Marry a female star at a bargain price

Chapter 308, Section 309: Returning to the Town Mayor's Office, Seeking External Support

The situation unfolded exactly as Lin Xiao had predicted.

The data for "Little Apple" on Tencent Music shows an unstoppable momentum, sweeping all obstacles and reaching the top spot on various charts.

This momentum is even more unstoppable than a first launch on Earth.

This is, of course, due to the song's catchiness, which is equally impressive in both parallel universes.

But more importantly, Lin Xiao has put a lot of effort into hype and publicity this time, leveraging his popularity and the buzz surrounding him, which has raised the expectations of netizens to the maximum.

Although on the surface he did nothing.

But as Han Xixi saw through, the fact that he didn't stop the company team from joining forces with Tencent Music for a large-scale publicity campaign was already a sign of his shrewdness and willingness to make money.

After all, given his unique position within the system and the entertainment industry, the controversy surrounding his recent announcement of recording "Rebirth," and the expectations surrounding him as a top-tier musician, this is a significant factor.

The combination of these three aspects is enough to raise netizens' expectations for his new song to the highest level.

It's no surprise that it became so popular!
Lin Xiao was happy to see this happen, because, as the saying goes, the more people criticize him online, the more money he makes!
Nobody has a grudge against money!

Of course, Lin Xiao's painstaking efforts in releasing new songs and stirring up trouble are not really for making money—if it were for money, he could release a song every week, or even more frequently, and he would be a billionaire by now, driving his peers in the music industry to suicide!
Lin Xiao's current actions are actually aimed at maintaining his own popularity and creating hype for the recording and premiere of "Rebirth".

Of course, this is not the ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal is to use the program to attract online attention to Xingguang Town and transform that attention into energy for the town's development.

Of course, how this energy will be transformed, whether it will have negative effects, and whether a small town can withstand it are all questions that need to be addressed.

Lin Xiao couldn't guarantee it either!
As the old saying goes: "A phoenix will come to your house if you have a phoenix tree in your home!"
But in today's fast-paced internet age, the order of these words needs to be changed.

First attract the phoenix, then plant the parasol tree!
That makes more sense!
Lin Xiao wasn't sure if the small town of Xingguang could handle such a surge of online attention, but judging from the two months he had been in office, it seemed that the aura of being a "celebrity mayor" hadn't caused any harm or impact on the development of this remote mountain town.

Lin Xiao analyzed that, in today's world where netizens are keen to ride the wave of trending topics and the traffic economy is so booming.

Even with his own involvement, he couldn't attract a significant number of netizens to Starlight Town, for two reasons.

Firstly, his position within the system instills a sense of awe in netizens, making them hesitant to try and capitalize on his popularity.

Secondly, Xingguang Town is too remote. There is neither a high-speed rail nor a highway, and transportation is particularly inconvenient. It takes at least four hours to drive here from the capital of Nanzhou Province, let alone other places!

The combination of physical and psychological distance has led to a situation where enthusiastic people only dare to rant online, but are unwilling and dare not act recklessly in real life.

This summary really made Lin Xiao feel that he had a difficult task!

Who would have thought that the traffic economy would one day fail!
However, precisely because Starlight Town is at the very end of the internet age, it is difficult for ordinary traffic to reach or impact it, which makes him more daring to go all out and do whatever he wants.

Appear on popular variety shows and release catchy, brainwashing songs.

All of this is to maximize their own traffic value and attract more people to Xingguang Town for tourism and investment... even though there's not much to see or invest in here.

But life is all about luck.

What if someone is blind... oops, what if someone has a discerning eye and sees its unique charm, discovering a distinctive industry and economy?
Lin Xiao believed that as the town mayor, no matter how capable he was, he was still just an individual and not enough to see all the potential of Starlight Town.

As for planning for long-term development, they had no idea where to begin.

He also acknowledged his shortcomings.

