"I didn't expect you to be so well-off, Chen Yang. In that case, I'll eat to my heart's content."
Wang Baolin, being from the city, although he didn't eat as extravagantly as Chen Yang, would occasionally indulge.
Even if he ran out of money, his parents would provide him with some extra living expenses, so he generously picked up a piece of braised pork. He had to admit, this meat was simply delicious.
Fatty but not greasy, it melted in his mouth.
After a bite of meat, he followed it with a gulp of Zhen Guanghe ice-cold salted soda. The taste was truly superb.
On the other hand, Liu Xiangyu, looking at the money in Chen Yang's pocket, spoke with some earnestness.
"Chen Yang, I'm telling you this as a brother, so don't take it to heart if I say something wrong."
"I'm from the countryside and know how hard it is to save money back home. This hundred-plus yuan is probably all your family has."
"In a typical production team, after a year of work points, a laborer only gets twenty-something yuan. This is the fruit of several years of hard work. Don't come to the city and disregard it. This is hard-earned money."
In his urgency, Liu Xiangyu even reverted to the rural dialect, calling himself "俺" (ǎn). He had also learned from their conversation that Chen Yang was already married in the countryside.
He feared that Chen Yang, not understanding the gravity of the situation, would spend recklessly in the city to save face, thus letting down his hardworking wife and children at home.
"Brother Xiangyu, what are you saying? I'm not someone who spends money carelessly."
"This amount of money is really nothing to me. I earned it from selling fish."
Chen Yang briefly explained the process of his fish selling without going into too much detail. He didn't mention how much he actually earned, but rather conveyed one thing to Wang Baolin and Liu Xiangyu.
This money was earned by himself, not saved by his wife and children. If he were to appear extravagant and give Liu Xiangyu the impression of being a show-off who neglects his family, it would be counterproductive.
"Chen Yang, you're not only bold but also sharp-minded and insightful."
"I think your idea is very sound. Our country is truly on the verge of change. I've noticed significant shifts in the news, and the direction is becoming clearer."
"In our Anhui province, we already have the first legal self-employed business owner in the country. This is a major event, reported in the national newspapers, a very clear signal."
Hearing that Chen Yang earned money through business, Liu Xiangyu also picked up a piece of meat. This meat was truly delicious.
He wasn't foolish; he knew how good the meat was, but he usually couldn't bear to eat it. Today, Chen Yang was treating, and he was paying with his own earnings. Why should he be hesitant?
As a student of Marxist philosophy, he was very sensitive to current affairs. It wasn't just him; the teachers and students in his department were also paying close attention.
Although everyone dared not discuss it openly – after all, it had only been a few years, and people were still cautious – private discussions were rampant.
"I heard from my cousin that a private entrepreneur wants to acquire Shanghai Radio Factory No. 3."
"Although Radio Factory No. 3 isn't an old, established state-owned enterprise, it still has over six hundred employees. I heard they were planning to introduce a picture tube production line and start assembling televisions."
"Unexpectedly, the state's foreign exchange reserves have been slow to be approved, leaving the factory in a transitional phase. Their radios are not as good as those from other major factories.
They want to find an alternative by producing televisions, but a small factory like this doesn't get priority for foreign exchange to import production lines. It's understandable that they can't continue operating, and it's no wonder people want to acquire it."
Wang Baolin was not to be outdone. While he studied Marxism, when it came to economics, students from the economics department were the most proficient. Even though he was studying accounting, he still had to take economics courses.
"No matter how poorly it's managed, it's still a state-owned enterprise. How can it be sold to a private individual? This violates principles."
"This is not in line with principles!"
Although Liu Xiangyu saw the potential for the emergence of self-employed individuals and the vigorous development of the private economy to inject great vitality into China's economy, his thinking was not yet bold enough.
Let alone him, even many leaders in positions of power were struggling to open their minds and take decisive steps.
"What is a principle? Is it a principle to watch the factory collapse and workers be laid off with no food to eat?"
"Is it a principle to have the state continue to use money allocated for national development to plug the factory's holes and keep it afloat?"
"Across the country, there are countless factories like Radio Factory No. 3 that cannot keep up with the times. If the state continues to bear such burdens, constantly moving resources from one place to another."
"Diverting money that should be used for the vigorous development of scientific industries to plug the holes for these outdated factories."
"Then how can our productivity be liberated? How can our national economy develop? Then reform and prosperity will truly be just an empty slogan."
Chen Yang looked at Liu Xiangyu and spoke word by word. Chen Yang thought to himself, "In the future, you will be a powerful advocate for reform. From the moment you entered a certain state-owned energy company, you have been focused on reform.
If energy weren't a lifeline of the nation, preventing significant reform and the influx of other assets, you would probably want to emulate foreign listed companies and engage in financing and fundraising.
Now, you're even questioning the public-private joint venture model.
Of course, this model does have undeniable drawbacks. Countless individuals have used this model to embezzle state assets, eating until they could barely move.
This has led to many state-owned enterprise workers being laid off, even pushed to the brink of desperation.
However, it cannot be denied that it played an indelible role in the future reform of the state-owned enterprise system.
At least a considerable number of state-owned enterprise workers' positions were retained, and some factories truly found new life and a new path forward.
Of course, many more factories vanished amidst the changes, becoming the soil that nourished the market economy.
But for those factories that were already struggling to survive, they would have collapsed and workers would have been laid off even without the public-private joint ventures. This can at least be considered a rescue plan.
"This, this..."
Liu Xiangyu looked at Chen Yang, his mind in a state of shock.
Chen Yang's words were like thunderous bells, deafening and disorienting him. His mind was in turmoil, and even the braised pork and chicken in front of him failed to capture his attention.
Liu Xiangyu felt that some of his ingrained concepts were being shattered. He seemed to have grasped something significant, yet also felt he hadn't fully grasped it.
"Brother Xiangyu, we're just casually discussing. Don't take it too seriously. These are matters for leaders to consider, but it doesn't prevent us from thinking about issues and observing the direction of events."
"Practice yields true knowledge. We can see how the state handles these matters later, and then draw conclusions from the comparison."
"Are paths made by walking? Someone has to be the pioneer."
Chen Yang was also afraid that his ideas might influence Liu Xiangyu too early, so he quickly tried to smooth things over. Fortunately, Liu Xiangyu was already a reformist, so he wasn't being pushed to the opposite side.
Liu Xiangyu, listening to Chen Yang's words, fell into deep thought, as if a new world had opened up before him.