Chapter 63 is too arrogant (bug fix): Blooming everywhere

Wang Xiao returned to the dining table with a sullen expression, only to be met with Dr. Chen's death stare.

She could only explain in a low voice, "I'm not always there; I'm just here to get things started. Mr. Chen is in charge of the day-to-day management."

Dr. Chen's icy face warmed up slightly.

But when Deputy Secretary Cao was invited to sit down for dinner, he casually remarked, "So you're really going to open a commercial city in Xiaozhou?"

She only found out about the news when she got off work today. She immediately called the International Trade City in Jiangzhimen, only to be told that Wang Xiao had left after get off work.

She tried calling the pager again, but the person wouldn't reply.

Deputy Secretary Cao couldn't wait any longer, so he simply went to the steel plant to find someone.

She went to night school, only to be told that she had already gone home.

Wang Xiao looked completely bewildered. A pager?

She took it out and looked at it, oh, the battery was dead.

We need to change the batteries after we finish eating.

She suddenly felt a weight on her body, as if Mount Tai were pressing down on her.

When she looked up again, she indeed saw Deputy Secretary Cao's dark, menacing gaze.

So she readily nodded and admitted, "Yes, Xiaozhou approved 150 mu of land for me."

Deputy Secretary Cao immediately stated, "We also have land here."

Wang Xiao's heart instantly exploded with excitement. Oh my god, it's actually true!

Before she transmigrated into the book, she had never experienced the joy of being invested in by local governments because she didn't run a physical business.

The only similar experience was that she was invited to do live broadcasts at two different places, one for peach blossoms and the other for cherry blossoms.

What did she ultimately choose? Sigh, only children make choices; adults want it all, of course.

She went to the Peach Blossom Festival in the morning to dress up as a human face amidst the red peach blossoms, and in the afternoon to see the colorful parrots. Anyway, the high-speed rail was very efficient.

Now, faced with the olive branch extended by Deputy Secretary Cao, she naturally accepted it without hesitation: "What kind of land? Where is it?"

Hey!

That's really true.

She had heard before that in the 1990s, local governments went to great lengths to attract investment, each employing their own unique methods.

The tycoon who became famous overnight by trading canned goods for airplanes was reportedly pursued by local governments in the 1990s, and even when he was short of money, local governments offered him loans.

Now, this treatment is finally going to fall on her.

However, Deputy Secretary Cao failed to live up to her expectations.

Jiangdong hasn't yet adopted a land-based revenue model, so asking her to name a vacant plot of land that she can allocate to Wang Xiao is a bit of a stretch.

But the sister who could sit in the high-ranking position of the provincial government was definitely not an ordinary sister. She immediately stated: "We will hold a meeting to discuss this matter and find you a piece of land. Actually, it would be more convenient for you to stay in our provincial capital, and your family would be nearby."

Dr. Chen chuckled inwardly. "By my foot! This brat lives in the office every day. I, her mother, have to travel all the way to bring her food, drinks, and clothes on Sundays."

Otherwise, she would just buy clothes to change into and wouldn't even bother to go home.

Wang Xiao didn't mince words and spoke frankly: "Both Jiangdong and Jiangbei have developed light industries, but their focuses are different. For example, Jiangbei Province has long had a well-established small commodity industry, with high-quality products at low prices and a wide variety of goods. It is very competitive in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe markets."

Secretary, your Russian is so fluent, you must be an expert on the Soviet Union. As you know, Turkish clothing and fabrics have a strong advantage in the Moscow market. They are a major exporter of textiles, their products are of good quality and reasonably priced. Besides, they are geographically close.

Compared to Turkish goods, what are the competitive advantages of Chinese products? We have a complete industrial chain.

We can offer a wide variety of goods, saving foreign buyers the hassle of running around and getting overwhelmed. Whatever they want, we can supply it to them.

Deputy Secretary Cao was dizzy from listening; how could she possibly know anything about Turkish goods?

Actually, Wang Xiao didn't know this before. When she first started doing business with Ivanov, she was completely clueless.

But after dealing with speculators and their associates so many times, she naturally came to understand.

Otherwise, wouldn't all her time spent in the International Trade City be for nothing?

If you don't even know who your competitors are, how can you talk about long-term planning?

Just because things are selling well now doesn't mean the Russians can't survive without Chinese goods.

This is as ridiculous as some state-owned shopping malls actually thinking that if they didn't have a butcher like Zhang, everyone would have to eat hairy pork.

She's the kind of person who emptied her savings to buy so many airplanes. She's not going to be a hit-and-run guerrilla.

"Compared to clothing, China's various small commodities have a greater competitive advantage. Therefore, we must definitely adopt a multi-pronged approach."

For a moment, Deputy Secretary Cao couldn't find a rebuttal. She could only sigh and say with a hint of reproach, "Why didn't you tell us?"