Therefore, the responsibilities of the town mayor were broadened to the entire network, with the main focus on opening up new ideas, expanding the basic base, and flexibly utilizing the macro-level thinking of "demographic dividend".

He was thinking that even though Xingguang Town had transportation restrictions and poverty as obstacles, it was still possible to overcome them.

Even if the barrier is so great that most people would hesitate to take the risk.

As long as his traffic coverage is wide enough and his user base is large enough, he will eventually be able to attract a considerable target audience.

If you can't attract one tourist out of a thousand, can't you still fool one person out of ten thousand or a hundred thousand?
Once the people arrive, everything will be easier.

If it can develop the economy and industry, that would naturally be good.

Even if things don't go well, these people still need to have food and lodging, right?
That would be a significant boost to consumption in Xingguang Town and Mashan County!

It's definitely a risk-free and highly profitable business.

Because of his previous successful experiences in Chaobai Town and Laoyashan, Lin Xiao is now able to do this kind of business of making money out of thin air with ease and without any psychological burden.

He didn't think he was a big liar at all, not at all.

Faced with the online uproar and turmoil.

Lin Xiao completely ignored it.

Now that he has done what he was supposed to do, he can leave the rest to the internet to ferment and time to spread.

What he should be spending more time and energy on now is to quickly shed his identities as a "singer" and "top influencer" and return to his original job as the mayor of Starlight Town.

Fortunately, Lin Xiao wasn't the kind of person who was easily blinded by the allure of a life of luxury and extravagance.

Even though internet traffic is attractive, he is not addicted to it at all, and even finds it somewhat repulsive.

So they quickly extricated themselves.

Returning to the position of town mayor, the most urgent task is still to merge villages and towns.

This was the first major event Lin Xiao had undertaken since taking office, and so far, the only major event he had undertaken.

After conducting preliminary background checks, he learned that the work of merging villages and towns had not gone smoothly before he took office.

The only achievement, "New Village Garden," was a fraud orchestrated by Yu Yaojun, a local tyrant, at the behest of county leaders.

To put it bluntly, the hundreds of residents in Xincun Garden were completely deceived by this wonderful yet brutal policy, and now they are all living in leaky houses and regretting their decision.

Last time, Lin Xiao used his power to force Yu Yaojun to agree to repair the building's leaking roof.

Although Yu Yaojun was confident in his powerful backing, he was very dissatisfied with this hotheaded new town mayor.

But with the guidance of his backer, he realized that this internet-famous town mayor with a bunch of titles had far more power than he had imagined.

Unless absolutely necessary, never provoke him.

Yu Yaojun, a local bully, was used to swaggering around in Mashan County. This was the first time he had been humiliated. In the end, he obediently followed Lin Xiao's "powerful dragon" demands and spent a week fixing all the leaks in the new village garden.

However, the leak has been fixed.

However, other inherent flaws in the community's construction, such as narrow building spacing, questionable building quality, and unreasonable apartment layouts, have become unsolvable.

The villagers' living experience after moving into the apartment building was extremely poor.

Lin Xiao felt sorry for them, but he had no other choice but to solve the problems in other ways, such as the community environment, property management, and the previously promised allocation of private plots.

This month.

While busy "stirring up trouble" and "getting scolded" online, Lin Xiao did not forget to fulfill his promises and carried out all the things he had promised the villagers.

The new village garden has now been completely transformed.

Although the houses are still clustered together, at least once you walk inside, the roads are clean, the vegetation is lush, the trash cans are emptied regularly every day, and exercise equipment and rest seats have been added to the community.

In terms of hardware facilities, it meets the general standards of urban housing.

The change was actually minimal and did not fundamentally improve the villagers' living experience, but compared to the previous dirty, messy, and leaky community environment, it was a world of difference. The villagers were overjoyed, as if they were in a dream.

After the renovation was completed, Lin Xiao passed by again and went there once more.

The villagers recognized him immediately—not because he was famous online, with countless photos and videos of him on every website platform, but simply because he had visited before and, in front of everyone, had ordered Yu Yaofa to complete the repairs.

