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

Song Jianshan had just picked up a piece of pork rib when his chopsticks stopped in mid-air.

He was indeed taken aback—he had heard the story of the Qingping Miracle mentioned before when he attended a meeting in the province.

At the time, someone from the Provincial Agricultural Commission said that Qingping Township in Handong had adopted a cooperative model, which increased GDP tenfold and per capita income more than thirtyfold. He thought it was a problem with the statistical methods.

Zhang Wen seems to have done his research carefully; it doesn't seem like he's just bragging.

Even with a small base, this data is incredibly impressive!

"Come on, let's eat and chat." Zhang Wen picked up his bowl and shoveled a big mouthful of rice into his mouth.

"Xiao Yang, tell me, how did you manage to get Qingping like that? It's a poor, mountainous area with no resources and no transportation, and you're saying you managed to get Hengtong Group to invest 60 million yuan and even sell our mountain products all over the Han River. Explain the ins and outs of this to me."

Yang Fan put down his chopsticks and looked around, finding that it had become quiet.

The cadres sitting at the next few tables all put down their chopsticks at the same time. Some took out their notebooks, some tilted their ears, and a few leaned forward, holding their chopsticks still in their hands.

He was the only one left at his table still talking.

He took a breath and slowed down his speech.

"Since Mayor Zhang wants to hear it, I'll give you my report. Qingping is indeed a poor place. With an average income of only 200 yuan per person, eight college graduate cadres have left in nine years. When I went there, the township party secretary told me, 'This place is beyond saving. You're the ninth one. If you can stay, stay; if you can't, leave as soon as possible.'"

"If there's anything worth mentioning about Qingping's progress to this point, it's not any particular project or statistic, but rather that it has solved a core problem—why do the people trust you and dare to work diligently with confidence?"

Yang Fan picked up the enamel mug.

"I told them that they could make money doing this. They said they believed me, but they didn't really. They've seen too many officials who say nice things when they come in, but leave without even saying goodbye."

Yang Fan put the enamel mug down.

"So the first step isn't to promote the technology, but to let people see it. For the three pilot trees, I found some paper bags and an old farmer, saying that if there were any losses, I would cover them. After all, the bagging technology is actually quite mature in some respects; what's lacking is the trust of the fruit farmers."

"The second step is to gain people's trust. When it was being promoted throughout the township, not all farmers believed it—many were just observing. The township decided to purchase paper bags in bulk, and the township party committee called all the village party secretaries to a meeting and read the document about the free distribution three times in front of them. Once it was done, the farmers were more willing to cooperate when other projects were promoted the following year."

"The third step is to motivate the cadres and the masses. We set up a cooperative, with government guidance, village collectives and farmers holding shares, and the township government holding a symbolic 1% share—mainly for supervision. Farmers elect their own chairman and set their own profit-sharing plan. The township does not interfere in the operation, but it has a veto power over quality—anything that could damage the brand cannot be done even once."

Yang Fan paused, then tapped his finger lightly on the edge of the table.

"In short, it all boils down to one thing—get the people to see you, trust you, and then they will naturally move forward. What the government needs to do is pave the way, set the rules, and stop those who want to get involved in cooperatives."

"Similarly, the cadres in Qingping are subject to performance evaluation—who promoted which project, who solved which problem, and who upheld which bottom line, no matter how big or small, all of which are recorded in their files. When it comes to promotion, we don't look at who is close to whom, we just look at this file."

"So Qingping went from less than 200 yuan per capita to more than 6,000 yuan per capita, and it's increasing every day. This is because as long as someone blazes a trail, people will follow suit."

"Well said!"

Zhang Wen slammed his hand on the table, picked up his chopsticks, pointed at Yang Fan, and turned to Song Jianshan.

"Old Song, did you hear that? 'To forge a path,' doesn't that apply to Jinghai and Pingzhou as well?"

He turned back to look at Yang Fan.

"So what do you think about the promotion of PHS phones here? Do you think this thing can be rolled out to towns and even rural areas?"

"Yes, but we'll have to do it differently." Yang Fan put down his chopsticks.

"Personalized mobile phones are different from regular mobile phones. Mobile phones follow a strategy of full coverage and high tariffs, while Personalized mobile phones follow a strategy of low cost and precise coverage. The tariff strategy in urban areas cannot be the same as that in rural areas—urban users should be supplemented, and rural users should be the main users. The tariffs should be segmented according to user profiles, with free incoming calls for urban users and low-cost outgoing calls for rural users."

As Yang Fan spoke, he sized up the two high-ranking officials in front of him. Zhang Wen's eyes shone brightly, while Song Jianshan, who had initially been indifferent, went to ask his secretary for a notebook and jot down a few sentences.

The people nearby listened intently. Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. Even a small town with a harsh environment can find all sorts of development ideas and succeed. How could they, with their better coastal conditions, not have even better ideas?

Looking at the quiet crowd around him and hearing the constant rustling of notes, Yang Fan spoke while inwardly smiling bitterly. What the hell was going on?!

"The operators themselves won't actively promote this system."

"Because the investment is large and the payback period is long. But local governments can act as catalysts—providing policies and subsidies to attract operators and build the first batch of base stations. Once the market takes off, operators will naturally increase their investment. Ultimately, it's a matter of coordinating interests. The government's role is to give operators a push when they can't calculate the costs."

Zhang Wen slowly ate a mouthful of rice, put down his chopsticks, and wiped his mouth with a tissue. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the young man in front of him—around thirty years old—sitting at a long table in the canteen, surrounded by a group of cadres of higher rank than him, who told him to "give it a push."

This isn't about courage; it's something only someone who's actually done it can say.

Those who haven't worked their way up from the grassroots level wouldn't dare say that. Those who haven't actually sat down and negotiated with telecom operators, investors, and township officials wouldn't utter such words.

"County Chief Yang," Zhang Wen said, placing the tissues on the table.

"The things you just mentioned—wall-mounted base stations, the 3x3 pricing system, tiered pricing—these aren't things you could just come up with out of thin air. Wasn't that the same style you used when you were calculating payments with the farmers in Qingping? Alright, let's eat first. Once you've rested properly at noon, we'll go to the production base together this afternoon for a good look, and we can talk as we go!"

He stood up and patted Yang Fan on the shoulder.

"Xiao Yang, today's meal was well worth it, I benefited a lot!" Zhang Wensong let go of Yang Fan's hand and looked him up and down again.

"With your brains, it's a blessing for Handong, but Pingzhou might be a better platform!"

Upon hearing this, several accompanying officials from Pingzhou exchanged glances in the canteen.

Who is Zhang Wen? He is the 45-year-old mayor of Pingzhou City, a high-ranking official at the provincial level, known for his pragmatism and strength in the Hanjiang political arena.

If someone takes a liking to you and actually comes to Hanjiang, it's like your career is developing at lightning speed.

Yang Fan's face stiffened.

Boss Pei is great, but right now Handong University is definitely more appealing to me!

Zhang Wen carried the plate away, and Song Jianshan, with his notebook tucked under his arm, reached out and shook hands with Yang Fan as he passed by.

"County Chief Yang, I also think the co-construction and sharing plan you just mentioned is very good. We can sit down and chat about it another day in Jinghai."