I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 148 Coach Zhang is bewildered

After bragging to these programmers who play games all day, Coach Zhang finally got back to working on the rosy copy for the artists.

He personally handled these kinds of documents, so he didn't need a dedicated secretary to write them for him.

In fact, after the "Thousand Artists Team" project was established, more than 1,700 people came to register in Chengdong District of Jiangning City, but only 223 people actually stayed in Chengdong District for a few days.

Most people were still taken aback when they saw the desolate wilderness of the eastern part of the city. There were small mountains, mines, abandoned railways, and large cemeteries...

However, since "Zhang An Health" carried out a second phase of construction here and then set up an engineering equipment skills training school, it's not exactly deserted.

There are still a dozen or twenty villages around.

Most of those who come to learn forklift and excavator operation are locals, and many are farmers from nearby villages. Having a local household registration in Jiangning City is an advantage, as it gives them priority when they go to work as loading and unloading workers in warehouses of various factories.

Forklift operators don't earn high wages, but if a warehouse manager knows how to operate a forklift, their salary can be much higher, probably an extra three or four hundred yuan a month.

The logic here is that the warehouse manager's forklift driving skills are considered a skill bonus, which is a bonus for the boss player; while the forklift operator is an NPC for the boss player.

To put it bluntly, it's very difficult for someone who isn't the boss to be a warehouse manager.

Of course, that's how private enterprises all started. Large enterprises wouldn't be eyeing such a small position as warehouse manager; that would have to be for a CEO, CFO, or something similar.

Today, the canteen, part of the logistics department of the "Zhang'an Education" and "Zhang'an Industry" corporate alliance, has been separated and incorporated into the management system of "Zhang'an Food".

Too many people.

Originally, Fengyi County only wanted to try out the mushroom greenhouses near "Zhang An Hope Primary School". Uncle Zhang's idea was simple: to sell a little bit to a few government offices, schools and enterprises in Shazhou City.

As a result of scientific guidance and strict planning, the output was not low, and the sales were quite stable, at least last month.

But this month is different. This month, all of Zhang Da'an's companies are expanding their recruitment, and with the vocational training institution officially opening and the issue of establishing a secondary vocational school to be negotiated in December, things are getting a bit scary.

It's not that the production of shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, etc., is insufficient; the production is more than sufficient. The key issue is that the output value has been driven too high, alarming both Fengyi County and Pengcheng City.

When Coach Zhang was painting a rosy picture for people, Uncle Zhang followed suit, but you didn't say whether the rosy picture was actually big and round or real.

Uncle Zhang figured that earning 100,000 or 200,000 would be about right.

Several old men from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences also thought that if they could earn two or three hundred thousand yuan, it would be considered as generating income and pointing out a clear path for farmers in impoverished rural areas.

So, by the time Coach Zhang finished writing his speech, "How to Make Money as an Artist," how much revenue had the mushroom cultivation pilot base near Zhang An Hope Primary School in Chenzhuang Town, Fengyi County, generated this year?
Four million five hundred and eighty thousand yuan.

It exceeded expectations by two, three, or even forty times.

This is troublesome; we have to keep it a secret.

Because if it gets out, it'll be all over. Everyone around will rush to grow mushrooms, then the quality won't be consistent, leading to vicious competition and prices will keep falling...

People in Fengyi County are very familiar with this scene. Ten years ago, there were not only big white pears by the Dasha River, but also apples.

Apple has now simply shut down.

Ten years ago, we also planted medicinal herbs, but everyone rushed into it, and then it all died out.

Ten years ago, I even kept scorpions as pets...

That was a complete mess.

I was genuinely scared, so I didn't dare spread it around. Even the local production team had cadres from Chenzhuang Town work on me to keep my mouth shut.

Including the production team's shares, the total profit could be around 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, with an average dividend of 13,000 to 14,000 yuan per household. Since there are many children born locally, the average household size is six or seven people, so each person would receive about 2,000 yuan.

If I do the math, isn't this much better than farming?

So even though the town officials kept pressing and repeatedly issued orders, they still couldn't stop people from asking how much money the mushroom production team had made.

The village officials stammered, the town officials mumbled incoherently, and the villagers in the production team laughed and joked...

I buy "Little Scholar QQ Candy" every day!

Children's experiences are different. When "Tang Monk's flesh" and "rat droppings" need to be shared by half the class, if someone suddenly achieves "little champion QQ candy freedom", then the whole school must know about it.

