I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 74 Chatting over Tea (First Order Request)

In the afternoon, Fang Qingye was at work, browsing various financial news online. At this time, his cell phone rang. He saw that it was his second uncle Fang Jianhua calling, so he answered it.

"Xiao Ye, are you at work?"

"Yes, Uncle, what's wrong?"

"Is it convenient to talk?"

"Convenient, you say."

"Do you know Director Mei from the Municipal Finance Bureau?"

"That's my schoolmate. A few days ago, President Xia and I went to the city to attend an alumni gathering." Fang Qingye briefly described the gathering, and naturally did not mention the prediction that the bank would lower the two interest rates.

"No wonder Director Mei admires you so much. He said that you have a solid foundation in financial theory and are very knowledgeable about markets and currencies." Fang Jianhua said on the phone.

"Second Uncle, you called me just to tell me what Director Mei said, right?" Fang Qingye asked with a smile.

"Of course not. Xiaoye, leave work early today and come with me to the city. We'll treat Director Mei to a meal."

"Something happened?" Fang Qingye realized immediately.

It’s definitely not just about eating.

"Yes, there is something and I need your help." Fang Jianhua explained the whole story on the phone.

It turned out that the Provincial Department of Finance allocated a special financial fund to each city to solve the financial difficulties at the county and district levels under the jurisdiction of the city.

All places are eyeing the cake, but the cake is only so big. Giving you more means giving less to other counties. The finance directors of each county and district and even the county-level leaders in charge of finance are doing everything they can to compete for it.

Nanxin County was naturally no exception, but Fang Jianhua had only been transferred from the township to the financial system not long ago and had no connections in the Municipal Finance Bureau. It just so happened that Mei Shuwei was in charge of this work.

A few days ago, I happened to hear that Mei Shuwei knew my nephew and admired him very much, so I thought of using this relationship.

"Xiao Ye, if it were last year, the county would not care about one or two hundred million in financial funds at all. But you also know that this year is a recession. Tax revenue has decreased, land cannot be sold, and land revenue has dropped sharply. It's almost the end of the year, and I, as the director of the Finance Bureau, am under a lot of pressure." At the end, Fang Jianhua sighed.

"Second Uncle, I understand and I want to help you, but to be honest, I don't know whether Director Mei will buy my account. After all, we only had dinner together once and don't have much interaction in normal times." Fang Qingye told the truth.

"I know everything depends on human effort. Xiaoye, I will pick you up at your workplace at 4:30 and go directly to the city." Fang Jianhua said on the phone.

"Okay." Fang Qingye agreed.

He is my second uncle, so of course I should help him if I can.

At half past four, Fang Qingye received a call from his second uncle, saying that a car would arrive at the door of their unit soon and asked him to come out.

He immediately packed up his things, left a message to Xia He on QQ saying that something had happened at home, and hurried out of the office. He saw a black Passat parked across the street.

Fang Qingye went over and got into the car. In addition to the driver and his second uncle, there was a man in his forties sitting in the passenger seat. He was the office director of the Finance Bureau, Cai Wenming.

"Let's go to the city now." Fang Jianwen said, and the driver drove to the west of the county town, preparing to get on the highway.

"Second Uncle, have you made an appointment with Director Mei?" Fang Qingye asked.

"We have an appointment, but Director Mei doesn't want to eat, so we agreed to have tea." Fang Jianhua replied and asked the office director sitting in the back row.

"Director Cai, have you booked a place for tea?"

"It has been booked. It's at Shui Ming Ju. I've already inquired about this. Director Mei likes to drink tea here." Cai Wenming said quickly.

Fang Jianhua nodded with satisfaction.

It was almost six o'clock when the car arrived in Jinghai City. The four of them found a small restaurant to have dinner, and then drove straight to Jiushui Mingju. Jiushui Mingju was near the Wanxiang Mansion on Xingfu Avenue. Fang Qingye followed his uncle inside and saw that the interior was decorated in a new Chinese style and had an elegant environment.