It subtly implies a questioning tone.

Wang Xiao looked bewildered: "Our company also has investments in Moscow."

The subtext of this statement is: "The company doesn't belong to your provincial government, so why do I have to report to you for anything I do?"

You must be joking.

If it were a foreign investor, would you require them to only invest in Jiangdong?

Your face is a bit big.

Wang Xiao added, "This was decided in a meeting between me and my partners. We want to integrate Chengyi and expand our competitive advantage as much as possible."

Silence fell over the table, and Deputy Mayor Cao remained silent for a long time.

Chen Yanqiu was shocked and quickly tried to smooth things over: "Oh, you guys are really something. Food tastes best when it's hot."

Wang Tiejun also chimed in, "Secretary Cao, please try the cooking from our steel plant canteen."

Wang Xiao took the opportunity to scoop up a bowl of pork tripe and chicken soup and started eating.

She was so hungry. She was running around all day, expending so much energy, that she got hungry very easily.

Deputy Secretary Cao finally picked up her chopsticks, but she was distracted and couldn't taste the food.

Fortunately, before the meal was finished, there was another knock on the Wang family's door.

This time, the person who came to visit was Master Zhang.

He didn't recognize Deputy Secretary Cao, because people's images on television are often different from their real-life counterparts; moreover, he never expected that a high-ranking provincial official would come to an ordinary citizen's home alone.

Master Zhang only briefly greeted Wang Tiejun and his wife before asking Wang Xiao, "Hey, Xiao Xiao, what's this about Erenhot you mentioned?"

Chen Yanqiu quickly called for everyone to sit down: "Come on, come on, sit down and have something to eat. It's Xiaoxiao's birthday today. Please sit down."

Mr. Zhang was very embarrassed: "Well, I've already eaten."

"Have some more."

Wang Xiao didn't participate in the discussion about whether or not to eat. Instead, he asked Master Zhang, "Are you familiar with Erenhot? Are you familiar with your brothers and sisters in Inner Mongolia? If you were asked to stay in Erenhot, would you be happy?"

Master Zhang had already learned a general direction from Feng Zhonglin, and immediately nodded, saying, "I'm happy to. As long as we can make money, we don't care. Although we haven't been to Erenhot much, in Inner Mongolia, we're all one family."

“OK!” Wang Xiao nodded and said frankly, “This is what I’m thinking. After we get to Erenhot, we’ll set up a company specifically for trading with Outer Mongolia.”

Don't worry about the samples. We'll go see the factory manager together later. One of them is a factory in our area that produces products for a large local factory. We have to get out there; we can't just rely on the factory for our livelihood.

Another thing is that I've been in contact with several factories and have them provide samples. If someone needs a large order, we can contact the supplier anytime.

Mr. Zhang looked a little bewildered, but he still gritted his teeth and nodded.

Of his siblings, he was the best off, having a prestigious job at a large factory in a big city that everyone envied.

But Mother was sick, and her medical expenses couldn't be reimbursed. His wife was a temporary worker, and no matter how frugal they were, they couldn't afford to take Mother to the doctor.

The Wang family is kind-hearted; even though they didn't need a Mongolian translator, they still found him another way to make money.

He nodded again: "I'll go."

Wang Xiao smiled and comforted him, saying, "It's nothing, you can speak Mongolian, so you don't have to be afraid of anything."

Chen Yanqiu urged again, "Let's eat, let's eat. We can talk about anything else after we finish eating."

This birthday family dinner was quite an eventful affair.

But when the cake was finally served, everyone still sang "Happy Birthday" and shared the cake.

Wang Xiao hadn't eaten this kind of old-fashioned hard cream cake in a long time, so it was quite novel for her.

She took a couple of bites, then cut off a large piece and greeted people, "Well, I'm going to visit the factory manager with Master Zhang now."

Then she turned her head and apologized to Deputy Secretary Cao, looking very embarrassed, "Um, Secretary, please...please sit down for a while, I'll be back soon."

If Master Zhang knew Deputy Secretary Cao's identity, he would definitely have stepped aside and postponed his own affairs.

But he didn't know that, and besides, he was in a hurry to treat his mother's illness, so naturally Wang Xiao was enthusiastic, and he was even more enthusiastic.

Deputy Secretary Cao looked at Wang Xiao with slightly mixed emotions and asked, "If you acquire land here, how do you plan to use it?"

Wang Xiao had already planned ahead: "We're building an office building. The company is planning to build one here. Currently, many foreign friends are interested in investing here, but they don't have suitable office space. We plan to build a high-rise office building in the provincial capital."

To be more specific, it's a combination of shopping mall and supermarket below, with office buildings above.

