Power and Wealth

Morning.

City Central Park.

In the refreshing air, Dong Xuebing, accompanied by Zhen Shui County officials, arrived at the investment promotion venue. As they parked the car, they put on their work badges and walked inside.

"Hey, look."

"The people from Zhen Shui County are here."

"Wow, that's a Land Rover."

"This Dong Xuebing is quite something."

"Yeah, spending his own money to book presidential suites for the team, he dares to spend."

"One presidential suite for each person. Isn't that showing off to the city?"

"We all stay downstairs in standard or business rooms, but they get a presidential suite each. Even the driver has a large suite."

"Who told them to have money."

"I heard that County Chief Dong won the lottery."

"What's the use of having money? The investment results are still not good, right?"ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novelenglish.net . ꜰirᴇ.nᴇt

"They are just trying to compete with the city. Let's just enjoy the show."

"It's not just challenging the city; can't you see that they are showing us some attitude? A nationally designated impoverished county, and who knows where they get the confidence."

When the people from Zhen Shui County arrived, discussions broke out among the crowd. Many pointed out and commented on Dong Xuebing and his team. Although Dong Xuebing and his team couldn't hear what was being said, they could guess the nature of the comments. Zheng Dayou and Chang Juan's expressions turned sour. The news of Dong Xuebing spending 500,000 RMB to book all the presidential suites spread throughout the investment promotion system. Practically every investment promotion department in each county knew about it. Upon hearing the news, many felt that Zhen Shui County was too arrogant. Even the city's investment promotion bureau leaders had to stay in smaller rooms due to limited availability. At the same time, Zhen Shui County had booked a presidential suite for each person.

Zhen Shui County stood out and attracted attention.

However, Dong Xuebing didn't care; he was used to this situation. He walked calmly at the forefront.

They ran into Chen Mingming ahead, the district investment promotion bureau chief who had snatched investors from them yesterday. Chen glanced at Dong Xuebing, then at Zheng Dayou, but didn't say anything. On the other side, Lu Weiguo appeared near the main stage. Beside him was Deputy Mayor Hua Li, and the two were in conversation. When they saw the people from Zhen Shui County passing by, Lu Weiguo gave them a cold glance, while Deputy Mayor Hua Li didn't even bother to look at Dong Xuebing and his team.

The atmosphere became tense.

Zhen Shui County was isolated.

But Dong Xuebing didn't mind. Even if he hadn't confronted Lu Weiguo yesterday, Zhen Shui County would still be isolated. Regardless, Dong Xuebing's personality tended to become more determined when faced with isolation. If you isolate me and don't talk to me, pretending not to see me, that's fine. I'll talk to you if you don't talk to me.

"Hey, Mayor Hua, good morning."

No response from Hua Li.

From a distance, Dong Xuebing waved and loudly said, "Oh, Director Lu, are you here? Have you eaten?"

Lu Weiguo initially didn't want to bother with Dong Xuebing. Yesterday's incident had made him lose face. However, when Dong Xuebing greeted him in front of so many people, he couldn't outright ignore him, or it would make him appear lacking in leadership demeanor. Thus, he grunted in response, acknowledging the greeting. Dong Xuebing had always been someone who didn't follow conventional rules. By greeting him with a smile, others couldn't quite understand what he was doing. If he was so happy without bringing any investors, what was he so happy about?

Dong Xuebing led his team back to their county's exhibition booth.

People glanced at them for a moment but didn't focus on them anymore, as more important matters were drawing everyone's attention.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"I heard. You are talking about the foreign investors, right?"

"It's not just ordinary investors. This time, a group has come."

"Yeah, over a dozen people, including foreigners and Chinese, have assets worth tens of billions in RMB. It would be enough to meet our annual performance if we could attract just one of them for any investment. Everyone is envious."

"When are they arriving?"

"They should be close; they're still on the way."

This matter was no longer a secret. People had been discussing it since the morning. Many county investment promotion bureau directors who had entered the venue had gathered their subordinates for a small meeting, seemingly arranging some tasks. They probably wanted to seize this investment inspection group.

Ring, ring, ring.

Hua Li's phone also rang.

He answered, "Hello, Secretary."

"They will arrive in half an hour; get ready."

"Half an hour, so soon? Okay, I'll prepare here."

