The Rich Man's Life Begins with a Comeback

Chapter 250 Encouragement and Difficulties (4k)

Inside a private room in Changbai Snow Town, with a rustic charm.

Just as Gu Heng, Zhao Hongbo, and the others had almost finished eating the goose, ribs, mantis shrimp, chicken, and stewed pork in the original iron pot, the restaurant removed the original four iron pots and replaced them with four new ones.

After adding firewood and fuel, the pot lid was reopened not long afterward.

"Gulu gulu..."

Each of the four steaming iron pots contained a large fish.

The rich and savory aroma of the fish soup filled the entire private room the moment the pot lid was opened.

"It smells so good!"

Wang Wanning had been listening to Gu Heng and Zhao Hongbo talk, and she barely spoke throughout the conversation, only occasionally stealing glances at Gu Heng. The admiration in the girl's eyes gradually intensified.

At the same age, Gu Heng was already able to lead industrial investments worth hundreds of millions of yuan and negotiate terms with many local leaders.

That kind of demeanor, that kind of composure, that kind of attitude—it was hard for Wang Wanning, who had always been goal-oriented and full of ambition for the future, not to admire her.

In comparison, the boys of the same age in school are incredibly immature.

"Mr. Gu, Ms. Wang, this contains stewed black carp, bighead carp, river carp, and gudgeon."

After opening the pot lids, Zhao Hongbo introduced the four iron pots to Gu Heng and Wang Wanning one by one: "Apart from the black carp, the other three types of fish are specialties of our Jilin Province."

"The bighead carp comes from Chagan Lake, the river carp comes from the Songhua River, and the gaya comes from Zhuanshan Lake. They are all live fish, caught this morning by fishermen in their winter fishing nets. These four fish pots have been simmering over low heat in the kitchen before we even ate, and the heat should be just right now."

Compared to when they first met, Zhao Hongbo was noticeably more enthusiastic.

“Try it…”

Gu Heng personally picked up an empty bowl, ladled a bowl of fish soup for Wang Wan Ning, and gently placed it beside her.

"Thank you, Brother Gu Heng~"

Wang Wanning felt a surge of excitement and whispered her response to Gu Heng.

"Thank you for your warm hospitality, Director Zhao."

Gu Heng served Wang Wanning a bowl of fish soup, then picked up his wine glass and toasted Zhao Hongbo, saying, "Wanning, it's your first time in Jilin, and you're already able to taste such authentic Jilin cuisine. I really have to thank Director Zhao."

"Eh……"

"If you say that, Mr. Gu, I'm truly ashamed."

Zhao Hongbo quickly raised his glass and waved his hand repeatedly: "Zhencui Group is a leading enterprise in the high-end catering industry in Jilin Province. For me to talk about food in front of Chairman Gu would be like showing off my skills in front of Guan Yu."

"Since Chairman Gu has come to Changbai Mountain today, we must do our best to be good hosts. If we can make sure Chairman Gu and Miss Wang have a good meal and feel good tonight, that would be our greatest success."

Zhao Hongbo spoke with utmost sincerity, and regardless of how much of it was true or false, his words were indeed very comforting to hear.

"very good!"

"Director Zhao, tell the truth."

"If I were to arrange Wan Ning's first dinner in Kyrgyzstan today, I probably wouldn't be able to do it so comprehensively and with such distinctive Kyrgyz characteristics."

Gu Heng handed over the wine glass at the right moment: "Director Zhao, thank you for your trouble. Let me toast you."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongbo quickly handed over the wine glass.

Gu Heng glanced at the wine glass, which still contained about a third of the local specialty wine. He paused slightly when the rim of the glass touched his lips, then with a slight flick of his wrist, he drank the entire glass in one gulp.

"Chairman Gu has a good capacity for alcohol!"

Seeing this, Zhao Hongbo followed Gu Heng and also drank it all in one gulp.

By this point, Gu Heng had already drunk about half a jin (250ml) of liquor.

If it were just regular Moutai, half a jin might have made Gu Heng feel a little drunk, but right now Gu Heng wasn't very drunk, but his body was definitely feeling a bit hot.

That's awesome...

Gu Heng was having some doubts.

Seeing that Gu Heng's glass was empty, Zhao Hongbo picked up the unlabeled glass bottle on the rotating table and tentatively asked Gu Heng, "Chairman Gu, would you like another glass?"

