After the workers' congress, the electric furnace steel production line officially started continuous operation and implemented a shift system.

  He Qing and other town officials also entered the workshop to participate in the opening ceremony.

  The mess and disorder in the workshop have all disappeared, electric furnaces are smelting steel, and the glass at the top of the workshop was covered with a thick layer of black dust, but now it is spotless.

  He Qing had previously not been in charge of anything at the steel mill, but he had also entered the workshop several times to visit. Compared with today, it was really a thousand miles away from what it used to be.

  In the control room, separated by glass, the waste steel in the electric arc furnace can be seen glowing red. He Qing She asked Shen Huai uncertainly: "It seems that next year should be able to turn losses into profits?"

  "According to the data from October, this month should not be in deficit. If the production of rebar steel can reach 6,000 tons next month, the steel plant should be able to make a profit..." Shen Hua said.

  "Really?"

  He Qing Society is still amazed that the steel plant has improved so much in such a short period of time, but after hearing Shen Hua say that the steel plant will be able to balance its accounts in November and achieve profitability next month, he still feels surprised. He unconsciously raised his voice, and then felt that his tone was somewhat impolite, so he hurriedly explained

  "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just too astonishing. Ask Guo Quan and the others, who would have thought that we could turn losses into profits next month? Secretary Shen, you really are a Midas, turning everything to gold..."

  "It's just a monthly profit, but the annual loss is still very severe." Shen Hua smiled.

  Although the price of rebar has fallen sharply since the middle of the year, the ex-factory price can still be maintained at more than 3,000 yuan per ton. With such a high market selling price, steel mills can still make losses, and apart from extremely chaotic production management, some people's eating habits are also too ugly to look at.

  Shen Huai spoke lightly, He Qing shook his head and smiled, saying: "The previous losses have nothing to do with Secretary Shen. Whoever should take responsibility will still have to take it; looking at it this way, by the end of the year, the town can expect some financial support from the steel factory..."

  Other cadres in the town, when He Qing Society kicked Du Jian a foot, just pretended not to hear, but they were very interested in He Qing Society's proposal afterwards.

  Town officials' monthly salary is only around 300, and the annual bonus and welfare they can get depends on the town's non-tax revenue such as fines for health and security violations, profits turned over by town-owned enterprises, and contract fees.

  In general, the non-tax revenue of the town is used to ensure the normal operation of various tasks such as township education, family planning, tax payment, and agricultural water conservancy. However, when there is a surplus, it is also tacitly allowed for the superior and inferior levels to give more year-end bonuses or provide more welfare benefits under various names.

  These two years, Meixi Town's finances have been tight. Apart from the usual mixing and eating, the income that township officials can put in their pockets is even less than that of ordinary factory workers, living a hard life, and when they go home, they are scolded by their wives for being incompetent.

  There are still two months until the Spring Festival, and hearing that the steel plant can make a profit in these two months at the end of the year, interest immediately picked up. The steel plant is a town-owned enterprise, with profits to be surrendered, and the town needs to have tens of millions of non-tax revenue by the end of the year, so everyone's year-end bonus will be settled.

  "I was just looking for Old He to discuss this matter, and the other town heads are all here, so let's talk while we walk," Shen Hua said. "The steel plant has been rectified to this point, and it can only be said that there is a preliminary achievement. However, many problems still need to be faced in the future. The steel plant itself needs to develop, and development funds must first rely on its own accumulation; the town's finances are tight, and the steel plant is a town-owned enterprise, so it cannot stand by idly; additionally, the management layer of the steel plant and its employees also need material incentives outside of normal wages——all these currently seem to require profits, which involves the issue of how to distribute them after the steel plant makes a profit."

  "Director Shen, you tell me, after all, the steel factory is still mainly under your control. The county government has already issued a document." He Qing She was not anxious or impatient. Even if all the profits were collected in the town, they couldn't all be put into their own pockets. What's the point of offending people by taking the lead?

