The phone rang, and Shen Hua suddenly woke up from his dream. The girl with a clear and painful face in his dream disappeared instantly, and the feeling in the dream was so real.

  The more vivid the dream, the easier it is to forget; Shen Huai sat up with a start and saw Chen Dan, Xiao Li, and Sun Ya Lin all looking at him in surprise. The surprised look on their faces interrupted his thoughts, and he forgot what he had dreamed about after all.

  "What's wrong? You're all staring at me." Shen Huan rubbed his face.

  "You've been talking in your sleep and kept shouting 'Xiao Tang', 'Xiao Tang'..." Chen Dan said.

  "I didn't think you would also feel uneasy in your conscience..." Sun Ya Lin stood up and said with emotion. Unexpectedly, she did not continue to use words to pierce Shen Huai, but instead silently picked up her phone and went back to her own room, as if she did not want to face that memory together with Shen Huai.

  Shen Huai's throat was dry and he couldn't explain "Xiao Tang" to Chen Dan, who didn't seem to want to ask either. He helped Shen Huai get his phone that was being charged, it was a call from Yang Haipeng.

  Taking advantage of answering Yang Haipeng's phone call, Shen Huai evasively avoided Chen Dan's clear and unpolluted eyes.

  "I heard that the town is organizing a donation, I heard that Wei Liang donated 100,000; Peng Hai's business isn't good enough to compare with him, so he donated 60,000. You won't think I'm losing face for you, will you?" Yang Hai Peng asked with a laugh on the other end of the phone.

  "It doesn't matter how much you donate, it's the thought that counts. I represent the town in thanking Penghai Trading; of course, personally, I also want to thank you..." Shen Huai said with a smile.

  Peng Hai Trade has just started and made money for only two months, Yang Hai Peng donated 60,000 to support his work.

  After talking nonsense for a few more sentences, Chen Dan hung up the phone and said: "I've been in charge of operating the hotel for two months now. After checking, I can make about 60,000 yuan; tomorrow I'll donate it all to the town."

  Shen Huai grasped Chen Dan's hand and put it on his knee; Chen Dan felt embarrassed to be too intimate with Shen Huai in front of Xiao Li, so she pulled her hand back.

  Shen Huai leaned against the bed, saying: "I'm not sympathizing with you for the tens of thousands of yuan. You've only been contracted to manage the hotel for two months, and suddenly you donate 60,000 yuan. Most people might think you're kind-hearted, but some will suspect that in these two months, you've already made 120,000 or 200,000 yuan, or even more..."

  "Then I..." Chen Dan wasn't ignorant of this society, she knew what Shen Hua said was true: This world has never been one where if you think you're clean, others will think so too. If she really donated that much money, it would likely be unfavorable to Shen Hua as well.

  "Just donate three to five thousand yuan, don't give too much," Shen Hua said. "Disaster relief is about 'one side having trouble, eight sides supporting', but the biggest responsibility should still be borne by the government. I'll help you complete your kindness, isn't that enough?"

  Chen Dan smiled helplessly and said, "Alright."

  "The disaster situation in Hetang Town is relatively serious, has your family been affected?" Shen Huai asked.

  "Chen Tong went back to Hetang yesterday afternoon and again this morning," said Chen Dan, "By the way, the hotel will be suspended tomorrow, my mom wants me to take Little Li back to Hetang for the New Year. What about you?"

  "It's okay, being alone won't kill you," Shen Huan said.

  "It's a pity to leave so soon," Chen Dan smiled and gently stroked Shen Hua's cheek, then said, "Why don't we just stay here instead?"

  "You go back to celebrate the New Year, I really have nothing to do. Originally thought that during the Spring Festival could rest for two days, you said like this can I rest? " Shen Huai said, "You want to stay, and I don't have time to accompany you..."

  Chen Dan's father used to be a worker in a machinery factory. After an accident at the factory, he was unable to stand up again with both legs.

  Beautiful women are often gossiped about; Chen Dan took over the management of the hotel, originally wanting to bring her parents over as well, but they refused, saying they didn't want to come to Meixi Town and be pointed at and talked about by others.

  This is also one of Chen Dan's heartaches.

  In '93, it was not yet a habit for people to have their New Year's Eve dinner at hotels. From the 30th of the last month to the fifth day of the new year, business at hotels would be especially slow, and almost all the hotels in Meixi Town wouldn't open during this period. Since most employees asked for Chinese New Year holiday, Xuxi Hotel had no choice but to follow tradition in its first year; Sun Yalin also had to temporarily move into town tomorrow.

  Shen Huai didn't care that he had only slept for an hour and was woken up by the phone call, so he didn't sleep anymore. He washed his face and ran to the town government again.

  Li Feng is not in the government, only He Qing's people are there.

  Shen Hua first found He Qing Society to ask about the shutdown of the weaving and dyeing factory. Although the disaster has not completely passed, he, He Qing Society, and Li Feng, as long as one person is guaranteed to be in the government compound, it's okay, there's no need for all three to be tied up in the government compound.

  "He scolded Secretary Shen severely, and Pan Shigui has become more honest. This is the condition he proposed..." He Qing She showed Shen Hua some of the situation she discussed with Pan Shigui in the afternoon.

  "Alright, as long as he cooperates with the town to shut down and relocate the textile mill, we'll compensate him according to this condition," Shen Hua said. "If he operates in accordance with regulations, doesn't evade taxes or randomly discharge pollutants, the town will also welcome him to build a factory in Meixi Town in the future. As for the matter of shutting down the textile mill, let's leave it to Guo Quan to take charge..."

