Chapter 2: Demolishing Bridges and Making Money

  Three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

  Early in the morning, Qin Aimin had just gotten out of bed when he was called into the small conference room of the township government. As soon as he entered the conference room, the smell of smoke almost made him lose his breath. The entire ten or so square meters of the conference room was filled with swirling cigarette smoke, like a paradise on earth.

  Take another look at the ashtray on the table, as well as the various secretaries, township heads, directors and others seated around it. It seems that this meeting has been going on for quite some time, and if things don't go well, they might even have to pull an all-nighter.

  Qin Aimin had just sat down when Yang Daqing, who was sitting at the head of the table, spoke up: "Aimin, you're the only university graduate in our village, and as an intellectual, you must have a lot of ideas. What do you think we can do to improve our village's current financial situation?"

  Qin Aimin's eyes turned to the director of the finance department, Yue Changqing, who was sitting beside him and had just returned from the county yesterday.

  A thirty-year-old woman with a good face, Rong Changqing, now looks no different from an old hag, disheveled and dirty, with bloodshot eyes, giving him quite a fright at first glance.

  Yu Changqing saw Qin Aimin looking at himself and immediately understood Qin Aimin's concerns.

  "Just say it if you have any ideas."

  In the past six months, Qin Aimin has not been idle in thinking of ways to improve the financial situation of Dashitown. When he first arrived at the town, he had grand ambitions to bring about a fundamental change to Dashitown. Unfortunately, after coming into contact with reality and casting aside his fantasies, none of the numerous ideas he came up with were suitable for Dashitown's current state.

  Dashi Township is located on the edge of Shilin County, with many mountains and little arable land. The industrial foundation is extremely weak, to the point where it can be said that there is no industrial foundation at all. Almost all of the township's 60,000 people make a living by farming. In previous years, the township's finances were barely able to break even, but unfortunately, this spring's floods and summer and autumn droughts led to a large-scale reduction in crop yields, resulting in a very difficult life for the common people. The township government, which relies on collecting agricultural taxes to get by, is also struggling.

  After some thought, Qin Aimin could only helplessly say: "To improve the financial situation of our village, we can only vigorously develop industry. Our village has little land and many people, with abundant labor power. As long as we can persist in vigorously developing industry,"

  "Spare us the slogans! Say something practical!" Yang Daqing interrupted Qin Aimin's lengthy speech with great impatience.

  After a while, Qin Aimin stopped talking. Yang Daqing was somewhat displeased.

  "Comrade Ai Min, you are a university student, an intellectual with high knowledge. Can't you take into account the actual situation in our rural area and propose some practical opinions from this perspective? You've been to our village for almost half a year now, surely you have understood the actual situation here by now. Don't tell me you don't have any ideas at all. Are you going to spend your whole life stuck in Dashi Village like us old folks?"

  Qin Aimin was the first college student assigned to Dashitun Village. At the same time, he was also the only college student. However, most of the village cadres in Dashitun were junior high school graduates. Secretary Yang Daqing reportedly only attended a few years of night school. As a result, these people had a blind trust in Qin Aimin, this college-educated intellectual. They generally felt that with great knowledge came great ability.

  So, although Qin Aimin is currently only the deputy director of the county finance office, many things in the countryside are often asked about him on a daily basis.

  Looking at Yang Daqing who was obviously a bit irritable, he also glanced at the other rural leaders around him who were only focused on smoking with their heads down. Qin Aimin knew what they were annoyed about.

  Dashi Township had been facing financial difficulties half a year ago, and except for the dozens of people on the payroll who could receive their salaries on time, the other hundreds of non-staff workers and private teachers had not received their salaries. Later, Yang Dazhen thought of a solution, which was to distribute the salaries of the staff members evenly among everyone, ensuring that all township government employees and private teachers would at least have enough to eat at home. However, this approach did offend some people, and the "big pot" style of management did not win over the hearts of the staff members.

  According to Yang Daqing's promise at the time, this part of the salary will be paid before the Spring Festival. However, with less than a month left until the Spring Festival, the original 50,000 yuan birth reward that was supposed to be received at the end of the year has been lost. Moreover, Lin Dawang's medical expenses for his injury have added up to several thousand yuan per day at the city center hospital. In this case, how can this part of the salary be paid?

  "I think our village should change the situation of relying solely on land for food, we can develop animal husbandry based on our village's mountainous terrain and limited arable land. Currently, there is a high demand for chicken, ducks and other poultry in urban areas. As long as we can provide necessary technical support to farmers and offer certain sales guarantees, I think the villagers will be willing to raise more chickens and ducks. In just two or three years, our village can completely change its current situation."

  "You've mentioned this before, it's indeed a solution, but this year's situation is too late to start, and two or three years is too long, isn't there a faster way?"

  "Our village has a rich limestone resource, we can think of ways to introduce capital to build a cement plant, although it will pay a relatively large environmental cost, but also improve the economic environment of our village, if everything goes smoothly, within a year, it will generate benefits."

