Official title: Refused to stay at the university, started his career in a rural town.

Time flies, and December has arrived.

The investment promotion announcement for the Ninghe County Electronic Information Technology Park was published in the Handong Daily and Ningzhou Daily for more than a month.

The fax machine was spitting out inquiry letters that piled up half a table, and the phone at the Ninghe County Investment Promotion Bureau rang non-stop from morning till night.

The county party committee and county government oversee the entire process of preliminary review and re-review, and one of the top two leaders must be present at each audit.

The joint working group from the Investment Promotion Bureau and the County Economic Commission was responsible for the specifics. After half a month of screening and two rounds of review, the final list was submitted to Yang Fan on December 10th.

He sat at his desk, while outside the window, the first snow of Ninghe County fell silently, and a thin layer of fog covered the windowpane.

The list includes eleven companies, each accompanied by the audit comments issued by the working group.

At the very front of the list is Huaqi Communications.

This company doesn't need any review comments; their entry into Ninghe was entirely due to their senior's support. They're a rising giant in the global telecommunications equipment industry. Their project is the manufacturing of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) base station equipment, with a planned investment of 150 million yuan, covering 200 acres of land, and expected to create 3,000 jobs.

Yang Fan turned to the second page, his pen nib pausing briefly on the paper.

Hanjiang Phoenix Instrument Factory is a leading precision instrument manufacturer in Hanjiang Province, with a market value of over 7 billion yuan.

Phoenix Instrument Factory's supply chain, which includes optical lenses, precision molds, and electronic components, connects dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises. It is a key player in the industrial development plan of Hanjiang Province and has applied for a research and development base for mobile phone camera modules and precision molds.

Page three: Hanjiang Lingtong Microelectronics, a newly established company last year. With a registered capital of ten million yuan, its founder, Zhou Mingyuan, is 32 years old and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He returned to China two years ago. Last year, the company developed China's first PHS baseband chip with independent intellectual property rights. Although the yield rate is less than 60%, it has already secured a trial order from Jinghai Tongda Communication.

The project they applied for involved the research and development of baseband chips and small-batch trial production. The company was very small, with fewer than forty employees in total, tucked away in an old factory building in the southern mountainous area of ​​the Han River, without even a reception desk.

However, the review comments included ten words personally written by Yang Fan: "Technologically advanced, recommended for key support."

Fourth on the list is Jingzhou Guangming Electronics Group, with a market value of 10 billion yuan. It is the leading company in the electronic information industry in Handong Province, with state-owned background, and ranks among the top three in the country in the manufacturing of picture tubes and monitors.

When Yang Fan turned to the sixth page, his finger suddenly stopped.

Ruilong Group – Ruilong Electronics.

The proposed project is the assembly and sales of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) terminals, with a planned investment of 40 million yuan and a land area of ​​150 mu (approximately 7 hectares).

In the review comments section, the handwriting of Zhao Changhe, director of the Economic Commission, was clearly written: "The company has complete qualifications, a registered capital of 40 million yuan, two existing production lines, and a technical team of 30 people, including seven doctoral students and 18 graduate students, which meets the admission standards."

Yang Fan stared at those words for a long time.

The snow outside the window was falling heavier and heavier. He flipped through the list again from beginning to end. He went through the background, technical strength, and financial situation of each of the eleven companies in his mind. Large enterprises have industrial influence and can quickly draw up the framework and upstream and downstream of an industrial park.

Small businesses with core technologies are the future competitiveness of the park. Everyone on this list is doing a great job. Zhao Changhe is a capable person in terms of business.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the forty-watt light bulb on the ceiling, closed his eyes, and his mind raced.

Zhao Ruilong, that kid, his eating habits have changed!

Back in Qingping Township, he barged directly into Wu Xiang's office, sat in his chair, slammed his fist on the table, smashed the ashtray, and demanded controlling interest in the cooperative.

Back then, Zhao Ruilong would pick his teeth with a toothpick, flick vegetable leaves onto his desk, and talk to two junior section-level cadres without even lifting his eyelids.

