Riding the wind of rebirth

Once everyone was seated at Hailai Ayi Restaurant, Zhou Zhi helped distribute bowls and chopsticks while asking, "Now that the township has been upgraded to a town, the town school and primary school will be officially established, right?"

"Hey! The Party Secretary was right!" Liu Zhigang slapped his thigh. "I'll have to pay for this meal!"

"What does that mean?" Zhou Zhi asked curiously.

Shaluo laughed and said, "That day when everyone was talking about you, they said what you would ask about first when you came back. I said you would definitely have to take care of the satellite first, after all, that's a big deal, and it's also a family matter. Old Liu said you would definitely ask about the New Year first, since you always ask about the daily lives of the villagers when you come back, and the most important thing recently is of course the New Year."

"The Party Secretary said you'd definitely ask the schools first, showing concern for the children's education after the merger of several townships," Liu Zhigang laughed. "Looks like you and the Party Secretary have a better understanding!"

“This matter is already on the agenda.” Tu Liangzhi pulled out a red plastic notebook from his canvas backpack, opened it and said, “By the end of this year, we will build the town’s middle school, allocate the teachers, and use the winter vacation to complete the interior decoration and preparations for school enrollment, so that school-age children in several townships can attend middle school and will not all be crammed into the grain station with only one or two teachers.”

"What about primary schools?" Zhou Zhi asked again.

“We can’t keep up with the primary schools right now,” Shaluo said. “For now, let’s maintain the status quo and have the school-age children study in the local primary schools. We’ll focus on improving the quality of secondary schools.”

"If the campus can be built, and Dongfang only guarantees the teaching staff, is that feasible?" Zhou Zhi asked.

Shaluo and Liu Zhigang exchanged a glance, and Liu Zhigang immediately said, "Of course we can do that!"

“Then I’ll contact some philanthropists and we’ll try to build a charity primary school in Lianhe Town,” Zhou Zhi said. “It seems that some celebrities at Tingting’s company are quietly doing this. I’ll ask them about it later.”

At that moment, a young man wearing glasses appeared at the door: "Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Mayor, I'm back."

"Xiao Sun, come here. You've worked hard." Tu Liangzhi smiled and slapped the young man who had just entered into a seat. "Let me introduce you. This is Zhouzi, and this is Xiao Miao. Zhouzi, Xiao Miao, this is Sun Jiacai. Xiao Sun is in charge of the finance office in our town."

"Hello, Brother Sun." Zhou Zhi extended his hand to Sun Jiacai across the table.

Sun Jiacai clasped his hands together and said, "Brother Zhou, I've heard so much about you. I'm so glad you're back."

"I asked you to take stock of the village's assets, how's that coming along?" Tu Liangzhi asked. "We can't rely on them forever. The leaders at the prefecture meeting all gave instructions: administration needs to be standardized, institutionalized, and information-based. We'll make a concession on the last one for now, but you can at least manage the first two, right? The first thing is to get a clear picture of the village's assets... I mean, the town's assets. As the saying goes, keep things separate, so we don't make mistakes later!"

Zhou Zhi was amused by Tu Liangzhi's rhyme, but the point was indeed made. Many capable people have stumbled because of unclear property rights. Tu Liangzhi, who had served as a national representative, was truly clear-headed.

"I've roughly sorted it out. I've divided the township's, no, town's industries into six major categories: green energy projects, agricultural projects, light industry projects, tertiary industry projects, other projects, and administrative management. Each category contains many sub-categories. We're just waiting for Zhouzi to come back so we can review and hand over the information."

“Brother Sun, you can do it!” Zhou Zhi nodded: “Once these six major areas are sorted out, the town’s affairs will be almost settled.”

“That’s still too broad. Xiao Sun, could you elaborate a bit more?” Liu Zhigang said. “Let’s eat and talk. By the way, there’s a new regulation in town that prohibits drinking alcohol during working hours. Let’s have lunch today and save the alcohol for after get off work tonight.”

"This is a good rule." Zhou Zhi felt relieved. He had originally planned to use the excuse of handing over his work to refuse drinks, but now that the town had this new rule, it was quite good.

By this time, the dishes had arrived: chicken soup, chicken giblets, braised pork with wild mushrooms, pickled cabbage and blood curd, cold-cut black goat meat, braised pork in a jar, and seasonal vegetables—a very substantial meal.

Mai Xiaomiao first served the rice, then expertly soaked it in chicken broth. She then scooped a little bit of the oil from the surface of the chicken broth into the seasoning for the glutinous rice cake and chili, and added two drops of Litsea cubeba oil.

Tu Liangzhi smiled kindly and said, "Little Miao has truly learned how we Yi people eat."

"Uncle Tu, this is for you." Mai Xiaomiao handed the soaked rice and seasonings to Tu Liangzhi.

"Oh dear, elbow has corrupted people!" Tu Liangzhi said, laughing even more heartily. "Let's not be so polite, everyone get to work, don't let Xiao Miao do all the work by herself!"

As everyone began to eat, Sun Jiacai said, "After two weeks of research, we've found that our town has quite a few industries, some of which are quite specialized and require technical personnel for maintenance and management."

"First, there are green energy projects, which can be broadly divided into hydropower management, wind power management, solar power management, integrated power grid and substation management. In addition, grid connection generates revenue in the summer and supplements electricity in the winter, and there is also an independent financial management system."

"The water management here involves energy storage, pumping and releasing water for power generation, and irrigation. Previously, the management was handled by the Water Resources Bureau. Later, two seedling research bases were added. In order to ensure the water supply for the bases, the reservoir was allocated to the two major bases of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences for management and renovation. After the green energy project's circular system was completed, unified management became inevitable, and the most suitable management should of course be the town's green energy project management team."

“Actually, I prefer to establish a tertiary industry company in the town to manage this,” Sun Jiacai said. “Let’s call it Green Energy Company, which will be responsible for the town’s energy supply.”

"What do you think, elbow?" Tu Liangzhi asked Zhou Zhi as usual.

“This is the most suitable solution for the town right now,” Zhou Zhi said. “However, there are a few issues that need to be addressed. The Houshan Reservoir is not only part of the energy system, but it also includes water storage and irrigation functions. It is crucial for the future water supply for orchards, silage pastures, villagers’ daily water use, and agricultural bases at the foot of the mountain. Therefore, there will inevitably be times in the future when the interests of the company and the local interests conflict.”

"This part should be written into the company's articles of association, clarifying the obligations and responsibilities of all parties. The green energy industry belongs to the town's industry, and the green energy company is a company that serves the town. The green energy company must give priority to the interests of all the people in the town. In the event of a conflict of interest, the interests of the local community and important industries should be given priority. If a conflict occurs, it should be submitted to the higher-level management for arbitration. This arbitration power does not belong to the green energy company, but to the town management collective."

"Although green energy is called green energy in name, its essence is actually an ecological supporting project. Green energy is only one aspect, while using energy more rationally to serve the local area is another aspect. Therefore, water-saving irrigation projects that support it must follow up."

"This project will cost money, but it is also very necessary. As the scale of agriculture in Lianhe Town continues to grow, water resources will inevitably become an important asset that determines the scale of development. Only by taking water conservation into account from the beginning can we avoid the embarrassment of being limited by limited water resources in the future."

"We haven't started this part of the work yet, but it will be necessary in the future." (End of Chapter)