I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 153 You Hold a Big Meeting, I'll Hold a Big Meeting Too
Zhang Da'an didn't inquire about his uncle's potential career path in detail. He believed that the results would come out soon, and he could roughly judge the timing just by looking at a person's appointment.

This person is Qiu Jianmin.

Qiu Jianmin, who originally only planned to retire, actually made three leaps in a short period of time. However, he was passive, pushed along by the bureau and the city. The education investment company was so professional and successful that Wudu City and Jiangkou Province wanted to create a model enterprise in the education industry. So, when they were pushing Zhang Zhengdong forward, they also took Qiu Jianmin along.

Qiu Jianmin lived up to expectations, proving himself to be a very competent "old captain" who provided protection and support.

Before the Chinese New Year, Qiu Jianmin went to the provincial capital to attend a meeting, accompanied by Wu Dushi. However, this meeting was not an official one, but rather called the "Inaugural Meeting and First Member Meeting of the Computer Art Education Committee of the Art Education Promotion Association".

The main participants were Apple Inc., the Shangmei Branch of Jiangning Art Academy, and art education experts and scholars from renowned universities across the country, including Ryukyu. Qiu Jianmin was there as the CEO of Jiangkou Province Shazhou Education Investment Company.

Within Shazhou City, Qiu Jianmin certainly doesn't have the same reputation or standing as Zhang Zhengdong.

However, to outsiders, Qiu Jianmin is undoubtedly the top leader.

There was no need for Old Man Qiu to make any statement; he was just there to join in the fun.

Wu Dushi naturally had someone explain it to him.

"President Qiu, in the Chengdong District of Jiangning, President Zhang set up a unit specifically for a 'team of a thousand painters,' the one that caused quite a stir before. The province attaches great importance to this and wants to combine computers with culture and art. This requires experienced senior colleagues to lead the team, especially those with strong relationships with powerful companies and individuals..."

Qiu Jianmin listened the whole time. He already knew that he would hand over the position to Zhang Zhengdong at most three years, since the original plan was for Zhang Zhengdong to take power.

The education investment company was just too advanced; not only did he not have time to react, but Shazhou City did not have time to react either.

The company's current level is the same as that of Shazhou City, only slightly lower than that of the Shazhou City Free Trade Zone. Where can we find a reason to complain about this?
Countless people in his old workplace are kicking themselves. If they had followed him out back then, they wouldn't have been sidelined like this.

Those who used to work under Qiu Jianmin were initially quite devastated, thinking their future was ruined. Before long, they completely let loose. One of them went too far and made too much money, so he was sentenced to two and a half years.

The company is full of busy young people, and Qiu Jianmin is the only older person there.

As for Zhang Zhengdong...

He doesn't do anything; he just spends his days tending to the private education department.

Of course, there's also Xindongweigang Middle School.

After all, Zhang Zhengdong is still the principal and headmaster of Xindongweigang Middle School, so he has a lot of prestige.

When Qiu Jianmin arrived in the provincial capital, he knew he had reached his destination. He thought he could just get off the train and leave, but he didn't expect that he would have to change trains.

No, I'm practically sixty by now, and you're giving me this nonsense?

Old Qiu knew nothing about computers or art, and he was completely baffled by all the Apple computer functions being performed on stage.

All he knew was that Jiangning Art Academy was a joint venture with Apple to establish Shangmei Academy, but as for what it did... he only knew Microsoft and Intel, and knew nothing else.

It wasn't until I attended a formal meeting that I learned he was being transferred to Jiangning, and that the headquarters of Shazhou Education Investment Company would also be moved from Shazhou City to Jiangning City.

The signs changed every year, from Shazhou to Wudu and then to Jiangning.

When the news reached Shazhou that day, the people at the Municipal Bureau were stunned. If they had known this would happen, they would have gone with Zhang Zhengdong even after sleeping with him.

This is too outrageous!
But that's not all. The special education funds that Jiangkou Province Shazhou Education Investment Company originally allocated to the municipal bureau have remained unchanged up to March of this year. Starting from April 1st of this year, the income from new investment activities will not be included in the original special education fund statistics.

Widespread lamentation and universal celebration occurred simultaneously in multiple departments of Shazhou City.

I've been annoyed by the Education Bureau's constant renovations of primary and secondary schools for a long time. Do you think you're the only one with the money?!
This incident caused a huge uproar in Shazhou City, but it wasn't a big deal in the province, as people weren't very aware of it.

When Zhang Da'an heard about it, he guessed that his uncle's future burden would probably lie in the new business.

He was quite curious about what new tricks the province could come up with, given its current state of constant change.

