Riding the wind of rebirth

Sure enough, after being nourished by the stewed pork leg and radish at the grain station that night, Yan Xiao inadvertently became what the Yi people call a "manly man." In Lao Chiri's words, being able to drink isn't a skill; daring to get drunk is.

This directly led to Yan Xiao breaking his promise to Mu Jialaha the next day. The two fishing buddies, who had a lot in common because of their early romance, did not become a couple until the next night. They agreed to stay up all night fishing with sea rods on the Meigu River.

The next morning, when Zhou Zhi and Yang He went to retrieve the fishpond, it was already filled with more than ten Ya fish, each thirty or forty centimeters long, as well as a considerable number of oxtail catfish and catfish.

"All soft-shelled turtles and small-scaled fish? You guys are pretty impressive, not a single carp or crucian carp all night?"

“Yes, I threw it back into the water for Brother Yan Xiao,” Mu Jialaha said. “He said he was tired of eating carp the other day.”

With such good resources, one can certainly indulge in such extravagance. Zhou Zhi laughed and said, "Then you all go back to sleep. Mu Jia, come to Hai Lai Restaurant for dinner tonight. Your brother Yan Xiao is treating. Remember to bring Azi Rila!"

That evening, everyone had a three-table banquet at Hailai Ayi's restaurant. Yan Xiao paid the bill. One table was for his friends, and another table was for Lao Chiri, Tu Liangzhi, and Tu Ziri and other fellow villagers from Yi Township. They also expressed their gratitude for the care that everyone had given to their friends over the past few days.

Another table was set up with the town government's newly appointed key officials.

Perhaps it's because it's the middle of the year, but Hailai Restaurant is doing particularly well. With the help of Zhouzhi County, Hailai Ayi has set about thirty signature dishes, which have now become a specialty and are highly praised by the town government, agricultural university staff, and road construction teams.

The road construction team even booked several rooms in Hailai Restaurant as their command center office, and also contracted Hailai to deliver meals to the construction site.

This construction team arrived before the Lunar New Year; their mission is to extend the highway from Lianhe Township to Wazu Railway Station, connecting it to the Chengdu-Kunming Railway.

The construction of this road will undoubtedly be of great significance to the future development of Lianhe Town. The fruit sales problem that has always been a concern in Zhouzhi will be completely resolved.

This idea didn't come from Zhou Zhi himself, but rather from the "future performance" that the newly arrived deputy secretaries and mayor already possessed.

Although the development momentum of Lianhe Town looks very good at present, many cadres still have doubts about coming to work in a place that was still a "remote wilderness" just two years ago. The higher-ups use this foreseeable performance to motivate everyone. Even if Lianhe Town does not develop much in four years, with this path as a foundation, it will still be "hard work even if there is no merit", and there is no worry about not being promoted.

Zhou Zhi knew, of course, that this was a bit "overly biased," but if he didn't do it this way, no one would come. That's human nature. He could only marvel at how rich the future rewards would be for the cadres who dared to come and work with Tu Liangzhi.

This meal was of a high standard, mainly due to the ingredients, which included black chicken, black goat, Yazhou black pig, various mountain delicacies and mushrooms, as well as freshly caught premium aquatic products.

If this were in Chengdu, Zhouzhi would have to think twice before trying to get a meal like this, but in Hailai's restaurants, it's easy to gather the whole set.

Some platters feature specialties from surrounding counties, such as Mianning Wujin ham, Dechang Xining duck liver, Qionghai iron-deck goose, and jarred meat, all of which are rare delicacies.

Feng Xueshan savored many of the dishes here with great care, as she was the logistics manager of the Clover Group and was also responsible for poverty alleviation procurement in Lianhe Township at Zhou Zhi's request. Previously, they only sold mushroom oil, dried mushrooms, dried bracken, and buckwheat tea, but now she discovered that there were many other good things.

It seems that besides fruit, there is still a lot of potential to be tapped in the targeted poverty alleviation procurement in Liangshan Prefecture. It not only gains a reputation for assistance, but also brings benefits to the group's logistics department. In fact, it is a win-win situation.

This was the first time Zhou Zhi had gotten to know all the new cadres in a relatively complete way.

Judging from the staff composition, the town government cadres are of both Yi and Han ethnicities, roughly in a 40/60 split.

In the eyes of the cadres, Zhou Zhi is an absolute eccentric. His stories have become almost legendary in Lianhe Township. The most bizarre of all the legends is not about Zhou Zhi's mysterious high-level connections, how he chatted and discussed matters with the prefectural leaders, how familiar he was with the military, or his various miraculous operations that brought in many unheard-of but highly effective projects.

What's most amazing in the eyes of the officials is that Zhouzhi, through these actions, has produced two national representatives. This status, especially within the system, is real "political capital."

If Wu Renzhong hadn't been assigned to Lianhe Township as a counterpart assistance cadre, he wouldn't have been able to obtain such a position in his ordinary civil service job. This also shows how impressed and valued the higher authorities are with the development of Lianhe Township in recent years.

What's funny is that everyone is more curious about Zhou Zhi than genuinely flattering Wu Renzhong. This is because Zhou Zhi will soon be leaving the autonomous prefecture, while Wu Renzhong's future in the prefecture is limitless. Now is the perfect time to make serious friends with him.
Zhou Zhi was quite pleased with the town officials' understanding, because this meant he could avoid drinking again.

Yan Xiao, the host, also spoke, saying that the most precious thing about Lianhe Township is not its beautiful scenery or abundant resources, but its simple and kind people.

He understood perfectly why Zhouzi had been able to stay here for so long. He had only been here for a few days, but he already felt reluctant to leave because of the kindness and hospitality he had shown.

His words resonated deeply with everyone and moved many people, which sparked another wave of toasts.

Even Zhou Zhi himself didn't know how the banquet ended; he simply woke up the next morning.

The time to leave had finally come. The space inside the Defender was only enough for one person to sit in, so Aunt Gillette filled the cargo box under the seats and even the roof with mountain produce, sausages, ham and the like that she had prepared for everyone.

The car had barely passed Meigu when Zhouzhi's phone rang.

It wasn't a cell phone, but a satellite phone.

After chatting for a few minutes, Zhou Zhi hung up the phone and turned to everyone, saying, "Brother Li San has arrived at the base. There's a launch mission tonight. Does anyone want to go watch?"

Yang Honghui and Yan Xiao exclaimed in unison, "We definitely have to go!"

"What about our tickets?" He Shiqing also wanted to go, but was a little embarrassed: "Xueshan finally managed to book a soft sleeper."

"I'll call my workplace and cancel the appointment first." Feng Xueshan had already pulled out her phone: "At worst, we'll just fly back. How can we miss out on such a good opportunity?!"

Once the car started again, it headed towards the main road of the base.

Yan Xiao saw soldiers standing guard along the way and couldn't help but marvel: "I only read the news, I didn't know that the security was so tight when carrying out a launch mission."

"When Quanxing plays a game, Zhong Gang and the others have to get out of the game, let alone launch a rocket?" Yang Honghui said. "But why didn't they stop our car?"

Zhou Zhi knocked on the driver's side window, where there was a rather large white plastic-sealed document that he had just taken out of the glove compartment and put there: "We have this. The road is closed now. Without this, we can't get in."

When the car arrived at the base entrance, Li Laosan and his old acquaintance Luo Yujuan were already standing there waiting.

Luo Yujuan stepped forward, saluted Zhou Zhi, and then extended her hand to him: "Young Mr. Zhou, it's nice to see you again." (End of Chapter)