Chapter 78: The Village Official's First Bold Move

After more than a month of vote verification, the names of the newly elected village chiefs were finally made public at the government assembly. Among their group, apart from Lian Yaqiang, whose Xicun had strong competition and did not make it, there was also Jiang Chunmei from Gehe Village who failed to win. The reason was that, as an unmarried woman, she could not outmatch the experienced older men.

The classmates who succeeded in becoming village chiefs were He Zhixing of Zhang Village, Li Xianliang of Wabei Village, Xu Chang of Zhuziping Village, Liu Shuquan of Hehua'ao Village, Lan Xuejun of Shangyu Village, Zhan Ji of Zhongdong Village, and Zheng Chuandong of Xiabei Village.

Their election was largely because most of those left behind in the villages were elderly and children; the young adults had all gone off to work elsewhere.

After the meeting, He Zhixing stayed behind. Su Mei formally posed the question that had been weighing on her mind: “Zhixing, we’re counting on you this time. To be honest, I really have no idea how to start work here in the Five Towns. Day after day, I’m at a loss for what to do, just sticking to the basics like maintaining order and following the directives coming from the city and the national committee, but these grand policies simply don’t fit our situation.”

He Zhixing replied, “I’ve already given it a lot of thought. Later, I’ll contact the two classmates who didn’t get elected—Lian Yaqiang and Jiang Chunmei—so we can all discuss this together. We’ll move forward step by step; results won’t come overnight.”

“All right, I’ll trust you,” Su Mei agreed.

A dozen of them gathered once more in the Five Towns, this time choosing a classroom in the primary school as their venue—a space that He Zhixing and Su Mei had arranged with the help of Elder Xiao and Elder Chen. They held their small gathering in an unused music and art room, with Elder Xiao personally asking his daughter to serve tea to everyone.

Thus, the Five Towns Development Alliance held its first official meeting. Su Mei asked everyone to share the current situation in their villages. The general picture was much the same: elderly and children left behind, and the few able-bodied men who hadn’t gone to work in the city or county were doing odd labor jobs. Some families had even moved entirely to the city or county, renting homes and working there to make a living and support their children.

“It seems things don’t look very promising for our future work. This is the toughest situation of all,” Su Mei sighed.

He Zhixing nodded, “I expected as much. After all, there are no businesses or industries here in Five Towns to make a living from. Even our only state-owned chopsticks factory went under. That was the town’s sole enterprise. Unfortunately, perhaps due to our remote mountain location, poor transport, or other reasons, it just couldn’t compete with other places and had to shut down.”

After a pause, He Zhixing continued, “But I didn’t call everyone back just to talk idly. We have real work to do, though we’ll have to proceed gradually. Here’s my idea: we develop local specialties—wild vegetables, fruits, and other resources unique to our countryside. We can encourage villagers to grow wild produce and game. I’ll start a company, open a storefront and warehouse in town, and collect these products under a branded banner. Eventually, I plan to build a major industrial park here in Five Towns—fruit, vegetable, dairy, health drinks, and herbal companies. First, we’ll sign planting contracts with farmers in every village.”

“As long as the farmers are willing to sign, the company will purchase all their wild produce and game a year later. If they’re worried we’re just an empty shell, we can specify in the contract that if the company fails to honor the agreement for any reason—whether we dissolve or leave—they can claim compensation of five to fifty thousand yuan. And if they’re still concerned about compensation, I’ll personally guarantee it with my company, Norwind Fashion. Farmers can go directly to Norwind Fashion to claim compensation if needed.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, their worries turning into hope.

He Zhixing sipped his tea, then looked at Lian Yaqiang and Jiang Chunmei. “My next step is to send two people to the provincial capital to open two large supermarkets. This will quickly pave the way for a specialty supply route. I want to entrust this task to both of you, with two million yuan in investment. You’ll conduct field research and choose locations, and I’ll check them myself before we proceed.”

Turning to Su Mei, He Zhixing added, “I’ve also chosen the location for the industrial park—the abandoned sawmill at the town’s entrance, beside the old factory grounds. We’ll tear down those rusted iron buildings and rebuild. I’ll talk to Mr. Li, the owner of the deserted timber yard, and buy the land to construct our industrial park.”

“Excellent,” Su Mei responded. “That old factory is just the right size, and the location is perfect!”

He Zhixing continued, “Also, for farmers willing to sign planting contracts but lacking scientific know-how, we can send two top graduates who studied agriculture to experiment and develop suitable methods for our local climate and soil. Zhang Ying and Zhang Yan will be responsible for this.” The two women nodded eagerly, promising to fulfill their duties.

The meeting concluded quickly. Without hesitation, He Zhixing opened a specialty purchase shop on the main street, naming it Norwind Country Delicacies Purchase Shop. He hired a manager to run the store and handle the contract printing. The six classmates who had been elected village chiefs were tasked with taking the agreements to their respective villages and negotiating with the villagers to sign up.

And so, led by He Zhixing, the Five Towns Development Alliance’s first project was set ablaze—a spark that brought a mysterious new vitality to the long-stagnant, backward Five Towns. After a long silence, Five Towns was brewing a new surge of activity.