Sail across the sea

Chapter 356 I Can't Go Along with Your Fooling

Gao Fan is adept at using the media to create momentum, something Sun Shanshan has witnessed firsthand.

Gao Fan's methods are unconventional, yet highly aligned with national policy trends. Writing news about Gao Fan is both entertaining and politically correct; no journalist dislikes such a source of information.

Sun Shanshan didn't know what the "ammonia-to-urine conversion" was all about. Judging from the official document, she knew it was a project promoted by the Ministry of Chemical Industry, so it must be significant and newsworthy. The fact that the Chemical Industry Bureau didn't directly contact reporters but instead entrusted Gao Fan's company to negotiate with the media indicated that this wasn't something that could be simply reported with a story; it required some skill. In layman's terms, someone was plotting something.

Sun Shanshan could even surmise that the letter from the Chemical Industry Bureau was definitely something Gao Fan had tricked into giving; the officials in the Chemical Industry Bureau wouldn't have such ulterior motives.

"The conversion of ammonium sulfate to urine is a great thing, beneficial to the country, the people, and local governments and relevant departments. It can be said to be a win-win situation. But it is strange that such a thing has been obstructed by local governments during its implementation."

Gao Fan explained the relevant situation to Sun Shanshan and concluded by saying this.

Sun Shanshan thought for a moment and said, "That's not surprising. It's precisely because this matter is beneficial not only to the local area but also to the country that the local government is not in a hurry and is waiting to negotiate with the country."

In fact, it becomes clear by analogy with doing business. A transaction benefits both the buyer and seller: the buyer needs the product, and the seller waits to sell it and get money. However, the transaction doesn't always go smoothly; instead, they haggle and compete to see who has the stronger psychological resilience.

The same applies to the relationship between the central and local governments.

Legend has it that a major railway line planned by the state took a detour through several old revolutionary base areas to accommodate them. As a result, these counties felt they should take advantage of the state's profits and made exorbitant demands regarding land acquisition and other issues, creating considerable resistance for the railway authorities.

The railway authorities had no choice but to accept it reluctantly. However, when it came to designing the train stations, they downgraded the original station class, changing what was planned as second-class stations to third or fourth-class. As a result, the benefits that various regions could have obtained from the railway were actually reduced.

Sun Shanshan has heard many similar stories over the years while covering economic news. When Gao Fan mentioned the conversion of ammonium sulfate to urine, she understood.

"Do you want us to publish a series of articles to introduce the benefits of ammonium chloride to local officials?" Sun Shanshan asked.

“That’s one way too,” Gao Fan said with a smile.

Sun Shanshan retorted, "Are you mocking me? If writing a series of articles could change the minds of these local officials, this matter wouldn't be so difficult."

Gao Fan said, "This matter is not difficult at all. Look, even the Chemical Industry Bureau is too lazy to take action themselves, so they let a child like me, who is less than 200 months old, handle it."

Sun Shanshan actually did a mental calculation, then scolded, "You're already over 18, that's clearly more than 200 months old, okay? Besides, last time you tricked Director Liang of the Lingchuan City Labor Bureau, it really wasn't even 200 months, and you still tricked him so badly that he was selling you out and still helping you count the money?"

Gao Fan chuckled and changed the subject, saying, "When I was in the Ministry of Chemical Industry, I talked with Minister Zheng. He thought that lecturing local officials with grand principles was probably useless."

"It's not entirely useless, it's just that the effects are rather slow," Sun Shanshan corrected. Newspapers are meant to impart profound truths; if they only talk about how lecturing is useless, then newspapers have no value. As a newspaper reporter, she naturally had to uphold her position.

Gao Fan didn't argue with her, but simply followed her lead and said, "Time waits for no one. If we complete the ammonium-to-urea conversion a year earlier, the country can save a lot of energy, and farmers can get enough urea sooner. Currently, our country spends nearly $10 billion in foreign exchange on urea imports every year. Even from the perspective of saving foreign exchange expenditure, we can't wait for those local officials to suddenly realize this."

Sun Shanshan naturally understood Gao Fan's meaning. She said, "So, Minister Zheng released you and asked you to solve this problem."

"Sis, can we use a more appropriate word?" Gao Fan protested.

Sun Shanshan smiled and said to Xu Dan, "Dandan, do you think the words I used were appropriate?"

Xu Dan looked at Gao Fan, then at Sun Shanshan, and said, "I think what Sister Shanshan means is that Minister Zheng treated Gao Fan like a tiger, and now he's letting the tiger go back to the mountain to scare those local officials who don't do their jobs."

Sun Shanshan laughed loudly, and after laughing for a while, she nodded and said, "Not bad, not bad, Dandan, no wonder Xiaofan wants you to be his secretary. You are indeed a qualified secretary. However, I must remind you, Xiaofan is a tiger, and he still needs to be chained. You have to keep an eye on him and not let him break free of the chain."

Xu Dan didn't know how to respond. Sun Shanshan's words were again implying that Gao Fan was a biting dog. She knew Sun Shanshan was joking with Gao Fan, and she had already done enough by smoothing things over; continuing to do so would seem petty.

Gao Fan, as expected, did not pay attention to Sun Shanshan's analogy. He said, "My current idea is to launch a series of combined attacks, mobilizing both external and internal forces to put pressure on local officials."

"To achieve this, I need the cooperation of the media. This cannot be accomplished by publishing one article, but requires publishing many articles in succession, creating the right topics at the right time."

Sun Shanshan's expression turned serious. She said, "If that's the case, it's not something I can decide on my own. We need to consult with the editor-in-chief of our newspaper."

"The letter from the Chemical Industry Bureau that you brought is fine if it only requires our cooperation once. But if it's multiple times and will continue for a period of time, this letter won't be enough. We'll need to ask the Publicity Department to issue a separate letter."

Gao Fan shook his head: "I've spoken with the leaders of the Chemical Industry Bureau, and they think it's highly unlikely that the Publicity Department would get involved in this matter. Our publicity plan doesn't fit the Publicity Department's working style, so they probably won't..."

He paused at this point. Sun Shanshan, however, understood his unspoken meaning and added with a smile, "Did the leaders of the Chemical Industry Bureau say that the Propaganda Department wouldn't go along with your nonsense?"

"It would be better if you could put it more tactfully," Gao Fan said.

Sun Shanshan said with distress, "Without a letter from the propaganda department, our newspaper wouldn't be going to follow your nonsense."

Gao Fan said, "Sister Shanshan, is it possible for you to introduce me to your editor-in-chief? I have some superpowers, maybe I can persuade him."

(End of this chapter)