366: Chapter 365 will introduce you to it (also known as: Land Delivery Part 2)

After walking out of Professor Zeng's room, Wang Shuo couldn't gauge Mayor Fang Dingbei's attitude toward him. Therefore, when they met just now, he didn't go up to greet him immediately, but instead stood to the side to observe Mayor Fang Dingbei's reaction.

If the other party directly ignored him and only spoke with General Manager Yu Tongguang, Wang Shuo would be happy to be idle, quietly acting as a background prop, and would leave immediately after completing the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

If the other party greeted him but only called him "General Manager Wang," then he could also take the opportunity to reply, "Mayor Fang."

Then he would continue standing to the side, emphasizing his role as a tool, and absolutely would not speak out of turn.

However, the situation seemed to differ somewhat from what he had expected. Mayor Fang Dingbei did not seem to have any intention of ignoring him; the moment he spoke, he established the most intimate relationship acceptable between the two parties: Junior Brother.

The timing of the greeting also followed immediately after he had greeted General Manager Yu Tongguang.

Wang Shuo looked at Mayor Fang Dingbei in front of him, seeing his smiling, gentle expression, and only then did he speak somewhat embarrassedly: "Senior Brother."

"Wait..." General Manager Yu Tongguang looked at the two of them with some surprise: "You know each other?"

"Of course we do." Mayor Fang Dingbei said with a smile: "General Manager Yu, let me introduce you. This person beside you is the newly accepted disciple of the teacher I followed during university. He is considered my fellow student. In the future, I will have to trouble you to take care of him."

"Take care of..." General Manager Yu Tongguang glanced at Wang Shuo and couldn't help but feel speechless. He should take care of him? If we're talking about taking care of someone, it should be this young man taking care of him, right?

After all, whether Huaneng Group could turn the tables and succeed this time depended entirely on whether this young man in front of him was capable.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to fly here overnight from so far away, and even have to personally go wake up Wang Shuo, who hadn't gotten out of bed yet, just to check on his rest.

Among the tens of thousands of employees in Huaneng Group, apart from this young man, who else could receive such treatment?

Observing General Manager Yu Tongguang's expression, Mayor Fang Dingbei said gently: "Of course, I mean that your company should help my junior brother within your capabilities. If it is difficult, then pretend I didn't say anything."

This was a serious statement. General Manager Yu Tongguang immediately shook his head and said: "General Manager Wang is young, intelligent, and possesses outstanding abilities. We certainly hope to establish a long-term cooperative relationship."

Just kidding, Wang Shuo was standing right there. If he showed any hesitation, wouldn't he just be asking for trouble for himself?

"Then thank you, General Manager Yu." Mayor Fang Dingbei revealed a faint smile: "If your company encounters any difficulties with the project in Hanzhong City, you can come to me at any time. I still have some influence here."

"Mayor Fang, you are too polite." General Manager Yu Tongguang responded with a smile, but his gaze shifted toward Wang Shuo, carrying a hint of curiosity.

Wang Shuo also felt a bit strange. Logically speaking, his relationship with Mayor Fang Dingbei was limited to a single meeting. Even with the connection through Professor Zeng, as the mayor of a city and the person in charge of Hanzhong City, Mayor Fang Dingbei had absolutely no need to curry favor with him, let alone deliberately defend him in front of outsiders.

But clearly, all of Mayor Fang Dingbei's actions today were meant to take care of him, and he was attempting to use this method to stabilize the cooperative relationship between him and Huaneng Group.

Not to mention whether this favor could be accepted or not, this attitude alone required General Manager Yu Tongguang to give it serious consideration.

Hanzhong City, after all, was different from an ordinary city. As the largest central city in the Central China region, the status of its ruler was self-evident. Not to mention that Mayor Fang Dingbei had ascended to this position at such a young age; his future and background could not be underestimated.

Would such a person make his stance known so easily? Unable to figure it out, Wang Shuo stopped thinking about it. Sometimes, it's better not to overthink things.

After the pleasantries were finished, Mayor Fang Dingbei introduced the accompanying personnel to the two of them.

What surprised Wang Shuo was that Mayor Fang Dingbei had called over almost all the heads of the municipal departments in Hanzhong City this time, which of course included Director Jiao, whom Wang Shuo was most familiar with.

This level of protocol... Wang Shuo pondered to himself, it seemed that Mayor Fang Dingbei placed great importance on the implementation of this project.

But thinking about it, it made sense. If it were any other local government, and someone wanted to invest tens of billions locally, with the possibility of further increases later, the investor would likely be treated like a God of Wealth. Any request, as long as it wasn't illegal or against regulations, would basically be granted.