And really did it.

The incident quickly spread from the few elderly men present to all the residents of the community, and then to the entire Xingguang Town and even the entire Mashan County.

This place is far from the internet and far from the city.

This is a backward town and rural area, and the villages are separated from each other by rolling mountains.

But the people living here have their own channels and ways of socializing.

We don't know how everyone communicates.

In any case, Mayor Lin has now become a figure of great integrity in Xingguang Town. As soon as he entered the residential area, the honest and kind villagers immediately gathered around him, calling him "Mayor Lin" with friendly smiles, and expressing their sincere gratitude for his dedication and actions in their thick local accents.

Lin Xiao was a little dazed.

Comparing what's online and what's in reality, my current situation is rather ridiculous.

Online, he didn't actually do anything outrageous. He just decided to go on a lifestyle variety show and released a song that probably wasn't popular with most people. Then he was attacked and vilified by the entire internet.

In reality, he was merely fulfilling his duties as town mayor and practicing the principle and promise of serving the people, yet the villagers almost elevated him to the status of a "righteous and upright official."

The stark contrast between online and offline made Lin Xiao feel more than just disoriented.

It's simply magical!

After calming down, he was filled with emotion and became even more determined about the path he would take and the things he would do in the future.

Back in his office, he found a number on his phone and dialed it.

The call was answered quickly.

"Oh my, Lin, the great singer, I'm so surprised and delighted that you actually had time to call me!"

On the other end, a young voice came through, filled with surprise and delight.

Lin Xiao has not yet replied.

The young man quickly added, "Look at me, I should call you Mayor Lin, that's your proper title! It was a slip of the tongue, Mayor Lin, please don't take it to heart since we're old friends..."

Lin Xiao smiled, knowing full well the rich second-generation's outspoken yet frank and composed personality.

The man opposite is Jiang Bohan, the son of Jiang Dawei, chairman of Dijin Real Estate, one of the two major real estate developers in Yizhou City.

Lin Xiao met him more than a year ago when he had just taken office as the deputy mayor of Chaobai Town. At that time, the biggest hot potato in Chaobai Town was an unfinished residential complex called Xuefu Yaju.

At that time, Lin Xiao was not in charge of the economy; he was in charge of petitions and security.

After taking over, the first thing he did was to find a developer for Xuefu Yaju.

At the time, the townspeople thought he was joking, that he was crazy about achieving results, and that he was just daydreaming.

But I didn't expect it.

Some people may appear to be just deputy town mayors, but in reality, they are the mayor's son-in-law and have a bunch of other connections.

Then, quite easily, they connected with two major local developers in Yizhou City.

They even turned the passive situation into an active one, transforming themselves from the party seeking help into the party with the right to choose and take the initiative.

It's like the heavens have been turned upside down.

In the end, to the astonishment of all the town's officials, Lin Xiao successfully revitalized the Xuefu Yaju project, and smoothly got Dijin to take over this unfinished building for a "high price" of 1 million yuan.

At that time, the person in charge of communicating with Lin Xiao throughout the process was Jiang Bohan, the heir of Dijin.

As the only son of the CEO of a real estate company with a net worth of billions, Jiang Bohan is a true Brahmin of the county, the top kind.

He also has some of the habits of a rich second generation, such as being playful and unreliable.

But only there.

As an adult, his love of playing around is nowhere near as extreme as that of Wang Moumou or Qin Moumou. In fact, his private life can be considered quite respectable. He also works diligently and is preparing to take over the business empire from his father.

That's why it has these qualities.

It was only through Lin Xiao's persuasion that Jiang Bohan was able to see the potential of the Xuefu Yaju unfinished rural building project, and ultimately, despite opposition, secured the deal when the group's funds were not plentiful.

This deal also forged a deep friendship between Deputy Mayor Lin and Deputy General Manager Jiang.

Now, a year and a half has passed.