  "At the next party-government meeting, I will propose a profit distribution plan for the steel plant," Shen Hua said. "The development of the steel plant is most important, and 60% of its profits should be retained as development funds. The steel plant is a collectively-owned enterprise under the town's jurisdiction, and its growth and expansion will ultimately benefit Meixi Town, which is beyond doubt. Of the remaining profits, 20% will be submitted to the town government to alleviate financial pressure; 20% will be distributed among the steel plant's cadres and employees as extra incentives; and I also advocate for tilting these extra incentives towards the management layer..."

  "I think this plan is feasible..."

  He Qing Society thought that in the end, only 20% of the profits would be handed over to the town government. Some were less, but if Shen Huai didn't hand over a single penny to the town government and instead took out a higher proportion of profits to give himself bonuses, what could they do about it?

  This plan is at least fair on the surface, after all, the profits distributed to the cadres and workers of the steel plant are not more than those handed over to the town.

  He Qing didn't express any opinion, and others were even less willing to say anything, only a little disappointed in their hearts, and then handed over 20% of the profit. How much money could that be? Don't end up with just a few tens of thousands of yuan, not even enough to give to beggars.

  "There's another thing, since we're in a hurry today, let's talk about it together," Shen Hui said. "Although the town has assigned me to take care of the enterprise work, I don't have the energy to manage it seriously. Only yesterday did I look through some materials, and the existing problems are severe!"

  As soon as Shen Huai mentioned that the problem was serious, He Qing's and others' hairs stood on end. They stopped in their tracks, surrounded Shen Huai in the middle, and listened to him explain in detail.

  "Originally, the enterprise office was in charge of some town-owned enterprises with business projects, but in recent years, those that could be contracted out for external operation have almost all been contracted out. The collection of contract fees has always been a matter for the finance department, so the enterprise office is relatively deserted..."

  When Shen Hua said this calmly and unhurriedly, He Qing thought that Shen Hua was dissatisfied with the small power he had, and now that the steel factory was on the right track, he wanted to return to the town to seize power. However, no matter what, He Qing still listened to him quietly - after all, Shen Hua had the backing of the new municipal party secretary, and He Qing wouldn't be foolish enough to contend with Shen Hua over anything.

  "The problem lies in the calculation of the contract fee," Shen Hua slowly got to the point, "taking the town reception station as an example, the annual contract fee is only 800,000, which is too low."

  The town cadres heard this, and their hearts suddenly shrank: Shen Huai was going to start dealing with Du Jian, who didn't know that He Yuelian, the contractor of the reception station, was Du Jian's mistress?

  "Oh, Old Guo also reported this matter to me," He Qing said, seeing Shen Huai wanting to take action against Du Jian, naturally wouldn't stand idly by.

  "When the town built the reception station and cultural station building, it cost around 5 million. In terms of area, the reception station occupies more land than the cultural station. The initial decoration and equipment of the town's reception station were also invested by the town government, which spent nearly tens of millions at that time. It was because some were too luxurious that they had to be contracted out for others to operate, and the town government could collect contract fees to make up for some losses. Old Guo told me that generally speaking, hotel decoration and equipment would need to be completely replaced every 7 or 8 years. If we continue to contract it out at a price of 800,000 per year, the contract fee is not enough to compensate for the depreciation of decoration and equipment - I was planning to bring this up at the next party-government meeting, but unexpectedly Secretary Shen had the same idea as me."

  "Lao Guo's report, you just need to take a look, the problem is that it doesn't include depreciation, which is very unreasonable," Shen Hua said. "Taking the steel factory as an example, if we don't calculate depreciation, this month can achieve profitability, and the profit scale is not small, about 800,000 yuan; but we can't count it that way. When calculating production costs, building and equipment depreciation must be included. I think there's nothing good to discuss, the town reception station wants to contract out, the town can't lose money. If you want the town not to lose money, the contract fee needs to be increased to 240,000 yuan per year..."

  He Qing Society secretly felt that Shen Hua was really ruthless, he only planned to double the contract fee, but didn't expect Shen Hua would want to raise it again, plus the town government and steel plant's expenses, if Du Jian's mistress He Yuelian still doesn't let go, then she'll be forced to spit out all the money she's made in these two or three years...

  Although Du Jian was not present, two-thirds of the town party committee members who could make statements at party and government meetings came to the steel plant to attend the workers' meeting. The two things Shen Huai told He Qing she didn't need Du Jian to express any views on had almost been settled.

