Without prior knowledge, many problems and conflicts arose.

Lin Xiangrong's mouth was full of blisters, and his voice was hoarse, but he still loudly told the new workers in the workshop, "Everyone, be more serious! When assembling the products, tighten the bolts diagonally! Tighten them to the specified number of turns, and then back off the specified number of turns. Don't think it's okay to do it roughly! If you do it roughly, the car will be much worse after it leaves the factory! Everyone, be more serious!"

"Master Gu, you're an old hand at the factory. You need to be stricter with these new workers!" Lin Xiangrong said to Master Gu beside him.

Master Gu nodded quickly but then smiled bitterly, "I'm also frustrated! These newbies are usually quite smart, but when they get to their positions, they become so stubborn! You tell them to tighten the bolts a certain number of turns, and they ask why. If I knew why, wouldn't I be a scientist?"

"Your son, Qiangsheng, is really amazing! He knows so many techniques for the assembly line! Following what he wrote, it's really good!" Master Gu started talking a lot.

Asking questions doesn't necessarily mean a worker is good, and not asking questions doesn't necessarily mean a worker is bad.

Lin Xiangrong thought that the factory needed more serious, obedient workers who would work hard and not ask questions. The smart ones should be kept aside! Interrupting Master Gu's chatter, Lin Xiangrong loudly said to make sure the workers could hear, "We lack a serious and responsible attitude! Some workers come to the factory not to work seriously but to argue! Some workers think it's okay to do things roughly! We don't want these two types of people in our factory, and we'll send them back to the bureau!"

Master Gu smiled and thought to himself, "Lin Manager is just saying this. Can he really fire workers? Even if he says it nicely, if he really wants to fire them, their parents will come to cause trouble, and the bureau won't allow it!"

Lin Qiangsheng walked to his father's side, seeing his father's hard work, and didn't know what to say to comfort him.

Now, someone wanted to give the plant some extra work. He didn't know if he should mention it.

After standing for a while, Lin Xiangrong noticed his son and asked impatiently, "Why are you here?"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "Two soldiers came from outside. They want our plant to modify a batch of cars."

Lin Xiangrong nodded and walked out of the workshop with his son.

The new workers, seeing the manager leave, immediately started whispering to each other.

As the workshop supervisor, Master Gu loudly scolded, "Work, work! No chatting during working hours!"

"Can't we chat while working? What's the point of working then?" a worker said defiantly.

Master Gu, angry, loudly asked, "Lu Guangming, are you here to chat? If you want to chat, go home!"

Lu Guangming, with his neck stiff, said, "I will go home, after work!" The workers laughed at his words.

Master Gu pointed at Lu Guangming, feeling both angry and helpless.