Chapter 21: Seeking Investment and Business Development

The township’s Beijing 212 off-road jeep was nearly fifteen years old. After pulling out of the alleyway, it sputtered onto the provincial road, its rear end splattered with mud. Yu Yang had spent all night playing The King of Fighters, emerging victorious against over eighty burly opponents, and was now desperate for a nap. However, since he had been asked to help, he had to be diligent and responsible.

As for investment promotion, in his view, it was nothing more than luring people to do business on one's own turf. It was like his father in another timeline who went into real estate development; to attract foot traffic, he built a CBD and went around lobbying companies to move in. He offered rent-free years, tax subsidies, customer flow allowances, and promised to take care of any trouble that might arise. Transposed to the township level, investment promotion meant providing land for factories, offering tax breaks, providing financial support based on job creation, and having the township act as a safety net if things went wrong.

Thinking this through, Yu Yang suddenly felt indignant. "By the way, I run a company too. Why didn't you recruit me?"

The township head was slightly stunned. "You're a local enterprise. Why would I need to recruit you?"

"I should at least get a tax exemption, right?"

"Have you ever paid taxes?"

"Uh, leader, have a smoke..."

The township head lit a Huaxia cigarette, took a deep drag, and consoled him: "Don't worry, the township is already urging the authorities to expedite the paperwork for Sanyuan Agriculture. When the time comes, tax breaks are guaranteed. We’ll also help with land and loans. We’re all on the same side; we wouldn't favor outsiders over our own."

"That makes sense. Smoke, smoke." The deputy township head tucked a cigarette behind his ear and pulled a few pages from his briefcase. "These are the targets for this investment drive."

"Liaoshi Sanxin Glass Factory?"

"Yes. It used to be a state-owned enterprise, but after the reforms, it became private. However, because the issue of compensation for laid-off workers was never resolved, and there were frequent protests, the factory's operations have been intermittent. It’s relatively small, with total assets of 1.37 million. In recent years, turnover has plummeted to less than 100,000, putting it on the verge of bankruptcy. But this is one of the few targets we can realistically poach for our township. After all, you know what Shiliying is like."

The director of the investment promotion office, who was driving, added: "We've made contact with them a few times. They are quite tempted, as it would allow them to shed the burden of the laid-off workers' compensation. But the local authorities won't let go—or rather, they demand the factory solve the problem before it can leave. This has been dragging on for over a year."

The deputy township head chimed in: "Also, once we get there, whatever you do, don't reveal our true identities, and don't say we're here for investment promotion. Otherwise, we'll get beaten up."

Yu Yang understood. These days, even a bankrupt enterprise was considered local treasure. If you went there to poach their "treasure," you wouldn't just get beaten; you’d be lucky not to be poisoned or burned. He flipped through the documents on the targets: factory manager's name, address, scale, assets, annual output, annual turnover...

The township head said, "Xiao Yu, the reason we brought you along is that we’ve been playing cat-and-mouse with the locals, and our faces are already too familiar."

"I see. So, I’m the frontman."

"Exactly."

"Actually, for this kind of thing, you could have asked Zhang Hai, the head of the logistics team. He’s well-traveled and knows how to talk."

"Zhang Hai and the guy named Han, along with the owner of the Quanpu trailer fleet, are busy forming a convoy. They said they were taking 1,000 crates of bean sprouts to Tianjin Port and have no time."

"Old Huang from the coal factory would work too."

"That country bumpkin? With his yellow teeth and bad breath? We’d be shunned the moment we walked in."

"At least Old Huang has a good head on his shoulders and understands the situation. Otherwise, he never would have snagged that brick kiln from the bank." Yu Yang had a positive impression of his coal supplier. At the very least, when he was up to his neck in debt, the man had been willing to sell him dozens of pig-iron stoves on credit. He added, "He's actually a decent guy."

The deputy township head replied, "He’s a decent nothing; he hasn't paid taxes in three years."

"He hasn't been arrested?" Yu Yang asked curiously.

The director of the investment office shook his head. "Who would arrest him? Half a year ago, an official from the local tax bureau went to the market to collect money and got into an argument with a radish seller. He was stabbed three times on the spot and is still recovering."

"..."

***

Before long, the Beijing 212 veered off the provincial road and sped north along a potholed, coal-ash-covered path. Yu Yang had been feeling drowsy, but the constant jolting made him alert—and caused his backside to ache. Just as he was about to call for a stop to rest, the jeep let out two clanking sounds and stalled.

The director of the investment office, accustomed to this, pulled a wrench and screwdriver from under his seat, got out, lifted the hood, and began repairs. Ten minutes later, they were back on the road. But no sooner had they crossed the Yellow River pontoon bridge than it stalled again.

This happened repeatedly. It took the better part of the day to cover less than 60 kilometers. By the time they reached the suburbs of Liaoshi, it was already 3:00 PM. After everyone found a small grove to relieve themselves, the director of the investment office took out a set of Dongshan Prefecture license plates, ready to switch them.