Although China's real estate boom only began with the housing reform in 1998, commercial office buildings still have their own market at present.

Wang Xiao believes that with the launch of the Southern Tour talks next year, office buildings will soon usher in their own spring.

Her plan is to use it well for several decades, and then discard it when the time comes and invest it in the next channel.

Deputy Secretary Cao pressed further, "So how many stories do you plan to build?"

Wang Xiao had no intention of competing with others for first place, and insisted on being pragmatic: "That depends on the geological conditions."

Although she didn't understand real estate, she knew that the higher the building, the higher the cost.

She doesn't want to be a giant building; she wants to build buildings to make money, not lose money.

Deputy Secretary Cao nodded, then greeted the Wang family, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was Wang Xiao's birthday beforehand, so I didn't prepare anything. I'll make it up to them next time. I'll be going now."

Wang Xiao quickly replied, "Secretary, you're too kind. Let me see you off."

Wang Tiejun and Chen Yanqiu immediately stepped forward, saying, "Secretary, we're so sorry for the poor hospitality."

Mr. Zhang, an outsider, was completely bewildered. Only after Deputy Secretary Cao left did he whisper, "Which factory is she the secretary of? I've never seen her before."

Wang Tiejun and his wife, along with Chen Yidong, insisted on sending the person out. The factory had a car, and they wanted to get the secretary home safely.

Only Qian Xuemei and her daughter were left behind, and now she was both amused and exasperated: "Where is the Party Secretary from? The Party Secretary from the province!"

She looked at her niece with a worried expression.

Although she considered herself to be rather ignorant, she still sensed that the atmosphere at the dinner table was quite tense.

She was afraid that her niece might offend the high-ranking Party Secretary, which would be a huge problem.

Wang Xiao smiled and reassured her, "It's alright, Aunt. You go upstairs. I'll go to the factory manager's house with Master Zhang."

Regardless of how shocked Mr. Zhang was, she whispered instructions as they walked: "Our purpose this time is to persuade the leaders to take the initiative to let our subsidiary factory's products go out. That way you can get a transfer and won't need to apply for a work stoppage."

Master Zhang was extremely surprised.

He had prepared himself mentally for not being able to make the business or receive his salary.

Unexpectedly, she had arranged such a way out for him.

"Xiaoxiao, thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Wang Xiao smiled. "I'm counting on you to open up the market in Outer Mongolia."

The steel plant manager also lived in the family quarters. His house was three times the size of the Wang family's, essentially occupying an entire floor by himself, and was therefore quite spacious.

His family consists of three generations living together.

When the factory manager called, the little grandson's eyes lit up when he saw the cake Wang Xiao brought over. He even forgot about the toy train his father had brought back from America while he was playing in the living room. He happily ran over, called out "Auntie," and eagerly took the cake before rushing back to his room to eat it.

He couldn't let his mother and grandmother see it, otherwise they would definitely not allow him to eat it, insisting that eating cake would damage his teeth.

The factory manager's wife scolded her grandson, then went to the kitchen herself to cut a plate of cantaloupe, poured half a bottle of milk on it, and then brought it out.

She learned this from the kids at the factory, who said that Russians love to pour milk over all kinds of fruit.

Wang Xiao smiled and thanked him, then took the fork and ate.

To Mr. Zhang, she was just as comfortable as if she were at home.

In fact, she seemed quite at ease, her tone relaxed and her demeanor comfortable, as if she were speaking to an elder in her family: "This is what I think, although Erenhot can't compare to Shenzhen right now, it's developing very quickly—"

She took out a small notebook from her pocket, spread it out on the table, and reported the data: "The Erenhot Border Trade Company held 19 business talks with 15 trading companies from six provinces and one city in Outer Mongolia the year before last, signed 98 contracts, and finally traded 193 kinds of goods, with a total transaction amount of 10.66 million yuan and a total profit of 794,000 yuan."

It doesn't look like there are many.

Last year, however, they signed 201 contracts with 19 trading companies in seven provinces and two cities in Outer Mongolia, trading more than 200 kinds of goods, with a total transaction amount of 17.31 million yuan and a profit of 2.8 million yuan.

The business has almost doubled in size, and profits have tripled or quadrupled. The momentum is excellent.

Master Zhang was stunned. Where did Wang Xiao know all this?

Of course, it was Feng Zhonglin who told her.

Old Feng, though old and frail, still aspires to travel a thousand miles. He has switched to foreign trade, and he is still a pillar of the industry, always emphasizing facts and reason.

He paid attention to Erenhot and naturally asked his old friend for details.

When Wang Xiao called him earlier, he naturally took down the data.

Indeed, in her experience, the worst thing you can do when discussing collaborations is to boast and talk big.

People who have reached a certain position have seen all sorts of monsters and demons, and those who can be fooled by a few empty words are a very small minority.

