Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 355 The Brightest Youth

Following the address provided by Huang Fei, Cheng Yi quickly arrived at a villa halfway up General Mountain.

This villa was built in the mountains and forests. If someone hadn't led the way from the foot of the mountain, he would never have been able to find it based on the address alone.

Cheng Yi had Bai Yiheng park the car far away on the side of the road and then walked towards the villa.

As Cheng Yi approached the villa, he saw Huang Fei's driver, Bai Biao.

Bai Biao smiled at Cheng Yi and said, "Boss Cheng."

"President Bai is so busy with official duties, yet you still came." Cheng Yi greeted him with a smile.

Bai Biao laughed and said, "I'm just Boss Huang's driver, so of course I'm here to provide some services."

Although Bai Biao was a big, burly man, he was very thoughtful. He made a gesture of invitation and said with a smile, "Please come in. Our boss, Mr. Huang, has been waiting for a long time."

"Okay." Cheng Yi quickly walked into the villa.

The villa's lawn was very clean, as if it had just been trimmed. Next to the villa's koi pond, Huang Fei was slowly scattering fish food.

The koi pond was full of large koi, some 50 or 60 centimeters long. Although the price of these koi had collapsed after 2020, each one was worth tens of thousands of yuan during that period.

Next to Huang Fei, Lin Hua, dressed in a jacket, stood to the side, his demeanor and manner resembling that of a student facing a teacher.

"Cheng Yi's here." Turning around and seeing Cheng Yi, Huang Fei laughed, "You really seem to find endless joy in fighting against heaven and earth, huh? I heard you clashed with Shengda Group again?"

Cheng Yi smiled modestly and said, "No, they just bumped into me."

Huang Fei chuckled, looked at Lin Hua, and said, "I don't think I need to introduce you, do I?"

"Hello, Chairman Lin." Cheng Yi was the first to extend his hand.

Lin Hua was very humble. He shook hands with Cheng Yi and said with a smile, "Just call me Lin Hua."

At this moment, Lin Hua's humility made Cheng Yi doubt that he had met the wrong person.

The last time he met Lin Hua, Lin Hua's arrogant and disdainful attitude left a deep impression on him.

Seemingly sensing Cheng Yi's change of heart, Huang Fei said, "Cheng Yi, last time I asked Lin Hua to test you. He wanted you to take over as the president of the student union at Handong University, so don't take it to heart."

Cheng Yi shook his head and smiled, "My greatest strength is my gentle nature; I never hold grudges."

Huang Fei laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, saying, "You have a gentle personality? I think your greatest strength is your thick skin."

Huang Fei glanced at Lin Hua and warned, "Lin Hua, be careful. This kid holds grudges. What he just said means he hasn't forgiven you."

Cheng Yi quickly said, "Brother Huang, you've wronged me. I really don't hold a grudge."

"Alright, enough of this nonsense." Huang Fei's smile quickly disappeared as he said, "I've actually wanted you two to meet for a while now. Speaking of which, you should actually thank Lin Hua. Last time you clashed with the Starcom Group, they approached the Student Union, intending to take down your school's businesses. It was Lin Hua who helped you settle things."

"Is that so?" Cheng Yi was slightly taken aback.

Lin Hua smiled and said, "This was all arranged by Brother Huang. I was just following orders."

Huang Fei continued, "You two are the people I have the highest hopes for in Handong Province over the past few years. Lin Hua goes without saying; with his ability and experience, once he enters politics, his future will be limitless. As for Cheng Yi, you are one of the few business elites I have ever met."

Huang Fei's flattering words brought a shy smile to the faces of Lin Hua and Cheng Yi.

Huang Fei knew that these two were just pretending to be shy and playing along, so he didn't call them out. He looked at Cheng Yi and asked, "Is your Momo Group planning to expand beyond the province?"

"Yes." Cheng Yi nodded.

Huang Fei sighed, "The national market is not like the provincial market. Have you thought about how to expand outwards?"

Cheng Yi hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth: "Charity paves the way."

"Charity paves the way?" Huang Fei looked at Cheng Yi with interest.

Cheng Yi said, "I want to first build a good reputation in each province, and then do some charitable activities within my capacity, so as not to repeat the mistakes that Starcom made in Handong."

A look of joy appeared on Huang Fei's and Lin Hua's faces.

Lin Hua glanced at Huang Fei, who couldn't help but laugh and say, "Looks like you're really interested in doing charitable education."