Yu Yang shook his head. "Since we've already shown our faces to the locals, changing just the plates without changing the car might give them an excuse to arrest us."

"Then what do we do? We can't walk to the city center."

"You and the deputy township head take the jeep and drive circles around the city, maybe visit a mall if you're tired. Consider it a distraction. The township head will come with me."

Since Yu Yang was leading the charge, the others had no objections. After the director drove off, the township head looked around the empty road. "Where are we going?"

Yu Yang took the brick-sized mobile phone from his brother and dialed 114, asking to be connected to the largest automobile trade center in Liaoshi.

"I'm looking to buy a car. I'm currently on the South Suburban Road. Send someone to pick me up; there are three of us."

"Understood, boss!"

Soon, a pure imported Buick flagship model, the Park Avenue, pulled up in front of them. The township head was dumbfounded. "You can do that?"

"It's buying a car. We're big clients."

Yu Yang adopted the posture of a general contractor, signaled for his brother to open the back door, and slid in gracefully. He motioned for the township head to "sit in the front."

Shortly after, the vehicle started. The driver who came to pick them up was a veteran sales manager. Seeing the group dressed either in cadres' uniforms or wrapped in military cotton coats, he tentatively asked, "Boss, what kind of car are you looking for?"

"Do you have anything high-end?"

"What price range are you looking for?"

"Around a million or so."

"How about the BMW 740i, the '96 version?"

"The price?"

"Promotional price: 988,000."

"Your price is a bit inflated..." After saying this, Yu Yang changed his tone. "The car we're riding in right now should be the 1995 first-generation Park Avenue, 4-speed automatic, 3.8L V6 engine. When my old man first made his fortune, he bought one to put on a show. Through formal trade channels, the final price was 500,000."

The township head thought, *Your dad is already in jail, and you're still buying cars?* But to avoid blowing their cover, he could only lower his head and pretend to read the documents.

The sales consultant frowned slightly. "500,000 is indeed cheap. You must have used your connections, boss?"

"I don't know. I was young back then."

"So which car is the old gentleman driving now?"

"Well, business is business. After starting the company, getting projects, and securing loans, you buy a luxury car to deduct taxes, then mortgage the car for another loan, then buy property, mortgage the property for another loan, and finally use those loans to do business. That’s how you get everything. So later, he got a Crown, and after a couple of years, he added a Toyota Century. He came to Liaoshi this morning for business, and when I accused him of being a traitor, he dumped me here."

The sales consultant: "..."

The township head: "..."

"So don't assume I don't know cars, and don't assume I don't have ways. I came to you because I don't have a ride right now. If the price is right, we’ll do business. If not, we'll just take a taxi to Dongshan Prefecture."

"Don't worry, boss. Since you're here, we are certainly sincere. We won't let you lose out."

After a journey of nonsense, they soon arrived at the auto trade center. The company seemed quite powerful. The first-floor lobby even had the prototype of a 4S dealership layout, displaying several best-selling cars: a Xiali at 68,000, a Jetta at 138,800, a Fukang at 148,000, a Songhuajiang at 49,000, and a Changhe at 56,000.

Beyond the best-selling area were two luxury cars: a black Mercedes-Benz S320 listed at 1,098,000 and a stretched Cadillac top-trim model listed at 1,180,000.

In this era, there was no such thing as "inventory cars." Luxury cars imported through formal trade channels—since the East had not yet joined the WTO—might have drifted at sea for half a year or even a year before arriving at port. The sales consultant produced a price list featuring a 1996 model, now discontinued: the S600, chassis code W140, known in the underworld as the "Tiger-Head Benz." Because it was discontinued and its interior and features lagged behind the new S600, the original price of the Tiger-Head Benz had been 2 million plus 200,000. The current price was 1.68 million.

Yu Yang really wanted to buy the Tiger-Head Benz. First, he had over 1.7 million in cash, all currently in a bank—a credit union, to be precise—which wasn't very safe. It would be better to buy a luxury car, mortgage it for a loan, and turn the tables so that he owed the bank money. Second, before his rebirth, he had been accustomed to all kinds of luxury designs; even a 100,000-yuan electric car could be made to look high-tech. Now, looking at the models of this era, most were eyesores. Only the Silver Seraph and the Tiger-Head Benz held up to modern aesthetics. He couldn't afford the Silver Seraph, so he had to choose the latter.

But looking at the price of the Tiger-Head Benz after its plummet, and then at the somewhat delicate new "Butterfly-Benz" S600... it was like wanting to buy a trendy iPhone 12, only to get to Sanlitun and be told it was discontinued and they only had the iPhone 16—and the 16 didn't fit his aesthetic. It felt wrong no matter how he looked at it. It was worse than just getting a domestic Huawei X5 folding screen.

At this thought, Yu Yang looked at the sales consultant.

"Do you have a stretched version of the Hongqi?"

"???"

"Ideally, I'd like to choose a Hongqi."

"..."