Xiong Wenbin, although serving as deputy secretary-general of the municipal party committee and director of the municipal party committee office, did not rush to change houses, and still lived with his wife in a bungalow in the municipal government compound, just across the street from Yingwang International.

  After receiving Shen Hua's phone call, Xiong Wenbin just knew that Zhao Dong and Xiao Mingxia had just obtained their marriage certificate. Shen Hua gathered everyone for dinner today to celebrate this matter.

  Although it was a bit strange to choose the location of the meal at Yingwang International, Xiong Wenbin didn't think much about it and rode his bike from home to Yingwang International.

  As soon as he pushed open the door and walked into the private room, Xiong Wenbin caught sight of Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai, both of whom were already there. He looked slightly surprised and asked, "Both Deputy Mayor Zhou and CEO Zhou are here?"

  "Mei Creek Town wants to merge two villages in the southeast of He Tang Town, build a dock at Jianggang Port. Zhou District Director and Zhou General Manager came to me to discuss this matter, coincidentally arrived, so I invited them to have dinner together..." Shen Huai stood up and asked Xiong Wenbin to take a seat.

  Xiong Wenbin didn't know about the Jianggang Wharf project, and upon hearing Shen Hua's words, he felt strange. Before sitting down, he first nodded to Sun Yalin: "Miss Sun is also here."

  Sun Ya Lin smiled and said: "It's rare to see Shen Huai bleed, how can I bear to let it go?"

  "If it weren't for you forcing me, why would I be willing to bleed my money here?" Shen Huan complained, wanting Xiong Wenbin to understand that choosing this place to eat was Sun Yalin's idea. "Eating one meal on this side will cost me a month's salary, and it's not necessarily more comfortable than eating at a random restaurant in Meixi Town."

  "You sound so wronged, as if you didn't used to indulge in pleasure here," Sun Yalin glanced at Shen Hua with dissatisfaction. "Xiao Mingxia and Zhao Dong are married, so Xiao Mingxia should know more about it, otherwise one day she'll sell out to Zhao Dong and even help him count the money."

  Zhao Dong smiled and complained, "Don't bring the war fire to my side, if you burn again, my grape trellis will soon collapse..." Before he finished speaking, his waist was pinched by Xiao Mingxia under the table.

  Xiong Wenbin burst out laughing and explained for Zhao Dong: "Sometimes socializing is also something that has to be done..."

  Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi had just sat down when Shen Hua introduced the tall, beautiful woman to his right as Sun Ya Lin. They thought she was just a woman Shen Hua knew from somewhere and didn't pay much attention to her.

  At this time, Xiong Wenbin entered the seat and greeted her with a regular eight-tone greeting. She also became spirited and majestic at this time, and Zhou Yu only realized that the woman's identity was not simple, and he began to size her up.

  Brown long hair, slightly curly, simply tied behind the shoulder, wearing a small flower collar black and white striped shirt, tight skirt and silk stockings, a professional woman's attire.

  Deep brown eyes under the private room lamp, like dark amber, looking like a Westerner, but with an Easterner's delicate face. Previously sitting next to Shen Huan, not making much noise, having a gentle and elegant temperament, but now rising up with momentum, radiant and unusually bright.

  "What's going on with Jianggang Wharf, I've never heard you mention it before?" Xiong Wenbin sat down, still unable to contain his curiosity, and asked about the matter of Jianggang Wharf.

  As soon as he entered the private room, he heard Shen Huan mention Jianggang Wharf without any reserve, and knew that these topics didn't need to be avoided in front of Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai. He continued to ask, also wanting to know how deep Shen Huan's relationship with the Zhou family was.

  "Mei Xi Steel Plant will continue to expand its production capacity," Shen Hua said. "Once Mei Xi Steel Plant's production capacity breaks through 500,000 tons, the pressure on transportation costs will be enormous. Currently, Donghua has only one railway freight line, which ends abruptly at Chengbei, still thirty kilometers away from Mei Xi Steel Plant. Building a dedicated freight branch line from Chengbei to Mei Xi Plant is unrealistic. The Jianggang Wharf project is something we must do, and the sooner the better..."

  This is said for Xiong Wenbin to hear, and also for Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai to hear.

  Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai came uninvited, arrived at Ying Huang Hou, and also saw Shen Huai temporarily inviting Xiong Wenbin to come over for dinner. He thought Shen Huai was going to clear up his relationship with the Zhou family in front of Xiong Wenbin, and he was also secretly angry at the time.

  At this time, Shen Hua explained the origin of the Shangjianggang Wharf project, Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai were shocked and stared at Shen Hua in disbelief.

  Xiong Wenbin was also startled and asked: "Are the 500,000 tons of production capacity all electric furnace steel? How many years do you plan to complete this goal?"

  "Hmm," Shen Hua said, "Mei Xi Steel Plant currently only has the conditions for a short process electric furnace steel project. I plan to reach this goal within three years. To achieve this goal, Jianggang Wharf needs to be built, and another power plant needs to be built."

  Even if Shen Hua was exaggerating, Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi were shocked by Shen Hua's ambition.

  The annual total steel output of the municipal steel plant is now around 500,000 to 600,000 tons; Shen Hua wants to develop the Meixi Steel Plant into a scale equivalent to that of the Municipal Steel Plant within three years, and this ambition is indeed shocking.

  Of course, this news is even more crucial and important for Peng Yue.

