After they finished touring the warehouse, the man leading the group took them on to the fabric inspection workshop.
Jiang Luo was in his office. He called Zhang Ningfu in and instructed him, “Once the workers from Haimen are done with the tour, have A-Qing take you to meet the quality inspection supervisor from their factory—the one named Pan Xiao. He’s basically their workers’ representative.”
Zhang Ningfu looked a little slow to catch on. “What do you want me to talk to him about?”
Jiang Luo was flipping through the latest shipment orders and didn’t look up. “He’s pretty guarded around me. You’re both workers, and you’re both part of factory management. You’ll have an easier time talking to him than I will. Go in my place.”
“You don’t need to say anything in particular. If he asks you something, just tell him whatever you know. That’s enough.”
Zhang Ningfu nodded. “Okay.”
He turned to leave.
Jiang Luo suddenly looked up. “You just got discharged and you’re already back at work—are you really up to it? If not, go rest. The factory won’t collapse without you.”
Zhang Ningfu turned back, smiling as he walked out. “I’m fine. Of course I am. Coming to work is a lot more interesting than lying in bed.”
“Don’t worry. I know my limits. If I get tired, I’ll go rest. I won’t drop dead on the job.”
Jiang Luo let him be.
Meanwhile, after completing the full tour of the factory, the group arrived at the finished-goods warehouse. Others might not have noticed, but Pan Xiao felt deeply unsettled inside—
They were both garment factories, yet the gap between them was enormous.
Setting everything else aside, the sewing workshop alone had at least two hundred workers operating at the same time. The entire plant was brightly lit, orderly, and efficient.
Then there was the equipment. Just looking at it, you could tell it was completely different from what his own factory used—far more advanced.
Take the pressing machines, for example. One pass, back and forth, and the fabric was immediately smooth and flat, ready for the next piece. The efficiency was astonishing.
All in all, after one full circuit, the shock this factory gave Pan Xiao was overwhelming.
For the first time, he had a concrete sense of what “ten million” actually meant—
So this was what a factory built with that level of investment looked like.
So a garment factory could really be this big.
So a single plant could have such vast workshops, so many workers, such new equipment, and such high efficiency.
Then they walked through the finished-goods warehouse again. Pan Xiao saw styles he had never even seen before—beautiful clothes—and heard that this factory also produced a brand called “Vilanito,” sold exclusively in department stores at very high prices. He learned that the boss had originally made his fortune with this very brand, that both the label and the designs were created by the boss himself.
At that point, Pan Xiao was completely convinced.
As everyone headed toward the cafeteria together, Pan Xiao walked alone, his emotions tangled.
Back in Haimen, their state-owned factory was considered a big, respectable operation.
But compared to a factory in Haicheng like this one, theirs was nothing at all.
He had seen it clearly in the workshops just now—the workers here were all extremely motivated and conscientious. In the sewing shop, some of the women were even chatting and laughing with the people beside them while running their machines, full of energy.
He’d also overheard some people from his own factory chatting with workers here, asking if it was really true that they made six or seven hundred yuan a month.
How did that worker answer?
She said, “Yeah, six or seven hundred. That’s not even that much. Some of our coworkers are really fast—if you’re quick with your hands, you can make eight hundred a month.”
“And our factory really pays by output. The more you do, the more you earn. Some of the management staff don’t even make as much as we do, since they don’t get piece-rate pay.”
She also said, “I’m new too, haven’t been here long. I used to work at the state-owned oil plant in our town. That plant got merged into another one, so we came here. We got training first—and even the training pays wages.”
“And the benefits here are really good. Whenever there’s a holiday, they always hand out meat and cooking oil.”
“Our big boss said it himself—if you work for him, he won’t shortchange a single worker.”
Workers don’t lie for their bosses.
The light in their eyes, the smiles on their faces, the enthusiasm when they talked about these things—none of that could be fake.
Pan Xiao understood now. That young boss really did know how to run a factory.
He was walking alone, lost in thought, when an elderly man with graying hair suddenly came up beside him and spoke kindly, “Director Pan?”
“Yes?”
Pan Xiao turned to look at him.
The man introduced himself. “My surname is Zhang—Zhang as in ‘early rising.’ I’m the deputy plant manager here.”
“Oh! Oh!”
Pan Xiao hurriedly reached out to shake his hand. “Hello, hello.”
“Hello.”
Zhang Ningfu walked with him toward the cafeteria and asked with concern, “How was the tour just now? Not bad, right?”
“Very good,” Pan Xiao replied. “The factory is large, there are many workers, and you can tell the business is doing well.”
Zhang Ningfu smiled. “Actually, this is nothing yet. We only got our loan after the New Year, and that’s when we started expanding. The new workshops aren’t even finished, and we’re still recruiting people.”
“Right now it’s all small-scale.”
“We produce as much as we can for now—whatever we’re able to make.”
“Once everything’s built, the factory will really start running at full capacity.”
