Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 529 Transformation Plan

Xiao Wei said, "Let's tear them down and rebuild them. These old, dilapidated bungalows are not only unsightly but also impractical. It would be much better to build a new apartment building."

Lu said, "I have been thinking about that, but where am I going to get the money to build it?"

Xiao Wei asked, "How big is this area?"

Lu said, "Including the yard, it must be more than eight acres of land. It's just that my location isn't very good. It's a long triangle with two streets facing it, but the walkway is convenient."

Xiao Wei asked, "Do you have any blueprints for this area?"

Lu said, "Yes, I'll look for it for you. What do you need it for?" He got up and rummaged through the filing cabinet for a while, then took out a roll of old blueprints with yellowed and rotten edges.

After spreading the blueprints on the coffee table, Xiao Wei looked at them for a while and said, "Director Lu, look at this area. You can build a main building here for offices, a row of garages here, and then build a few residential buildings on the back half, with two- or three-story shops on the ground floor. And put a small green space at the intersection. Wouldn't that be great?"

Lu said, "That's good, but what will we use to build it? Will we organize the whole institute to blow it up with air?"

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "How about I build it?"

Lu said, "You're building it? For free?"

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Do I look crazy? How much money would it cost me to build on this eight or nine acres of land? I'm not asking for money."

Lu laughed and said, "That's just wishful thinking, we don't have the money. I've had this idea for a long time. The year before last, a school next door wanted to take over a piece of land, but I refused no matter what they offered, I wouldn't sell it even if they paid me."

Xiao Wei said, "You don't need to pay me. How about this? I'll build it. I'll build a five-story office building for you, and the remaining space will be used to build three-story residential buildings. I'll take half of the shops downstairs, the garage is yours, and after all the residential units are distributed among your staff, I'll give you ten more. The rest is mine, to cover the construction costs. Are you in? You can also rent out the shops for a year, which will be a source of income."

Lu said, "I can't afford to spend a single penny."

Xiao Wei said, "You just need to provide the land, you don't need to put up a single penny. Once it's built, we'll split the profits according to the contract, okay?"

After thinking for a moment, Lu gritted his teeth, slammed his hand on the coffee table, and said, "I need to submit a report to ask."

Xiao Wei said, "Go ahead and make the call. Give it to me when you're done, and I'll go talk to Director Liu directly. I reckon there are quite a few police stations that need renovations, so we'll see if we can bundle them together and do it all at once."

Lu was taken aback for a moment and said, "Do you know how many police stations there are in the entire Fengtian? Even if you took half of them, you wouldn't be able to take them all down without tens of millions of yuan."

Xiao Wei said, "As long as the plan works and the money can be raised, you should finish the report first. Make it more heartfelt and write that the funds are self-raised."

Lu said, "Okay, it's just a matter of writing it down, I'll definitely get it done for you. If you can really do it, I'll treat you to a drink, that would be a huge help. To be honest, there aren't enough dorm rooms right now, the four of us are crammed into a small room. People who are getting married have to rent apartments, and the branch office can't solve the problem either."

Xiao Wei paused for a moment, then said, "Yeah, there are branch offices too. Do you think this kind of operation by the branch offices will work?"

Lu said, "Come on, the branch office is all in new buildings. Do you think we'd wait for you? But the branch office should have some land. Many of the houses we were allocated before were bungalows or old buildings."

Xiao Wei said, "Alright, I'll discuss it with Director Liu first. If he agrees, I'll do the investigation. There's always a chance."

Lu said, "If the department agrees, what's the point of your investigation? Just let the branches report it themselves. But I advise you, if you really have the money and this can really be done, you should sign the contracts separately, one by one for each branch and one by one for each bureau. Don't sign one general contract, or things might not go as planned later. And you should also get a copy of all the contracts stamped by the department."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, I'll listen to Director Lu. You write the report. I'll go back first. We can talk in detail when I come back from Longcheng in three or four days."

Lu said, "Okay, then you go ahead and get busy. When you get back, I'll ask around at other institutes for you. I'm quite familiar with a few."

Xiao Wei said, "That's great! With a station like this, I reckon even if Director Liu supports it, not everyone below will be happy, since everyone has different ideas. Let's do this: you help me secure a station, and I'll give you a house there, how about it?"

Lu said, "What use would I have for those houses? You might as well give them to the institute as funding."

Xiao Wei said, "Public matters are public matters and private matters are private matters. The house is a gift I gave you personally as a way of thanking you. Mixing it up with public matters and making things unclear can easily lead to problems."

Lu shook his head and said, "Oh no, what if I took over several of your properties? Wouldn't that be an even bigger problem? How could anyone explain that?"

Xiao Wei stood up and walked out: "That's all for now, it's settled then. We'll discuss it in detail when I get back. Goodbye, Director Lu." He opened the door and left. Director Lu stood there staring at the open door for a while, seemingly lost in thought. He frowned and walked back to his desk to sit down.

After handing the stamped official letter to the district people's congress, Xiaowei drove to Wanliu to take a look. The school-run factory and some temporary sheds on the school side had all been dismantled. The foundation and drainage ditches were being dug on site. This was no small job. The wall to be built would be six or seven hundred meters long. Because it was a permanent wall, the foundation had to be dug more than a meter deep, plus ground beams, and drainage ditches and flood outlets also needed to be built.

I took a walk around the construction site. Although the plan was to build the wall and then demolish the old house, they had already started working on it in order to meet the deadline. The land leveling work was also going on at the same time. There were at least 30 to 50 people working on the whole plot.

On the side of the neighborhood committee building, utility poles have already been installed, and a new transformer has just been installed. It seems Chen Hui made the arrangements; this is for the entire area. The food factory is a major electricity consumer and must have its own transformer. The neighborhood committee's electricity has now been switched to this transformer. Xiao Wei stood there looking at the neighborhood committee building and shook his head. This is also a problem.

When they got home, Xiao Hong hadn't returned yet. Xiao Wei kept Aunt Wang company as they prepared vegetables for dinner.

Aunt Wang asked, "What have you been up to these past few days? You've been so busy. Is something the matter?"

Xiao Wei said, "Meetings, endless meetings. I don't know why there are so many meetings every day. My uncle and his colleagues have a tough job too. I've only been here a few days, and my butt is already sore from sitting so much."

Aunt Wang asked, "What kind of meeting did you hold?"

Xiao Wei said, "Now that our family has started a company, the Individual Business Association, the Federation of Industry and Commerce, the CPPCC, and the NPC have all come knocking on my door. It wouldn't be good if I didn't go, so I've been dealing with them one by one these past few days. I haven't even heard what they're saying very clearly. I donated over a thousand yuan to the Individual Business Association, filled out a bunch of forms for the Federation of Industry and Commerce, submitted a bunch of documents to the CPPCC, and the NPC has assigned me a citizen representative position. I'll be working at the police station for the next year."

Aunt Wang became interested and asked, "Why are you working at the police station? It's not like you're a police officer. Why?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's not that I have to go to the police station, any public security, procuratorate, or court unit will do. The main thing is to go along with the case handling and hearings, which is supposed to be democratic supervision, but I don't understand it. I chose the police station myself, and I'm not familiar with other places. I can't even find the gate, so I'll just be clueless if I go there without knowing anything."

Aunt Wang asked, "How long? A year? And what about after a year?"

Aunt Wang stared intently at Xiao Wei. In this era, a secure job and being a civil servant were a deep-seated desire for ordinary people, more valuable than any amount of money they earned.

(End of this chapter)