Both of their identities have undergone a slight change, and this change is quite subtle: they have both removed the word "deputy" from their titles.

Lin Xiao has now become a genuine town mayor.

Jiang Bohan also took the next step on his succession journey, becoming the company's general manager, with increasingly greater responsibilities on his shoulders.

When Lin Xiao was still working in Chaobai Town.

Because I was later put in charge of economic work and directly supervised the progress of Xuefu Yaju, I had quite a lot of contact with the person in charge, Jiang Bohan.

Later, when he was transferred to the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Anyang County, the connection was gradually lost.

When his identity was exposed across the internet.

Jiang Bohan even sent a WeChat message to join the gossip, and Lin Xiao replied with a few words, but they didn't contact each other again after that.

As of today's phone call, the two have not been in contact for three months.

have to say.

It was rather presumptuous of Lin Xiao to call me so suddenly.

But General Manager Jiang didn't feel disturbed at all; on the contrary, he was overjoyed, as if he had rushed to the front line of gossip.

Lin Xiao simply smiled and let it go when Jiang Bohan blurted out his indiscretions in his excitement.

"Mr. Jiang, how have you been lately? Is business good?" Lin Xiao didn't want to ask for money right away, so he chatted about recent events to confuse his opponent.

Jiang Bohan, however, was frank: "Good, how could it be bad! Thanks to Mayor Lin's care, Dijin's business is booming now!"

Lin Xiao assumed the other party was just being polite, so he could only smile helplessly.

"I can't even respond to what you're saying, Mr. Jiang. How could I, a small town mayor, possibly have the ability to take care of your Dijin business?"

"How could I not be capable!"

Jiang Bohan said seriously, "You, Mayor Lin, are currently the number one internet celebrity. You're trending on social media every two days, and each one is fresh and exciting. It's making this little netizen like me completely stunned! If you don't have this ability, then no one in the entire Yizhou City or the entire Nanzhou Province has this ability!"

Lin Xiao's smile was awkward; he knew this topic would come up.

Sigh, the troubles of being too famous!

"I may be famous, but that has nothing to do with your Dijin business."

"How could it not be related? It's very closely connected!"

Jiang Bohan said earnestly, "Now that you've become famous, your entire resume from when you worked in Chaobai Town has been dug up. Last year, the cultural tourism industry projects in Chaobai Town were a hit, and gradually the hardware facilities and management methods have caught up."

"I thought that once you were transferred, the hype would gradually die down. But your exposure has actually brought Chaobai Town back into the spotlight. With the summer holidays, young tourists are flocking in wave after wave, even more popular than last year's May Day and National Day holidays. Can you believe it?"

Lin Xiao was surprised to hear this.

Although I have been in contact with many officials in Chaobai Town, I've been too busy lately to chat with them, and I haven't even had time to check my WeChat Moments.

Never imagined.

I've been stirring up trouble on the internet lately, but instead of attracting netizens to Xingguang Town, I've drawn attention to Chaobai Town.

This is a big deal.

However, it makes sense when you think about it. After all, compared to the poor and remote Xingguang Town, Chaobai Town is located next to the provincial capital, and its rural tourism development is becoming more complete, making it more suitable for on-site visits and check-ins.

Even though netizens can't meet Lin Xiao in person when they travel there, it's like getting close to a big star.

I'm content with that.

Lin Xiao: "???"

He reluctantly accepted his energy radiation, but he still couldn't understand Jiang Bohan's logic.

"The tourism industry in Chaobai Town is booming again, but what does that have to do with your Dijin?"

"Why doesn't it matter!"

Jiang Bohan became increasingly excited, saying, "The booming tourism industry has spurred the development of all industries in the town. Not only are there various tourism projects, but also homestays, restaurants, and all kinds of performances. The popularity of Chaobai Town now is completely different from what it was a year ago!"

"With the influx of people and the development of industries, local residents have income, and their income has increased significantly, making their wallets quite full. With fuller wallets, the first thing they do is naturally improve their living conditions. Fortunately, Dijin took over the Xuefu Yaju project. As per our previous agreement, this project did not involve pre-sales; it was sold directly as completed properties!"

