After waiting for Wen Bin to roughly flip through the plan book, Tan Qiping turned back and asked: "What do you think of Meixi Steel Factory's equity restructuring application?"

  "Zhongyang held a meeting last year, mentioning that when the company was restructured, it also required trying more ways outside of operating rights. The promulgation of the Company Law also provided a legal basis for equity restructuring," Xiong Wenbin said slowly, "However, Zhongyang is just starting to make some noise, maybe Meixi Town wants to rush to be a pilot..."

  "Although there are such rumors, at least in Huaihai Province, the pilot work has not started yet. Mei Xi Steel Factory wants to do so many things at once, it's a bit too much," Tan Qiping said with a frown, "You call Shen Huai and ask him what he is thinking? Or let Shen Huai come over directly."

  Looking at Tan Qiping's face, he thought that maybe Tan Qiping could forcibly suppress the restructuring of Meixi Steel Plant, but would Shen Hua suspect that he was secretly sabotaging? Xiong Wenbin hesitated, and then thought of Shen Hua's tough attitude yesterday. If he called Shen Hua over and let him argue with Tan Qiping face to face, this scene would be even more difficult to handle.

  "Kaiwen, what do you think of the reform plan?" Xiong Wenbin picked up the plan book and stood up, casually asking Su Kaiwen. He knew that Su Kaiwen would secretly undermine Shen Hua and show off to Shen Hua behind his back, but he wouldn't dare make these gestures in front of Tan Qiping.

  Hearing Xiong Wenbin say this, Tan Qiping also looked at Su Kaiwen and wanted to hear his opinion.

  "This time Shen Hua took such a big step, he should think about making great achievements in the short term," Su Kai said in a calm tone, "Perhaps calling Shen Hua over and listening to his explanation directly would make us understand his plan better..."

  Su Kaiwen spoke very cautiously, but also hinted that Shen Hua was eager for quick success and benefits. Then, Tan Qiping pulled Shen Hua over to ask about this matter, and in fact, there were only two paths left: one was to clearly insist, and the other was to clearly oppose.

  Tan Qiping must clearly adhere to the reform plan, first, his hands are within the scope of Gao Tianhe's management, and secondly, if there are any problems with the reform in the future, Tan Qiping will have to take responsibility.

  "Ah, Shen Hua is eager to make some achievements," Xiong Wenbin didn't want Tan Qiping to hastily call over Shen Hua, fearing that it would lead to an awkward situation and be difficult to back down from. So he followed Su Kainan's words and said to Tan Qiping, "Yesterday I met with Shen Hua and he mentioned that within three years, he wants to develop the Meixi Steel Factory into a municipal-level steel factory. In the near term, he also plans to build a port and power plant in Hetang Town. As for the equity restructuring, his tone was tight-lipped, and he didn't say anything to me... today he directly submitted the restructuring plan to the Municipal Planning Commission..."

  "Is that so?" Tan Qiping asked, and then took the plan book over to take a look, and didn't ask Xiong Wenbin to call Shen Huai over again.

  Tan Qiping carefully read the plan book again, then handed it back to Zhou Ming and said to Xiong Wenbin: "The enterprise reform is under Gao Tianhe's management. Forget it, let's take the plan book back..."

  Zhou Ming was momentarily stunned, unsure of what attitude Tan Qiping had; however, on the way here, he had already been warned by his father-in-law and couldn't figure out Tan Qiping's intentions, so he didn't dare say anything casually.

  Xiong Wenbin can somewhat empathize with Tan Qiping's mindset: Shen Huai said that the words are so full, it is possible that he is pretending to be a show-off, but it is also possible that he has obtained the recognition of the Sun family. In the restructuring plan, although the overseas investor Zhonghe Investment only invested $1 million in Meixi Steel Plant this time, which seems not much, who can confirm that this is not the Sun family testing the waters?

  **************

  Tan Qiping seems to have anticipated the equity restructuring plan of Meixi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. in advance, as if it had never happened at all. The plan was submitted to Mayor Gao Tianhe's office by the Municipal Planning Commission at the end of April, and Gao Tianhe directly annotated "Please study and decide" on the back of the plan, and then directly transferred the plan to Tangzhai District Government.

