"What...what did you say?!"
Upon hearing Hu Yuan's words, Ma Guoqing's eyes widened in surprise.
"Pay for it yourself? You're not kidding, are you?" Ma Guoqing looked at Hu Yuan in shock.
"Of course not, this is Wang Shengli, the village chief of Laoliuzhuang. We're here for this tap water renovation project!"
Upon hearing Hu Yuan mention him, Wang Shengli laughed heartily, "That's right, that's exactly it. We plan to complete this tap water project ourselves, but we need to invite some experts to take a look, so we'll have to ask for your support, leader."
“Support is no problem at all, but the question is, do you know how much it costs to upgrade the tap water system in a village?”
Ma Guoqing still refused to believe it was true, and asked with a doubtful look.
“We’ve already done a rough estimate, and it should cost around 200,000 yuan. There are 700 households in Laoliuzhuang, so 300 yuan per household should be about right!” Hu Yuan replied with a smile.
"Three hundred yuan per household?"
In an era when the average annual income of rural families was less than 200 yuan, asking each household to contribute 300 yuan at once was simply outrageous.
"Young man, are you sure you're not joking? Three hundred yuan per household? Can all the villagers in your village afford that?"
Ma Guoqing looked curious, his mind filled with questions.
At this moment, Wang Shengli spoke up, "It really wasn't possible before. Let alone three hundred, even one hundred was a struggle. But now it's much better. With my nephew-in-law leading our village to make money, there's definitely no problem!"
"oh?"
Upon hearing Wang Shengli's words, Ma Guoqing immediately became interested.
He then asked Hu Yuan, "Young comrade, are you a village committee member from Laoliuzhuang? I wonder how you managed to help the people in your village make money? Could you tell me about it?"
On this issue, Wang Shengli once again spoke before Hu Yuan.
"No, no. Sir, you have no idea what my nephew-in-law is like—he's a really good man!"
“He’s from Jiangkou County and is also my cousin’s son-in-law. He started helping us make money because he saw how poor our village was.”
"A person from Jiangkou County? Young comrade, you are truly remarkable. A person from Jiangkou County actually came all the way to Jiangyin to help us get rich. Your spirit alone is worthy of my admiration! I just don't know what you're showing everyone around? Is it for aquaculture?"
"No, no, no, boss, he doesn't raise livestock, he sells laundry detergent!" Wang Shengli said proudly.
"Selling laundry detergent?" Ma Guoqing was taken aback by Wang Shengli's words.
The sentences were completely unrelated, leaving Ma Guoqing utterly confused.
Seeing Ma Guoqing's confusion, Hu Yuan stepped forward to explain: "It's like this, Director Ma. I work in the cleaning and cosmetics industry, and because we lack sales staff, we hired a hundred people from Laoliuzhuang to run sales."
"Hiring a hundred people to do sales? I didn't realize that, young man. You've built a pretty big operation!" Ma Guoqing nodded and said with great emotion.
"It's alright, it's alright, just trying to make a living."
Hu Yuan smiled awkwardly, after all, he couldn't explain to the other party that he had only just put together a makeshift team.
"Young comrade, what's your surname? You have such great courage to help a village upgrade its water supply system, you're truly remarkable!" Ma Guoqing exclaimed.
Hu Yuan waved his hands repeatedly, "I don't deserve your praise. I was just doing what I could. My name is Hu Yuan, you can just call me Xiao Hu."
"Oh right, I forgot to introduce you. This is my third uncle, Wang Shengli, who is also the village chief of Laoliuzhuang."
As soon as Hu Yuan finished his introduction, Wang Shengli immediately grasped Ma Guoqing's hand and shook it vigorously, saying, "Hello, leader, I'm so sorry to trouble you so much!"
Looking at Wang Shengli's appearance, Hu Yuan found it quite amusing.
This old man doesn't just treat him like this; it seems he treats everyone the same way!
Ma Guoqing was a little embarrassed when Wang Shengli shook him, but he didn't pull his hand away immediately.
"Comrade Xiao Hu, your idea is excellent! Relying on our own efforts, getting rich first and then helping others get rich, and helping our farmers solve their major water problem – you're doing a great job!"
Without wasting words, Ma Guoqing directly praised Hu Yuan.
Hu Yuan smiled and said repeatedly, "I really don't deserve your praise. I only did a small thing. The biggest problem still needs to be solved by you, leader. What do you think about the expert investigation?"
"No problem! No problem! This is a good thing, I strongly support it! Don't worry, I'll send experts over there right away."
Then Ma Guoqing said to Wang Shengli, "Comrade Wang, please leave me your village committee's contact information. I will send someone to contact you later!"
"Yes, boss, no problem!"
Seeing that the other party was so straightforward, Wang Shengli was also very happy and immediately left his contact information with Ma Guoqing.
After thanking them repeatedly, Hu Yuan and Wang Shengli got up to take their leave.
After shaking hands with the two men, Ma Guoqing saw them out of the office.
"Raising their own money to upgrade the water supply system, that's amazing!"
Back in his office, Ma Guoqing muttered something to himself.
He then picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and made the call directly.
"Hello, County Chief Chen, this is Lao Ma from the Water Resources Bureau!"
"Yes, yes, I have something to report to you..."
"The village chief of Laoliuzhuang Village in Hekou Town of our county and a young man named Hu Yuan just came to my place. They're here about the tap water system renovation..."
"No, no, no, they're not asking for financial support; they want to raise the money themselves for the renovations!"
"Yes! That's right, they raised the money themselves!"
"It's that young man named Hu Yuan. He led more than a hundred people in Laoliuzhuang to make money and get rich, and then he asked to renovate the water supply project in Laoliuzhuang..."
"They came to the Water Resources Bureau to request that an expert be sent down to conduct an on-site survey and provide them with a water supply project planning and design drawing."
"Yes, yes, I'm planning to send one over there right now..."
"What? You also want to go and see it in person?"
"No problem! I'd love to go with you. I'd also like to see how they got rich and what their project of raising money to renovate the water supply system is all about!"
"Okay, okay, I'll wait for your message..."
Hu Yuan had no idea that his trip to the Water Resources Bureau with Wang Shengli had reached the ears of the county magistrate in charge.
What he didn't know was that the other party had already decided to go to Laoliuzhuang to investigate and see if the matter was true or false.
However, Hu Yuan had no time to pay attention to these things at the moment, because he was preparing to welcome the return of those one hundred people.
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