Before the meeting, Yang Yuquan, secretary of the district party committee, called Shen Hua, He Qing and Yuan Hongjun to his office.

  Yang Yuquan was promoted by former municipal party secretary Wu Haifeng, and like Wu Haifeng, he is also a retired military officer. Although it has been many years since his retirement, there are still some traces of being a soldier in his words and deeds, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, thin cheeks, and a serious expression.

  Yang Yuquan met with Shen Huai, Yuan Hongjun and He Qing She, but unlike Pan Shihua's enthusiastic reception in the lobby, he only asked them to sit down and inquired about two towns' disaster relief and resettlement issues. He did not intend to inform them of the district's financial and construction plans before the meeting, and instead asked the office director about the preparation for the meeting.

  There was still an hour before the scheduled meeting time, and Yang Yuguang had no intention of letting them stay in the office to continue chatting. Shen Hua, Yuan Hongjun, and He Qingshe knew what was going on and politely excused themselves first. Yang Yuguang and Pan Shihua were like ice and fire, with a huge contrast between them, which made Yuan Hongjun shrug his shoulders as he came out of Yang's office.

  Perhaps Pan Shihua was too eager about Meixi and Hetang, which made Yang Yinquan's attitude turn cold in the opposite direction... This is consistent with the normal state of domestic officialdom: you are enthusiastic about things, I will pour cold water.

  They can't just idle around in the reception room, Shen Huan and Yuan Hongdao still have to beg the district committee office director to take them to each of the district leaders' offices for a visit, to get familiar with their faces.

  Zhou Yu's office is on the third floor of the west wing, alongside several other deputy district head offices. Like Ge Yongqiu who was suppressed by Wu Haifeng and couldn't directly take the position of Xiapu County Party Secretary, Zhou Yu, as the vice secretary general of the municipal government office, was transferred to Tangzhai District but also couldn't take a position above standing committee member.

  Today's district standing committee meeting mainly discussed the financial and construction scale of Meixi and Hetang towns in the future. In addition to the members of the district standing committee, relevant personnel from the two towns can also attend the meeting.

  Zhou Yu stood up, shook hands with Shen Hua and the others in a perfunctory manner, asked some questions about the matters under her charge, and then politely but distantly saw them off at the office door. Perhaps it was because Yuan Hongjun was present, or perhaps it was because of the matter of Meixi Steel Factory reducing its procurement proportion of Pengyue Furnace Materials.

  The district's financial and construction rules for Meixi and Hetang towns did not exceed Shen Hua's imagination.

  At this time, the district wants to enjoy the benefits of the development of Meixi and Hetang towns after their merger, but it does not want to squeeze out money from its already tight fiscal budget to strongly support the construction of Meixi and Hetang towns.

  The district committee meeting, with almost no controversy, discussed and decided the general direction of financial self-sufficiency for Meixi and Hetang towns in the next three years. The district will only provide a small amount of construction funds support, which is far from comparable to other streets and townships under the jurisdiction of Tangzhai District.

  Yuan Hongjun sat next to him, not making a sound, and didn't seem to want to fight for any benefits in Hetang Town either. Shen Huai knew he should also have some mental preparation for this outcome.

  The meeting ended, and Pan Shihua had other things to deal with. The other district committee members also didn't want to bother with Shen Huai and Yuan Hongjun, so they all dispersed. Shen Huai, Yuan Hongjun, He Qing She, and Zhu Xue Qi, the party and government leaders of two towns, sat in the conference room staring at each other.

  "I said it before, the allocation is definitely a situation where the maternal grandmother and uncle are not close," Zhu Xueqi, the head of He Tang Town, couldn't help but complain, saying, "In the past, we could at least get some benefits from the county, now it's all gone, relying solely on the taxes collected by He Tang Town is not even enough to drink northwest wind..."

  Shen Huai's face wore a faint, enigmatic smile. After the economic development of Meixi Town stagnated again, it was still the central town of Xiapu Southwest Area, and its industrial and commercial development was much better than that of surrounding towns like Hetao.

  Previously, it was only discussed to merge Meixi Town into Tangzhai District, and Hetang Town had nothing to do with it, so Hetang Town could always get financial support from the county. This time, the urban area adjustment is considering giving Tangzhai District more space for development in the southeast wing, so both Hetang and Meixi towns are merged over at once.

  This time, Meixi was prepared and actively requested it; Hetang Town was somewhat passive.

  "Don't complain here, change your tone elsewhere..." said Yuan Hongjun.

  ***************

  As soon as Shen and Huai walked out of the district government compound, a stout middle-aged man with big ears was waiting outside with Yuan Hongjun's driver. After introduction, it turned out that this middle-aged man was the boss of a sand and stone factory in He Tang Town, surnamed Yang, whose name he didn't quite catch, somewhat tongue-tied, who had made his fortune by digging sand in the Zujiang River in his early years and now had several sand-digging boats under him.

  Mr. Yang, the owner of the sand and gravel yard, led the way in front, while Yuan Hongjun drove Shen Hui in a car. The two sat in the back seat chatting, and it wasn't until the car stopped that Shen Hui noticed they were parked in front of the Ying Huang International Club.

  Shen Huai didn't want to have dinner with Yuan Hongjun at first, so he directly took him to this kind of place that provides a one-stop service for eating, drinking and entertainment.

  Just as Shen Huai was about to suggest changing places, a young woman from Ying Huang International's hall came running over to greet them and help open the car door.