When it comes to attracting investment, one can never be too serious. It seems that even someone with Mayor Fang Dingbei's status cannot escape this convention.

Greeting all the bureau directors with a poised and respectful demeanor, General Manager Yu Tongguang followed Mayor Fang Dingbei into a temporarily erected work shed, where chairs and seating had already been arranged.

Everyone took their seats, and then Mayor Fang Dingbei said: "General Manager Yu, we very much welcome your company's decision to invest and build a factory in Hanzhong City. However, as the parent official of Hanzhong City, there are some things that must be clarified in advance. What do you think?"

"Of course." General Manager Yu Tongguang nodded. The fact that Mayor Fang Dingbei could approve such a large area of land in such a short time, and personally receive him with all the middle and high-level officials of Hanzhong City, was already showing him great respect. Of course, he also had to show some gesture in return.

"Mayor Fang, feel free to bring up any conditions. As long as it is not something that severely damages the company's interests, I can make the decision."

The implication was that he could make requests, and as long as they weren't too excessive, they could basically be agreed to.

"That couldn't be better." Mayor Fang Dingbei said with a smile: "Previously, time was tight and we didn't have detailed consultations, but today is a good opportunity."

As he spoke, he took a document from the secretary-general beside him, glanced at it briefly, and handed it to General Manager Yu Tongguang.

"These are a few points we need your company to cooperate on. Please take a look, General Manager Yu."

General Manager Yu Tongguang didn't expect Mayor Fang Dingbei to be so well-prepared, so he could only take the document and read it carefully.

There wasn't much content on the document. It generally just recorded some rules that Huaneng Company needed to follow. The requirements were only a few, which was completely different from the situation he had imagined.

After spending a few minutes reading it, he placed the document on the table. Whether intentional or unintentional, the document landed right in front of Wang Shuo.

"Mayor Fang, everything else is fine, but regarding the clause about hiring workers..." General Manager Yu Tongguang revealed a wry smile and said: "Although we would like to contribute to employment in Hanzhong City, I really cannot make the final decision on this."

"I understand." It seemed he had anticipated this outcome. Mayor Fang Dingbei was not surprised and said gently: "However, as the central city of Central China, Hanzhong City has a very guaranteed quantity and quality of personnel. General Manager Yu can discuss it with Elder Ren. We can also adopt a method of partial dispatch and partial local recruitment. The ratio can be determined by your company."

This was another huge concession, full of sincerity.

General Manager Yu Tongguang smiled faintly and said: "It doesn't need to be that much trouble." As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward Wang Shuo and asked: "General Manager Wang, what do you think?"

Wang Shuo was speechless. He was sitting there perfectly fine as a tool, not bothering anyone, so why was he suddenly pulled into the negotiating table?

Feeling the surprised gazes from Mayor Fang Dingbei and other officials who were at least at the department level, Wang Shuo felt uncomfortable all over, so he had to nod: "That works."

General Manager Yu Tongguang nodded slightly and said to Mayor Fang Dingbei: "Mayor Fang, then it's settled. We will dispatch a portion of the personnel and recruit another portion locally in Hanzhong City. As for the ratio..." General Manager Yu Tongguang turned his gaze back to Wang Shuo.

Wang Shuo felt a bit helpless and said: "It can go up to seventy percent."

General Manager Yu Tongguang was slightly surprised, then nodded: "Then let's set it at seventy percent."

Mayor Fang Dingbei looked at this strange scene before him. He suddenly felt that the cooperation between Huaneng Group and Wang Shuo seemed a bit different from what he had imagined. It didn't seem like an dependent cooperation; the way it looked, it wasn't Wang Shuo begging Huaneng Group, but rather it seemed like Huaneng Group was begging Wang Shuo.

This... has the world become so incomprehensible?

The dignified Fortune Global 500 enterprise, Huaneng Group, which was the most prominent existence wherever it went, actually had its executive director and president seeking the opinion of a teenager?

After a moment of thought, Mayor Fang Dingbei looked at General Manager Yu Tongguang and said: "General Manager Yu, this seventy percent, how many people is that?"

"This..." General Manager Yu Tongguang's gaze swept toward Wang Shuo once again.

Wang Shuo was slightly speechless, so he simply spoke directly: "Ten thousand people."

"Cough, cough." General Manager Yu Tongguang beside him almost spat out his water, looking at Wang Shuo in astonishment.

Mayor Fang Dingbei's eyes also lit up. Ten thousand people! That was ten thousand families. Added together, it at least ensured the normal life of thirty to forty thousand people. The consumption and industrial chain driven by this would also be a significant gain.

"But I have a request." Wang Shuo looked at Mayor Fang Dingbei and said: "I require that among these ten thousand people, at least thirty percent must be skilled workers, fifty percent must be college graduates, and the remaining twenty percent must also have work experience related to construction and equipment maintenance and debugging."

