Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

Workplace rivalries exist everywhere.

He Yuzhu also encountered it.

After being transferred from the steel rolling mill to a ministry, the situation he encountered became much more complicated.

In the steel rolling mill, he was the undisputed leader, but here, no one cared about him.

On the contrary, he would be ostracized because of his background.

The leaders he knew had all retired one after another. The new leaders didn't take him, a cook, seriously.

Within the ministries, He Yuzhu was essentially sidelined.

Fortunately, he had no desire to fight for power and was content to just drift along in his ministry.

This situation changed after Luo Xiangfei learned about his background.

People in the workplace suddenly realized that He Yuzhu had become the leader's favorite, and they would think of him whenever there was something good.

Sure enough, an opportunity requiring a business trip was given to He Yuzhu.

In the past, this would not have been his turn.

Luo Xiangfei is leading a team from the ministry to JS Province to review the procurement process for a project.

"You've all read the report submitted by JS Province, right?"

Our mission this time is to reduce the price. From 100 million to 60 million.

“Director, this is probably very difficult,” said Director Qi, who was skilled in auditing.

He Yuzhu didn't speak, but carefully looked at the report.

This is a project procurement report submitted by JS Province.

According to the report, they were going to import a complete set of equipment.

The requirements were put forward by the JS province, but the specific equipment to be used was decided by the Japanese side.

The Japanese proposal includes not only the machinery used in the equipment, but also the factory buildings and so on.

After several rounds of negotiations, Japan persisted, and the final report was submitted.

The project is supported by the government, but the price is just too high.

The country's foreign exchange reserves are tight, and there are too many places that need foreign exchange. We cannot spend too much foreign exchange on this project.

In order to reduce costs, the Ministry of Metallurgy arranged for Luo Xiangfei to lead a team to JS Province to handle the matter.

To be honest, He Yuzhu didn't know much about this. It was his first time working on this project, and he was completely clueless.

You can't tell anything just by looking at the report.

But he has an advantage: he knows about some of Japan's shady tactics.

He recalled reading an article about how Japan sold equipment to the country in this way.

Those facilities included a lot of useless stuff, and even luxurious toilets.

He Yuzhu felt that this time they had probably encountered the same problem.

As for whether it is true or not, we'll need to go to Jiangsu and take a closer look at the blueprints.

Because he didn't understand, no one asked him what he thought.

After the meeting, Luo Xiangfei told the group to pack their luggage and prepare to go to JS Province.

He Yuzhu went home and told Lin Jinghan.

Lin Jinghan asked, "How long will you be gone this time?"

He Yuzhu said, "It won't be too long, at most a week."

After packing their things, He Yuzhu set off with Luo Xiangfei.

He Yuzhu didn't wield much real power, but he held a high rank. Among the group, besides Luo Xiangfei, who was a director, he was the highest-ranking.

According to their rank, they are entitled to sleeper berths.

The train journey was far from quiet. In order to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, Luo Xiangfei instructed everyone to continue studying the report on the train.

He Yuzhu is not a professional, so the research report does not need him.

He went to the side to smoke.

Luo Xiangfei followed over: "Zhu Zi, what are your thoughts?"

He Yuzhu said, "I don't have any thoughts, but I think the price is too high."

Luo Xiangfei asked curiously, "What's your basis?"

He Yuzhu said, "When I was working at the steel rolling mill, Lou Xiao'e also helped me purchase some equipment."

The prices quoted for those devices are far lower than those in Japan.” Luo Xiangfei, who knew some of this, said, “That alone isn’t convincing.”

This time we purchased a complete set of equipment, which also includes a newly built workshop.

A higher price is understandable.

He Yuzhu does not deny this point; if you don't have the skills, you have to pay tuition.

This is the hard truth.

He Yuzhu was just a college student at the time and didn't know much about technology. He also didn't have the ability to change the situation on his own.

But He Yuzhu understands the Japanese.

At the beginning of China's reform and opening up, Japan took advantage of this cognitive gap and committed many acts of commercial fraud.

"I took a quick look at the report and found a problem."

Luo Xiangfei asked curiously, "What's the problem?"

He Yuzhu said, "There are quite a few foreign manufacturers, so why are there only Japanese quotes?"

Don't companies from the US, Germany, and the UK have any interest at all?

“This…” Luo Xiangfei explained, “We have very close economic and trade ties with Japan, which is why we chose Ruben Enterprise.”

He Yuzhu said, "It's not just that reason. Isn't it also because Japan has been very considerate of us, has a very good attitude, and seems particularly easy to deal with?"

"Is there a problem with this?" Luo Xiangfei asked.

He Yuzhu said, "This is a big problem. This is their strategy towards us."

They seem particularly agreeable on unimportant matters, allowing us to lower our guard.

When it comes to important matters, their attitude becomes particularly tough. They'll even use so-called technical arguments to refute the claims.

This technique was used by our ancestors thousands of years ago.

Director Luo thought about it carefully and found that the reports below seemed to confirm this.

At the beginning of the conversation, the Japanese were incredibly considerate.

They considered everything very thoroughly, and more importantly, they catered to the Chinese people's desire for face in every way.

Those who negotiated will psychologically lean towards Japan after experiencing this round of shocks.

He Yuzhu continued, "It's just like the service in a restaurant. They treat you like royalty, making you feel right at home."

When it's time to pay, you're not the customer anymore. Not paying is considered dine-and-dash, and we'll call the police and have you arrested immediately.

Luo Xiangfei asked, dumbfounded, "You figured this out?"

He Yuzhu thought to himself, "How could he have that ability? It's the experience left to us by our predecessors from another time and space who suffered hardships."

He Yuzhu did not answer the question directly, but said, "Our country is very big, almost as big as Europe."

Especially considering our country has a large population. This is a very large market.

Countries around the world want to get a piece of the pie.

Companies from other Western countries all want to come in.

They were hesitant to go in because they weren't familiar with us.

I think we should change things up; we can't put all our eggs in one basket.

Luo Xiangfei asked, "You mean, we should start all over again from scratch?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "We've done so much work beforehand, how can we overturn it without a suitable reason?"

What I mean is that we should carefully review the proposals provided by Japan, including the blueprints, during our trip there.

I always feel that there are many issues we've overlooked here.

If we can identify those problems, we can take the initiative.

Hearing that He Yuzhu wouldn't allow it to be scrapped and started over, Luo Xiangfei breathed a sigh of relief.

As He Yuzhu said, a lot of work was done in the early stages, and many people were involved.

They cannot overturn the plan unless they can provide sufficient reasons.

Are you sure there's a problem inside?

He Yuzhu said, "Can you completely trust the Japanese? I certainly don't."

I've looked into the prices of these items; they're definitely not that high.

"Then let's proceed according to your plan." Luo Xiangfei thought for a moment and made the decision. (End of Chapter)