Chapter Thirty Preparing to Repair the Road

  "Please, sit down, both of you leaders." Huang Zong personally welcomed Chen Gong and Lu Feng into his office, and said to the doorman Old Xu, "You're old, your eyesight is indeed poor. I saw that Chen Gong and the other were not ordinary people as soon as they reached the door."

  Old Xu shook his head and left, complaining in his heart, "Didn't you say that whoever looks for me will be told to leave?"

  "Really sorry about this, we doormen are getting old and our eyesight is not good. I'll come down and criticize him properly. That Li Fenghua too, didn't even tell me the town head was so young. Huang Liang, CEO of Da Tou Cai company." Chen Gong listened to Huang Liang's words, it seemed he knew Li Fenghua, and earlier Li Fenghua must have called him on the phone.

  "Chen Gong, a good friend and leader of Feng Hua, acting as the town mayor." Chen Gong also wanted to clarify whether there was any relationship between the kindergarten and the big-headed vegetable company, so he extended his hand in friendship.

  "Town head Chen is young and promising, a model for young people. I can only feel inferior to him. Even if I were to go back ten or twenty years, I wouldn't have achieved what Town Head Chen has." Sounds like flattery to me.

  Chen Gong didn't beat around the bush and directly asked about their relationship with Jia Shufang. But to his surprise, Huang Liang knew nothing and hadn't even heard of Jia Shufang's name. Chen Gong realized he wouldn't get anything out of him, so he made some polite remarks and left.

  Huang Liang watched as the Jetta drove away, muttering to himself, "Chen Zhenchang, we'll be meeting soon."

  Just as Chen Gong was actively investigating the Jia Shufang case, Liu Yadong was sipping tea with Yuan Weihua in a private room of a teahouse. "Yuan, now let's see how Chen Gong handles this. I'll have Jia Shufang continue to put pressure on them. Once Chen Gong has someone transfer the money to Jia Shufang, we'll accuse him of causing state assets to be lost and he'll be finished."

  Yuan Weihua was in a good mood. "Yeah, Director Liu, keep an eye on him and make sure Chen Gong is implicated."

  Chen Gong had never thought that this matter was someone's plot against him, he just wanted to clarify the situation as soon as possible and safeguard the interests of the masses.

  Because things were unclear, Chen Gong drove alone to Li Fenghua's house in Xin Qiao with a heavy heart. The person who opened the door was familiar to Chen Gong, but not a member of Li Fenghua's family. "Mayor Chen, we meet again." It turned out to be Huang Liang, the general manager of Da Tou Cai Company.

  Chen Gong was surprised, and Li Fenghua walked over, "Brother, this is Huang Dage, you met him this afternoon, he's a old friend of our family for over ten years. Although my dad has been retired for some days now, Huang Dage never forgets old friendships."

  A few people entered the seating area, and Chen Gong also gained some understanding of Huang Liang's background. Before the reform of the big-headed vegetable factory, Huang Liang was already the deputy factory director. Relying on the money accumulated from his family's pig farm, he eventually acquired the factory on the verge of bankruptcy, converted it into a joint-stock company, and held 80% of the company's shares. He single-handedly developed the company to its current height. The coordination problem was originally handled by Li Jiangtao when he was the town mayor, so the two families have always had dealings with each other.

  When Chen Gong asked why the old man at the door said he was on a business trip in the afternoon, Huang Liang's answer was even more unexpected by Chen Gong. Recently, his hands were tight, and the supplier urged him to pay the goods bill urgently, with an arrears of over one million yuan. The wholesale and retail merchants owed him money, but it was slow to recover, resulting in a lack of liquidity.

  Li Jiangtao listened to Huang Liang's response and said to Chen Gong, "Little Chen, I asked you to come today because I wanted to ask for your help. Before the funds are recovered by Mr. Huang and his team, could you please use the name of the town government to guarantee them for a little while longer? Just half a year more, there's no risk involved. Although people don't entirely trust the government nowadays, they will still give some face to something with the government's official seal on it. I've already stepped down and have no ability to help Little Huang anymore. Chen Gong, what do you think? Of course, we're not forcing you, if you feel uncomfortable, we can think of another way."

