Chapter 240: I’m Sure You Wouldn’t Do That

Watching the scene of President Du Zhongyuan shaking hands with Zhou Ming, Liang An was stunned. He felt the scene was highly incongruous, like a beggar running into the Forbidden City and putting on a dragon robe—everything felt wrong.

It would have been bearable if it was just the handshake, but the fact that President Du also shook Zhou Ming's hand made it even harder for him to understand.

Liang An had heard of an unwritten rule about leaders shaking hands: a mere handshake is polite, but a firm shake shows genuine regard, just like what Du Zhongyuan did with Zhou Ming.

But this was Zhou Ming! Why would a local small-town boss deserve such attention from the President?

Liang An was almost driven to madness trying to make sense of it. What made it worse was that President Du didn't even shake hands with him, going straight to Zhou Ming. This was like a slap in the face, loud and clear.

While Liang An's world was turned upside down, Zhou Ming remained unbothered. He politely said to Du Zhongyuan, "President Du, thank you very much for traveling all the way to Jingchu Province to support and pay attention to our Provincial People's Congress meeting."

Zhou Ming and Du Zhongyuan exchanged some pleasantries, and then Du Zhongyuan left. After all, there were many representatives present, and he had to shake hands and greet them. Additionally, even though Du Zhongyuan knew Zhou Ming, it wasn't appropriate to appear too familiar in front of so many people. It would only make Zhou Ming a target.

Once Du Zhongyuan left, Liang An stormed up to Zhou Ming and said, "Don't think you're hot stuff just because you shook hands with President Du. I'll tell you, in my eyes, you're still worth nothing, just a local small-town boss from Linyang!"

Facing Liang An's aggressive stance, Zhou Ming looked helpless. "Manager Liang, I advise you to read more books and newspapers to enrich your mind. That way, you wouldn't say such ridiculous things."

"Shut up!" Liang An shouted, "The one with no brains is you. If you dare to mention that rural industrial park idea again today, I'll make sure President Du hears about it!"

"Manager Liang, if I were you, I definitely wouldn't do that," Zhou Ming said.

Liang An sneered, "That's because you're a coward. I dare to!"

After saying this, Liang An turned and left. Zhou Ming shook his head helplessly. A quarter of an hour later, Zhou Ming and the other representatives entered and took their seats. A few minutes later, the Secretary-General of the People's Congress came in and announced that President Du Zhongyuan was arriving. All the representatives stood and applauded as President Du Zhongyuan, Secretary of the Provincial Committee Jiang Wen, and Governor Xiong Qingping entered one after the other and took their seats on the podium.

The meeting was originally to be chaired by Jiang Wen, but with President Du Zhongyuan's arrival, the authority naturally shifted to him.

Du Zhongyuan adjusted the microphone in front of him and said, "Hello, representatives of Jingchu Province. You should all know me, so I won't introduce myself further."

"Jingchu Province is a land of fortune. In the past, people called the people of Jingchu 'Chu barbarians,' saying that they were strong-willed and liked to be tough. This made it the cradle of revolution and the birthplace of revolutionary sparks. Without Jingchu Province and its spirit of toughness, there wouldn't have been later revolutionary victories," Du Zhongyuan said. "Now, with the whole country implementing reform and opening up, the central government has high hopes for this land of Chu. We hope that the people of Jingchu can use your toughness to create new achievements in the reform and opening-up process!"

As Du Zhongyuan finished speaking, there was a round of enthusiastic applause. He then said, "Since this is the People's Congress, I'll pass the microphone to the representatives here."

Just like the previous preliminary meeting, Zhou Ming was the first to speak.

"I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak first. Respectful President Du, Secretary Jiang, and Governor Xiong, what I want to discuss is the significance of building rural industrial parks."

Zhou Ming took out a prepared document and began to read. This speech was essentially the same as the previous one, with some revisions and new additions, but the main idea of concentrating resources for development and leading farmers to common prosperity remained unchanged.

