Marry a female star at a bargain price

Chapters 298 and 299: Go all out, as long as you don't kill them.

In many places, it has become the norm for wages not to be paid.

Especially in some underdeveloped areas, where finances are tight and industries are sluggish, the central government is spending more than it earns, so the local governments naturally have to tighten their belts to make ends meet.

No matter how tightly the belt is tightened, you'll still be hungry.

After all, open source and cost-cutting are completely different concepts.

Mashan County was only removed from the list of impoverished counties two years ago, but in terms of economic data, it has consistently ranked at the bottom among all counties and cities under the jurisdiction of Yizhou City.

Given these economic conditions, it's perfectly normal to not have enough to eat.

Therefore.

Lin Xiao openly stated in the conference room that he would pay everyone's owed wages within two months, which shocked everyone in the room.

With the unpaid wages held back, plus various performance bonuses and subsidies, the average person still earns around 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

Although the amount of money is not much.

But for township officials whose income is already low, this is a huge sum of money—even if it is money they are entitled to!

The cadres instantly perked up, their eyes gleaming like hungry wolves that hadn't eaten for months.

No one dared to speak for a moment.

Finally, Deputy Mayor Dong Jianhui spoke up: "Mayor... what you just said is all true?"

Lin Xiao squinted, his red lips and white teeth flashing a smile like a shrewd businessman: "How could this be fake? In front of all the town's officials, would I dare say this if I wasn't absolutely certain? If I really said it but couldn't do it, wouldn't that be a slap in my own face?"

Hearing his assurance, the last trace of unease in everyone's hearts finally dissipated.

Lin Xiao could even sense that everyone in the room took a deep breath at the same time, causing the carbon dioxide concentration to rise significantly.

"If this is really true, cough cough... then on behalf of all the cadres in the town, thank you... cough cough, thank you, Mayor!" Dong Jianhui's voice trembled with emotion.

The dozen or so cadres all had burning eyes as they looked at Lin Xiao, each of them appearing ready to offer themselves to him.

Lin Xiao shrank his neck: That won't do!
Ge Tao, unusually, didn't exhale any smoke and laughed, "Old Dong, you've got it all wrong. The mayor is our leader now, he's like a brother to us. What right do you have to thank him on behalf of everyone? Besides, if anyone's going to do it, it's not your place. The mayor is the one most qualified to do it on behalf of all the town's officials!"

"Yes, yes!"

Everyone echoed their sentiments, each one passionate and enthusiastic.

Dong Jianhui realized he had misspoke and quickly said, "Yes, yes, I misspoke... Mayor, I'm so sorry, I was just too excited... cough cough cough cough..."

Seeing that he was getting agitated and coughing even more, Lin Xiao quickly waved his hand.

"Alright, I've been in office for almost a month now, everyone should be familiar with each other and adapted by now, so let's not be so formal from now on!"

"Yes, yes, Mayor!"

Ge Tao laughed, sniffed, and realized his craving for a cigarette was acting up again.

Office Director Yao Jun then asked, "Mayor, although our town doesn't have many officially employed cadres, the backlog of salaries from the past few months, plus various unpaid bonuses, adds up to several hundred thousand yuan. With the county's finances under such tight pressure right now... is it really possible to pay them all?"

Lin Xiao waved his hand dismissively: "I know the county is under a lot of financial pressure, so I didn't plan to touch the county's funds. This money is a personal donation to the county, and it's coming from the income I'll be making from recording the variety show 'Longing for Married Life'... Compared to my earnings from recording the show, the amount I'm giving out to everyone isn't much!"

After these words were spoken, the cadres naturally believed that a "huge sum of money" would soon arrive in their accounts, but instead of being happy, they all looked worried.

Dong Jianhui stammered, "Mayor, cough cough... How can you share the money you earn from recording variety shows with us... cough cough, and the county definitely won't agree to you giving money to Xingguang Town separately, cough cough, so the funds you donate to the county will definitely be higher than our salary and performance gap, right?"

Old Dong looked worried, even a little guilty.

Other cadres all had the same reaction.

Seeing that expression warmed Lin Xiao's heart.

He never resists doing good deeds, but people always expect gratitude after doing good. He's afraid of doing good deeds and not getting a good return; you release your kindness, but people still take advantage of you.

That's truly heartbreaking.

Fortunately, Xingguang Town is remote and underdeveloped economically.

The cadres were all covered in dust and dirt, as if they needed to take a mud bath every day before going to work, but their hearts were as clear as the lake water on Tianshan Mountain, reflecting the bright and clear afternoon sun.

Lin Xiao smiled contentedly and said slowly, "Don't worry, everyone. Don't feel guilty about receiving this money. You deserve it all. Firstly, what we're issuing now is your delayed wages and bonuses, which are all your legal income and there's nothing wrong with it."

"Secondly, although this money comes from my personal income, I wouldn't have been able to get the invitation to record 'Rebirth' if I weren't sitting in the position of the mayor of Xingguang Town. The production team felt that I had two completely different identities as a music creator and a grassroots town mayor, which was very interesting, so they agreed to set the recording location of the new season in our town."

