Second Uncle Wu Haifeng, even if he stepped down from the position of municipal party secretary, is still the director of the Municipal People's Congress. It can only be said that he has started to decline, but he hasn't completely lost power. Therefore, whoever comes to pay New Year's greetings is normal. Zhou Zhi Bai saw Second Uncle Wu Haifeng coming to pay New Year's greetings for someone and was shocked: "Who is it?"

  But then, the name of Shen Huai, the party secretary of Mei Xi Town, appeared on the list. Zhou Zhi Bai was taken aback and took a deep breath, "How did he end up here? Maybe it's just a coincidence, after all, Uncle also transferred him to Mei Xi Town."

  The list of people who come to pay New Year's greetings usually does not include township-level cadres, and Shen Huai's name is listed on it, which is quite eye-catching.

  "Come over, have you met Shen Hui?" Wu Haifeng asked.

  "No," Zhou Bai shook his head and asked Zhou Yu, "Sister, you too? As the Party Secretary of Meixi Town, shouldn't that be considered your former colleague as well?"

  Zhou Yu heard that his younger brother had a hint of ridicule, and he was even more unwilling to let him know that Shen Huan was the "little white face" in his eyes. He immediately denied it bluntly: "I haven't met either," and asked his second uncle, "Tan Qiping uses Su Wei's son Su Kaiwen as his secretary. Shen Huan should be doubly eager to please Tan Qiping, shouldn't he? Then he wouldn't be afraid of Tan Qiping thinking too much?"

  Wu Haifeng slightly furrowed his brow and said: "Perhaps he thinks that Tan Qiping no longer sees me as a threat, so he wants to build more relationships..."

  "This year, the output value of Meixi Steel Plant will definitely break 300 million, and it's not impossible to reach 400 million," Zhou Zhi Bai said. "Shen Huai is capable, he's a dragon in the river. Tan Qiping doesn't like him, why does he need to see Tan Qiping's face? He has an old father working in the Central Committee, if not in Donghua, he can change places and still make a name for himself."

  Wu Haifeng suspected that there was no such simple idea behind Zhou Zhi's back, but when he heard that the output value of Meixi Steel Plant this year might reach 400 million, he was still shocked and said: "I remember that in '91 and '92 it was around 100 million, how can it suddenly triple or quadruple?"

  Wu Haifeng was shocked when he first heard that Meixi Steel Factory's annual output value might reach 400 million this year.

  However, Wu Haifeng would not suspect his nephew Zhou Zhi Bai's judgment. He had some understanding of the Mei Xi Steel Factory and after all, it was still for Peng Yue Trading to monopolize the supply of furnace materials to Mei Xi Steel Factory before. If his nephew Zhou Zhi Bai couldn't even judge the annual output of Mei Xi Steel Factory accurately, he wouldn't be qualified to manage Peng Yue Trading. Still, he couldn't help but ask, "Can Mei Xi Steel Factory really achieve an output value of 400 million this year?"

  "For three consecutive months, Meixi Steel's procurement of furnace materials from us has been stable at over 4 million yuan. At the same time, Fengli Trading in Pingjiang has also been supplying furnace materials to them since last year," said Zhou Zhibai. "From a comprehensive analysis of other data, it is likely that Meixi Steel's sales in January were between 230 million and 250 million, so Meixi Factory's annual output value breaking 3 billion is not too suspenseful..."

  It is well known that Bai turned his head and said to his sister: "Your Tangzhai District is not planning to merge Meixi Town this year. This matter should be done sooner rather than later. Meixi Town currently intends to suppress data, if it is really known by Xiapu County that Meixi Steel Factory can achieve an output value of 400 million this year, it may not be willing to give up Meixi Town..."

  Zhou Yu pursed his lips, looking at his younger brother with a playful gaze. He didn't expect him to take Shen Huan so seriously, yet he didn't even know what Shen Huan looked like. It was unknown whether he would be furious if he found out that Shen Huan was the "little white face" in his eyes.

  "Secretary Yang started to pay attention to this matter at the beginning of the year, but the district is not very clear about the specific production capacity potential of Meixi Steel. Is what you said true or false? If it's true, I'll report to Secretary Yang in two days," Zhou Yu said. Tang Zha District Party Committee Secretary Yang Yuguang was Wu Haifeng's former subordinate, and when Wu Haifeng realized he was starting to decline, he directly sent Zhou Yu to Tangzha District.

  "What benefits can I get by deceiving you and Second Uncle?" Zhou Zhi Bai said, "By merging Mei Xi and He Tang two towns, the economic indicators of Tang Zhazhou this year will basically be settled..."

  After the Tiananmen Square Incident, national policy took a sharp turn to the left, resulting in three consecutive years of drastic economic slowdown; it wasn't until Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992 that economic development once again became the top priority for governments at all levels.

  Officials who can hold onto the golden thigh and get promoted are after all a minority, and even within the same faction there is competition; most local officials need to have solid political achievements to support their promotion, and economic development is the core indicator of performance evaluation.

  In 1993, the total industrial output value of Tangzhai District was only 2 billion yuan. If Meixi Steel Plant can really achieve an output value of 400 million yuan this year, it will be equivalent to about one-third of a municipal steel plant. In Donghua, it can be considered a large-scale enterprise with enough weight, and it can also support the economic data of Tangzhai District in a beautiful way.

  To be honest, Zhou Yu didn't expect Shen Huan to revive the Mei Xi Steel Factory in such a short period of time. She had previously thought that if the factory could produce two hundred million this year, it would already be quite impressive...

  The district government had thought that Meixi Steel Factory could achieve an output value of 200 million this year, and only then did they decide to push for the merger. Unexpectedly, the actual potential of Meixi Steel Factory turned out to be twice as high as what the district government had expected.

