"Your idea is excellent. There have been a lot of fights and brawls at the base recently, and the leadership has taken notice of the issue of spiritual civilization. The Ministry of Culture was just established this month, and your proposal is a real lifesaver!" Minister Sun said.
“Besides the bookstore manager, you must have other ideas, otherwise you could just take the business plan and open your own bookstore. There’s no need to send it to me,” Minister Sun added.
"Nothing can be hidden from Minister Sun. Here's the thing, we only have a small number of books on hand right now, which we collected when we were looking for supplies. This number of books is definitely not enough to open a bookstore, so..." Xu Lin said with a smile.
In fact, Xu Lin had more than enough books to open a bookstore. She had collected quite a few books before, and even owned several libraries. However, she couldn't just take them out like that. "Borrowing" books from the base was actually a way to protect herself.
"So you came here with a free lunch. But that's easy to solve. At the very beginning of the apocalypse, the government did save a few libraries. This is no problem. I'll take your proposal to the Ministry of Culture first, and then you can meet to discuss the specific details," Minister Sun said happily.
After leaving Minister Sun's office, Zhou Pin went to report to his new unit, while Xu Lin decided to take a stroll around the commercial street. This time, her mood was completely different; last time she was looking for business ideas, but this time she was looking for suitable storefronts.
This commercial street is located in the East District, with a good security environment. It is the only way to get to the East District. Before the apocalypse, it should have been a pedestrian street in the CBD. Xu Lin was more and more satisfied with it.
Zhou Pin didn't go home for lunch. Xu Lin had a simple bowl of noodles for lunch and cooked at home in the afternoon. It had been a long time since she had stored lunch boxes in her space.
When Zhou Pin came back in the evening, the first day was just about getting familiar with the work environment and tasks, which was relatively easy. The two chatted for a while and then rested.
The next day, before Zhou Pin even arrived at work, Minister Sun called, saying that the bookstore matter had been settled.
Xu Lin and Zhou Pin went out together. When they arrived at the government building, Zhou Pin went to work, while Xu Lin went to see Minister Sun.
When Xu Lin entered, Minister Sun and two strangers were sitting in the conference room. Minister Sun introduced them as the Vice Minister of Culture and the head of the Personnel Section of the Ministry of Culture. Xu Lin was surprised to hear this.
After the two sides got to know each other, Minister Sun left. He had a lot of things to deal with and didn't have time to join in the fun.
The rest of the morning was spent communicating with them about the library's operating model and profit distribution. After some bargaining, it was finally agreed that the Ministry of Culture would provide the books, Xu Lin would be responsible for management, storefront and decoration, and all profits would be split 50/50. The contract was for ten years, and starting from the fifth year, the base's profits would decrease by 10% each year until the tenth year, at which point all the bookstore's profits would belong to Xu Lin.
However, there are also requirements for Xu Lin: the bookstore's net profit must grow at a rate of more than 10% per year, and the reading rate of all staff at the base must increase every year.
Xu Lin was fortunate enough to be invited to lunch at the government canteen at noon. In the afternoon, she discussed specific details with other staff members of the Ministry of Culture, and the discussion did not end until the evening.
Xu Lin declined the invitation to dinner and went home with Zhou Pin, who had come to pick her up. Zhou Pin had already finished cooking.
"You must be exhausted after a long day. Let me give you a massage after you finish eating," Zhou Pin said.
"It's alright. I'm full of motivation to do what I want to do. It's just that it feels like I'm having a heated debate with a group of scholars. They take turns sending people from different departments to work with me," Xu Lin said, while eating braised pork.
"You can't handle it all by yourself, do you want to find someone to help you?"
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