Registering a company really would have been difficult under a sound legal system. After all, an engineering crew like the one Meng Hai led did not even qualify as a makeshift outfit. A ragtag mob was more like it.
It would hardly have been possible to register successfully.
But at this point, even if not everything needed rebuilding, at least many procedures were less strict than in later years. With the right connections, it could still be done.
Naturally, the rules grew stricter over time, which was why so many crews later operated under other companies' names.
With Li Xiangqian's guidance, Li Long told Meng Hai to follow the registration procedures.
What Meng Hai chiefly lacked was technical engineering staff and registered capital. Li Long would find a way to provide the capital, but Meng Hai would have to find the technical staff himself.
At first, he had hoped to recruit some people from state-owned units, but after approaching two of them, he gave up. They were too proud. Who would give up the iron rice bowl of a state-owned job to work with a makeshift outfit that had not even been established yet?
Meng Hai could only sift through Odd Jobs and contact students who had just graduated from secondary specialized schools.
Even part-time help would do.
Before he had assembled his staff, Li Long found him another job.
Li Xiangqian had helped arrange it. The last time Li Long had asked him about the procedures for establishing a company, Li Xiangqian had explained them, then later called him to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to ask about the situation.
Li Long told him plainly that he intended to partner with Meng Hai to establish an engineering company and find jobs for the crew.
Li Xiangqian had not expected