Inside a restaurant in the central town, the companies that came to participate in the bidding, the staff of the central town's bidding, and the members of the town's party committee were divided into three tables, while the leaders and the heads of the four companies that came to bid sat at one table.
The remaining staff sat at two tables.
Zhang Xingguo maintained a dark expression throughout, forcing himself to say polite words before announcing the start of the dinner.
But after drinking three glasses of wine, they made an excuse to leave. Zhang Xingguo left first, and Hou Peng followed suit. The two of them couldn't stay any longer, and they also had to give Deputy Director Chang an explanation for what had happened.
Hou Peng is alright, but the key issue is Zhang Xingguo. Zhang Xingguo was the one who spearheaded this project, but someone else won the bid. It wouldn't be right for Zhang Xingguo not to give Deputy Director Chang an explanation, especially since he had confidently assured the other party beforehand.
But now, an unexpected thing has happened.
After the two township officials left, the atmosphere at the dinner table not only didn't become subdued, but instead became even more lively. Li Xiuyuan took the initiative to speak at the dinner, thanking the companies that submitted bids and congratulating Guangda Construction on winning the bid.
Other members of the town's Party committee also joined in. Kang Yong felt uncomfortable sitting there and wanted to leave, but he lacked the courage to meet Li Xiuyuan's gaze.
He didn't dare to disrespect Li Xiuyuan, since with the Party Secretary and the Mayor gone, everyone sitting there was now Li Xiuyuan's man. He felt surrounded; Li Xiuyuan was on his left, Lu Zhenhai on his right, Ma Tao diagonally opposite, and Qi Weihua was right in front of him when he looked up.
The dinner lasted for an hour and a half, ending around 2 p.m. The people from the First and Second Municipal Construction Companies said their goodbyes and left. Before leaving, Jin Bao from Huangyuan Construction Company politely exchanged contact information with Li Xiuyuan, saying that he would like to invite Li Xiuyuan to dinner sometime.
Jin Bao didn't care about Li Xiuyuan's position as deputy mayor of the central town, but he valued Li Xiuyuan's position as the former secretary of the county magistrate.
“Okay, Mr. Jin, let’s have a private chat sometime.” Li Xiuyuan said politely.
Jinbao smiled and nodded: "Mayor Li, although we didn't win the bid, the new rural construction project in Meilin Village is a key project for the whole county. If there's anything Huangyuan Construction can help with, please feel free to call me. Don't be shy, we'll definitely help without hesitation."
"Haha, President Jin has a very high level of political awareness, which is something we should learn from. Then I won't stand on ceremony. If there's anything I need, I'll definitely trouble President Jin."
After seeing off Jinbao and his group, only Chen Guangda and his group, who had won the bid, remained at the scene.
"Mr. Chen, how about we hold a meeting in Meilin Village a little later?" Li Xiuyuan asked Chen Guangda. He had no intention of procrastinating. Now that the bidding process was over, preparations for the second phase of the project should begin.
It's mid-May now, which looks like early summer, but winter is less than six months away. The second phase of the project must be completed by the end of October at the latest.
Otherwise, winter will come, and the difficulty of construction in winter is not the same as in summer in northern regions. The temperature at night can drop to minus ten degrees Celsius, making the construction difficulty completely different.
Therefore, we must rush to complete the second phase of the project this summer and autumn.
“Okay, Mayor Li.” Chen Guangda nodded.
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