Chapter 093: Official Roads and Business Avenues [Fifth Burst Update]

While everyone was chatting and laughing, the door of the Violet Cloud Pavilion was pushed open. Two lovely waitresses in bright red cheongsams led in a lively high school student at an unhurried pace.

Several of the city’s senior officials turned to look at him, their eyes filled with puzzled curiosity. Was he the distinguished guest Miss Zhang had mentioned?

“Yang Tian? Ha-ha-ha! So the distinguished guest Miss Zhang talked about is Yang Tian! Yang Tian, come over here and sit with us!” Jiang Nan quickly recognized him and called out loudly.

“Yang Tian? The one who won first place in this year’s middle school calligraphy competition?” Vice Mayor Lang Ping said with a frown and a smile.

“Yes, that’s him. His running script is excellent. Miss Zhang was right about him. This is someone both Jiang Nan and I like!” Yuan Shan, head of the Land Administration Bureau, laughed. Among the four high-ranking officials of Binhai City, only Zhang Siguo, the head of the Construction Bureau, had been smiling quietly without saying much. After all, he counted as the host today as well; since Zhang Youcai was coming to Binhai City to open an investment company, he, as the younger brother, naturally had to lend a hand.

Yang Tian was not at all reserved. He walked straight to Jiang Nan’s side and sat down with practiced ease, with Zhang Xiu right beside him.

This dinner had been mentioned to Yang Tian by Zhang Xiu. It had originally come up only in casual conversation, but she had never imagined that Yang Tian would actually want to attend. That left her pleasantly surprised.

She had long wanted to treat Yang Tian to a meal, but he always declined. This time, he had unexpectedly taken the initiative to join her dinner, and she was naturally overjoyed. That was how the scene before them had come to be.

Now that Yang Tian had arrived, all the guests for the evening were present. Zhang Xiu immediately announced that dinner could begin. Delicacies such as stir-fried shrimp with Dragon Well tea, the great banquet of snake, tiger, dragon, and phoenix, braised shark fin, and snowflake chicken dazzled Yang Tian. The splendor of official banquets truly lived up to its reputation.

To Lang Ping and the others, however, these dishes seemed perfectly ordinary. They ate and drank heartily while chatting about Yang Tian’s calligraphy. When the subject of his writing came up, Jiang Nan and Yuan Shan became especially animated, and before long the two were toasting each other repeatedly.

“Uncle Jiang, I’d like to ask you something!” Yang Tian drank a glass of cola and got straight to the point. He had not come here tonight merely to enjoy a feast fit for the wealthy and powerful.

“Oh? Looks like you came prepared. Go on then, what is it?” Jiang Nan wiped his mouth and smiled.

“If I wanted to hold a large-scale event similar to a calligraphy competition, what procedures would I need to go through?” Yang Tian asked in a step-by-step manner.

“Well, first you’d need to put forward a workable event proposal. Then you’d submit it to our cultural department for review. If we find that your proposal meets the relevant requirements in every respect, we’ll approve it, and then assign the appropriate departments to follow up and supervise the event. That’s basically how it works. By the way, what sort of event do you want to hold?” Jiang Nan gave a broad explanation first, then asked with a smile.

“A citywide gaming tournament. No restrictions on who can register. Using internet cafes as the platform, it will spark a gaming craze across Binhai City!” Yang Tian said confidently.

As soon as Yang Tian mentioned internet cafes, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Siguo immediately understood his intention. This tournament was definitely being organized together with Zhang Zhilian.

Zhang Xiu and Zhang Siguo both knew Zhang Zhi very well. He could have easily asked them for help with this matter, and they would have had no trouble arranging it. But Zhang Zhi was the kind of person who disliked asking his family for favors. That was probably why Yang Tian had come forward on his behalf.

“A gaming tournament?” Vice Mayor Lang Ping began to question the idea. Binhai City was in a period of vigorous development, with every industry flourishing. The rise of the gaming business did not seem to be something the public would view favorably.

