Restarting life by going to the countryside to support medical work

Chapter 692 Going to the sea
As for Zhu Yongyang, he knows his own family's affairs.

In trivial matters, it's not a big problem if others mistakenly think he's one of Li Yancheng's people. But in more significant or important matters, he would never readily agree to it.

Only he himself knew that he could never do anything under Li Yancheng's name outside, especially things involving the gray area.

Since his old classmate is safe and sound, he will remain safe and sound as long as he doesn't do anything reckless.

So after receiving a call from Mr. Fang in Hong Kong, who was introduced by Cheng Jianwen, he hesitated for a long time before finally calling Li Yancheng to ask for his opinion.

"You don't need to ask for my opinion on your matter. Just treat this as a normal business collaboration. If you think it's suitable, then you can cooperate with him. If it's not suitable, then you can disagree."

“I know what you mean. I’m just worried that he has ulterior motives, especially since he’s with that guy named Yang Aimin. I made some inquiries and found out that Yang’s father works in a southern province. Could this guy have some other ideas?”

Zhu Yongyang is becoming increasingly cautious in his actions, especially when it might involve his old classmate.

Over the years, he has watched his old classmate rise from a junior doctor at the district hospital, who almost got implicated in his ex-wife's family affairs and was in a very sorry state, to his current position.

He didn't know what his old classmate was thinking, but he always had a dreamlike feeling, as if it were all unreal.

Boss Fang contacted him wanting to meet and talk about opening a private restaurant in the courtyard of Ya'er Hutong, to see if there was any possibility of cooperation.

Upon hearing that Cheng Jianwen had introduced him, Lao Zhu understood that this President Cheng must have agreed, otherwise he wouldn't have introduced him.

While Cheng Jianwen could agree, he needed to consider things more carefully.

On the surface, he agreed to the meeting, but postponed it to two days later because he wanted to use this time to find out about Mr. Fang's background.

He quickly gathered information, finding out not only what Boss Fang did, but also the identity of Yang Aimin, who was with him in Beijing.

The strange combination of these two people left him scratching his head, unsure whether he should meet them or not.

After expressing his concerns to his old classmate over the phone, Zhu Yongyang prepared to patiently wait for a reply. He thought Li Yancheng would have to think about it at least, but to his surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, the person on the other end of the phone said...

"Don't overthink it. As I said, just treat it as a normal business collaboration. Negotiate as you see fit and fight for your own interests."

But remember, only discuss business cooperation, nothing else. Don't worry about their ulterior motives. If the cooperation is finalized, have someone keep an eye on them for a while.

"I understand. Whether the deal goes through or not, I'll have someone keep an eye on them."

"Yeah, but be careful, it wouldn't look good if someone found out."

"Understood, you can rest assured about the people I arranged."

"Old Zhu, none of your brothers are doing those shady things anymore, right?"

"No, absolutely not. If you can do normal business with me and make a lot of money, no one wants to do those shady deals anymore."

"That's good. Also, make sure you pay all your taxes every month. I know you earn a lot of money, so don't be stingy with your taxes."

"Hey, what are you saying, Da Cheng? I've been dealing with you for so many years, and my awareness has improved a lot. Every month, I pay the taxes voluntarily without the tax officer from the tax office coming to me. My wife manages all those accounts, so there's absolutely no chance of not paying or underpaying."

"Haha, your awareness has improved a lot."

"That's right, paying taxes is also a contribution to the country."

"Okay, I'll try to get you a banner for being an active taxpayer later, so you can get some exposure and be in the newspaper."

"No, no, no, I appreciate your kindness, but I understand the principle of not flaunting wealth. Just let me make my fortune quietly."

"That's not up to you. I believe the tax bureau will still do the necessary publicity. If that day comes, just cooperate. Don't worry, there will definitely be benefits."

In recent years, the whole country has been promoting the concept of "ten-thousand-yuan households" (households with 10,000 yuan in income). The purpose of this promotion is to encourage people to make their own way in the world and not rely on job assignments.

