Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 415 Unreasonable Demands (6k views, please subscribe)

When so many bigwigs stood up to welcome Lü Yao, he felt quite flattered.

Few people can withstand such a challenge, especially men.

What do men pursue throughout their lives?
Just like what Zhu Gaochi said to Yu Qian in "Ming Dynasty"—strive to become emperor.

For women, fame, fortune, and status are merely byproducts of the ambition to "become emperor." However, not everyone can become emperor. Being a local tyrant in a relatively lower social circle is not so bad either.

Even for a local tyrant in a remote mountain valley, the experience brought about by such an absolute difference in status is absolutely different.

Now, with so many enemy leaders looking at him expectantly, Lü Yao had a false sense of "universal support." Even if this feeling was false, it easily triggered the underlying genes in Lü Yao's bloodline.

However, Lü Yao quickly suppressed these emotions and allowed reason to regain its footing.

He shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with each of the bigwigs present, neither humble nor arrogant, and then took the initiative to arrange for everyone to take their seats.

It's an unspoken rule at dinner parties not to discuss business first.

So after Lü Yao led Lin Yongzhen to her seat, he began to flatter the bigwigs who had come to the banquet, starting with their demeanor. Lin Yongzhen smiled and occasionally chimed in, willingly using herself to highlight Lü Yao's presence.

Lin Yongzhen used to frequent very high-end places, so even though these people were all of high status, none of them had ever seen Lin Yongzhen, and only a handful had even heard of her. Fortunately, in the past few days, these people had figured out Lin Yongzhen's identity while they were getting to know each other.

Therefore, no one dared to act recklessly during the banquet. On the contrary, because of Lin Yongzhen's attitude towards Lü Yao, they also felt more respect for Lü Yao. This respect was not directed at Lü Yao's background, but at Lü Yao himself.

Being able to keep someone like Lin Yongzhen by one's side is more than just having a powerful background; Lin Yongzhen herself is someone who can become a powerful figure in someone else's life.

After several rounds of toasts, the atmosphere had been quite lively, and everyone was outwardly very friendly, even addressing each other as brothers. So, Lü Yao took the initiative to say, "Actually, the reason I invited everyone here wasn't just to drink, but to talk about some serious matters."

Everyone at the table smiled and began to speak:
"Yes, Mr. Lü, otherwise we wouldn't dare to come to such a high-profile banquet."

"Mr. Lü is taking this too seriously. We are truly flattered."

Amid this veiled flattery, Lü Yao smiled and said, "I know that many of you have contacted me recently, but I have indeed been very busy. So I had my steward, Lin, meet with you all first. I apologize for my neglect!"

As he spoke, Lü Yao took the initiative to stand up, holding his wine glass, and said, "I apologize to everyone!"

"Where there!"

As Lü Yao stood up, everyone at the table followed suit, raising their glasses to express their gratitude for his help and support in developing their side of the business.

If you were working under them, you would never see such a scene. Working under this group of people requires you to be observant, have a good memory, be meticulous and sensible, and be able to immediately provide what your superior needs when needed.

This includes, but is not limited to, what your superiors have told you, the tasks they have assigned you, the paperwork they have given you, the task details, and even real data. All of this must be passed down level by level and summarized and placed in the hands of your superiors within the specified time.

Just describing this kind of work in words is enough to make one feel breathless.

But if you're a god of wealth, you'll see a completely different side of these people.

Economic development has always been the top priority in all work, but as the country begins to advocate for green and low-pollution development, the previous development methods have been severely tested, and a difficult choice has been placed in front of many people.

How can we develop the economy in a green and low-pollution way?

In this regard, Chengdu has set a good example. In recent years, Chengdu has begun to focus on cultural tourism. The concept of Chengdu as the "Land of Abundance" and a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery has been rapidly popularized. Coupled with the natural scenery of Sichuan, the city's tourism resources are indeed unique, resulting in good revenue from cultural tourism.

With the benefits brought by cultural tourism, Chengdu began to use a low-price strategy and its status as a pillar of Southwest China to attract low-pollution enterprises that rely on high-tech development, such as BOE, drone technology companies, green factories, and blue factories, to settle in Chengdu.

Chengdu's industrial structure is indeed undergoing transformation.

However, this only applies to Chengdu.

How can so many people from all over Sichuan, across its three prefectures and eighteen cities, climb the social ladder? These people are all anxious and want to achieve something remarkable to enhance their resumes.