“Yes, the aim is to enliven Binhai City’s cultural life!” Yang Tian said in a perfunctory way. In truth, he was fully confident. As long as he brought it up at the table, Jiang Nan would not refuse, because Zhang Xiu and Zhang Siguo were bound to speak up for him. After all, he was helping Zhang Zhi with this.

So long as Zhang Xiu and Zhang Siguo spoke, even Vice Mayor Lang Ping probably would not say much. Even if they did not think highly of the gaming industry, games were not exactly something heinous or harmful. They would likely give the Zhang family some face.

“Yes. In Taiwan, the gaming industry has already become an important pillar of the local tertiary sector, and it is the same abroad. Yet Binhai still seems to have barely started,” Zhang Xiu said, as expected.

“Yang Tian, what theme are you planning for this gaming tournament?” Zhang Siguo, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.

As soon as he and Zhang Xiu had spoken, Lang Ping and the others immediately understood that they were standing on Yang Tian’s side and speaking for him. Although they did not know the relationship between Yang Tian and Zhang Zhi, they could still guess that Yang Tian must have an unusual connection to the Zhang family, otherwise Zhang Xiu would not have brought him to such an important dinner.

“The newest game, King of Fighters! It will use one-on-one combat as the competition format, and it should be very popular!” Yang Tian said calmly, seizing the opening at once.

“King of Fighters? That game is good. My son plays it too, ha-ha!” Yuan Shan, head of the Land Administration Bureau, laughed loudly, and the others followed suit.

Yang Tian finally relaxed a little. He understood that these people had indirectly agreed to the event’s approval.

“Yang Tian, you little rascal. Just having a meal with us and you’re giving us a hard problem to solve!” Jiang Nan said, taking the opportunity to make things smooth. “Fine. Write up the relevant proposal for your gaming tournament and send it to me later. I’ll help you review it!”

“All right. Thank you, Uncle Jiang. Here is the detailed proposal. Please review it!” Yang Tian casually pulled a stack of documents from his backpack and handed them to Jiang Nan.

“Sure is as though you came prepared!” Jiang Nan exclaimed in surprise, while the others burst out laughing. Jiang Nan could only shake his head with a wry smile. Taking the documents from Yang Tian, he looked them over with a grin. “All right then. I’ll give you the approval result within three days.”

Yang Tian thanked him again. In truth, he knew very well that Jiang Nan’s talk of a three-day review was merely a procedural excuse. The gaming event had already been approved in principle.

“Uncle Yuan, if I wanted to build a resort, what should I pay attention to?” Yang Tian turned and asked Yuan Shan, the head of the Land Administration Bureau, who was sitting not far away.

“You want to build one yourself? Private construction of a resort is not permitted in Binhai City at present!” Yuan Shan said sternly. The expressions of the others changed as well, especially Vice Mayor Lang Ping.

Yang Tian knew the deeper implications. On the eastern side of Binhai City there was a hot spring resort that had been privately built by Lang Ping himself. The city’s senior cadres present here all wore the robe of public servants on one side while running their own commercial ventures on the other.

“Yes. The sightseeing and tourism projects in Binhai City are mostly organized and operated by the government. There are not yet any reform measures that allow private construction. However, some law-abiding government officials are permitted to operate by taking shares, while applications from other units or individuals will probably be hard to get approved,” Yuan Shan said with hidden meaning, effectively leaving Lang Ping a way down.

“Oh, I was just asking casually. By the way, Uncle Yuan, private individuals can contract certain tracts of land, right?” After thinking for a moment, Yang Tian asked with a smile. It seemed that building the Great Willow Tree Resort all at once would be difficult; he would have to take it step by step.

“That much is possible. Binhai City’s land administration rules allow private individuals to contract out part of the land for business and production purposes,” Yuan Shan said with a smile, inwardly astonished by how extraordinary this kid was and how quickly his mind worked.

Although the Binhai City government had regulations prohibiting private construction of resorts, the land administration rules did allow private individuals to contract land for production and business operations.

That would give many people an excuse to grab land on a large scale under the pretext of contracting land for production and business. While planting or raising some harmless crops or livestock, they would also build their own gardens in a big way and then hang out a sign for business. Nominally it would be country-style sightseeing; in reality, it was just a resort.

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