A song from Chengdu revived a closed-down pub.

Pan Lei knew he had admitted it, so he stopped arguing with him and turned to the crowd to be more explicit.

"Since everyone's here today, let me make this clear. Our local tourism development has been lukewarm at best. Xiao Fan has put forward many ideas, which not only we think are feasible, but even Director Wei from the city government strongly agrees. Going forward, we need someone to take the lead, and that person has to be Xiao Fan. Does everyone agree?"

Everyone agreed.

Pan Lei continued, "Since everyone agrees that Xiao Fan should take the lead, we can't let him work for nothing. Besides, as our area develops, there's no guarantee that someone won't get jealous and try to reap the benefits. Therefore, Xiao Fan must become the village chief."

That was a very straightforward statement, and even Su Fan admired it.

Pan Lei has thought of everything for the future; he's made his achievements public so no one can steal them.

The village officials present were all shrewd and understood immediately, nodding in agreement.

No one objected.

It wasn't out of consideration for Pan Lei; Su Fan's plan was a tangible reality, and within that plan, they saw a bright future.

Su Fan is the one who can lead everyone to a better life.

Pan Lei added at the end, "The election is coming up in a few days, so I won't say more about what to do."

He didn't say it explicitly, but everyone understood that he wanted those present to do ideological work with the people around them.

Everyone here has their own vote, as well as the votes of their family members, relatives, and neighbors.

If all these votes are collected, Su Fan's election is a foregone conclusion.

The atmosphere had already been set up this far, and if Su Fan were to refuse again, it would be pretentious.

Su Fan thought to himself, "Well, so I guess I'll have a day in politics after all!"

After a while, as everyone walked past Su Fan, they patted him on the shoulder and said, "Keep up the good work, we believe in you!"

This gave Su Fan the feeling of a sect elder passing on his position.

After everyone left, only Su Fan and Pan Lei remained in the village committee.

Su Fan stopped dwelling on becoming the village chief and instead asked, "Uncle Pan, what's the plan for this crowdfunding?"

Pan Lei said, "Whatever you say, I'll do it. I'll cooperate with you."

"Alright, Uncle Pan, are you planning to quit? If that's the case, you might as well give me the secretary's position too."

Pan Lei nodded seriously: "Don't worry, this position will be yours sooner or later."

Su Fan was startled and quickly waved his hand, "Uncle Pan, I was just kidding!"

Pan Lei remained expressionless: "I took it seriously."

Su Fan quickly said, "Uncle Pan, if you do this, I'll run away tomorrow."

Pan Lei changed his expression: "Look at you, why are you so easily teased?"

You'd better be kidding me.

"You'll find out whether I'm kidding or not later. Alright, tell me, how exactly does crowdfunding work?"

Su Fan opened his computer and said, "I think we can go through two models. The first is a reward-based crowdfunding, where people contribute money to support our project, and we don't give them shares or pay back the money. Instead, we reward them with goods or services. For example, if you contribute 500 yuan, once the scenic area is built, you will receive two lifetime free tickets and a set of cultural and creative gift boxes themed around Mawei Post Station. If you contribute 1,000 yuan, in addition to the tickets and gift boxes, you can also stay in a guesthouse in the scenic area for free for one night. This model has a low barrier to entry and is suitable for ordinary netizens who want to join in the fun and have a sense of participation."

Pan Lei nodded without interrupting.

Su Fan continued, "The second type is equity crowdfunding, where investors contribute money in exchange for a certain percentage of shares in the project company. When the scenic area becomes profitable, they receive dividends based on their shares. This type of crowdfunding is aimed at people with a certain level of financial strength."

After listening, Pan Lei frowned slightly: "Equity crowdfunding is basically distributing shares, right? Didn't you say the village committee would hold the controlling stake?"

Su Fan said, "Even if we distribute the shares, we can still maintain control. My initial idea is that the total shares distributed should not exceed 48 percent."

Pan Lei asked, "So we'll own more than 52%? But I heard that owning more than 50% is enough to have a controlling stake, why does it have to be 52%?"

Su Fan knew this question was a bit convoluted and needed to be explained clearly.

"Uncle Pan, if our project doesn't go the capital route in the future, 50% is indeed enough. But what if we do exceptionally well and want to go public in the future? Before going public, there will be two rounds of dilution of shares. The first round is venture capital, which will take at least 10%. The second round is public trading shares, which will be no less than 25%. After the two rounds of dilution, our shareholding ratio will shrink by about 35%."

Su Fan picked up a pen and paper from the table and began to do the calculations: "If we hold 51% of the shares, and after being diluted by 35%, then our shareholding will be 51% - (51% * 35%) = 33.15%, which is less than 1/3. In that case, we will not have the veto power for major events. If our shareholding is 52%, and after being diluted by 35%, then our shareholding will be 52% - (52% * 35%) = 33.8%, which is more than 1/3. We will have the veto power for major events."

Pan Lei was completely confused.

Although he didn't quite understand, he knew that Su Fan made sense.

"I don't understand what you're saying, but let's do it your way. What do we do next?"

Su Fan said, "First, we need to find a qualified crowdfunding platform, submit project information, and cooperate with them to conduct research and evaluation. Only after all of these are approved can the project be launched."

Pan Lei nodded: "I don't know anything about these things. You decide which platform to choose."

Su Fan thought for a moment and then said, "Before that, we need to register a business license and have a legal operating entity."

Pan Lei said, "Then let Lin Shan handle this. She studied finance and specializes in this."

Upon hearing Lin Shan's name, Su Fan immediately pictured a girl with thick glasses who always sat in the first row of the classroom.

That was his high school classmate.

He later got into Qin University and became a truly outstanding student.

"Uncle Pan, are you planning to let Uncle Ma retire?"

Pan Lei didn't shy away from the topic, speaking frankly: "If the village wants to develop, the young people need to take the lead. We old folks should step down when it's time to step down."

Su Fan gave a thumbs up: "Your awareness is truly remarkable."

"Stop talking nonsense. I'll call Lin right now and have her come over. If you have anything to say, just tell her."

With that, Pan Lei picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Lin Shan arrived shortly after.

"Old classmate, long time no see!" She greeted Su Fan as soon as she entered the door.

Su Fan smiled and said, "Long time no see. I never expected that the bookworm from back then would turn into a beautiful college student."

Lin Shan then said, "I never expected that the big star Su Fan was you."

At this moment, Pan Lei urged, "Alright, alright, we can catch up later. Let's get down to business first."