"This one……"

"Half another glass, please."

"If we're still not satisfied later, I'll switch to plain white wine and drink with everyone."

Gu Heng said with a smile, "I have to say, this wine is indeed quite strong, but at my age, I'm really not in a position to enjoy it."

"Hey……"

"It's nice to be young."

Zhao Hongbo instantly understood what Gu Heng meant. Looking at Gu Heng's youthful face, he couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart.

As they were talking, Zhao Hongbo poured Gu Heng only half a glass, as Gu Heng had requested.

"Brother Gu Heng, why did you pour half a cup again?"

"If you drink any more, you..."

Wang Wanning paused, thinking of the special effects of the local specialty wine in front of her, and her fair face couldn't help but blush slightly: "Can your body handle it?"

"That's the last half glass, I won't drink any more."

Gu Heng responded with a smile.

"That……"

"Can I have a taste?"

Wang Wanning looked at the pale yellow liquid in the glass with a slightly curious expression.

"Then I'll pour you some."

As Gu Heng spoke, he reached for the wine bottle on the swivel table, but before he could do so, Wang Wanning quickly stopped him. "I..."

"I'll just take a tiny sip from your glass."

"This way, we can avoid waste, and you can drink a little less."

After Wang Wanning finished speaking, her pretty face flushed even more.

"Row."

Gu Heng naturally had no objections. He extended his index finger and pushed the wine glass towards Wang Wan Ning, then looked at her with interest.

Wang Wanning picked up the wine glass, her rosy and delicate lips gently touching the rim. Then, she carefully lifted the glass and tentatively took a small sip of the wine.

"hiss……"

"so spicy!"

Wang Wanning only took a tiny sip before quickly putting the glass down again, sticking out her tongue from the spiciness: "It's a bit bitter!"

Seeing this, Gu Heng couldn't help but smile slightly: "This kind of homemade specialty wine usually has a higher alcohol content than the white wine on the market, and it is infused with a lot of precious Chinese herbs, so it naturally tastes both spicy and bitter."

"Cocktails are still the best."

Wang Wanning pushed the wine glass back in front of Gu Heng with her fingertips, muttering to herself, "It has alcohol content and tastes very good."

The restaurant brought out four more fish pots midway through the meal, interrupting their serious conversation. Now that the other people had left the private room, the conversation quickly returned to normal.

"Director Zhao, since its establishment, our Zhencui Group has always focused on the high-end catering industry. We have zero experience in the field of Chinese herbal medicine cultivation, so we need to start cultivating our talent pool from scratch in this area."

"Currently, our group is communicating with Jilin University's College of Agriculture and Jilin Provincial Agricultural University, and is also contacting domestic headhunting companies to recruit professional and technical talents nationwide. We plan to cultivate the talent ecosystem of our Zhencui Group's Chinese herbal medicine planting base through school-enterprise cooperation and targeted recruitment."

As the private room gradually quieted down again, Gu Heng looked at Zhao Hongbo and started talking about business again.

Cultivating Chinese medicinal herbs is a technical skill, unlike the cultivation of ordinary agricultural products.

Different herbs require vastly different growing conditions.

Some medicinal herbs may require a humid environment to grow well, while others must be kept dry.

Temperature, humidity, light, soil, organic matter, sowing, storage...

Sometimes, a single mistake can ruin everything.

In the early stages, Zhencui Group was able to handle things like liaising with the government and securing policy benefits, thanks to its existing talent team. However, when it came to matters truly related to the cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs, Zhencui Group was completely clueless.

Fortunately, Gu Heng had Deloitte China to assist him, and through professional consulting, the talent pool for Zhencui Group's Chinese herbal medicine planting base was built.

From the top strategic decision-making level, to the middle technical management level, and then to the bottom technical execution level.

The specific technical personnel required at each level are clearly listed.

Agronomist, plant protection expert, soil engineer, agricultural machinery engineer, traceability system administrator...

The sheer number of professional positions is dazzling.

As the saying goes, "every profession has its own secrets," and if it weren't for the professional consulting from Deloitte China, he wouldn't have known that the cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs was so complex.

Currently, Gu Heng has entrusted the development of agricultural science talent teams at the planting base to Zhuang Hanyu, the executive president of Dingdun Capital, who is in charge of liaising with Deloitte China to fill the vacant positions.