In fact, on the same day that the "Inaugural Meeting of the Computer Art Education Committee of the Art Education Promotion Association and the First Member Meeting" was held, Zhang Da'an also held a "Pie in the Sky Meeting" in the "Zhang'an Industrial Park", which is also the "Xianlin High-tech Industrial Park in Chengdong District, Jiangning City".

There were quite a few people attending the meeting, including people from the provincial labor and social security department, as well as some people from Beijing. The people from Beijing were mainly there because of the "Top Scholar Star" related industries, which allowed Su Xibai from Jinan City to truly experience the feeling of winning a big lottery prize.

Zhang Da'an once said in Jicheng that he could earn 100 million, which he naturally dismissed as nonsense, but if he could earn 10 million, that would be pretty good too.

"There are quite a few people here today, including leaders from relevant departments, some old business friends, and long-term partners. But what I'm about to say has little to do with them. Instead, I'll explain in detail what I'm trying to do with this 'team of a thousand illustrators' and what its purpose is."

"Let's start with the compensation and benefits, and get straight to the point. As the old saying goes, even an emperor won't starve his soldiers. The reason I haven't come here to show the specific future development prospects is to let those who come here experience the differences between the various companies. I still maintain that whether it's 'Zhang An Education,' 'Zhang An Food,' or 'Zhang An Health'... all of them abide by the 'Labor Law.' The 527 friends here today who are engaged in painting-related industries should have already verified this."

"Alright then, according to the current internship salary standard of 'Zhang An Education', the basic salary is 1,500 yuan a month. The meal allowance, transportation allowance and housing allowance are subsidies and are not part of the basic salary, so they are not included in it. Those of you who came early and joined early have already experienced it firsthand. I didn't bring you here just to fool you around."

"Secondly, the 15-level salary system implemented by 'Zhang An Education' will be implemented in different companies. The difference lies in the company's performance, that is, the final profit, and how much can be distributed. According to the principle of more work, more pay, the more you earn, the more you get. Therefore, there will be differences in the upper limit between companies, but the lower limit is the same. Before you can get the qualification for project bonus, the basic salary will increase by 15% per year."

“When I hold meetings in many places, I always use Han Tieguai, the former head of the Chinese language subject group and now the principal of the Jianggao branch of Xindongweigang Middle School, as an example. Principal Han is here today. Principal Han, please take this opportunity to say hello to everyone. I hope you will make more appearances in the future.”

Upon hearing this, Han Tieguai smiled, stood up, turned around, and waved to the attendees.

"Principal Han's starting salary was 150,000 a year, and 180,000 the following year, a 20% increase. This is due to the scarcity of high-end talent. After passing internal certification, Principal Han's professional skills are unparalleled within the company. The 20% increase is a sign of respect for high-end talent." "I don't think I need to explain the difference between 15% and 20%. You've been working like slaves in the 'Slave Art Studio,' so you should have a basic understanding of it."

"So, if the 527 artists and painters present today can improve themselves and reach the level of Principal Han, who can lead his team to generate substantial profits, then you too can start with an annual salary of 150,000, and you can also increase your salary by 20% every year."

"This is a small personal promise of mine, and the leaders from the relevant departments who are here today are essentially witnesses to it."

When Zhang Da'an finished speaking, applause erupted immediately, and the atmosphere was quite intense.

However, today's pie-in-the-sky promises are not just for artists and painters; suppliers, customers, government departments, and affiliated companies should also make promises.

Also attending the meeting today is "Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd.", which plans to recruit a large number of programmers from local universities in Jiangning City next year.

Labor and employment security departments also want to see if Jiangning City has done as well as Lin'an in this regard, and whether it can catch up with Luzhou in terms of employment and taxation.

Zhang Da'an's "Pie in the Sky Conference" is therefore particularly important.

"Now that we've talked about eating to fill our stomachs, let's talk about how to eat well and be full in the long run. If it's just about making a living, that's just being alive; but to eat whatever you want, wherever you want, and with whomever you want... that's what life is all about."

“If you just want to survive, you can still become modern-day slaves in a ‘slave art studio.’ Since you’ve come here, it’s like ‘a good bird choosing a good tree to perch on.’ Whether you become a phoenix or not depends entirely on your own efforts; whether I am a phoenix tree depends on how big a platform I can provide for you to develop.”

"The first thing is to add a 'Super Product Development Team' to the existing 'Wallpaper Product Development Team'. This team will focus on original artwork, game graphics, product aesthetics, product packaging design, and book cover design. All 527 of you will undergo training, selection, and competition after the New Year, and then be distributed among the various sub-project development teams of the 'Super Product Development Team'."