  Meixi Steel Plant, even if it doesn't expand this year, the production of rebar steel will exceed 100,000 tons. In addition to the pig iron that Meixi Steel Plant can provide itself, it is estimated that about 80,000-100,000 tons of scrap steel need to be purchased from outside as furnace materials.

  If Meixi Steel Plant simply develops electric furnace steel production capacity and does not implement the blast furnace ironmaking project, its steel production capacity will break through 500,000 tons within three years, and the demand for scrap steel will also reach around 500,000 tons.

  To know Peng Yue's scrap steel trading volume last year was around 1.2 million tons.

  If it's true what Shen Huai said, Mei Xi Steel Factory will break through 500,000 tons of electric furnace steel production within three years. Even if Peng Yue only gets half of the business from Mei Xi Steel Factory, it can still guarantee a doubling of trade volume.

  Since Bai saw Shen's face in the conference hall, his emotions had been twisted. Now he couldn't help but want to ask if Meixi Steel Factory was capable of achieving this goal within three years.

  "The whole project will likely require an investment of 5-6 billion," Xiong Wenbin said, also unable to discern the sincerity of Shen Hua's words for a moment, and temporarily followed along with Shen Hua's tone. "Donghua hasn't had a project this big in a long time, how confident are you?" As he spoke, Xiong Wenbin was also observing Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai's expressions, and it seemed they too had just heard Shen Hua say these words.

  "We don't make plywood, we specialize in rebar steel, and it doesn't require such a large investment," Shen Hua said. "With about 400 million yuan in funding, it can be done..."

  Xiong Wenbin thought for a moment, investing less than 400 million is not impossible, but he would rather know where Shen Hua plans to raise the 400 million funds from.

  Mei Xi Steel Factory's net assets are only around 40-50 million, and it still owes the bank nearly 80 million in loans. He really can't imagine where Mei Xi Steel Factory will come up with four billion yuan in funding within three years.

  Xiong Wenbin glanced at Sun Yalin, who also couldn't tell what was real or fake from her face. He thought to himself that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China wouldn't possibly support Shen Huai's such aggressive expansion, with such a large amount of lending, the risk is too great, unless Shen Huai has another channel for financing.

  Xiong Wenbin expected Shen Hua to continue, but Shen Hua stood up and took the wine bottle from Zhao Dong's hand, preparing to pour wine for everyone.

  Xiong Wenbin let out a soft sigh in his heart, he didn't know why Shen Hua suddenly put on such an attitude that seemed close yet distant, was it because after marginalizing Tan Qiping he became impatient or was it because he had nothing to fear?

  Xiong Wenbin's eyes swept over Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng, but saw that they were turning back to fetch wine and drinks to put on the table, seemingly not very concerned about this topic. In his heart, he also knew that he couldn't get anything out of Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng.

  Xiong Wenbin didn't want to be led by the nose by Shen Huai either, seeing that Shen Huai didn't intend to delve deeper into the conversation, he stopped asking questions.

  Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai both hoped that Shen Huai could say more about his seemingly ambitious plan, but Shen Huai remained tight-lipped, and they had no way of forcing him to continue.

  Zhou Yu also suspected that Shen Huai's sudden revelation of his 500,000-ton expansion plan at the dinner table was a bait, but the situation did not allow her to be unconcerned.

  When he heard the news that Mei Creek Iron Factory was going to build a dock in Jianggang, Zhou Yu worried that it was Shen Huai who, under Tan Qiping's orders, had joined forces with Gu Tong and others to suppress the Zhou family, which is why he hurriedly came over with his younger brother Zhi Bai to meet with Shen Huai.

  If Shen Hua's 500,000-ton expansion plan is true, then it means that their previous guesses were completely wrong.

  At the dinner table, Zhou Yu had no way of communicating with her brother. She was not familiar with the steel industry, so she couldn't tell whether Shen Huai's words were true or false. She just glanced at her brother sideways and saw that he looked serious, seemingly also moved by Shen Huai's plan.

  It's no exaggeration to say that Xiong Wenbin is the first person in Donghua to make steel.

  Xiong Wenbin judged that the Meixi Steel Plant would reach a production capacity of 500,000 tons within three years and also needed to invest an additional 500-600 million yuan. Zhou Yudou believed he was not talking nonsense.

  Even if Shen Hua says that an investment of 400 million can complete his plan, let's assume it is true, where does the expansion fund of 400 million come from?

  Zhou Yu was thinking about things, and it wasn't until she realized the atmosphere in the private room had cooled down that she suddenly became aware of Shen Huai's previous words being intentional, clearly meant to let them know: Xiong Wenbin didn't know about this matter any earlier than they did, nor would he know more than they did.

  Zhao Dong and Yang Haipeng were also secretly grieving. In the presence of Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai, Shen Hua suddenly threw out a plan to expand 500,000 tons of electric furnace steel to Xiong Wenbin, which can also be seen as a gesture.

  The atmosphere in the private room cooled down, and Yang Haipeng was thinking of finding a topic to ease the tension. At this time, someone pushed open the outer door of the private room and saw Zhou Ming walk in with a wine glass and a bottle of red wine, saying: "Zhao Dong and Mingxia's big deal, even Zhou Zong and Zhou Quyang were shocked, but Shen Huai didn't tell me or Kaiwen about it. Since you can't move after receiving the phone call, I can only represent Kaiwen to come and punish you with three cups of wine..."

  Xiong Wenbin was a clever man, and with Zhou Ming bursting in like this, how could he not have anticipated today's problem? His face suddenly turned black, and he glared at his son-in-law Zhou Ming.