  "You've also mentioned this idea before. I've already contacted investors, but the current situation is still too long, a distant water cannot save a nearby fire. Is there any way to improve it before the end of the year?"

  When Qin Aimin heard this, he almost fainted. With only a month left before the Spring Festival, if they wanted to change the financial situation of Dashiqiao Township's inability to pay wages within a month, there was nothing left but to rob a bank.

  As soon as he saw Qin Aimin, Yang Daqing became unhappy and said, "Comrade Aimin, you also know the situation in our village. Today, no matter what, we must come up with a feasible solution. Otherwise, I wouldn't have called you here. In short, if everyone can't think of a plan today, don't even think about leaving this meeting room. If it takes one day, two days, or three days, we'll stay until we figure out a way to get some money back. If not, I won't let you off easy."

  After listening to Secretary Yang Daqing's words, Qin Aimin was speechless. The township party secretary actually said such shameless things, and it's unclear whether it was due to lack of sleep or if he had really reached the point of desperation. However, thinking about it again, one can't help but sympathize with him. For half a year, not a single complete salary has been paid, and there are many in the township government who secretly scold Yang Daqing. It's believed that Yang Daqing is also aware that if he doesn't let the township officials and masses have a good Chinese New Year, his prestige as secretary will be lost. Nevertheless, Qin Aimin still respects Yang Daqing from the bottom of his heart, although he indeed has no abilities, but he is absolutely a good person. The situation in other townships is not much different from that of Dashiqiao Township. In the past half year, it's said that many miscellaneous fees have been added, but in Dashiqiao Township, under the background of "not letting the children suffer and not letting the officials be poor", Secretary Yang Daqing withstood the pressure from all levels of the township government and firmly did not increase any taxes or fees for the people of Dashiqiao Township.

  After Qin Aimin sat down, he didn't say another word. Yang Daqing also stopped bothering him and took a deep drag on his cigarette. Then, with reddened eyes, he scanned the conference room in a circle. "What ideas do you have? Whether they're feasible or not, just speak up, then we'll discuss them specifically."

  After a while, seeing that no one in the conference room spoke up, Yang Daqing's gaze finally turned to Yu Guomin, the head of the village, who was sitting aside smoking silently.

  "Director Yu, it's come to this point, can't you make a decision?"

  Just past forty, Yu Guomin, wearing a pair of glasses, raised his head and replied directly: "At this time, what else can be done, only to thicken the skin and ask for money from the county and city."

  Yu Guomin, who was transferred from a foreign land to Dashi Township as the township head just last year, has never gotten along with Yang Daqing. In Dashi Township, Yang Daqing is absolutely number one, and many things are controlled by him alone. As the township head, Yu Guomin often cannot exert his authority, including this time's wage incident. At that time, Yang Daqing's big pot rice plan was not approved by Yu Guomin, but he did not oppose it because he did not want to be a bad person, and he reluctantly did not object at the time, but absolutely did not agree.

  "Forget about the county, all 11 townships and 5 towns are fully guarded in the county, Secretary Zhang and County Mayor Ma are almost driven mad by us. County Mayor Ma said that if there is no money, he has a life to give."

  Yu Changqing's words were extremely unpleasant, and she had suffered a lot in the past few weeks trying to get money from the county.

  In the conference room, after scanning countless circles, Yang Daqing's reddened gaze finally fell on Qin Aimin, who was sitting in the corner.

  "Ai Min comrade, you university student think of a way to help the village, no matter good or bad, at least come up with a method to make some money within this month before the Spring Festival."

  He looked up at Yang Daqing, who was visibly down in the dumps, and then at Yue Changqing. Just as Yang Daqing said it didn't matter whether it was good or bad, he suddenly remembered a report he had read two years ago when he was in college, which was published in the provincial daily newspaper.

  Seeing Qin Aimin's hesitant expression, Yang Daqing, who was already a seasoned person, couldn't help but notice, "What's the point of beating around the bush? Just say it directly, don't be so ambiguous."

  For a moment, all eyes in the conference room were focused on Qin Aimin.

  Qin Aimin took one look at the situation, gritted his teeth and said: "If we can't get money from the city or county, then we'll just have to think of a way at the lower levels."

  Yu Guomin looked extremely displeased upon hearing Qin Aimin's words, "At this point in time, everything that should be collected has been collected, and all that should be handed over has been handed over. It's freezing cold outside, and every household is staying indoors to keep warm. What other methods can we use? Are we supposed to organize and rally village cadres to go door-to-door collecting money?"

  Yu Guomin was the advocate of the Dashixiang Increase Movement, unfortunately in Dashixiang he was the arm and Yang Dajing was the leg. In the end, the Dashixiang Increase Movement ended in failure. So when Qin Aimin spoke, he couldn't help but complain.

  After listening to Yu Guomin's complaints, Yang Daqing also looked very unhappy, and as for the others, they all shrank their necks and sat down below, pretending that they had not heard anything.

  "Alright, Comrade Aimin, just say what you want to say directly, don't beat around the bush with a bunch of nonsense. We all know the current situation in the county."

