I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 88 Mayor Liu's "Golden Rice Bowl"

Secretary Liu of Jiangning Chengdong District, whose plans had changed somewhat, used his connections to find Liu Jingbo, the deputy mayor of Mazhou City. The two were indeed from the same large family, both belonging to the Gaodong Liu clan, only their ancestral halls were different.

Liu Jingbo's branch moved to Dongxing in Mazhou City, hence the name "Dongxing Hall"; although Secretary Liu worked as a secretary in Chengdong District of Jiangning City, his hometown was at the southernmost end of the Qinhuai River in Chengnan District, near the Laishui River, which was called Laizhu in ancient times, hence the name "Laizhu Hall".

The clan culture in Jiangkou Province disappeared very early and is not as strong as that in the eastern and western parts of the region, but when people need to get together, they can still talk about it.

We were really one family five hundred years ago.

"Mayor Liu, this is Liu Yuanshan. I apologize for bothering you..."

I called Liu Jingbo in advance, and Secretary Liu was very polite, without putting on any airs of a provincial bureaucrat.

After exchanging pleasantries, Liu Yuanshan hung up the phone, overjoyed. He immediately gathered his men and headed straight to Mazhou City.

It's not far, only an hour or two away, just across the Jiyang Yangtze River Bridge.

In Mazhou City, Liu Jingbo also gave a heads-up and then went to the hotel ahead of time to wait for Liu Yuanshan.

"Boss, the Jiangning City Chengdong District wants to talk business with General Manager Zhang. It doesn't really concern us, does it?"

"You don't understand. Shazhou City has been eyeing this business for two or three months. This 'Top Scholar Gold List' can reach 200 million, but this Boss Zhang... hey."

Liu Jingbo smiled and shook his head. What could he say about Zhang Da'an's decision to give up the hundreds of millions of yuan so easily? He could only admire him.

Regardless of any deeper meaning, that's not important. What's important is that even if they're just fishing, they're willing to invest heavily.

That's not just ten or eight yuan.

Even Guan Changsheng, the current vice president of "Zhang An Health", is a senior executive of a "large-scale enterprise". Where can he not be a big shot?
"Then... what does it have to do with our Mazhou?"

"You."

Liu Jingbo smiled and shook his head again, pointing to his secretary. "Whether this 'Top Scholar's List' sells well or not depends entirely on the brand. And who does this brand rely on? Isn't it because Boss Zhang is the top scholar? It's all about mutual benefit. This year, the Xindongweigang Middle School Mazhou Branch opened. If next year's top scorer in the college entrance examination really comes from here, then the 'Top Scholar's List' gift box will have an additional title on it..."

"In other words, it can also serve as advertising for the Mazhou branch school. Within the Yangtai metropolitan area, the effect will be exceptionally good. After all, the Mazhou branch school is located locally, so local residents have a local advantage when they enroll. No wonder General Manager Zhang set a target of '10+20'."

“Listen to him talking about ten plus twenty. This young man can’t possibly have such a small appetite. Zhang An Health in the eastern district of Jiangning should be ramping up production this summer to make more money. Would he really just throw away a hundred or two hundred million? If he can’t even handle a hundred or two hundred million, then he needs more than that.”

At this point, Liu Jingbo turned to the side and subconsciously lowered her voice, "If we follow the tuition standards of the elite schools in Taihu and then turn the Mazhou branch into a standard secondary school, the revenue from tuition alone will exceed 150 million."

"..."

“You have to understand, even on a national scale, his business is unique; there’s no other like it. He himself is indeed, as he says on TV, the core technology of ‘Zhang An Education.’ Otherwise, why would the Shazhou City Education Bureau cooperate with him so readily? Is it really that simple?”

"It's really strange. He's had one top scorer in the middle school entrance exam and two top scorers in the college entrance exam in just three years. If he's the top scorer again next year, no one can take his business away from him."

"So he made a guarantee to Jiangning City that he wouldn't take his business there or poach teachers from Jiangning City for three or five years. But it's hard to say. If his 'Zhang An Health' moves from Chengdong District of Jiangning City, let's see if he poachs people. He'll have grounds to argue then. It's Jiangning City's Chengdong District that's being unreasonable first, so why should I reason with them?" "Boss, he's only eighteen years old. Is it really as exaggerated as you're saying?"

"He's an eighteen-year-old billionaire..."

Liu Jingbo looked at his secretary as if she were an idiot, but he was actually quite pleased, because the secretary's ignorance highlighted his own level of discernment.

In fact, Mazhou City was also considering whether to take this opportunity to have Zhang Da'an place part of "Zhang An Health's" production capacity in Mazhou City.

It's about attracting investment.

It's easy for people from Jiangning City to point fingers at us. These days, it's common for people to compete for investment opportunities, but they generally don't try to take over from the provincial capital; it's usually just districts and counties fighting each other.

Occasionally, a county-level city might try to steal investment from a prefecture-level city, but that's usually due to internal "rebellion."

For example, Shazhou City and Shanghu City have adopted the practice of going to Hongqiao Airport in Luzhou to pick up investors who are going to Wudu for inspection and then directly picking them up by bus to their homes.

The people from Wudu's investment promotion department went there in empty buses and returned in empty buses. Only the telephone lines leading to Shazhou and Shanghu were extremely busy, with a "Van Fleet equivalent" in terms of power.

However, Shazhou City also has its reasons. The investors didn't land at Wudu Airport; they went to Luzhou. So why should I let the clients I attracted through my own efforts go to waste?
Besides, we're all part of Wudu City, why are we being so formal with "yours" and "mine"? It's too distant!
Such situations of "fierce competition" are common within prefecture-level cities, but Jiangning City is unique in that it usually doesn't try to grab what it already has.

In most cases, local officials rush to the provincial capital and take up their posts with a large amount of investment.

While waiting for Liu Yuanshan, Liu Jingbo made a private phone call to Xiao Xiangzi to find out how President Zhang was feeling.

I heard that General Manager Zhang was in a good mood. After giving an internal lecture, he even went fishing in the border river. Mayor Liu immediately felt completely relaxed.

Very good, very energetic!
As long as he's in a good mood, he can negotiate. Although he's in charge of education, it doesn't mean he has no task of attracting investment at all.

The Mazhou branch of Xindongwei Port Middle School is one example, but it can't be the only one. The derivative economy surrounding the Mazhou branch is absolutely essential.

This includes manufacturing industries such as printing and packaging products. Liu Jingbo didn't have high demands; he just thought about mentioning to Liu Yuanshan that they should invest part of the printing production line in Mazhou.

It doesn't need to be too big; a few hundred thousand yuan is enough to get started, which is considered a small project.

But once you get started, things are completely different.

Mayor Liu is now betting that "Zhang An Health" will rapidly increase its production, and then the printing volume of gift packaging will be impossible to reduce.

Becoming one of the suppliers of "Zhang An Health" packaging products is like getting a "golden rice bowl" – a job that's not too big, not too small.

The real challenge is figuring out how to bring it up with Liu Yuanshan.

(End of this chapter)