The three of them entered the reserved private room. Not long after, the door opened and a thin middle-aged man wearing glasses walked in. It was Mei Shuwei.

The three of them stood up to greet him. Mei Shuwei was slightly surprised to see Fang Qingye, but a smile quickly appeared on his face. "President Fang, you're here too?"

"I have nothing to do after get off work, so I came here with my second uncle. Director Mei, stop joking. Why call me president? Just call me Xiao Fang." Fang Qingye said.

"Haha, good then, everyone take a seat."

After everyone sat down, Fang Jianhua asked Mei Shuwei what kind of tea he wanted.

"Either is fine, but I'm more interested in Dahongpao. The Dahongpao here is good." Mei Shuwei said.

Soon a tea artist came in with a bag of Dahongpao and started to boil water to make tea. Not long after, there was a cup of reddish-brown tea in front of everyone's tea table.

Mei Shuwei picked up the teacup and took a sip, then said, "We middle-aged people like to drink tea, and we like this bitter taste. Xiao Fang, you are young, and I don't know if you can get used to it."

"It's okay. To be honest, my dad likes to drink tea and has a lot of good tea. I often secretly take it out to drink, so I'm used to it."

After Fang Qingye finished speaking, he also picked up the teacup and took a sip, then said.

"It's Da Hong Pao from Wuyi Mountain, but it's not a strong fragrance. It seems to lack the orchid scent."

After hearing Fang Qingye's words, Mei Shuwei was slightly surprised: "I didn't realize you know a lot about Dahongpao. The Dahongpao with orchid fragrance is indeed the best. You usually don't see this kind of tea in teahouses."

"I have a friend's father who, through a friend, got some pure Dahongpao from Niulankeng in Wuyi Mountain. I tried it once and it was very good."

"Yes, I once went on a business trip to Fujian Province and bought some. It tasted really good." Mei Shuwei said.

The two talked about tea, from Dahongpao to Anxi Tieguanyin, Wuyi Narcissus, and then to Longjing and Biluochun among green teas, and even white tea, black tea, Pu'er, etc. The two had a very good chat.

Fang Jianhua didn't say anything, just drank tea silently.

He didn't know much about tea. When he worked in a township, he drank the locally produced Langshan tea. Sometimes the tea was of higher quality, but in his mouth, it was all the same.

His elder brother likes to drink tea and often comments on it. He doesn't say anything but laughs in his heart: What's the point of being so particular about this thing?

I always feel that it has a bit of the sour and pedantic flavor of ancient literati.

But today, after seeing Mei Shuwei and his nephew talking so clearly about tea, I realized that my previous thoughts were wrong.

Dealing with city leaders is completely different from dealing with township leaders.

It seems that I need to strengthen my interest in this area in the future.

Mei Shuwei and Fang Qingye chatted over tea for a while and then turned the topic to the current economic situation.

"Xiao Fang, the extent to which the central bank lowered the two interest rates this time was quite different from market expectations. The stock market plummeted instead of rising. I estimate that it won't be long before the central bank lowers the rates again."

"Director Mei, you're right. The central bank is adopting a small-step, fast-paced approach." Fang Qingye took over. "They're worried that a sudden drop would be counterproductive. It's like giving a patient a laxative and then suddenly switching to a tonic. We have to take it slow."

"Xiao Fang, your metaphor is very vivid and accurate!" Mei Shuwei said, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Fang Jianhua continued to drink tea silently.

I thought to myself that as the Director of the Finance Bureau, I also have to pay attention to these national affairs.

More than an hour passed, with Mei Shuwei and Fang Qingye chatting about everything under the sun. As the tea was about to finish, the two men stopped chatting. Fang Jianhua finally saw the opportunity and said, "Director Mei, what do you think about allocating special funds to our county?"

(End of this chapter)