In the taxi taking Gao Fan back to the hotel, Bob asked Gao Fan with some regret and ridicule.
In private situations, Bob always speaks Chinese with Gao Fan, so there is no need to worry about the taxi driver hearing the content of their chat.
"What did you miss?" Gao Fan asked knowingly.
"Alia asked you where you live. Why did you say you were staying at my house instead of saying you were staying in a hotel?"
"She said she wanted to take me to the hotel on the way, but I didn't want to trouble her, so I just said so."
"Are you sure you don't understand her?"
"But I'm still a child..."
"Hahahaha, you can keep saying these words in front of your parents when you go back to China. In the United States, at your age, if you haven't had a dozen girlfriends, everyone should doubt your sexual orientation."
"The sage said that all those who do not have the purpose of marriage are just hooligans."
"Why haven't I heard this sentence before? Did it come from Saint Kong?"
"By the way, Bob, are you familiar with Penglai, Aaliya and the others?" Gao Fan changed the topic and asked Bob for confirmation.
Bob shook his head: "Just ordinary friends. As I told you, Penglai and I met when we were playing basketball in the past. We met several times later and we all have some common hobbies. Aaliya also met Penglai through Penglai
I just met her after she was introduced by you. Counting this time, I have only met her three times. However, this is the first time I have seen Aaliya take the initiative to ask a boy where he lives."
Seeing that Bob wanted to seize the steering wheel again, Gao Fan did not follow his lead, but continued to ask: "Then, how did they hear about me?"
"I don't know about this. Maybe one of my friends told them about it." Bob didn't think there was anything strange about this question.
When he came back from a trip to China, he naturally had to inform a few friends and friends. By the way, he also said that he had brought a Chinese person with him. News spread quickly among young people. When Penglai heard about it, he
Not surprising.
Of course, Penglai took the initiative to contact him and said that he wanted to get to know his Chinese friend, which was indeed a bit abrupt. After all, Penglai's relationship with him had not reached this stage.
"By the way, Gao Fan, our loan application has been approved by the group. The group needs a guarantee from China's official agency. Can you do this?"
Seeing that Gao Fan was not interested in topics that were inappropriate for children, Bob found it inconvenient to keep driving, so he brought the conversation back to business.
"The guarantee is not a problem. I will make a report to the Department of Chemical Industry when I get back." Gao Fan said. He had already inquired about this matter before coming out. The province attaches great importance to attracting foreign investment, so providing a guarantee for the company will not be a problem.
.
"So, next, should we continue to understand demand intentions? I think we have contacted enough companies in the past few days. These demands alone far exceed our estimated production capacity." Bob said.
Gao Fan smiled and said: "Isn't it bad that there is too much demand? Production capacity is like Penglai's chin..."
"What's the meaning?"
"There will always be a squeeze."
"Why don't you use Alia as an analogy?"
"If you don't mention her, we can still be friends."
Just joking, Gao Fan said: "We have visited quite a few companies these days. Now that the company has agreed to grant us loans, I think it's time to contact the equipment manufacturers. Do you have any chemical equipment manufacturers that you have cooperated with?"
We don’t need to look for a big company, after all, the equipment we want is not very high-end, just look for a few companies with lower quotations.”
"That's no problem at all." Bob agreed easily.
Hatch Group specializes in investment and has extremely rich contacts in the industry. It is not a problem to contact any company. Before Gao Fan came to the United States, he had already told Bob that one of the purposes of this trip was to find sales.
The second purpose is to find equipment manufacturers. Someone in the group has already made arrangements for this matter.
The incident between Penglai and Aaliya seemed to Bob to be just a small episode. The next day, Bob drove to the hotel where Gao Fan was staying and took him to a factory in the suburbs.
"This is the Odin Machinery Factory, of which Hatch Group owns 30% of the shares. I came to this factory with my father when I was a child, and it was still very prosperous at that time. But in the past few years, it has continued to suffer losses and had three layoffs.
, the remaining workers now are less than 1/3 of the past.”
When seeing the factory building from a distance, Bob introduced the situation of the factory to Gao Fan.
"What's the reason for the loss?" Gao Fan asked.
"There are no orders." Bob said, "Odin Machinery Factory is a professional chemical equipment manufacturer, but investment in the chemical industry in the United States has been declining. Equipment demand is less than half of what it was in the 1960s, and many of these demands have been eliminated.
Japanese chemical equipment manufacturers snatched away.
"You know the problem in the United States: labor costs are too high, and the machinery manufacturing industry is completely uncompetitive."
"So, does this factory still have production capacity?" Gao Fan asked.
Bob shook his head: "I don't know about this. I need to talk to the factory director. The factory director is called Valance, and he is an old man. He founded this factory. During World War II, it took over a large number of military industries.
It developed by receiving orders. At that time, he had insufficient funds, so Hatch Group provided him with an investment in exchange for 30% of the equity."
"Has this investment been recouped?" Gao Fan asked rather gossiping.
"It has been taken back a long time ago," Bob said. "During World War II and the reconstruction of Europe after the war, the United States provided industrial equipment for the entire free world. At that time, the profits of the Odin Factory were very high."
"This moment, that moment." Gao Fan said with emotion.
The "de-industrialization" of the United States will be completed in later generations. The United States that Gao Fan knows about is still the second-largest country in the world in terms of manufacturing added value, but many categories of manufacturing have been abandoned.
Nowadays, the United States still retains the huge industrial system accumulated during World War II and the Marshall Plan, but this system is melting as fast as an iceberg under the scorching sun. By traveling through time like this, Gao Fan can be regarded as witnessing the "deindustrialization" of the United States from the beginning.
’s journey.
"Look, that's Mr. Vallance. He came to the factory gate to greet us in person."
Gao Fan followed Bob's finger and saw a short old man standing outside the factory gate. He was slightly hunched. His figure looked a little bleak against the huge "Odin" logo next to him.