Shen Huai pulled He Qing She and Kou Yi Liang along the east bank of Mei Xi River heading north.

  Although the other side is also a marginal area of Tangzhai District, it can still visually see the difference between urban and rural areas. Especially after 1990, Meixi Town regarded the land from the steel plant to the west of Meixi River as a reserve for the development of the steel plant, blocking the renovation of houses in this area from the source, making the houses on the west bank of Meixi River look especially shabby and old.

  Even in the town area, alleys are mainly sandstone roads and coal slag roads, which divide houses and courtyards into seven or eight scattered and twisted shapes.

  Shen Huai said as he walked: "The land we saw earlier was originally intended for the steel plant to build a residential area for its employees. I plan to start the collective housing project from within the steel plant's own employees, and in order to get the project started as soon as possible, I think it would be best if the steel plant could advance 2 million yuan first, allowing the construction team to enter the site, while the fundraising work can be done gradually..."

  In 1994, urban residential construction was still mainly based on unit financing or collective financing, even if there were a small number of commodity houses, most of which were mixed with these projects.

  Mei Creek Iron and Steel Plant is a township collective enterprise, so there is no problem of welfare housing for employees. To improve the living environment of employees, it can only be built in the form of employee-raised funds as the main and supplementary way to build residential areas.

  If it simply relies on the collective funds of workers to start a project, the construction team's entry time will also be delayed for a long time. After all, gathering hundreds or even more households to participate in the collective housing project is not an easy task.

  To speed up, it can only be done as Shen Huai said, that is, a sum of money is borrowed from the steel mill or the town to advance the construction team, and then the house is built first, and the fundraising work can be done slowly.

  He Qing She and Li Feng both knew that Shen Hua would speed up the construction of Mei Xi Town after taking over from Du Jian, but they did not expect his pace to be far beyond their expectations.

  But thinking about it, Meixi Town is too far behind and cannot catch up without speeding up. Although a major factor in this is the former party secretary Du Jian, He Qing She and Li Feng also feel that they have an inescapable responsibility and are filled with remorse.

  "Can cadres in the town participate in collective house building?" Huang Xinliang asked.

  "It can be done," Shen Hua said, "Although the first batch of fund-raising housing projects were launched, I plan to take steel factory workers as the main target. This idea is also considering that steel factory workers are well-organized and easy to mobilize, which is beneficial for the rapid launch of the project, but it will not be limited to steel factory workers." He turned his head to ask Zhu Li, "If we follow the standard of urban residential areas, can't the land in the steel factory build 600 or 700 suites?"

  "It seems like there was a plan before; six or seven hundred residential units were not the only ones..." Zhu Li said, relying on his faint impression.

  "I've seen the previous plan, it needs to be changed and improved," Shen Hua said. "The municipal pipeline in Tangzhai District cannot handle the river water for a while, but the collective housing project can rely on the steel plant's public facilities to build a perfect pipe network. So this time, my requirements for the collective housing project are higher than the residential standards in the city. After tomorrow, I will let people contact the design institute and hope you can participate in the early stage..."

  He Qing and Li Feng also didn't ask Shen Huai, now let Zhu Li take charge of the collective housing project.

  Since we want to support the construction of Chongjiang and make it bigger, the collective housing project is the only residential construction project that Meixi Town can take out, so there is no reason for it to fall into the hands of other construction companies, maybe it will go through the formalities again at the party and government meeting.

  "Can we participate in the fund-raising housing project?" asked Chu Yiliang.

  "As long as they are urban workers, they can participate," Shen Hua said. "As for you personally, I suggest not to participate. Because considering the affordability of ordinary workers, the first batch of housing with small and exquisite house types is mainly for them, you will definitely look down on it..."

  As soon as they heard that the first batch of collective housing organized by Shen Hua would be mainly small suites, Hu Yiliang and Yang Haipeng naturally didn't have much interest. However, they were quite excited about Shen Hua's decision to establish a construction company while promoting the collective housing project at the same time, which would be a great start for the soon-to-be-established Zhejiang Construction.

  Li Feng smiled and patted Zhu Li's shoulder, saying: "You must not disappoint Secretary Shen's trust in you! The collective housing project is something that everyone in the town is keeping an eye on..."

  "It's not just Director Zhu, but also Old Chu and Hai Peng, all of you need to have the patience to do business, don't put too much pressure on Director Zhu for profits," Shen Huai said to Chu Yiliang and Yang Haipeng, "The construction of Zhejiang needs to lay a foundation first, pull out a team, and also temper the team, don't rush to make money..."

  Chu Yiliang and Yang Haipeng nodded repeatedly, while Zhu Li's heart was filled with a mix of emotions.

  If the housing project is to be thoroughly launched, there will be more than 900 steel plant workers, and two or three hundred million can't stop it. Just ten days ago, he didn't even dream that after the New Year, a residential engineering project worth hundreds of millions would be waiting for him to take over...

  Life is like a white cloud and a gray dog, it's just changing so fast that Zhu Li can't cope with it calmly, let alone the emotional hurt of his daughter.

  Zhu Li really wanted to have a private talk with Shen Huai, but didn't know what to say.

  As they talked, they unknowingly walked to the front of Mei Creek Bridge.