Especially when they see so many cities across the country transforming and thriving, with some going into high-tech and others into foreign trade, the land of Sichuan, located in the heart of the country and not bordering the sea, is completely bewildered and lost, unable to find a way out for the future.

Now, Lü Yao, the most promising and talked-about player from Shangnan with an outstanding track record, has come to Sichuan. He even made a special statement online, saying that he wants to boost the local economy and promote rural development. This is simply a windfall!

So these big shots, whose resources had been drained by Chengdu, were all getting restless.

However, after Lü Yao finished toasting and began to talk about his support plan, the expressions of these bigwigs gradually became hesitant and even indifferent.

Lu Yao's plan is simple: he will use his resources to help people in various places find promising internet startups, help them incubate them, and leverage Sichuan's unique natural resources to attract tourists from coastal areas and developed cities.

The logic of this plan is so simple that all the bigwigs present frowned and fell into deep thought.

Finally, the big boss from Aba smiled apologetically and complained, "Mr. Lü, you may not know much about our area. You are in Mianyang, which is a very developed city here, but even such a city cannot compare with Shangnan in your area. Even Chengdu cannot compare with Shangnan in your area."

"Did you know that in many places where we live, transportation is very inconvenient? We don't have the money to build roads, so we only have dirt roads. In some more remote areas, let alone internet, even the electricity supply is unstable."

"You're saying you want to attract tourists from other places to this place? Your idea is good, but there are too many difficulties in realizing it in reality."

The bigwig from Ganzi chimed in, "Yes, our scenery and tourism resources are indeed excellent, but even the best natural resources need the support of infrastructure."

The meaning behind these people's words was quite straightforward.

Lü Yao's idea was too simplistic. Did he really think he could accomplish something so big with just the vague and intangible internet? That was unrealistic.

In fact, many people in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan region share similar thoughts.

Around 2020, as more and more people began to share their lives through the internet and earn more money than they could ever earn in a lifetime in the mountains, many places finally shifted their development focus to the internet, with Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan doing particularly well.

So much so that later on the internet, many people were saying:
"People from Yunnan only play in the highest-level matches!"

"Douyin cannot lose the people of Dianzhou, just as God cannot lose his helmet."

"For people from Yunnan, dominating Douyin is as easy as breathing."

The simple phrase "I am from Yunnan" quickly went viral online, becoming a catchy and addictive song, much like "Mice Love Rice," thanks to the power of short videos.

Meanwhile, Sichuan has also produced a number of famous internet memes.

The Sichuan dialect, the term "henpecked husband," hot pot, and various relaxed and amazing actions quickly gained immense popularity with the help of short videos, making Chengdu and the surrounding areas popular destinations for taking photos and videos.

Especially next year, the domestic tourism industry will experience a boom, and Sichuan's tourist attractions will become much more popular online.

These things only became popular and went viral thanks to the internet.

The internet is mostly used by young people, while the bigwigs in various places are mostly people born in the 60s and 70s, who can't keep up with the things young people are doing.

It's normal to not be able to keep up or understand.

What they were implying was that they wanted Lü Yao to go and build roads, hotels, guesthouses, and guesthouses—things that were tangible and real achievements that could be used to assess performance.

Seeing that Lü Yao was playing with his wine glass and smiling without saying a word, a bigwig from a city in Sichuan that was considered to be in the middle ranks immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "Mr. Lü, let's have a heart-to-heart talk behind closed doors today. Sichuan's natural resources are indeed good, you know that, and we know that too, but our local area is very difficult and we have no way to turn these resources into an economy."

"But as long as you invest with us, we will definitely give you the best conditions and we will make sure you don't suffer any losses."

"Moreover, as someone in business, you must be able to see clearly that this is the hottest time for real estate development. However, because development is inconvenient here, we haven't really benefited much from the real estate boom."

Even if the benefits reached this area, Chengdu wiped them all out with its "Northern Darkness Divine Skill," leaving no one else with a single drop.

They are now offering these "benefits" to Lü Yao, which is purely a way to "get something for nothing."

After the big shot finished speaking, he remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "I haven't done the kind of 'bonus' you're talking about, and few of my friends have either. We don't have much experience in this area, but I do have some experience in online marketing."

With that, Lü Yao smiled confidently and said, "How about this, I'll randomly select a place as a pilot site. If I'm lucky, it can bring about 100 billion in GDP to that place every year. What do you think?"

Silence fell over the banquet after these words were spoken.

A GDP of 100 billion...

