Me! A high-ranking official!

After the speeches, the ribbon-cutting ceremony began. Etiquette ladies carried a tray covered with red silk onto the stage, and leaders including Zhou Qingyan, Wang Dongqi, and Qi Linshan lined up. Accompanied by the deafening sound of electronic cannons, golden scissors fell in unison, announcing that the Luojia Village planting base had officially entered the construction phase.

After the ceremony, the main group did not disperse. Following the established procedure, Zhao Jianguo, as the guide, led the county's cadres to various project sites for on-site observation.

"Distinguished leaders and colleagues, please follow me." Zhao Jianguo, holding a portable megaphone, walked at the front of the group, leading everyone along the newly leveled farm road to the vast land transfer site in the south of the village.

At this time, two large rotary tillers could be seen working in the fields, turning over large swaths of black, oily soil.

Zhao Jianguo pointed to the boundless fields before him and explained in detail: "This is the 500 mu of land we transferred in the first phase. We adopted a four-in-one model of Party branch + company + cooperative + farmers. In the past, the villagers worked independently, planting traditional corn and wheat, relying on the weather for their livelihood, and had very poor ability to resist risks. They could only earn a few hundred yuan a year from a mu of land. Now, with the village collective taking the lead, the land has been transferred to Hotan Company to create a high-value-added organic Chinese medicinal herb and specialty cash crop planting base. The villagers can not only receive a guaranteed land rent every year, but also be freed from heavy farm work and directly enter the base to become industrial workers, earning double income."

A village secretary from another town raised his hand and asked, "Secretary Zhao, land transfer is easy, but how do we dispel the villagers' concerns and get them to willingly hand over their land? Our village has also tried land transfer, but many elderly people would rather leave the land barren than sign the agreement."

Zhao Jianguo nodded and replied, "This is a very practical question. In Luojia Village, we make the accounts public and have Party members take the lead. We not only clearly calculate the income per mu and post it on the village committee's bulletin board, but we also require all members of the village committee and Party cadres to take the lead in signing contracts. At the same time, we clearly stipulate a breach of contract compensation mechanism in the contracts, with the town government acting as a third-party supervisor. When the people see that the cadres are taking the lead in tying their lives and fortunes to the contracts, and that the government is there to back them up, their sense of trust is naturally established."

As everyone listened, they nodded in agreement, and many took photos and videos with their phones.

After visiting the planting base, Zhao Jianguo led his team back to the village and arrived at a newly renovated bungalow next to the village committee. A green sign hung above the door: Luojia Village Environmental Protection Bank.

Pushing open the door, the interior is furnished like a small supermarket, with shelves neatly stocked with daily necessities such as rice, flour, oil, dish soap, soap, and toilet paper, and a prominent points redemption rules chart hanging on the wall.

"This is another key initiative our village has been implementing recently: the Environmental Protection Bank." Zhao Jianguo walked to the shelf and picked up a bottle of shampoo. "As you can see, the goods here are free; they are earned through points. Villagers can earn points by collecting cardboard and plastic bottles, cleaning up weeds in front of their houses, or participating in village voluntary labor. These points are then credited to each household's personal savings account."

He opened a ledger on the table, stamped with a red seal, and showed it to everyone: "The core of this model is not about how much stuff we distribute, but about changing the villagers' lifestyles. Before, the village was littered everywhere, but now everyone picks up cigarette butts they see on the road in order to accumulate points to exchange for things. Through these small material rewards, we have stimulated the environmental awareness of the whole village, and at the same time, we have brought about tremendous changes to the village's appearance in a short period of time."

Deputy County Head Qi Linshan picked up a bag of salt, looked at it, and turned to the cadres around him, saying, "This is a good idea. It achieves great results with little money, and it not only solves the stubborn problem of rural environmental sanitation but also enhances the cohesion of the village collective. Each town should go back and study it carefully to see if it is feasible to promote."

After the site visit, everyone returned to the spacious courtyard of the village committee and found seats. Zhao Jianguo stood on the front steps, ready to give the highlight of today's meeting: a report on work experience.

Facing hundreds of eyes, including the county's top decision-makers, Zhao Jianguo took a deep breath and began to articulate the thoughts he had already prepared in his mind.

"Distinguished leaders and colleagues, standing on this stage, I feel quite apprehensive, because I don't think I've accomplished anything earth-shattering; I've simply done the work that a village-based cadre should do. If I had to share any experience, I would summarize it in three sentences."

Zhao Jianguo raised the first finger, his voice steady: "The first point is to keep accounts transparent and to be sincere. As everyone knows, I recently conducted several online live-streamed political consultations. Many people thought it was just for show, but that's not the case. Why is rural work difficult? Because of information asymmetry. Because the people think that we cadres are doing things behind closed doors, that there are shady dealings involved. I did the live streams to expose the village's financial accounts, work accounts, and even the conscience of the cadres to the light of day. When the people realize that you do everything without selfishness and for their own good, they will naturally treat you as one of their own. That complaint letter sent to the county was the highest reward the villagers gave me."

The audience was completely silent; everyone listened with utmost concentration.

Zhao Jianguo raised his second finger: "The second point is to not shirk historical burdens and to dare to take on hot potatoes. Luojia Village had a lot of bad debts before, including illegal land occupation, unclear accounts, and so on. If I turn a blind eye to these problems in order to seek stability and only do superficial work, then Luojia Village will always be a stagnant pool. To solve grassroots problems, we can't be bricklayers who try to smooth things over everywhere. We must dare to cut out the tumors and clear up the old debts so that new development can start with a lighter burden."

He lowered his hand, his gaze sweeping across the crowd, and stated his third point with conviction: "In conclusion, it's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. When we're working on poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, it's not enough to just give the village a grant to build a square. That's like giving blood, not creating blood. Like environmental banks changing habits, or planting bases creating industries, what we need to do is leave the village with a sustainable mechanism, an industry that can generate its own income. Only when the people's pockets are truly full and they can stand tall can we, as village-based cadres, truly complete our mission."