  Meixi Bridge is also a painful memory for many people.

  Unlike the crowdfunding project, which only requires a small amount of initial capital and can collect construction funds from participants later on, the Meixi Bridge reconstruction and Lower Mei Highway expansion project require a large amount of funding, all of which need to be raised in advance.

  If we follow the previous plan of separating motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles, including the cost of building bridges, expanding roads and demolition, it would be impossible to do without a fund of 20-30 million.

  Looking at Shen Huai's brow furrowed gaze fixed on Mei Xi Bridge, He Qing She, Chu Yi Liang and others were also silent.

  If following the development trend of Meixi Town, maybe in two or three years, Meixi Town might be able to rebuild the big bridge by gritting its teeth, but at present it is obviously not a task that Meixi Town can accomplish on its own.

  The phone in Shen Hua's coat pocket rang, and he took it out to see the caller ID. The number looked familiar, but for a moment, he couldn't recall who it was. After answering the call, he heard Zhou Yu ask on the other end of the line, "Are you guys the ones at the east end of Mei Creek Bridge?"

  Shen Huai turned his head to look over and saw that on the riverbank under the west end of Meixi Bridge, there were more than a dozen people looking this way. He couldn't see their faces clearly, but judging from their clothes and attire, they looked neat and tidy, probably officials from Zhouyu and Tangzhai districts who had come down to inspect. Unexpectedly, he ran into them here.

  Shen Hua burst out laughing and said: "The east end of the bridge is ours. Is Director Zhou also coming down to inspect the work? Then we'll go over and ask Director Zhou for guidance on our work..."

  "Hang up the phone and said to He Qing She and others: 'Deputy Director Zhou is inspecting work on the other side of the bridge, let's go over and say hello...'"

  In Tangzhai District, Zhou Yu was in charge of water conservancy and gardening departments. Mei Xi Town and Tangzhai District jointly managed the Mei Xi River. He Qing She had dealt with this excessively handsome deputy district head several times.

  He Qing didn't understand the relationship between Shen Hua and Zhou Yu. He had heard that Shen Hua's relationships with his colleagues were very bad when he was working in the municipal government, but after seeing how Zhou Yu cared for Shen Hua when he fell down the stairs, it seemed like it wasn't just superficial courtesy.

  Shen Huai and He Qing she walked across Meixi Bridge with others and met Zhou Yu and a group of people from Tangzha District.

  Zhou Yu looked at Shen Hua coming over, with his hands in the pockets of his coat, and didn't seem overly familiar. He just said: "Secretary Shen, Mayor He, are you here to inspect the riverbank under Meixi Town's jurisdiction? The construction of the embankment on both banks of the Meixi River should be carried out simultaneously. This year, our district will invest a large amount of funds in reinforcing the river embankment on the west bank, and Meixi Town also needs to increase its investment in the east bank's embankment construction."

  Although Zhou Yuyi spoke in a serious and official tone, Shen Huai could sense the faint smile hidden in her eyes. She was wearing a deep purple woolen coat, with her hair tightly pulled back and tied into a bun, making her face look slightly stern despite its beauty. However, under her collar, a corner of a crimson silk scarf peeked out, revealing to Shen Huai that beneath her disguise, she still had the vanity common to all women...

  Shen Huai didn't like women who were wrapped in layers of pretence, so he took out the leather wallet from his pocket and spread it open to show Zhou Yu: "In our town, He Zhen is in charge of finance. However, even if you pointed a gun at his head, District Chief Zhou, the money in his pocket might not be as much as what's in my wallet..."

  As soon as Shen Hua came up, he was grinning from ear to ear, not taking himself as an outsider. Zhou Yu couldn't help but glare at him, barely holding back her face without collapsing, but the corners of her eyes and eyebrows still revealed a hint of feminine charm that made the men around her feel a flutter in their hearts.

  Zhou Yu couldn't let Shen Huai continue to tease her, and she couldn't bear to give him a stern look, so she had to turn around and ask He Qing She: "He Town Chief, can Mei Creek Town really not squeeze out some more flood prevention funds?"

  He Qing Society didn't have the confidence to flirt with Zhou Yu like Shen Huai did, so he answered seriously: "The town will increase some investment this year, but the specific plan still needs to be discussed by our town. Director Zhou, you also know the situation of our town, it can't be compared with Tangzhai District, maybe in the end we'll have to swallow our pride and ask for help from Tangzhai District..."

  "This section of the Mei Creek flood control is said to be a joint governance between the district and the town, but the situation in Meixi Town also has considerations from the district, and will properly consider tilting a bit." Zhou Yu said, introducing the officials beside him to Shen Huai and He Qing She.

  It was originally planned that Tangzhai District would invest 2 million yuan this year to build a riverside park on the west bank of Meixi River, improving the environment from Meixi Bridge north to the district people's court. Zhou Yu visited the site selection situation of the riverside park accompanied by officials from the District Gardening Bureau and Construction Bureau today.

  Shen Huai shook hands with the officials from Tangzhai District who accompanied Zhou Yu, while secretly sighing: originally, the economic development between districts and counties was unbalanced, and the municipal finance mainly tilted towards the urban area, making Tangzhai District much more affluent than the surrounding towns in terms of financial expenditure.