50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 677 Madam Diplomacy
Sun Zhiwei originally didn't want to bring Tong Jiajia along; he could handle the task of communicating with the mayor on his own.

Tong Jiajia's belly is getting bigger and bigger, making it a little inconvenient for her to move around, and she is more likely to encounter danger when she goes out.

If Sun Zhiwei were to trip over a small stone and fall, he would probably regret it terribly.

However, Tong Jiajia felt that since she insisted on doing this project, she couldn't just leave everything to Sun Zhiwei.

Moreover, with a pregnant woman like her involved, the project's motivation became more reasonable, and it was easier to gain support from women.

It turns out she wanted to take the wife's route, which is indeed a good approach, as negotiations don't always have to be conducted in a meeting room.

If Tong Jiajia can gain the support of the mayor's wife and the wives of councilors, then this project will be easier to promote.

When the two arrived at the mayor's residence, they discovered that they weren't the only guests today; Mayor Ed had also invited a councilor and several staff members.

Or perhaps the main guest today is that congressman, and the two of them were just invited along because they cut in line at the last minute.

After all, in terms of subordinate relationships, Sun Zhiwei can be considered Mayor Ed's economic advisor, and it's reasonable to say that he's a member of the mayor's staff.

The two were led by a waiter into the banquet hall on the first floor of the villa, which had been set up as a buffet reception venue.

The mayor's other staff members had arrived early and were chatting in small groups in the meeting room.

Sun Zhiwei arrived just in time; the councilor guests hadn't arrived yet.

Upon his arrival, several staff members greeted him. Tong Jiajia was visiting for the first time, so Sun Zhiwei introduced her to everyone.

At this moment, the mayor's wife came forward and invited Tong Jiajia to go to the gathering of the ladies next door to talk together.

Sun Zhiwei asked Mrs. Ed to tell her about Tong Jiajia's pregnancy, and sure enough, it immediately caught her attention.

“Mr. James, please rest assured, I will take good care of Ms. Austin (Tong Jiajia’s pseudonym Jiajiali Austin).

Tong Jiajia gave Sun Zhiwei a look to reassure him, and then followed the mayor's wife to a group of sofas on the side, where several other wives of staff members were gathered.

Since all the ladies had children, the mayor's wife used Tong Jiajia's pregnancy as a topic to discuss childcare issues with everyone.

Women can easily bond if they share a common topic.

Seeing that Tong Jiajia was not intimidated and smoothly integrated into the ladies' conversation, he then turned his gaze away.

However, he kept his social media account open, constantly monitoring Tong Jiajia's situation.

On the men's side, Sun Zhiwei casually took a glass of whiskey from the waiter's plate and then chatted with the others about the latest happenings in New York.

"I only received the invitation yesterday. Which member of parliament is the guest today?" Sun Zhiwei asked a familiar aide, A, as soon as he arrived.

“It’s Congressman Granger Morris from the state legislature. He’s originally from Queens and used to know the mayor well,” Staff A casually replied.

"What's the purpose of today's banquet? It seems like the city hasn't needed any support from the state government lately, has it?"

"Not now, but that might not be the case in the future," Staff Officer B naturally picked up the conversation.

“James, as you know, the mayor has always been at odds with the governor, and he doesn’t have many supporters in the state legislature. This Representative Morris is one of his main supporters.” “I heard that the mayor is planning to implement a comprehensive tax cut plan next year, which coincides with the state government’s plan. I guess the mayor wants to get some help from the state.”

Naturally, they brought up the purpose of the banquet.

Sun Zhiwei was not clear about the mayor's plans for next year, but he remembered that Mayor Ed's plan to cut taxes for the wealthy during his tenure was quite famous and had yielded many results.

For example, enabling business owners who benefit from tax cuts to create more jobs and provide financial support for municipal construction, etc.

It might sound like cutting their taxes on one hand and taking money out of their pockets on the other, which seems redundant, but it's actually not contradictory at all.

Because if taxes are collected directly, the tax revenue doesn't just go to the city hall; many other places will also share in the tax revenue.

But donations are different; the donated funds can be directly controlled by the mayor.

Moreover, businesspeople can deduct more taxes after making donations, provided that these donations are used for public welfare or charitable purposes.

This is easy to understand; many municipal projects are public welfare projects, so the donations are actually beneficial to businessmen.

Why not let everyone take advantage of the IRS (Inland Revenue Service) together?

Meanwhile, the state government was also working on a similar policy. Mayor Ed probably didn't want the state government's plan to interfere with his own, which is why he invited Representative Morris to come and discuss it.

Looking at today's guests, they are basically the mayor's private team, and even Sun Zhiwei is considered half of them. You can tell what's going on today.

After a while, as the banquet was about to begin, a little noise came from the entrance; it must be the arrival of today's main guests.

Just then, Mayor Ed came down the stairs. Sun Zhiwei and his staff greeted Ed, who smiled and nodded to each of his staff as he walked forward.

Just as Mayor Ed reached the main gate, he ran into the state legislator. The two shook hands warmly and patted each other on the back, acting very affectionately.

With the arrival of the main guest, the banquet officially began.

Unfortunately, the men's conversation was completely pointless, and Sun Zhiwei found it very boring.

However, such banquets are actually a private communication channel, and there is no need to reach any formal agreement. The main purpose is to find out the other party's attitude.

It seems that the mayor and the state legislator communicated smoothly, and the two confirmed their respective positions in such trivial conversation.

Congressman Morris still supports Mayor Ed, and that's enough.

Sun Zhiwei's side hasn't made much progress yet, but Tong Jiajia's side has already made a breakthrough.

Although he kept a close eye on Tong Jiajia, he didn't pay much attention to their conversation.

It's unclear when exactly, but Tong Jiajia had already taken control of the conversation and, using the story of encountering an abandoned baby at the hospital entrance as a starting point, began discussing her "Angel's Hut Project."

With just an old story and a few photos of babies obtained from the police station, Tong Jiajia successfully aroused the maternal instincts of the ladies present.

After learning about what Tong Jiajia was planning to do, the mayor's wife was the first to express her support, and the other wives echoed her sentiments.

(End of this chapter)