What the big shots want is data, concrete data, because only that has reference value.

Moreover, being able to provide data indicates that you've done a lot of preliminary work, which makes you look professional.

Even if the big shot isn't interested in this area, they'll still have a good impression of you as a person.

Sure enough, the factory manager immediately became interested: "That's good, it's developing quite fast."

“Yes,” Wang Xiao chuckled. “And this market should develop even faster in the future. The Soviet Union’s August 19th failed, and it faces even more difficulties. Mongolia’s economy has long relied on the Soviet Union. If the big brother can’t solve its own problems, then Mongolia has to find ways to expand outwards. I think the scale of border trade will expand dramatically.”

She pointed to the records in the notebook and said, "Factory manager, look, in the past two years, the main imported goods in Erenhot are scrap steel, scrap copper and aluminum, timber and flour, while the exported goods are light industrial products, daily necessities, building materials and medical supplies."

She forgot about continuing to eat the cantaloupe and started counting on her fingers: "Many of the steel plants that we export produce are also manufactured by our steel mill's subsidiaries. As for the imported steel, like scrap steel, it's cheaper to remelt it. And the steel from Outer Mongolia is quite good. Our steel mill also has its own trains, so transportation is much more convenient than for others."

Indeed, the steel mills of this era could be considered independent kingdoms.

It not only has specialized steelmaking and ironmaking facilities such as blast furnaces, cooling towers, converters, silos, gas cylinders, coke ovens, and pipelines, but it also has its own dedicated railway line, locomotives, and special transport vehicles.

When Wang Xiao used to transport goods by railcar, why didn't he ever try to use the factory's dedicated transport vehicle?

Sigh, that's for steel mills only, of course she can't mess with it.

Things are different now. When we go to Erenhot to barter with Outer Mongolia, we exchange products from the steel mill's subsidiary plants for scrap steel raw materials.

Why can't we use the factory's train?

Wang Xiao noticed that Master Zhang's eyes were wide open as he listened, so he turned the conversation back to him: "So I was thinking, should we change Master Zhang's position and put him in charge of this? He's from Inner Mongolia, he knows many people, he speaks Mongolian, which is convenient for him in every way."

The factory manager's gaze fell on Master Zhang.

To be honest, a factory this big doesn't really care whether one or two people are on duty or not.

The factory manager was quite interested in sending him to explore the Mongolian market.

To be fair, when steel mills were doing well, it didn't matter if they kept these subsidiary plants; at least it ensured stability.

But after these years of hardship, even if the factory's performance improves again, he, as the factory manager, is unwilling to keep the factory idle any longer.

Good heavens, it's really too heavy to move.

The key is to let them find their own way to eat.

As for scrap steel, he felt it was alright. The real reason for the factory's current predicament was that many national infrastructure projects had been halted, resulting in low steel consumption.

However, the massive floods in East China this summer, along with the post-disaster reconstruction and the construction and reinforcement of water conservancy projects, themselves require a large amount of steel.

This is the opportunity.

The factory manager, after some thought, asked Zhang curiously, "Are you going alone? Should you bring a few more people with you?"

Master Zhang was about to explain that his brothers and sisters were all in Inner Mongolia when Wang Xiao spoke first: "I was just about to tell you that Teacher Zhang teaches a lot of students, right? They've been studying here all summer, so it's a good opportunity for them to go and help out the teacher."

Master Zhang was terrified. He could manage on his own, but how could he bring the children along?

Putting aside everything else, the daily food and drink expenses for so many people are also a cost.

However, the factory manager seemed completely unaware of his fear, and nodded enthusiastically at Wang Xiao: "That's right, we should help the teachers properly, we can't let them learn for nothing."

This trip solved the employment problem for another group of children.

If things go well, it will be just like the one in Jiangzhimen, then the children of factory workers will have no worries about finding jobs.

He just heard tonight that the commercial center is recruiting people from the night school again, and quite a few at that.

These days, the four pillars of the big factories, which of the other three companies doesn't envy them?

The factory manager's attitude was very clear: the factory would absolutely support this trip to Erenhot, but materially, apart from the samples, there was nothing else.

After all, factories have their own difficulties.

Going to Erenhot to do foreign trade sounds good, but it's hard to say what the final results will be.

There are still a lot of children of steelworkers who are unemployed. If we rashly recruit those students who are learning Mongolian, the other families of the workers will definitely revolt.

Wang Xiao didn't expect the factory to pay her; all she needed was the qualifications the factory would provide. She could figure out the rest herself.

"How about this, our company will sign an agency contract with the factory. The employees going to Erenhot—"

She turned to Mr. Zhang and asked, "How many students are learning Mongolian?"

"Two...twenty-three."

Mongolian is a niche language in night school foreign language training, even less so than French classes.

