Shock! Future Technology Actually?

A week later, in this remote little town, a high-tech company had gotten on track.

A week ago, under Zhou Song's guidance, Xiong Kexuan had inspected the town and ultimately decided to buy the old township government building.

Admittedly, Future Technology had been lucky—Taiping Township had built a new government office, moved in a year ago after completion, leaving the old one vacant.

After Xiong Kexuan took a liking to this somewhat dilapidated building, she went straight to the township government and stated her intentions.

The township government, upon learning that a high-tech company worth a hundred billion had set up shop in their backwater, was utterly astonished.

After the shock wore off, everyone was overjoyed—this was a phoenix flying out of a chicken coop.

A rare phoenix had emerged, and it was local to boot. More importantly, they were willing to base themselves in this mountain valley. If the officials in charge let this golden phoenix slip away, who would they cry to?

After learning the facts, the township party secretary reported the situation directly to the county.

The county, upon hearing the news and realizing this phoenix was Future Technology—already praised by higher-ups—was delighted. Everyone agreed this was a golden opportunity, so the county decided to gift the old government building outright to Future Technology.

To facilitate Future Technology's business operations, the county even set up a temporary emergency task force to serve them.

In just one week, the town began to liven up. Even Li Zhou's mother's supermarket saw its daily revenue double.

The old government building now served as Future Technology's temporary headquarters. Sitting in his spartan office, Li Zhou looked over the company's personnel list and couldn't help but marvel.

Sure enough, the employees a beauty recruited were all beauties. Of Future Technology's current hundred-plus staff, a full seventy percent were women.

According to Xiong Kexuan, these were talents she'd dug up through years of networking. If not for her connections, who would come to these mountains? Of course, the main draw was the high salary Li Zhou offered.

Li Zhou sat in his office enjoying the air conditioning, while Xiong Kexuan took Shen Minting from the finance department to the government building.

Today was Future Technology's first tax payment day. They'd notified the county in advance yesterday, and today, China Merchants Bank and the tax bureau would send temporary specialists to handle their business.

At the township government, Chu Daqi had been pacing the hallway since morning. By now, he'd been going back and forth for over two hours.

Just then, Peng Shun, the township head, nudged Chu Daqi's arm.

"Old Chu, they're here! They're here!"

Chu Daqi turned and his eyes lit up. Sure enough, Future Technology's CEO was walking toward the government building, chatting and laughing with a young woman.

"Let's go, let's go greet them."

By the time Chu Daqi and Peng Shun ran downstairs, Xiong Kexuan and Shen Minting had just stepped through the government gate.

"President Xiong, we've been waiting for you like we wait for the stars and moon!"

"Please, come in!"

Faced with the township party secretary's enthusiasm, Xiong Kexuan understood perfectly. Future Technology was here to deliver money. As the local government body, a portion of Future Technology's taxes belonged to the township. Once local funds were sufficient and reinvested into construction, the area would develop rapidly.

"Secretary Chu, you're too kind. Please!"

Xiong Kexuan was quite polite to the local officials.

In a second-floor meeting room, the county's temporarily assigned staff all stood up in respect when they saw the township party secretary respectfully escorting two beautiful women inside.

Only after Xiong Kexuan and Shen Minting sat down did the others take their seats.

After the staff served tea and everyone chatted pleasantly for a while, Xiong Kexuan noticed Chu Daqi's anxious expression and smiled as she made a suggestion.

"Secretary, it's getting late. My boss is waiting for us to return. How about we get down to business first?"

Chu Daqi immediately said, "Good! Good! Good!" three times.

Future Technology's accounts were easy to calculate. For now, they had only one revenue stream—income from the Intelligent Assistant. But the Intelligent Assistant's money-making speed far exceeded Li Zhou's expectations. He'd underestimated netizens' willingness to spend. To date, Future Technology had already raked in 10 billion yuan from the Intelligent Assistant alone.

At a 25% corporate income tax rate, that was a full 2.5 billion. Of course, as a software and high-tech industry, the state offered tax incentives. Even so, after the tax bureau staff's calculations, the final tax bill still came to 1.5 billion.

Hearing this result, everyone was stunned. A company founded less than a month ago was paying 1.5 billion in taxes alone—what kind of concept was that?

While everyone was still in shock, Xiong Kexuan signaled Shen Minting to pull out her computer and process the payment.

Even after receiving Future Technology's tax payment, no one had snapped out of their daze.

"Secretary Chu, we still have matters to attend to. We'll take our leave now, shall we?"

Xiong Kexuan stood up and smiled at Chu Daqi.

"Ah? Yes, yes, yes."

"I'll see you out."

Chu Daqi pulled Peng Shun along to escort Xiong Kexuan and the other woman to the street. Only when their figures had completely disappeared did the two men come back to their senses.

"Old Peng, what does 1.5 billion even mean?"

Peng Shun replied irritably, "You know I've never seen that much tax money either."

Indeed, what did a township official from a mountain valley know about such massive tax revenues?

--

In front of the Future Technology office building, two trucks had just parked on the soccer field.

Li Zhou, having received the news, hurried downstairs. These trucks carried his ride and the server cluster he'd custom-ordered from Huawei.

With these two items arriving, how could Li Zhou not be thrilled?

He'd already set up Future Technology's official website; he was just waiting for this shipment of servers.

Employees saw the boss in his flip-flops and greeted him one after another.

"Good morning, boss."

"Good morning, boss."

Whenever an employee greeted him, Li Zhou would nod with a slight smile.

On the football field, just as Li Zhou jogged up beside the big truck, Xiong Kexuan from the government affairs office and Shen Minting, the finance director, happened to return.

Clearly, the two beauties had also been drawn over by the truck parked on the football field—that Hongqi car was simply too eye-catching.

"Come on, come on, isn't my ride handsome?"

Everyone nodded slightly. It really was handsome.

"Zhou Song, drive it down. When we have time, we'll take this ride for a proper spin."

Zhou Song, standing nearby, glanced at the back of the truck, grabbed the edge with one hand, and vaulted straight onto the cargo bed. After Zhou Song drove the modified Hongqi down and parked it properly, Li Zhou turned his gaze to the other enclosed big truck.

"Pan Jie, go call the male comrades over. Move the servers to the east end of the first floor. I want them up and running by this afternoon."