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

Chapter 804 Second Uncle Gets Promoted, Fang Qingye Goes to Help the Poor

Firecrackers bid farewell to the old year.

Red plum blossoms welcome the New Year.

Lunar New Year's Eve has arrived again. Just like every Lunar New Year's Eve, the Four Seasons Nursery is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and is filled with the joy of the festival.

Of course, there were also differences. Unlike previous years, Fang Qingye's one-year-old son, Yangyang, had already started to walk and followed behind the adults to join in the fun—he was supposed to be helping, but he was actually causing trouble, which added a bit of childlike fun to this reunion night.

The New Year's Eve dinner was still plentiful, with braised crucian carp, crab roe fish balls, braised pork belly, and black cabbage with vermicelli. Three families, four generations, gathered together for a lively and joyous occasion.

Of course, the happiest family was Fang Qingye's second uncle, Fang Jianhua.

First of all, my cousin Fang Qinglin is about to graduate from his senior year of college and is preparing to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at MIT in the United States. He has already received his admission notice and Fang Qingye has volunteered to cover all the expenses.

This is the first time in the Fang family to study abroad! In Jinghai, a place that highly values ​​education, this is certainly a joyous occasion.

Also, my second uncle, Fang Jianhua, was promoted again and became the executive deputy county head.

This is the fourth-ranking official below the county head, the party secretary, and the full-time deputy party secretary; he's following the same path as Miao Hongbin.

Miao Hongbin has now been transferred from Wuyang to Pingdong District as the district head. Although it seems like a lateral transfer, Pingdong is the largest district in Jinghai, and its importance is incomparable to that of Wuyang, which has relatively backward economic conditions.

However, Fang Jianhua was very low-key and declined many congratulations, only inviting a few classmates and friends to a private gathering.

Of course, everyone here is family, and younger generations like Fang Qingye are offering toasts and congratulations with smiles, which he accepts with a cheerful smile.

Fang Qingye, holding a wine glass, smiled and said, "Second Uncle, I wish you all the best in your careers, from county magistrate to party secretary to mayor!"

“Ye Zi, Second Uncle is now the mayor,” Bai Ou, sitting next to Fang Qingye, corrected her.

Oh dear, I almost forgot about that!

It turns out that in December of last year, the state had already approved the application to change Nanxin County into Nanxin City, and the work of changing the county into a city officially entered the implementation stage.

This is what everyone has been hoping for.

Nanxin City has experienced rapid economic development over the past decade. By last year, its GDP had exceeded 1000 billion yuan, ranking second only to Pingdong District in the entire Jinghai City.

It has already formed a high-end manufacturing base for new energy vehicles, drone manufacturing, and electronic information.

After a county is upgraded to a city, local governments will have greater autonomy in areas such as finance, land planning, and urban construction, thereby enabling them to formulate policies more flexibly, attract investment, and promote industrial upgrading.

This will not only directly help enhance the city's brand image, accelerate the urbanization process and improve infrastructure, but also create more job opportunities by promoting the development of the secondary and tertiary industries, and ultimately transform the development results into improvements in public services such as medical care and education, so that residents can truly feel the transformation and benefits from "county residents" to "city residents".

Therefore, various regions are vying to apply.

The county has now established a leading group for the work, with various task forces under it, to complete the renaming of all institutions and units and the transfer of personnel, etc.

Fang Jianhua was appointed as the director of the office under the leading group to take charge of this matter, and he was extremely busy.

Fang Qingye immediately called him "Second Uncle Mayor" in a joking manner.

Fang Jianhua didn't correct him, and smiled as he drank the glass of wine that Fang Qingye had offered.

"Hey Xiao Ye, there's something else you might need to worry about," Fang Jianhua suddenly said, remembering something. "What is it?"

“Starting this year, the country has entered the stage of poverty alleviation. Jinghai is paired with Tianhan City in Shaanxi Province for assistance. The city plans to organize enterprises to visit Tianhan for investment promotion after the Spring Festival. Your name is on the list when the county submits the list.”

