Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 717 Good Things Are in Sight
After finishing all her work during the day, Zhou Yali, representing Qianfan Publishing House, signed a cooperation framework agreement with Jiangnan Writers Association and immediately signed a contract for the publication of two novels.

According to the contract, Qianfan Publishing House only provides publishing services. The literary works need to be translated here before being submitted. The basic manuscript fee is not high, at 50 cents per word, and the royalty rate is only 7%.

Even so, everyone in the unit was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

This is the United States, especially given that the two countries have only been formally diplomatic for less than a month. They have already opened up channels for publishing literary works in the United States. Regardless of the sales of those two works, just look at how impressive this achievement is!
In comparison, the international writing program that Bian Huifang and Director Duan of the External Relations Department were following up on, although they had already contacted the other party and received an invitation to visit the United States in March for a six-month study and exchange program, was a considerable achievement. However, it paled in comparison to this.

After finishing his work during the day, Chen Fan took the three of them to the provincial literary and art federation canteen for a meal and sang "Young Friends Come to Meet" on the side, which was considered to have completed his mission.

Early the next morning, he packed his bags and belongings into the car, and with three people and a group of animals in tow, headed straight for Yunhu Lake.

……

As soon as the car left the provincial capital, the weather quickly turned cloudy, and before long, a light snow began to fall.

Zhou Yali wrapped herself in a bearskin coat and looked at the gloomy scene outside the window, feeling a little worried. "It's snowing. Will we be delayed on the road?"

Chen Fan turned to look out the window and laughed, "It's nothing, it's just snowing. Even if it's a light snow or a heavy snow, I'm not afraid, as long as it doesn't freeze."

Freezing rain freezes into ice as soon as it hits the ground, and that's when it becomes dangerous. Snowflakes, on the other hand, don't freeze so quickly. They accumulate into a layer of snow first, and then wait for a cold night for the wind to freeze them before they become dangerous.

Moreover, this road is a main thoroughfare in the province, with cars coming and going all day long, almost without a break. Even if the traffic is relatively light, it is not easily blocked by ice and snow.

Therefore, as long as I drive fast, I will definitely arrive safely.

With that in mind, Chen Fan pressed the accelerator harder, and the modified shock absorption system worked perfectly, propelling the car forward steadily.

However, this road is a bit rough. It was originally a dirt road, and as the Lunar New Year approaches, there are more and more cars on the road, so it inevitably has more potholes.

Even with the modified body, the ride was still somewhat bumpy.

The two little monkeys in Zhou Yali's arms couldn't stay still either. They jumped off her and lay down at her feet, each tightly hugging one of her legs, as if afraid of being thrown off.

Without the monkeys, she gripped the handrail in front of her with one hand and the window handle with the other, sighing as she said, "Brother, when will this road be fixed? It's so bumpy."

Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian sat in the back row, each letting go of the raccoon dog and tightly gripping the handrail with one hand to maintain their balance. When they heard Zhou Yali's words, they both looked at Chen Fan.

But the next second, they looked at each other and found it a little funny.

This is road construction; even if Xiao Fan is incredibly capable, it shouldn't affect anything in this regard.

Chen Fan turned to look at Zhou Yali and said with a smile, "What you said suddenly reminded me of something."

Zhou Yali turned to look at him, "What is it?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "During my trip to Beijing, I met an elderly gentleman from Hong Kong. When we chatted, we talked about the situation in Hong Kong."

He said that several big businessmen in Hong Kong are interested in investing in road construction in the mainland and have expressed this intention to the Guangdong authorities.

He didn't elaborate on the specifics, but I estimate that this matter should succeed. Because no matter what, roads can't be taken away, and think back to when the Four Modernizations were first proposed, one of them was transportation modernization. Although it was later changed to science and technology and cultural modernization, this shows that the importance of transportation has always been a key focus of higher authorities.

The three of them watched him intently and listened to him speak, and the jolt seemed to lessen.

Chen Fan glanced at them and continued, "Actually, in foreign countries, many highways are built by companies. They build the road first, then collect tolls to make a profit. Infrastructure projects have always been one of the most lucrative industries."

At this point, Chen Fan finally expressed his point, "The Zhou family is in the real estate industry. Have they considered investing in infrastructure in the mainland?"

He pointed ahead, "For example, build this road."

Zhou Yali's eyes widened instantly. "Heavens, the Zhou family can build a road? You overestimate your uncle, my father! He doesn't have that kind of power."

