At the agreed time, Zhao Qinglan, dressed neatly, appeared at the government building entrance.
Before coming, she had thought about what she should wear, but after some consideration, she decided to choose a safe and appropriate outfit.
After registering at the main entrance, she was quickly led to Secretary Cheng's office after going inside and explaining her purpose.
"Comrade Zhao, the secretary is inside talking to someone. Please wait outside for a moment," Secretary Cheng's secretary said politely.
"No trouble, no trouble."
Zhao Qinglan sat down outside, and soon her secretary poured her a teacup of water and brought it over.
About ten minutes later, a person carrying a folder came out of the office, and Zhao Qinglan was finally led inside by the secretary.
"Hello, Comrade Zhao." Mr. Cheng stood up and shook hands with her warmly.
"Hello, Secretary Cheng."
"Hurry and sit down."
Zhao Qinglan sat down with a smile.
"I suppose Comrade Zhao was quite puzzled by my invitation to meet him?" Cheng's father said with a smile.
"Indeed, there are some," Zhao Qinglan replied truthfully.
"Well, I learned some things about you from Cheng Tao. Out of curiosity, I did some research and the results surprised me greatly."
Zhao Qinglan just smiled and didn't say anything, because she didn't know Cheng's father's purpose.
"Comrade Zhao seems to have a lot of ideas about doing business." Mr. Cheng finally asked the first valuable question.
"I don't deserve such praise, it's just some small-scale activity," she said modestly.
It's not that she's being overly modest. Perhaps her snack shop and military-civilian integration seem impressive these days, but she knows her own limitations. She's just benefiting from her past life's advantages, and she doesn't really think she's done that well.
"Comrade Zhao's little antics are giving a lot of state-run restaurants a headache," Cheng's father joked.
Hearing this, Zhao Qinglan became a little nervous. Was this a prelude to interrogation? Could it be that the superior unit of the state-owned restaurant had filed a complaint against her?
She was a little nervous, but not to the point of panic. After all, the military-civilian cooperation was under the military's name, so she had some confidence.
Her slight nervousness did not escape her father's notice.
"Comrade Zhao, don't be nervous. I've called you here for something else."
"Secretary Cheng, please go ahead."
"If I were to hand over a state-run restaurant to you, Comrade Zhao, could you manage it well?"
Zhao Qinglan raised an eyebrow. "Secretary Cheng, what do you mean by this?"
"The spring breeze of reform has begun to blow, but many of our comrades are still immersed in the past and cannot see the crisis. I am very worried about this."
Zhao Qinglan was genuinely surprised this time.
Unexpectedly, this Secretary Cheng is quite open-minded, no, I should say he is very farsighted.
Although the reform and opening up policy has been proposed for several years, apart from a few large cities and special areas like Shenzhen, there has been little actual change in other places.
Everyone sticks to the old ways, avoiding change if possible, seeking to avoid mistakes rather than make contributions.
But she gleaned a lot from Secretary Cheng's words.
"Comrade Zhao, there are no changes in other units in the region, but there are some changes in several state-run restaurants. I want you to be the one to stir things up and make them more vibrant."
Although she understood, Zhao Qinglan only thought for a moment before decisively saying, "Secretary Cheng, I'm sorry, I just want to keep the current shop running and I don't have the energy to do anything else."
She knew that Cheng's father's idea was good. Because of her military-civilian cooperation, several state-owned restaurants in the area had strong competitors early on, which led to some crises.
In reality, in a few years, state-owned restaurants of all sizes across the country, and even other public institutions and large state-owned factories, will gradually face various competitive crises.
This is an inevitable trend, and also a process of market selection and elimination.
Cheng's father may have seen some things, but he couldn't see the whole picture like she, a prophet.
This situation is not something she can break by simply creating a "breath of fresh water," nor does she have that much ability.
She might be able to manage a state-run restaurant well, but that wouldn't make much of a difference.
Mr. Cheng was somewhat disappointed after being rejected.
"Comrade Zhao, I can give you a lot of management authority so you can do things freely."
"Secretary Cheng, it's not that issue, but rather that I didn't have that idea. I'm truly sorry."
Cheng's father's starting point was good, but after entering the system, there are some things he may not be able to fully control. Many things within the system are still very complicated.
If she enters the game, she will squeeze out some people and take away some people's interests. She has no idea what she will encounter.
She just wanted to keep her business and make money peacefully, and didn't want to think about such complicated things, which might not be worth the loss.
Seeing that she truly had no room for negotiation, Mr. Cheng could only say regretfully, "Comrade Zhao, you can think about it when you get back. You can come to me anytime once you've made up your mind."
This time, Zhao Qinglan didn't reply too harshly. "Okay, thank you for disturbing Secretary Cheng."
After having his secretary see Zhao Qinglan off, Mr. Cheng leaned against the wall and sighed.
He investigated some of the things Zhao Qinglan had done, and saw that she had affiliated her shop with the military, provided jobs for military spouses, and donated profits to the military. He thought she was someone who wanted to do some "good deeds" and "big things".
Because he also learned that Zhao Qinglan originally wanted to be affiliated with a government unit.
He thought that if he directly asked her to have some autonomy and let her manage a state-owned restaurant, she would definitely not refuse. However, her reaction was completely different from what he had expected.
Zhao Qinglan wasn't lacking in ambition; she simply knew she couldn't change the inevitable decline of the state-run restaurant.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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