Hearing Fang Xiuying's rather aggrieved voice, Wang An said with a chuckle
"Public is public, and private is private. Although I put you in the position of factory director for private reasons, if you do a poor job, then I will naturally remove you for public reasons."
Although Wang An used a comforting tone, the warning within his words was crystal clear.
Fang Xiuying gave a "humph," displaying a girlish demeanor, and said softly
"With so many people around, you don't leave me any face at all. Humph, men really are all just big pig trotters."
Wang An laughed
"Alright, hurry up and eat. After we're done, we'll talk in your office."
And so, the two began to eat in silence.
Although neither the rice nor the dishes met the quantitative standards, it had to be admitted that the mixed-grain steamed buns were indeed very well-made—soft, fluffy, and absolutely delicious.
And while no minced meat was visible in the dishes, there was a decent amount of oil, so the taste was quite good.
Wang An opened his mouth wide and began to devour the food with loud slurps.
In less than five minutes, a portion of mixed rice, two buns, and most of the watery dishes in the lunchbox were completely polished off by Wang An.
Unfortunately, after finishing, Wang An discovered with embarrassment that he was only half-full!
It couldn't be helped; whenever anyone saw Wang An's large frame, their first instinct was that this kid must be a huge eater.
But as people guessed, Wang An indeed ate a lot.
He was tall, sturdy, and young; moreover, Wang An practiced martial arts, and he absolutely could not sustain himself without enough food.
Wang An turned his head to look at Wang Yi, Huang Zhong, and Yang Qiuju, who had already finished eating at another table, and asked
"Are you three full?"
After Wang An asked, Huang Zhong and Wang Yi shook their heads almost simultaneously; only Yang Qiuju nodded.
Turning back, Wang An complained to Fang Xiuying
"Look at this. With the daily meals in my own home, these two younger brothers of mine aren't even full after two portions of food. Tell me, if the workers do hard labor every day, can they possibly get full?"
Fang Xiuying didn't dare respond, but she saw Wang An point to the lunchboxes and say with a frown
"Go. Find two people to get us a few more portions of food."
Fang Xiuying hurriedly nodded and said to several subordinates at the next table who had finished eating
"Four of you go and bring back eight more portions of food."
While those four were fetching the food, Wang An said with a cold face
"Tomorrow, go buy a scale. Every few days, come to the canteen and weigh the rice and buns. If it happens again that two buns or a portion of rice is less than four liang, you might as well just quit."
Fang Xiuying answered very obediently
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
Thus, Wang An, Huang Zhong, and Wang Yi each ate four portions of rice and dishes before they were finally full.
In reality, if the canteen hadn't been skimming the food, a normal person would be mostly full after one portion, and very stuffed after two.
Thinking this, Wang An said to Fang Xiuying again
"In the future, issue a 'half-portion' ticket for the red meal coupons. Some people might find one portion insufficient but can't finish two; give them another option."
Fang Xiuying nodded once more.
After the meal, Wang An sent Huang Zhong and Wang Yi away. While Fang Xiuying instructed a female subordinate to arrange Yang Qiuju's accommodation, Wang An and Fang Xiuying returned to her office together.
Fang Xiuying brewed two cups of tea. After they both took their seats, Wang An spoke directly
"From now on, you must seize every moment to study and improve yourself. If you continue to maintain your current level, I suggest you step down as soon as possible; this factory will eventually go under in your hands."
Hearing Wang An say this, Fang Xiuying suddenly panicked and hurriedly said to him
"I feel that I've been quite diligent and responsible as factory director. It's not as bad as you say."
Wang An's expression became very serious as he said
"Remember this: when it comes to workers, there is no such thing as a small matter. A broken canteen can produce this many problems—tell me, what on earth are you thinking about all day? Let me ask you again, when did these bastards start skimming the workers' food? Do you know?"
Fang Xiuying stole a glance at Wang An and didn't dare speak, because she simply didn't know.
Wang An continued
"You don't even know about something like this, and you call that being diligent and responsible?"
Taking a sip of tea, Wang An added
"The purpose of building this factory is to make money, not to fucking raise maggots. These maggots are clinging to the canteen and gnawing away at it, yet you, the factory director, didn't know. And once you finally found out, you actually thought about letting them off. Now tell me, what use do I have for a factory director like you?"
To be honest, if Wang An didn't lack a suitable candidate for the director position, and if he wasn't about to be busy collecting bear gall and ox gallstones, he would have dismissed her right now.
The critical point was that after half a day, she still hadn't realized her own dereliction of duty.
But there was no choice; collecting bear gall and ox gallstones was simply too profitable. The profits from that far exceeded what the current pharmaceutical factory could compare to.
Of course, the reason he said this was also because the pharmaceutical factory had too many shareholders, and he had to consider reserving funds to expand production scale; the amount that actually reached Wang An's hand was a mere one-tenth after reserves.
Hearing Wang An's even more merciless words, Fang Xiuying's small face immediately flushed red with shame, but she could find no words to refute him.
Wang An continued
"I'm telling you, Sister Ying, in this factory—including myself—whoever is capable stays, and whoever isn't must get the hell out quickly."
"Starting tomorrow—no, starting in a moment—you are to conduct surprise inspections of every department and workshop. Anyone who is lazy, playing tricks, or idling away the time, as well as those small leaders who occupy a seat without doing any work and spend their shifts reading newspapers, are all to be fired. Not a single one is to remain."
Wang An knew that many of the workers or small supervisors in the pharmaceutical factory were actually "connected" individuals planted by leaders from various government departments. Such "connected" people occupied at least a third of the total workforce.
It couldn't be helped; this was a characteristic of the era. A vast number of people returning to the cities had no jobs and no source of income, forming a massive population of "unemployed wanderers."
The situation at the pharmaceutical factory—which was nominally an affiliated enterprise but in fact a private company—was relatively good, and the personnel weren't too bloated.
Additionally, because the pharmaceutical factory had been continuously adding equipment and expanding production, the existing workers were barely enough to handle the load.
At the very least, it wasn't like many state-owned enterprises where three or four people did the work of one, and a factory that only needed 500 people was forcibly stuffed with two thousand.
Such situations were quite common everywhere at this time. (End of Chapter)