92: Chapter 92 Director Bai's View

"Rest assured, when I go back, I'll ask around carefully to see who is making unauthorized decisions and setting such a high price. Isn't that just trying to make things difficult for you?"

Director Bai didn't pick up on that line of conversation at all.

He simply brushed the matter aside with a few words.

"Director Bai, you can't act like this. Although we've never met, surely you can't refuse to give my father some face, right?"

"The policies from above have been implemented, requiring that the charging price for new energy vehicles should not exceed one yuan. You've directly doubled it! Other new energy vehicles are following that standard, so why should we have to pay two yuan?!"

When Wang Xiuming said this, his attitude was particularly sincere.

"Xiao Wang, you can't blame this on me. This is the policy from above. As you said, since the higher-ups require us to do it this way, we can't just cut corners, can we?"

"Besides, if you feel our policy is unfair, you can report it to the people above. After all, you've always had a good relationship with them. If you can report it, maybe they'll loosen up..."

Director Bai passed the buck to Wang Xiuming with a fake, insincere smile.

He even implied that as long as Wang Xiuming could find someone above to pull strings,

then he could even lower the price to 0.45 yuan.

Director Bai was betting that Wang Xiuming definitely wouldn't be able to find anyone above to pull strings.

That was why he had come to discuss this matter with him.

If Wang Xiuming had seen through this earlier,

and come to negotiate with him sooner,

he wouldn't be getting squeezed at such a critical moment.

"Director Bai, if you act like this, it really looks like you're favoring those foreign merchants over our own local enterprises. Since we're all on the same side, the price issue should be negotiable. If you do this, outsiders will definitely be clapping and cheering!"

Wang Xiuming, having no other choice, pushed the matter onto the foreign merchants again.

He also stated that they were now one entity, and if this matter couldn't be resolved,

wouldn't it be a laughing stock for others?

"Xiao Wang, there's no point in telling me this. If you have the ability, go contact the higher-ups and see what they have to say. In any case, the order I received here is to raise the price. After all, you're currently a tall tree attracting the wind; you can't expect to have the advantage in everything!"

Wang Xiuming saw that Director Bai absolutely refused to budge.

He didn't press the issue too much this time, instead adopting an 'I see' expression.

This was enough to vaguely gloss over the matter.

After seeing Director Bai out, Wang Xiuming didn't take it too seriously. He narrowed his eyes slightly and called Hongqi Heavy Industry.

He ordered all production lines at Hongqi Heavy Industry to stop. As for the batch of goods to be delivered to the higher-ups, he immediately notified them that they would be unable to deliver the goods on schedule.

After Wang Xiuming pulled this move, the effect was significant.

Almost immediately after Hongqi Heavy Industry made their stance clear, within ten minutes, the higher-ups sent a special investigator to handle the matter.

"Comrade Investigator, you say that our Hongqi Heavy Industry is just a small factory. We are currently producing special equipment for the higher-ups, and we can't complain, but there are always some things that make one feel disheartened!"

"I'm not trying to threaten anyone, but if this matter isn't resolved, our factory will have no choice but to go bankrupt. Many users are already asking to return their cars. Just look at these stacks of complaints. I don't even need to wait for them to demand refunds; the industrial and commercial authorities could fine me heavily just for this."

At this moment, Wang Xiuming played the victim, pleading for the higher-ups to show some mercy.

He stated that no matter how many more units they needed him to produce, he would not shirk his responsibility.

"You tell me, I really don't know anyone up there. If I did, I wouldn't need to come up with this idea!"

"You can come with me to see the production lines at Hongqi Heavy Industry. The workers are currently producing with great enthusiasm. I just came up with a bad idea, hoping someone could come over and help coordinate things, right?"

After Wang Xiuming finished his long speech, the female investigator couldn't help but frown.

"You don't have to keep calling me 'Investigator'. You can call me by my name; I'm Xu Qing!"

"You just said you wanted the higher-ups to help you coordinate things. What exactly do you want them to coordinate?"

"The person in charge of the Power Grid for new energy is Director Bai. Director Bai says there is a policy from above that the price of electricity for local new energy vehicles must be adjusted to two yuan per kilowatt-hour, while those foreign merchants pay less than one yuan per kilowatt-hour. Yet, they want us, the patriotic users, to pay high charging fees after buying the cars. How could they possibly agree to that?"

"Actually, I also can't quite understand it. We are clearly the local enterprise, yet we have to pay higher fees than those foreign merchants. I don't know why this is the case!"

When Wang Xiuming said this, he blinked pitifully at Xu Qing.

Hearing this, Xu Qing couldn't help but frown.

She had always been responsible for matters regarding Hongqi.

Although Wang Xiuming didn't know it, the higher-ups had long since turned their attention to the Hongqi car factory.

After all, as the only local car brand, Hongqi would naturally receive attention from above.

The higher-ups did not want to see Hongqi go bankrupt.

But unexpectedly, after it was handed over to Wang Xiuming, it had repeatedly created miracles.

As the liaison for this matter, Xu Qing directly dialed Director Bai's number.

"Director Bai, how come I've never heard that the charging fee for Hongqi is two yuan? What exactly is going on here?"

"If you can't even resolve this matter, then you don't need to come to work anymore. Could it be that you've accepted some bribes? You should know what the attitude from above is like right now. I think you need to give me an answer by 5:00 PM today!"

Having said this, Xu Qing hung up the phone directly.

She didn't give Director Bai on the other end of the line any time to react.