Chapter 41 Section 41 Turf

  After dinner, Shen Hua did not immediately return to the town government, but instead strolled around the town.

  The reception station is a newly built building in 1990 and can be said to be the most iconic building in Meixi Town except for the steel plant.

  The building is three stories high facing the street, rising to five stories towards the west, with a semi-circular structure and smooth lines. The exterior wall is covered with white mosaics interspersed with blue flowers, like a surging wave of white water.

  The semi-detached house on the street is used as a reception station for the town. In addition to catering, there are also guest rooms. However, Meixi Town is very close to Donghua City, and customers who have slightly higher requirements for accommodation will stay in Donghua City. The guest room department of the reception station is not ideal, and only the catering department relies on the government and steel mills to eat and drink exceptionally well.

  Going around the garden from the south side of the reception station is the Cultural Station in the same building as the Reception Station.

  It's called a cultural station, but it was actually contracted out long ago.

  Inside the entrance hall on the ground floor, a circle of game consoles was set up. At noon, it was crowded with many young people from society and students from Mei Xi Middle School. In the corner, there was also a group of people surrounding two old slot machines betting on game coins. No one noticed Shen Hui walking in.

  From the corner escalator going up, the second floor is the town's video projection hall. A blackboard hangs at the entrance, written in red and white chalk with the videos to be played this afternoon.

  The title of "The Beauty" is also prominently marked with the six words "Hong Kong's grand romance masterpiece".

  The third floor is a dance hall, the light inside is dim, and it's not yet business hours, no one can be seen. The fourth floor is where the town cultural station is located, the only facility retained in this building, the town library. The door of the library is slightly ajar, but no one can be seen either.

  The fifth floor is an office, and no one can be seen at noon, and going up again is the rooftop.

  On the rooftop, a couple was hiding in the corner making out, wearing Meixi Middle School uniforms. When they saw Shen Huai come up to the rooftop, they separated and pretended to be calm, turning their heads to look outside.

  Apart from the blast furnace of the steel mill and the water tower of the waterworks, there is no building in Meixi Town that is higher than this one.

  Shen Huai stood on the rooftop, with a broad view, gazing into the distance. To the south, he could see the high furnaces and aerial steel corridors of the steel mill; to the west, the sparkling waves of Mei Creek River; to the north and east, vast expanses of fields. The lower Mei Highway, Xuetang Street, Mei Creek Old Street, Steel Mill Road, and some rural dirt roads divided Mei Creek Town into dozens of uneven pieces.

  The distant view is magnificent, but bringing your gaze back, all that's left are the poverty and dilapidation of Meixi.

  Not to mention the more remote rural areas, the town is also filled with scales of green tiles and brick houses, occasionally with thatched roofs, and the winding alleys appear old and disorderly.

  From the Cultural Station building and the newly paved asphalt road surface of Xuetang Street, it can be seen that Meixi Town had a relatively good financial situation before and after 1990. Unfortunately, the sweet period was too short. The Meixi Middle School between the Cultural Station building and the town government compound is mainly the school buildings left over from before liberation and the horse sheds built by the Japanese army during its invasion of China.

  Apart from the lush trees, Meixi Middle School looks old and worn out, the playground is also a patch of yellow earth.

  Don't expect any plastic tracks or grass, Shen Hua saw a receipt from the Education Office in his office this morning about Meixi Middle School's long jump sand pit needing two tons of sand, and roughly saw how tight Meixi Middle School's education funding was.

  To the north of the Cultural Station is a nursing home for the elderly, with two rows of bungalows built in the 60s and 70s. Shen Huai looks down from high above and sees that the strong wind has blown off a tile from the roof of the southern bungalow, which is temporarily covered with straw and plastic sheeting. In the large courtyard of the nursing home, seven or eight elderly people are dozing off, while more than ten chickens are scattered around the yard chasing each other.

  The town dish market on the west side of Xuetang Street is a color steel shed. Last winter's heavy snowfall caused the color steel shed to accumulate too much snow and collapse, and now you can still see the collapsed marks on the roof of the color steel shed.

  Maybe it's because I've never stood at this angle to look at Meixi Town before, and the economic stagnation and dilapidation of Meixi Town didn't give me such a deep and vivid feeling as it does now.

  Not to mention compared with rural towns in Europe and America, even compared with the towns on the south bank of Xiangjiang River in Pingjiang City, Meixi Town is far behind.

  "What are you looking at?"

  Shen Huai turned his head and saw Chen Dan climbing up the iron ladder from the other end, leaning against the railing with her body sideways, saying: "I didn't expect the view of Meixi Town to be so good from here..."

  "You just walked up to patrol your own territory, and it's great that you came up to see the view. If you come up a few more times, you'll see the polluted area behind Meixi, the steel plant in the south, and the serious pollution of the Meixi River..." Chen Dan said.

  Is this going to be his own turf? Shenhui asked himself.

  He had previously decided to stay in Donghua, first to take good care of Little Li, and secondly to make a name for himself and change the Song family's impression of him. But what really made him yearn for this land was an irrepressible surge of emotion that welled up from deep within his heart:

  Only by making this land more beautiful and richer is what he should truly be doing.

  "Where do you live with Xiao Li?" Shen Hua looked at Chen Dan calmly.

  "Now, that flat house is the dormitory of the town," Chen Dan pointed to a narrow alley on the west side of the cultural station and said, "Secretary Shen, if you don't live in the old house, there are guest rooms at the reception station that can be lived in, or you can ask the town for a dormitory room; maybe you can even move directly into the dormitory building of the steel factory..."