  On the one hand, everyone realized that Shen Huai had endured for over a month and finally couldn't help but take action against Du Jian. He Qing Society firmly stood with Shen Huai on the same line, and they went to help Du Jian block the gun hole after eating their fill. On the other hand, the town's reception station contract fee increased by 180,000, which means that the town's non-tax revenue will increase by 180,000 next year. This is a beneficial thing for everyone, and they are happy to reap the benefits without doing anything. If anyone is to blame, it can only be He Yuelian and Du Jian who had a difficult time eating together in the past.

  ****************

  After seeing off He Qing and his party, Shen Hua summoned Wang Kangsheng, Xu Xiting, Qian Wenhui, Zhao Dong, Xu Wendao, Pan Cheng and others to a meeting, where he held a small conference.

  "The steel plant is also on the right track step by step, and I won't be stuck in the factory like a nail all day," Shen Hua said. "Director Qian is a female comrade, we need to take care of her, at night and on rest days, the leadership of the factory will be taken over by Director Wang, Xu Gong, Zhao Dong, Xu Wenda, and Pan Chengdu."

  "So, in ten days, we will have two days where we eat and live in the factory?" asked Pan Cheng.

  "That's why I always insist on female colleagues not working overtime at night, to prevent people like you from taking advantage of the situation," Shen Hui said with a smile.

  Pan Cheng is not tall, can even be said to be a bit short, but has a face that women like. From entering university to working at the municipal steel factory, there have been many romantic affairs. After getting married and having children, he became slightly more restrained. Putting this aside, Pan Cheng's production management level is very high, and he was once the youngest workshop director at the municipal steel factory. It was also because of his dealings with women that he couldn't continue as workshop director in recent years, and things didn't go well for him at the municipal steel factory, so Zhao Dong brought him to Meixi.

  Shen Huai teased Na Pan Cheng about an old matter, and everyone followed along laughing.

  Shen Hua looked at his watch and said, "Oh, it's time to get off work. You guys continue discussing whatever you need to discuss and decide who will be on night shift first today. Zhao Dong, bring me the duty roster tomorrow; I'm heading home first..."

  Shen Hua pushed the table and stood up, about to leave the conference room. Looking at Pan Cheng and others who were about to cry out in distress, he said: "Don't cry out in distress anymore. The profit distribution scheme can be passed through the party-government meeting. If you want this year to pass smoothly, you still have to focus on production for the next two months..."

  "Is that so? Then I have no problem." Pan Cheng stood up and shut his mouth.

  Shen Huai shook his head and smiled, then asked Zhao Dong: "Is there anything else?"

  "It's all over. Why don't I work the night shift today and Mingxia can go back to her parents' house anyway..." Zhao Dong said.

  The town had no concept of the steel plant's profit expectations, but Shen Hua and everyone else have been working together to thoroughly dissect and calculate various indicators on all processes of the steel plant, so the profit expectations were also calculated relatively accurately.

  As long as the price of rebar does not plummet at year-end, the steel mill's December production will smoothly reach the target of 6,000 tons, and the monthly profit will exceed 2 million. There are still two and a half months before the Spring Festival, and it is expected that the profit scale can reach between 5 million to 8 million.

  If the profit distribution and bonus plan can be passed by the town party and government meeting, it means that 8% of the profit will be distributed among the twenty people sitting in the conference room at this time, with a total bonus of about 400,000.

  For management like Pan Cheng, working hard for four months, at least they can get a year-end bonus of 20,000 yuan. The harder they work, the less bitter they will feel. To be sure, when Pan Cheng was the workshop director at the municipal steel factory before, his annual income, both open and hidden, was also around 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, but which one can be taken for granted?

  Qian Wenhui was exempted from night shift by Shen Hua, as a female comrade, she didn't need to participate in the night shift; Moreover, the factory leader's night shift was to deal with unexpected situations on the production line in a timely and decisive manner. Qian Wenhui was in charge of finance and procurement, not understanding the production section, nor did she need to participate in the night shift. As long as there were no special events in her department, she could also go home on time like Shen Hua, at this moment, she couldn't help but smile with schadenfreude, and bid farewell to everyone...