Jiang Bohan became more and more excited as he spoke, and almost shouted: "To be honest, Mayor Lin, although I trust you a lot, I still have some reservations about taking over an unfinished building project in a town, especially since pre-sales are not allowed. I'm even more worried that I'll lose everything."

"As a result, we not only didn't lose money, but we actually made a fortune. The income of the town's residents has increased, and they have purchasing power, so their willingness to buy new houses has greatly increased. And since we are selling ready-built houses, the quality of the houses is of course excellent. After the sales started last month, the popularity of the sales office left me a little stunned. I couldn't believe that this scene would occur in the current real estate market environment."

"Finally, within two days of the property launch, all units were snapped up—to be honest, Mayor Lin, our pricing wasn't cheap; it was almost on par with some properties in Anyang County. But because the town has industries and promising prospects, local residents and villagers from surrounding areas were willing to make a living here, so the houses sold out quickly. I haven't seen such a thriving scene for many years, and it's all thanks to Mayor Lin's foresight in giving Dijin a way out."

"Currently, Dijin is in talks with Anyang County to acquire two more plots of land next to Xuefu Yaju in Chaobai Town to build the second and third phases of the project, in order to meet the town's booming housing demand. Although the project is not large-scale, in the current market environment, such a sure-fire way to make money is rare. I am very satisfied, all thanks to Mayor Lin!"

Jiang Bohan spoke with great emotion.

Lin Xiao understood what was going on and felt it was quite amazing.

His initial efforts to contact Dijin and revitalize the Xuefu Yaju project were solely motivated by a desire to help the relocated residents and project workers recover their compensation and wages.

At that time, he had no intention of promoting the development of Chaobai Town's industries or significantly increasing residents' income, let alone seeking a way out or a future for a real estate company.

However, all these changes were achieved without anyone noticing.

The current situation is.

The development of the cultural and tourism industry has led to a rapid increase in local economic activity. As people's incomes have risen, their willingness and ability to buy houses have increased significantly. Real estate companies have been able to sell the projects smoothly and make a fortune.

A true win-win-win situation.

The person who brought about this situation has long since left his post and gone elsewhere.

Lin Xiao now has a feeling of having kept his achievements and fame hidden—of course, the more he tries to hide them, the more they become known, and now they are known throughout the entire internet.

However, this feeling of "I am definitely a contributor" was very strange to him, and it made him realize his own value once again.

It's incredibly valuable!
On the phone, Jiang Bohan kept thanking Lin Xiao, his tone very sincere.

After reminiscing about the past.

Jiang Bohan then remembered to ask, "Mayor Lin, why did you call me so suddenly? Is there some new way to make money that you want to introduce to me?"

Lin Xiao laughed.

"There's no way to make money, but there is one dead end. Does General Jiang dare to take it?"

"Dare? What's there to be afraid of!"

Jiang Bohan declared loudly, "Even if it's a dead end or a dead end, as long as it's directed by Mayor Lin, I will go without hesitation. I wouldn't even flinch if I did!"

The sudden declaration of loyalty caught Lin Xiao off guard.

"It's not a dead end or a dead end, that's illegal. I'm a law-abiding citizen!" he quickly replied with a smile.

"Haha, I was just saying that. I'm usually outspoken, so please don't take it to heart, Mayor Lin!"

Jiang Bohan then said earnestly, "What I mean is, Mayor Lin is a benefactor to our Dijin, and I will always remember your kindness. Please feel free to ask for my help, and I will do my utmost to fulfill it!"

Lin Xiao paused for a moment, then his expression turned serious.

That's exactly what he wanted to hear!

"It's not really an order, but there is indeed a small favor that I need Mr. Jiang's strong support!"

"Easy to say!"

Jiang Bohan's eyes flashed, and he straightened his posture.

(End of this chapter)