  Chen Gong looked at the glittering gold chain around General Huang's neck and thought to himself, "Why doesn't he take a few pieces out first to pay off the interest?" But Li Jiangtao was a good man, at least he wouldn't harm himself. So he said, "Alright, I'll try. If others don't sell our government's account, General Huang will have to think of another way."

  Huang Liang was overjoyed and excitedly downed three cups in one go.

  Then Chen Gong talked about work and mentioned why he would go to find Huang Liang in the afternoon. When Li Jiangtuo heard the name Jia Shufang, his expression seemed a bit stiff.

  Chen Gong noticed Li Jiangtao's change, "Uncle Li, do you know Jia Shufang?"

  Li Jiangtao did not hide anything and told everything, Chen Gong only saw the opinions in the letter of reply, but did not look at the original agreement. The agreement was signed by Li Jiangtao when he was the town head with Jia Shufang. After the agreement was signed, due to the establishment of the township enterprise, the land that was originally intended for the kindergarten was used by the current Da Tou Cai company, and Jia Shufang indeed paid 700,000 yuan in fees to the town government.

  Chen Gong raised a question, "The land was not given to that woman for building a kindergarten, why wasn't the money returned either?"

  Li Jiangtao thought back, "The town is poor, and the money that comes in isn't easily taken out. At the time, I privately found Jia Shufang, she agreed to give her a certain compensation, because there was no cash, I decided to package the big head vegetable factory road for Jia Shufang to repair, using some funds obtained from the district, gave her 10 million yuan, she actually spent less than 2.5 million on repairing the road, so it's all settled, Jia Shufang is very clear about this matter, and she hasn't looked for us again after that."

  Chen Gong understood after listening. The money was returned to Jia Shufang in a different way, "What about the agreement, Uncle Li?"

  Li Jiangtao said, "At that time, a road repair agreement should have been signed, saying it would cost her 1 million yuan to get the job done."

  Chen Gong continued to ask, "Is there any explanation for not giving Jia Shufang the kindergarten land anymore?"

  "No, at that time I also ignored these things, thinking that as long as the matter was settled it would be fine. Now that you mention it, I realize that the kindergarten agreement is still not invalid, and although the road construction protocol has been fulfilled, it has nothing to do with the refund of the kindergarten fees."

  Chen Gongquan realized that the over 700,000 yuan paid for road construction was a waste of money. The payment did not terminate the original agreement to build a kindergarten, so Jia Shufang got her money back and can still apply for the land. Now the land is being used by the Da Tou Cai company, and Jia Shufang is again asking the government to settle the 700,000 yuan. She's really ruthless, knowing she wants the money twice, but they have no way to deal with her.

  Li Jiangtao found it strange, "Jia Shufang is clearer about this matter than anyone else, how dare she come to the government again to make trouble?"

  Chen Gong also confirmed again, "Is it true that there is no evidence to prove that repairing the road is actually a way of returning the money for the kindergarten land?"

  Li Jiangtao shook his head, "No, I was careless at the time. But Jia Shufang shouldn't be that kind of person who is muddled and unreasonable. This matter must have been either told to her by someone else to take advantage of the government or she was instructed by someone to do it, the goal is definitely not simple."

  Chen Gong was also thinking of a way on the road back to Qinghe, this money must not be given to Jia Shufang again, but this matter must be settled, what to do?

  Chen Gong finally received some good news on the road, Director Zhang of the Finance Bureau called to say that there is an abandoned old activity center under the name of Qinghe Town Government, with two certificates complete, which can be used for mortgage loans, 20 acres of land, and can borrow around 160 million yuan, plus the original 50 million yuan, all of which will be used to repair the main road, and the remaining roads will naturally have someone come up with the money to repair if the park is located in Qinghe Town.

