Chapter 255
What Wang Han said was right. This was indeed one of the best booths in the entire exhibition hall. It was on the first floor, not too close to the main entrance, nor too close to the inside. It was right in the middle and facing the main entrance, so visitors could see their booth as soon as they entered.
They were not the only group of people in the exhibition hall, there were also others looking at the booths.
Since Wang Han brought them here, he naturally wanted them to feel how much Director Li cared about them, so he took them to visit the entire exhibition hall to let them experience firsthand how good the booth Director Li arranged for them was.
Because the further you go in, the fewer tourists there may be. Many tea merchants may have their eyes on the tea and sign the orders downstairs.
The entire exhibition hall is very large, covering an area of 20,000 square meters, with a large square-like area in the middle.
Wang Han introduced them, "We will arrange performances here, with more than 30 programs." He pointed to the oval space surrounding the empty area and said, "The first floor is the tea display area, and the second floor is the tea set display area. We have specially invited some masters who make purple clay teapots, as well as their masterpieces. If you are interested, you can come and have a look." They slowly walked up to the third floor: "The third floor is tea clothing, tea snacks, and incense burners."
The exhibition hall was still empty at this time, but many people had already come in, looking at the booths and discussing how to arrange them.
Some are simply not decorated at all, such as some booths selling tea service and tea snacks on the third floor. They simply put up a white background board, hang the tea service on it, and have rows of hangers below.
Tea snacks are generally dim sum. There are dim sum made from tea leaves and dim sum that can be eaten with tea.
There is very little to see at the moment.
Wang Han took them around for a while, then led them to the exhibition staff. After signing the rental contract and paying the booth fee, he told the staff that this was Director Li's friend and asked them to take care of him if they had any problems. He then said to Jiang Guotai and the others, "I have work to do this afternoon, so I have to go back first. You can look around here by yourselves. If you need anything, you can always call me."
He gave his personal cell phone number to Jiang Guotai, who also had Li's cell phone number.
Jiang Guotai would not let Wang Han go empty-handed, so he stuffed Wang Han with a lot of "local specialties" he brought from his hometown. In addition to Wugong tea from Wugong Mountain, there was also a bundle of Adenophora. Jiang Guotai put himself in a very humble position when speaking, and said to Wang Han: "You also know that we are all from mountainous areas. There is nothing good in the mountains. Just some specialties from our hometown. This is the wild Adenophora from the mountains of our hometown. Please don't be polite, leader."
Although Wang Han didn't know how much this Adenophora was worth, just by looking at the word "参", he knew it was a good thing, and it was wild.
And Jiang Guotai also said that it is just some "local specialties". If you say it has value, it is indeed nothing, but if you say it has no value, it is indeed a good thing.
Wang Han naturally refused to accept it, but this thing was sent together with tea. During this period, they received tea merchants from all over the country, and their office was almost filled with famous teas from all over the country. They all wanted the leaders to drink the tea they brought, and if they liked it, they would recommend their tea more.
Jiang Guotai actually meant the same thing. He actually brought a gift for Director Li, but since he didn't know what kind of person Director Li was, it was not appropriate to give him expensive items at this time. Local specialties like tea would be the most suitable. Of course, these things should be given in person without anyone's knowledge, and it would not be convenient to ask someone to pass them on.
And what Jiang Guotai said was right, these things were indeed their local specialties, they were just relatively valuable and rare. Even Jiang Guotai himself had spent a lot of money to collect some of them, and he did not keep any for himself.
As soon as Wang Han left, Jiang Guotai and his team did not continue shopping, but immediately started designing the booth. Lou Chengyu was responsible for designing the booth, while Jiang Hongjun and his team were responsible for finding out about the surrounding environment and purchasing everything Lou Chengyu needed.
This time, the tea artist they invited brought his own tea sets, but when Wang Han told them that the second floor was a tea set display area, Jiang Guotai still wanted to see whether he should buy a few more sets of tea sets, or prepare some disposable cups for the surrounding tourists to taste. In this case, a lot of boiling water would be needed.
To boil water, an electric kettle is naturally indispensable.
It would take at least a week to prepare for the layout of a booth alone. Fortunately, Jiang Guotai did not need to oversee it personally. He only needed to hand it over to Lou Chengyu and Jiang Hongjun. He took Jiang Miao, Jiang Hongbing and a few others with him to the exhibition hall to see how other people's exhibition halls were arranged, or to inquire about some situations.
These tea merchants from all over the country were able to gather here. They all had some power and influence in various places. Jiang Guotai didn't need to search all over Guangzhou City by himself. He could find out the situation of these people. If there happened to be a project that needed river sand, these people alone would be enough to keep Jiang Guotai busy.