When the whole school knows, it's only a matter of time before the whole town knows, just as it's only a matter of time before the whole county knows.

The county had no choice but to bite the bullet and carry out the publicity campaign.

This poverty alleviation work is excellent! This income generation work is excellent! Chenzhuang Town has beautiful scenery...

As for Director Zhang, who started eating dog meat like crazy in the fall, he was completely baffled when a reporter from the city's TV station came to interview him.

If you ask him about the construction progress of "Zhang An Hope Primary School," he knows it like the back of his hand. He keeps an eye on it every day, and he even knows the names of the dogs on the construction site.

But if you ask how he made money growing mushrooms...

"I don't know, this question really stumped me. I just asked people from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to come and help, and after the white mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms grew, we transported them out. But we also eat them ourselves on the construction site, and we eat them at the school too. In October, we eat fried oyster mushrooms, three to four thousand catties a day..."

"Who were these mushrooms sold to? Director Zhang, would you mind telling us?"

"I don't know. I always thought they were sold to schools and enterprises in Shazhou City. But after checking the accounts, I found out that they were also sold to some factory and training center in Chengdong District of Jiangning City. I asked around, and there weren't many people there. Some of them were locally sourced and then resold in the market. I don't know why the sales suddenly improved."

"..."

The reporter looked bewildered and asked the camera to pause. Then, the reporter said to Uncle Zhang, "Director Zhang, if it's a trade secret that's inconvenient to disclose, that's fine. Just say which market you opened up. Then mention your original intention. Yes, what about Wugang Middle School? Not junior high school. Original intention, it should be written like this... original aspiration, original aspiration, why did you initially plan to start the mushroom cultivation poverty alleviation project... You didn't intend to do poverty alleviation? Was it just to make use of the extra land in the production team? You can't say it like that, Director Zhang. You're a cadre, how can you not understand this? You should say it's to find a way out and development for the masses, to build a better life..."

The reporter from Pengcheng City had initially thought that Director Zhang was an outstanding cadre who was wise, brave, and resourceful, and who thought about what the masses thought and was anxious about what the people were anxious about. However, after chatting for a few minutes, his illusions were shattered.

If it weren't for Uncle Zhang's handsome appearance, the reporter really wouldn't have wanted to talk to him much. Even though he was only wearing a jacket, Zhang Zhengdong, because he had his wife with him, always looked very imposing, except when he was a little covered in dust at the construction site. The "county magistrate" looked like a lackey next to him.

It has a strange feeling of a high-ranking leader dressed as a white dragon.

This feeling is so right now!
The people of Fengyi County never imagined that opening up the market and making big money would be such an easy thing. The only problem was the road. The villagers who accompanied the truck were practically carrying grenades on the road.

Oil thieves are everywhere within a hundred miles, and some even operate in groups.

Thanks to the reputation of the people from Fengyi County, the people from Peicheng County have also benefited. Now everyone around Pengcheng knows that there is a place in Fengyi County where people are particularly united, with more than 17,000 "brothers" and a deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit.

This has led to some long-distance truck drivers in the city now liking to write "Fengyi Dashahe" on their truck's railings.

It has a pretty good deterrent effect on "oil thieves," and there is no difference between "Da Shahe" and "Da Shahe."

I'm just trying to make a living, who wants to risk their life?

But those guys in Fengyi County really know how to have fun.

That's how rumors get distorted over time. What was initially just a rumor that people had been transferred from Jinan City has now spread to the point of a standoff on both sides of the Dasha River.

The people from Chenzhuang Town went out to say that I didn't go at all, but he was expelled from Fengyi County by people from other places.

Do you, a local from Fengyi County, know more about Fengyi County than I, an outsider?

These legendary rumors, combined with the fact that the mushroom cultivation pilot base had made money, naturally distorted the story. Moreover, during the period when the "three-time champion" emerged, Uncle Zhang was exposed as the "three-time champion's" uncle, and that he had remained single until he was forty years old in order to raise the "three-time champion" to adulthood.

Back then, young women in Pengcheng would form groups to hitch a ride and see what Uncle Zhang looked like.

I must say, he really is quite handsome.

The only downside is that we got married.

Teacher Li Jiawen was so angry that she almost went on a hunger strike. So after coming to Pengcheng to be with her husband, she had no intention of leaving him alone here. She would rather die far from home than leave her husband behind.

