Chapter 254
Because Jiang Hongjun and his colleagues were going to a big city this time, they had taken out what they thought were their best clothes. However, he was used to doing bricklayer's work every day, so even the cleanest clothes would inevitably have a few drops of cement spots. His hair was still the short flat top he had gotten during the Chinese New Year, but now it had grown longer, and as he usually had short hair and was not used to combing it, his hair was very messy.
The same is true for several other people. Young people who are not married still pay attention to their image and would like to polish their leather shoes until they are shiny and oil their hair so that flies can slip and break their legs. But married people don't really have much idea about dressing up.
Coming from the countryside at this generation, they were used to seeing Jiang Hongjun and his friends wearing such rustic clothes, and they didn't think much of it at first. However, Designer Lou was born in Shanghai, a city at the forefront of fashion, and he majored in architectural design at school. Later, he went abroad to study, and paid more attention to some well-known and unknown foreign designs of classic, fashionable and beautiful buildings and interior architecture. After returning to China after completing his studies, his temperament was one of the best in Mr. Qian's company. Standing with Jiang Hongjun and his friends at this moment, although he was not tall, he really made Jiang Hongjun and his friends look like country chickens and clay dogs.
In fact, Jiang Guotai himself was not dressed very fashionably. He wore a white shirt on the upper body, trousers on the lower body, a belt in the middle, and a mobile phone bag on the belt. The mobile phone was hung conspicuously on his waist, and there was another bag in his armpit.
He actually has a gentle appearance, an oval face, and the Aaron Kwok hairstyle that is common in this era. Except for not having a big belly and wearing a gold ring and a gold chain, he is dressed like a local boss. In his previous life, he was the richest man in the neighboring city. Except for wearing a suit when accompanying his leaders to some important occasions, he would always dress comfortably and casually like this.
But his temperament is hard to ignore at first glance, and it is obvious that he is the leader of the group.
Flying is expensive these days, and Jiang Guotai was originally reluctant to spend so much money to take so many people on a plane, but his schedule was too tight. He was in his hometown, and no matter whether it was the sand factory, brick factory, or a big project he had just taken on, he was always there. So he couldn't choose a train that would take several days and nights, and could only take a fast plane.
He had only taken this plane once before, when he sent his son and future daughter-in-law to study abroad.
In this group, apart from Jiang Guotai, only the building designer had been on a plane before. It was the first time for all the others, and they looked around curiously at the airport.
Under the guidance of the building designer, they checked in their luggage.
Jiang Hongbing asked Jiang Guotai worriedly, "This...this thing won't be lost, right?"
Jiang Guotai pretended to be well-informed: "It won't be lost, follow the designer, let's go."
Jiang Hongbing then watched the luggage being taken away anxiously. Seeing that his elder brother and uncle were very calm, he felt relieved. As they walked away, he smiled and said to Jiang Hongjun, "I never thought that I would get to fly again. Before, I heard my grandfather say that he had flown on a plane, but I thought he was just bragging."
Jiang Hongjun spoke with a slight stutter, saying, "Grandpa and Ningning are together, so we will have many opportunities to fly in the future. Is there any need...need...to brag to you?"
"Just because I've never been on a plane, I thought grandpa was bragging." Jiang Hongbing looked around excitedly with a flushed face: "When I go back, I'll tell Dalanzi that I've also been on a plane, hehe." Thinking of telling his wife that he had been on a plane, he wished he had eight eyes so that he could see everything he saw at the airport so that he could brag about it when he got back.
Jiang Hongjun has had a stutter since he was a child, so he has always been very calm in doing things. He is the type who watches more, listens more and talks less, and he is steady in everything he does. This is why Jiang Guotai chose to bring him along on this trip.
The truth is that he had too few people he could use. In addition to the brothers Jiang Hongjun and Jiang Hongbing, there was also his sister's son among the people traveling with him. The other three were young people who had performed well on his previous construction site, were down-to-earth, willing to use their brains, and were daring and hardworking. They were discovered and brought up by him.
The reason he brought so many people with him was because he had heard from Jiang's father about the chaos at Shenzhen Railway Station. He was afraid of accidents, and it was better to have more people from his hometown around him than to be alone when something happened in a foreign land.
Once on the plane, the group of people were excited all the time, but they didn't dare to speak loudly for fear of being seen as country bumpkins riding a plane for the first time. When the plane rose into the sky, they looked up at the clouds below and the buildings on the ground that were getting smaller and smaller under the clouds.
They departed from Shanghai Airport and arrived at Guangzhou Hongyun Airport.
This is a modern city that is completely different from the small mountain village and ancient Wucheng where they used to live. Even though they have seen the prosperity of Shanghai, they are still amazed when they come to Guangzhou.
It was like they had suddenly entered from a closed world into another rapidly developing world that they did not understand. This made them feel restrained all of a sudden, and they followed Jiang Guotai and the others closely, fearing that they would get lost by accident and then would not be able to return home.
The other young people who went out to work were fine, like Jiang Hongjun and Jiang Hongbing. The farthest place they had been to was Wucheng, the neighboring city and Lin County, where Jiang Da's aunt's parents' home was.
Although they traveled outside all year round, building houses for this family and that family, they had never even taken a train. The first time they went to another province, they took a plane to Guangzhou, thousands of miles away. This gave them a great shock and impact.
In the millennium, Guangzhou was already full of high-rise buildings and bustling with traffic.
As soon as they got off the plane, Jiang Hongbing and his friends started looking around. As soon as they left the airport, they saw someone holding a big sign with the three words "Jiang Guotai" written on it.
"Uncle, uncle! Is that the person who is going to pick us up?" Jiang Hongbing was the first one to see the person holding the sign. He quickly pulled Jiang Guotai's arm and pointed it out to Jiang Guotai.
Jiang Guotai whispered to everyone, "Speak less, look less, listen more, watch more, take the good things and follow me."
After giving the instructions, he straightened his collar slightly and walked towards the young man holding the sign.
As soon as the young man saw a group of people coming towards him, he knew that the person he was waiting for had arrived. He hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands with them and said with a broad smile, "Is this Mr. Jiang Guotai? I am Wang Han from the Cultural and Creative Office of the Municipal Party Committee's Propaganda Department. You can just call me Xiao Wang."
Jiang Guotai had already grasped the young man's hand and shouted enthusiastically, "Director Wang, hello, hello. I'm so sorry to bother you to come and pick us up in person. It's such an honor."
The name "Director Wang" made Wang Han, an ordinary clerk in the Wenchuang Office, couldn't help but curl up his lips even though he had been trying to hold back. He hurriedly said, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it."
"Director Wang, you are too polite. You are so young and yet you are working in the municipal government of a big city like Guangzhou. You are truly a promising young man. Thank you for taking over. Thank you, leader." Jiang Guotai held the young man's hand tightly.
The young man then went to shake hands with the building designer next to him, and then Jiang Miao.
Wang Han shook hands with everyone and introduced himself. After the introduction, Wang Han led them to a business car and said, "Director Li has arranged accommodation for everyone. It is a hotel not far from the Tea Expo Exhibition Hall. I will take you to the hotel to check in first, and then take you to the Tea Expo to have a look."
Jiang Guotai also smiled and said, "Oh, Director Li is too polite. Please thank Director Li for me. I wonder when Director Li will be free. I will host the party and I must thank Director Li in person."
Wang Han drove here by himself. He smiled and said as he drove, "It's the early stage of the Tea Expo now, and there is a lot of work to do. There will be foreign tea merchants from more than 20 countries coming. If Director Li is not too busy to leave, Director Li will come to pick them up in person."
This is of course pure nonsense.
What is Director Li's current position and who are these people? Director Li is already too busy to receive foreign guests from various countries, so how can he have time to receive these people? It's not that he looked down on these people, but except for the three people in the lead, the others were really too different from the city of Guangshi. They were almost the same as the migrant workers he sometimes saw on the street.
But he didn't dare to look down on them in the slightest.
If these people were not important, Director Li would never have specially arranged for him to come and pick them up, and arranged a hotel for them near the exhibition hall and gave them the best location in the exhibition hall.
Not to mention, these people are exhibitors at the Tea Expo. They must be people with important influence in the local area. The tea they bring must also be very famous tea, otherwise they would not be able to get the registration qualification and admission tickets to the Guangzhou City, let alone give them the best exhibition hall.
Wang Han himself is a native of Guangzhou. After years of development, Guangzhou has seen many relocated old farmers who may look ordinary and unremarkable on the outside but may own several buildings. Many local people have made tens of millions of dollars in assets from relocation.
Wang Han was not sure what the relationship between these people was and Director Li, but judging from the arrangements Director Li made for these people, they must have a very good relationship. So even though Jiang Hongbing and the others behaved like bumpkins who had never seen the world, Wang Han was very polite to Jiang Guotai and the others.
Lou Chengyu, who came with them as an exhibition hall designer and translator, was also shocked when he heard Wang Han's self-introduction. These nouveau riche from the small mountain village of Wucheng actually had such connections in Guangshi that they could get people from the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department to pick them up at the airport in person. He couldn't help but pay more attention to the house of his employer Jiang Ning, and his attitude towards this trip to Guangshi became more serious.
They were even more shocked when they arrived at the hotel arranged for them by Director Li.
