Do You Understand What I'm Saying?

By mid-May, Wen Leyu's due date was drawing near. Li Ye began hurrying to handle the matters at hand and straighten out every production process, lest he end up unable to attend to both sides when the time came.

An outstanding manager was not someone who kept himself spinning like a donkey all day long. It was someone whose unit could continue producing smoothly during a short absence, yet would still be unable to do without him if he stayed away too long.

That day, Li Ye was discussing another expansion of production with Lu Zhizhang when Pan Dachuan, who was responsible for supplies, knocked and entered.

"Factory Director, the main factory is stirring up trouble again. They said they can't supply us with two thousand Vehicle Frames next month, and they're raising the price by another 350 yuan per unit, effective tomorrow."

Li Ye asked in surprise, "A 350-yuan increase? And starting tomorrow? What reason did they give for the increase?"

A vehicle frame was also called a main beam. Fitted with a Vehicle Axle, tires, and other components, it became an automotive chassis. The Light Vehicle Company had always supplied 130 vehicle frames and automotive chassis to more than fifty vehicle modification plants around the country.

That made Vehicle Frames one of the Light Vehicle Company's "fist products." Since the First Branch Factory enjoyed the advantage of being close to the source, it naturally received its Vehicle Frames directly from the main factory and settled the accounts together at the end of the month. In any case, the First Branch Factory had to hand over profits every month, so they could simply offset one against the other.

But a sudden increase of 350 yuan was no small jump. Without a reasonable explanation, it simply wouldn't fly.

Pan Dachuan