If it were just a short road to be repaired, the Zhou family could still do an investment assessment.

However, this provincial highway, from the provincial capital to Yunhu, is nearly 300 kilometers long.

Even if the route can be replanned to shorten the journey, it won't save much time.

Based on a distance of 250 kilometers, building ordinary roads is fine, costing only a few million per kilometer. However, if we build expressways, considering the inflation during construction, as well as the prices and labor costs in inland areas, the cost per kilometer would be at least tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions.

If we calculate based on 25 billion RMB for nearly 300 kilometers, that's close to 15 billion USD at the current exchange rate.

Even if you dismantle and sell the entire Zhou family's property, you still wouldn't be able to scrape together a fraction of the money!
Chen Fan naturally knew how expensive road repairs were.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, my country's first expressway built with foreign investment, cost 122 billion yuan, plus over 7 million yuan in demolition costs. The total length of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway is only 122.8 kilometers.

One hundred million per kilometer.

Don't build ordinary roads, build expressways.
At this price, if a modern, high-grade highway is to be built from the provincial capital to Yunhu, we'll need to prepare 300 billion yuan first!

After Zhou Yali finished speaking, Chen Fan smiled and said, "I didn't say I'd invest now, and there aren't any specific policies out yet. I estimate it will take another two or three years."

What I mean is, we should do some preparatory work first, pay more attention to information in this area, and then figure out how to invest when we have the strength and there are specific policy supports in the mainland.”

He turned to look at Zhou Yali and said, "I have always said that I have great confidence in the development of the mainland. The basis of this confidence is the stability of the policies. As long as the policies are stable, given the size of the domestic population and the urban development layout across the country, investing here will definitely yield very high returns."

"When the time is right, let's not talk about independently investing in a highway, but investing a small amount of capital and leveraging ten times, or even more, in loans is quite possible."

Zhou Yali frowned and silently did the accounting.

Based on a budget of $15 billion, the initial capital would need to be at least $1.5 billion, while the Zhou family's total assets are just over $100 million. How could the initial capital be increased fifteenfold?
That's only possible if Wanmuchun Technology's multi-protocol routers become as successful as Apple computers, or even more successful, and if all its new businesses, such as Chinese character cards, agency PBXs, etc., explode in popularity.

But when was that?

Zhou Yali couldn't believe it was realistic.

However, she didn't refute her cousin's words. Instead, she shook her head and chuckled, "Brother, you could actually write a few more 'Legend of the Dragon Knight' books. We can partner up and earn 20 million US dollars per book. If you write a hundred books, that's 2 billion US dollars, enough to start the road construction!"

Chen Fan's eye twitched slightly. Two hundred books?

So you're saying I'm investing in this myself? But he didn't say anything else, just smiled and said, "Hmm, that's a good idea. I'll definitely write more about it later."

Believe it or not, if we calculate in US dollars, the current exchange rate is around 1.5, which is at a historical low. But by 95, the exchange rate had soared to 1 US dollar to 8.35. Even if we calculate based on an average of 1:8, a mere 300 billion, or 37.5 billion US dollars, would only be worth that much.

Then, one-tenth of the initial capital is extracted, meaning that only $3-4 million is needed to establish a road and bridge investment company.

More than ten years later, Little Chen has become Old Chen, and he still can't come up with a few hundred million US dollars?!

Therefore, independent investment is not impossible.

Upon hearing such an astronomical sum, the two sisters turned to look at each other, then at Zhou Yali, and met her gaze. The three of them burst out laughing.

……

After having breakfast in the provincial capital, Chen Fan set off. He sped along the way, but due to the slippery roads caused by the snow, it still took more than 6 hours. It wasn't until after 2 p.m. that he finally entered Yunhu city, two hours later than the fastest time he had ever driven there.

Once inside the city, the two sisters looked at the familiar street scenes outside the window, and their mood suddenly became more anxious.

Especially for Jiang Tiantian, this was the first time she had been away from home for thousands of miles since birth, and she only returned after a year. Her homesickness was already overwhelming.

However, looking ahead, my feelings became more complicated.

She asked in a low voice, "Xiao Fan, are you staying here for a few days, or are you going directly to Lujiawan?"

Chen Fan glanced at her in the rearview mirror and smiled, "You don't need to stay. You've been away from home for so long, you should spend more time with your parents. I'll take you home first, then go to the machinery factory to talk about the electric gate, and then we'll go straight to Lujiawan."

Perhaps it's because of the passage of time that we've become somewhat accustomed to it.

