Chapter 256: Development of Bainiao Lake, unexpected changes

I don't know when the heavy rain stopped, but when I woke up in the morning, the sun was shining brightly. I opened the window to let in the fresh air after the rain, and I immediately felt much more refreshed.

When we went downstairs to have breakfast, everyone was talking about how the rain had fallen so suddenly and so hard last night. They were saying that a big tree on the street had been split in two by lightning, and traffic was blocked.

After I finished my meal, I walked to the first-floor lobby and ran into Chun Yazi, who was on duty. He stood at the door and smiled at me, "Boss Wan, let's go for a walk outside. It's so clean."

I walked out the door and walked forward. Sister Yu called:

"Teacher Wan, did Shu Mei come to your place last night?"

"I'm here." I walked to the rest area on the left, sat on the stone bench, and took out a cigarette to smoke.

"I wanted her to come. She's holding a press conference this morning to announce some reform measures, and she called me yesterday to invite me to attend. I suggested she come to you for advice."

"Oh. I'm so glad you took care of my brother, who had no business. She gave me 10,000 yuan as a consulting fee."

"Ten thousand is nothing to her. Last time, we asked Zero Point Research to do a yogurt market survey and they paid 700,000."

"She's going into yogurt?"

"Yogurt is just one of them, and we are also planning to enter the food and beverage industry."

"Oh, the Young Turks are ambitious."

"You support her, don't you?"

“No support.”

"Ah? What's the reason?"

"If you pay me ten thousand, I'll tell you why. It's really nerve-wracking to repeat something I don't want to say."

She chuckled a few times and said, "Okay, I won't bother you. I'll go join in the fun for her."

After hanging up the phone, Secretary Ma called: "Mr. Wan, please rush to Mr. Chen's office right now. He called you several times, and you were always on the phone."

I turned around and went upstairs. When I walked into Mr. Chen's office, Mr. Cao, who was in charge of tourism, Qing Ruo, the project manager of Bainiao Lake, and Lao Xiao were all sitting there.

Mr. Chen said: "Qingruo, please report first."

Qing Ruo explained the situation. The development of Bainiao Lake was originally just an intention, with a signed letter of intent. It wasn't until General Wan arrived that formal planning began. A few days ago, when she led her team to the island, she noticed something had changed.

The island, once covered in reeds, was now being reclaimed into vegetable fields. This suggested that the local villagers were trying to profit from the situation. So she went to see Mayor Tian of Dongli Town.

Mayor Tian came out in person, but before he even got to the island, he was surrounded by villagers who said: First, they must be compensated for their vegetable fields, and second, the project must be handed over to the villagers to build.

The first issue was easy to resolve, requiring compensation for the vegetable plots. The second issue was that the construction project required qualifications. Mayor Tian had no authority to agree, and Qing Ruo couldn't make the decision either. The villagers said they would block the construction if they didn't agree.

Mr. Chen said, “Let’s discuss it.”

Mr. Cao spoke first, saying that while it was acceptable to recruit some people to do the work during construction, it was impossible to outsource it to them.

After all, he is a scholar and an expert in tourism development and management. However, when faced with such matters, he has no opinion.

Old Xiao hit the nail on the head: "It's not the villagers who are causing trouble. It's just someone who wants to win the project and is misleading some people into causing trouble. The key to the problem is to find out who this person is. Once he's subdued, everything will be fine."

Mr. Chen nodded. "Old Xiao hit the nail on the head. Shanhong, what do you think?"

"I agree with what Mr. Xiao said."

Mr. Chen said, "Qingruo, go negotiate with Mayor Tian first and find out who it is."

Qing Ruo glanced at Mr. Cao and then at Mr. Chen, as if to say that Mr. Chen should arrange for Mr. Cao to go together for this matter.

Mr. Chen said, "This is to train your ability to be independent. You will have to manage such a large area in the future."

Qing Ruo forced herself to smile and nodded repeatedly: "Okay."