This was actually the first World International Tea Expo held in Guangzhou, and it was held in the Liushui Exhibition Hall of the Export Commodities Fair. The hotel that Director Li booked for them was also a newly built, fully modernized star-rated hotel not far from the Liushui Exhibition Hall.
Except for Jiang Guotai, designer Lou, and Jiang Miao, everyone else saw such a luxurious and modern hotel. They looked at this international hotel that seemed to soar into the clouds, and the brightly lit and magnificent hotel lobby. They all stood outside the hotel for a while and almost didn't dare to go in.
Jiang Guotai and designer Lou were experienced people, so they followed Wang Han in with confidence.
Jiang Hongjun was fine, but Jiang Hongbing and his companions were just country bumpkins who had just arrived in the city. After they had opened their eyes, they didn't even know which foot to take the first step. In the end, they walked in with stiff bodies, almost moving their hands and feet at the same time. They looked up and looked around at the tall and majestic modern buildings that were completely different from their small mountain village. They couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, wondering how much money it would cost to build such a large and luxurious building?
There are also the floor tiles, which are spotless and mirror-clear, and the huge crystal chandelier above.
Jiang Hongbing tried his best to imagine, but he still couldn't figure out how to build such a large hotel and building.
No wonder Ningning didn't want them to help her build a house, and she even specially found a designer who had studied abroad from Shanghai to help her design and decorate it.
Compared with the buildings and decorations in these big cities, the houses they built in their hometowns and their so-called decorations are really just rough cuts.
Apart from painting the walls white, nothing was actually done. At most, a ceiling was added to the room.
The other young men who came with Jiang Guotai were actually those who had worked on highway projects in neighboring cities before Jiang Guotai. Jiang Guotai selected a few of them who were relatively calm, tall and capable, and brought them to Guangshi. They had never seen such a hotel in neighboring cities. To them, it was like another world. When they passed by such a hotel, they all watched from afar outside and dared not approach.
But now, they also moved in with Boss Jiang.
After completing the check-in procedures, Wang Han sent them to the room and gave each of them a stamped pink meal ticket. He asked them to rest for a while and wash their faces. He would wait for them in the lobby downstairs. They would go to the restaurant on the second floor to eat, and then he would take them to the exhibition hall to see the booths in the afternoon.
After Wang Han went down, Jiang Hongbing and the others put down their things and started looking around in the hotel room, extremely excited. Jiang Guotai was sitting on the bed in the hotel room, also looking at the arranged hotel. He looked calm on the surface, but was very shocked inside.
He thought Jiang Ning and Director Li were just work colleagues and acquaintances, but that was all. He didn't expect Director Li to send someone to pick him up and even arrange the hotel for him. How could he not be surprised?
This at least shows that the relationship between Jiang Ning and Director Li is much deeper and closer than he thought!
Jiang Guotai quickly washed his face and wiped it with the hotel towel, wiping his hair at the same time. He combed his hair a few more times and called out to the others next door, "Are you done? Don't keep the leader waiting. Come down quickly!"
To Jiang Guotai, all people working in the government are collectively called leaders, the only difference is between big leaders and small leaders.
Their rooms were all standard rooms. Jiang Miao and the tea artist they invited shared a room, and the others shared two rooms. Jiang Guotai and the floor designer were arranged in a room, Jiang Hongjun and his brother shared a room, and the other four people who came with them shared two rooms.
Since Wang Han spoke Guangpu and Jiang Guotai and the others spoke Mandarin with accents, only Jiang Guotai, Jiang Miao and designer Lou listened carefully throughout the whole process, and the tea artist was smiling the whole time.
When the others got in the elevator, they had already forgotten where they were going to eat. Jiang Miao, however, had been listening carefully. He pressed the button for the second floor and followed the restaurant sign to the restaurant on the second floor.
After Wang Han went downstairs, he called Director Li and reported that he had taken Jiang Guotai and the others to the hotel and would take them to the exhibition hall after lunch. After hanging up the phone, he went back to the second floor and waited for them outside the restaurant.
There were several restaurants, and Wang Han led them into one of them.
They originally thought that the restaurant prepared by Director Li was a private room with a large round table and dishes were served one by one. However, they did not expect that it was a buffet restaurant with rows of steaming hot meals in stainless steel bowls. They could pick up whatever they wanted with plates. There were many round tables covered with tablecloths in the restaurant, and many guests had already come down to eat. Most of the people staying here were tea merchants from all over the country who came to participate in the Tea Expo.
The first thing Jiang Guotai did when he came in was not to look at the food, but to look at all the people who were eating in the restaurant like them and observe them.
It was the first time for Jiang Hongbing and his friends to eat in such a big hotel, so everything seemed new to them. However, as Jiang Guotai had warned them not to get too excited or look around, they just followed Jiang Guotai obediently, picked up their plates and lined up to get their food.