  Zhou Yu is not a member of the district party committee, nor is she in charge of economy and enterprise reform. She saw the restructuring plan for Meixi Steel Plant from District Secretary Yang Yiquan on the eve of May Day.

  The whole plan book only has Gao Tianhe's ambiguous instructions at the back, and the decision-making power is thus delegated to the district. The decision was made by the district, and in the future, if any problems or policy risks arise, the responsibility will naturally be borne by the district as well.

  After reading the plan, Zhou Yu picked up the phone and called Wu Haifeng, his second uncle, to talk about the equity restructuring of Meixi Steel Plant: "As for the development of Meixi Steel Plant, Shen Hua should have had a plan long ago. This matter is almost tied together with the administrative division adjustment of Meixi Town and Hetang Town, and it will be decided by the district. How the district decides, the opinions of Pan District Chief and Yang Secretary are the most important..."

  "...Wu Haifeng was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone before saying, "You go talk to Shen Hua; after you've talked it out, I'll find Yang Yuguang."

  Zhou Yu put down the phone and stared at it in a daze for a while.

  It's been less than half a month since the incident with Ying Huang, and she has been speculating about Shen Huai's intentions. After going around in circles, although she knew that Shen Huai intended to let Meixi Steel Factory reform succeed, other doubts still lingered in her mind:

  Is Meixi Steel Plant really that important in Shen Hua's heart? Can it really make him draw a clear line with Tan Qiping and his men? Why is Tan Qiping so tolerant of him? If Shen Hua's parents were working in the Zhongyāng department, wouldn't it be more complicated than that? Then why did Tan Qiping want to distance himself from him again?

  Although it was enough to know Tan Qiping's attitude and Shen Huai's intention as a collaborator, Zhou Yu couldn't help but want to know more, wanting to unravel the mystery surrounding Shen Huai one by one.

  Zhou Yu first called his brother on the phone and then dialed Shen Hua's number.

  Shen Hua's voice on the other end of the phone was very calm, and he said in a very light tone: "Okay, I have something to do at the district government now, I'll call you back later."

  Zhou Yu heard that Shen Huan didn't want the person on the other end of the phone to know it was her calling, so she didn't ask any more questions and hung up the phone, waiting for Shen Huan to call back.

  ***************

  Shen Huai hung up Zhou Yu's phone with a calm tone, put the mobile phone back in his briefcase, walked back and sat down in front of Pan Shihua's office desk, saying apologetically: "Sorry again, I forgot to turn off my phone, it's just some trivial matters from the town..."

  "No big deal, I also often receive calls during meetings," Pan Shihua smiled generously, not minding Shen Hui's phone call interrupting their conversation. He continued the previous topic, "Now from Zhongyāng to the province, everyone is encouraging local reforms to take bigger steps forward. Now some officials wait for others to pave the road and build bridges before they dare to move forward, but we need more people who can pave roads and build bridges. Deng Xiaoping also said that we are now crossing the river by feeling for stones, even if we fail, at least we'll gain some experience and lessons. I support the restructuring of Mei Creek Steel Factory..."

  "Director Pan is right." Shen Hua nodded in agreement with Pan Shi-Hua, his gaze humbly placed on the inkstone on Pan Shi-Hua's office desk; he had seen this inkstone in Tan Qi-Ping's study before, but didn't know what kind of treasure Pan Shi-Hua had given to Tan Qi-Ping in exchange for this inkstone as a gift?

  Although Tan Qiping and Xiong Wenbin no longer tell him about the affairs of the city, Shen Huai now also knows from other channels that Pan Shi Hua has taken office as the deputy secretary of the Tangzhazhen District Committee and district head, which is exactly nominated by Tan Qiping.

  The inkstone is carved into a tiger shape, with its head facing outward. It's so lifelike that Shen Huai feels as if it's mocking him.