The students who come to learn are all hoping to find a bargain, thinking that there aren't many people learning it. They're not afraid of being rejected when it comes time to hire sales staff who can speak Mongolian.

Wang Xiao nodded: "Then let's give you five thousand yuan a month for various expenses. Factory manager, how will the sales commission be calculated?"

"Ten points, proceed with ten points."

Normally, the commission wouldn't be this high, but this is opening up a new battlefield, doing foreign trade business, which is starting from scratch, so naturally the commission should be high.

Wang Xiao nodded and smiled: "Then our company wants half of the commission, is that alright with you?"

The factory manager really had no objections.

Ultimately, the steel mill doesn't need to pay anything extra; it only needs to provide an import/export license.

Master Zhang felt like he was just a tool. From knocking on the door to entering the house to finally saying goodbye, he did nothing except remain silent or agree with Wang Xiao.

Even after saying goodbye and walking back, he was still in a daze.

Oh, the only thing he did was, just before leaving, Wang Xiao offered to take the factory manager's trash bag downstairs to throw it away, and he quickly reached out to take the trash.

Wang Xiao didn't argue with him. After going downstairs, she explained to him, "Your brothers and sisters aren't from our factory, so the factory manager won't be interested in them. But your students are different; the factory manager watched them grow up. Besides, when you're out in the world, it's easy to suffer losses if you go it alone. You really need to stick together."

Master Zhang nodded.

Seeing his restless look, Wang Xiao comforted him again: "It's really not difficult. Look at the farmers over at Jiangzhimen, they can't speak a word of Russian, but that hasn't stopped them from doing business with them."

She directly assigned jobs to people, saying, "There's no time like the present. It's not too late. Why don't you make a decision tonight and see how many students are willing to go to Erenhot with you?"

Mr. Zhang panicked again.

He didn't know how to talk to the students, nor how to persuade their parents.

Erenhot is in Inner Mongolia, and to people from the provincial capital, it seems quite desolate.

Wang Xiao was truly speechless, but she really didn't have the energy or the desire to take on everything, so she had to force people to take the first step: "Just tell them that I will pay their salaries."

Master Zhang's eyes lit up.

That's right, as long as you mention Wang Xiao's name, you can move freely throughout the entire factory area.

Wang Xiao wouldn't accompany him up the stairs. She was already exhausted from running all day, and if she had any WeChat steps, she would definitely be in the top 10 of her friends' circle.

All she wanted to do was go home and take a nice shower, but after finally getting to her front door, she sadly discovered that she had forgotten her keys.

Her parents, uncle and aunt, and Chen Jingjing had obviously gone to the principal's house to try and pull strings.

What should we do then?

Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to go downstairs and make a phone call to inquire about and urge the progress of various tasks.

It perfectly illustrates what the most hated boss among working people is like.

However, in this era, the distinction between work and life is not very clear, and it is common for people to be called to the workplace to help out when they are at home.

Therefore, she is unlikely to be subjected to insults about her ancestors for eighteen generations.

We have to urge her; otherwise, the army won't have enough truck drivers.

The military leaders, pressured by her, couldn't take it anymore: "How many people do you need?"

"The more the better," Wang Xiao said with a smile. "Don't worry, as long as you can train them, I definitely won't let them sit idle."

As someone who can get trucks at low prices without needing permits, how could she pass up a ready-made business opportunity?

Is her trucking fleet only supposed to serve the International Trade City?

No, no, no, broaden your perspective.

The spring breeze of 1992 soon arrived, and the world was changing rapidly.

The most typical manifestation of this is that there will be more and more cars on the road, and long-distance transportation is very profitable in this era.

She's got the qualifications, so why doesn't she take the money?

When Wang Xiao finished making the phone call and went back upstairs, everyone in her family had returned.

Chen Yanqiu was originally seething with anger and wanted to teach this brat a lesson, but how could she be so tough and defiant? Wasn't that just blatantly offending her boss?

But after they saw their leader off, they turned around and that brat had already run off with Master Zhang.

They went to the principal of the junior high school for children of employees in the factory area to talk to Jingjing about transferring schools.

When they got home, the girl wasn't there yet, so everyone started discussing what to prepare for Jingjing's schooling and where to get a house.

After this repeated occurrence, even though Dr. Chen was anxious, his emotions were almost completely overwhelmed.

She's really having a terrible headache right now.

Don't believe all those articles in newspapers and magazines that say female leaders should use their gentleness as an advantage—it's all bullshit!

Based on her experience dealing with so many female cadres, most of them were even more assertive than the men, each one more domineering than the last.

Take Deputy Secretary Cao today, for example. Although he didn't slam his fist on the table, he was clearly not a gentle person; he was quite assertive at heart.

