Guo Weihua's head buzzed as he instinctively shot to his feet. He stood up so abruptly that his thigh slammed straight into the corner of the desk, the pain making him grimace and suck air through his teeth.
On top of that, he was still holding the phone, and the cord's length being what it was, the receiver was yanked clean off the desk. In the next instant, it knocked over the teacup that had just been filled with hot water. Scalding tea ran across the table and straight toward Guo Weihua's thigh. Fortunately, it was now winter and he was wearing plenty of layers—otherwise, he'd have raised blisters.
The whole mishap left him in a fluster, but the corners of his mouth were already stretched back to his ears.
"What?! Eight million? An eight-million-dollar order in US currency! Ms. Lu, my apologies, I didn't catch that just now—are you saying our food factory has landed an eight-million-dollar order in US currency?!"
Lu Chuyu frowned and tilted her head, holding the phone a bit farther from her ear. Guo Weihua's voice had been so loud just now that it rattled her eardrums.
"Secretary Guo, my executive assistant Amelia in the States has already signed the order contract with Taylor, Incorporated. The deposit should arrive in the domestic special foreign-exchange account within the next couple of days. I'll need you to keep a close eye on it and get to the bank as soon as possible to apply for conversion."
Guo Weihua's face was now a mask of incredulous delight, so overcome that he started fumbling in his coat pocket for his blood-pressure medication.
"Then, Ms. Lu, the problem you mentioned earlier—what exactly is it?"
"Production capacity can't keep up with the order volume. So I'll need you, Secretary Guo, to communicate with the city government as soon as possible and have the state-owned construction unit dispatch an engineering team down to expand the production workshop. On my end, I'll also leverage my connections in the States to import a few more production lines."
"Understood, Ms. Lu. Tomorrow—no, the engineering team will be in place today."
After hanging up, Guo Weihua shouted directly toward the door, "Old Qian! Old Qian, pack it up and come with me to the city—great news!"
"What great news? I heard all that clattering from your office just now—what's all the commotion? Did the supply and marketing cooperative and the department store finally give the nod? Or did Ms. Lu back down and agree to lower the price?"
Qian Changjiang had two angry blisters on his lips these past couple of days. In his heart, he grumbled at Ms. Lu for pricing too high on one hand, and at the supply and marketing cooperative and the department store for being inflexible on the other. Whether the price was high or not, just get the goods on the shelves first—see how sales go.
If they didn't sell, if the common folk all thought it was too expensive and wouldn't buy, then no one would need to say a word—Ms. Lu would lower the price on her own.
But no, they had to stay stuck in this standoff. He'd been making a trip to the food factory every day now, and watching the warehouse fill up with more and more instant noodles was genuinely stressing him out!
They'd made such a big splash, been featured in the Nanhu Daily so many times—if the product ended up not selling in the end, that would be a real embarrassment! Where would the face of Shanghu Town go?
Guo Weihua let out a cold "hmph," lifted his chin, and said, "What department store, what supply and marketing cooperative? Even if they agreed to our food factory's pricing right now, they couldn't buy a single pack from us."
Qian Changjiang was left utterly bewildered by Guo Weihua's words, and being quick-tempered as he was, he shot back, "Come on, spell it out for me—how come we can't sell them a single pack?"
"Eight million US dollars! Eight million US dollars! Taylor, Incorporated from America has signed an eight-million-dollar order contract with our food factory! Right now, even working day and night without rest, we can't keep up with supply—how could we possibly spare anything for the department store and the supply and marketing cooperative? What are you standing there gawking for? Let's go! We need to get support from the city. The factory building needs to be expanded, and we're breaking ground today."
"Ah, wonderful! Eight million—our Shanghu Town is bringing in eight million US dollars in foreign exchange for the country?"
Qian Changjiang wiped a hand across his face in excitement, his eyes turning red.
Guo Weihua nodded, his voice a little choked as well. The pressure he'd shouldered all these days!
Now, anyone hoping to see Shanghu Town make a fool of itself—dream on.
.
"What?! Eight million US dollars in foreign exchange?"
Vice Mayor Wang felt as though his entire body were soaking in a vat of pickled vegetables. Eight million US dollars in foreign exchange—why, at this year's autumn recruitment fair in their Southern Province, all the dozen-plus state-owned factories combined had only earned a little over two million in foreign exchange for the country. This joint-venture factory had been in operation for less than a month and had already brought in eight million US dollars.
How could that not sting?
"Not bad, not bad—Shanghu Town is doing well."
It was all political achievement, and yet Shanghu Town had gotten the lucky break. Why hadn't the Lu family worked harder back in the old society? Why hadn't they been more progressive? If even one of them had been a forward-thinking progressive, they should have settled down in the city proper—so why did they have to be in Shanghu Town?
Vice Mayor Wang could only console himself with the fact that Shanghu Town was under the city's jurisdiction. At the very least, when he went to the province for the year-end report, the city would have something to show for itself, even if it wasn't directly their achievement.
"Alright, stop standing around, all of you. I'll call the construction unit right now. You go over and meet them directly. If you need personnel support, just say the word—I'll transfer workers over from the state-owned factories."
"Thank you for your support, Vice Mayor Wang. Shanghu Town will not let you down."
After leaving the Nanhu City Revolutionary Committee, Guo Weihua pulled Qian Changjiang aside. "Old Qian, you go ahead to the construction unit first. I need to stop by the Nanhu Daily office. We can't miss out on news this big."
Qian Changjiang looked puzzled. "Secretary, won't Vice Mayor Wang handle the arrangements?"
