I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 202 Shi Jingsheng is trying to win you over.
After finishing his meal, Fang Qingye drove back to the county town. He didn't go to the nursery but went straight home.

After arriving home, Fang Qingye lay down on her bed in the bedroom, turned on her phone, and saw an orchid avatar flashing on QQ. It was a message from Bai Ou.

"Ye Zi, are you back from fishing?"

"I just got back," Fang Qingye typed. "Let's video chat."

"Just a sec."

A while later, the other party sent a video. In the video, Ai Ni Bai Ou was sitting on the bed wearing pajamas and hugging a large teddy bear, her hair still wet.

"I just finished taking a shower," the girl explained.

"Aren't you going to blow-dry your hair? Be careful not to catch a cold."

"It's okay, let's talk about it later. Hey Yezi, what did Shi Jingsheng and you talk about?" the girl asked curiously.

Fang Qingye briefly recounted her conversation with Shi Jingsheng to Bai Ou.

"Oh, Shi Jingsheng is trying to win you over," Bai Ou laughed.

"There is a bit of that in it," Fang Qingye didn't deny.

"Also, I think Shi Jingsheng's point about the social dynamics in county towns makes a lot of sense. My mentor once did a social research project that investigated the rule of law in county towns."

"His conclusion was that in a county town, relationships far outweigh legal rules. You only have a chance to get ahead if you have connections and good relationships with friends. Relationships determine success or failure."

"As for rules, abilities, talents, and skill levels, everything is secondary. What matters is not how many people you know, how many channels you have in various industries, how many things you can open doors for, and how well you can navigate the gray areas."

In the video, Bai Ou talked about his mentor's research.

"Your mentor is right, this is reality, so you have a long way to go as a legal professional," Fang Qingye joked.

"Ye Zi, you're considered a somewhat powerful person in the county now, so you can't do anything illegal," the girl cautioned.

“How could that be? Besides, I’m not interested in all this intricacies,” Fang Qingye said.

“I know you have a long-term vision, and it’s not limited to this small county town.”

"No, I just want to lie down!"

The two joked around for a while, and Fang Qingye urged Bai Ou to hurry up and blow-dry her hair before turning off the video call.

As Fang Qingye lay in bed, she recalled what Shi Jingsheng had said. It wasn't the same old story about the underworld in the county town; such arguments frequently appeared on the internet in later generations, so it wasn't surprising.

However, it was Shi Jingsheng's mention of Song Qingdong's company cutting corners in the construction of the industrial park that alerted him.

It's none of my business if you cut corners on the roads, but don't try anything funny with the gas company's construction! Things like pipeline construction are a different story; if something goes wrong, it'll be a major disaster!
It will kill people!
Thinking of this, Fang Qingye picked up the phone lying on the bed and dialed a number. He didn't call Song Qingdong, but called Wang Chenyang directly.

After answering the phone, I noticed some noise on the other end and could faintly hear singing, as if it were coming from a karaoke room.

"Chenyang, are you singing?" Fang Qingye asked.

“Yes, a friend invited Mr. Fang to come over for some fun,” Wang Chenyang said.

"Hehe, I'm not really interested in that stuff. Chenyang, let's find a convenient place so I can ask you something."

"Okay, wait a moment."

After a while, Wang Chenyang's voice came through the phone: "I've left the karaoke bar, tell me now."

"Are you aware that Song Qingdong's company cut corners when building roads in the new energy industrial park?" Fang Qingye asked bluntly.

"I really don't know why you're asking this?" Wang Chenyang on the other end of the phone was a little confused, but he quickly realized what Fang Qingye was going to say.

"Mr. Fang, are you worried that similar problems might occur during the construction of our gas company?"

“Yes.” Fang Qingye spoke frankly to Wang Chenyang: “These businessmen in the county are used to cutting corners and consider it perfectly normal. We can’t do that. What if something big happens in the future because of a little bit of profit? You need to be careful about this!”

"Don't worry, Mr. Fang. Several of us executives discussed this in a meeting. Mr. Jie is a tech guy, so he knows the importance of this," Wang Chenyang quickly explained.

"That's good, but we can't let our guard down. Keep a close eye on things from a financial perspective!"

"OK, I see."

After chatting for a couple more minutes, Fang Qingye hung up the phone.

The next day, Fang Qingye went out and passed by Shijiaba Market, where he met Song Dahai, who was maintaining the city's appearance. He couldn't help but ask about it.

"I heard that Longtai Construction, a subsidiary of your Kerry Group, cut corners during the construction of roads for the new energy vehicle industrial base, and it was exposed?"

"Holy crap! You actually knew about this too?" Song Dahai was very surprised.

"In such a small county, how could we not hear about something happening?" Fang Qingye replied, then asked, "The new energy vehicle industrial base is a key project for the county, and many people are watching it, yet your father doesn't care?"

"This really isn't my dad's fault," Song Dahai said in a low voice.

"If anyone's to blame, it's my older brother. He was in charge of this project. I'm not saying this about him, but he's too focused on profit and loss and likes to cut corners. But it's already being reworked."

That's it!

"Hey, Yezi, don't talk nonsense. My older brother will be unhappy if he hears this," Song Dahai warned.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it to myself," Fang Qingye quickly replied.

"Alright, I'm off to work." Song Dahai said, then walked towards a vendor: "Hey, you can't set up a stall here, get out of here!"

Fang Qingye also rode away on his scooter. He suddenly thought about whether the decline of the Hou Kairui Group was also related to the personality of Song Dacheng, Song Dahai's brother.

Should I offer some advice?
Fang Qingye quickly dismissed her own idea.

If Song Dahai were in charge of the Kerry Group now, I could try to persuade him based on our friendship, but Song Dacheng...
His relationship with me was very ordinary, just a nodding acquaintance, not even as good as his relationship with his father, Song Qingdong.

Even Song Qingdong himself shouldn't be saying this now; it's a private matter within the Kerry Group, and he's just meddling.

Don't think about this anymore.

It rained again last night. At noon today, Fang Qingye, wearing sandals and with her trousers rolled up, was cleaning the ditches in the nursery with a hoe, trying to drain the water out of the nursery.

After finishing her meal, Bai Ou came over to help. The girl didn't mind that there was mud and water everywhere and picked up the dead branches and leaves on the ground.

Her grandparents came over to persuade her, but the girl wouldn't listen.

"Looks like I need to hire someone quickly." Fang Qingye bent over and worked for a while, then felt a soreness in her back, which was often the case when she wasn't working.

"You're not even as good as your grandfather," the girl teased him.

“He’s never suffered since he was a child, unlike our generation, who have done all sorts of work and endured all sorts of hardships,” Fang Guisheng chimed in.

“When I was your age, I was building reservoirs and dams. I would carry 200-pound loads and run all the way. Back then, we couldn’t even get enough to eat.” Fang Guisheng began to boast about his glorious past again.

Fang Qingye was a little annoyed.

This story has been told countless times; my ears are tired of hearing it.

Of course, it wasn't appropriate to say anything to Grandpa's face, so I could only get back to work and silently endure it.

Just then, Fang Qingye's phone rang. He took it out, looked at it, and said, "It's County Chief Miao on the phone."

(End of this chapter)