My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 754 Still Within the Horizon
But after Wei Dong finished speaking.

The city officials deliberately called on him to give a speech: "You should also express your views and attitudes to the other comrades. Everyone has taken time out of their busy work to attend the symposium, hoping to get some opinions and attitudes."

Okay, so Wei Dong became even more blunt: "I wasn't originally planning to respond to this part, because you've become a stumbling block to reform, or to put it bluntly, a heavy burden on reform!"

The room erupted in a commotion.

Many simply dressed figures couldn't help but jump up and shout curses.

Wei Dong remained silent and watched quietly.

After this group finished their spittle-flecked expression and found that the city had remained silent, the concerned individuals who had previously voiced their opinions also looked at them thoughtfully and reluctantly shut up.

He then spoke again: "You're getting anxious, see? Some people are starting to get anxious. I've always advocated against letting emotions get the better of you. Where did I go wrong? Let's discuss this rationally and with evidence. State-owned department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives are all based on the standard planned economy model. In the wave of the commodity economy, you are naturally a few steps behind. What you should do now is try your best to use your advantages to reform and compete, instead of thinking about extinguishing the new situation of reform. Ask yourselves honestly, what is your attitude right now?"

His words were more like a fire extinguisher.

This immediately washed away all of that part of the conversation.

Unable to pick up.

At this point, anyone who jumps out and chatters will be automatically identified as a suspect.

Finally, someone asked as calmly as possible, "So, Comrade Weidong, what do you think should be done to improve the department store?"

Wei Dongcai explained point by point: "The advantage of private enterprises is that the boss makes the decisions, the market response is fast, and everything is for the purpose of making money. State-owned enterprises have to bear all kinds of burdens, and the leaders need to consider more aspects, and even have their own little schemes. Therefore, full shareholding system and leadership appointment system are methods that can be tried. The sooner the changes are made, the greater the chance of success, because the tide of commodity economy has just begun. Everyone is learning to swim. If others swim ahead, those behind will only drown. Even if you try your best to hold me back now, what's the use? People all over the country are jumping into the sea."

It's quite obvious that the city is using Rang Weidong as a teaching tool.

I watched and listened attentively as Wei Dong explained the market principles of commodity sales from basic to advanced levels.

Actually, at this moment, even Wei Dong himself had a feeling.

It seems that 30 or 40 years later, everyone is saying that the economy is declining, business is getting harder, and life is getting tougher.

Isn't it just as confusing as ordinary people caught up in this situation right now?

They are all in what seems to be a cyclical ups and downs. Some people can seize the opportunity to rise to the top, while most others just become stepping stones.

Therefore, he did not reveal the "secrets of heaven," but simply presented the suggestions for the reform of state-owned enterprises, one by one, to be listened to if one wanted to, and to be ignored if one did not.

After he finished speaking, the city officials gave their final summary: "Jiangzhou Department Store's total sales for the year reached 1.54 million yuan, setting a new record. Some comrades are complacent and feel that the reform has been a success. However, as Comrade Wei Dong just mentioned, it's not that he's so good at business, but that he caught the wave of the booming economy. You have only achieved results because of the people's growing consumption demands, but this has masked the fact that it's just a change in name only. What was the total sales of Xintiandi Commercial Center in the past two days?"

What Wei Dong didn't want to say.

However, we must admit: "We haven't yet compiled statistics on the sales revenue of hundreds of individual vendors, and it's unlikely we'll get the most detailed and accurate data. But the total sales of supermarkets over two days amounted to 5.7 million yuan. Our stockpiled goods are almost depleted, and we're currently mobilizing supplies from various sources."

The city official quickly tapped a few times on the calculator in front of him and showed it to everyone: "The department store's average daily sales are 42, and this is 285 million. Everyone, consider this and decide who has succeeded in the reform and who is dragging it down. Let's hurry up, meeting adjourned."

This is a detail from when Wei Dong was asked to discuss things with the city.

At that time, the city had just set up some kind of industrial products trading center, and it listed impressive achievements, amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan for the whole year.

The data looks impressive.

If Weidong is demolished every day, with thousands of state-owned enterprises gathered there, how can they possibly have the nerve to talk about a daily transaction volume of over a million?

This type of data shouldn't be taken too seriously.

They're even more afraid of comparing prices.

These department store sales units have completely fallen silent.

We have to reluctantly admit that we should learn from Comrade Rang Weidong and from the private commercial center.

The city officials still didn't speak to Wei Dong alone; everyone just nodded to each other from a distance and went about their own business.

Cheng Lang could tell: "Did you come here specifically to give them a warning?"

Wei Dong nodded: "It's very difficult to change such a large country that has been operating for decades and has started to malfunction. We can't make any major changes, so we have to work on each part carefully. Fortunately, the whole ship has someone to steer and row, so it's not a disorganized mess."

Cheng Lang nodded slowly.

We still managed to set off on time.

They returned from the city in the evening, and late at night they launched their yacht from a shed in the factory area by the river. Five Taoist priests and Yuan Yuanzi followed along.

Wei Dong originally didn't want to bring the little Taoist priest; he thought it would be enough for him to just keep an eye on his stall in the commercial center.

Cheng Lang said that they had all applied for passports and visas together, and he would take them back to Hong Kong to broaden his horizons.