It just so happened that, except for foreign guests, the accommodation of all these people was arranged by the Guangzhou Municipal Government in a hotel. Jiang Guotai himself was a social gangster. He brought his daughter with him. During the dinner time in the restaurant at night, he took his dinner tray and found two empty seats at a round table where many people were already sitting. He sat down and listened to everyone chatting. As they chatted, he naturally joined in.
After Jiang Ning learned that everything was going well for Jiang Guotai and his team, and that Director Li had taken good care of them, she called Director Li to express her gratitude. Director Li treated Jiang Ning like his own junior, especially after learning that the film and television rights of Jiang Ning's "Star Trek" were bought by a well-known foreign film and television company at a high price. He asked her to study hard, write more works, and let more works go abroad so that foreigners can understand our culture, etc.
Now that "Star Mecha", which has been serialized for more than half a year, has come to an end, Jiang Ning sent all the subsequent manuscripts to Wang Yong. "Martial Arts" is still being serialized. Although Li Ang has been transferred from the magazine to the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee, he is still very concerned about the magazine that he founded and built to its current size. After knowing that Jiang Ning has submitted all the manuscripts, he asked her if she had thought about what to write for the next work.
People will want to do what they are in. For example, when Li Ang was the director of "Wuxia" magazine, he was thinking about how to make "Wuxia" magazine better and expand its influence. But after he arrived at the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee, he thought about the overall direction of cultural output.
He said to Jiang Ning, "Isn't our Guangzhou City going to hold a tea expo soon? You can also write some works to promote our country's traditional culture. Foreign countries are not only interested in science fiction works like "Starcraft", but also in our traditional culture. If we can export our country's traditional culture to Western countries..."
Jiang Ning listened to what Director Li said on the phone, thinking to himself that one really should do the job according to one's position.
However, she still told Li: "Teacher Li, I am preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination and I need to devote my whole heart and soul to studying. I will not consider writing for the time being."
Director Li then hung up the phone with regret.
Jiang Ning has been writing for several years, as if she was racing against time, not daring to stop for a moment. Now that she has finally accumulated enough funds in the stock market, she also wants to take a break for a while and focus all her energy on studying.
After Director Li hung up the phone, Producer Li also called Jiang Ning and asked her if she had not yet joined the China Writers Association.
Jiang Ning was stunned for a moment and said, "No."
"I'll send you the application form. Please print out a copy, fill it out and bring it to me." Producer Li hung up the phone quickly after saying this and sent the application form to her by email.
Now is actually the time to verify the application materials. Producer Li didn't care about this matter at first. He thought that Jiang Ning was so famous that he should have joined the Writers Association long ago.
Because he had taken Jiang Ning around CCTV before, everyone knew that he had accepted a little apprentice, the emerging writer Ning Meng. It just so happened that the application materials for this year's Writers Association were submitted. Not only did he serve as the director of CCTV's TV Drama and Film Production Center, he also served as the deputy director of the Film Administration Bureau of the State Administration of Optoelectronics and the deputy secretary of the Party Committee.
Not to mention that Jiang Ning is his apprentice, even if Jiang Ning is not his apprentice, since Jiang Ning is so famous, she can still join the China Writers Association. When the China Writers Association was verifying this year's application materials, they did not see Ning Meng's application form, so they called Producer Li to ask about it. Producer Li then found out that the books written by this girl are so famous, and she has filmed one TV show and movie after another, but she is not a member of the Writers Association yet, so he immediately called her.
After joining the Writers Association, there are many state support projects that she can apply for. Although she no longer needs them now, Producer Li will still fight for her for some awards that he can.
Jiang Ning naturally would not refuse his master's kindness, and he quickly went to the printing room near the school, printed out a form, filled in the information according to the format, listed his works over the years one by one, and took a taxi to deliver it to Producer Li.
When producer Li saw the application form she sent in, he said to her, "I thought you had already joined the Writers Association. You've been writing for several years and have published several books. How come you haven't joined?"
Jiang Ning started writing purely to earn tuition and living expenses. At that time, writing, attending classes, participating in competitions, buying a house, and taking care of her grandfather's health occupied her entire life. After her rebirth, she only thought about making up for her regrets. Jiang Ning didn't really care about such unimportant things.
Producer Li thought that the girl only focused on writing and studying, and had never been exposed to this field in the past, so she did not join. He took her application form and asked her what she was doing recently. Jiang Ning said that she planned to complete all the credits for four years of college this year and start preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination.
Producer Li pondered for a moment, told her to study hard, and let her go back.
