At noon, Lu Yiwei, Song Yong, and Gao Dakuan were still discussing the immigration project enthusiastically. They had initially agreed on the name of the community as "Dragon Bay Xinju". "Dragon" was the totem of the royal family in ancient times, which meant that it was a dragon that nourished the common people and was abundant in rain and dew. "Wan" was taken from "Shiwan Village". It was a very common word, but in the poet's writing, it was given more poetic and picturesque meaning, adding a cultural connotation and spiritual origin. The intention was to continue the historical context and customs of Shiwan Village. As for "Xin Ju", it was naturally easy to understand. They hoped to build this place into a modern rural community with both cultural connotations and a high standard of living that was suitable for living, business, and prosperity.
The key to the development of a place was its positioning. If the positioning was not correct, it would be like losing its soul. No matter how beautiful the construction was, the taste would not improve. A project of more than a thousand people could only build a few houses without supporting infrastructure and perfect public service facilities. It would be better for the villages to build their own. Lu Yiwei had a bold idea. He wanted to plan to build a school, a hospital, and a shopping and entertainment center in the community to make it convenient for the people to go to school, get treated, shop, and have fun. In this way, the people would fight to move here even if they did not have to do any ideological work.
Ideas were ideas. After all, the construction of these projects required a large amount of funds, and the approval of the city and county was needed. But Su Qiming had expanded the resettlement plan of a few dozen households to a plan of a thousand people. Would he agree? Even if he agreed, it would probably pressure the county government. He was sure that Yang Derong would never agree to it.
Liu Dongguang's calls came one after another, and the discussion only ended at one o'clock in the afternoon. Lu Yiwei stretched and looked at the vibrating phone on the table. He smiled and asked Song Yong, "Guess what Liu Dongguang wants to do by treating us?"
Song Yong said without thinking, "He opened a stone factory, so it must be related to the project."
Lu Yiwei nodded and said, "That is part of the reason, but I think his intention today is not wine, but something else."
"Huh?" Song Yong was puzzled.
"Let's go, we'll know when we get there!" As he spoke, Lu Yiwei picked up his jacket and put it on. Just as he was about to walk out, Yao Na walked in with her high heels clattering.
"Yo! Mr. Lu, now that you've been promoted, you've become more arrogant. It's really difficult for me to treat you to a meal. "Yao Na said half-jokingly.
Lu Yiwei wasn't in the mood to joke with her. He asked, "How long will it take? Why didn't you come to find me? "
Yao Na had a good relationship with Lu Yiwei, so she smiled. "I came in the morning. Old Liu insisted that I come over, fearing that you wouldn't give him face. I thought about it. You've been treating me to a meal ever since you took office, so I rushed over. Haha. "
"It's no big deal. I'll treat you and your wife tonight when we get back to the county!" With that, he walked out of the office.
Shiwan Restaurant was located at the entrance of the village. It was remodeled from the second floor of a courtyard house. In the past, this place was always crowded with people, but after Lu Yiwei came, the business suddenly became a lot quieter. It wasn't that Lu Yiwei stopped the officials from coming, but he had arranged for guests to eat in the canteen. Since the county's leader was like this, how would the people dare to act recklessly? Naturally, they would follow the leader's footsteps.
"Mr. Lu, you're finally here. Please come upstairs." Liu Dongguang tried his best to please Lu Yiwei before he turned around to greet Song Yong and Gao Dakuan. Seeing that all the important leaders of Shiwan Village had arrived, Liu Dongguang was elated. His wife, Yao Na, was truly influential. There was once a rumor that Lu Yiwei and Yao Na had a messy relationship, and someone had mentioned it to him. However, Liu Dongguang did not take it seriously, as he firmly believed that Lu Yiwei wasn't that kind of person. But with Lu Yiwei's current status, he did hope that Yao Na really had something going on with him.
On the second floor, Lu Yiwei lifted the curtain and saw three or four unfamiliar faces sitting in the room. When they saw Lu Yiwei, they immediately stood up and bowed to greet him, then enthusiastically invited him to the VIP seats. Although Lu Yiwei didn't recognize the people in front of him, he could roughly guess who they were.
At this moment, the deputy village head, Fu Jiangsheng, ran up, panting. He entered the room and cupped his fists. "I'm really sorry to have kept you waiting."
Lu Yiwei took off his coat, and a man beside him took the coat and carefully hung it on the wall, grinning like a fool.
Fu Jiangsheng had been in Shiwan Village for more than ten years, so he knew everyone there. He took the initiative to introduce them enthusiastically. "Mr. Lu, this is the owner of this restaurant, Wang Erzhu."
"Mr. Lu, nice to meet you!" Before Wang Erzhu's butt could touch the chair, he quickly stood up and extended both hands to shake hands. Lu Yiwei didn't extend his hand, but nodded slightly.
Wang Erzhu felt Lu Yiwei's unfriendliness, so he sat down awkwardly.
"Mr. Lu, this is Zhou Feng, the deputy village committee director of Dongfeng Village."
Zhou Feng was about to stand up, but Lu Yiwei pressed his hand down and said, "Don't stand up, just sit down and talk."
"This is Li Hu from Shiwan Village."
Li Hu stood up and said with a silly smile, "Mr. Lu, we've met before. Speaking of which, we're relatives."