"This inspection group is quite prestigious. Each company has assets of several billion or even tens of billions. Put in more effort; keep these people in our Meihe City."

"Secretary, are these people coming to invest in our city?" Hua Li found it a bit unbelievable, like a windfall from the sky. However, he knew the situation in their city. There wasn't much that could attract multinational projects and profits.

"Our city should be their first stop for inspection. They might go to other places later. It doesn't matter why they chose Meihe City; what matters is that you must do your best to keep them here and strive to secure their investment."

"Okay, I'll do my best." Although he said that, Hua Li wasn't very confident. Even the provincial capital, which was much more prosperous, couldn't retain these foreign businessmen. The fact that the municipal party secretary personally followed up on this showed the importance of the city to this foreign inspection group.

After hanging up the phone, Hua Li hurriedly called Lu Weiguo, "Get all the heads of investment promotion from various counties and districts to come over. Quick, hold a meeting; they'll arrive soon."

Lu Weiguo quickly went to gather people.

Shortly after, Zheng Dayou, Chen Mingming, Ma Yanfen, and others gathered in front of the main stage.

Hua Li quickly explained the situation to them and conveyed the instructions from the City party secretary.

Hearing this, everyone got excited. A piece of cake this big— who wouldn't want a share?

Immediately, the atmosphere in the entire square changed. Everyone urgently began arranging their exhibition booths. Many investment promotion bureau directors even called their counties, bringing in a batch of staff with good foreign language skills. All of this was to prepare for this battle. As for the other domestic investors, people were not very concerned. At least today, those small investors were not the main focus, as the city leaders had confirmed that the foreign inspection group consisted of giant international enterprises. The implication was clear: whoever had the luck to retain even one of them would already achieve a significant political performance.

"Hundreds of thousands, millions—how could those big multinational corporations invest such a small amount? Even if we give away these small projects for free, they might not want them. It's too small. We can't afford to lose face in front of them. For companies of their caliber, investing tens of millions is probably just a starting point."

It was chaos.

After returning to the booth, Chen Mingming started scolding his subordinates.

Ma Yanfen and the other ten directors also held urgent meetings with their teams, providing comprehensive arrangements and instructions for today's work.

Zheng Dayou, driven by the excited atmosphere, came back and said, "Mayor Dong, how should we deploy our team? They will probably arrive in twenty minutes."

Chang Juan also suggested, "Why don't we go and intercept them on the way?"

Zheng Dayou was startled, "Don't do that; it will offend too many people."

Chen Yunsong wiped his sweat. He wondered if people from the capital were all so bold. Mayor Dong already had quite a bold personality, and now he found that Director Chang was no less audacious.

However, Dong Xuebing didn't show much enthusiasm. He shook his head while smoking, "No need to prepare. How we arranged things yesterday is how we'll do it today. Don't focus on those people, such as big foreign companies, multinational groups, and over a dozen. Do you believe they will invest in our city? It's not about us boasting; it's about having self-awareness. There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Chang Juan remained silent.

Chen Yunsong realized that Dong Xuebing had a point.

Zheng Dayou was unconvinced, "But we should at least try it."

Dong Xuebing extinguished his cigarette, "You can try, but since they've come, we can't just drive them away. We still need to distribute project lists. My point is to focus mainly on domestic investors. That's where we have a chance to attract investments. It's not about showing off; it's about being practical. Eating what's on our plate is always better than aiming for something we can't reach. However, this is also an opportunity for us. While everyone is focused on those foreign investors, there won't be many competing for domestic investors. We can seize this chance and secure them one by one."

Gong Na blinked, "Should we quickly prepare an English version of the project list?"

Dong Xuebing waved his hand, "No need. They surely have translators. If they can understand, good; if not, so be it. We can't expect our projects to attract them."

He seemed indifferent.

Zheng Dayou smiled wryly; this was too casual. But thinking about it, what Dong Xuebing said was indeed realistic. Pursuing multinational corporations was unrealistic. Their place had everything they needed. They would choose a city area, not the remote Zhen Shui County, even if they were willing to invest. Mayor Dong usually seemed impulsive, but he was calm and objective at crucial moments. Zheng Dayou couldn't help but look at Dong Xuebing more, realizing his decision was correct.

The scene in the venue formed a sharp contrast.

While other counties were flurrying, Zhen Shui County remained calm, as if nothing was related to them.