The strategic decision-making level looks at the whole country, the technical management level looks at the whole province, and the technical execution level looks at the local area. After all, the local area has given so many policies, so they have to leave some benefits for others.

"Chairman Gu, does your group have any requests in this regard?"

Upon hearing Gu Heng's words, Zhao Hongbo immediately understood that Gu Heng must have some ulterior motive; otherwise, Gu Heng would not have brought this up without a reason.

"Director Zhao, it's easy to hire people, but difficult to retain them."

Gu Heng said meaningfully, "Most of the outstanding technical talents in the agricultural science field that our group is currently contacting are already married and have established their careers. If we ask them to leave their families and wives and children to work here, even if they agree temporarily, they may not be able to stay in the end without good policies to support them."

Just before the fish hotpot arrived, Gu Heng and Zhao Hongbo had basically finished discussing the policy dividends in the three major areas of land resources, financial leverage, and policy support. What Gu Heng is now mentioning is the fourth major area: the talent ecosystem.

"Director Zhao, our group offers annual salaries of over a million to those top technical talents in the agricultural science field. You should know that the personal income tax rate in China is really too high."

"Look at the Changbai Management Committee, could you offer some incentives for attracting outstanding talent? Could you reduce the individual income tax for our top technical personnel at the planting base through methods like individual income tax rebates?"

Gu Heng didn't beat around the bush with Zhao Hongbo and the others; he stated his demands directly.

"In addition, Chinese herbal medicine planting bases are usually built in places far away from the city. When our planting base is established, could the Changbai Management Committee open a customized bus route to facilitate the commuting of local employees of the planting base in the future?"

Currently, all provinces and regions across the country have talent introduction policies.

In general, there are three main directions: cost optimization, living facilities, and commuting guarantees.

Tax rebates, children's education, medical resources, elderly care convenience, transportation subsidies, etc., are all within the scope of the talent introduction policies that the government can provide, and Gu Heng just specifically raised the requirements that his group needs.

"Customized bus routes, no problem."

"Once our planting base is built, the bus route will be opened immediately."

At this point, Zhao Hongbo changed the subject, his face showing some difficulty: "But to implement the individual income tax refund, we have to apply to the province, and there are strict standards. It's not like anyone can get approved. It's quite difficult."

"Director Zhao, I remember that when Leader Tan delivered his New Year's address to all outstanding entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan at this year's Kyrgyzstan Entrepreneurs' Dinner, he clearly pointed out that in 2024, Kyrgyzstan should continue to adhere to the principle of leading industrial upgrading with technological innovation, encourage enterprises to increase their efforts in technological innovation, and promote the deep integration of industry, academia, and research."

"It explicitly mentions the further development of technological innovation in the pharmaceutical and health industry and the biopharmaceutical field, and also clearly points out the need to continue to solidly promote rural revitalization, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, develop and strengthen rural industries, and deepen the distinctive brand image of Jilin Province rice, Jilin Province ginseng, etc."

Seeing Zhao Hongbo's distress, Gu Heng smiled and said, "Director Zhao, I think agricultural innovation should also be considered a form of technological innovation, right? It was because of what Leader Tan said at the Jilin Provincial Entrepreneurs' Dinner that I made up my mind to establish a 10,000-mu-level Chinese herbal medicine planting base in Jilin Province."

"Leader Tan offered encouragement, but when it came to actually implementing it, it became very difficult. I'd like to know, Director Zhao, what exactly are the difficulties you mentioned?"

The moment Gu Heng uttered those words, the entire private room fell silent.

All the leaders of Changbai, including Zhao Hongbo, were inexplicably sweating.

None of them expected that Gu Heng would bring up Leader Tan as he spoke.

Kyrgyzstan Entrepreneurs' Dinner!
New Year's Address by Leader Tan!
They were all climbers within the system, and they clearly understood what kind of signal Leader Tan was sending to the outstanding entrepreneurs of the province when he said those words on that occasion.

Especially Gu Heng's last question, which carried a hint of accusation.
Currently, the youngest and most outstanding entrepreneurs in Jilin Province are responding to policy calls by investing and developing in rural areas.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongbo and the others had incredibly interesting expressions...

(End of this chapter)