Director Sun is right. In China, if you want to get more policy support from the government, you must follow the mainstream development direction. You should follow the government's instructions. Would the motherland not like an obedient and filial child?
No way!
So, after returning from the trade fair, Jiang Xiaoman didn't even have time to hold a celebration banquet. She grabbed the data and went straight to the town to find the top leader.
He suddenly realized that his previous assessment of the prospects of the local specialty product business was too conservative.
At this trade fair, not only did many import and export companies place orders, but a large portion of them were actually tourism development companies from various regions!
What does this tell us?
This shows that many places that don't have any well-known local specialties, or whose local specialties are not easy to produce on a large scale, will purchase local specialties in bulk from other places and then sell them in their own tourist areas.
Take, for example, the Yiwu Small Commodities Wholesale Market, which supports half of the domestic tourist shops... *cough*
That's the principle, and he only suddenly realized it after attending this trade fair.
Therefore, they can be bolder and have a longer-term vision. Since their local specialties are so popular, why not expand the industrial park's area even further?
After all, the county's special approval for their township to establish an industrial park was really more a matter of luck than ability. It was only because he won a national award in the capital that the county leaders acted impulsively.
But they can't use the county leader as a fool just because he acted impulsively this once, naively assuming he'll continue to act impulsively indefinitely.
“Secretary Party, this is a rare opportunity. If we miss it, we don’t know when we will have such a good opportunity again in Langshan.”
Why are so many people who have left the mountains unwilling to return to their hometowns to start businesses, even if they have become very wealthy and successful elsewhere?
Some industries are not suitable for rural areas. On the one hand, the most important thing is that, unless one is like Jiang Xiaoman, who, by chance, obtained land at a low price and low-interest start-up loans with the help of village elders and Sun Zheyuan, most people who return to their hometowns to start businesses will at best lose all their capital and end up failing miserably.
Those who are unlucky might try their best to turn their losses into profits, but instead they end up taking out a bank loan, only to lose all their capital and potentially incur a large debt to the bank...
In conclusion, while the idea of young people returning to their hometowns to start businesses and revitalize rural areas sounds inspiring, very few actually succeed.
People like Jiang Xiaoman and Shan Yan, who started from scratch without any background, have managed to achieve their current scale. Even Jiang Xiaoman sometimes finds it amazing. He doesn't consider himself a particularly capable person, nor is he particularly smart. If he were truly smart, he wouldn't have only been able to get into a teacher's college after the college entrance examination.
He felt that luck played a large part in his success.
However, one cannot rely solely on fleeting luck forever.
So, he wanted to seize the opportunity before his luck abandoned him and grab all the benefits he could.
Who knows when this luck will suddenly disappear?
Whether in the countryside or the city, getting approval for such a large plot of land to build a factory is not always just a matter of having money—what if the Party Secretary and Director Sun are transferred in a couple of years, and the new leaders are no longer willing to support them?
Of course, he couldn't say such things to Dang Yimin. If he did, it would make it seem as if his kindness to the town leaders was just to get benefits from them.
Jiang Xiaoman would send gifts to the town government under the guise of "condolences" during holidays. Was it really just to curry favor with the leaders?
No.
People are all made of flesh and blood. The leaders and cadres of Langshan Town are genuinely trying to lead the villagers out of poverty and towards a better life. So, whenever Jiang Xiaoman encounters any difficulties, he doesn't even need to ask for help; Director Sun will rush to the town to find a leader to help him.
If someone is nice to him, does that mean he can't be nice to them back?
Of course, valuable items cannot be given as gifts, nor can they harm the recipients. He knows that there are many taboos within the system in this regard, but during holidays, it is not taboo for local caring enterprises to bring some gifts to the grassroots level to express their condolences and provide food and drinks to the cadres who are still on duty during the holidays.
After more than two years of getting along, Jiang Xiaoman, who is now incredibly thick-skinned, has come to regard Party Secretary and Mayor Kong as uncles like Jiang Baichuan.
What's wrong with a nephew asking his uncle for a favor?
Taking advantage of the county's positive outlook on their project, and Jiang Xiaoman's team's recent successful return from an international trade fair, they could use these solid orders to negotiate for more land from the county!
If Jiang Xiaoman misses this opportunity, she'll probably regret it so much that she'll want to pound her bed in the middle of the night for the next few decades.
"Tell me, which piece of land do you want? Under what pretext do you want the approval?" Dang Yimin made an internal call and asked the office to postpone his next meeting by an hour.
The study session can be held anytime.