Guo Weihua sighed and patted Qian Changjiang on the shoulder. "Old Qian, you've got to learn to think a little more flexibly. If Mayor Wang arranges it, the coverage will focus on the city, understand? And stop calling him Vice Mayor Wang—whenever Mayor Sun isn't around, just call him Mayor Wang. Wouldn't that save you some spit?"
He shook his head as he finished. Old Qian's rigid way of thinking really made him uneasy about handing Shanghu Town over to him. Sigh, he still had a lot to teach him.
One family rejoices while another grieves—this saying had never been more literal.
Zhang Gui, the general manager of the City Department Store, held the freshly printed Nanhu Daily in his hands, his face a picture of utter despair.
He hadn't even had the mood to answer the phone when the Supply and Marketing Cooperative called just now. Looking down from the window, he saw crowds of ordinary people coming to the department store, all asking whether they had Master Lu Instant Noodles in stock.
Just yesterday, he had confidently declared that the foreign woman would eventually come begging to lower prices so they'd place orders. Instead, she'd gone and brought in 8 million USD in foreign exchange.
Now the tables had turned—he was the one begging and pleading, hoping the food factory would sell them Master Lu Instant Noodles.
But it was useless. Not a single pack.
Whenever he asked, the answer was always the same: production capacity was insufficient, and they had to prioritize the foreign exchange orders.
The most important thing was that production capacity truly couldn't keep up. The construction units had even halted their existing projects and sent everyone to Shanghu Town to provide support. Even if he threw away all his dignity and made a scene, he still couldn't get any noodles back.
If only he'd known… sigh, why couldn't there be a regret pill in this world for him to take?
.
Inside the Master Lu Food Factory in Shanghu Town, every worker wore a smile. They had all just heard Announcer Pan read today's Nanhu Daily article about their factory over the loudspeaker.
8 million USD in foreign exchange! The instant noodles made by their own hands had earned 8 million USD for the country. How could they not be thrilled!
Everyone felt a surge of energy coursing through them.
Workers whose shifts were supposed to end simply refused to clock out. Take a break at a time like this? Even a dog wouldn't rest now! They were staying at the factory to contribute their strength to the nation.
Guo Ran reported the workers' morale to Lu Chuyu and suggested she follow local customs by holding a mobilization rally.
Lu Chuyu agreed without a second thought. Although the System's rules meant each person could only provide up to 3 Emotion Points, and the factory workers had already been fully collected from, she was still willing to respond to the unique working-class enthusiasm of this era.
Besides, the provincial newspaper's reporter was arriving at Shanghu Town that afternoon—she could invite them to attend the rally. Waste not, want not.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Chuyu looked at Sun Yueying. "Have the factory's transport team send a vehicle to take you to the City Department Store. Buy one color TV, two bicycles, three Shanghai-brand watches, and ten radios. Also get twenty thermos flasks with peony prints and thirty enamel mugs."
Having been by Lu Chuyu's side for so long, Sun Yueying could more or less understand her intentions.
She hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, "Boss, wouldn't it be too much to raffle off these prizes at the mobilization rally? Even at provincial-level employee commendation ceremonies, they never use goods this scarce."
Lu Chuyu smiled. "These are nothing to me personally. Since we're holding a mobilization rally, I need to offer the workers something they actually want to boost their spirits. I could never just shout slogans at them. Oh, and don't forget to have Guo Ran prepare the complete list of workers and quickly set up a raffle box."
In her past life, she'd had her fill of bosses feeding her empty promises. Now that she was the boss herself, while she could understand the appeal of motivational talk, she was more than happy to give the workers extra benefits as long as it didn't hurt her own interests.
After all, all these items together cost only a few thousand yuan in Chinese currency. What was that to her now?
"Got it, boss."
After Sun Yueying left, Lu Chuyu went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. She truly missed the comfortable bathtub at Caesars Palace.
What should she wear today? Lu Chuyu found herself torn. As a woman with a bit of vanity, she felt her wardrobe was always missing one more outfit.
Once she finished this busy stretch, she should take a trip to Hong Kong for some shopping—and maybe see if she could meet some of the real big shots of this era.
But that thought only flickered through Lu Chuyu's mind for a 'split second.'
After all, Hong Kong's public security was extremely chaotic at this time. She had enough self-awareness not to wade into those murky waters. As for nice clothes, she planned to have Amelia buy her a few new styles and mail them over.
She decided to wear a qipao to today's mobilization rally. The jewelry she'd obtained from the Lu family signing could finally see some use.
Lu Chuyu chose a goose-yellow brocade qipao with three-quarter sleeves, adorned her wrist with a high-ice-grade purple jade bangle, and wore matching purple jade peace-buckle earrings cut from the same stone. Around her neck, she layered two strands of purple jadeite bead necklaces.
She didn't even neglect her fingers, wearing two rings with purple jadeite cabochon settings.
As for the finger-wave hairstyle, Lu Chuyu didn't know how to do it herself, so she had Liu Changxing invite an experienced master from the state-run barbershop to style her hair.
She also pinned a flower made of purple jadeite and pearls into her hair, then stood before the mirror and nodded with satisfaction.
The old master hesitated several times as if wanting to say something, but finally couldn't hold back and said with concern, "Miss, wearing this outfit on a day like this will freeze your legs. When you get older and develop arthritis in your knees, you'll suffer for it."
For such well-meaning concern, Lu Chuyu naturally didn't find it overstepping. She draped her white fox fur shawl over her shoulders and replied with a polite yet distant smile, "Thank you for your concern."
In the face of beauty, what did temperature matter? Besides, the workers' auditorium was equipped with heating—she could endure it.