There's a historical context here: China's poverty alleviation campaign began in 2013, and by 17 it had entered a decisive stage of systematic and concentrated efforts. This was because half the time had passed, and what remained were the toughest challenges – deeply impoverished areas and special impoverished groups.

Tianhan City is located in the Qinba Mountains, one of the areas designated as deeply impoverished by the state. It was once listed as one of the 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas in China.

Poverty alleviation is of paramount importance.

But what about me?

"What could I do there? Jinghai Bank doesn't have any branches in Tianhan, and besides, our strength can't be expanded to the Northwest region. Huacheng Development is thinking of going there, but real estate companies investing there doesn't comply with industrial policies, and I doubt local developers would welcome it. It would be like taking away their livelihood. Not to mention the welfare factory," Fang Qingye replied with a smile.

He currently only owns these three companies under Nanxin Holdings.

"Don't forget, you're also the chairman of Ele.me and ByteDance. A leader from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development specifically mentioned in a speech that, in addition to traditional industries and relocation-based poverty alleviation, special attention should be paid to the role of the internet and e-commerce in poverty alleviation. Through 'internet-based poverty alleviation' and 'e-commerce-based poverty alleviation,' we can help impoverished areas access a broader market, effectively connecting local resources with external demand, injecting new momentum into poverty alleviation—that's your forte!" Fang Jianhua said.

“But Uncle, ByteDance and Ele.me are not registered in Jinghai, so strictly speaking, they are not companies in Jinghai,” Fang Qingye corrected.

"Haha. You're the chairman of the company, so your business in Jinghai is Jinghai's business!" Fang Jianhua laughed.

"This"

“Xiao Ye, your second uncle said that poverty alleviation is a major national policy, and the whole society is talking about it now. Since you have the ability, you should go. It's also a way to support your second uncle's work,” said Fang Jianwen, the father sitting next to his grandfather.

Even Grandpa Fang Guisheng spoke up, saying, "Xiao Ye, your father is right. In ancient times, this would be called doing good deeds and accumulating virtue!"

Since the elders in the family all thought so, Fang Qingye had no choice but to say, "Alright then. Actually, it's not difficult to make charitable donations, but real investments need to be professionally evaluated. I'll communicate with the senior executives of Ele.me and ByteDance and hear their opinions."

“Alright, I can’t put you in a difficult position. When it comes to business, you can’t do it knowing you’ll lose money,” Fang Jianhua said.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, the two families watched the Spring Festival Gala with Fang Guisheng and his wife in the living room for a while before returning to their respective homes. Fang Qingye and Bai Ou took their child back to her parents' home for a visit.

The Bai family only has one daughter, Bai Ou. On New Year's Eve, the elderly couple felt quite lonely at home. So after leaving the nursery, Fang Qingye drove to his parents-in-law's place to watch TV and chat with them until the Spring Festival Gala ended before returning to his own neighborhood.

My son had already fallen asleep, so I decided to leave him at my mother-in-law's house.

It was already 1 a.m. when they got back to wash up. The couple lay in bed, and Bai Ou didn't seem sleepy yet. They talked about the poverty alleviation project that her second uncle had mentioned.

“I think it’s a good thing. Now that the business has grown, we should do more charity work to give back to society.”

Perhaps due to her liberal arts background and law background, Bai Ou places great importance on social welfare. After becoming the CEO of Tuofa Technology, she has been engaged in charitable activities in the name of the company or herself.

Last year alone, the company participated in the 2016 Internet Public Welfare Service Month series of activities, donated 2000 million RMB in the name of the company, and personally donated 300 million RMB to the "Xinglin Chunyu Action" free clinic and assistance project for children with cerebral palsy.

They are also actively preparing to establish the "Tuofang" internet fundraising information platform, etc.

After listening to his wife's words, Fang Qingye smiled and said, "Poverty alleviation is not just about public welfare and charity, but more importantly, it's about empowering people to fish rather than just giving them fish. I'll go and see if there are any good cooperative projects later."

"Mmm," Bai Ou said, hugging Fang Qingye tightly.

(End of this chapter)