The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 414: Chapter 414: Failing to Poach, Burn the Stove First

Spring, summer, and fall are the best seasons for construction.

Under the blazing summer sun, many construction workers were hard at work, racing to speed up the project.

Han Xiaorui held her lower back as she watched from a distance. She instructed Xu Cheng, ”Those state-owned companies have all sorts of benefits—for example, high-temperature subsidies in the summer and ice pops twice a day.”

”I know you’ve hired a lot of people recently, so your finances might be a little tight. You can add the high-temperature subsidy to their wages later. As for the ice cream bars, I’ll pay for them. Our construction workers should get them too, two a day.”

”Eating an ice cream bar will help them cool down. Make sure you always have heatstroke remedies, like cooling tonics and balms, on hand. If anyone feels unwell, get them to the hospital immediately. Don’t delay. Heatstroke and sunstroke can have very serious consequences.”

Xu Cheng was the head of the Cheng Gong Construction Company. Han Xiaorui had recently invested in it, but she was only responsible for supervision, not management. Xu Cheng was the legal representative.

Xu Cheng smiled. ”Don’t worry, Ms. Han. The sun rises early now, so we start work early. We stop at ten o’clock when it starts to get hot. After lunch, we take a nap and rest, then start again at three and work until seven.”

”As for the ice cream bars, on behalf of the guys, thank you for your generosity, Ms. Han. The mornings are manageable, but it’s especially rough getting back to work at three in the afternoon. We feel all sluggish. An ice cream bar will definitely make things more comfortable.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Good. Just make sure you prioritize safety. Hard hats and other safety rules—you have to enforce them. Oh, and tell everyone not to work shirtless.”

Xu Cheng replied, ”I’ve modeled all our safety measures after Director Xu’s construction unit. They’re very standardized; I went over there to study their methods thoroughly. And you’re right, going shirtless doesn’t look good. I’ll talk to them about it.”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”It’s not that I think it looks bad. With you and your former comrades on site, that’s not my concern. The main reason is that the sun is vicious. Long-term exposure from working shirtless isn’t good for your health.”

”Besides, you’re all climbing up and down, and there are building materials everywhere. Scrapes and bumps are bound to happen. If you’re wearing a shirt, you might rip your clothes, but you’ll be fine. But if you’re shirtless, you’ll be scratching up your skin.”

”You sweat a lot in the summer, which makes it hard for cuts to heal. If a cut is deep, you might even need a tetanus shot. Not only does the person suffer more, but it also costs extra money and causes work delays.”

Hearing this, Xu Cheng burst out laughing. ”I get it. I’ll go order some work uniforms later.”

”Good. Thanks for your hard work,” Han Xiaorui said encouragingly. ”If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask. And if you lack the right people, see if you can poach some genuinely skilled technical talent.”

Xu Cheng’s face fell at her words. ”Ms. Han, it’s not that I don’t want to. There are several unhappy engineers over at Director Xu’s unit. I tried to poach them, but they just shook their heads. This is a private company. Who knows, maybe one day we won’t have any projects and I won’t be able to pay salaries.”

”The guys who followed me here can always go back home and farm or find work at other factories. But those engineers have city residence permits. They have no safety net and only know the construction trade. It would be very hard for them to find a job outside of a company that directly matches their skills.”

Han Xiaorui was taken aback for a moment. ”Their concerns are valid. However, if they’re truly skilled, you don’t have to hire them full-time. When you run into a problem, you can just hire them for a specific task. Pay them a set fee to solve one issue.”

”Over time, if your compensation is good and the company’s workload grows, or if they become unhappy over there for some reason, they’ll naturally come over to work for you. It’ll all fall into place.”

Right now, Xu Cheng and his men were only building three-story buildings made of reinforced concrete, brick, and tile. These projects weren’t difficult, but it was a good chance to ”warm the stove” and build relationships.

The state-owned enterprise team managed by Director Xu built large high-rises, which involved much more complex technology and a larger technical staff.

’It would be great if he could poach a few technical supervisors. If he can’t, then he should at least hire them for side jobs and build a good relationship.’

Xu Cheng smiled. ”I’m already keeping an eye on them. I often take them out to eat. When I run into problems, I ask them to come over and help. I never let them go home empty-handed, so we have a pretty good working relationship.”

”They just use their spare time, so it doesn’t interfere with their main jobs. And they’re happy to do it—they get free food and drinks, plus they earn some extra money.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”That’s good.”

For now, with trustworthy people handling this part of the business, Han Xiaorui’s main role was overall coordination, delegating specific tasks to the right individuals.

They were still in the startup phase, and everyone was just feeling their way across the river. People like Xu Cheng and Hu Yaowu cherished these hard-won jobs.

As a result, they were extremely serious and responsible in their work.

After a busy morning out, Han Xiaorui returned home and ate a cream bar.

’This is so refreshing!’

The kindergarten was on break. Luckily, Han Xiaoqing was there, along with Ye Ling and Ye Chen, so Han Xiaorui didn’t have to worry about the children.

Han Xiaorui’s life was relatively relaxed at the moment. Business at the aquaculture farm was booming.

Over half of the seafood at Zhang Guangnan’s seafood restaurant now came from the farm; the other half was wild-caught.

Another portion was shipped to Hangzhou and Nanjing, and the output was stable.

It was currently the closed fishing season, so farmed seafood could be sold at a good price.

As for the fish fry, even with all the reports and documentation, many organizations were still hesitant because they had no firsthand experience and didn’t know how good they truly were. So, most only purchased enough for experimental farming.

However, according to the feedback, the cultivation results were excellent, especially when using the feed provided by Jinshan Bay. The results were not as good with other feeds.

Many people were trying to research the feed, but it seemed they weren’t having much success.

The local units that succeeded with their cultivation this year would definitely import more fish fry next year. Because of this, Professor Wang and Professor Li were sitting back and relaxing, just waiting for customers to come to them.

Previously, the leaders at the Marine Research Institute had been giving Professor Wang and Professor Li a hard time. The two professors couldn’t stand it anymore and took an official leave without pay.

They only kept their teaching positions at the university and dedicated the rest of their time wholeheartedly to the Jinshan Bay aquaculture farm.

Not only was there ample funding for R&D, but the pay was also high. More importantly, there were no amateurs trying to tell experts what to do, which made them extremely happy with their work.

The two old gentlemen were cheerful every day. When they went to teach their classes, Han Xiaorui had Song Sixth drive them in the van, and he would drive them home afterward as well.

Anyway, now that they had a lab, they could bring students for hands-on learning, which would help cultivate even more talent.

Their original employer had since restored their positions at the institute, but they were no longer willing to go back.

All of these things were developing in a positive direction.

It was only Ye Feng’s work that wasn’t progressing very quickly.

The equipment that Kuno Hiroo had helped him acquire was usable, and it could produce wafers and chips, but the cost was a bit high.

That wasn’t even the biggest problem. The most critical issue was how to upgrade the technology, but the country lacked the necessary talent.

After all, they were a private company, not a state-owned enterprise with a deep pool of talent. Moreover, their current technology was already considered quite advanced by domestic standards.

Now, people from many places wanted to come and learn from them.

The key issue was that after learning, other domestic entities might also be able to start production. When that happened, they wouldn’t be able to compete on price, and their large investment would make it impossible to continue.

Therefore, technological innovation was urgently needed.