Later, he learned his lesson and invested real money to build the Ruilong Ecological Tea Garden in Qingping. He cooperated properly and his smile became so polite that he seemed like a completely different person when they met.

Now they're in Ninghe again!

Yang Fan opened his eyes and turned back to the page for Ruilong Electronics—it had all the necessary qualifications and met the entry standards.

Everything was done according to the rules. There were no special treatments, no underhanded dealings, and we were selected using the same standards and procedures as the other ten companies.

Yang Fan leaned back in his chair, pointing to the approval conclusion of Ruilong Electronics. After thinking for a moment, he closed the list, picked it up, and went to Su Shunda's office.

Su Shunda was reviewing documents when he saw Yang Fan come in. He put down his pen, took the list, and flipped through it from beginning to end.

He nodded when he saw Hanjiang Phoenix Instrument Factory and Jingzhou Guangming Electronics, glanced at Lingtong Microelectronics a few more times, and paused his finger on the paper when he saw Ruilong Electronics.

He put on his reading glasses and carefully went through the list again, finding that there wasn't a single one that skirted the rules.

No company lacked materials, no company's qualifications were questionable, and no company received special treatment or was maliciously rejected during the review stage. All eleven companies were clean and tidy.

After all, their transparent process leaves no room for deception.

"Let's go find Secretary Liu." Su Shunda stood up.

Liu Xiangdong's office was moved to the far east end of the third floor. When the two entered, Liu Xiangdong was staring intently at the "List of the First Batch of Enterprises to be Settled in Ninghe County Electronic Information Technology Park" on the table. He had already received the fax and had been looking at it all morning.

Yang Fan and Su Shunda sat down on the sofa. Liu Xiangdong, smoking a cigarette, looked at the conclusion word by word, put it down, and tapped his fingers on the list.

"Eleven companies! Huaqi, Phoenix Instrument Factory, Guangming Electronics—these are all industry leaders, and the rest are all showing good development. It seems that China Merchants Group has been quite efficient this past month."

"Huaqi was facilitated by Handong University," Yang Fan said.

"After Professor Sun's joint laboratory framework was finalized, Huaqi submitted its application. Phoenix Instrument Factory and Guangming Electronics applied on their own. After receiving the applications, we sent people to conduct background checks. At Guangming Electronics, people from Jingzhou Guotou even called to inquire about the situation."

"Lingtong Microelectronics," Liu Xiangdong turned the page.

"The registered capital is only ten million, the number of employees is less than forty, and the rented factory building doesn't even have a reception desk."

"This is the smallest, but the core technology is indeed leading. It has a PhD from MIT and the first domestically developed PHS baseband chip with independent intellectual property rights—something that large state-owned enterprises can't develop in a short time. Small companies are flexible, willing to take risks, and capable of breakthroughs. Since the review team unanimously recommends key support, I agree."

He turned to the last page, his gaze lingering on a certain name.

Ruilong Electronics.

Liu Xiangdong read that page twice. He looked up, glanced at Yang Fan, and then at Su Shunda.

The office was quiet for a moment, and the snow outside the window fell even more heavily.

Liu Xiangdong held the list in his hand and weighed it in his hand, as if assessing its significance. After a while, he looked up at Yang Fan.

Are all companies subject to the same audit standards?

"We agree," Yang Fan said.

"The announcement conditions are open and transparent. The preliminary review and the review are all recorded with the signatures of the working group. The scores, qualifications and review process of each company are all on file, and the same set of standards are used."

"As long as it's fair and just, that's fine! Just follow the rules!"

Hearing Yang Fan's words, and knowing about Yang Fan and his past, Liu Xiangdong thought about the several audits he had participated in and realized that they were indeed quite strict.

He even rejected a medium-to-large-sized enterprise that he thought was likely to win the bid.

Liu Xiangdong slowly smoothed the list with his fingers, remained silent for a few seconds, then unscrewed the pen and signed his name on the last page. His handwriting was neat and precise, each stroke precise and even.

"Since the conditions are met, let's submit the application! I'll report to the municipal party committee and government this afternoon. If everything goes smoothly, we can start construction this year! Then we can have a great New Year in the science park!"