"Brother Huang knows?" Cheng Yi was slightly surprised.

Huang Fei laughed and said, "You've gone to so much trouble to get so many famous teachers to make electronic teaching materials. I think it would be hard for you not to know about it, right?"

Cheng Yi smiled and said, "Nothing can be hidden from Brother Huang."

Huang Fei asked, "Do you do charity for fame or for profit?"

“Name,” Cheng Yi replied.

Huang Fei said, "Then I'll be frank with you. The purpose of calling you here is to have you cooperate with Lin Hua. Charity education is not as simple as you think. The waters of the education field are very deep. If you are not careful, you will cause a huge disaster."

“I understand, that’s why I didn’t plan to get involved in the education industry. I just want children in impoverished mountainous areas to have access to education.” Cheng Yi’s expression was very solemn.

Huang Fei slowly said, "Many things will develop in ways that exceed your expectations. You spent so much money and effort to create these electronic teaching materials, but have you ever thought about what would happen if these electronic teaching materials were leaked?"

"What would happen if these electronic teaching materials were burned onto CDs and sold everywhere, so that every child in the country had a copy?"

"What would happen if your e-textbooks caused a sharp drop in the income of education industry leaders?"

"The essence of education is inequality. Only with inequality can we develop faster. If everyone had access to top-notch educational resources, would children need to study hard? Would parents need to work hard?"

Huang Fei's question silenced Cheng Yi.

Cheng Yi had considered these issues, and he even devised many methods to prevent the leakage of electronic teaching materials, but nothing can be completely watertight.

Huang Fei continued, "Right now, various departments are planning to implement the policy of enrolling students in schools near their homes. Do you know what will happen once this policy is implemented?"

Cheng Yi nodded.

Huang Fei asked in surprise, "You really know?" Cheng Yi replied, "I know some."

Lin Hua, standing to the side, looked at Cheng Yi with some surprise. He had only just figured out the meaning of the nearby school enrollment policy. Could Cheng Yi really know it?
Cheng Yi said, "Once this policy is implemented, housing prices near prestigious schools will skyrocket. If it succeeds, our country's infrastructure construction will be ten or even twenty times faster, GDP will soar, and even the entire population can escape poverty through this policy."

Huang Fei laughed and said, "Impressive! You actually thought of something at this level."

Lin Hua also looked at Cheng Yi with a shocked gaze. At this moment, he realized that his vision was not as broad as Cheng Yi's.

Huang Fei said, "This is called the scarcity of educational resources. If your electronic textbooks break this rule, then you are a sinner against the nation."

Huang Fei continued, "Cheng Yi, your idea is good, but you have to connect it with reality. Take football teams, for example. Only when teams from all over the world compete for the World Cup can there be competition. Under the pressure of this competition, wave after wave of star players will rise. But if the World Cup becomes easy to obtain, then football will disappear."

"The same applies to education. We have the ability to provide everyone with the best education, but can this screen talent? No, because it doesn't create competitive pressure. When everyone can attend the best primary schools, the best middle schools, and even the best universities, their motivation will be completely exhausted."

Huang Fei tried to persuade Cheng Yi to abandon the plan, but in Cheng Yi's eyes, Huang Fei was just talking nonsense.

Isn't this just promoting involution?
However, he did not refute it, but simply nodded and said, "I understand, Brother Huang wants me to stop the development of this teaching material?"

Huang Fei shook his head and smiled, "No, I want Lin Hua to do this with you."

"Let me introduce Lin Hua to you first. You are probably already familiar with his background. I will only introduce Lin Hua's family background to you." Huang Fei said, "Lin Hua's great-grandfather is the father of world popular education. He solved the problem of basic education in dozens of countries and donated schools all over the world. Lin Hua's grandfather is the supervisor of the China Education Industry Association."

"Oh?" Cheng Yi's eyes suddenly lit up.

Supervisor of the China Education Industry Association? Although this position is nominal, it wields considerable influence.

In ancient times, that would have been the position of educational administrator, who had the privilege of supervising schools throughout the country. Famous figures from ancient times, such as Zhang Zhidong and Ji Xiaolan, held the position of educational administrator.

Huang Fei said, "You are both my people, so I hope that you two can help each other and achieve great things together. Lin Hua has already filled all his titles, and the only thing he lacks is a real career. You also need fame to support your next endeavor. If you two work together on this, I guarantee there won't be any problems."

