It was another local issue. I understood that this was the same problem that the Lin family had encountered. I comforted him, "Don't worry, Mr. Yu. I'm on my way to the county government. I'll tell you after County Mayor Zhang and I have discussed countermeasures."
After hearing this, he softened his tone and said, "Brother, I'm counting on you for this matter."
I said, "Don't worry!"
After hanging up the phone, an indescribable feeling of emptiness crept over me. It seemed that all my hard work over the past year was about to be wiped out under the wave of the new policy.
Suddenly, a dusty memory flooded my mind like a tide: I remember that night when Wang Yanshu and I came back from Hangzhou, after leaving Yang Ruining's office, I went to the club at the invitation of Yu Zhiming. During the conversation, he seemed particularly anxious and asked me to help him get the deal done as soon as possible. At that time, I naively thought that he just wanted to compete with Fangyuan's products and gain an advantage. Now it seems that my understanding was too superficial.
Thinking about it carefully, Yu Zhiming's urgency at that time was probably due to the fact that he had received news that the new policy was about to be implemented, and he intended to quickly complete the deal before the policy was implemented.
This thought kept circling in my mind, and I began to re-evaluate this seemingly peaceful and casual friend. He was much more shrewd than he seemed, acting cautiously and always leaving room for words, and it was obvious that he did not regard me as a partner he could completely trust.
I sighed softly, feeling mixed emotions. This may be a profound lesson for me, reminding me that I should maintain boundaries at work and avoid unnecessary disputes, so as not to put myself in a passive situation. True wisdom lies in knowing when to advance and when to retreat, and I obviously failed to make the wisest judgment in this decision.
When I stepped into Zhang Xiaodong's office, I found Wang Yanshu had been waiting there. The atmosphere was unusually heavy, as if the air had frozen.
As soon as I sat down, I noticed that Zhang Xiaodong and Wang Yanshu looked solemn.
I took a deep breath and broke the silence first: "Before discussing the merger of Daxun and the factory, there is a more urgent problem that needs to be resolved."
Zhang Xiaodong and Wang Yanshu exchanged glances, but both chose to remain silent.
I was getting more and more anxious. "It seems that the two leaders have heard about the Land and Resources Bureau's sudden intervention and halting the project. We had such beautiful visions and plans for the future, but now it seems to have vanished overnight. Facing such a difficult situation, the two of you can still remain calm and composed. I am really shocked and impressed."
Zhang Xiaodong's face suddenly darkened, and he said with a hint of displeasure: "What a mess of Land Bureau, Cheng Yaojin. To tell you the truth, it was my County Mayor's Office that decided to let the Land Bureau execute the provincial-level document. What? Do you also think that I am the Cheng Yaojin who killed him halfway?"
At this time, Wang Yanshu winked at me, trying to persuade me not to continue this topic.
However, I ignored her good intentions: "Since this is something that County Mayor Zhang personally arranged and decided, do we still need to continue discussing it? I might as well call Lin Haisheng right now and tell him that the project is cancelled, so that everyone can go back to their own homes, find their own mothers, and go to bed."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaodong slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Guan Hongjun, stop acting so arrogantly in front of me! If you don't have any substantive suggestions or solutions, get out of here now!"
When I heard this, I got so angry that I stiffened my neck, picked up my briefcase, and walked out in big strides. As I walked, I said, "I am too lazy to talk about my suggestions and plans. We can't discuss in this atmosphere."
Wang Yanshu saw this and immediately stepped forward and grabbed my arm, while pulling and admonishing: "Calm down, both of you, and talk it over nicely. Don't be so angry."
In fact, I was afraid that things would become too awkward and difficult to resolve, so I stopped walking. But I refused to go back to my seat no matter what, and just stood there with an unhappy look on my face.
Zhang Xiaodong also seemed to calm down, but his tone still carried a hint of arrogance and stubbornness, and he said stiffly: "Sit down and see what else you can do."
I saw that things were going well, so I pretended to be reluctant and sat down, but there was still a hint of dissatisfaction in my eyes. Wang Yanshu saw this and asked anxiously, "Hongjun, what good solution do you have? Tell me quickly, it's really frustrating."
I gave her a look, indicating that she should let the leader speak first, after all, the rules still require the leader to speak first. She nodded in understanding, then turned to Zhang Xiaodong and said, "County Governor, this document came down in July, why didn't we hear anything about it beforehand?"
Zhang Xiaodong sighed, his face somewhat gloomy: "County Mayor Liu, who is in charge of land resources and national planning, did remind me that this document was issued in public. But based on my experience, I think that it will take at least a year or two for the county level to thoroughly understand the spirit of the document and implement it step by step, from the government to the province and then to the city. If it was foreseen that the implementation would be so fast, it should have been done before the policy shoe fell."
Having said that, he slammed his fist on the table in regret, looking a little frustrated.
Wang Yanshu saw this and quickly tried to comfort them: "Nowadays, there are indeed many people who take advantage of the government's land transfer to engage in corruption such as rent-seeking. The government departments have introduced policies to combat this unhealthy trend. Now that it has happened, it is useless to blame yourself. The key is to learn lessons from it."
Zhang Xiaodong agreed deeply. He nodded and said, "That's true. In the future, we can't just work hard, but also learn to look up and see the road ahead. In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, I think it is necessary to adjust the Policy Research Office, separate it from the government office, and increase the responsibility of interpreting and analyzing high-level documents. In this way, we can capture policy trends more sensitively and ensure that our work is not deviated."
I also stood up, walked to Zhang Xiaodong and said, "County Mayor Zhang, I have thought about this matter over and over again on the way here, and I have some unfamiliar ideas..."
He looked at me with urgency and encouragement and said, "Go on."
I said, "We promised in black and white that we would provide Xiaocheng Steel with the materials for free for the construction of the logistics park. Now we are stuck with the policy. I think we have to play tricks to solve the problem."