'Thank you, County Magistrate Zhao, for the gifts you brought,' Feng Yiping said, holding a glass of apple juice and lightly bumping it against County Magistrate Zhao's glass.
In a way, this was the first time the two of them had met in a more formal setting.
In his glass was Maotai. He took a sip and said with a smile, 'Don't call me the county head. Just like Jingping, call me uncle. Your father and I are old friends.'
'Okay, Uncle Zhao,'
said Feng Yiping. The county head and his entourage really took the matter seriously. They mobilised a lot of people to do a lot of work, and they even personally got involved themselves. This is how today's very generous promise from Jinling came about. However, he was very satisfied with the result.
Feng Yiping also got the result he wanted. The county finally took the matter seriously, from top to bottom. Huang Chengzhong was promoted to deputy mayor. At the same time, Jiasheng established contacts with all the counties in the city through these projects.
If the work in the town is done well, there won't be so many problems. Just like the factory built in Shenzhen, once all the formalities are completed, there's no need to worry about any trouble.
But in the town, they encountered quite a few minor problems.
Yes, according to the agreement, the tax would not be collected for the first two years, but so what? Can they stop the various departments with their superhuman ability to exert and create? As long as your factory is on their land, there are plenty of ways to make things difficult for you. Just like the forestry station stopping the trucks to inspect the timber they import, there are also more than a dozen other stations, each with their own methods. Those methods perfectly illustrate the saying 'the creativity of the people is endless'.
Not only do you have to deal with these stations, but you also have to deal with other agencies or units that have been stationed there. Let's not talk about the police station, everyone knows about that.
There is another unit that you must be careful to maintain and must not offend, and that is the dispatched agency of the power company, the power supply office.
Cai Lei, who was in charge of the cabinet factory, had not suffered this at the provincial level. At that time, he did not think about it. After the factory was built, he did not take the initiative to go to the power supply office to pay his respects. As a result, before it was officially put into production, the machine was installed and debugged in place, and within the first few days, the power was cut twice in three days.
When he went to the power supply office to ask, he couldn't even find the right person, let alone the reason. After the second time, Mei Guoxing slapped his head and said, 'We've been so busy these days that we've even forgotten about this.'
Third Uncle Mei Guoxing remembered that in the countryside, whenever there was a happy event in the family, they had to go to the power supply office to make an offering and give a present that was presentable, otherwise, when they were busy, "click," the electricity would stop.
If the power went out early in the day, say in the morning or at noon, it could still be remedied by sending someone to make up the gift in a hurry.
But if the power went out at night, you couldn't find anyone to give you a gift, not to mention the rush to find an oil lamp from the corner, and maybe there was already an advertisement that there would be an outdoor movie that night, and people from several neighbouring villages had come, and the projector was already set up.
The result was that the big happy event ended up in a storm of abuse from the crowd.
So this power outage was the power supply department giving them a sign: Have you forgotten about me, the electricity boss? The country people all know what is going on, you are running such a big factory, don't you know about this?
Sure enough, after Mei Guoxing found an acquaintance to step in and invite the head of the power supply department out, treating him well and giving him a considerable gift of appreciation, even during the dry season, the power in both factories never went out.
In short, this is the case with many organisations. When you ask them to do something, they say, 'That's not my department,' or 'That's not my responsibility.' But when they ask you to do something, the situation is completely different, and they say, 'That's my department,' or 'That's my responsibility.'
These things are not important, but it's not good to trouble the leaders again and again over trivial matters.
Of course, what happened to the two factories in the town would never have been possible without Wang Ganqing's tacit approval or instigation, which is why Feng Yiping went to such lengths to arrange it this year.
Today at the company, Jin Ling put it quite bluntly, and I believe that after returning home, County Chief Zhao will give Wang Ganqing and the others a good dressing down. Coupled with the fact that Huang Chengzhong has been promoted to take charge of industry, there is no way there won't be trouble in the future, but it will definitely be a lot less.
'Uncle Zhao, try this, it's the signature dish of this restaurant,' Feng Yiping said, pointing to the sea cucumber with spring onions that had been served.
The atmosphere during the meal was actually a bit subdued, mainly because of Feng Yiping, who did not drink alcohol, among the three main guests. Jin Ling did drink, but it was red wine. However, everyone knew her status, and the government officials didn't know how to toast either. They generally politely drank a small glass of white wine themselves, and Jin Ling took a small sip of red wine to show her appreciation.
As for Huang Jingping and Wen Hong, they were brought along by Feng Yiping. Like him, they drank fruit juice, and with Jin Ling looking after them, they didn't feel comfortable to drink either, so the atmosphere never got lively.
However, such socialising was more comfortable, and no one wanted to get drunk all the time.
However, there are always discordant voices.
Tonight, County Magistrate Zhao couldn't stop him either, and Liu Chuanwei followed him anyway. He got up with a glass in his hand, walked behind Feng Yiping, slapped him on the shoulder brashly, looked down on him, and said, 'Yiping, you're all grown up. How can a man in his twenties not drink? How about it, do me the honour and have a drink with me!'
To be honest, after returning home, after inquiring a bit, although he knew the background of Jiasheng, when he met Feng Yiping, he couldn't help but look down on him a bit. There was no other reason, Feng Yiping was just a bit too young!
If Feng Yiping had a powerful father, then it would be fine, but he had met many young people like this in the capital, and when dealing with them, he was more careful than when dealing with their fathers, because these people were not as worldly-wise as their fathers, and they might make you lose face.
However, Feng Yiping's parents were authentic peasants with no background. They had no idea what kind of luck they had, and then stumbled upon some money.