  Chen Dan pointed to the two rows of gray and white small buildings behind the steel plant in the south.

  Mei Creek Steel Plant's annual steel output is less than one-tenth of that of the municipal steel plant, but it has nearly 800 employees and is also a leading large factory in the vicinity.

  "Are you here looking for me?" Shen Huan asked again.

  "Ah," Chen Dan suddenly realized why she had gone up to the rooftop.

  She just walked up and saw Shen Huan staring at a distance, attracted by his sharp profile and focused expression, so she diverted the topic.

  Chen Dan's face turned slightly red as she said, "Zhao Dong has arrived and happened to be at the reception station borrowing a phone to contact you. I saw you turn into the cultural station and thought you would be on the rooftop, so I came over to call out to you..."

  Shen Hua and Chen Dan came downstairs, Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng were waiting outside the reception station, and somehow they got a Santana and parked it by the roadside.

  Shen Hua looked at Yang Haipeng and asked: "Zhao Dong has resigned from the municipal steel plant, now he is idle, why don't you also take care of your building materials store?"

  "Hey, what's the big deal in this store? Today is Secretary Shen's first day on the job, I have to come over and join in the excitement. Secretary Shen, you wouldn't be unwelcoming me coming over, would you?" Yang Haipeng rubbed his prickly short hair, smiled with his eyes narrowed into a slit, and enthusiastically addressed Shen Hua by his new title.

  Shen Hua smiled and patted Yang Haipeng on the shoulder, saying: "Don't call me a stranger anymore. I don't have many friends in Donghua either. I'm willing to befriend you and Zhao Dong."

  Yang Haipeng eagerly followed Zhao Dong to Meixi Town, also having his own thoughts and worries that his obvious intentions would make Shen Hua dislike him; at this moment, he was hit by a slap that made his heart feel warm.

  "Let's go in and find a place to talk...". Shen Huan invited Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng to walk towards the reception station.

  The lunch meeting disrupted his plans, and the reception desk was quiet and empty, with no sign of He Yuelian. Chen Dan led them to a private room on the second floor, poured tea, and stood at the door, neither entering nor leaving, like a servant waiting for orders.

  Shen Huai picked up the teapot and poured tea for Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng, saying, "Today's situation is a bit complicated. I had a falling out with Du Lao Hu this morning. He should have taken me directly to the steel factory to announce my appointment this afternoon, but judging from the current situation, he might be hiding and ignoring me."

  "Has the appointment been made?" Zhao Dong asked.

  "Du Lao Hu is considered the top tiger in Mei Xi Town, but he doesn't have the guts to go against the county's will. The appointment was indeed approved," Shen Hua said with a smile, "Since the appointment has been approved, it makes no sense for them to drag their feet and not announce it. I guess they're just trying to vent their frustration on me because of what happened at noon..."

  "What can you help Du Lao Hu with?" Yang Haipeng asked.

  Just south of the Mei Creek Bridge, there is a building materials store adjacent to the river terminal. The west bank of the river belongs to Tangzhai District, and the east bank belongs to Meicun Town. Yang Haipeng's building materials store was on the west bank, but he knew more about the situation in Meicun Town.

  After knowing why Shen Hua took Lao Xiong to the provincial city yesterday, Yang Haipeng was no longer worried that Shen Hua would not be able to handle Du Jian with the support of the new municipal party secretary, but he was curious about how Shen Hua would clash with Du Jian on the first day.

  "No, ask Chen Dan about this matter..." Shen Huai said with a smile.

  "What's wrong with me again?" Chen Dan stood at the door and said coquettishly, "I'm just in charge of serving tea and water, I don't know anything else."

  Yang Haipeng smiled and determined that Shen Huai had rented the old house left to him by his sister, Sun Haiwen, and rushed towards Chen Dan. Because of his good relationship with Sun Haiwen, although he hadn't met Chen Dan many times, he knew some things about her.

  This world is like that, Shen Hua was young and powerful, elegant and unrestrained. Even if there were a bunch of flowers around him, in Yang Haipeng's eyes, it didn't count as a flaw at all.

  He looked at Chen Dan and Shen Huai exchanging glances, thinking to himself, could it be that they've hooked up?

  Zhao Dong's mind was not as complicated as Yang Haipeng's, and he thought of the incident where Shen Huai had a falling out with the town party secretary the day before. He said: "The deputy general manager of Meixi Steel Factory, Xu Xiting, is from the municipal steel factory and knows both me and Haipeng. We've been wanting to find an opportunity to have dinner together, but Xu Xiting is a cautious person who wants to wait until things are settled before meeting up. If Du Jian drags his feet and doesn't take you to the steel factory to announce your appointment, how about finding Xu Xiting tonight and having dinner together?"

  "That's okay." Shen Hua nodded, Du Jian's series of moves this morning were just trying to isolate him, and he wanted to grasp the real power, which was also about pulling enough people who could listen to him.

  Shen Huai was no stranger to Xu Xiting. When he entered the municipal steel plant, Xu Xiting even instructed him in technology and was considered one of the stronger technical personnel at the municipal steel plant. In 1989, Mei Xi Steel Factory introduced British-style short-process electric furnaces for expansion and specially hired Xu Xiting from the municipal steel plant to be in charge of this project.

  Xu Xiting, an engineer by training, has a somewhat soft personality and only has technical skills. In a place like Meixi Steel Factory, he won't have the opportunity to put them into practice. To be honest, Xu Xiting can stay at Meixi Steel Factory without being kicked out, which is due to his resilient personality.