Section Eleven: Economic Zone

  After Ye Zhenran took office as deputy township head, at the first township government meeting, Township Head Li Jun clarified Ye Zhenran's division of labor: assist the township head in his work, be in charge of new rural construction, village construction, science and technology, land, forestry, economic zones, textile mill rectification work, and contact family planning and health work. Basically, it was all the original work of Deputy Township Head Lin, and the textile mill rectification was a phased task added in response to the superior government's work arrangement.

  In order to implement the spirit of "governing the economic environment, rectifying the economic order and comprehensively deepening reform" put forward by the Third Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee, Jiannan City issued a regulation on "adjusting, rectifying, transforming and improving" township enterprises. Mashixiang Township, in accordance with the unified deployment of the county government, also began to rectify township enterprises. The township government further divided the main enterprises in the town among the four deputy township heads, each responsible for on-site investigation, rectification and transformation work. Ye Zhenran was responsible for Mashixiang Textile Factory.

  After lunch at the township government canteen, Ye Zhenran did not want to disturb others and rode his bicycle to the Economic Zone for inspection.

  The economic zone of Mashixiang was established three years ago. Before its establishment, both the township party committee and government had high hopes for it, hoping to attract investment and capital to settle in the economic zone, thereby expanding the economic scale of Mashixiang. However, through three years of practice, the effect has been very disappointing.

  From a geographical perspective, economic zones have certain advantages locally.

  Mashi Town has three main roads running east-west, from south to north: Lin Yuan Street, Donglin Street, and Xiuzhou Street. In addition, National Highway 320 passes through the southernmost part of the town. There are twelve roads running north-south, including Jiankang Road, Culture Road, People's Road, Jinxiu Road, Zhonglou Road, etc. According to administrative divisions, Xiuzhou Street is south of the highway, Lin Yuan Road is west of the highway, and Zhonglou Road is east of the highway, all belonging to Mashi Town; outside these areas are part of Mashi Township.

  Mashi Township Economic Zone is located in Xiuzhou Street North, next to Mashi Town Railway Station, with an area of over 400 mu, and the traffic is very convenient.

  Due to the unclear positioning of the economic zone, the preferential policies are subject to more restrictions. After the establishment of the zone, the township government invested in building two office buildings and constructing two small roads, but then stopped, because too few enterprises settled in and the investment output ratio was too disproportionate.

  As he rode past the entrance of the Economic Zone, Ye Zhenran unexpectedly saw Yu Jia leading a group of students through the Economic Zone.

  "Teacher Yu, why have you brought your students here?" Ye Zhenran changed his form of address in front of the students.

  "Little Ye, great. I brought the students here to observe butterflies. Today in science class we were discussing insects and I brought them here for a field study. Each of them has to write an essay."

  "Come here to watch butterflies?" Ye Zhenran asked in surprise.

  "There are many wastelands here, and butterflies gather in groups, it's a good environment for butterfly growth. Haven't you seen the black-veined whites and sulfurs dancing together in swarms?" Yu Jia said with a smile to Ye Zhenran, but after finishing speaking, he seemed to think this expression was not suitable, his face looked a bit strange.

  After hearing Mr. Yu's words, the students jumped for joy and clapped their hands, saying: "Look at the butterfly dancing!"

  Ye Ziran wiped the sweat. In a low voice, he said to Jia: "Aunt Yu, this is the Mars Stone Township Economic Zone, I've just been assigned to take care of this zone's work."

  Yu Jia was surprised and said, "It looks like it's been abandoned for two or three years, and there's no wall around it. I didn't expect it to be a government economic zone. What a pity! If it's not developed temporarily, let the farmers plant some crops, that would be good too."

  "Aunt Yu, since I'm in charge here now, I'll try my best to change the appearance of this place."

  "Alright, I believe you." Yu Jia nodded in trust.

  Deputy Director Liu San of the Economic Zone hadn't seen the economic zone so lively in a long time, and estimated that he had seen Ye Zhenran at the office window, and hurried down.

  "Director Ye, welcome to the economic district for guidance work."

  "What kind of work is this? How can we raise butterflies?" In front of Liu San, Ye Zhenran's face didn't look so good.

  Liu San's face slightly reddened as he said: "Ye Chang, I haven't done a good job with my work, but the economic district doesn't have any funding sources, so many things can't be carried out."

  Ye Zhenran had just taken office and was not yet familiar with the work of the economic district. Looking at Liu San's appearance, he was fat and plump, and as soon as they met, he talked about objective reasons. Although on the surface he was polite, in fact, he was a lazy good-for-nothing. Ye Zhenran thought to himself that perhaps he had relied on some backstage arrangement to be here, so he didn't say much more. He waved his hand and said: "Let's go, convene an emergency meeting with the comrades of the economic district."

  In the conference room on the third floor of the economic district, Liu San convened a meeting and introduced to Ye Zhenran: "Director Ye, two comrades are absent today, everyone else is here, please take a seat and give us a speech."

  Yeziran waved his hand and said: "Today I'm here to chat with everyone, get a feel for the situation. How about this, you all go ahead and introduce yourselves first."

  Everyone introduced themselves again.

