Franklin Turner dealt with everyone’s greetings while thinking to himself. After all, he had knowledge thirty years ahead of his time; he knew all about the experiences of state-owned enterprises escaping difficulties and the lessons of bankruptcy from back in the day. On this trip to Linhe, even if he couldn’t make Lin Yi Machinery turn things around and squeeze into something like the Fortune 500, achieving the goal of reversing losses shouldn’t be a problem.

Henry Sullivan had said that the Party Committee’s only requirement was to turn losses into profits. As long as the two of them could do that, maybe not a full department head, but a promotion to deputy division level for Franklin Turner was a sure thing. That would save him years of struggle.

He thought, “When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, I must go through hell first. If I don’t go, who will?”

Once again, Franklin Turner found himself feeling ready to soar with the wind.

Chapter Six: Joint Venture Enterprises

“Woooo—”

With a long whistle, the express train from the capital to Linhe slowly pulled away from the platform, speeding southward. Franklin Turner and Henry Sullivan sat by the window on the corridor side of the sleeper car, watching the scenery flash by outside as they quietly discussed their future work.

The Party Committee had given Henry Sullivan and Franklin Turner a week to prepare. Henry Sullivan, the veteran director of the electromechanical department, had a lot to hand over due to his sudden transfer, and he also needed to quickly familiarize himself with the situation at Lin Yi Machinery, so he’d been busy with these matters almost nonstop.

By comparison, Franklin Turner had it much easier. He’d only been working in the department for two years, so there wasn’t much to hand over; most of his energy was focused on his own side business.

Over the past few days, he’d thoroughly sorted through all his money-making ideas, wrote a company business plan dozens of pages long, handed it to Jack Warren, and explained it to him word by word, insisting that Jack Warren follow the plan exactly so as not to jeopardize their shared path to wealth.

He repeatedly reminded him that if there were any changes in business on this end, Jack Warren must call him in Linhe immediately—never try to save a few bucks on long-distance calls by writing a letter instead. He pointed out that both of them were now worth over a hundred thousand, rich enough to enjoy the freedom of long-distance calls.

He bought a thick stack of 200 phone cards and handed them to Jack Warren, telling him that with these, long-distance calls were only 0.3 yuan per minute, so chatting for an hour or two was no problem at all.

With the company matters settled, he took ten minutes to think about the strategy for himself and Henry Sullivan after arriving at Lin Yi Machinery. After all, he was a responsible young man.

On this trip to Lin Yi Machinery, Henry Sullivan would be the factory director, and he would only be the director’s assistant. In fact, even calling him the director’s assistant was putting it nicely; it was just a position the bureau gave him to keep him happy. His real role was actually Henry Sullivan’s secretary.

Henry Sullivan was already over fifty. His abilities were unquestionable, but his energy was limited, so he needed a young person to help run errands and handle odd jobs. As for expecting Franklin Turner to offer advice and strategies, the bureau leaders didn’t really have such high hopes. Could a young man with no enterprise management experience really handle an old state-owned enterprise like this?

However, Henry Sullivan had very high expectations for Franklin Turner.

Where the bureau leaders saw only immaturity and a lack of seriousness in Franklin Turner, Henry Sullivan saw, through his interactions with him, a young man with drive, an unconventional approach, and more vision than most people of his generation.

Henry Sullivan knew he was facing a very complicated situation. The state of Lin Yi Machinery could be summed up in four words: “too heavy to turn back.” To pull Lin Yi Machinery out of the mire would require extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.

And Franklin Turner was precisely such an extraordinary person.

Normally, when the Second Bureau assigned Henry Sullivan to take up his post at Lin Yi Machinery, someone from the higher-level organization department would accompany him. Henry Sullivan refused this arrangement, saying he was very familiar with Lin Yi Machinery and wasn’t worried about the staff not recognizing his authority if he brought only an introduction letter.

Besides, the entire original leadership team at Lin Yi Machinery had been removed. If the organization department made a big show of sending him to take up his post, who would it be for?

So, when the time came, Henry Sullivan simply took Franklin Turner and boarded the train to Linhe.

“Xiao Tang, I’ve been thinking these past few days. What you said makes sense—the original leadership at Lin Yi Machinery was disorganized, the staff were idle, and the products lacked competitiveness. These are all big problems. So, where do you think we should start breaking the deadlock once we get to Lin Yi Machinery?” Henry Sullivan asked Franklin Turner.

“Business!” Franklin Turner answered without hesitation. “All problems arise from idleness. As long as everyone is kept busy, everything else can be resolved. A few years ago, Lin Yi Machinery didn’t have so many issues. It’s only in recent years, with poor business, that workers have spent half the year at home, and all sorts of trouble have cropped up.”

“Business?” Henry Sullivan repeated the word softly, then nodded. “You have a point. If the factory’s business is booming, many problems won’t even be problems. But surely the previous leaders knew this too? Right now, machine tool companies across the country are struggling to make ends meet, and everyone’s business is under capacity. What can we do to get business going?”