What a joke!
Currently, Mianyang's GDP is only over 200 billion yuan. If Lü Yao can really bring in 100 billion yuan of GDP in a year, then they will be able to take off with a bang!
Their GDP figures for this year haven't been released yet, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should only show a slight increase compared to last year. Generally speaking, apart from Chengdu's one trillion yuan lead, other cities are estimated to be below two hundred billion yuan. Places like Aba and Ganzi are even more extreme, with GDP figures of only a few hundred billion yuan.

If Aba and Ganzi can receive support from Lü Yao, it means that these two places can directly enter the top ten in the GDP ranking of Sichuan.

Lu Yao's next words silenced them even more, because he said, "Most importantly, you don't need to make any extra contributions while I'm doing these things. I just hope that when I achieve something, everyone can work together, use publicity resources, and help boost those resources."

After a brief silence, everyone burst into laughter: "Don't worry, Mr. Lü, we're all one family in Sichuan, we don't distinguish between each other." Lü Yao also laughed and raised his glass: "Then let's wish each other a happy cooperation in advance. When we really boost the economy and have money in hand, whether you want to build roads or develop other industries, that's something you bosses can decide for yourselves."

The business owners from various places laughed heartily, raised their glasses, and drank together.

As for whether these big bosses will cooperate, Lü Yao is not worried at all.

The customs and traditions of Sichuan and Shangnan are different. In Shangnan, no one submits to anyone else, not even when they are poor.

However, in Sichuan, Furongwang is the undisputed king of the market, and its word is law.

Lu Yao could guess that although no one from Rongcheng came to the banquet, these people would definitely tell Rongcheng after they finished drinking. And Furong Wang was also very concerned about things like boosting economic development.

The principle is simple: how much water a wooden bucket can hold depends not on the longest plank, but on the shortest plank.

Do you really think Furongwang is happy to be outnumbered by three opponents?

Therefore, Lü Yao was not afraid that they would not cooperate.

After the banquet ended, Lü Yao said goodbye to the group of big bosses and left the time for them.

Just as Lü Yao had guessed, the group of people who were already somewhat drunk at the dinner table and were almost about to swear brotherhood with Lü Yao instantly sobered up after Lü Yao left. Then, the group rushed to a private residence in Mianyang without stopping.

Here, they will tell you everything that happened today.

Around 10 p.m., in the faculty housing near Xike University in Mianyang, a group of big bosses who had just been drinking with Lü Yao were now sitting upright in several adjoining rooms, waiting for the person in front of them to make a move.

A person who can command such respect from the big bosses of Sichuan must be extremely powerful.

After listening to what this group of people had to say, the big boss did not doubt Lu Yao's reasons for helping the development of this impoverished area. What he was thinking was - why did Lu Yao do this?

Is this an olive branch extended by Shanghai South?

No.

They can't be that brainless.

So, does this represent the intention of the Rong family's faction behind Lü Yao, or is it Lü Yao's own idea to do this?

If this represents the Rong family, what does the Rong family want to do in Sichuan?
The most important thing about Sichuan is its various mineral resources and rare mineral resources. The natural scenery is just secondary. Many high-tech industries that need to use rare minerals will come to Chengdu after a little bit of contact with them, based on this factor.

In addition, Chengdu has convenient transportation and offers excellent conditions, so many of the country's top-tier manufacturers have branches here.

The Rong family's business faction also deals with these things, but if they really wanted to get involved here, they could have just said so. There's no need to make things so complicated, and besides, the mineral resources here are unlikely to fall into their hands.

Let alone falling into their hands, it's impossible for them to even lay a finger on it.

Therefore, this bigwig quickly ruled out the Rong family's faction as a factor.

So, did Lü Yao do this for his own benefit?

But that doesn't make sense either. Lü Yao has long been branded as a member of the Rong family's faction, and that brand is so deep that it's impossible for him to bypass Rong Nianqing and contact Lü Yao directly. Instead, he should contact the Rong family's faction directly, or at the very least, Rong Nianqing.

It's not going to be Lü Yao's turn no matter what.

Can't it just be about gaining fame? That would be a huge loss. Over the years, many people have done a lot and spent a lot of money to gain fame. Those who did the work and spent the money have indeed received the respect they deserved, but to say that this can change anything is wishful thinking.

Puzzling.

After considering all the possible factors, this bigwig still couldn't figure out why Lü Yao did this.

Without a future-oriented perspective, this person simply couldn't understand the fundamental purpose behind Lü Yao's actions.