This closed-door meeting, which is crucial to the future industrial development of Langshan Town, could have missed a golden opportunity if it had been delayed even by a minute.
"Hehe~ Party Secretary, this is what I'm thinking." Jiang Xiaoman picked up her teacup, moistened her slightly dry lips, and slowly explained her plan.
After returning to the village, he went to see the piece of land that the county planned to allocate to them.
To be honest, that piece of land is really good. It's close to the highway, making transportation convenient, and it's not far from the water source. Although it's a long and narrow plot, it's flat, which means that the cost of reinforcement and alteration later will be less, greatly saving them the cost of building factories and supporting dormitories.
But it's still a bit too small.
Jiang Xiaoman's plan is to try to get approval for the larger piece of wasteland on the other side of the river as well, but leave it for the time being as reserve land for the second phase of the industrial park.
In this way, when the industrial park's production capacity can't keep up in a few years, they can directly build factories on the second phase. By then, even if Party Secretary and Director Sun are transferred, the next leader will have no choice but to watch helplessly if he wants to object.
After all, the land has already been approved, and it was approved by the county. As long as Jiang Xiaoman doesn't mess around with this land and actually builds the second phase of the industrial park on it, even if the case goes to court, he will be in the right!
"You know, I always said you're the kind of guy who won't suffer a loss. Xiao Sun was worried that you were too honest and that you'd suffer when he wasn't around. But I think even if he suffers a loss, you won't!" Dang Yimin was truly impressed by Jiang Xiaoman.
He thought of his son, who was about the same age as Jiang Xiaoman, but did not go into politics. Instead, he got a job at a decent large factory and kept clamoring to replace the post-80s generation of leaders.
Alas! Ideals are lofty, but reality is harsh.
For someone to climb to the senior management level, they either have real skills, a strong background, or they can win the favor of the big boss. At the very least, they might be the big boss's difficult brother-in-law... In short, there must be a reason that cannot be easily dismissed.
One is a veteran and a seasoned expert in the company, and the other is a bunch of newbies who can be recruited at the job market with a monthly salary of a few thousand yuan. Why would you go and harass the leader?
If they really want to hold a grudge against you, they don't even need to show their faces. They can just talk to the HR department and have you pack your bags and get out of here tomorrow!
The only reason I'm not going to hold it against you is because you yourself have connections and backing.
For example, there was a joke circulating online about a girl who got fired by her boss and then immediately raised the rent for him—because that office building belonged to her family.
If the boss knew he was renting an office space from an employee's family, would he still dare to fire the "princess" (his daughter)?
Thinking of his troublesome son at home, and looking at Jiang Xiaoman who seemed to think ten steps ahead for every one step he took, Dang Yimin couldn't help but want to hit the child again...
However, Jiang Xiaoman's concerns were not unfounded. Sun Zheyuan's achievements in Langshan were remarkable, and he had also discovered Jiang Xiaoman as a leader in rural revitalization. The county leaders appreciated him and had already spoken with him privately. After the New Year, there might be other arrangements for Sun Zheyuan.
Perhaps he'll be transferred to another township, given two years of experience in leading a team, and his next step might be becoming the second-in-command of the township.
Grassroots cadres serve five-year terms, and some who perform exceptionally well are promoted on the spot. Jiang Xiaoman's consideration is correct; some things should indeed be done for him while these people are still around.
After all, he's eaten so much self-heating rice, instant noodles, pickled vegetables, and ham sausage that Jiang Xiaoman sent over, as well as mooncakes, zongzi, and salted duck eggs for holidays. We can't just ignore this kid.
"Here's what you'll do," Dang Yimin secretly advised Jiang Xiaoman. "Go find Director Sun and ask him to speak privately to the county party committee office. Tell them that the application materials you submitted earlier were written incorrectly, and you're afraid of being scolded by the leaders. Ask him to take them back, discuss how to revise them, and then bring them back for me to review. If there are no problems, I'll re-sign them for you."
The county leaders have already come once. If you go to them now and say, "I regret it. I think the land originally approved is too small and I want to change to a bigger one," how would you feel if you were the leader?
Those who initially admired Jiang Xiaoman have probably now turned to loathing her.
Who would like a greedy and fickle person?
Unfortunately, we have no choice but to ask Comrade Sun Zheyuan to take the blame.
Who told him to run to Jiang Xiaoman's house every few days? He's eaten countless hams, free-range chickens, and salted eggs from the Jiang family, and his office always has a constant supply of Langshan specialty tea cakes all year round.
Xiaoman feeds him and lets him drink, so what's wrong with letting him take the blame once?
