"Do you know why we like to plant willow trees here?"
"This tree has strong bark and is very lively."
"Adapt to our environment here."
"This tree is full of treasures."
Everyone was chatting with the leaders while planting trees.
"Oh, anyway, we have been planting willow trees since E Ye (my grandfather) and E Da (my father)."
"Everyone is right, but not since your father, when you were older, or even more than 130 years ago, willow trees have been planted here. At that time, General Zuo Zongtang led his army to the west to regain Xinjiang, and took the lead in guarding the border and planting trees. He experimented along the way. Among dozens of species of trees, only this kind of willow called 'Beheaded Willow' can survive, which is why there is an eternal legend of 'New willows planted three thousand miles away attract the spring breeze to Yuguan'."
After everyone listened to the leader's explanation of the origin of this willow tree with great interest, they stopped one after another, leaned their shovels on their arms, and clapped. The provincial newspaper and the provincial TV station recorded this heartwarming and touching scene. According to the leaders of the Provincial State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, who later became friends with Yang Liufang, this news documentary was also selected for the National Annual News Award.
Everyone was busy until noon before going back to the cafeteria in batches to eat. The first batch was more than 20 provincial and municipal leaders and people's congress representatives who participated in the tree planting, as well as district secretary Lu and staff, as well as business managers such as Yang Liufang and others. Lunch with the leader. In order to achieve better on-site effects, several tree planting workers led by Secretary Shitou were also asked to join everyone. Before the meal, the leader gave a brief speech and praised Yang Liufang, asking the accompanying person in charge of the Xizhou Foreign Investment Project Office, which was just established last year, to support such environmentally conscious investors who are willing to devote themselves to the construction of Xizhou. Serve people well and make them feel they belong. During the meal, Yang Liufang was naturally seated next to the provincial leaders. The leaders asked a lot about the development of their companies and the difficulties they encountered. Having held many large-scale events and participated in several receptions, Yang Liufang answered the leaders' questions cautiously and prudently. Leaders encourage them, investors with advanced business awareness, to participate more in the development and construction of Xizhou.
"I heard that the Xizhou Trade Fair to be held by the province this year will be a continuation of the exhibition you held last year. Are you participating this year?"
"Boss, I went back to my hometown of Wenzhou during the Spring Festival to spend the New Year with my parents. I just came back and I haven't received any notification yet."
The leader immediately asked the leaders of the Provincial Department of Commerce who were planting trees together about the progress of the meeting, and found out that a preparatory group was being formed and would not be officially launched until next month. Yang Liufang's trade fair was considered the first and would be continued this year. The second trade fair is planned to be held in July, and the Provincial Department of Commerce has also decided to invite Yang Liufang and others to join the preparatory team. It may have been busy just after the New Year, and the notice has not yet arrived at the factory.
Everyone was eating and talking, and the atmosphere was extremely lively. But before lunch was over, a loud "bang" came from the northwest of Xizhou, and it felt like the earth was shaking. Yang Liufang saw the soup in everyone's bowls on the table splashing out. The leader holding the chopsticks tightened his hands and frowned. Before he could ask a question, there was another loud noise, louder than the first time. The leader immediately put down his chopsticks and stood up. The staff who accompanied him hurriedly came to his side. At this time, there was a faint siren coming from Xizhou City.
"Is there a phone in the factory?"
"Yes, yes." Yang Liufang replied hurriedly.
"Let's go!" The leader trailed off and already started to lead people to move forward, with the staff following closely behind. Yang Liufang walked a few steps ahead and led them to his office on the second floor.
Yang Liufang's large desk is quite neat. In addition to the People's Daily, there are also management books on it. After the leader sat down, he grabbed the phone and was about to make a call. The secretary motioned Yang Liufang to go out. Yang Liufang nodded, turned around and went out, closing the door. In the corridor, several provincial leaders were already waiting to be dispatched. At this time, various alarms sounded louder.
Everyone remained silent in confusion and horror. The door opened, and the secretary called the leaders of the Provincial Work Safety Bureau and the Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau to come in. Half an hour later, the four people came out, and the secretary greeted everyone to take the bus back to their respective jobs.
Yang Liufang also followed the leader's motorcade and drove back to Xizhou. Before entering the city, I could smell a burning smell, and the sirens could be heard more clearly than in the tannery. When they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, they asked Yanhua and Qin Jiajun what was going on with the explosion. They didn't know that there were many fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars driving towards the steel plant with sirens on.
"That was the West State Steel Plant explosion."
"Ah, no? The newspaper said that our Xizhou Steel is the largest and most advanced steel plant in the country."
"That's right, the provincial leaders came back after participating in the tree planting activity without even eating. I came back with their motorcade."
"Sigh, in such a big company, if there is an explosion, I don't know if anyone will be injured or killed."
"They still owe us more than 600,000 yuan for office furniture."
Everyone in the supply and marketing cooperative was busy discussing. Yang Liufang couldn't get any news here, so he simply went to the industrial and trading company of Xizhou Aluminum Factory to have a look. On the way, he saw ambulances and police cars speeding past. When he arrived at his office at the aluminum factory, he called Deputy Director Yan to ask about the explosion.
"I also heard someone from the Work Safety Supervision Bureau just called, saying that the 1,513 cubic meter No. 1 furnace of the steel plant exploded. This is one of the largest blast furnaces in the country. It suddenly collapsed for unknown reasons. 12 people died on site and 7 were seriously injured. , 10 people were slightly injured and are being rescued. It has already caused significant economic losses, and our aluminum factory has been asked to carry out safety self-inspections."