  Chen Gong also knew that he was taking a huge risk, first with the problem of repayment in the future, secondly with most roads in Qinghe Town still being difficult for vehicles to pass through, and thirdly with the industrial park not being located in Qinghe Town, which would put great financial pressure on the town in the future. If things went seriously wrong, he himself might have to take responsibility and leave, which would be the lightest punishment. Chen Gong was still weighing his options, taking a gamble, one step at a time, and if all else failed, he could always rely on his father's influence, who would dare to arrest him?

  Chen Gong let his secretary Lu Feng go to the district to retrieve relevant ownership documents. Lu Feng ran to three banks, and unexpectedly all of them required a letter of consent from the Xinqu District State-owned Assets Department, without which they couldn't lend money. Having no other choice, he had to report back to Chen Gong truthfully.

  Chen Gong was also extremely anxious, as he was about to get the money, but another problem arose. He contacted Zhang Ju, the head of the Finance Bureau, who was also a leader of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, asking him to issue an approval letter. However, Zhang Ju was a cautious person and did not dare to issue the approval letter without the signature of the district's top leader. Chen Gong tried to coordinate with various people in the district, but still had no results. It seemed that he could only take action from the bank's side.

  Banks, banks, Chen Gong's mind was filled with all sorts of commercial banks. Hmm, Chen Gong thought of someone who might be able to help with this matter.

  "Hey, Xu Ge, do you still remember me? I'm Chen Gong from Qinghe Town. We had dinner together with Xiao Jie and Luo Ge at Xuanhai last time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's something I'd like to ask for your help."

  Chen Gong informed Xu Cheng, the deputy general manager of the credit department of the Agricultural Bank's southern provincial branch, about the situation. Chen Gong didn't have much hope, after all, the bank's rules and regulations were there. Unexpectedly, Xu Cheng agreed and told Chen Gong to go directly to the credit department of the Agricultural Bank's Xin Qiao district branch to handle the procedures. He also told Chen Gong that the so-called agreement from the county-level people's government and the letter of consent from the state-owned assets department were just a formality, and that one phone call was more useful than a stamp. Chen Gong immediately thanked heaven and invited Xu Cheng to dine at a high-end place another day.

  Chen Gong personally went to the Agricultural Bank of China's Xin Qiao District Branch. The treatment Chen Gong received was such that even if the district head had come in person, it wouldn't have been so grand.

  The general manager personally came downstairs to greet him, and the deputy general manager and credit manager personally prepared the contract for Chen Gong to review.

  "Director Chen, do you think 160 million is enough? Actually, we can relax it to 200 million, with the same interest as 160 million. You can consider it."

  Chen Gong thought that as long as it was enough, he would get 200 million and who would care about the rest, so he decided to stick with the original plan of 160 million. When leaving, the bank president assured Chen Gong that from now on, any business related to Qinghe Town Government would be given priority treatment.

  After Chen Gong received the transfer check of 16 million yuan, he immediately called Lu Feng and asked him to contact the construction company immediately, to get everything ready for the project budget, cost, etc., and prepare to start work at any time, building the main road from Qinghe to the new bridge downtown area.

  When Secretary Chen Liqi of Qinghe Town learned that he had to take a detour to go to Xin Qiao District, he contacted Chen Gong and asked what was going on. Chen Gong told Chen Liqi it was good news and shared his bold idea with him. As an old hand in official circles, Chen Liqi knew that the industrial park would not be located in Qinghe Town no matter what, as even if they sold out the government, they wouldn't be able to offer much benefit to their superiors. So he went along with Chen Gong's plan, thinking that if anything went wrong, Chen Gong would take responsibility, and he could claim he was unaware of it, having opposed it from the start.

  Chen Gong felt that everything was going smoothly now, and he was also happy in his heart. Without thinking much, he decided to guarantee the loan for the Big Head Cabbage Company. Just then, the 15-day deadline for petitioners had arrived, and the persistent petitioner Jia Shufang came to the government again. The difference this time was that she went straight to Chen Gong, as she believed some things could only be resolved by leaders.