While many people in the Peking University Literary Society were still competing for some school awards, Producer Li was already considering winning some important awards for Jiang Ning.
Not only was Producer Li considering helping Jiang Ning apply for some awards, Jiang Ning himself also began to brush up on awards and papers for the postgraduate entrance examination.
Time soon arrived in June.
On June 5, the first dragon boat race in Wucheng kicked off.
Regarding this dragon boat race, Jiang Ning actually told Song Peifeng a lot of things to pay attention to about the event. Since the dragon boat race started to warm up last year, it was originally just a local event in Wucheng. As a result, due to its great influence, not only Wujiang City and neighboring cities joined in, but also the surrounding counties and cities joined in after knowing about the dragon boat race.
Secretary Song was originally transferred from the provincial capital to Wucheng, so he still had some connections in the provincial capital. Soon, with the cooperation of various localities, the advice of the strategists behind the scenes, and the efforts of Secretary Song himself, the dragon boat race in this small place was organized. Before the Dragon Boat Festival even arrived, Wucheng was already dressed up in all kinds of ways. A large semicircular sign was erected by the moat, which read [Jiangnan Province International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival].
Wow, a small dragon boat race in Wucheng County has become an "International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival". The provincial TV station even arranged reporters to interview. So the provincial TV station spent three minutes on the highest-rated evening program "News 60 Minutes" to interview and explain this "Provincial International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival". The reporter's voice was also clearly transmitted through the news to every household in the province who watched the news every evening: "The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon. The first International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival in Jiangnan Province will kick off in Wucheng. There will be more than 20 dragon boat teams from all over the country participating in the competition. Which team will win the championship? Let us wait and see!"
Although Jiangnan Provincial TV Station has not produced any hit self-produced dramas, their self-produced variety shows are particularly good. In addition, they buy the copyrights of whatever TV dramas are popular. Therefore, although the ratings of their provincial satellite TV station are not among the top three among TV stations nationwide, they have always been among the top five. Many people from other provinces also watch Jiangnan Provincial TV Station.
I immediately saw the dragon boat race of the 'International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival' on Jiangnan Provincial TV. From the pictures on TV, Wucheng today is really different from Wucheng two years ago.
Although it is June in the Gregorian calendar, it is May in the lunar calendar, the time of the year when flowers are in full bloom. The banks of the moat are full of pink peach blossoms and green willows, reflecting the clear blue water. As the camera zooms out, the entire ancient city comes into view. The streets are crowded with people, and shops are lined on both sides of the streets. The whole city is clean and tidy, and it looks prosperous.
Although the shooting lasted only three minutes, it fully demonstrated the prosperity of Wucheng today. Most importantly, the entire Wucheng was photographed so beautifully!
There are three days off for the Dragon Boat Festival. This season is not as cold as winter and not as hot as summer. It is the most suitable season of the year to go out and play. Many people in Jiangnan Province and surrounding provinces and cities who don’t know where to go for fun, after seeing that there is a dragon boat race in Wucheng, Jiangnan Province, and that Wucheng is so beautiful, those who don’t know where to go for fun have all made up their minds to go to Wucheng to watch the dragon boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival.
In Wucheng, dragon boat teams from all over the country have been training for more than half a year. They originally thought that they were participating in just a small local dragon boat race, but they didn't expect it to become an international dragon boat race and be on TV. TV stations will come to interview them. Everyone is excited. And as the weather is getting hotter today, these strong young men are practicing dragon boat rowing in the river every day. They must get a good ranking in this international dragon boat race!
Producer Li also saw the news from Jiangnan Provincial TV Station. After confirming that it was Wucheng, which he had promoted before, he thought about it and asked people to go down for interviews and collect materials. The information collected at that time may not be broadcast on CCTV-1, but CCTV has so many channels. He asked people to go for interviews for selfish reasons, as he also wanted to see how Wucheng is developing now.
If you want to host a successful international cultural festival, there are many aspects that need to be coordinated.
Let’s not talk about public security for now, which is the most basic foundation, and also the food culture.
In order to dig out the local specialties, it would be best to build a special food street next to the moat. Other commodities should also keep up, such as the crayfish and crabs that are now being cultivated by Linhe Brigade and have been put on the market this year, the various aquatic products in Yaoba Town, and the various specialties of other towns under Wucheng. All of them should be coordinated and brought together when the time comes.
Secretary Song also contacted the breweries in the province and planned to organize a beer festival in Wucheng together with the dragon boat race. With the crayfish from Wucheng, there will be square dance disco at night, and people will drink beer and dance disco with thousands of people.
It's not hot in June, but ice cream and popsicles are expensive.