Was the publicity effective?
It will definitely have some effect, but it won't be very noticeable.

Thirty-five years have passed since liberation, and a fixed mindset has formed in the minds of ordinary people: working for the country is the only proper job, and everything else is considered crooked or illegitimate, especially private business.

Some people are also worried about potential changes to the return policy.

However, this situation has changed since the beginning of this year. The landmark event was the complete abolition of cloth ration coupons at the beginning of the year, which had lasted for thirty years. Cotton ration coupons, which were issued for cotton, were also abolished at the same time.

At the same time, people also discovered that while other daily necessities still required coupons, there was an increase in unplanned supplies. These unplanned supplies meant that you could buy them without coupons, but they were more expensive than those that required coupons, costing you more money.

For example, meat used to be impossible to buy without a ration coupon, but now you can buy it even without a coupon if you're willing to pay more.

Furthermore, starting this year, the southern economic zone has abolished all ration coupons, including those for grain and oil, truly achieving open supply and market pricing.

The importance of money began to become increasingly apparent.

In fact, changes had already begun as early as the 1980s because of Li Yancheng's presence.

After his article on how to effectively manage social security was published, he encouraged young people who had returned to the city after being sent to the countryside and unemployed people to register as individual business owners and do small business for self-sufficiency. This initiative has already begun across the country, but because there is no particularly clear policy guidance, it has not been carried out on a large scale. However, the changes are still significant.

The major changes began last year, due to the improvement of relevant policies. The most significant policy was a notice issued by the labor department last year regarding the issue of employees requesting unpaid leave.

The "enterprise employees" here refers to formal employees of state-owned enterprises.

The notice clearly states that employees can sign a leave-without-pay agreement with their employer for no more than two years. During this period, they will retain their job title and seniority, but all wages and benefits will be suspended.

Furthermore, the employee is required to pay no less than 20% of their original salary as labor insurance to the employer every month, which essentially means they are paying their own pension insurance.

The introduction of this policy is essentially an encouragement for employees to go out and do business. After two years, it will be clear whether they are good at it or not. If they make money, they will definitely not want the meager wages in the factory and can come back to resign, thus freeing up a job.

If you've tried everything and ended up with nothing, and you know you don't have the skills, then you should obediently go back to work. This notice from the labor department gives current employees a chance to try and fail, so they don't have to worry about the future. At worst, they can always go back to work.

When the notice was first issued last year, everyone just watched and waited, and very few people actually took action. The number of people applying for unpaid leave gradually increased, starting after the Spring Festival this year, which also gave rise to a new term, "going into business".

At that time, "going into business" simply meant giving up a stable job to start a business, without the "ambiguity" it would have decades later.

If we don't consider the wave of young people returning to the city in 1981 who started small businesses, then the wave in 1984 was the first wave of "going into business" after the reform and opening up in 1978.

The second wave began in the early 1990s after that famous speech, when many people in government agencies and public institutions began to apply for unpaid leave.

Since current policies encourage entrepreneurship, corresponding publicity efforts must be in place.

Different departments have different focuses in their publicity efforts. The tax bureau, of course, promotes the idea of ​​actively paying taxes, and Zhu Yongyang has done a very good job in this regard.

His wife, who works at a bank, manages his accounts and proactively files taxes with the local tax office on time every month. To put it bluntly, in this day and age, she's definitely in the top three, if not the only one. Of course, we should publicize her when the time is right.

This is also what Li Yancheng meant when he said he had no choice.

Actually, the publicity department of Chengdong District wanted to promote Lao Zhu a couple of years ago. This guy is a multi-millionaire, and the district has such a capable person, so they have to promote him.

Since they were going to publicize it, they had to investigate thoroughly. The publicity department staff discovered that this guy used to be involved in the buying and selling of ration coupons. Although he had stopped doing it now, those planned supply coupons were strictly prohibited from being bought and sold privately. If this was pointed out after the publicity, wouldn't they all be in trouble?