Dang Yimin was a man of action. Once he decided to make his subordinate take the blame, he immediately called Sun Zheyuan, the scapegoat, to his office.
Sun Zheyuan: "..."
You two! Couldn't you be a little more tactful when you're plotting to get someone to take the blame? Don't scheme in front of me, the person directly involved!
However, you can't ignore what your leader says.
Moreover, he had indeed eaten and drunk for free at the Jiang family's house many times. Not only the food, but also the monkey wine brewed by Uncle Jiang Youliang himself, he had drunk many times. He had even brought some to Old Man Du's house twice. Since everyone was so familiar with each other, he had to help out no matter what.
Sun Zheyuan's materials were exceptionally well-written, rarely requiring revisions. When an acquaintance in the county party committee office received his call, he was taken aback. But when Sun Zheyuan said with a disgruntled expression that he had made a mistake in an important piece of data in the approval materials he submitted to his superiors, the person on the other end of the phone almost burst out laughing.
"Old Sun, you've finally met your match, hahaha~"
Jokes aside, such a serious mistake could not be made with the materials given to the top leader, so the county party committee office immediately and secretly destroyed the original documents that Sun Zheyuan had previously sent.
Materials like these, delivered to the office but not yet handed to the leader's desk, are generally not discovered by the leader as long as the county party committee office doesn't investigate. The original can be destroyed, and it can be assumed that Sun Zheyuan never delivered the materials.
That means he and the person in the county party committee office were classmates at the party school; otherwise, they wouldn't have been so easy to talk to.
Sun Zheyuan and Jiang Xiaoman stayed up all night to revise the recovered application materials and finally handed them over to Dang Yimin. After checking them, Dang Yimin saw that there were no problems and readily signed them.
Anyway, those wastelands on the other side of the river are just sitting idle. Instead of letting them grow weeds, it would be better to allocate them to Jiang Xiaoman to build a factory.
At the very least, once a factory is built, it can create at least twenty jobs.
This means that in the future, more than 20 young people from Langshan will be able to find jobs in their hometown, and the children of these 20-plus families will no longer be left-behind children.
Compared to all this, what's wrong with letting Comrade Sun Zheyuan take the blame for a small mistake?
Dang Yimin wasn't trying to sabotage Sun Zheyuan; on the contrary, he was using his own methods to help Sun Zheyuan build good relationships with his future colleagues in advance.
What is a brother? A true brother is someone you've fought with and been scolded with.
If you never make any mistakes, wouldn't that mean you're out of touch with the masses?
Who wants to play with their control group?
If Sun Zheyuan wants to get along well with his future colleagues, he can't be a perfect, flawless top student.
Today you take the blame for me, tomorrow I'll take the fall for you, and we'll get yelled at by the boss together a few times—that's what it means to be comrades-in-arms, bound by life and death in the same trench!
Chapter 256
After the new approval report was submitted, it was discovered that it was different from what had been said at the beginning. Sure enough, the county leaders had someone call Dang Yimin.
Dang Yimin, being a good person to the end, specially took Jiang Xiaoman along to the county to flatter the leaders in person.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at the county government, before they even met the top leaders, they were stopped by the deputy county head in charge of culture and tourism.
"Jiang Xiaoman?! I was just about to have someone call you. Oh dear! Come to my office and tell me about your success at the D Province trade fair!"
Dang Yimin and Jiang Xiaoman were completely bewildered when they were taken to the deputy county head's office halfway through the journey.
After they sat down, Deputy County Head Qin Lijun didn't leave them wondering for long. He immediately had his office bring over the newly delivered good news report.
"The most popular booth at the **th China International Fair for Cultural Tourism and Agricultural Specialty Products? This is it?" Dang Yimin was both surprised and delighted as he looked at the congratulatory message.
"That's right, the exhibiting company led by Comrade Jiang Xiaoman won the most popular booth voted by netizens. This was chosen by the public, one vote at a time, hahaha~" Qin Lijun laughed very happily.
However, after receiving the total number of orders and total transaction amount compiled by Jiang Xiaoman, his smile faded...
"What a pity! What a pity! Xiaoman, next time you encounter something like this, don't try to handle it all by yourself. If you need help from the relevant department, just come to them, or you can come to me!"
"What a pity! If we had known about this beforehand and asked the provincial government for a larger booth, the transaction volume might have increased even more."
Jiang Xiaoman was always the type to seize any opportunity that came his way; if there wasn't one, he'd create it himself. Hearing that the deputy county head was going to offer to help them, he quickly put down his teacup, rubbed his hands together, and gave an embarrassed smile.