"Agreed." Mayor Fang Dingbei nodded heavily.

Was there a difference between giving it to a forty-year-old and a twenty-year-old? There was a difference, but it didn't affect the big picture. Now, what he needed to do was to finalize things as quickly as possible. As long as the meat is cooked in the pot, who eats it doesn't matter, right?

Looking at the secretary-general beside him, Mayor Fang Dingbei said in a deep voice: "Write down General Manager Wang's words and notify the relevant departments. Let the Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Labor and Employment Security Bureau be responsible for this matter. I want to see the labor dispatch list on my desk within two days."

"Understood, Mayor." The secretary-general replied steadily.

Wang Shuo shook his head slightly: "Mayor Fang..." Before he could finish, Mayor Fang Dingbei smiled and said: "Junior Brother, you are too polite. Just call me Senior Brother."

Wang Shuo was slightly speechless. In such a serious setting, is it appropriate to call you Senior Brother? Your subordinates are all watching. But since Mayor Fang Dingbei didn't mind, Wang Shuo went along with it: "Senior Brother."

After a pause, Wang Shuo said: "For the people I just mentioned, I hope we can sign labor contracts with them directly, without going through labor dispatch."

"No labor dispatch?" Mayor Fang Dingbei frowned: "Junior Brother, have you thought this through?"

"I have." Wang Shuo smiled faintly: "It's just paying a bit more money. We can afford it. We will pay the social security, and we will provide the employee benefits. We cannot let everyone work hard only to find out in the end that they aren't even company employees."

Mayor Fang Dingbei looked at Wang Shuo deeply and nodded: "Good."

Immediately, he turned his gaze to General Manager Yu Tongguang and asked: "What is General Manager Yu's opinion?"

General Manager Yu Tongguang smiled and shook his head: "Everything will be done according to General Manager Wang's wishes."

As for whether Wang Shuo's approach was good or bad, General Manager Yu Tongguang didn't want to comment.

Everyone has their own style of doing things. He never had the thought that others were wrong just because what they did didn't align with his own wishes.

After all, Wang Shuo was still young. One must always respect the pure nature of a young person. It's just money, right? With nearly one hundred thousand people in Huaneng Company and its subsidiaries, could they really be short on wages for these ten thousand people?

General Manager Yu Tongguang had no objections, so this matter was officially finalized. The atmosphere in the meeting hall also became much warmer.

However, Mayor Fang Dingbei's gaze toward Wang Shuo became increasingly strange.

Although Wang Shuo didn't express any more opinions in the second half, this didn't affect Wang Shuo's importance. Whenever there was an important decision, after communicating with General Manager Yu Tongguang, Mayor Fang Dingbei would always subconsciously ask for Wang Shuo's opinion, making it seem like Wang Shuo was more like the mayor of Hanzhong City than Mayor Fang Dingbei himself.

Just like that, the meeting lasted for over two hours. All major projects were finalized, and both Mayor Fang Dingbei and General Manager Yu Tongguang breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

A project worth tens of billions was decided in these short two-plus hours.

And Wang Shuo, because he was genuinely bored from sitting and was always being asked for his opinion, had to find an excuse to run out and check the site.

"General Manager Yu, there is something I have been curious about. I wonder if General Manager Yu can clear up my confusion?"

Mayor Fang Dingbei drank the tea that the secretary-general had poured for him, relieving the thirst from over two hours, and said seemingly casually: "Between your company and my junior brother, what exactly is..."

"Oh." General Manager Yu Tongguang also took a sip of water and said nonchalantly: "We are in a cooperative relationship. General Manager Wang is an important partner of our Huaneng Group."

"A partner?" Mayor Fang Dingbei became interested: "What kind of cooperation? As far as I know, my junior brother's strength in software is very good. He created an Artificial Intelligence like zero egg single-handedly. Is it this?"

General Manager Yu Tongguang laughed dumbfoundedly: "Mayor Fang, you still don't understand your junior brother."

"What you mentioned is certainly one aspect we need to cooperate on, but it is currently still under negotiation and has not been fully implemented. We are cooperating on another aspect."

"Oh?" Mayor Fang Dingbei said: "I am all ears."

General Manager Yu Tongguang smiled and pointed to the site outside.

"Could it be..." Mayor Fang Dingbei revealed a hint of astonishment.

"Let me re-introduce him to you." General Manager Yu Tongguang said: "Wang Shuo, Frontier Technology Co., Ltd.'s general manager—oh, it should be chairman now. He is also the overall person in charge of this project, holding a share of..."

"Fifty-one percent!"