So, the matter was left unresolved.

The tax authorities are different. Zhu Yongyang is now running a legitimate business and pays taxes actively. He deserves recognition and publicity, so he should set a good example for other individual business owners.

As for the past? That's not under the jurisdiction of the tax authorities.

Upon hearing Li Yancheng's words, Zhu Yongyang's face turned ashen. He didn't want any commendation or publicity. It wasn't that he was introverted, but rather that he knew the saying, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

"Da Cheng, I don't care about the benefits or the drawbacks. I'm just worried that someone might bring up my past 'misdeeds'."

“It’s okay. You can take out tens of thousands of yuan to purchase a batch of school supplies, desks, benches and the like, and then donate them to the surrounding rural schools free of charge.”

You also have a transportation team contracted now, so you should contact the schools you want to donate to in advance, and then personally drive the trucks to deliver the supplies. If any of these schools have classrooms in poor condition, you can hire a construction team to help repair them, and you will still pay for it yourself.

Remember, target schools in the surrounding rural areas, not those in the city. Once you've done this a few times, I guarantee no one will mention the shady things you did before.

But one thing you need to pay special attention to is that you shouldn't contact the publicity department or the education department yourself; you should contact the school directly. Everything else will be taken care of for you.

"Is that all?" Zhu Yongyang asked with some skepticism.

"Just do as I say."

“No problem, this is a good deed, I’ll do it.”

"Okay, then that's settled. You can handle things with Mr. Fang from Hong Kong Island who you contacted. I won't get involved in your business, but you can't make any changes to my yard. If there are any repairs or routine maintenance, you should contact Lao Guan."

"I see."

Hearing the busy tone from the phone receiver, Zhu Yongyang breathed a sigh of relief and put the receiver back on the landline.

Although they had known each other since childhood and their relationship had grown stronger over the years, even through the phone line, he could still feel the overwhelming aura emanating from his old classmate, making him feel extremely cautious.

Fan Yunhua, who was writing something on the table, heard her husband finish the phone call, so she put down her pen and looked up.

"See? I told you Director Li wouldn't interfere in your affairs, right?"

“What do you know? This isn’t about whether to manage it or not, but I have to say it. Many people outside know about my relationship with Da Cheng. Now that I’ve rented his courtyard, some people already think I’m working for him.”

They said that as the director of the Public Security Bureau, there were some difficult things to do, so they pushed me to take the lead.

Although we ourselves know that nothing of the sort happened, others may not know.

The reason that Mr. Fang from Hong Kong Island wants to cooperate with me and Mr. Cheng is probably because of our relationship with Da Cheng, so I have to make that clear.

"Alright, alright, you know a lot, but I'm just a woman and I don't know much. I just want to know what you two were talking about later. Why are you even bringing up accumulating good deeds?"

"Oh, that's it..."

When his wife asked him this, Zhu Yongyang explained the whole story.

Upon hearing this, Fan Yunhua's eyes sparkled.

“Old Zhu, Director Li’s idea is great. We should definitely do it this way. Let’s not go for tens of thousands of yuan, let’s put together 100,000 yuan for this. Consider it a good deed for our child.”

As Zhu Yongyang earned more and more money in recent years, Fan Yunhua became increasingly worried.

Other people worry about not having enough money, but she worries about having too much. If others knew this, they would probably scold her.

But because she had experienced that period, she couldn't help but be afraid.

Now, as soon as she hears that money is going to be spent on something legitimate, something virtuous and good, she immediately raises the amount of money by a significant margin.

When Zhu Yongyang heard that his wife wanted to take out 100,000 yuan, he opened his mouth, but he really wanted to say that she was a spendthrift woman. That money didn't grow on trees; it was money that he, her husband, had worked hard to earn penny by penny. But when he heard that it was for the children to accumulate good karma, he swallowed his words back.

Fine, I'll listen to my wife. Sigh! Well, some of his money did come from questionable sources, so I'll just consider it money spent to buy peace of mind.

(End of this chapter)