The restaurant also has a wide variety of dishes, but unfortunately, they are all light in flavor. For people like Jiang Hongjun who have lived by the river since childhood and are used to eating spicy food due to the humid air, although the dishes here are rich in variety, with all kinds of fish, shrimp, meat, and crabs, after looking around, they found that there was nothing they wanted to eat. However, they dared not say anything and just filled their plates with meat, shrimp, and crabs.
They had been used to eating fish since they were young, so basically everyone avoided the fish. Instead, everyone filled two plates with food and picked up a lot of fruit, and sat around a table.
When they got to the table, they saw that Wang Han had only picked up a simple plate, while they had several plates piled up on their side. They felt embarrassed again, but Wang Han seemed not to notice at all and smiled and said to them: "After dinner, do you want to go back to the room to rest, or go to the exhibition hall right away?"
Jiang Guotai was on a tight schedule and in a hurry, so he said, "Let's go after dinner."
Wang Han smiled and said, "Okay." His face was a little round, his skin was white and tender, and he always smiled, giving people a feeling of being bathed in spring breeze. "We have a total of 236 exhibition halls for this exhibition. The one that Director Li arranged for you is one of the best locations for this exhibition. If you have enough time, it is recommended that you make full use of the good location that Director Li arranged for you and plan and design the booth well. In addition to our domestic tea merchants, there will be tea industry professionals from nearly 20 countries and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan participating in this tea culture expo."
This is already a reminder to them.
Jiang Guotai immediately pulled out the designer Lou they brought with them and introduced him, "This is the Shanghai designer we invited with a large sum of money. He is also our booth designer and translator - Lou Chengyu. He graduated from Shanghai University with a bachelor's degree in architectural design and has studied abroad." He smiled at Lou Chengyu and said, "Designer Lou, you should also introduce yourself to the leaders."
Wang Han had actually noticed that the temperament of designer Lou in their team was completely different from that of Jiang Hongjun and his team, but he did not expect that they were the designer and translator specially invited from Shanghai. This made him think highly of this group of people, and he was also satisfied with their attention to and sufficient preparation for this tea expo, and his favorability towards them soared.
This time it was not because of their relationship with Director Li, it was entirely because of themselves. .
The organizer of this tea expo is their Guangshi Municipal Government, but the specific organizing unit is still the Cultural and Creative Office of their Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department. The tea merchants who come to the exhibition attach so much importance to this exhibition. As a person in the Cultural and Creative Office, Wang Han is also running around and busying himself with the affairs of this tea expo. Although they have the cooperation of the Guangshi Tea Culture Promotion Association, they still put in a lot of energy and effort to make this tea expo a success.
Jiang Guotai was very sensitive to the change in Wang Han's attitude towards them, and immediately asked Wang Han about the tea expo.
As Wang Han's favorable impression of them increased, he naturally talked more, allowing Jiang Guotai and others to have a better understanding of the people who came to the tea expo, tea merchants from various countries, and other information.
If Jiang Guotai and the others hadn't asked, Wang Han hadn't originally planned to tell them.
After finishing their meal, they did not stay in the hotel for long but immediately rushed to the exhibition hall of the Tea Expo and the flow hall of the Foreign Export Commodities Fair.
When Jiang Guotai heard the name of this place was "Foreign Export Commodities Fair", he was moved and asked Wang Han: "Director Wang, are the commodities here originally exported?"
Wang Han smiled and said, "Director Li should have told you, right? This is the first World International Tea Expo. The leaders above attach great importance to this tea expo and hope to create more conditions for you to sell our tea overseas, generate income for the people, and create more foreign exchange for the country!"
The country's foreign exchange reserves have actually been increasing steadily. The purpose of holding this World International Tea Expo is mainly to attract foreign investment to increase its scale and improve its quality, and to maintain domestic and foreign economic vitality. This is a major policy aspect of the government and there is no need to tell Jiang Guotai about it.
Jiang Guotai's original purpose of participating in the Tea Expo was to make "Wugong Tea" well-known. If he could let more foreign tea merchants know about "Wugong Tea", it would be the biggest gain of this trip to Guangzhou. Unexpectedly, this Tea Expo was mainly aimed at the overseas market. This was really an unexpected surprise for Jiang Guotai.
And all of this seemed to be an unintentional guidance from Jiang Ning, which brought them such an opportunity.
Now it depends on whether they can seize this opportunity!
Jiang Guotai's heart was pounding. This feeling was just like the first time he heard Jiang Ning talk about the three sand factories in his hometown. It was like a huge gold mine was suddenly unveiled before him.
Wang Han didn't know how shocked Jiang Guotai was at the moment. He led Jiang Guotai and the others to a very conspicuous booth not far from the entrance of the exhibition hall and stopped and said, "This is your booth this time."
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