  That young woman saw Shen Hua sitting in the back row, stunned for a moment, first with confusion, her hands subconsciously shrinking back, then with a surprised expression, saying: "Isn't this Secretary Shen? Secretary Shen, it's been a long time since you've come to take care of Emperor Ying's business..."

  Got it, can't even pretend to be serious.

  Shen Huai said quietly, Fortunately, his previous hobby was a good family, and after coming to Donghua, he was also restrained by Chen Mingde. Several times in and out of the British royal family were just pretending, seemingly not too messy.

  The woman in front of him, Shen Huan remembered that she was the public relations manager of Emperor International, neither a lady accompanying the private room nor a mother managing the ladies, but a marketing staff member of the market department of Emperor International, with the title of public relations manager, responsible for attracting and maintaining customers, which is a decent profession.

  Although Emperor Entertainment Group does not run a legitimate business, in this regard, it has almost demonstrated a higher level of management than all the catering and entertainment venues in Donghua.

  But I saw a young woman wearing a black professional suit, with a snow-white large collar shirt inside. She wasn't very tall, and wore black high-heeled shoes with thin tips. When she walked, her movements were elegant and charming, with a pretty face and a delicate complexion, although not extremely beautiful, but still a lovely and tasteful woman.

  This kind of woman, although working in such a setting, can't help but have a hint of promiscuity about her, but after all, she's a career woman with a normal family life, and is more refined than the average woman. Given Shen Huan's temperament, he would be extremely willing to put in the effort to win over this kind of woman.

  Looking back at the memories of Shen Hua, several times when I came to Ying Huang International to have fun, it was intentional to make a move on her. My words and actions towards her were all ambiguous, and just before Chen Mingde's death, Shen Hua's hands had already touched her body; although she pushed his hand away, it seemed that she didn't refuse very firmly.

  At this time, Shen Hua naturally did not want to rekindle his past relationship with the woman in front of him. He even couldn't remember what her name was.

  It's not that Shen Hua has become much simpler now, but he knows that if a man wants to achieve something, he must control his lower body and can't let his desires get the better of him.

  Seeing the intimate expression in this woman's eyes, I knew it was her professional demeanor. The expression she had when she first saw him earlier made me know that she didn't want to see him, but I have to say she has some charm.

  Shen Huai thought of He Yuelian and wondered if this woman would become another He Yuelian after some time...

  "It turns out that Secretary Shen has an old friend at Ying Huang, I was worried that Secretary Shen wouldn't like this place." Yuan Hongjun laughed.

  "When I was at the municipal government before, I accompanied guests to Yingwang a few times," Shen Huai got out of the car and lightly explained to Yuan Hongjun and others, and then said to this public relations manager who was standing aside and showing off his charm, "You help us arrange a place where we can eat and talk quietly..."

  Yuan Hongjun had little contact with Shen Hua, but he heard a lot about him. When he saw Shen Hua skillfully change the subject, he wouldn't dwell on it, otherwise people would suspect that he was intentionally inquiring about Municipal Party Secretary Tan Qiping's secrets and things would get awkward.

  The PR manager seemed to notice Shen Hua's coldness, but the smile on his face didn't change as he led them through the grand and luxurious hall, reception area, and into the inner parts.

  The Emperor Entertainment Building is a six-story building with a basement, the ground floor is the lobby and reception area, the first underground floor is the hot spring bath, the second floor is dining, the third and fourth floors are guest rooms, the fifth floor is the club, and the sixth floor is the VIP area.

  Shen Huai and they walked to the elevator, just as a guest had gone up, looking at the flashing arrow pointing directly to the sixth floor before stopping. Shen Huai pointed to the stairwell next to it and said: "We'll take the stairs..."

  It's a taboo to be too familiar with someone you've just met, Shen only wanted to have dinner with Yuan Hongjun and others on the second floor and leave, it's impossible to go to the fifth or sixth floor for entertainment after meeting Yuan Hongjun and Zhu Xueqi for the first time.

  Yuan Hongjun and Zhu Xueqi also followed the host to the second floor, while He Qing She and Chu Qiang just accompanied them.

  Just as I was about to enter the banquet hall on the second floor, a girl in a pink princess dress came down from upstairs.

  The girl walked down the stairs with her face turned away, looking at the wall as she went, not letting Shen Huai and the others see her face. But from the side view and the exposed pale chest and slender figure in the off-the-shoulder princess dress, it was clear that she was a beautiful young girl who had just grown up.

  Shen Hua knew that the fifth and sixth floors of Ying Huang Entertainment, apart from having high-quality "escorts", also had waitresses who were carefully selected.

  The girl didn't stop on the second floor, but went downstairs. The manager of the public relations department suddenly remembered something and shouted to her: "Xiao Xuan, Director Zhou from the Municipal Steel Factory just called to book a private room on the fifth floor and specifically asked for you to serve him in his private room... You don't need to go to other private rooms tonight..."

  "Uh-huh!" The girl responded with a murmur and went downstairs without even turning her head back.

  Shen Huai thought that the only person from the Municipal Steel Factory with the surname Zhou was Zhou Dàmǒu, who had been beaten by him before. He wondered what kind of girl Zhou would be interested in at the Ying Huang International, and walked back to the staircase to look down.

  It just so happened that the girl also looked up, Shen Huan was startled, and didn't expect that the girl who went downstairs earlier was Kou Xian, whom he hadn't seen for a while. He thought to himself: No wonder she had been avoiding eye contact when going downstairs, it turned out she was afraid of being recognized by him.