50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 709 The Suspicious Paqian Old Village
The team leader was named Zhou Zhenhai, and he was the only person in the team who knew Sun Zhiwei's identity as a major shareholder.

He immediately understood the main purpose of this inspection mission from Sun Zhiwei's words: everything was to cooperate with Mr. James, and everything else was trivial.

"Mr. James, should we really invest locally?"

"That depends on the results of your investigation. If there are really valuable projects in the area, investing some money is not a problem."

Even if this place is ordinary and there are no valuable projects, we can't be stingy.

"You can make a targeted donation based on their cooperation."

"For example, sponsoring local out-of-school children, setting up a scholarship, building a school, or donating a few vehicles to the local police station are all suitable projects."

"If it is a pure donation, the amount should not exceed 100 million yuan. These donations are considered as a thank-you fee to the local government, and there is no need to supervise how the funds are used."

It's not as detailed as Sun Zhiwei wanted to go into; the main issue is that most of the members of the inspection team came from Hong Kong Island and other places.

They lack understanding of the national conditions in mainland China, and their interpersonal skills are rather awkward, which can easily lead to conflicts.

This practice of "extortion and bribery" has been around for a long time; it has existed in every dynasty, and it is more prevalent in remote areas.

This cannot be eliminated simply by strict supervision.

Besides, they didn't come here specifically to cause trouble, so if you're going to do someone a favor, just be generous and don't end up pleasing neither side.

On the way to Xishuangbanna city, Sun Zhiwei set the tone for the inspection team's actions, which made things much easier afterward.

They fully cooperated with Sun Zhiwei whenever he needed them, and when they had nothing to do, they would collect data in the city and analyze the local economic potential.

In fact, the authorities have sent experts to investigate the characteristics and specialties of every county and city across the country countless times.

Whenever needed, each county can produce expert investigation reports and point out its own advantageous projects.

The key issue is that these regions simply lack funds and are merely investing in projects based on their local advantages.

Especially for some inland cities, they will only be able to develop when the national real estate prices soar and local governments can make money by selling land, and then they will have the first money to revitalize the local economy.

A few hours later, the city hall's welcoming team, along with the inspection group, arrived at the city's best hotel and settled in.

It's quite strange, but it seems that no matter where you are in the country, even in the poorest county, there is always a top-notch hotel that can be used to entertain guests.

These hotels are generally at least three-star, and they are named after the local city: [Hotel Name].

They checked into this Xishuangbanna hotel that day.

The next day, Sun Zhiwei and the inspection team split into two groups.

He went to investigate clues about the veterans himself, while the inspection team stayed at the Xishuangbanna Hotel and had the city hall send relevant materials over for analysis.

When the city hall heard that the inspection team wasn't actually planning to travel all over the city, they were even happier.

No one knows the situation in the county towns of the autonomous region better than the city leaders.

If the inspection team wanders around aimlessly, not to mention the disruption it will cause to various places, the safety of the team will be difficult to guarantee.

You have to understand, this is a border province, where not only are the people fierce, but bandits from outside are also quite common.

I first saw it back then; a large number of concept work teams were killed here.
Now the inspection team is preparing to stay in the hotel and review the data, which is perfect; everyone gets what they need, and everyone's happy. So, the city hall quickly provided the original local investigation reports left behind by previous economic investigation teams.

They were all loaded onto vehicles and delivered to the Xishuangbanna Grand Hotel.

The delegation was allowed to freely peruse the intelligence and analyze it.

Sun Zhiwei obtained the latest local map from the city hall and headed straight for a place called Paqianlaozhai in the border region.

The veteran named Yanlong's hometown is in Paqian Village. The last place Sun Zhiwei called two days ago was the village office of Paqian Village.

That is one of the villages in southern Xishuangbanna that is closest to the border. Just across a mountain and a river, you can reach Laos.

The river behind Paqian Old Village is called the Lancang River, also known as the Mekong River.

The straight-line distance from Xishuangbanna Prefecture to Paqian Old Village is only 30 kilometers, but in reality, they are separated by several rivers and dozens of mountains.

When we first left the city, the road conditions were fine, but as we drove along, the national highway quickly turned into a rural road, and finally into a narrow mountain road.

Sun Zhiwei had no choice but to abandon the car and take out a motorcycle to continue his journey.

The road behind them was so narrow that cars could not pass through at all, and even the all-encompassing postman could only reach the more distant villages by bicycle.

Paqian Old Village is located at the end of this mountain path.

Sun Zhiwei set off from the hotel after lunch, originally expecting to reach Paqian Old Village, 30 kilometers away, in two or three hours.

As a result, it got dark and he was still wandering around on the mountain road.

This place is truly a case of "looking at a mountain makes you feel like you're running yourself ragged." It's not far at all on the map, but it took us five or six hours to get there.

He was riding a motorcycle; if he were on a bicycle or on foot, he would probably have to walk from dawn till late at night.

At 10 p.m., a loud rumble broke the tranquility of the mountain village.

Sun Zhiwei rode his motorcycle up the winding mountain road and finally arrived at his destination: Paqian Old Village.

He was covered in sweat, and his clothes were blackened by dust. He looked so disheveled that he had never been seen like this before.

By the time he parked his motorcycle in front of the village secretary's house, he was too exhausted to even curse.

The road wound its way through mountains and valleys, turning what was originally thought to be a 30-kilometer journey into a mountain road of over 300 kilometers.

The journey involved frequent crossings of mountains, and the roads along the way were in terrible condition. The dust kicked up by the motorcycle almost buried him.

Along the way, he experienced several bad things, such as getting lost and missing intersections, which almost completely drained his energy and spirit when he set off.

However, when he saw the panicked look on the old village chief of Paqian Old Village, he perked up again.

A few days ago, when he received a phone call at the hotel, he felt something was off.

It's strange that the old village chief who answered the phone didn't seem to care at all about the missing Yanlong family and didn't ask Sun Zhiwei for any information related to Yanlong.

Yanlong had been training at Pinkerton for over half a year, and he sent money home every month. He didn't believe the old village chief was unaware of this.

(End of this chapter)