Zhang Yi did not refuse Huang Xiru's goodwill. As Huang Xiru had said, he was indeed short of money right now. Not only did he need to rent a factory building, but he also needed to buy equipment and hire employees. Even with the two million Huang Xiru had transferred to him, combined with the more than eight hundred thousand he already had, his available funds were only close to three million.
But that was merely a drop in the bucket for a factory. What was more, he already had two orders on hand, both of which had to be completed before the end of the month. He was certain that he would have even more orders in the future. Even twice this amount of funding would not be enough for him now.
Therefore, on the morning after receiving Huang Xiru's money, Zhang Yi headed to the Development Zone government office. He planned to rent a factory building there first, then buy up all the vacant factory buildings once he had sufficient funds in the future.
This time, Zhang Yi had his eye on a factory building covering fifteen thousand square meters. It was directly across from Zhu Gang's factory, in an excellent location beside the largest road in the Development Zone.
According to what he had learned earlier, the annual rent for this factory building was five hundred and fifty thousand. However, Zhang Yi was confident that he could rent it for far less than that.
After all, Xian County was merely a small county that did not even qualify as a third-tier city. There were very few factories in the county, especially in high-tech industries, which were practically nonexistent. Even in manufacturing, only Zhu Gang's factory could be considered sizable.
Now that Zhang Yi wanted to rent a factory building and expand production, the county would undoubtedly welcome it with open arms. Moreover, the products Zhang Yi produced were all independently developed innovations, not merely processing work for other factories. If the products became popular, they would definitely become a major pillar of the county's economy and tax revenue.
That morning, Zhang Ou, the Office Director of the Development Zone, went to work at the Development Zone office alone as usual. Although the county's Development Zone covered a vast area, and his office was not small—in fact, it occupied several hundred square meters—the entire office had only three staff members. There were simply too few businesses in the Development Zone and too little work to do, so three people were enough. Even so, they spent most of their time sitting around the office bored.
However, Zhang Ou was not in a good mood today. He had heard that a highly capable factory from the city was preparing to relocate and was currently choosing where to settle. So yesterday, he had hurried over to approach them. But when he arrived in the city, he discovered that the factory was actually a chemical plant that caused severe pollution, leaving him deeply disappointed.
Thanks to Xian County's geographical environment and the efforts of successive governments, there were currently no heavily polluting enterprises in the county. Therefore, the county generally would not agree to let such heavily polluting businesses settle in Xian County.
Of course, it would be a different matter if the company placed great importance on environmental protection and possessed highly advanced pollution-treatment equipment capable of achieving absolutely zero emissions.
So he had tried to contact the chemical plant's boss, only for the result to infuriate him.
The plant's pollution-control facilities were terribly outdated. He was certain that wastewater and other pollutants treated by those facilities could not possibly meet the national discharge standards, much less achieve zero emissions. During their discussions, the company had also made all kinds of unreasonable demands as conditions for settling in Xian County. They had even asked the county to turn a blind eye to their emissions. That was something he could never agree to.
After all, tourism was the only thing Xian County had that was worth showing off within Jiangnan Province. If the environment were damaged, Xian County itself would ultimately be the one to suffer. A mountain of gold and silver could not compare to clear waters and green mountains. The county leadership, including Zhang Ou himself, understood that principle very well.
So he had rejected the company boss's demands on the spot. In response, the boss had called him a complete idiot for turning down such an easy achievement.
That very day, the company had been taken away by a neighboring county of Xian County. He did not know what sort of incentives they had offered it, but one thing he was very thankful for was that, before returning, he had learned that the company had not wanted to leave Zhou Tai City on its own. It had been driven out by Zhou Tai City's leadership because its pollution was so serious that even the lives of nearby residents had been affected.
Still, he felt terrible inside. He knew that if he had truly brought in that company, Xian County's economy would definitely have risen to another level, and his own achievements would have been recognized as well. But he had rejected it so decisively. He absolutely could not sacrifice Xian County's environment in exchange for his own future.
Not long after Zhang Ou sat down, he heard a knock on the door, followed by a man's voice. "Is Director Zhang here?"
"Come in!" Zhang Ou was somewhat puzzled. Normally, no one came looking for him at this time. There were only a few companies in the Development Zone.
The person who entered was a young man in his twenties. Zhang Ou had a very deep impression of him. This young man was the son of Zhang Ming, the owner of the machine-processing factory not far from the entrance to the Development Zone.
A few days earlier, Zhang Ou had even drunk with Zhang Yi, the Deputy County Magistrate, Zhu Gang, and the others. He had also heard about what had happened to Zhang Yi's father, Zhang Ming, and felt somewhat regretful about it. Zhang Ming's machine factory might have been small, no different from those machine-processing workshops, but it was well known throughout the Development Zone. Whenever the factories in the zone needed relatively precise mechanical parts processed, they basically went to Zhang Ming's place.
Was Zhang Yi planning to quit? His father had suffered such a major accident, and he himself was so young. Many companies in the Development Zone probably would not believe that Zhang Yi could process precision parts. Otherwise, why would he come here?
But if he was quitting, he would not need to come to me. Was he asking me to help find a buyer? Still, there did not seem to be anything valuable in their factory. Even that machine tool seemed to be an old product from decades ago, didn't it? Zhang Ou thought to himself.
Even so, Zhang Ou still received Zhang Yi warmly. After all, even if he did not consider Zhang Yi himself, he had to consider Zhang Yi's father, whom he knew well. More importantly, as the director of the Development Zone, he ought to put the businesses within the zone first. Although Zhang Yi's family factory was merely workshop-style, it was still an enterprise under the Development Zone's jurisdiction.
"Director Zhang, I came without an invitation because I have something to ask of you. Has the factory building across from the Xian County Auto Parts Processing Factory in the Development Zone been rented out? If not, I would like to rent it." After Zhang Yi walked up to Zhang Ou and shook his hand, he said this.
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