48: In one month, someone came from above

“Brother Xu, we’ve already reviewed the production qualifications of three heavy industry enterprises today, and there’s still one left.”

Dusk arrived.

Beside a wide concrete street.

Two figures stood, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun.

The speaker was Liu Xun from the Enterprise Qualification Review Bureau.

Standing beside him was Xu Youwei, also from the Enterprise Qualification Review Bureau.

Both men were in their thirties, with full heads of hair and no signs of being overweight.

At this moment, the two had just finished inspecting the production qualifications of a heavy industry enterprise.

They then walked out of the enterprise to their car parked by the concrete road, preparing to head back.

“Which one is left?”

Xu Youwei held a cigarette holder, and after moving his lips, he exhaled a large cloud of thick white smoke, his expression slightly weary.

The two of them had visited over ten enterprises today.

From morning until now, dusk, they hadn't rested.

“It’s a small Steel Factory in Pingshan County.”

Liu Xun flipped through a thick stack of documents in his hand directly to the last page, glanced at the brief description, and then stated truthfully.

“That Guo Li Steel Factory in Pingshan County?”

“It hasn’t closed down yet?”

Xu Youwei was stunned for a moment, asking casually.

Heavy industry enterprises undergo on-site reviews of their production qualifications every year.

He had also reviewed Guo Li Steel Factory last year.

However, at that time, Guo Li Steel Factory’s sales had already plummeted significantly.

It was even difficult for it to break even.

He had estimated back then that this small Steel Factory wouldn’t last more than half a year.

It wouldn’t even make it to the second year for them to review its qualifications; it would have already gone bankrupt.

But reality was somewhat unexpected.

He hadn’t expected this Steel Factory to be so resilient.

A year had passed, and the Steel Factory hadn’t closed down yet.

It was truly amazing!

“If it had closed down, its information wouldn’t be in our hands,” Liu Xun sighed, then looked at Xu Youwei and asked, “Should we go now or tomorrow?”

Xu Youwei took a deep drag.

The remaining small stub of tobacco quickly burned out.

He then threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped on it hard with his foot until the last spark was extinguished, and then he slowly said, “Let’s not bother with tomorrow. Anyway, Pingshan County isn’t far from here, we can just go directly. It’s too much trouble to make another trip tomorrow. Besides, the Steel Factory isn’t closed at this hour.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Liu Xun agreed with a nod.

Then the two opened the car doors and drove towards Pingshan County.

...

“Why haven’t they arrived yet?”

Guo Li Steel Factory.

Inside the office.

Li Mubai frowned slightly.

Ten days had passed since he obtained the land lease contract.

During these ten days, the factory expansion work had already been completed.

Now, the Steel Factory was more than three times larger than before.

Even the number of workers had increased several times.

The current daily production volume was enough to match the previous five days’ production.

And today was the day for the higher-ups to come and review the Steel Factory’s qualifications.

But with the setting sun leaning against the window, it was already close to quitting time.

The people from above still hadn’t arrived.

This made Li Mubai a bit annoyed.

He had stayed at the Steel Factory all day today, waiting for the people from above.

“It’s almost 5:30 PM, and these people still haven’t arrived. So, when 5:30 PM comes, should I leave, or should I leave?” Li Mubai couldn’t help but think to himself.

Of course, the reason he left work at 5:30 PM was because he never ate in the factory cafeteria.

It wasn't that the cafeteria food wasn't good.

It was just that eating with family was more heartwarming.

...

Just like that, time passed minute by minute.

After waiting a while longer, Li Mubai checked his watch again.

The time was already 5:30 PM.

“Forget it, I’m going to head out first.”

Li Mubai immediately called Old Xiao.

After entrusting him to thoroughly inspect the factory conditions after work, he pushed the door open and left without looking back.

He was not at all wishy-washy.

It was 5:30 PM; what was he still doing there?

Although he was the boss, overtime was out of the question.

Leaving work on time was an excellent quality he had been learning in his previous life!

After the workers finished eating in the factory, they also started leaving work one after another.

Before long, the factory lights went out.

The entire factory immediately fell silent.

Only the Security personnels remained at their posts, as it was their duty.

By this time, it was already dark.

The setting sun, which had been lingering on the horizon, had now peacefully gone to sleep.

Only a crescent moon remained in the sky, lonely and solitary.

Just as the animals outside the factory were playing their endless symphony, a light, coming from far away, quickly approached the factory gate.

The vehicle was a black car.

Once the car came to a steady stop, two figures emerged from it.

It was none other than Liu Xun and Xu Youwei from the Enterprise Qualification Review Bureau.

The two had driven for half an hour and finally arrived at the Steel Factory.

“This is Guo Li Steel Factory, right? When did the factory become so big?” Xu Youwei asked in confusion, looking at the two-meter-high long wall.

“This… we shouldn’t have taken a wrong turn, right?” Liu Xun’s tone was also extremely uncertain as he looked at the factory, which had expanded more than three times its original size.

The two were already a bit confused.

When they had come here before, they had never seen such a large factory.

The Steel Factory in their memory was just a small factory that occupied a very small area and had only one production line.

But the factory in front of them was more than three or four times larger than before!

Both of them had a common question in their minds at this moment… Did they take the wrong road?

Liu Xun was the first to regain his composure.

Upon seeing someone guarding the gate, he walked directly towards the guardhouse at the main entrance.

Upon arriving at the gate, he asked the Security personnel in the guardhouse, “Excuse me, old brother, is this Guo Li Steel Factory?”

The Security personnel had noticed the two for a while.

His eyes were filled with strong vigilance: “Who are you?”

“Oh, we’re from the City, here to check enterprise qualifications.”

Hearing Liu Xun’s reply, the Security personnel immediately recalled what Li Mubai had told him earlier in the day.

‘If people from the City come, and they are here to verify enterprise qualifications, bring them into the factory and find me in the office.’

Thinking of this, the Security personnel’s expression immediately softened: “This is indeed Guo Li Steel Factory.”

“What, it really is Guo Li Steel Factory? When did it get so big?”

Upon receiving confirmation, Liu Xun’s eyes widened, and his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

He had been to Guo Li Steel Factory before.

It was nowhere near this big then.

At that time, the Steel Factory’s daily output was very low, creating little value, and it even polluted the environment by smelting steel with coal.

But what was the situation now?

Why had this Steel Factory, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, suddenly become so large?

This made no sense at all!

Wasn't this Steel Factory about to go bankrupt? How did it have money to build such a large factory?

Could it be that during this past year, this small Steel Factory had revived and flourished?