Chapter 162 of "New Urban Farmers": The Executive Vice Mayor's Family Banquet (Two Chapters Completed)
In the car of the fifth-ranking official of the Municipal Party Committee, Zheng Le sat between Lin Hui and Zhang Guodong. Lin Hui warmly held Zheng Le's hand and smiled at Zhang Guodong, saying, "Guodong, you're so lucky to have married Zheng Le!"
Li Daolin, hearing this, smiled; he was also curious. This young Zhang seemed quite different from ordinary people. Lin Hui suspected that Ya Ya's recovery was related to Zhang Guodong—that was one reason. Now, this top female anchor from a neighboring province was actually his wife? This was almost unbelievable. Although marriage wasn't strictly about matching social status these days, it was still practiced among the upper classes. Zhang Guodong, who claimed to be in the vegetable business, seemed completely unrelated to being a top figure in the news industry. This could only mean that Zhang Guodong was no ordinary person—that was another reason. Thirdly, Zhang Guodong must have known their identities or had some guesses, but even when Xiao Gangben called him "Director Lin," Zhang Guodong didn't seem particularly surprised, which made it even more unusual. Unless Zhang Guodong intentionally approached them, but that seemed impossible.
After these last two points, Li Daolin actually began to believe that Zhang Guodong had saved his daughter.
The way Zhang Guodong looks in the rearview mirror is quite different.
Zheng Le blushed slightly and glanced at Zhang Guodong. The implication was clear: "See? Everyone says you're lucky to have married me!"
Zhang Guodong scratched his head and chuckled. "That's a difficult question to answer!" But judging from what Sister Lin said, she seemed to know Zheng Le.
Zhang Guodong said, "It is indeed my good fortune. For a nobody like me to marry Zheng Le is a blessing I've accumulated over several lifetimes! Sister Lin, you seem to know Zheng Le?"
Zheng Le felt a little nervous when Zhang Guodong mentioned that Sister Lin knew her, even though she thought Lin Hui and Li Daolin looked familiar. She couldn't quite place them.
Lin Hui joked, "Who doesn't know Zheng Le, the beautiful lady from our provincial TV station? It's just that she doesn't know me! Two months ago, your brother Li and I were transferred here from the provincial capital."
"Ah, you're Vice Mayor Li?" Zheng Le suddenly remembered who Li Daolin was. He was the Standing Committee member and Vice Mayor of the provincial capital. This Sister Lin was his wife!
Zhang Guodong dropped it.
"Vice Mayor Li? From the provincial capital?"
Indeed, if the people on the plane who were traveling from the provincial capital to Sichuan were government officials, they were very likely to have come from there.
Li Daolin then laughed and said, "What deputy mayor? That's just a job title. In private, you can still call us Brother Li and Sister Lin, that's fine. Due to a job transfer, I'm currently the executive deputy mayor of Chuandu City, and Sister Lin is the deputy director of the Municipal Education Bureau. These aren't any big positions." Zhang Guodong said, "I didn't expect Brother Li and Sister Lin to have such important backgrounds. I should have guessed it, haha."
Zheng Le realized she had been a bit rude. She blushed slightly and said, "I felt like Brother Li and Sister Lin looked familiar!"
"Guodong, you're so young, you can't be so snobbish. I know your brother Li and I as Xiao Zhang, and Guodong treats you like a younger brother. You can't change your attitude just because of my and your brother Li's status," Lin Hui reminded him.
Lin Hui's words touched Zhang Guodong.
However, he had seen leaders at the provincial and ministerial levels before, and the very existence of Taoyuan made him feel even more "looking down on all living beings." Naturally, he wouldn't have any prejudice against the other party's special status.
"Sister Lin, you really have so little faith in me?" Zhang Guodong laughed. "When people's social classes are too far apart, they lose their sense of awe and become less snobbish. I'm just a person from the lowest social class, so naturally I won't feel uncomfortable with you. Don't worry, when I'm at your house, I'll eat and drink whatever I want without any hesitation!"
These words amused Lin Hui.
She admired Zhang Guodong's calm and composed attitude! It felt very comfortable and like something out of a normal person.
"Speaking of which, we've met by chance but haven't invited you to our house for dinner yet. Zheng Le is here too, so we'll have a simple meal at my sister's house tonight. Ya Ya will be there too!" Lin Hui said.
Yaya?
Zhang Guodong asked, "How is Ya Ya's illness?"
To her surprise, Lin Hui slyly retorted, "You don't know?"
This question was quite meaningful. Lin Hui nervously observed Zhang Guodong's expression and put on a mysterious, smiling face.
Zhang Guodong underestimated Lin Hui's intuition. His fleeting, slightly embarrassed expression was noticed by Lin Hui. Lin Hui's heart trembled; it really was him!
It really is related to Zhang Guodong!
"Thank you, Sister Guodong! Ya Ya is the hope of our whole family and the darling of several families," Lin Hui said, somewhat involuntarily.
We've been discovered!
Zhang Guodong raised an eyebrow and then smiled wryly, "Sister Lin already knows? But I hope Brother Li and Sister Lin can keep this a secret. I don't want more people to know." Li Daolin and his wife exchanged a glance, both shocked, but seeing Zhang Guodong's admission, they said, "Don't worry, it's good that we know! Xiao Hui... Professor Sun, how about we find a way to decline?"
“I turned around and pushed it!” Lin Hui nodded. Compared to their daughter, they could put everything else aside.
Once it was confirmed that Zhang Guodong was responsible, her heart was no longer at peace; a huge wave of emotions surged within her. Zhang Guodong became a mystery in her eyes. The fact that Zhang Guodong had so effortlessly resolved leukemia was incredibly shocking.