  Shen Hua knew that he was able to stand firm in Meixi Town because of Tan Qiping's influence, but the fact that he had distanced himself from Tan Qiping couldn't possibly be hidden from Pan Shi Hua. If Pan Shi Hua really followed Tan Qiping's route and adjusted to Tangzhai District, then on this matter, he should have maintained a certain distance with Tan Qiping and shouldn't have taken an active attitude. Shen Hua was also unable to figure out the true intentions hidden behind Pan Shi Hua's smiling face for the time being.

  After the opening remarks, Pan Shihua opened the proposal book of Meixi Steel Plant and briefed Shen Hua on the situation item by item.

  This plan, Shen Hua let Guo Quan and Qian Wen-hui prepare for two months in advance, considering all aspects of the problem. When the District Planning Commission conducted research, he could let Guo Quan and Qian Wen-hui come forward, but on Pan Shi-hua's side, Shen Hua had to personally come forward to clarify.

  "Your preparation is very sufficient, and Yeshin Bank and Zhonghe Investment have also issued letters," said Pan Shihua. "However, your equity financing targets, in addition to foreign merchants and steel plant management, also include township government administrative personnel. Of course, I'm not saying it's inappropriate, we party members and cadres should actively participate in raising development funds, but limiting the scope of equity financing to these three areas, ordinary people will see it, won't they suspect that there are some benefits for party members and cadres to divide privately?"

  "The State Council has issued several documents requiring enterprises to raise funds without arbitrarily expanding the scope of fundraising, and the boundaries between legal and illegal fundraising are somewhat blurred. When considering the entire plan, we must be more cautious," Shen Hua explained. Seeing that Pan Shihua seemed dissatisfied with his explanation, he tentatively added, "Of course, in addition to the three categories of equity financing objects mentioned in our proposal, if there are some specific objects that want to participate, we also welcome them..."

  "Not bad, you should take bigger steps and don't let the common people have anything to say," Pan Shihua nodded in approval of Shen Hui's supplementary sentence, stood up and said, "Well, I understand the situation so far. This matter and the adjustment of Meixi Town's administrative area still need further study by the district..."

  Seeing Pan Shihua had the intention of sending guests off, Shen Hui stood up and bid farewell.

  Shen Hua left the district government building, drove around to the back door of the district government, and then called Zhou Yu: "Director Zhou, what's up?"

  "Where are you? Can we meet and talk?"

  "I just left the government building, the car is now parked at the back door of the big yard."

  "Okay, I'll be right there."

  Shen Hua parked the car under an inconspicuous tree shade, waited for a moment, and saw Zhou Yu walking over. Before he could fully appreciate Zhou Yu's sensual figure wrapped in her suit skirt as she walked, his phone rang.

  Shen Hua saw that it was an unfamiliar number, and he couldn't let Zhou Yu stand outside the car waiting for him to finish the call, so he got in the car while answering the phone.

  "I am Shen Hua, who are you?"

  "Director Shen, I'm Pan Shigui. Do you have time, Director Shen? I have some work to report to you?"

  Shen Huai thought of that dark and ugly face, didn't expect that just after discussing the reform with Pan Shi Hua, Pan Shi Gui's phone call came over in a hurry.

  "You said." Shen Huai said in an unmoving tone.

  "I heard that Meixi Steel Plant is going to reform its equity, which is a great thing for the benefit of Meixi Town. I also want to contribute to the development of Meixi Town, but I don't know if Secretary Shen will approve it?"

  "Anyone who wants to contribute to Meixi Town is welcome," said Shen Huai, and then stopped, waiting for Pan Shigui to continue speaking on the other end of the phone.

  "I want to invest 40 million shares, but I'm a bit short on cash and can't take out that much money at once. The restructuring plan mentions that the Industrial Bank can provide loans to shareholders, and I'd be willing to mortgage my existing shares to borrow from the bank. Once the steel factory starts distributing dividends, I'll use those dividends to repay the loan," said Pan Shigui over the phone. "Can Secretary Shen help me get an introduction at the Industrial Bank?"

  "I know. I have other things to attend to now; wait for my call." Shen Hua hung up the phone and slammed it onto the dashboard, startling Zhou Yu.