Unfortunately, his own stubborn daughter is also a headstrong person, always going head-to-head with others and refusing to back down at all.

What happened before was hardly a meal; it was practically a battle of swords and spears.

Wang Xiao was not at all surprised by Deputy Secretary Cao's assertiveness.

In a patriarchal society, female leaders should be more assertive than men, rather than relying on their feminine strengths of gentleness and tenderness.

Because society generally accepts the role of a strong, male leader.

Since a female leader can't be forced to undergo gender reassignment surgery because of her male identity, she has to work on being assertive.

Chen Yanqiu nagged at her daughter, who was acting as if nothing was wrong: "If you act like this, the boss won't be happy."

If she's unhappy, she's unhappy. She's not a subordinate, so she doesn't have to provide emotional support to her boss.

She would rather offend people than give them the wrong impression that she is their subordinate.

Indeed, in a sense, Deputy Secretary Cao did save Jiangzhimen from being flooded.

However, their company also donated 20 million yuan, but it was not given to the disaster victims, but to the provincial government.

Because they all know perfectly well that the decision of whether or not the floodwaters are released is never made by the residents of the flood discharge area.

Wang Xiao believes in the saying that doing business requires close ties with the government, but at the same time, staying away from officials.

She has no interest in associating with any political stars, nor in being anyone's moneybags or sharing their fate.

With the protection of powerful officials, she can indeed save herself a lot of trouble.

However, this also means that her opponents are not only business rivals, but also political enemies of powerful figures.

She's pursuing a private trade route, not working for government projects. Big shots are practically handing her food; why would she want to be a blatant target?

Seeing that the adults in the family were still worried, Wang Xiao comforted them, "It's okay, our company is in high demand right now, and people all over the country are vying for it."

Even if Deputy Secretary Cao is unhappy, he will still take the initiative to push forward the acquisition of land for the International Trade City after returning home.

Because Jiangdong doesn't want to lose this golden goose that lays golden eggs—no, in fact, it's a golden phoenix. If it gets unhappy, it can flap its wings and fly away.

Even if Jiangdong cannot gain more, it cannot lose what it already has.

Moreover, the plan to build office buildings for foreign businesses to attract more investment is also very attractive to the Jiangdong Provincial Government, which hopes to promote economic development.

If they aren't proactive, what if Wang Xiao turns around and runs off to Jiangbei to build high-rise office buildings?

Then Jiangdong will truly become a joke, a classic case of getting up early but arriving late.

It is a completely negative example.

Chen Jingjing looked left and right, frowned slightly, and suddenly blurted out, "Sister, is it because you have a lot of suitors?"

Wang Xiao was stunned, then laughed and cried at the same time: "You can think of it that way, right?"

Qian Xuemei slapped her daughter on the back: "You just open your mouth and start talking nonsense. Look at you, what kind of nonsense are you thinking about all day long?"

Chen Yanqiu was still nagging, "You brat, can't you be a little gentler?"

You really couldn't tell when he was little, but he's become incredibly stubborn as an adult.

Wang Xiao comforted them, "Alright, alright, don't overthink it. For a clear-headed cadre who is on the rise and has plans for the future, instead of offering emotional support, it's better for others to add a brilliant stroke to his or her resume."

Listen to this nonsense.

But Wang Xiao was already very tired. She needed to take a shower and go to bed quickly, as she still had to take Master Zhang on a trip tomorrow.

Contacting manufacturers, confirming samples, negotiating pricing, and so on—she had to complete a whole host of tasks before heading to Xiaozhou.

In addition to the goods from the various affiliated factories in the large factory area, some also need to be sourced from partners in the International Trade City.

This is also a win-win situation.

Over the next few days, Wang Xiao kept himself extremely busy.

She didn't even participate in her uncles and aunts buying houses, and in the end, she only ate one meal at the kitchen stove.

Yes, the house is pretty good, a full 80 square meters, right next to the factory. It only takes Chen Jingjing about 10 minutes to ride her bike to school.

Chen Yidong also plans to develop his career in the provincial capital.

The position of head of the supply and marketing department at the chemical plant sounds prestigious, but he only earns a few dozen yuan a month, which is hardly enough to do anything.

So he went home and got samples from a shoe factory in Zhouzhen to show Wang Xiao, and successfully stayed in the International Trade City, selling shoes and clothes on his own.

Wang Xiao thought it was great; at least the family was together, which saved them a lot of trouble.

Besides, to be selfish, she knows herself well; she's definitely a woman who runs around making money from all over the place.

Wang Tiejun and Chen Yanqiu are typical state-owned enterprise employees, the kind who will probably work honestly in the factory for their entire lives.

Chen Yidong's family stayed in the provincial capital, so that if anything happened between the two families, they could look after each other.