There is nothing else next to the moat except that the area is extremely large. In addition to a purely natural wetland, there is also vast undeveloped land. In the past, this place was outside the city and was known as a place where neither chickens lay eggs nor birds poop. Now, simple wooden houses have been built here and many gourmet food merchants have rented small stalls here.
Most of these ideas were proposed by Jiang Ning. Every little idea she casually came up with made Secretary Song applaud.
It's not that they can't think of such an idea, it's just that Wucheng is too remote and old, and the staff in the Wucheng County Government are mostly locals. Many of them have never seen the outside world. Their vision and thinking are fixed and it is difficult to break through, and the younger generation has not yet grown up.
Secretary Song is also a man of amazing action. He even thought of setting up a stage on the large lawn next to the moat that can accommodate tens of thousands of people and inviting rock bands of this era to perform.
Unfortunately, due to financial pressure, they invited several but failed to invite any well-known rock bands to a small place like theirs. As for the unknown bands, they didn't have their contact information, and more importantly, they didn't know them.
Secretary Song also found several teachers and students with good singing skills from song and dance troupes and art schools in the provincial capital.
After He Qiaosheng entered university, he formed a band with his classmates. He was both the keyboardist and the lead singer in the band, so naturally he knew the information about his hometown.
He learned from other friends who play in bands that his hometown was inviting bands to perform. The Wucheng County government's fiscal and tax revenue only increased slightly last year, but the majority of it was used to build Wucheng. The prices quoted by the Wucheng County government to these bands were not high, only slightly higher than the prices offered to the teachers and students invited from art schools. These bands, who were far away in the prosperous circle of Beijing, had to pay a lot for the trip alone, so naturally they were unwilling to go.
But He Qiaosheng is willing to go. He will graduate from university this year. His current main development direction is to become a singer. He had promised his family before that he would complete his studies before pursuing his dream. Now that he has graduated from university, he wants to go back to his hometown and regard this performance in his hometown as his first public appearance in front of people, and also as a farewell to the past.
He hasn't seen Jiang Ning for a long time.
In the past few years, he and his band attended classes at school during the day and performed in bars at night, and he and she seemed more and more like people from two different worlds.
He could only occasionally see some news about her on the Internet.
The last time I saw news about her was from her school magazine, in the article "Warm Spring Breeze" which described Jiang Ning through "her" eyes.
Even though he knew that this was a slander against Jiang Ning, He Qiaosheng still watched it with great interest. This was the only channel he had at the moment to get some information about her.
He knew better than anyone that Ning Meng was not a ghostwriter. She had typed out all those works word by word on the computer by herself in her spare time from her heavy schoolwork.
So now he reads every issue of the Kyoto University magazine. Since his own school does not have it, he specially finds someone to help him get it. From "Warm Spring Breeze"'s writing, he knows her current situation and that she is practicing hurdles every day to prepare for next year's Universiade.
So his roommates and bandmates all knew that He Qiaosheng was a senior "Lemon Fan".
He Qiaosheng just smiled and said nothing about the speculations from his roommates and teammates.
Going back to his hometown to perform was not a decision he could make alone; he still had to seek the opinions of the entire band. However, his friends heard that it was an international cultural festival in his hometown, and there was money to be made. Although it was not much, they were only a resident performer in a small bar in Beijing, and the money they earned every day was limited. Instead of staying in the same place waiting for an opportunity, it would be better to make an appearance at such an international cultural festival.
So He Qiaosheng immediately called his parents and asked them to help him sign up.
He Qiaosheng's parents actually knew someone in the county government, so they quickly found the Propaganda Department of the County Party Committee and told them that their son had formed a band at school and had been performing in a bar for several years. Now that he had graduated from college, he heard that his hometown was holding an international cultural festival and was looking for a band. He found his friend, but his friend was busy, so he recommended himself.
He also brought over the CDs that He Qiaosheng and his group had recorded when they performed outside and handed them to the people in the county party committee's propaganda department.
The main songs sung by He Qiaosheng's band are those written by He Qiaosheng himself. Sometimes customers will request some songs that are popular at the time, and they will sing them too.
When the people from the Propaganda Department saw that they had a ready-made singer and band who sang very well, and they didn't have much funding and had no choice, they decided on the spot and decided on He Qiaosheng and his band.
After He Qiaosheng received a positive response from his parents, he quickly set off and returned to Wucheng.
He had not been back for just over a year. When he got off the bus and saw the bus station crowded with people and Wucheng was many times more lively than before, He Qiaosheng felt a sense of time dislocation for a moment, as if he had not been back for just over a year, but rather for many years.
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