Chapter 4: Lu Family's Ah Da

  Hao Baishan added on the side: "The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee personally talked to Zhu Wenxiong, the chairman of the Yellow River Enterprise, and his eldest son Zhu Mingze about the project. Zhu Mingze is in charge of developing the domestic market for the Yellow River Enterprise, and now he is a good friend of Secretary Wei."

  "But, if we need to requisition over 4,000 mu of land, and most of it is arable land, what will happen to the farmers whose land has been occupied?"

  Ma Weiguo smiled and said, "These issues have been discussed at the Standing Committee meeting. The farmers who were occupied by the land are involved in 412 households. In addition to giving them reasonable compensation, each household will be given a contract-based quota to work in the county or township enterprises. The remaining labor force will also be arranged for temporary work. Comrade Lu Zhong, we have considered the resettlement work very carefully, so you can rest assured."

  Lu Zhong slightly frowned: "Our state-owned enterprises and collective enterprises are already at a disadvantage in today's market competition. Moreover, how many Qinglong enterprises do we have? Suddenly arranging thousands of workers to enter will have an extremely adverse impact on the enterprises that should be optimized and reformed. How can we establish a competitive mechanism within the enterprise? It is unfair to the diligent workers working in the enterprise. These are all minor matters, but Secretary Wei Guo, have you considered this: if our enterprises face difficulties in market competition in the future, they will need to downsize, increase efficiency, and even go bankrupt due to lack of skilled labor. The peasants who lost their land will inevitably be the first victims. If a couple suddenly loses their jobs and has no land, what can they do?"

  Ma Weiguo couldn't help but laugh and say: "You're also being too alarmist."

  Lu Zhong nodded: "Okay, even if I'm being alarmist, we can try to avoid the lack of competition in state-owned enterprises through hard work. But what about this golf course? Can it really boost our county's economy? Wushan and Guangning have a good future, but it's not something that can be achieved overnight. If our basic economy in Qinglong doesn't change, can we rely on that Mr. Zhu to bring in rich people to play golf and boost our economy? Businessmen are pragmatic, they won't invest just because they played a few rounds of golf here and developed feelings for Qinglong."

  "And besides, this kind of 'backyard' stadium will not make a profit in the short term, at most it's just a conceptual stock. I'm afraid once Zhu Wen understands the situation, he will definitely stop it. We'll be left with a half-finished project, and there's no way to wrap things up."

  Ma Weiguo furrowed his brow and remained silent, slowly picking up his teacup.

  Hao Baishan quickly intervened, "Can't be? I've met that Mr. Zhu before, he's a kind and good person, doesn't have the slightest air of a wealthy young master, speaks and acts very seriously."

  Lu Zhong smiled and said, "I met him in Hong Kong. My impression of him is that he's overly ambitious but lacks ability, starts things but never finishes them, a spoiled rich kid with no backbone."

  Hao Baishan was stunned and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

  Hao Baishan actually knew that Wei Guo's secretary was involved in this golf project, apart from economic reasons, there were also political considerations.

  In May this year, the State Sports Commission approved the establishment of the China Golf Association in Beijing, with Zhao XX as its first chairman.

  Mr. Zhao is a man of great virtue and prestige, a banner on the sports front of New China, who currently holds posts such as member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and advisor to the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission.

  Zhao is from Hebei Province, and in July this year, he selected 10 athletes from the Hebei Provincial Sports School to go to Japan for a three-year systematic study of golf. Zhao has devoted a lot of heart and soul to the development of golf in mainland China.

  Weiguo Secretary is probably Zhao Lao's fellow villager, and they are from the same village. Weiguo Secretary wants to build this golf course, and there might be some consideration in this aspect.

  In the eyes of the Secretary of Defense, from any angle, a golf course is a must-build.

  Hao Baishan took a cigarette from Lu Zhong, lit it up, but the faint smell of gunpowder in the office made him very uneasy.

  "Just don't get involved in this matter anymore." Ma Weiguo put down his teacup, "The Standing Committee has already passed a resolution, so just follow the minority obeying the majority."

  Lu Zhong nodded: "Good, I reserve my opinion and will also provide materials to the municipal party committee to explain my point of view."

  "The Secretary of Defense, it's like this." Lu Zhong stood up and walked out.

  Looking at Lu Zhong's back, Ma Weiguo slightly frowned.

  ……

  On Saturday evening, Lu Zhong drove his small potato to the county food company's canning factory residential area.

  The Santana was driven back by Jiao Ye the next day, and Lu Zhong also sent his own small Tater to Qinglong.

  Although Santana is now a car assigned to Lu Zhong by Changming Company, Jiao Ye is also a driver assigned to Lu Zhong by Changming Company. However, the task given to Jiao Ye by Lu Zhong was to stay in Wushan and mainly take care of some veteran cadres.

  That day, on the bus, Gao Yanyan saw Lu Zhong tear out a page from his notebook and hand it to Jiao Wei. It was a list of names and contact information of old cadres who needed care. Lu Zhong had also left Jiao Wei's phone number at Changming Company for these old leaders, telling them that if they needed a car or errands, just call this number to find Xiao Jiao.

  Liu Jiao Wei is in Wushan, also to avoid Liu Jiao Wei and his new wife being separated again.

  Lu Zhong is also used to driving himself around and going wherever he wants, feeling very free and easy.

  The residential area of the canning factory is a row of bungalows, with houses of varying heights and sizes. Some have red bricks and green tiles, while others are low and dimly lit, as if they had never let in fresh air. Some courtyards have cherry trees, peach trees and other trees in front of their gates.