  "By the way, Second Uncle, Shen Hua is so capable, why did the distance between him and Tan Qiping suddenly become distant?" Zhou Yu asked her second uncle in puzzlement.

  "When it comes to economy, Xiong Wenbin's ability is not worse than anyone else," said Wu Haifeng. "Now for Tan Qiping, taking control of Donghua's overall situation is more important than anything else. After that, let Xiong Wenbin be the vice mayor in charge of economy, and the political performance will also have a relatively good data. So, as it stands now, Su Kehui's role to Tan Qiping is slightly more important. However, whether there are more complex factors behind this, we don't know..."

  Su Kuiwen is the son of Su Weijun, deputy secretary of the provincial party committee, and Su Weijun has been a close confidant of the provincial party secretary for nearly twenty years. Tan Qiping's selection of Su Kuiwen as his secretary is quite understandable.

  "Come to think of it, last time I came over, I saw Tan Qiping's daughter entering the neighborhood, and she was actually a beauty. Could it be that Shen Huai and Su Kaiting are fighting over Tan Qiping's daughter, causing Tan Qiping to have to make a choice between Shen Huai and Su Kaiting?" Zhou Zhibai asked with a wild guess.

  Zhou Yu thought of the woman he saw in Nan Garden last time, thinking that she was not inferior to anyone in terms of appearance and temperament. He didn't think Shen Huan would be petty enough to get jealous over Tan Qiping's daughter or compete with others for favor. He thought there must be other reasons for the problems between Shen Huan and Tan Qiping.

  Wu Haifeng asked Zhou Yu and Zhou Zhi Bai, "Are you two going to stay here for lunch?"

  "I came to pick up Second Uncle and Auntie to go eat at Anlan Garden, but I got distracted and forgot to mention it." Zhou Zhi Bai stood up and said to his sister Zhou Yu, "Sister, can I ask you for a favor..."

  "Speak."

  "You and the Party Secretary of Mei Xi Town were former colleagues, and he came to your house today to pay his respects. Can you invite him out for a meal on my behalf?" Zhou Zhi Bai said, then turned to Wu Hai Feng and asked, "What do you think, Uncle?"

  Wu Haifeng nodded and said to Zhou Yu: "If you have a chance, you might as well get in touch with Shen Hua more."

  Although losing the position of municipal party secretary has a direct relationship with Shen Hua, one must look forward.

  This year, the output value of Meixi Steel Plant is expected to reach 400 million yuan, and the procurement volume of furnace materials will be as high as tens of millions. In order to gain support from the province, Gao Tianhe instructed Gu Tong to purchase furnace materials from the provincial relationship households, while Pengyue Trading's business in the municipal steel plant has shrunk severely, and it is temporarily unable to counterattack. The importance of Meixi Steel Plant to Pengyue Trading has become particularly prominent.

  Zhou Yu knew that paper couldn't wrap fire, and her brother would eventually meet Shen Huan formally one day. However, thinking that her brother actually wanted her to act as a matchmaker for him and Shen Huan made her feel somewhat amused and helpless, so she could only say: "I'll try..."

  ***********

  Shen Huai drove out of Beige Xiaoqu when Yang Haipeng's call came in.

  Yang Haipeng and Zhao Dongren were in the hospital, but unexpectedly Shen Hua had already been discharged early that morning.

  Shen Huai thought of Sun Ya Lin, who was mostly alone in the hotel room, and called her to meet for lunch at Nanyuan. Yang Haipeng, Zhao Dong, Yang Haipeng's wife and children, as well as Xiao Mingxia, quickly rushed over to join them.

  "As soon as possible, confirm another fuel supplier, strive to reduce the monthly procurement amount from Pengyue to below 3 million before March...". Shen Huai sat at one end of the table with Zhao Dong, Yang Haipeng and Sun Yalin, still discussing some matters while eating.

  “… Zhao Dong was somewhat perplexed, he already knew the relationship between former Municipal Party Secretary Wu Haifeng and the Zhou family. Shen Hua was now distancing himself from Tan Qiping, even if not getting closer to Wu Haifeng and the Zhou family, shouldn't be pulling away from the relationship either. He said, "The furnace materials supplied by Pengyue are superior to Fengli in terms of quality and price; they intend to bid for land in Tangzhai District to build a terminal, and there is still room for further price concessions..."

  "There's no way Pengyue family could get the land to build a dock without Wu Haifeng as the municipal party secretary," Shen Huai said, "The city government wouldn't dare take on such policy risks for Zhou's family. The steel plant has also been reducing its procurement of furnace materials from Pengyue, probably because some relation of Gu Tong or Gao Tianhe got in. If we squeeze Pengyue from both sides, that's the only way to extract their potential..."

  Shen Huai wouldn't get angry with Zhou Zhi for his rudeness today, but even if he wanted to get closer to the Zhou family, he had to make them suffer a bit first, so they would take this side more seriously.

  "You're really..." Sun Ya Lin said with her teeth clenched.

  Shen Huai smiled faintly, thinking that Sun Ya Lin was praising him, and said: "I have another consideration. Even if we want to build a special wharf for transporting furnace materials, I don't hope that Peng Yue will take the lead in building it, and secondly, I don't want it to be built on the riverbank west of Meixi River estuary."

  "So you want to build it there?" Sun Yalin asked.

  "Heh Tang Town," said Shen Huai, "If we build a straight path from our factory to the south, it's just over two kilometers away, and that's where Heh Tang Town's riverbank is. The dock should be built there, which would be in our best interest. If Peng Yue had chosen Heh Tang Town as the location back then, I might have helped him out. Now, all I can say is sorry to them..."