After Wang Xiao finished the warm meal, he went to Jiangzhimen to pick up Ivanov the next day and then boarded a plane to Xiaozhou.

Yes, she didn't wait for the Guangdong Provincial Government to say they would approve the land for her, nor did she chase after Deputy Secretary Cao to ask when she would finally receive the land.

She acted as if nothing had happened, dusted herself off, and ran off to Xiaozhou.

Although Ivanov was unclear about his relationships with women, he was quite capable in getting things done.

In such a short time, he has already successfully negotiated deals with Kyiv, Almaty, and Lithuania.

Wait, why are we only talking about one of the Baltic states?

Because these three countries combined have a population of just over five million, and their total area is equivalent to that of Guizhou Province.

One route should be enough.

It's quite interesting, probably because the Baltic states were at the forefront of the anti-Soviet movement (a historical factor, not surprising), when Ivanov went there to negotiate, things went smoothly, and the first thing to be finalized was the Lithuanian airport.

As for the most difficult point to negotiate, it's Kyiv.

It wasn't that the Ukrainian side had any particular feelings, but rather that Kyiv hadn't previously established air routes with China. They were completely bewildered and didn't know what to do.

In the end, Ivanov used his experience in Moscow to personally teach people in various departments how to stamp documents, and only then was the matter officially settled.

Ivanov felt like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. If Wang Xiao hadn't called him to Xiaozhou, he would definitely have gone on vacation to the beach.

He actually stayed in cold Moscow this winter, giving up a wonderful vacation in order to earn money.

That's absolutely terrifying.

However, Wang Xiao insisted: "We need to re-register a joint venture company in Xiaozhou."

Why not open a branch office?

Of course, it's because you can't put all your eggs in one basket.

The simplest reason is that when she promised to donate 10% of the company's profits for disaster reconstruction, there was no such thing as Xiaozhou yet.

She couldn't possibly donate all the money she earned in Xiaozhou, could she?

You should know that she is very poor right now.

Building a resort in Zhimen requires money, constructing an international trade city in Xiaozhou also requires money, and the high-rise office building she envisions integrating shopping malls and supermarkets will also require money.

Building houses has always been a money-guzzling endeavor.

She can't possibly disregard the company's survival for the sake of charity.

Ivanov wasn't a saint; why would he throw away money when he could keep more in hand?

Moreover, September in Xiaozhou is early autumn, with a pleasant climate and scenery.

Like most airports, Xiaozhou Airport is also far from densely populated urban areas.

Standing at the airport and looking out, all I could feel was the vast sky and refreshing air.

Vice Mayor Sun personally led a team to welcome the distinguished guests at the airport, and repeatedly expressed his apologies on behalf of the municipal government: "I'm really sorry, our Party Secretary and Mayor are both in Beijing for a meeting and really couldn't make it here."

Actually, when he notified people yesterday that the three horizontal lines had been approved and they were waiting for the timetable, he never expected that they would come today.

When he found out, he even suggested that the other party postpone it for a day, at least until the top two leaders of their city returned.

However, Wang Xiao said that her partner had a very tight schedule and was about to go to Europe for an inspection, so he could only come today.

"I'm so sorry to have caused the leaders so much trouble again."

Vice Mayor Sun quickly waved his hand: "Not at all, it's our fault for not being hospitable enough. Come on, let's go eat first, you must be tired from your journey."

Wang Xiao turned to look at Ivanov, who readily agreed: "No, no, no, let's go take a look at our trade city first."

He was quite eager to try the local cuisine of Xiaozhou. His stomach was all-encompassing, and he felt he could enjoy any kind of food.

Unfortunately, he knew very well that if he readily agreed to go and have a feast now, he would definitely suffer from indigestion.

Oh, when in Rome, do as the host says.

Since it's on Wang Xiao's turf, he'd better cooperate.

The land in Xiaozhou is very close to the airport; it's only a half-hour walk or a short drive away.

Although the land was barren, it was quite lively. The ground was covered with all kinds of wild grasses and colorful wildflowers.

The yellow and white ones are wild chrysanthemums, the light purple ones are wild garlic flowers, and the dark purple ones are wild jasmine. They dot the grass and look quite lovely.

Not far away, sheep were grazing and chickens were looking for insects; the two were actually getting along quite harmoniously.

Vice Mayor Sun explained, "This whole area is covered. Whatever help you need, our government will definitely cooperate."

Wow, such a big piece of land! No matter how many times Wang Xiao looks at it, he feels a surge of happiness.

Haha, she can finally build her own kingdom, this is so awesome!

Wang Xiao strode forward, his mind instantly conjuring up skyscrapers, transforming two-dimensional space into three-dimensional space.

Just as she was about to speak with Vice Mayor Sun, a commotion suddenly broke out in front of her.