"So, this income of mine is a side job I earn in my capacity as 'town mayor.' Since that's the case, then you, as the good comrades under the town mayor's supervision, should naturally share in it. Besides, during the variety show recording, the production team will more or less film my work. When the cameras are brought to the town, you might even have to appear on camera... It's not right to appear on a show without getting paid!"

This statement made everyone in the room burst into laughter, which lessened their sense of guilt.

Lin Xiao laughed along, then his expression turned serious again as he said, "Of course, there's a third point... I won't hide it from you all, but when I contacted the 'Rebirth' program team, I planned to use the program's popularity and attention to drive the development of Starlight Town."

"When the program airs, the eyes of netizens across the country will be on our little-known town. The county, city, and even the province will definitely pay close attention to our work achievements. If we still have the same work results, we will definitely not be able to deliver."

"So, this money isn't for nothing. We need to keep up the work ethic and at least earn our salary. As for what Lao Dong just said about needing to contribute more money to get the county to agree to allocate funds, that's wishful thinking—I'm honest, but I'm not a sucker, nor am I that benevolent. I only share my earnings with my brothers, so whatever salary and bonuses the county withheld from everyone, I'll give back to the county exactly that, not a penny more."

"As for why the county agreed, and whether they'll have any complaints about me afterward, let's not worry about that. Anyway, cough cough, I have connections up there!!"

Lin Xiao made a gesture of pointing upwards to the sky, pretending to be profound.

Everyone immediately understood.

After all, everyone already knew his background before the boss arrived—there was no need to deliberately look into it, it was all over the internet.

Given that Lin Xiao has too many titles, each one more impressive than the last.

So much so that his status as the "mayor's son-in-law" is almost forgotten, and he is rarely remembered.

So he reminded him.

Then everyone suddenly realized: "Oh yeah, our town mayor has a powerful father-in-law. Would the county leaders dare not give him face?!"
Everyone immediately thought, "Wow, that's awesome!"

Most of the people who were assigned to Xingguang Town were not qualified or had any background. Otherwise, if they didn't stay in the county, they would go to some of the towns with better economic development or closer to the county seat.

Starlight Town, on the other hand, is utterly devoid of any redeeming qualities.

The cadres usually dislike those who use back channels and connections the most. Now, inexplicably, they have the most powerful backer in the county, and they have also accepted the change in status in an instant.

"Hmm... It feels really good to have someone backing you up!"

……

Now that the land reform has been completed, we can focus on development.

Uh... they really are focused on development!
With substantial financial incentives, the atmosphere for entrepreneurship and innovation in the town has undergone a fundamental change.

The cadres' demeanor immediately changed from being lax and undisciplined to being as energetic as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Lin Xiao knew the importance of striking while the iron was hot.

So after spending five minutes explaining the "money" issue, they dropped a bombshell—merging villages and towns.

Before this, merging villages and towns was indeed the most important task in the entire town.

But being at the grassroots level means dealing with a thousand threads above and a single needle below.

Although the town only has 22 staff positions, there are countless tasks to be handled. If you were to list all the responsibilities in detail, it would probably take dozens of pages to write in Song typeface.

Therefore, while merging villages and towns is important, it is not so important that the entire town should participate.

This work has been underway for two years, led by Deputy Mayor Ge Tao, with two subordinate officials assisting him—that's all. Of course, the results speak for themselves.

In two years, only the first phase of the Xincun Garden project was completed and delivered, with a total of 400 households from three natural villages moving in, totaling less than 600 villagers.

These three natural villages are the closest to Xingguang Town's market town, and the villagers are quite accepting of moving into town and living in apartments.

However, this was under such favorable psychological expectations.

The quality of the first phase of the Xincun Garden houses has greatly disappointed the first batch of villagers who were "merged into the town". They are full of regret and sigh, feeling that they have suffered a huge loss in silence.

Even though Lin Xiao took charge and instructed the developer, Yaofa Engineering, to immediately begin repairs, and successfully resolved all the leaks within a week.

However, the house has quality problems, which is a fact and cannot be changed.

It had even spread to every corner of the surrounding villages in Xingguang Town long ago.

The villagers were already skeptical and resistant to the policy of merging villages and towns. The news that the houses in the new village garden were leaking was the last straw that broke the camel's back, making all the villagers in the town's attitude as firm as a rock - absolutely not to move!
This is also why the subsequent work was slow to progress.

Given such strong public resistance.

Relying solely on Ge Tao and two part-time cadres to do the work, even if they run themselves ragged, would yield no results; all their efforts would be in vain.

But then again.

Merging villages and towns is a national policy that genuinely benefits the development of remote towns and improves the living standards of villagers.

It must be implemented resolutely; there is no room for negotiation.

Therefore, we still have to do our jobs and postpone our projects.

Given the tight schedule and heavy workload, Lin Xiao decided that all cadres should work together to tackle this tough challenge within the next six months – many hands make light work, and with twenty-two steel teeth, even the hardest bone can be crushed.

Of course, work must be done, but it cannot be done blindly.