  He Qing nodded, previously afraid that Guo Quanzhen would not be able to handle the situation, so he came forward. Now that Pan Shigui is willing to cooperate and Chu Yiliang's side is also actively cooperating with the workers, handing it over to Guo Quan to take charge of this matter will not be a problem.

  **************

  It wasn't until nine o'clock that Li Feng rushed back from outside and saw Shen Hua and He Qing she sitting in the conference room smoking. He walked over and said, "I found two contractors, one is Yang Guirong from Qinjiaba and the other is Bai Jiang from the town. I just accompanied them to the dyeing factory's workshop to take a look. They will rush out with a quote before the New Year and also agree to sign the contract, striving to start work before the fifth day of the new year..."

  In recent years, the townships do not pay attention to bidding, usually just finding a few contractors in the town to quote prices, and after discussion among the town leaders, they will make a decision. Unless it is a large-scale project that requires certain qualifications, the procedure will look more stringent. However, the decision-making power for large-scale projects is usually not in the township.

  "Right, who was it that contracted for the construction of the station before?" Shen Huan couldn't think of the name for a moment.

  "Is Secretary Shen talking about Zhu Li Zhu?"

  "Right, isn't that Zhu Li? He's the one who built the Cultural Station building, right?" Shen Huan asked doubtfully. He didn't know much about Zhu Li, and since he arrived in Meixi Town, he hadn't had any dealings with him. "The quality of the Cultural Station building is good both inside and out, how come you're thinking of looking for him this time?"

  When Chen Dan took over the management of Xixi Hotel, although there was no major renovation, some minor adjustments were made. Shen Hui had the opportunity to see the materials under the wall surface. Even with a professional eye, the construction of the Cultural Station building is very beautiful and does not cut corners.

  This is quite rare in Donghua.

  The exterior design and interior layout of the Cultural Station are completely devoid of any local flavor, even if it were to be placed in a large city, it would not appear petty or parochial.

  Shen Huai had a good impression of the Cultural Station building, but never had the opportunity to contact Zhu Li, the contractor at that time. He only knew that Zhu Li was also from Mei Xi and thought that this side would renovate the temporary transition house, Li Feng should include Zhu Li in the list of options, but did not expect Li Feng to mention Yang Guirong and Bai Jiang, without mentioning Zhu Li.

  Shen Huai thought: Could it be that Li Feng and Zhu Li had some past grievances?

  The situation wasn't as complicated as Shen Hua had thought, Li Feng said with a wry smile: "I called Zhu Li and he scolded me fiercely before hanging up the phone. It seems like he's not interested in taking on this project..."

  "What's going on?" Shen Huan asked. Even if Zhu Li's hands were full of projects and he couldn't spare anyone, he shouldn't have this attitude towards the town either.

  "The Cultural Station building still owes him over a million in loans, Zhu Li swore not to take on any more projects from Mei Xi Town." He Qing said awkwardly.

  "Still owed?" Shen Huan asked in surprise, the cultural station building had been completed for many years, and he didn't expect that there was still a problem of engineering debt behind it.

  "Hmm," He Qing nodded and told Shen Hua all about the cause and effect of the town's construction.

  "Earlier, the construction of the Cultural Station building was contracted to Du Jianping. At that time, Zhu Li had a reputation for undertaking town construction projects in Donghua, so he was given the entire project on the condition that he would advance part of the construction funds. After the Cultural Station building was completed, nearly 28 million yuan in construction fees were owed to Zhu Li. In the first two years, the town's finances were still manageable, and they repaid Zhu Li around 7-8 million yuan. However, over the past two years, the town's finances have become increasingly strained, and they can only afford to pay him 1-2 million yuan per year. To date, they still owe him around 18 million yuan in construction fees, which has left Zhu Li deeply troubled..."

  The town building was abolished after Zhu Li gave up the contract, so when Shen Hua changed the enterprise to an asset management office, he did not notice this situation.

  The town's debt to Zhu Li is handled by the finance department. Shen Hua took over as party secretary just seven or eight days ago, and with so many things happening at once, he hasn't had a chance to pay attention to this issue yet.

  Du Jian left Mei Xi Town without telling him about this unclean butt.

  "Does Secretary Li know Zhu Li's family?" Shen Huai asked.

  "I know." Li Feng nodded.

  "That town is still troubling He Zhenzhang, Secretary Li accompanied me to Zhu Li's house; this matter is the town's fault..." Shen Huai said.

  "This is Secretary Du's unwiped butt." Li Feng was probably scolded by Zhu Li over the phone and felt quite embarrassed, not wanting to go find Zhu Li. He also thought Shen Hua didn't need to take on this matter. Obviously, the town couldn't possibly return the over 18 million yuan to Zhu Li all at once. Whoever took over at the end of the year would inevitably have to curry favor with Zhu Li and pester him for debt repayment.

  He Qing said: "The reception station contract fee was increased to 240,000; Zhu Lishang came back to the town to find Du Secretary and me. I promised to pay him 200,000 every year after that, and he had no opinion and left...". He also felt that Shen Huai didn't need to take this matter on himself.

  Shen Hua smiled and said, "Secretary Du has already left Meixi Town. If this matter can't be handled well, it's my responsibility. If Secretary Li is afraid of accompanying me to get scolded, you write the address for me..."

  Shen Hua insisted on going, and Li Feng naturally couldn't shrink back in the town. He called Huang Xinliang and Chu Qiang, who were still on duty in the office building, to drive to Zhu Lijia's home.