Wang Xiao looked up and saw that there were at least several hundred people in this impressive group.

What's this for?

They don't look like people recruited by a construction company in Xiaozhou. They're all carrying rakes and hoes. What are they planning to do?

The other party had already rushed up to her aggressively, and if it weren't for the city government officials stopping them, their spittle would have been sprayed directly onto Wang Xiao's face.

"This is our land. If you take our land, what will we eat and drink?"

Ivanov didn't understand until the translator explained it in a low voice. Then he looked enlightened, and his expression became subtle.

Hey! There's a problem with the land acquisition after all.

Don't these farmers, like those during the capitalist enclosure movement, want to avoid being eaten by sheep?

His gaze shifted between Wang Xiao and Vice Mayor Sun, quite curious about how the Chinese would handle such a situation.

But who does this land actually belong to?

Wang Xiao's gaze fell on Vice Mayor Sun, equally puzzled as to what exactly was going on here.

————————

The new cover looks great, doesn't it? It highlights the main theme, and my friend helped me with it.

Let me recommend my friend's pre-order:

"I Became Rich While Eating and Doing Nothing in Hong Kong in the 1980s" by: Xiaoyuntunzouqing (ID: 6452514)

Shen Youning was frail and sickly from childhood. After her death, she transmigrated into a brainless young lady in a novel set in 1980s Hong Kong. She also obtained a gossip system and was busy slapping faces, punishing scumbags, and building her career!

When her stepsister stole her wealthy fiancé:

[Host, let her take it all! Your cheap fiancé is born with a disability that prevents him from having children and has a bunch of rumored girlfriends—give it all to her!]

When the stepmother forcibly bought a property under her company's ownership:

[Host, your assets shrank during the 1987 stock market crash. Selling them to her at a high price now will bankrupt her! Oh, and she's already drowning in debt!]

When she was forced to take over a failing entertainment company:

[Host, you're destined for greatness! The three future Heavenly Kings are under your command! You'll shape the Jade Girl Sect Leader! What are you waiting for? Charge! Make a fortune!]

Shen Youning obediently agreed: Okay, I'll listen to the system.

Then she simply lay back and won, counting money until her hands cramped.

One day, the system was gossiping with her again: [Host, the villain Fu Yunyi in the book is in big trouble this time. He lost a project and is about to be cornered and killed on the streets of Mong Kok by his rivals. His huge fortune is also about to be stolen...]

The next moment, Shen Youning immediately put down the milk tea in her hand: What did you say?!

...

An hour later, dozens of Porsches blocked Mong Kok, Black Hawk helicopters hovered overhead, and a large entourage of bodyguards followed Shen Youning to maintain order as they went to rescue Fu Yunyi.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Fu Yunyi, one of Hong Kong's richest men and tycoons, had only suffered minor injuries.

But the big boss's gaze remained fixed on her warily, so Shen Youning could only timidly retort: ​​"Is this street yours? Haven't you ever seen anyone out for a stroll? ...Can't I just pass by?!"

System: [Host, you're so brave! The big boss has several lives on his hands, aren't you afraid he'll take you out?!]

Fu Yunyi: ...Anyone who didn't know better would think you're here to fight terrorism. Wait, when did I become responsible for multiple lives? And who's speaking?

So, the bigwigs also joined the ranks of onlookers, thus opening a new door for them.

Later, Shen Youning became his wife, and through the melon-eating system, she accumulated countless riches, enough to last ten lifetimes.

Fu Yunyi completely reversed the tragic fate in the book, achieving lasting success and doting on Shen Youning to the extreme, becoming a veritable model couple in Hong Kong, envied by countless people :)

There are multiple reasons why the female lead saves the male lead, which will be explained in the main text.

The male protagonist has a clean background and started from scratch; he has never been involved in any murder.

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-11-20 19:36:44 and 2023-11-22 20:21:06!

Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Su (2); Zhili (1);

Thank you to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: **48 bottles; Mu Huo Tong Ming 38 bottles; 2417970136 bottles; Wu Ding Bao, Jie Jie 30 bottles; Affirmation, Han Han Shan Gui, Gang Hao Luo Ri, Da Wan Yu, Wu Kan Wu Kan, wuyong 20 bottles; 857687415 bottles; Su, Yang Wang Xing Kong Pai, AA 10 bottles; Yi Hao, Bie Mo Wo Wei Ba, He Nian 6 bottles; watergong20095 bottles; Yu Er 3 bottles; Joy, A Hai, Nie Ning Ning 2 bottles; 29230801, Si Qian, Lin Xi Ci, Qiao Qiao Shi Xin Bian De Xiao Xiao, Xing Fu Yong Yuan, Fang Yi Nao Luan Ren Duo, 20655808, lenfen123, Qiu Shui Fei Shui 1 bottle;

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!