"The second thing is to establish a 'Consumer Electronics Product R&D Department.' On the existing organizational structure of the 'Top Scholar Star' project team, we will add a 'Digital Painting Product Development Team,' modeled after Wacom's graphics tablet products, to focus our efforts on developing our own alternative products, integrating hardware and software across the entire chain. This will prepare us for the preliminary R&D work of future key product projects. In this process, the art and painting team must fully cooperate with the engineering development team in functional research and provide timely feedback."

"The third thing is that 'Zhang An Education' has already secured the operating licenses for a vocational school and a junior college, and the 'team of a thousand illustrators' will pursue advanced studies in batches. Furthermore, in terms of vocational skills training, we will launch a professional qualification certificate similar to 'Zhang An Certification' within 'Zhang An Education.' Some relevant department leaders who came today are here for this purpose."

"The fourth thing, which is also an important goal after the platform's development period, is to create the province's strongest and largest cluster of emerging cultural industries, including animation, comics, games, and media. This is essentially retracing the path that foreign countries took decades ago. The process will certainly not be smooth, but given the current market size in China, it is possible to find a way by combining cultural industries with modern industrial products."

"The above four things constitute the basic plan for creating a platform for you. Not all of the 527 practitioners present today will stay to listen to my promises. But I believe that the vast majority will choose to stay. So, today's meeting can be considered as an employee meeting for a 'team of a thousand artists'."

"Whether we can stay, whether we can earn a steady stream of profits, whether we can extract a bonus pool from the profits, and whether we can realize our life value, personal value, and life value—I think we should work together in the future."

"To sum it up in one sentence: however much money you want, you can take it from my wallet, Zhang An, based on your own abilities!"

"Take whatever you can!"

After this part was finished, even Su Xibo, who had come to "beg for food," couldn't help but clap and cheer.

He also makes empty promises, but he can't be as straightforward as Zhang Da'an. It's not just that he's reluctant to part with the money, but also that doing so would easily lead to unfair treatment and various kinds of "dawdling" problems.

Those old-fashioned tea-drinking and newspaper-reading enthusiasts in government agencies are not unique to public institutions; they are also common in private enterprises.

Anything that can happen in the public sector will happen even more often in the private sector.

Nepotism is ten times worse, embezzlement is ten times worse, kickbacks are ten times worse, favoritism is ten times worse—it's all ten times worse…

Very few companies can survive for more than ten years. Every year, hundreds of thousands of companies are established, and just as many hundreds of thousands of companies go bankrupt.

A company that can make an appearance in a local tabloid is already considered a "dragon among the phoenixes"; one that appears frequently in a provincial newspaper must be a large-scale enterprise, a key enterprise, or a leading enterprise; and one that can make a splash in national media is undoubtedly an industry leader and a well-known industrial giant.

Su Xibo had no idea what Zhang Da'an was up to, but it was none of his business.

He only knew that his company's business could indeed be carried out in Jiangkou Province. The "Zhuangyuanxing" series of electronic dictionaries would use LCD screens, which he could make; they would also use LED display lights, which he could also make.

A market worth tens of millions is not a dream, and generating revenue of over 100 million is also not a problem!

What excited Su Xibo even more was that it was the first time he had ever seen himself sitting in the same row as so many experts and scholars from top universities, and when he looked up, he could even see the leading figures from important departments of Jiangkou Province.

That's so impressive!
At this point, the partners in the industrial chain were not yet closely connected with the "Zhang An Industry" enterprise alliance. However, when it comes to making promises, one can sense that Zhang Da'an was pursuing a long-term strategy rather than making quick money or engaging in one-off deals.

For supply chain partners, a large order is certainly great, but how to secure large orders in the long term is what they need to focus on.

Companies from other regions that were previously hesitant about moving into the "Zhang'an Industrial Park" are now somewhat tempted and are considering relocating a portion of their business to Chengdong District of Jiangning City.

Jiangning City originally intended to focus on developing its urban area and did not pay much attention to the suburbs. However, because Zhang Da'an was very generous, the province brought forward the renovation plan for the old provincial highway from the eastern part of the city to the "Shanghai-Nanjing Line" to start this year.

The Chengdong District will also share some of the project funding, which will be used for the expansion and enhancement of Xianlin Road.

For the 527 artists and painters who had been feeling anxious, their worries finally subsided. Whether Zhang Da'an would really make a fortune remains to be seen; they can only say that they are at least able to eat their fill and not starve. Whether they can actually eat whatever they want is still up for debate.

However, unlike the days when you were treated like a slave, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief now. And Zhang Da'an won't exploit you to the point of exhaustion to get an Audi A6, and he won't stop in front of you to show off how prestigious the car is.

that's enough.

This is enough to allow those cattle and horses who are tired of painting to re-outline the general outline of their former dreams.

(End of this chapter)