  According to the address given by Aunt Cuihong, Lu Zhong found No. 46, with a black iron gate closed tightly, and vaguely visible from the wall was the layout of two rooms.

  Lu Zhong walked up and knocked on the door. Before long, he heard footsteps in the yard and a man's thick voice: "Who is it?"

  Then the black iron gate was pulled open from inside, and what entered Lü Zhēn's eyes was a sturdy man with a rustic face, thick waist, and rough skin. Faintly, Lü Zhēn could still find traces of that young rural boy in his facial features, it had been seven or eight years since they last met.

  "Big brother." Lu Zhong smiled and greeted him. This person was none other than Cui Hong's eldest son, Lu Xueyou.

  Lu Xue was taken aback for a moment, then excitedly shouted: "Zhuangzi?!" Then he looked up and down at Lu Zhuang: "You kid, you're getting taller and taller!"

  Lu Zhong smiled.

  "Quickly, come inside and sit." Lu Xueyu warmly pulled Lu Zhong into the house.

  Two rooms, outside is the kitchen, bathroom and so on, inside is the bedroom, living room, with sofa tea table, very simple, more faint scent.

  Lu Zhong entered the house and laughed: "Sister-in-law is obviously a city person, she values cleanliness and loves to be clean, if you let Brother take care of it, the house will definitely become a mess."

  Lu Xue had a silly smile on his face, to be honest, his wife Ai Fang was from Qinglong County Town, and she was beautiful. Being able to marry such a wife made him feel that this was the most successful and glorious thing he had ever done in his life.

  "She sprays perfume everywhere, saying it doesn't work anyway." Lu Xueyou smiled and seemed to be dismissive. In fact, he always accommodated his lover, but in front of this younger brother whom he hadn't seen for many years, he had to maintain the dignity of an older brother.

  Lu Xueyou has always been very reserved and calm, unlike Lu Zhong who was not fond of causing trouble everywhere back then. In fact, he even physically disciplined Lu Zhong before. At that time, Lu Xueyou was already an adult, a big guy in his early twenties. Although Lu Zhong was good at fighting, he couldn't lay a hand on him, so in the end, he suffered a bit of loss. Because of this matter, Lu Zhong has always held a grudge against Lu Xueyou.

  But seven or eight years have passed, and now that the two are reunited, those small misunderstandings have long since disappeared. Especially Lu Zhong, who had always thought that Lu Lao Da was detestable, but today, he seemed to truly see this person for the first time, and it turned out that he was a very kind and honest man, and also gave people a big brotherly feeling.

  "How's it going? Are you okay?" Lu Xue asked with concern.

  Lu Zhong was stunned for a moment, because he really didn't have anything to do with it, so when others asked him, he would react slowly at first, and then he knew that it must be the rumor about himself being imprisoned.

  Nowadays, transportation is inconvenient, especially for rural people who rarely leave their homes. From Guangning to Qinglong is already considered a long trip. Making phone calls? Even someone like Lu Xiaoping who works in an office might not have used a phone before. Firstly, there were no convenient conditions; secondly, they simply didn't have that awareness.

  It seems that Lu Xueyou also happened to visit his relatives in Guangning a few days ago and heard about his own "imprisonment". The latest news is that he has not updated at all.

  "It's okay." Lu Zhong smiled and didn't want to explain any further, otherwise, what if one day he was beaten again, wouldn't it be exhausting for his concerned family members to have mental problems?

  "That's good, that's good. Your sister is working the late shift today and won't be back until 8 or 9 o'clock. I'll go get some food, we two brothers can have a couple of bowls and chat nicely. By the way, how did you end up in Qinglong?" Lu Xueyu smiled with relief, clearly delighted to hear that Lu Zhong was fine, and it was genuine happiness from the bottom of his heart.

  "Ah, I'm going to stay in Qinglong for a while, big brother, can you help me ask around when you go back? I want to rent a house." This was actually Lu Zhong's intention.

  Lu Zhong now lives in the county committee's guest house, but somehow it doesn't feel as convenient as living at his own home.

  The county committee's family courtyard is a particularly old community, the house is broken and can't be repaired, it's overcrowded, many married couples who are both working are queuing up to wait for housing allocation.

  Originally, the municipal finance allocated funds, and the county would raise a portion on its own, which was enough to build two residential buildings. However, Liu Pingnan, the former county party secretary, prioritized the greater good over personal interests and used the municipal allocation to directly fund the construction of the county party committee's office building. As a result, some family members of county party committee officials wrote letters to report him for this matter.

  But anyway, the die has been cast, Liu Pingnan has fallen from power, and the renovation and expansion of the county committee's family courtyard is even more hopeless.

  At this point, Lu Zhong didn't want to compete with the local double-income families for a house either, so he thought of temporarily renting an apartment first.

  Lu Zhong had actually planned to ask his childhood friend Guo Weisong for help. The two were once the deputy directors of the Publicity Department of Qinglong County Committee, one was Bi Xiaoguang, who is now working at Beijing Daily, and the other was Guo Weisong, the deputy director of the News Section of the Publicity Department of Qinglong County Committee. Last year when Lu Zhong was still the head of Guangning County Public Security Bureau, Guo Weisong returned to his hometown, and Liu Xiaohui arranged for them to meet up again.

  But after inquiring, Lu Zhong found out that Guo Weisong had gone to the provincial capital for a study session and would probably not return until next week.

  Finally, Lu Zhong thought of Lu Xueyou and could only entrust this elder brother to find a house.