The meeting ended and everyone went back to their offices. Qing Ruo was in a bad mood. When she reached my door, she refused to leave. When I opened it, she stuck her tongue out at me and followed me into the room.

She closed the door and said, "That Mayor Tian is a bit arrogant. I've dealt with him before, and he always says, 'What the hell is going on? Let's drink first and talk about it later.'"

I laughed out loud: "Just drink with him. When this kind of person gets drunk, he expresses his feelings directly and decisively."

"You haven't dealt with him, those eyes..."

"Those eyes are nice, they prove that you are beautiful."

She stamped her foot: "It's none of your business anyway, you're just making fun of me."

"Hurry up, Mr. Chen is very efficient. You should have a result by the evening for the work you assigned in the morning.

First, find him and see how the conversation goes.

Second, if you can’t find him, you should investigate further what he was doing.

Third, if you can’t get in touch with him, you can ask someone for his wife’s phone number and ask his wife why the mayor turned off his phone.

Fourth, if you can’t find his wife, look for his aunt’s sister…”

Qing Ruo pouted and stomped her foot.

I said, "This is what you teach your new employees."

"I'm relying on you today, you're drunk anyway." She said while acting coquettishly.

I also knew that it would be difficult for her to go alone, so I said, "I can still consult you on cultural matters, this is none of my business."

She reached out to pull him.

I smiled and said, "Let me go, okay! Let's go, let's go meet Mayor Tian and see who he is."

She smiled brightly and said, "I'll go down first, so that Mr. Chen won't scold me for not doing it myself."

Go ahead, she opened a crack, stuck her head out to take a look, and then slipped out.

She drove, I walked to the street in front of the hotel, she parked the car, and I got in.

"You should call him first."

"Don't hit him. If you hit him, he'll lie and say he's in the countryside or at a meeting. You have to go straight to his office. If he's not there, go to the town office and find out where he is."

I smiled and said, "You are quite experienced."

The two chatted all the way. There was a bit of traffic in the city, so they got up quickly after leaving the city and arrived in town at half past ten.

Qing Ruo drove into the town's courtyard with familiarity, which was filled with parked cars. She smiled and said, "He's definitely home. They're having a meeting today."

After parking the car, she took me straight to Mayor Tian's office. The door was locked, so I went downstairs to ask for directions. Secretary Nie, who had dined with me last time, happened to be sitting there. He recognized me and said with a smile, "Teacher Wan, you're here?"

Qing Ruo was stunned. She looked at Xiao Nie and then at me.

I said, "Is the mayor in a meeting?"

She said, "Yes, why don't you go to his office to rest first." After that, she took a bunch of keys and went upstairs, opened Mayor Tian's office, made tea for us, and said that the mayor would be back after the meeting.

Qing Ruo stared at me and said, "You're amazing! Even the rural female secretary knows you. I've been here many times, but she still pretends not to know me."

"We should interact more with the people and not be condescending."

"Tell me how you met her first, and I'll help you analyze it. Did you fall in love with her, or did she fall in love with you?"

I laughed out loud: "One day when I was riding the bus, a pickpocket was about to steal her money. I yelled, 'Stop!' That's how we met."

She turned her face away and smiled. After she finished laughing, she said, "Don't be silly, there are still pickpockets nowadays. You have to be careful and be worthy of Xiaolin."

Sitting there, from time to time someone would come looking for Mayor Tian. We all shook our heads and said he wasn't in. I went to the inner room, where there was a bed.

After we came out, I said to Qing Ruo, "Actually, grassroots cadres have the hardest time. They work outside and sleep inside. We sat there for an hour, and six or seven groups of people came to see him.

You said he doesn't put on airs, greets everyone with a smile, and agrees to everyone's requests. Can he do that?"

Qing Ruo said, "This time, since you're here, I hope you can do it right away. It's really hard for me to find him."

"He knows me, so you can introduce me to him later."

"Okay. If he says you can drink a lot without getting drunk, he'll be your friend right away."

Hahahaha... I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe.