Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Groundbreaking Ceremony
'Teacher Feng, Teacher Feng,' the accountant ran into the village committee with a straw hat on his head, 'the money has arrived, 200,000 yuan!'
'Yes, have a drink.' Fourth Uncle knew the news before him, "Get ready, the second daughter-in-law of the Qingtian family, Saichun, will come to the village committee tomorrow to be the cashier. You two should arrange the handover tomorrow.'
'Ah," the accountant was a little disappointed to hear this. In the past, the village accountant was also the cashier.
Uncle Si could hear his disappointment. The accountant and cashier was a temporary measure. Now there was the road construction, and then the cabinet factory would be paying dividends. If the accountant was also the cashier, wouldn't that tempt him to make mistakes?
The new cashier, Sai Chun, was to go to the town bank and open a separate account for the 200,000 yuan that had arrived the previous day. Uncle Si emphasised to the accountant and her, 'Without my signature, not a penny of this money can be touched!'
'Sai Chun,' Fourth Uncle took them both outside the village committee room and pointed to the old blackboard on the wall that he had brought from the primary school the day before. "In the future, every expense must be written on a piece of paper and posted on this blackboard, not a single one can be missed. At the same time, you must also prepare the relevant documents in case any villager wants to check the accounts.'
'Ah, they still want to check the accounts?" The accountant was even less happy.
'The money belongs to everyone. If they have questions, they can check the accounts.' Fourth Uncle didn't want to take advantage of the situation or take the blame for others, so he followed Feng Yiping's advice and made the accounts public.
'You are all like tinkling drums, so I'll say this again, and I'll be upfront about it. If there are any problems with the accounts, I don't care what the reason is, I'll just take them straight to the police station.'
When the cashier Sai Chun returned from town in the afternoon, he had an extra person with him. The mayor's driver, Xiao Su, followed him with a bag in his hand.
'Teacher Feng,' he said with a smile, "congratulations!'
Although Uncle Four didn't like this young man very much, he didn't hit a person who smiled at him, so he said, "Master Su, what a rare guest, please sit down.'
In fact, Xiao Su also had the status of a messenger, but Uncle Four selectively forgot that and only pointed out his status as a driver.
Xiao Su still smiled when he heard this, and when he saw Sai Chun go out, he said straight to the point, 'Teacher Feng, the village is repairing the road, and it will definitely need construction machinery. It just so happens that I have a relative who is in this business and has excavators, bulldozers, and a road roller in his hands. The price is absolutely fair. Here is a quote for their equipment by the hour and a monthly quote.'
Uncle Si took it over and glanced at it. It was about 25% higher than what they had been looking for. 'Haha, we've already contacted the excavator and road roller companies the past two days. You're a bit late.'
Xiao Su looked at the door and took out an envelope from his bag. "Teacher Feng, please be accommodating. We will naturally offer you a token of our appreciation later.'
Uncle Si was too lazy to waste time arguing with him and looked at him coldly. "Take it back. Don't make things difficult for yourself.'
'You're saying that, and it's not a small amount. Besides, you'll get 5% of the total price as a rebate in the end.' Xiao Su obviously wasn't doing this for the first time.
Fourth Uncle stood up, ignoring what he said and whether he was there on his own or on behalf of the town mayor. 'If you put it away now, everyone can still save a little face.'
He was a village cadre like this, with no upward mobility, unable to climb any higher. He wasn't doing this as a way to make money, and truly, the absence of desire made him strong.
Xiao Su slunk away, and when he walked out of the village entrance, he gave a strong 'bah' towards this direction, 'old thing.'
He could only curse behind someone's back like this, and they really couldn't do anything about someone like Uncle Si.
Feng Zhenchang received a call from his brother saying that the village road would start construction this Sunday, and there would be a simple ceremony, asking him to go back and participate, and of course Cai Lei would also be invited.
Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping were happy to attend such an occasion, and they didn't even drive their van. On Saturday afternoon, they took Feng Yiping's car and returned to their hometown.
This was Feng Zhenchang's most glorious trip yet. Previously, the villagers had known that their family was wealthy, and they had thought that it might be worth several hundred thousand yuan, which was already a very impressive sum. Now, Feng Zhenchang had invested one to two million yuan in the town alone, which was a little intimidating.
So everyone he met on the way was full of enthusiasm, whether they were carrying loads on their shoulders, or carrying a plough and leading a cow, or carrying a basin to the side of a pond to wash clothes... Everyone stopped to chat with him, all with compliments, and none of them were the same.
When he got home, the excitement just wouldn't stop. The original leaders of the village, the Feng Weidong and Feng Jiasheng families, had been a bit jealous of Feng Zhenchang's family, and were not convinced.
Whether it was hearing that they had bought a house and shop in the provincial capital, or seeing the van Feng Zhanchang drove home in, they all felt that it was really no big deal. Where would money come from that easily? They were afraid that it was more of a boast.
But this time, they completely put that thought to rest, and welcomed the family back with unprecedented enthusiasm.
Feng Jiasheng's son worked in the town canteen and knew a lot about the investment promotion that had been counted on the head of the town.