He's clearly not from Lujiawan; he owns houses in Yunhu, the provincial capital, Beijing, and Shanghai. But now he really treats Lujiawan like his hometown and has to go back there for the New Year to feel like it's the New Year.

Hearing him say that, the two sisters exchanged a glance and nodded gently, "Okay."

Jiang Lili leaned forward, holding onto Chen Fan's seat, and whispered, "Then you have to be careful when the boat sets sail later. It's windy in winter, so be careful not to catch a cold."

Before Chen Fan could speak, Zhou Yali patted her chest and assured him, "Don't worry, we all brought fur coats, your man won't get cold."

Jiang Lili blushed slightly and turned to look at her, "Thank you for your hard work, cousin."

Soon they arrived at the cotton mill dormitory area, where Jiang Heng and Shen Xueyi, who had received the telegram long ago, were already waiting impatiently at home.

Hearing the noise outside the door, he immediately opened it and ran out.

The two sisters got off the bus from opposite sides and ran towards their mother together. The three of them hugged each other, crying and laughing at the same time.

Chen Fan got out of the car and, together with Zhou Yali, greeted Jiang Heng. Then he took the two sisters' luggage and carried it into the house.

Jiang Heng put his suitcase in the corner and smiled at Chen Fan, "Let's have dinner here tonight."

Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "No, thank you. I have to go to the machinery factory later, and then I have to rush back to Lujiawan."

Jiang Heng's expression changed slightly. "Oh, why are you in such a hurry? Why not stay a couple more days?"

Shen Xueyi also came over, "Yes, today is only the Little New Year, there are still 4 or 5 days until New Year's Eve."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "A few more days won't make a difference. I'll come over to wish Uncle and Aunt a Happy New Year when the Spring Festival arrives."

After exchanging a few polite words, Jiang Heng and his group did not stay any longer.

They also knew that although Chen Fan had a house in Yunhu, his acquaintances and friends were still in Lujiawan, which felt more like his home than Yunhu.

Although they didn't stay overnight, they did stay for a meal.

They had breakfast in the provincial capital that morning and were starving by now. Shen Xueyi had also prepared a lavish banquet, not wanting to waste anything.

After finishing their meal, Chen Fan and Zhou Yali left in a hurry.

He first went to the machinery factory and found Deputy Director Xue.

No, we can no longer call him Deputy Factory Director Xue; we should call him Secretary Xue or Factory Director Xue.

The plan made before the Lunar New Year has finally been implemented after being approved by higher authorities not long ago.

The original Yunhu Machinery Factory was divided into three parts. First, Yunhu Automobile Factory officially became independent, and its leadership team completely separated from the Machinery Factory, no longer holding positions within the Machinery Factory.

Naturally, Yang Kangnian also stepped down from his position as secretary and director of the machinery factory and became a full-time leader of the Yunhu Automobile Factory.

Li, the former deputy director of the machinery factory, got his wish and spun off more than a dozen small household appliance production lines. A factory was built next to the Yunqi factory, and Yunhu Household Appliance Factory was officially established. He became a powerful local official, Secretary Li, who also served as the factory director.

Today, Yunhu Electric Appliance Factory is quite remarkable. Relying on its rich product line and practical product functions, it not only sells well throughout the province, but also, thanks to the efforts of Factory Director Li, has established connections with leading enterprises such as Wangfujing Department Store in Beijing and Shanghai No. 1 Department Store, and has also connected with the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, showing a strong momentum to sweep the country.

Even the factory area is much larger than that of a typical factory. The current factory buildings only occupy less than a third of the area, and the construction of the next factory buildings has already begun.

I heard that the special zone has given the construction company a strict order: no work should be stopped during the Spring Festival, and the second phase of the factory must be completed within a month so as to supply goods to department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives across the country as soon as possible.

If all goes well, Yunhu Electric Appliance Factory will surely become the second calling card of Yunhu Industry, following Yunhu Automobile Factory.

The last one is Yunhu Machinery Factory, which was retained after being split up.

Although two parts were dismantled, the remaining machinery factory is still a behemoth no less than the original old factory.

Leaving aside the business of carrying out tasks assigned by superiors, the ideas that Chen Fan alone provided were enough to sustain them for three years.

Industrial sewing machines, automatic incubators... which of these things wasn't a good thing every year?!
By the way, the automatic incubator has now been successfully developed and has even received an award from the Ministry of Agriculture. Good things are on the horizon for the machinery factory.

(End of this chapter)