But in his mind, what's the use of being rich compared to those in power?
Besides, they were just asking him to have a drink, a trivial matter. Did Mayor Fang or Director Jin care?
'Sorry, I really can't drink,' Feng Yiping frowned slightly, but then smiled and took a big sip of the juice, 'Help yourself.'
Feng Yiping was a little dissatisfied with Liu Chuanwei's attitude of being familiar and self-important. In such an occasion, he didn't mind Liu Chuanwei calling him Feng Zong.
It's not that he doesn't drink, but if you want to stay sober at a table where you are the guest of honour and you don't drink much, then you have to be adamant and not take a single sip, otherwise, after one drink, they will all come one after the other.
Seeing Feng Yiping drink the juice and then talk to the county magistrate Zhao on his own, Liu Chuanwei's face looked a little bad. He was really a little embarrassed to be left there like that by a young man. He felt that Zhao county magistrate's attendants seemed to be laughing at his expense.
The side-facing County Magistrate Zhao saw all this in his eyes and felt a little amused. He could tell that although Feng Yiping was young, he had a good sense of propriety and was easygoing, but not with just anyone.
He smiled and advised, 'Lao Liu, you didn't know, did you? Yiping was our county's first provincial champion in the college entrance exam. Unlike us old fogeys, his head is very precious. He's still in school and has never drunk alcohol. You shouldn't force him.'
Feng Yiping saw that he was still behind him and didn't go, so he explained, 'Director Liu, don't mind me. We just want to have a good time at this meal. If you can drink, drink more, and if you can't, drink juice. Just feel free.'
'Then I won't drink white wine. Isn't there red wine? Red wine is fine. Here, let me pour you a glass.' He still felt that Feng Yiping would lose face if he didn't drink a glass of wine.
Feng Yiping didn't smile now, blocking the glass he was holding out and saying lightly, 'Sorry, I know Director Liu you think highly of me, but really, as long as it's alcohol, I don't touch it,'
Feng Yiping's words hit the spot, but Liu Chuanwei's smile still froze on his face. He felt that he was really losing face more and more, and when his eyes scanned to Huang Jingping and Wen Hong, he had another idea, 'These two are both your good friends, so why don't you let them drink a glass on your behalf?'
Huang Jingping held Feng Yiping's hand without saying a word. Wen Hong felt that the atmosphere was a bit awkward and was about to stand up, but Jin Ling held her back. 'Director Liu, why don't I drink with you?'
Liu Chuanwei didn't want Jin Ling to drink with him, and she looked displeased. The manager of the Operations Department, who had been involved in the reception for the past two days, stood up and said, 'I'll drink for President Feng,'
County Magistrate Zhao also laughed to break the ice, 'Lao Liu, if you want to drink, just ask me, come on, I'll drink with you!'
Liu Chuanwei squeezed out a smile, without saying a word, he tilted his head back and "gulped" the glass of wine down his throat. He walked back to his seat with a thump, poured himself another glass, "slurped" it down, and finished it again. 'I've had too much to drink, I'm just going to make things awkward for myself, so I'll be going now.'
After a sign from County Magistrate Zhao, Xiaoyan stood up and said, 'Director Liu, I'll see you out,' and the person from the operations department also followed him out, saying, 'Director Liu, take care!'
County Magistrate Zhao was a little resentful of Liu Chuanwei. It was supposed to be a pretty good ending, a pretty relaxed and casual meal, but he ruined it. 'Yiping, don't take it personally. Lao Liu and the others are in charge of receptions, and that's what they're all about,'
'No, this is my fault. I'm not yet capable of adapting to these things at the drinking table. Please go back and tell him not to take it to heart.'
After seeing off County Chief Zhao, Feng Yiping forgot about the whole thing. He didn't have the energy to dwell on these trivial matters, and what was there to argue about at the drinking table? He wasn't a drunk.
Liu Chuanwei, on the other hand, took the whole thing to heart, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had no reason or way to get back at Feng Yiping and Jiasheng.
However, two days after County Magistrate Zhao and the others returned, without warning, he was called into the office by the director of the Beijing Office, who was on the same line as the city's senior officials. 'Lao Liu, the city sent a document this morning, mentioning the work style issues in our Beijing Office,'
'So should we have a meeting?' Liu Chuanwei asked.
The director said slowly, 'There is something I need to verify with you. The people from the investment promotion agency reported to the city that during their visit to Beijing to attract investment, our Beijing Office not only failed to create favourable conditions for them, but also tried to attract investment themselves, and even went so far as to show disrespect for the chairman of the investor at the dinner table and forced him to drink, even though he didn't drink. Is there any truth to this?'
Liu Chuanwei was instantly furious and clenched his teeth. Needless to say, this must be Zhao's doing. He is on Mayor Fang's side. While attacking himself, he can also do the little guy a favour, so why not?
'Director, I only mentioned the renovation of our Beijing office into a hotel. This is also for the sake of our work, right? As for forcing the other party to drink, there is no such thing. I was very polite in proposing a toast, and if he didn't drink, I didn't insist.' How could he admit that he did have the intention to force at that time.
'Lao Liu, the city has already made a decision. For the sake of a smooth investment, you'd better go over there and apologise. Remember, you must be sincere! I don't care what you're thinking. Since a fellow unit has raised this matter, we must have done something wrong. You must regard this as a task and complete it properly. You must gain the other party's understanding. Go now!'
As he watched Liu Chuanwei walk unwillingly out of the door, the director sat down in his big chair and said with a smile, 'A toast? A compulsory drink?'