When Yang Liufang got the news, he felt sorry for those who died. Wang Shan knew that Yang Liufang was back, so he took the time to report to Yang Liufang's office. Recently, in addition to some door and window shops, he also talked to several construction sites, and they were willing to purchase aluminum alloy windows produced by Yang Liufang's factory.
"There are also two projects undertaken by the Provincial Second Construction Project that will also be used in large quantities, but they asked us to advance the funds first."
"I can't advance the money." Yang Liufang thought that the Xizhou Steel Plant that had just exploded still owed his own company 600,000 yuan. He didn't know how to collect the debt for this explosion.
"They claim that they are state-owned enterprises. We will negotiate directly with the aluminum factory without giving them any advice. I'm afraid that we will be snatched away by the aluminum factory and we will have no profit." Wang Shan said with concern.
"It is precisely because they are state-owned enterprises that we do not advance funds to them. The Xizhou Steel Plant that just exploded still owed us 600,000 yuan last year. How can we take advantage of something that happened to them? Why don't we take advantage of it? So we would rather not do this. We can’t even use our original capital to make profits.”
While the two were talking, the phone rang quickly. It was Yanhua calling, saying that Yinhua had been taken away by the police and the hardware store of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative had been closed.
"Ah! What's going on?"
"It is said that there was a problem with the temperature control valve and pressure reducing valve we sold to the steel plant, which caused the blast furnace explosion in the steel plant."
"Oh my God!" Yang Liufang frowned and said something with a painful expression, and then asked sternly: "Who brought in this batch of goods?" The voice was a bit sharp, and Wang Shan at the desk was shocked after hearing it. , he had never seen Yang Liufang lose his temper like this before.
"It's Wang Shan. Because this thing is used less, Wang Shan still gave them this batch of goods from Jiangsu alone at that time."
"Wang Shan, what's going on with the temperature control valve and pressure reducing valve?" Yang Liufang asked Wang Shan's full name loudly.
"What's going on?" Wang Shan looked confused.
"The explosion in the steel plant was caused by a problem with the valves purchased from us. Now Yinhua has been arrested and the supply and marketing cooperative has been closed. How do you explain it?"
"Ah! What a coward! I'm slapping my back!" Wang Shan slapped the table, and all his native dialect came out in a hurry, and he didn't know who he was scolding. Then he realized that Yang Liufang didn't understand, so he immediately switched to Mandarin.
"Boss Yang, this batch of valves was purchased from a special valve factory in Jiangsu. They are directly affiliated with the Ministry of Nuclear Industry and specialize in manufacturing valves for atomic bombs. At that time, I considered that they were making steel and the temperature was high, so I didn't consider it. We didn't even make 50 yuan for each valve. If I lied to you, there would be five thunderbolts from heaven, and I would give birth to a child without a butthole!" Wang Shan said angrily, shaking with anger.
Yang Liufang felt slightly relieved when he heard the words "Ministry of Nuclear Industry, Atomic Bomb". Knowing this situation and looking at Wang Shan's demeanor, he felt that there would be no problem with this purchase, so he hung up the phone, then picked it up again and called. The owner of the newsstand answered the call and said that the caller had left. , Yang Liufang originally wanted Yanhua to help take care of the Wang Shan family's children. We can't get in touch now, so we can only deal with the problem first and see the result before letting Wang Shan leave.
He called Director Li's phone number, and the office secretary answered the call and said that Director Li had been taken away for investigation. He heard that the leadership had failed to supervise and he would be jointly and severally liable. Only then did Yang Liufang panic! When he called the leather factory, it was Li Tongfu who answered the phone. Knowing that his brother was fine, he slowly sat down on the chair.
Yang Liufang suddenly became confused and didn't know what to do next. I want to call, but I don’t know who to call. Apart from Director Li, I am familiar with the Development Zone Secretary Lu. The steel plant is a state-owned enterprise, and the provincial leaders may not be able to talk to them, let alone these two. Also, he found that he was usually quite glamorous, but when something really happened, he found that none of the people who were brothers to him could count on him. He unconsciously dialed Secretary Lu's number because he had no one to call except Secretary Lu.
"Secretary Lu, something happened to our supply and marketing cooperative."
"What's going on? Is it related to the explosion in the steel plant?" Secretary Lu, who is worthy of being a policeman, asked the key points at once. Yang Liufang explained in detail the supply and marketing cooperative's sales of valves.
"Xiao Yang, as your parent officer, I can't do anything about the provincial and state-owned enterprises. Now that the matter has been revealed, you can only wait for the results of the investigation."
"Will I or any of our people go to jail for this?"
"Well, you must bear the responsibility for major economic losses and safety of life and property."
"How many years will the sentence be?"
"It depends on how the liability is determined. If you are jointly and severally liable and have no intention of causing losses to state-owned enterprises, you will be sentenced to three to five years." After hearing this, Yang Liufang shivered and dropped the phone with a bang. He hurriedly bent down to pick it up, and a busy tone came from the other end of the phone.
He closed the phone and didn't make any calls. Instead, he leaned back on the chair. After a long while, he said to Wang Shan: "Third brother, go home and pick up the child. Yinhua can't come out for the time being."
Wang Shan saw Yang Liufang's fragility and powerlessness and couldn't bear to push him, so he slowly withdrew.