More importantly, it allows me to travel and see the beautiful landscapes of our country.

It was only after the children were asleep that Wei Dong was able to bid farewell to Feng Chu and set off. The purpose of the high-speed yacht speeding downstream was solely to allow Wei Dong to arrive at night and observe the scale and situation of the construction of the entire Shangzhou East Jiaochang New City.

The construction of commercial housing has now entered its fourth phase, and there are no longer any brick-concrete tenement buildings; all of them are high-rise elevator communities with more than 20 floors.

This batch consists of six buildings that were started together.

Currently, the focus of people from all over the country who come to Shangzhou to learn from its experience is on real estate development.

For many third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier cities, the real estate reform in this prefecture-level city is definitely of great reference value.

This completely changed the situation where the state was responsible for all local housing construction, which greatly reduced the burden.

Without land sales, it's not yet possible to turn a profit, but at least it can stop the bleeding immediately.

Almost everywhere, by this point, the concept that towns and counties might also go bankrupt was no longer present; people were simply asking for everything from above.

Moving forward at full speed is the consensus.

Cheng Lang didn't let Wei Dong have such boundless energy. After running around to two construction sites that were under construction all night, Wei Dong, being an elderly man, couldn't sleep in the morning and could only sit listlessly in a rattan chair in a small building by the river, while Cheng Lang sent Wei Dong to continue inspecting the factory and the free market early in the morning.

Finally, I went to the city to talk with the old leaders until the afternoon, and confirmed that the corn purchase work could be carried out on a large scale this year. It was not until the evening that I took a yacht to Kuizhou.

They climbed the mountain overnight.

Cheng Lang didn't pay attention to the female boss who had taken good care of Wei Dong in every aspect since Shangzhou. He only focused on the fact that even in remote and impoverished areas, there were still people meticulously reporting the situation to their boss.

After about six months of operation, the hotel sees an average of about 200 visitors daily. Almost all tourists who have visited the Baidi City scenic area will take a small yacht from the small dock behind the hotel to climb to the top.

Therefore, the service of taking a bus directly from the county town to take the cable car has been canceled, ensuring that all tourists must buy a five-yuan scenic area ticket before taking the ten-yuan one-way cable car.

The scenic area management then had no further objections.

This alone has generated nearly 500,000 in cable car revenue. After deducting various costs, mainly operating electricity and equipment wear and tear, there is still a profit of 200,000 to 300,000.

From a purely commercial perspective, with this level of tourist numbers, it would take ten years to recoup the investment.

But the village is already changing.

Wei Dong was very confident that once the national tourism consumption market took off, that would be the real big event.

Therefore, he instructed Li Erfeng to cooperate with the tourism development company and use the proceeds for the renovation and construction of the mountaintop, as well as the repair and acquisition of the ancient town.

In particular, it is in conjunction with the construction of the "tourist attractions" of the Taoist priest.

But when it comes to building a Taoist temple, the Taoist priests who came with their grandmaster are the real experts.

They didn't realize it when they were riding the cable car up the mountain.

At night, it was pitch black, and only when passing the cable car support lights could one vaguely see it gliding past the treetops. One guy even screamed a few times in fright.

Upon arriving at the still very simple Taoist temple, we found clean beds available for rest, so we immediately went to sleep.

Only Cheng Lang accompanied Wei Dong and Li Erfeng to meet and talk with the Taoist priest for a while.

After the cable car, which usually doesn't operate at night, is closed, the voltage at the top of the mountain is relatively sufficient, and the incandescent lights allow even the top-notch feng shui master and the eccentric Taoist priest from the prefecture-level city to see their faces relatively clearly.

The female Taoist priest sat there listlessly, nodding and dozing off. If Li Erfeng hadn't protected her on the way up the mountain, she might have slipped off the chair.

Back then, Master Chi commented that Wei Dong should be outside the Three Realms and not within the Five Elements.

Wei Dong was deeply shaken at that time, thinking, "You cultivators really do have some skills."

Now, Cheng Lang's reaction is completely ignored, and people are only on guard.

"This is a legitimate grandmaster of the Qingcheng Sect Taoist temples, with many temples across several mountains. If you need technical support, I will leave people here; if not, I will take them with me. I have absolutely no ulterior motives; I just want to make this place easier to sustain the local people."

Master Chi nodded happily: "If there are fellow Daoists skilled in forming and managing a community to take care of this place, I will return to Shangzhou Mountain to continue painting. My purpose is simply to make the people here live in greater peace and happiness."

Cheng Lang cupped his hands in greeting: "Sir, you are truly virtuous. Qingcheng Taoist Temple has absolutely no intention of usurping our place. I only decided to follow you because I admire your character and wish to offer my humble assistance. When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I also made a living through calligraphy and painting. Now I hope we can exchange some skills..."

The rest was something Wei Dong really couldn't understand.

These two scribblers started by making friends through calligraphy, writing all sorts of mysterious content on newspapers, Xuan paper, and handmade paper that was neither writing nor symbols!

Even Wei Dong felt that he had made a mistake in bringing you all together.

He shook his head and told Li Erfeng to take Yuan Yuanzi to sleep, and then he rested with the Taoist brothers.

But the very next morning, everyone from the Qingcheng Sect knelt down and begged us to open a branch here!
(End of this chapter)