The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

The next day, Chen Shi got up and waited until 10:30 before calling Wan Xirong. The phone rang for more than ten seconds before being answered.

Chen Shi had already prepared his words: "Chairman Wan, I am Chen Shi, the director of the Chunyang County Education Bureau. Our Education Bureau plans to rebuild three key high schools, with a budget of 2.7 billion yuan. I've heard that your company is one of the most powerful construction companies in Yizhou, and we would like to discuss cooperation with you. I wonder if Chairman Wan is available?"

Upon hearing this, Wan Xirong found it interesting; there was even a project being offered to him unsolicited: "Director Chen, who gave you my number?"

Chen Shi hadn't expected Wan Xirong to ask about this: "A friend gave it to me."

Wan Xirong remained silent for three seconds, then stopped asking questions: "Come to my company headquarters at 3:30 this afternoon. We have half an hour to discuss this in detail."

Chen Shi was secretly pleased. The first step had been successfully completed. He calmly said, "Okay, see you this afternoon."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi called Yang Bin and went for a drive. He felt very depressed staying alone in the hotel room for a long time.

At 3:30 p.m., Chen Shi arrived at the Zhencheng Building on time. This is the headquarters of Donghai Zhencheng Group.

Chen Shi arrived in the lobby on the first floor, where the receptionist greeted him with a smile and asked, "Sir, who are you looking for?"

"I am Chen Shi, the director of the Chunyang County Education Bureau. I have an appointment with Chairman Wan."

"Director Chen, please wait a moment."

The receptionist called Wan Xirong's secretary to confirm, and after hanging up, said with a smile, "Director Chen, please come with me."

Chen Shi followed the receptionist to Wan Xirong's office.

Wan Xirong's secretary came over to greet him: "Director Chen, Mr. Wan has gone to the restroom. Please wait a moment."

Chen Shi nodded as a greeting and sat down in the reception room.

The secretary poured Chen Shi a glass of warm water and stood aside.

A moment later, a middle-aged man in his forties walked in. Chen Shi glanced at him and felt that the man was simple and had a dignified look on his face.

Chen Shi stood up, and the man walked to Chen Shi's side, extended his hand, and said with a smile, "Hello, Director Chen, I am Wan Xirong."

Chen Shi grasped Wan Xirong's outstretched hand, smiled, and said, "Chairman Wan, hello, I am Chen Shi."

"Sit down." Wan Xirong glanced at Chen Shi, surprised at how young he was. He cut to the chase, "Director Chen, you said you have a project to build three high schools and you wanted to discuss it with me?"

He looked at Chen Shi with a suspicious expression.

Chen Shi took out the tender documents for three high schools from his briefcase and handed them to Wan Xirong with both hands.

"Chairman Wan, these are the tender documents for three key high schools. Please take a look."

Wan Xirong took it, picked out the key points, glanced at it, and put the thick tender document down.

"Director Chen, you have already started the bidding process. Just follow the normal procedures. We are not interested in this project and will not participate in the bidding."

Chen Shi said calmly, "I'm not here to invite Chairman Wan to bid."

Wan Xirong was surprised. "If you didn't invite me to bid, what are you doing here? The project requires full upfront funding, and the construction period is so tight. Isn't it just to get me to invest in building the school?"

In impoverished counties like Chunyang, the government has virtually no money. With a budget of 2.7 billion yuan, if they can even get half of it to build the schools, they should be incredibly grateful.

He had done similar projects before, but he hadn't even received the payment. The previous leader had made a name for himself and been promoted, but the successor wouldn't acknowledge the debts left behind by the previous leader.

When they went to ask for the money back, the new leader played dumb, passing the buck back and forth, turning it into a mess that was impossible to recover.

Even the smallest government agency can display the national flag; private companies simply can't do anything about it.

Wan Xirong's sharp eyes turned to Chen Shi: "Director Chen, you didn't come to invite us to bid, so what brings you here?"

Wan Xirong had seen many high-ranking officials, and he didn't take Chen Shi, the director of the education bureau from a poor county, seriously at all.

Chen Shi took a sip of water and slowly said, "Chairman Wan, Chunyang County is an impoverished county. To be honest, the government allocated 1 billion yuan for this project, but it was to be disbursed in two installments over two years. I went to the Municipal Education Bureau, the Municipal Finance Bureau, and Mingzhou No. 1 Middle School and only managed to get 400 million yuan. There's still a 1.3 billion yuan hole left."

The purpose of this trip to Yizhou is to secure special education funding from the Department of Education. This is currently an internal matter and has not yet been announced to the public. This special fund is one billion yuan, and the remaining three billion yuan will be raised by selling our three high schools in our township to the local town government. Raising this three billion yuan should not be a problem.

The education special fund support project is under the responsibility of Director Zhao. He came to see Chairman Wan today to ask for Chairman Wan's help in introducing Director Zhao.

Wan Xirong became interested. If what Chen Shi said was true, the project could be done. He was cautious and needed to investigate the project.

"Director Chen, I'm not a government official. If you're looking for Director Zhao, go directly to the Department of Education. You've probably come to the wrong place."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Chairman Wan, you are a businessman. A project worth 2.7 billion is no small project. Once the funding is secured, the construction period will not be a problem."

You can learn more about this project; I'll wait for your call.

Chen Shi stood up: "Chairman Wan, I won't disturb your work, I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, he turned and left. Chen Shi was betting that Wan Xirong would be interested. There's no reason not to take a business that comes knocking on your door.

Chen Shi needs Wan Xirong to mediate and secure special education funding from the Department of Education for this project. Wan Xirong also needs this project. Once the funding is secured, everything will be fine, and they will have at least several hundred million yuan in profit margin.

We need each other and our interests align; this is the foundation of cooperation.

After Chen Shi left, Wan Xirong said to his secretary, "Arrange for an investigation into the background of this project, the more detailed the better."

The secretary nodded and asked, "Chairman Wan, are we really going to do it?"

"If this project is as Chen Shi said, and it's just short of funds, then why not do it? I haven't had a big order delivered to my doorstep for many years."

The secretary went to make the arrangements, and Wan Xirong opened a webpage, searched for the project, downloaded the tender documents, and carefully reviewed them.

The biggest problem with this project is that it requires full upfront funding, but the company can still manage to cover that amount.

He wasn't worried about Chen Shi defaulting on project payments. The Education Bureau's projects were safe to undertake. With Zhao Ji in the Education Department, Chen Shi wouldn't dare default on project payments, provided he had the money.

Chen Shi returned to the hotel, arranged for check-out, and headed back to Chunyang County. He needed to give Wan Xirong a few days to investigate the project's progress; staying in Yizhou wouldn't be of any use.

Chen Shi got into the car and called Zhou Hua.

"Zhou Hua, please keep a close eye on the renovation of Section Chief Ding's new house. Don't try to save me money; make sure the quality is up to standard."

"Don't worry, I'll design it for him personally. I'll make sure the materials are of high quality and do everything myself. Once the design is complete and the renderings are finished, I'll send you a copy to take a look."

"Okay, I trust you to do things. I'm going back to Chunyang County now, and I'll come back up in a few days."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi felt reassured and went back to wait for Wan Xirong's message.