“Even if the electronic textbooks are leaked, with Lin Hua’s family background to protect us, there won’t be any major problems,” Huang Fei said. “Of course, this is just a suggestion; you can consider it yourself.”

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "If Chairman Lin can lend me a hand, I'd be overjoyed."

"Cheng Yi, you can just call me Lin Hua." Lin Hua smiled modestly, "If you don't think I'm meddling, then I'll be your assistant from now on."

"How can that be? How can I let you be my deputy?" Cheng Yi put on an act again.

Huang Fei knew Cheng Yi's character very well, so he immediately made the decision: "Alright, it's settled then. Lin Hua will be your deputy for two months. Within two months, the two of you should handle this matter. Then, Lin Hua, you can go to Yanjing City to take up your post."

"Yes." Lin Hua glanced at Huang Fei with some gratitude.

If he and Cheng Yi can accomplish this, it will be a tremendous boost to his future political career.

At that time, Cheng Yi will be the top philanthropist in the national education sector, and he will be one of the top ten outstanding figures in the national education sector. Just for this title, I wouldn't trade him for ten student union presidents from Handong University.

Cheng Yi was also very happy to suddenly have someone eager to do the work.

Anyway, charity is obviously a money-losing business, so he wasn't worried that Lin Hua could take anything away from him.

"Alright, you two go chat over there, I'm going back to feeding the fish." Huang Fei waved his hand and leisurely continued feeding the fish.

At Huang Fei's level, fame and fortune no longer attract him. What he pursues is the pleasure of nurturing. Watching outstanding young people take shape under his hands gives him an incredibly satisfying sense of accomplishment.

In ancient times, this was also called training disciples.

No person or force lasts forever; to go further, one must seek out talent.

What is most important in the 21st century?

Talented! Talented! Absolutely a fucking genius!
Cheng Yi and Lin Hua arrived at the pavilion of the villa. Lin Hua said somewhat embarrassedly, "I want to sincerely apologize to you for what happened last time. I overdid it."

Cheng Yi smiled and said, "Let's not talk about the past, let's talk about the present."

“Okay.” Lin Hua’s style of doing things was very direct, without any beating around the bush, and he directly pointed out some details and precautions for educational charity.

Lin Hua comes from a family of educators, and the educational philosophy he received from childhood was the common people's education of his great-grandfather.

The phrase "knowing it like the back of one's hand" is the most fitting description.

Lin Hua was even very familiar with the distribution of impoverished mountainous areas, down to the exact number of extremely impoverished mountainous areas in which province, city, and county. His three years as student council president and two years as executive president of the provincial student federation were not for nothing.

Cheng Yi and Lin Hua chatted for more than half an hour, with Cheng Yi mostly listening to Lin Hua talk.

In Cheng Yi's rigid mindset, civil servants are a group of lazy people who like to eat and do nothing, because he has never had a face-to-face conversation with elite civil servants.

It was only after a long talk with Lin Hua that Cheng Yi realized his previous ideas were flawed.

He couldn't guarantee the quality of ordinary civil servants, but the abilities of these nationally selected graduates were truly terrifying.

If we compare ordinary civil servants to ordinary college students from third-tier universities, then nationally selected graduates are on par with those from Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Their speech, knowledge, and vision far surpass those of their peers.

If I had to describe them, they would be just like the elite students in the computer science gifted youth program, such as Lin Qingyin.

They are the elite of the "Young Cadres on the Road to Officialdom" program.

These brightest young people were all snatched away by the state, leaving him only a bunch of crooked and misfitting children like Du Yusheng who wouldn't budge and were even pushing him backward.

Cheng Yi looked at Lin Hua, who was talking boastfully, and the more he looked at him, the more he liked him. For no reason, he began to have bad thoughts.

How can we persuade Lin Hua to give up the path of being selected as a civil servant?
What he lacks most right now is administrative talent like Lin Hua. The core members of Momo Group are capable of expanding the territory if they are honest and hardworking, but they are hard to manage independently.

Basically, if something goes wrong, it will ultimately fall on him.

Lin Hua, on the other hand, possessed a natural confidence that gave him an aura. Looking at the powerful Lin Hua, Cheng Yi suddenly thought of someone.

Zhou Shouzi, former senior vice president of Xiaomi Group.

Cheng Yi had interacted with Zhou Shouzi before, and Zhou Shouzi's confidence and his refined manner with a hint of aggression left a deep impression on Cheng Yi.

Lin Hua also possesses this trait.

(End of this chapter)