36: Extensive Relationship

The next day.

A low-key local restaurant in the city.

As soon as Chen Qiu arrived at the entrance, a man in his thirties stepped forward to greet him.

"Hello, President Chen. I am Director Wang's secretary, Zhou Kai."

"Hello, Secretary Zhou."

Promptly, Zhou Kai led him to a private dining room.

Upon pushing the door open, a middle-aged man inside immediately stood up and approached.

The man was about forty-five years old, wearing a standard administrative jacket.

His expression was very peaceful, but his eyes were bright.

"President Chen, sorry to keep you waiting."

Secretary Zhou introduced him: "This is our Director Wang."

"Hello, Director Wang."

Chen Qiu extended his hand.

The director of the Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau was a proper division-level official; this was already the highest-ranking official Chen Qiu had ever come into contact with.

In many small cities, the Culture and Tourism Bureau could be described as a retirement home for officials with real power; coming to the Culture and Tourism Bureau basically signaled one's departure from the core circles.

But the environment of every place is different. At the very least, Chen Qiu didn't think a Culture and Tourism Bureau director who could plan such a large-scale investment in a third-tier city was here to retire!

"President Chen, you are young and promising."

Director Wang shook his hand.

"Please, have a seat."

The two sat down.

The secretary had ordered the dishes in advance, all of which were local home-style cooking.

After eating and exchanging pleasantries for a while, Chen Qiu got straight to the point and took out part of the proposal he had prepared last night.

"Regarding some general planning schemes for this Cultural Industry Park, they might still be immature. Director Wang, please provide your guidance."

Director Wang smiled.

"President Chen, you are too modest."

He opened the file and read it very seriously.

The private room was very quiet, leaving only the slight sound of pages turning.

Director Wang picked up his teacup and took a sip.

His gaze stopped on a certain page.

His expression became increasingly solemn.

He began reading slower and slower.

Secretary Zhou stood to the side, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Chen Qiu, his heart filled with curiosity.

He knew before that in the newly created Cultural Industry Group, besides the two state-owned enterprises, there was also an individual major shareholder with a 30% stake!

It was said that he had also invested a lot of money... but this was the city's key project for the past two years. Could one get on this train just by investing money?

One could imagine that the connections behind him must be monstrous!

"It seems I'll be dealing with this person quite a bit in the future; I must pay more attention!"

Secretary Zhou thought to himself secretly.

At this moment, Director Wang turned another page.

His brow furrowed tightly, then smoothed out again.

Gradually, his fingers began to tap unconsciously and lightly on the tabletop.

The atmosphere in the room became even quieter.

However, Director Wang's heart was in an uproar.

As the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau, he knew this project all too well.

An 1.1 billion yuan venture, a key project for new culture and tourism!

The city attached great importance to it.

The burden on his shoulders was heavy.

During this period, he had seen at least a dozen proposals.

They were all garbage.

What is garbage?

It's just renovating a bunch of old factory buildings.

Painting them in colorful hues.

Hanging up signs like "Creative Base" or "Art Incubator."

And then soliciting investment.

What kind of investment could they attract?

In all probability, it would be a bunch of children's painting classes and calligraphy training classes.

Then recruit a few half-dead "artist studios" that couldn't even afford the rent!

Finally, set up a cultural-creative cafe or a cultural-creative milk tea shop, selling a cup of sugar water for thirty or forty yuan.

Director Wang knew this routine all too well.

When the park opens, there's the beating of drums and gongs, ribbon-cutting, and inviting the media for some excitement.

And after the excitement is over?

Before long, it becomes dead and silent.

The grass grows taller than the people.

The invested money goes down the drain.

The city ends up with yet another piece of "cultural wasteland" that no one cares about.

He got a headache just thinking about it.

But.

The proposal in his hand... was different!

Director Wang turned another page.

His eyes shone with brilliance.

This proposal didn't have a single empty word.

What it discussed was "business logic."

It was about how to make this park come alive.

It perfectly connected cultural stories, modern commerce, and tourism experiences...

It wasn't talking about exhibitions!

It was talking about consumption!

It was about how to get tourists to walk in, how to make them willing to spend money, how to make them have fun, and how to get them to share online to bring more people.

It constructed a complete, self-circulating commercial closed loop.

"A mastery of integration!"

In Director Wang's mind, only these four words remained.

Feasible!

Completely feasible!

How was this some "immature idea"?

This was practically feeding the meal right to his mouth!

Director Wang slowly closed the proposal.

He looked at Chen Qiu again.

This look was completely different from before.

He picked up the glass of white liquor in front of him.

He stood up.

"President Chen."

Chen Qiu also quickly stood up.

"Director Wang."

"To tell you the truth, I've been so worried about this project that I haven't slept well for a while."

"I'm afraid."

"Afraid that it would turn into another one of those lifeless empty shells."

"But after seeing your plan today, I'm at ease."

"President Chen, you are truly young and promising!"

He extended his glass toward Chen Qiu.

"In the future, President Chen, I'll have to trouble you to put more heart into this Cultural Industry Park!"

"Director Wang, you overstate it. I am just doing my part."

Chen Qiu replied and drained his glass in one go.

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

With those words, plus his status as the largest individual shareholder, his right to speak within the Cultural Industry Group was effectively settled!

...Qiancheng Cultural Industry Group!

The employees who had received the notice were hurriedly organizing documents.

"Suddenly asking us to find all the recent contractor qualification documents... Baldy Ma just throws things around randomly!"

A girl complained, sweating profusely from the search.

"Don't say another word, Manager Ma is here!"

Beside her, another elegant young girl with a ponytail quickly nudged her waist.

The two girls immediately shut their mouths.

The balding Manager Ma walked over quickly, his forehead covered in fine sweat.

"Is everything organized?"

"Manager Ma, most of it is here..."

As soon as the elegant girl finished speaking, Manager Ma's eyes suddenly widened, and he cursed angrily.

"Most of it?"

"It's been over ten minutes, and you can't even find everything?!"

"If you can't even do this little thing well, get back to school!"

"I'll give you another ten minutes. Organize the rest and bring it to the conference room!"

After spitting out his words, Manager Ma picked up the thick stack of documents on the table and hurriedly left the office.

The other girl saw this and was surprisingly amazed.

"Yiyi, did Baldy Ma not eat today? He only cursed a few times before leaving?"

Hearing this, Xu Yi gave her classmate Xu Yujie a speechless roll of her eyes.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable just because you got scolded less?"

To the side, a male colleague in his thirties spoke up.

"He doesn't have time to scold us right now!"

"I heard Director Wang is coming to inspect this afternoon, and our Group's individual major shareholder is also going to show up!"

The two girls were astonished to hear this.

"Isn't our place controlled by state-owned enterprises?"

"There's an individual major shareholder too?"

The male colleague immediately said mysteriously.

"That's why this person must be a god-like figure with monstrous connections!"

"If he stays at the Group permanently... I'm afraid the current middle and high-level management will all have to start getting nervous!"