Pan Xiao suddenly thought of something. “May I ask— I heard your big boss made his start doing clothing for department stores. Is that true?”
“Then why is he running a factory now?”
“This way.”
Zhang Ningfu led the way toward the cafeteria and explained as they walked, “That’s right. He made his fortune with ready-to-wear and his own brand.”
“At first, he and I didn’t even know each other.”
“I was running a small clothing workshop in our town. Business wasn’t good, and I was getting ready to sell it off.”
“One day, Mr. Jiang came by and said he wanted to buy my workshop, and then we…”
They reached the cafeteria, and the Hongming workers waiting to eat were stunned—
A whole row of serving windows, all filled with food—meat dishes and vegetable dishes alike.
There were metal tray-style lunch pans. You grabbed one yourself, lined up at the window, and took whatever you wanted. Eat as much as you liked. Free.
You could ask for ten meat dishes and they’d still serve you!
There was soup too—unlimited. And it wasn’t some watery pickled-vegetable soup with no grease, but tomato and egg soup. Eggs—lots of egg ribbons in it!
Even workers who had eaten at state-owned factory cafeterias before had never seen anything like this.
As they lined up with their trays, they were shocked and excited, whispering to each other:
“This factory’s boss invested in ours too. Does that mean we’ll get this kind of treatment and cafeteria in the future?”
“I went to look—my god, the soup is full of eggs! You wouldn’t even put that many eggs in during postpartum confinement. Are eggs free in Haicheng or something?”
“I saw it too! The windows are all meat! Chicken legs bigger than my fist! They even have braised pork hock!”
Inside the cafeteria, Zhang Ningfu took a tray and handed one to Pan Xiao. For the moment, he stopped talking about Mr. Jiang and the factory, smiled, and said, “Try the food. Our cafeteria is pretty good.”
Pan Xiao asked in surprise, “Aren’t you the plant manager? You line up too?”
Zhang Ningfu laughed. “Not just me—even when Mr. Jiang comes, he lines up like everyone else.”
“It’s a rule Mr. Jiang set. He said everyone in the factory is equal—no bureaucracy here. First come, first served. If you’re late, you line up.”
“Even his secretary—when they come to get food for him and the driver—still has to line up.”
Pan Xiao was thoroughly convinced.
He asked again, “With food this good, the costs must be really high. Does your boss really not mind? This factory belongs to him, not the state. It’s not a communal mess hall—so much meat, for the workers. Doesn’t it hurt him?”
Zhang Ningfu led Pan Xiao to the end of a line and explained, “No need to worry about that. Mr. Jiang knows what he’s doing.”
“Our Mr. Jiang said it himself—any worker who comes to work for him, he won’t shortchange a single one.”
“He told me too: he said he runs a factory, he’s a boss—not a leech. He won’t lie on top of workers and suck their blood.”
“Workers are already tired from working all day. They need to eat and drink well, or they won’t have the strength to work.”
Pan Xiao nodded. His impression had already changed dramatically.
Once they sat down, a Hongming worker at the neighboring table asked Pan Xiao and Zhang Ningfu, “So in the future, will we have a cafeteria this good too? Wages this high?”
Pan Xiao couldn’t make any promises and stayed silent. Zhang Ningfu smiled kindly and said, “As long as our Mr. Jiang is in charge of managing and operating the factory, he definitely won’t treat everyone badly.”
The man asked again, “You’re the plant manager? How come you’re still working at your age?”
Zhang Ningfu replied gently, “Our Mr. Jiang promoted me.”
“I’m just an old man. I don’t really understand management—I only know how to make clothes. But Mr. Jiang trusts me and lets me learn while I manage.”
“He treats the people around him very well.”
“My nephew used to be just a workshop hand. Now he works as Mr. Jiang’s secretary, running errands for him. He makes much more than before—enough to support a family.”
The man ate his food, nodded, and said excitedly, “Then I want to work for Mr. Jiang too.”
Zhang Ningfu said, “Come on. All of you, come.”
Later that evening, as they left the factory and boarded the buses back at the gate, all three buses were full of people who were well fed, satisfied, and in especially good spirits.
As Pan Xiao got on the bus, he heard a worker shout loudly, “A boss like this—we’ve got to welcome him!”
“That’s right! If he comes to our factory, I agree!”
“I agree too!”
Pan Xiao said nothing. He quietly moved toward the back to find a seat as the workers continued talking over one another.
Once most people were aboard, the man who had led the factory tour climbed onto the bus, holding a yellow manila envelope, and said to everyone, “As promised—one hundred each. I’m handing out the money.”
“Everyone sit tight. One by one.”
Someone immediately said, “I don’t want the money anymore. Can you have your big boss come talk to us instead? Just tell us he’ll take over running our factory.”
The man began handing out the cash, smiling. “Don’t worry. Mr. Jiang will make all the arrangements. What we promised you—one hundred means one hundred. You’ll all get it.”