Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

"Eldest son, you're not newlyweds anymore, why are you still so playful?" Qin Xueru noticed that her eldest son had dark circles under his eyes after asking about Niu Dazhuang's whereabouts.

"Isn't it all because you want to hold your grandson soon!" Niu Chengqun was much more casual when talking to his mother.

"Why are you blaming me now? Just let things take their course! Why are you looking for your dad?"

Niu Chengqun really couldn't say this to his mother.

"It's a matter between men!"

"Okay, I admit I was being nosy. Your dad should be back tonight."

"I'll come again tonight." He said and left quickly. He was really afraid his mom would keep nagging in his ear!

As for Niu Dazhuang, he was now truly engaged in serious business. At the Shengjing Liaison Office in Beijing, he was having a pleasant conversation with two top leaders, one the head of the government and the other the head of the Party.

How could the two not be happy? Although attracting investment has not yet been included in the government's performance evaluation, this is genuine Hong Kong investment, earning foreign exchange. Although it requires support from the local government, it is borrowed in RMB, and most of Niu Dazhuang's investment is still in US dollars.

The two leaders were familiar with Niu Dazhuang's deeds.

"Comrade Niu Dazhuang, how big is this? Is it half the size of Yannan Petrochemical?" The two of them didn't dare to dream of it being the same size as Yanjing Petrochemical. If it were even half the size, they'd be grateful.

Half of that is nearly 3 million tons per year. With all the upstream and downstream supporting facilities in place, it could also solve the employment problem for more than 100,000 people...

"In terms of overall scale, it can only be larger than Yannan Petrochemical. But I only want to focus on the core business and leave the upstream and downstream supporting factories to your local companies."

The two were experiencing extremes, one of joy and the other of disappointment.

Niu Dazhuang noticed the disappointment in their eyes and explained, "It's not that I'm unwilling to invest in the entire industry chain, nor is it that I lack the capability."

"Comrade Niu Dazhuang, everyone knows your strength, and we have never doubted your abilities."

"This is how I see it. After all, I'm an outsider going to Dalian, and I don't want to make all the money in the entire industry chain. I want to leave some profits for local businesses."

"Well, Comrade Niu Dazhuang, let me tell you about petrochemicals. The government doesn't have the money to invest in opening any more factories right now. The existing state-owned factories are already enough of a headache for us. If your downstream factories don't build their own, wouldn't that be a waste of resources?"

Niu Dazhuang touched his nose. Is this how the world is? He just wants to earn less money.

"Alright, but this will require your strong support!"

"Hahaha... We must give it our full support, provide manpower and land as needed..."

How could the two of them not be happy? The real-world example is right in front of them: a $500 million investment! That's a huge sum of money, even on a national scale.

What's the country lacking right now? Foreign exchange, of course...

"I don't like being in the public eye, and I don't want to appear in newspapers or on television..."

"Understood. Next spring, we'll just hold a simple signing ceremony at the provincial party committee compound. We definitely won't put it in the newspapers."

"Initially, I need a loan from China, and the money should arrive by the end of next year at the latest! I wanted to let you know this in advance."

"That's fine too, I trust your character." Both of them thought about it, and since someone else had vouched for you, they could definitely trust you.

"Speaking of which, I have quite a connection with Shengjing. Back in 1958, I was working for a transportation company in Yanjing..." After finishing their business, Niu Dazhuang started talking about how he and the truck drivers went to Shengjing back then, and how they bought deer antlers and tiger bones...

Niu Dazhuang was just talking casually; he couldn't just leave after finishing their business.

That was just something the speaker meant no harm to, but the listener took it to heart.

When Niu Dazhuang left, the director of the Beijing office forcibly dragged him away and tied a large flour sack to the back of his motorcycle.

"What a strange person. He's such a rich boss, why is he still riding a motorcycle in the dead of winter?"

"Old Wang, you still don't know much about this guy. He only got the motorcycle in the last two years. Guess what he used to get around?"

"Don't tell me he's still riding a bicycle after he got money!"

"Haha...you guessed right, it's an old Forever brand bicycle from the 1960s!"

"He's truly an extraordinary person doing extraordinary things. I heard he has many women? Is that true?" Everyone has a gossipy nature.

"It's true, both of your former boss's daughters are his women."

"My old boss? Which old boss?"

"Have you forgotten who recommended this person to us?"

"You mean Bai Hongjun's two younger sisters were also his women? Tsk tsk... That's interesting. Minister Bai was indeed my former leader and superior... I'm just curious, how did he manage to win over my old leader back then?"

"You're curious? I'm curious too!"

"Let's go, don't just stand there starving. What do you mean he's not even eating?" The two local tycoons, faced with such a large investment, were starting to feel uneasy...

This was in early 1985, not in the 21st century. Given the hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, it's normal for the two of them to have this feeling.

Then there's Niu Dazhuang, who doesn't seem to mind the cold, even in winter. Although he drives faster than a bicycle, it's still quite cold.

When he got home, his face was red from the cold. His hands were also stiff from the cold, and when he saw Qin Xueru, he immediately reached his hands into her arms.

He even said in a cheeky tone, "Warm yourself up! It's so cold and dry, it should be snowing but it's not!"

"You deserve it. You have a car at home but you don't drive it. You insist on going out on a beat-up motorcycle. I can understand you riding a motorcycle in the summer, but in the dead of winter, you're just asking for trouble!" She said these angry words, but she still cared about her man and let him put his cold hands into her arms.

"If you do that again, I won't cover your hands anymore. It's not like we don't have a stove at home. By the way, the eldest brother came over this afternoon. He wanted to talk to you about something. When I asked him what it was, he just said something about men, which was really strange."

Meiru and Jingru carried the cloth bag from the back of the motorcycle into the house: "Old Niu, what did you buy?"

"I didn't buy it; someone insisted on giving it to me. I don't know what it is, but it's probably a local specialty from Northeast China. Open it and take a look!"

Jingru quickly untied the cloth bag. Although the bag didn't look very nice on the outside, it was full of good things inside, all packed separately in small boxes.

Five boxes of deer antler, three ginseng roots (they don't seem to be very old), and a few long, blood-red sticks...

Jingru, carrying the bag curiously, asked, "Old Niu, what's this?"

"It's either a deer's whip or a tiger's, isn't it?"

Qin Jingru immediately threw it back into the cloth bag: "My God, why would anyone send this thing!"