After conducting research, Lin Xiao identified the problems and difficulties in the work of merging villages and towns, and planned to proceed in three steps for the next stage of the work.

The first step is to redefine the conditions for merging villages. The county's rigid requirement of "less than 200 permanent residents" should be flexibly adjusted. The red line remains unchanged, but not all villages need to be relocated to the town. The "merging of neighboring villages" approach can be considered, merging eligible small villages into larger neighboring villages, or combining several small villages into one large village.

Of course, this plan was not proposed in the early stages because this area is mountainous.

There are not many villages that meet the criteria.

Almost half of the villages in Xingguang Town are hidden in layers of mountain valleys. Although they are not far from the neighboring villages, they have had almost no contact with each other for decades.

It was only in recent years, after the roads were built, that the villages began to have some interaction.

However, this intersection is far from convenient, let alone a merger.

However, merging neighboring villages is ultimately a way to implement the policy.

The second step was to divide into working groups and go door-to-door to persuade the villagers who needed to be relocated.

Because the number of people is so large, all the town's cadres need to pitch in, focusing on the principle that many hands make light work and that more people means more power!
Of course, this job is not easy.

To put it bluntly, people won't do anything without a reason. If you try to get someone to move without offering them something in return, then no amount of persuasion will work.

Therefore, in conjunction with this work, there are some supporting policies that have been revised and implemented, such as the preservation of homesteads, the rights to rent out farmland, and the allocation of private plots, etc.

Simply put, the idea is to allow villagers to relocate to the town while retaining their residential land, receiving high rents, and preserving their deep-seated nostalgia for their roots.

These things look simple.

But if it were truly implemented, it would indeed be a considerable temptation for villagers struggling to make ends meet.

Of course, everyone understands why the villagers won't move, and they also know how to negotiate terms to get them to move.

The terms are easy to negotiate, but the problem is that they can't be implemented!

This is where Lin, the well-known musician, super internet celebrity, and new-era town mayor, Xiao, comes in.

In order to implement these conditions, Lin Xiao formulated a comprehensive plan, but there was no need for the cadres to know about it; he could implement it himself.

What the cadres need to do is to assign tasks to the key villages marked by the red line, and then work with the village directors to do the work with each household.

This is a very difficult task in itself.

The third, and most important, point is that the quality of resettlement housing must be improved, and the leaky conditions in Phase I of Xincun Garden must never happen again.

People seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Although the self-built house is old, it is spacious and doesn't leak, so it's okay to live in.

Why would someone abandon a perfectly good house and go to live in a leaky, dilapidated shack in town? No normal person would do that unless they're out of their mind.

Therefore, no matter how united all the town's cadres are, or how well they do their work of going to the countryside and visiting households, they are not necessarily motivated to succeed.

The villagers will never agree to relocate unless the housing quality issues are resolved.

However, Mashan County is such a small place, and there are only a handful of qualified companies to undertake housing construction. No matter how much bidding is done, this big pie will most likely end up in the hands of Yu Yaojun and his Yaofa Engineering.

Calling it a pancake isn't entirely accurate.

In fact, the funding for this project is very tight. It is not enough to build a "New Village Garden" with special funds alone. It also needs to be supplemented from the county's overall financial resources.

But given the financial situation of Mashan County...

It's impossible to get a supplement, not even a penny.

Funds were already tight, and Yu Yaojun couldn't have gotten this project with all that effort just for charity; he had to make some money... well, he did make quite a lot.

Therefore, the new village garden was built into a "leaky garden".

The logic is not hard to guess.

Lin Xiao intended to replace Yaofa Engineering, but doing so would be tantamount to offending the forces behind Yu Yaojun.

Judging from Yu Yaojun's domineering attitude towards the villagers, his backing is exceptionally strong. Even if Lin Xiao is confident that he has an even stronger backing, a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake after all, and if things really fall apart, it will be difficult for him to carry out his work.

Moreover.

Even if he kicks Yaofa Engineering out of the game, where can he find a qualified, conscientious, and charitable company that would take over the construction of resettlement housing projects in Mashan County without making a profit or even losing money, given such limited funds?
Just think about it and you know it's impossible.

Regarding the work of merging villages and towns, Lin Xiao had already sorted out the first two points very well. As long as all cadres worked together, they would definitely be able to resolve the issues and implement them properly.

Only this third one.

Even with his background, resources, and connections maxed out, he hesitated for a moment, having less than 30% confidence that he could solve the problem.

Therefore, he also left the most crucial step, the final push, to himself.

Now that the bullets are loaded and the arrow is on the bowstring, he has no choice but to fire, and there is no time for him to hesitate or back down.

Ever since.

Lin Xiao's second meeting of all cadres after taking office began with the fervor of "fighting the landlords and distributing the land" and ended two hours later with the triumphant sentiment of "with the will of the people, we can build a great city."

Office Director Yao Jun took notes of the key points in a notebook.

Sitting at my desk after the meeting, reflecting on everything, I realized that all my thoughts boiled down to one sentence:

As long as you don't die, fight to the death!
(End of this chapter)