Only the driver and Zheng Le in the car were unaware of the cryptic conversation between Zhang Guodong and the other two.
But Zheng Le could tell that Zhang Guodong had done Li Daolin and Lin Hui and that little girl Ya Ya whom he had never met.
I picked up Ya Ya from the municipal party committee's kindergarten.
"Even when Zhang Guodong was very young, he would call him 'big brother' and crawl into his arms, being incredibly affectionate."
The car went directly back to Villa No. 5 of the Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee compound.
Upon arriving here, Zhang Guodong immediately sensed the tight security measures. The guards were all top-notch police officers, meticulously checking, allowing, and patrolling. Even Li Daolin's car, bringing outsiders in, required Li Daolin's personal signature, and Zhang Guodong and Zheng Le had to get out and register. It was tedious and troublesome, but very responsible.
Zhang Guodong also sensed the awe and envy in the eyes of outsiders. This was a place many people wanted to enter but couldn't.
Ya Ya nestled in her older brother Zhang Guodong's arms, meticulously telling him the story of the Little White Rabbit and the Big Bad Wolf. This was a story taught online by their kindergarten teacher; they were going to have a storytelling competition and receive little red flowers in return.
The little one's story frequently drew applause and praise from everyone in the car.
Ya Ya missed Zhang Guodong terribly after not seeing him for over a month. She was very clingy, despite her age. She seemed to have forgotten her older brother, Zhang Guodong, so at the dinner table, she insisted on sitting next to him, acting like a little adult.
However, the little beauty also knew how to charm people. Looking at Zheng Leya, she said in a childish voice, "Big sister is so pretty, even prettier than the teacher!"
"Ya Ya is very pretty too, a little beauty!" Zheng Le immediately took a liking to her. In the little school, the teacher was very capable and perfect. Very pretty. Hearing the child's words, Zheng Le was happy.
They became even more convinced that Zhang Guodong's elixir was indeed a rare treasure, which had actually made him younger and more beautiful.
Fan Hang
While Zheng Le and Lin Hui were cleaning up the dishes, Ya Ya went to play with Zhang Guodong, who was chatting with Li Daolin. She skillfully climbed onto the sofa, sat on Zhang Guodong's lap, and started playing with her little audience.
"Is things going well for Brother Li here?" Zhang Guodong asked casually.
"It's progressing step by step, though. Besides fully assisting the mayor in handling all the work of the city government, my main responsibility is attracting investment, but so far there haven't been any significant results!" Li Daolin said truthfully.
Attracting investment can easily bring political achievements, but without the ability, it will put you in a precarious position. Government development plans have both long-term and short-term goals, and the established tasks must be completed every year; otherwise, you, as the leader in charge, will be seen as incompetent, a stain on your record, and a manifestation of your lack of ability.
Li Daolin is also under considerable pressure.
The Standing Committee members aren't all harmonious; there's competition among them, both in personnel matters and in their work. It's just that outsiders are generally unaware of these inside stories.
"Take your time, there's no rush. You've only been here two months, it's still early!" Zhang Guodong comforted him. He couldn't help with this. He wasn't cut out for business and didn't want to be one.
"Hehe, yes, it's still early, but there is an opportunity. I saw in the newspaper that jade merchants from all over the country have flocked to Sichuan. These are all very wealthy people. If we seize this opportunity, we can attract at least a billion yuan in investment. This matter has a lot to do with Liu Neng, whom you know," Li Daolin said.
Zhang Guodong raised an eyebrow. "Even city-level leaders have their eyes on Liu Neng?"
"Oh? How can I help Brother Li?" Zhang Guodong asked directly.
Li Daolin hadn't really considered this matter, but his eyes lit up when Zhang Guodong mentioned it. "That's right," he thought, "Zhang Guodong seems to know Xiao Gangben's words very well. Are Zhang Guodong and Liu Neng extremely familiar with each other?"
"Guodong, what is your relationship with Liu Neng? I'm thinking of using Liu Neng to bring these businessmen from all over the country together for a meeting to see if I can secure funding," Li Daolin tentatively said.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Guodong thought to himself, "That's easy to handle, but securing funding seems difficult. What can jade merchants invest in in Sichuan? It doesn't seem like there's any jade processing industry to develop."
Of course, I don't have much experience with investing in Zhang Guodong either. Many businessmen don't keep all their money in one place. Instead, they diversify their investments across different industries to mitigate risk.
Zhang Guodong thought for a moment and said, "Gathering all the businessmen here isn't difficult, but Brother Li, have you figured out what excuse you'll use to attract investment? You know they're just in the jade business."
Li Daolin was immediately delighted; this was an unexpected surprise. He hadn't expected Zhang Guodong to be able to solve such a major problem that had been troubling him. You see, even though he was a government official, many businessmen from all over the country wouldn't listen to him, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Besides, people come to Sichuan with their own purposes, not to listen to your nonsense.
But with Zhang Guodong's intervention, the major problem at the beginning of the matter was resolved.
"Haha, thank you so much, Brother Guodong! Your concerns are indeed crucial. Business people prioritize returns when investing. Investments in different industries naturally carry risks. But depending on the risk and profit, as long as the risk and profit are right, they'll be willing to invest. Moreover, government-led investment promotion campaigns usually offer preferential policies to these individuals, and these policies are quite attractive! So, given this opportunity, the matter is half settled. The rest depends on human effort and fate!" Li Daolin said happily.
He seemed quite confident in this regard.
Zhang Guodong was also helpless; he could only help to this extent. But was he also going to be dragged into this situation?
Second update. Only two updates today. Last night, Tiandao drank on an empty stomach and actually hurt his stomach. I don't remember ever doing this before. He vomited several times, and the car ride was pure torture. But there will be three updates tomorrow!
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