However, from the current perspective, this matter is entirely beneficial to Sichuan; even if something goes wrong or a bad trend emerges in the future, they can easily get rid of it.

With that in mind, the big shot was happy to do him a favor.

After thinking for a moment, the bigwig said very slowly and deliberately, "President Lü's intentions are good, so let him do it. It's better to do something that benefits everyone without costing anyone anything. If he really achieves something, then let's not hold each other back. I really dislike this kind of internal strife."

An expression like "I really dislike it" is sufficient.

This GDP of 100 billion yuan will be fiercely contested by the big bosses below, because even Ganzi and Aba, which are ranked the lowest, can enter the top ten in Sichuan Province with this amount. In the future, they can walk around the meeting room with their heads held high, and even he will have to go over with a smile to express his gratitude.

But when applied to Chengdu, this 100 billion yuan is nothing; it's an achievement that's neither too much nor too little.

That's why he wants these people to stop scheming against each other over this 100 billion. If Lü Yao really makes a fuss, they'd better work together to stir up this trend.

So the remaining question is who will be the lucky one chosen by Lü Yao.

After the bigwig finished speaking, the two big bosses from Aba and Ganzi exchanged a glance. Although they were both big bosses in their respective places, their skin was dry and dark red due to long-term exposure to the high-altitude sun.

When the two looked at each other, they both saw a raging fire in each other's eyes.

While drinking with Lü Yao tonight, all they talked about was natural scenery and tourism resources. But in the entire Sichuan region, apart from Aba and Ganzi, the places with the most natural resources are not particularly impressive. And ironically, these two places are also the poorest.

Therefore, Lü Yao is most likely to choose one of the two.

The big bosses in Aba are more confident.

Because Lü Yao had been to Aba!

Although everyone tacitly avoided mentioning Lü Yao's trip to Aba during the dinner, because according to rumors, Lü Yao had suffered a heartbreak there, many of the big bosses present knew that Lü Yao had indeed been to Aba.

Now, Lü Yao is going to randomly select a lucky person. Since Lü Yao has spent some time in Aba, he is more likely to choose Aba.

Not to mention that Aba also boasts Jiuzhaigou, a uniquely blessed national 5A-level tourist attraction.

The more he thought about it, the more confident the big boss in Aba became.

He seemed to be glowing with health and vitality.

He seemed to have already secured this 100 billion GDP.

After understanding the idea here, the big bosses left one after another, preparing to go back to their respective homes. When they came downstairs, the big bosses from other regions looked at Aba and Ganzi with a bit of envy. Sure enough, having a lot of tourism resources is a good thing; it makes it easy to complete transformation and monetization.

Meanwhile, the big bosses in other places have lost even the will to compete.

It's not that other places lack natural scenery and tourism resources; for example, Leshan has the Leshan Giant Buddha, and Luzhou has Yuping Mountain and Fenghuang Lake. It's just that these landscapes are truly insignificant compared to Aba and Ganzi.

Amidst the envious gazes of numerous business owners, Ganzi and Aba walked behind, chatting and laughing: "Do you believe what General Manager Lü said about internet empowerment and monetizing tourism resources?"

Aba stated unequivocally, "I don't believe it! Even if it were true, how could it possibly boost GDP by 100 billion? That's a pipe dream. Both of our places are famous for tourism, and half of our 20 billion+ GDP comes from tourism resources."

Every year, countless tourists flock in singing "Blue Lotus," but these people only contribute a little over 10 billion yuan to the GDP. Now, Lü Yao wants to increase that amount tenfold.
If he really had that ability, he could be directly promoted to the think tank.

The big boss from Ganzi shook his head with a wry smile: "Yes, this pie is way too big."

A GDP of 100 billion is already the limit they can imagine.

It's not their fault. Among a bunch of guys whose second-place rankings are only 200 billion and whose top ten are mostly over 100 billion, Lu Yao's claim of raising 100 billion right off the bat does seem a bit like bragging.

So the two big bosses waved their hands and said, "Forget it, whatever."

That's what they said, but the big boss in Ganzi still turned around and asked, "You wouldn't be secretly going to see General Manager Lü, would you?"

The big boss from Ganzi laughed and said, "Do you think I'm that kind of person? On the contrary, I think you're the kind of person who would do that kind of thing."

Hey! How could you look at me like that?

"Then it's a deal, neither of us is allowed to go!"

"we have a deal!"

(End of this chapter)