At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

But Cao Weidong was unable to retaliate.

Not only could he not lash out, he even breathed a long sigh of relief. Because compared to the first agreement, which was a political red line that could cost him his job, this second agreement just barely crossed the line he could tolerate.

By exchanging two undeveloped peripheral commercial plots for the absolute core of the planned central axis, the county perfectly resolved the deadlock of not having enough funds to repurchase the land. As for the priority in purchasing building materials, official infrastructure projects inherently require strong local companies to back them up. As long as the bids are not illegal, it doesn't matter who profits from this deal.

"Mr. Li, your elaborate scheme has truly broadened my horizons." Cao Weidong put down the documents, gave a wry smile, and drank the slightly cold tea in one gulp.

"Secretary Cao, you flatter me. Everyone is doing this so that the High-tech Zone can be successfully established." Li Xiao smiled faintly, his words perfectly measured.

Cao Weidong pulled out his pen, paused before signing, and bargained, saying, "The county can approve the priority for land and building materials swaps. But a five-year exemption from corporate income tax is not possible; the city has strict tax revenue targets for the High-tech Zone. A maximum exemption of three years, with a 50% reduction in the fourth and fifth years. That's the bottom line."

"Deal." Li Xiao agreed without hesitation.

He knew better than anyone that the three-year tax-free period would be more than enough for Lansheng Capital to complete its first wave of rapid expansion on this construction site. By the time the high-tech zone was fully developed in three years, Lansheng would have long since left the small pond of Jiangyang County.

Cao Weidong signed his name with a flourish and affixed the official seal.

The moment the two documents were exchanged, the county party secretary looked at the young man before him, his eyes no longer showing the condescension of an elder looking at a junior, but instead a deep sense of apprehension and eye contact.

"President Li, the Jiangyang High-tech Zone will need Lansheng's help in the future." Cao Weidong stood up and extended his right hand.

"Mutual benefit and win-win." Li Xiao reached out his hand, and they parted after a brief touch.

Stepping out of the county government compound, the early autumn sunlight dispelled the morning chill.

Li Xiao opened the door of the Maybach, got into the back seat, and tossed the newly stamped agreement to Zhou Yanhuai in the passenger seat.

"The matter is settled."

Zhou Yanhuai opened the agreement; the red seal was still damp with ink, and the ink gleamed darkly in the afternoon sunlight.

He read the two pages about the exchange terms and tax breaks over and over again, unable to suppress the smile on his face. Finally, he gave up on controlling his expression, turned to Li Xiao, and gave him a thumbs up: "Brother Xiao, three plots of peripheral commercial land for one prime plot of land that doesn't even have water or electricity yet, plus three years of tax exemption for free—this isn't negotiation, this is teaching Cao Weidong a lesson. He's probably still in his office right now wondering whether you ripped him off or saved his life."

Li Xiao leaned back in his seat and tapped the window button twice. The window rolled down a crack, and the early autumn wind blew in, carrying the fresh, grassy smell of the newly pruned rose leaves from the flowerbeds in the county government compound.

He turned his gaze from the window and said calmly, "He needs me to give him a way out, so I will. Only if he holds the core land can the high-tech zone's development plan proceed smoothly. If I hold it, he can't explain it to his superiors, and I can't realize its value. This is a win-win situation, not a concession."

"Brother Xiao, the so-called win-win situation means you win twice by yourself, right? You got rid of a hot potato and got two commercial land plots that you can develop freely, plus a monopoly on building materials in the entire first phase of the high-tech zone. This deal is amazing."

Zhou Yanhua quickly jotted down a couple of notes on his phone's memo app, then suddenly remembered something, looked up, and frowned slightly: "Oh, right, Brother Xiao, there's something else. Cao Weidong mentioned it when signing the agreement earlier, saying that the city has a strict requirement for the High-tech Zone—it must introduce at least one provincial-level or higher-recognized high-tech enterprise by the end of next year. Hengji is only willing to build a commercial complex next to the light rail hub station for now; they won't touch research projects. The startup teams that the angel fund invested in do meet the requirements, but they're too small; they're not qualified to be listed as provincial-level high-tech enterprises yet. If this target isn't met, the incubation platform's qualification might be temporarily suspended by the Provincial Department of Science and Technology."

Zhou Yanhuai pulled out the "Detailed Rules for Qualification Review of Incubation Platforms in High-tech Zones" issued by the Provincial Department of Science and Technology on his phone, scrolled down two pages, found the clauses on the indicators for the introduction of high-tech enterprises, and turned the screen towards Li Xiao.

The terms are very strict—either a provincial-level or higher recognized high-tech enterprise is introduced as a joint operator of the incubation platform, or Lansheng's own invested projects must obtain provincial-level high-tech enterprise recognition by the end of next year.

The former depends on Henderson Land's stance, but Henderson Land's Vice President Zhou made it clear last week that they will only operate commercial real estate and will not touch scientific research.

The latter takes time. The startup teams invested in by angel funds have good technical foundations, but they are too small. It takes at least a full fiscal year for them to go from startup to provincial recognition, and they simply cannot meet the deadline of the end of next year.

"I've already sounded out Henderson twice, and Vice President Zhou was very direct—their headquarters' KPIs for this year are all focused on the commercial complex near the light rail hub, and research and development incubation are not in their annual plan. Even if we give them an office building next to the light rail station for free, they won't send a research and development team over."

"I also spoke with the vice president of that state-owned enterprise in Suzhou, the provincial capital, last night. They are interested in supporting scientific research, but their existing provincial high-tech enterprise qualification is registered under the parent company's name. To relocate it to Jiangyang, the business registration change and tax settlement alone will take half a year, and it won't be ready by the end of next year."

"So now there's only the second option left—the angel fund invests in a provincial-level high-tech enterprise itself. But last night I had my legal team do the math for Dr. Chen's team. His intelligent recruitment system currently only has one stable client, the provincial talent market, and its revenue is still far from meeting the provincial-level recognition threshold. It's not that the technology is lacking—his three invention patents are absolutely top-notch in the same field within the province—it's purely that the channels haven't been opened up. If he were given another year to slowly build the market, meeting the target in two years wouldn't be a problem, but the city's deadline is the end of next year, so being a year behind is a year behind."

Li Xiao didn't reply immediately. He placed the land exchange agreement on the seat, leaned back, closed his eyes for a moment, and his consciousness sank into the system interface.

Over the past few days, his Happiness Points had climbed back to a little over a thousand. The shop panel unfolded in front of his retina. He skipped over the sections for real-world assets priced at hundreds of thousands and went straight to the [Special Items] subpage. He checked the "Research Acceleration" filter, and more than a dozen options immediately popped up on the screen.

He quickly scanned the list, his gaze settling on the icon with a pale blue sheen in the third-to-last row—[Small Storage R&D Accelerator: Embedded AI Code Self-Generation Engine], priced at 1,000 Happiness Points. Its effect was to double the efficiency of a single R&D team for three consecutive months. It was applicable to areas such as algorithm optimization, system architecture iteration, and patent barrier construction, perfectly covering the most challenging technical modules for Dr. Chen's team at the moment.