  There are ten people present, all of whom have introduced themselves and seem quite decent, with education levels above high school and mostly under the age of thirty-five, except for this Liu San.

  "Comrades, I came to the economic district for the first time and didn't expect it to be so bad. We need to reflect on this. A district that was established just three years ago has become a breeding ground for insects and a place for teachers and students from Changsha Middle School to observe butterfly habitats. I'm ashamed." Ye Zhenran's voice wasn't loud, but his tone was severe. "Don't mention the issue of funding, at the very least, with such poor sanitation in the district, doesn't everyone have any responsibility? Tomorrow, none of you should rest. I hope that when I come back on Monday, I can see a clean and tidy district."

  Ye Ziran said to this point, raised his eyes and swept a glance around, seeing everyone lowering their heads, not daring to speak out. He slowed down his tone and said: "To do well in the economic district, comrades must put in effort, use their brains, and show their spirit. Especially those responsible for attracting investment, you must think of more ways. In the past, what channels did the district use to attract investment?"

  "We have advertised on the county radio and TV stations, and organized several investment promotion fairs in Mashizhen Square," Liu San replied.

  "This is far from enough. Changjia County is a small economic county, and the business district must have a broader vision, at least extending its influence to Jianan City and Guangbei City."

  Ye Ziran stopped for a moment and then said: "Let's discuss it, does anyone have any good suggestions?"

  After an awkward silence, someone finally spoke up: "Ye Chang, I have a immature idea. Our community is too small in scale and lacks basic infrastructure, making it difficult to attract large enterprises to settle here. The land is all vacant, can't we find other uses for it?"

  "What's it for?" Ye Zhenran asked.

  "Can't we open a trading market, such as a small commodity trading market? Our province of Yangtze River has the most developed individual and private economy, but it has the characteristics of large quantity and small scale. If we set up a trading market, individual economies will be interested in setting up points for transactions."

  "How can this be? We are an economic zone, our goal is to attract businesses to settle down, setting up a trading market doesn't match the positioning of our zone." Liu San shook his head.

  "I just heard the introduction, you're Shen Rong? So you're in charge of contacting clients in the neighborhood?" Ye Zhenran ignored Liu San. Anyone who can speak and share their opinions, whether they are right or wrong, or if there's anything to learn from them, Ye Zhenran welcomes it.

  "Yes, it's Ye Chang." Shen Rong was a little surprised that Ye Xiangzhang remembered his name after listening to the introduction once, and his tone of voice was filled with excitement.

  "Comrade Shen Rong is able to put forward his own ideas, which is very good. To do a good job in the economic zone, we need everyone to think collectively and use their brains more. Shen Rong, write me a feasibility report, how many days will it take?"

  "The leaves will take three days to grow," said Shen Rong.

  "Alright, I'll give you three days. Three days later, come to the countryside and hand it over." Ye Zhenran nodded in satisfaction. He continued to ask: "Let's hear what other comrades think."

  Someone started well, and the atmosphere became much more lively. Sure enough, another female comrade raised her hand to request a speech. Ye Zhenran remembered that she was surnamed Wu, so he encouraged her by saying: "Little Wu, you speak up."

  Xiao Wu, over thirty years old, looked sharp and capable. She said: "Ye Chang, I know that many economic development zones and industrial parks have set up offices in Jianan City to attract non-public enterprises from the city to settle and start businesses locally. Can we also go and set one up?"

  "It's great, Xiao Wu's proposal meets the development needs of our Mashizhen economic zone and is worth considering." Ye Zhenran gave a very high evaluation.

  The leader was so happy to talk, and everyone's enthusiasm was even higher. Everyone felt that the newly appointed deputy head of the town came to the economic zone for inspection on his first day in office, giving everyone a sense of hope. The employees of the economic zone looked at Ye Zhenran's clear and bright face, full of passion, and their positivity was mobilized, and they all came up with strategies, looking forward to the development prospects of the economic zone, casting trusting glances at Ye Zhenran.

  Ye Ziran was busy taking notes on everyone's speeches, pondering the bright spots in them. At this moment, he forgot about Yu Jia bringing students to inspect insects in the community and the loss it brought him, but felt the vitality of the economic community staff, his heart was also quite inspired, feeling a lot of gains.

  After the meeting, Ye Zhenran returned to the government road in his hometown and saw Cai Shu pushing a bicycle with a lot of meat and vegetable dishes on it. He hailed him: "Cai Shu, why did you buy so many dishes today? We can't finish eating them."

  Cai Shu smiled and said: "Xiao Ye has arrived just in time, help me move things, Nian Yue is here."

  "Is Nian Yue Zhang Shu's daughter?" Ye Zhenran seemed to have heard this name before.

  "Yes, she's on summer vacation and has come to see Old Ye, saying she wants to stay for a while."

  "Then I won't disturb you in the past?" Ye Zhenran asked hesitantly.

  Cai Shu smiled and said: "No way, Nian Yue is a very lively college girl, I think she can get along with you."

  Ye Zhenran let out an "oh" and looked at the time, it was already late, so he didn't go to the township government. He moved the heaviest bag of rice onto his own vehicle, then went to a nearby fruit stand and bought a big bag of apples, and together with Cai Shu, they rode their bikes towards Ye Lao's home.