Now things are great. My husband is handsome, kind-hearted, and down-to-earth. He can build Hope Primary Schools, lead people to get rich, and even produced a "three-time champion"—such an auspicious thing! Young girls and widows who are attracted to Uncle Zhang's body can line up all the way to Yishui City.

Uncle Zhang single-handedly accomplished the achievements that Fengyi County had painstakingly made over the past five years. The key point is that the villagers were quite convinced of his abilities and didn't complain about another official trying to swindle them out of their money.

They can start work in an orderly manner when they say they will, and they can learn skills when they say they will. By December this year, they will have launched their twentieth training class just for the profession of bricklayer.

As previously planned, the construction of the "Zhang'an Hope Primary School" project was intended to train approximately 100 to 500 qualified construction workers, who would be skilled workers, mainly in the fields of masonry, steel reinforcement, and waterproofing. Strictly speaking, masonry is not a single job, but rather a combination of multiple jobs, requiring proficiency in various skills.

The reason why the bricklayer is highlighted separately is because Uncle Zhang's good nephew reminded him that in the countryside, once people have a little money, there are three good things to do: build a house, get married, and have children.

Of course, there are also bad things: eating, drinking, gambling, whoring, and smoking.

Therefore, Uncle Zhang strictly forbade gambling on the construction site. Although Fengyi County was not wealthy at that time, the gambling scene was quite exaggerated. Bundles of cash were placed on the tables of gambling dens in the countryside. Hundreds of thousands of yuan were not uncommon.

Moreover, lookouts, undercover agents, messengers... all were present.

The surrounding villages where Zhang's family lived in Wuxing Village were all similar in the past. Uncle Zhang knew this very well, so he didn't trust the local police station at all. Instead, he directly selected people from among the students' parents to organize a "new joint defense team" or a "gambling-catching team".

These students' parents are now also working on construction sites, and some have been introduced to the second phase of the "Zhang An Health" project.

When it comes to taking responsibility, Zhang Zhengdong, who has served in the military and as a school principal, is indeed much better than his beastly nephew Zhang Da'an.

Zhang Da'an doesn't care whether you gamble or not. If you gamble yourself to death, what does it have to do with him? If someone cuts off your hands or feet, what does it have to do with him?

However, Zhang Zhengdong himself was not fully aware of this; he always thought he was simply carrying out his nephew's supreme instructions.

My nephew is the smartest person in the world. All he has to do is ask how to do it and then do it.

Because he didn't think things through, the reporter from Pengcheng City was completely stuck during the interview. Uncle Zhang was in pain, and the reporter was in even more pain.

As the interview ended, the reporter could still hear the echo of "I don't know" in his ears.

Fortunately, the interview went smoothly, and Uncle Zhang's handsome photo appeared on television once again.

"...As a state cadre, it is my bounden duty and my lifelong responsibility to seek a way out for the masses and promote development for the people. We must not only ensure that the masses have enough to eat, but also that they eat well. We must think about what the masses think and be anxious about what the people are anxious about. Poverty alleviation and prosperity is a tough battle. I was once a soldier, and no tough battle can frighten me. Similarly, it cannot frighten my comrades who fight alongside me, nor the outstanding masses who wholeheartedly support our work. I believe..."

"Nonsense, how could he say something like that?"

When Zhang Da'an saw the reprinted report from Jiangkou TV, he immediately thought it was 100% bullshit. His uncle couldn't possibly be that cultured.

Coach Zhang, who thought he was a master at making empty promises, figured that if his uncle used this method, wouldn't the local villagers be in high spirits?

Even wearing a T-shirt in the dead of winter makes me feel hot and energetic. If I don't work for Director Zhang, who else can I work for?

Zhang Da'an had no idea how significant this matter was; the province had only given him a helping hand, yet Uncle Zhang was reported on by higher authorities.

Not much, just a small square in a newspaper.

However, over the decades, there have actually been very few people who have been qualified to have their entire story reported in the small square.

Uncle Zhang himself remained unperturbed; he even invited the villagers to invite those who came from afar to eat "turtle stewed with dog meat."

There's a key line here, which is the only thing Uncle Zhang said during the interview that he elaborated on: "Poverty alleviation and wealth creation is a tough battle, and I used to be a soldier..."

The first sentence was adopted by the government in official media, while the second sentence was widely disseminated in military newspapers across the country.

This incident left Zhang Da'an completely bewildered; it was truly bizarre.

(End of this chapter)