"Hmm?" Lu Yiwei was interested and said, "I don't remember having any relatives in Shiwan Village. May I ask which relative you are?"
Li Hu said, "Your aunt's aunt is my second aunt."
Lu Yiwei was confused, but Li Hu was obviously trying to get close to him. Lu Yiwei didn't say anything, but took Wang Erzhu's cigarette and started smoking. Seeing how they kept exchanging glances, he had a hunch that today's meal wouldn't be simple.
After a while, the dishes were served. Lu Yiwei glanced at them. Most of them were home-cooked dishes, so he deliberately smiled and said, "Boss Wang, I heard you have Chinese Sturgeon here?"
"Ah … uh …" Wang Erzhu was a little confused, and hurriedly turned to Fu Jiangsheng for help. Fu Jiangsheng lowered his head and fiddled with the tableware, avoiding the question. Wang Erzhu couldn't understand Lu Yiwei's meaning, so he laughed and said, "Mr. Lu, although I'm a farmer, I know the law. I know that the Chinese Sturgeon is a national-level protected animal. In a small place like ours, I wouldn't dare to do anything illegal."
"Oh." Lu Yiwei said, "Actually, the Chinese Sturgeon isn't something new. It's already been farmed. As long as it's not wild, it's fine."
"Oh?" Wang Erzhu thought that Lu Yiwei had a taste for this, so he suddenly became interested and went up to him. "Mr. Lu, as long as you like it, let alone the Chinese Sturgeon, I can even get you pandas and alligators."
If it were any other leader, they would definitely be overjoyed, but it didn't apply to Lu Yiwei. Lu Yiwei snorted and said, "So, Boss Wang, do you eat it often?"
"No, no, no. I've eaten that thing before, but I've never seen it before!"
Seeing that Wang Erzhu didn't take the bait, Lu Yiwei said, "Boss Wang, I've never eaten panda meat before. Why don't you get some for me?"
"This …" Wang Erzhu didn't expect that Lu Yiwei would actually pick on his words to be a compliment. His face turned red, and his eyes kept asking for help from others.
"Alright!" Yao Na resolved in time. "Mr. Lu, hurry up and eat. It's getting cold."
"Yes, eat, eat …" Liu Dongguang also echoed.
There was no feast without wine, so naturally, wine was indispensable. Under Yao Na's suggestion, Wang Erzhu didn't serve Maotai, but switched to the 20-year-old Xijiang Hong that Lu Yiwei liked. Liu Dongguang took the lead to propose a toast. He raised his glass and said, "Mr. Lu, let me toast you first."
"We're all brothers, don't be so polite. Sit down and drink!" Lu Yiwei gave Liu Dongguang face. He raised his glass and took the initiative to clink glasses. "How's business recently?"
Liu Dongguang drank it down and said, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Lu. I'm earning some hard-earned money in your jurisdiction now, and I hope you'll take care of me in the future. Today, I wanted to invite you alone, but these are all my good brothers, and they all want to borrow your light and bask in your happiness. "
Lu Yiwei had a scholarly demeanor and said humbly, "I'm new here, and I'm not familiar with the people and the place. I should say that everyone here has taken care of me. If I've done anything wrong, please forgive me and give me some pointers. "
Lu Yiwei's attitude flattered everyone, especially Wang Erzhu, who said, "Mr. Lu, you're too polite. You're a county leader and the Party Committee Secretary. Shiwan Village has long been looking forward to having a leader with brains and courage like you. Now, you've helped Shiwan Village secure such a huge project for the benefit of the people. The people of Shiwan Village will definitely support you."
The more Lu Yiwei looked at Wang Erzhu, the more familiar he looked. He suddenly asked, "I heard that you and Qin Erbao are sworn brothers?"
Wang Erzhu was stunned again, and said righteously, "No, absolutely not! Who is Qin Erbao? How could I become sworn brothers with him? That bastard has made Shiwan Village suffer for the past two years. Even if the higher-ups don't arrest him, the people of Shiwan Village won't let him off. "
"Oh." Lu Yiwei continued to make things difficult for him. "Then what do you think about private mining?"
Wang Erzhu was a private miner, and he was already unhappy with Lu Yiwei's aggressive questioning. If it were not for Liu Dongguang, he would have flipped the table. He forced a smile and said, "It's definitely illegal to dig without permission. But as the old saying goes, one depends on the mountain, and one depends on the river. Shiwan Village only has this bit of value. If the people don't do it, how can they survive? "
"Oh, so you're saying that you support it?"
"I didn't say that." Wang Erzhu hurriedly said, "What I meant was, as long as the village can solve the problem of survival for the people, why would they need to take the risk and do such illegal things out of desperation?"
Song Yong interrupted and said, "According to you, in a place like Guiyu Village, which has no resources, the people should starve to death?"
Song Yong's words made Wang Erzhu's expression change. He did not like the tone in which Song Yong spoke, so he sneered and said, "Mr. Song, you might not have worked at the grassroots level before. The people are our God, and our ancestors have relied on the Heavens to make a living. But what era are we in now? It's a market economy, so you can't look at things from an old-fashioned perspective. Whether or not the people live a good life depends on how your parents and officials lead them to become rich."
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