  After hearing this, Qin Aimin knew that he, the dog-headed military advisor, couldn't escape today. He gritted his teeth and said, "Secretary Yang, now the only way we can think of is to go through our town's National Highway 817."

  "This won't do, in recent years the authorities have been cracking down hard on toll collection along national highways, it's not like a few years ago when you could just set up a simple stall with a bamboo pole and collect money, if this gets out of hand our entire township leadership will be held accountable."

  Qin Aimin's words were directly refuted by Yang Daqing before he could finish speaking.

  Qin Aimin didn't respond to Yang Daqing's words, but instead continued: "Do you have any impression of the Jinshui Bridge outside Qingshi Village?"

  Yang Daqing is familiar with every tree and blade of grass in Dashiqiao Township. "What's the difference between this stone arch bridge outside Qingshi Village, which is only over ten meters long, and setting up a card on the road?"

  "Director Yang, if I'm not mistaken, that bridge seems to have a history of several decades, doesn't it?"

  Yang Daqing shook his head directly, "The history of that bridge is at least hundreds of years old. The bridge was already there before the construction of National Highway 817. Our Dashiqiao Township was a famous commercial road even before liberation."

  For a stone arch bridge that can't be considered a cultural relic, Qin Aimin didn't care about its history. As soon as Yang Dajing's words fell, he chimed in: "Secretary Yang, since the history of that bridge has been so long, it must be unsafe, I think it should be demolished and rebuilt into a new concrete bridge."

  Yu Changqing was taken aback by Qin Aimin's words and didn't understand for a moment, "That Jinshui Bridge is made entirely of 2-meter-long bluestone slabs, even a 10-ton truck can drive on it without any issues, when did it become unsafe?"

  It wasn't until he finished speaking that he discovered the unusually rich expressions on the faces of others in the conference room, and only then did he realize he was too naive.

  Yu Guomin thought for a moment and spoke up first: "Even if the bridge is no longer safe, it should be reported to the county transportation department. What does this have to do with our township?"

  After glancing around at everyone, seeing that all eyes were back on him, Qin Aimin continued: "One side of the Jinshui Bridge is our Kaihe City, and the other side is Yuanshui City. Although it's not a major transportation route, there are still quite a few vehicles passing through every day. If the Jinshui Bridge can't be used, then the passing vehicles will have to take the dirt road via Shikou Village to bypass the Jinshui Bridge. This 10-kilometer-long road only has seven places where large trucks can pass each other. If our township can organize people to build a temporary pontoon bridge in the fields next to the Jinshui Bridge, I think most vehicles will still be willing to take our pontoon bridge rather than detouring on that 10-kilometer dirt road."

  By this point, the leaders of Dashiqiao Town sitting in the conference room should have understood what Qin Aimin meant.

  "Scholars are indeed cunning." Yueliang Qing couldn't help but say this after hearing Qin Aimin's words. Of course, Qin Aimin was actually praising him.

  "Good idea, this is a good idea." Yang Daqing finally revealed a long-lost smile on his face, "Yu Xiangzhang, what do you think?"

  Yu Guomin was not pleased with Yang Daqing's tone, although he was usually Yang Daqing's most steadfast opponent at village meetings. However, this time he also wholeheartedly supported Qin Aimin's idea, after all, among the people in Dashixiang who lacked money for the New Year, there was also Yu Guomin.

  "I will personally organize people to blockade the Jinshui Bridge, and the party and government offices will report the damage to the Jinshui Bridge to the county committee and county government as soon as possible. Let the county transportation bureau quickly organize a team to come and inspect, and also organize manpower to clear the road from Shikou Village, and arrange personnel to guard and dispatch passing vehicles 24 hours a day."

  Yu Guomin's ability is absolutely there, otherwise it would not be possible to become the head of a county at the age of 40, which in the extremely aging cadres of Shilin County is considered a young cadre, except for the deeply rooted Du Jinping faction.

  After finishing what he had just said, Qin Aimin fell silent again. He believed that in terms of specific operations, the old foxes present were absolutely more skilled than him, a newcomer.

  "Jinshui Bridge is indeed too old and can no longer meet the current road requirements. A new concrete bridge in the new era is absolutely necessary. Zhang Qing, your female comrades are more meticulous than male comrades, so you will lead the team to handle the damage to Jinshui Bridge."

  Yang Dazheng has been tempered in Dashixiang for decades, and this majestic language is absolutely unique to Dashixiang. Even when making false promises to Jinshui Bridge, he speaks so magnificently. In this regard, Qin Aimin has been working hard to learn from him over the past six months, but no matter how hard he tries, he still feels a significant gap between himself and Secretary Yang Dazheng.

  "Comrade Tianlin, this temporary floating bridge will be handled by your party and government affairs office. It must be built within three days. The occupation of farmland must be negotiated with the peasants, and no problems are allowed to arise from this."

  "In addition, the toll receipts for the pontoon bridge must also be prepared within three days. Three days later, I must see the pontoon bridge in normal use. Comrade Aimin will be responsible for this toll matter."