Although the general manager is surnamed Cai, he is also Feng Zhenchang's brother-in-law's brother-in-law, so they are practically family. Feng Zhenchang's family will contribute the lion's share, at least a million yuan. I heard that they are also talking to the town mayor about setting up a brick factory, which will also cost millions.
The two families, that is, the Feng and Cai families, have always been better off than the others in the village. They have never borrowed money from anyone, and they have even lent some to others. In fact, their combined family assets amount to only a few tens of thousands of yuan. How can they compare with the others?
'You don't need to burn firewood, it's hot, and it's a bother!' Feng Jiansheng's wife brought them two thermoses of water.
'Yiping, come, have some lotus seed soup,' Feng Hongbing's mother handed him a bowl of lotus seed soup that had been cooled in well water.
'Where's Hongbing? I heard he went to the Special Economic Zone. How is he doing?'
'He said he was doing some kind of plastic products business with some classmates. Those kids aren't cut out for business. They called a few days ago and said they don't even have a few yuan left.' This was the first time Feng Hongbing's mother had not praised her son in front of Feng Yiping.
'By the way, Yiping, when the cabinet factory in the town is built, will they be hiring salespeople? What do you think of Hongbing? In the past few years, although he hasn't accomplished anything and hasn't made any money, he has seen the world.' Feng Hongbing's mother looked at Feng Yiping hopefully. Her son had not made any money, but they were not at ease with him wandering around all year.
'We will recruit someone. Although Manager Cai and the others require a university degree, as long as Hongbing wants to come, that is not a problem. However, salespeople mainly rely on performance to make a living, and if performance is not good, then income will not be high either.' Feng Hongbing is somewhat like his sister Feng Yuxuan: a bit flighty, but he is quite good at dealing with people.
'We know that the more you sell, the higher your salary. Then I'll take that as a yes.' fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
'Don't say that, anyone can say no. Since you've asked, and Hongbing is willing to come, how can we say no? We don't even need to ask my parents, this is a sure thing.' Jia Sheng's legal representative is Feng Yiping himself, so when he says this, it's not like he's making the decision on his own.
Feng Zhenchang and the others were also surrounded by a group of people, all from the village, and they all had the same goal, which was to get a position in the future factory. Although the village had a shareholding, it was the party with the smallest shareholding, and it was also clearly written in the agreement that they could not interfere with daily operations.
With so many people involved, Feng and his friends could not make the decisions. By the time they returned, they had already agreed to speak with one voice and blame Cai Lei for everything. So they all said, 'We will talk to Boss Cai, but we cannot make the final decision on who gets the jobs.'
The excitement continued into the night, and later, people from other villages who had heard the news also came knocking on their door. Many of them brought gifts. For Feng and Mei, this was a happy and painful experience.
It turned out that they were the ones asking for help, but now it seemed that everyone in the world was coming to them. How could they not be happy? However, it was really a bit painful to repeat the same old story over and over again. Of course, this kind of pain is also the pain of happiness, just like the troubles of the rich, which are fundamentally different from the troubles of the poor.
The next morning, Cai Lei also rushed over. Feng Yiping had already made it clear to everyone the stakes involved: whether the company would have more or less trouble in the future would largely depend on the villagers of Fengjiachong. So, of course, he had to be there to congratulate them on things like the road construction in Fengjiachong, which he had even funded in the company's name.
The town mayor also made a rare visit to Fengjiachong. However, like everyone else, he had to leave his Cherokee on the side of the road and walk in over the mountain path.
Cai Lei has had a lot of contact with him these days, and they exchanged a few pleasantries. It was Feng Zhenchang, however, who they had met for the second time since the incident in the province.
As soon as they met, the mayor shook his hand and said, 'Boss Feng, we meet again. You didn't even say hello when you came back.' With this action, the mayor endorsed Feng Zhenchang in front of the villagers, which meant that the rumours were true.
Everyone whispered among themselves, 'My goodness, Feng Zhenchang is already a multi-millionaire?'
'Haha, I was just about to say that I'll visit you in the town this afternoon.'
'You're welcome to visit and give guidance. By the way, how are things going with the brick factory?'
'The preliminary preparations are already in place and will be settled soon. The mayor will need to provide more support then.'
'That's a given. The land will still be allocated for free, and you'll also be able to use river sand for free. What do you say?'
The mayor spoke first, and then Uncle Four led the men in setting up an incense table at the start of the road, offering up three sacrificial animals and burning incense sticks. As the firecrackers went off, the excavator parked nearby roared to life, and the first shovel of earth was dug up within the line marked out by the lime, officially starting the construction of the Fengjiachong road!
It was originally said that they would eat in the village at noon, but as soon as the groundbreaking ceremony was over, everyone surrounded Cai Lei and Feng Zhenchang. It was only when Uncle Four came to their rescue that they had a chance to escape.
'Go, go quickly, if you don't go now, you won't be able to go later,' Cai Lei said goodbye to the town mayor and jumped into the car.
Feng Zhenchang said with a wry smile, 'I originally thought that it was not good to be the one asking for help, but I never imagined that it is not good to be the one being asked for help by so many people.'
'So which do you prefer?' Cai Lei asked with a smile.
'Haha, of course it is being asked for help!'