"In recent years, with the continuous advancement of reform and opening-up and the industrialization of coastal regions, there has been a nationwide trend of people leaving their hometowns to work elsewhere," Zhou Ming said. "I believe that as the coastal economy continues to develop and the economic gap between coastal and inland areas widens, this trend will intensify. To address this large-scale population movement, the best method is to narrow the gap."

Zhou Ming explained with a smile, "Of course, coastal areas have their natural advantages in attracting foreign investment and in other aspects, which inland areas cannot match. However, inland areas can develop their local economies through various means to minimize this gap."

"President Du, leaders of the Provincial Committee, and representatives, our rural economic foundation is quite weak. It's like in the early days of our country's founding, where we had to concentrate all advantages to build a new China in the shortest time. Now, the situation is similar. Since our rural economic foundation is poor, we cannot neglect it. We should concentrate valuable rural resources. I believe only by focusing resources effectively can we resolve the difficulties encountered in reform."

After Zhou Ming finished speaking, Du Zhongyuan led the applause, and the hall erupted in enthusiastic clapping.

"This representative Zhou's speech is very constructive. His observation about the labor migration trend shows his accurate understanding of current affairs."

Du Zhongyuan said just this and then passed the floor to the next representative.

This was a good signal for Liang An. In his view, since Du Zhongyuan didn't say whether it was good or bad, he might be waiting for opposing opinions. After all, central leaders like to play the balancing act!

With this in mind, Liang An confidently spoke, "President Du, Secretary Jiang, Governor Xiong, and fellow representatives, after listening to Representative Zhou's speech, I also have some thoughts. I believe Representative Zhou's approach to solving rural issues is not a good method."

This remark stirred a lot of reactions. All the representatives turned to look at him. Although Liang An had already opposed Zhou Ming's rural industrial park idea at the preliminary meeting, it was less formal then. This was a formal meeting with the President present—how could he dare to speak like this?

Feeling the attention of everyone in the room, Liang An felt very pleased. He proudly raised his head and continued, "I believe that while rural industrial parks might provide a short-term leap in the rural economy, it's more about a temporary explosion of concentrated resources, which is detrimental to long-term rural development and even harmful."

"I remember that the initial reform and opening-up began in the rural areas, starting with the household contract responsibility system. Why was this done? Because the previous commune system severely restricted rural productivity. Now that farmers have been liberated, if we create rural industrial parks again, isn't that reversing history?"

Liang An continued, "Reform and opening-up was meant to liberate productivity. Representative Zhou's idea is like trying to take the rural areas back ten years. This approach is definitely unacceptable!"

In contrast to the applause Zhou Ming received after his speech, Liang An's words were met with silence from the audience. Until the leaders on the podium made a statement, they dared not act.

Du Zhongyuan glanced around and, seeing no other opinions, spoke up, "The people of Chu are indeed as described. The meeting has just begun, and everyone has already expressed their views, just like the New Culture Movement of the past."

"I listened carefully to the words of this young representative. I believe there is some truth to it. Since we are undergoing reform and opening-up, we must not go back to old ways. We cannot bring back past erroneous systems, or it would be a disservice to the people."

Du Zhongyuan's first statement made Liang An very happy, as even a fool could hear that it was praise. Especially since it came after Liang An's rebuttal of Zhou Ming's ideas, it made him even more pleased.

Liang An turned and looked at Zhou Ming triumphantly, eager to see him flustered. However, Zhou Ming remained calm, showing no signs of distress.

You keep pretending now. When I hit you with more criticisms later, you won't have any chance to act anymore!

Liang An thought to himself, but before he could say anything further, Du Zhongyuan's next words left him speechless.

On the podium, Du Zhongyuan said, "However, this young representative might have criticized the wrong direction. Rural industrial parks are different from the past commune system. The most obvious difference is that the commune system was centralized agriculture with bureaucratic management, resulting in low production efficiency. But industrial parks are managed as enterprises, which is much more competitive."

"I believe that Representative Zhou Ming's concept of rural industrial parks can make full use of idle land in rural areas, create job opportunities for local residents, and drive local economic development. It is a very worthwhile development approach. If it proves successful in Linyang, it might even be promoted nationwide!" Du Zhongyuan concluded with a grand gesture.

---