Zhang Ou's Depression

Zhang Yi didn't refuse Huang Xiru's kind offer. As Huang Xiru said, he was in dire need of money right now. After all, he not only needed to rent a factory building but also had to purchase equipment and hire employees. Even with the two million Huang Xiru transferred, plus the over 800,000 he had, his total funds were close to three million.

However, this was just a drop in the bucket for a factory. What's more, he already had two orders that needed to be completed by the end of the month. He was sure he would have even more orders in the future. Even double this amount of capital wouldn't be enough for him right now.

So, the morning after receiving the money from Huang Xiru, Zhang Yi headed to the Development Zone government office, preparing to rent a factory building there first. He planned to buy all the vacant factory buildings in the area once he had enough funds in the future.

This time, Zhang Yi was interested in a factory building covering an area of 15,000 square meters. The location of this factory building was directly opposite Zhu Gang's factory, which was an excellent spot, right next to the largest road in the Development Zone.

According to his previous inquiries, the annual rent for this factory building was 550,000 yuan. However, Zhang Yi was confident he could rent it for a much lower price.

After all, Xian County was just a small county town, not even a third-tier city. There were very few factories in the county, especially in high-tech industries, which were practically non-existent. Among manufacturing businesses, only Zhu Gang's factory was considered to be of a significant scale.

Now that Zhang Yi wanted to rent a factory building to expand production, the county would undoubtedly support it with both hands and feet. Furthermore, the products Zhang Yi's factory produced were independently innovative new products, not just processing work for other factories. If the products became popular, it would definitely be a major pillar for the county's economy and tax revenue.

In the morning, Zhang Ou, the Office Director of the Development Zone, arrived at the Development Zone office as usual, alone. Although the Development Zone was very large and his office was not small, it could even be said to occupy a very large area, with the entire office spanning several hundred square meters, there were only three people in the entire Development Zone office. There were simply too few enterprises in the Development Zone, and very little work, so three people were enough. Even so, they spent most of their time sitting idly in the office.

However, Zhang Ou's mood was not good today. He had heard rumors that a very powerful factory in the city was preparing to relocate and was currently looking for a place to settle. So, yesterday, he had rushed to visit them, but when he arrived in the city, he discovered that this factory was actually a chemical plant that would cause serious pollution, which greatly disappointed him.

It was important to know that due to the geographical environment of Xian County and the efforts of previous governments, there were currently no heavily polluting enterprises in Xian County. Therefore, generally speaking, the county would not agree to allow such heavily polluting enterprises to settle in Xian County.

Of course, if this enterprise placed great importance on environmental protection and had very advanced equipment for treating pollutants, capable of achieving absolute zero pollution emissions, then it would be a different matter. So, he also tried to contact the boss of this chemical plant, and the result made him very angry.

That was, the pollution control facilities of this chemical plant were very backward. He was certain that the sewage and other pollutants treated by these facilities would definitely not meet the national discharge standards, let alone achieve zero emissions. Moreover, during the contact process, this enterprise also made various unreasonable demands if they wanted their enterprise to settle in Xian County, even demanding that the county turn a blind eye to their emissions, which he absolutely could not agree to.

It was important to know that the only thing Xian County could boast about in Jiangnan Province right now was tourism. Once the environment was damaged, the one who would ultimately suffer would definitely be Xian County itself. After all, green mountains and clear waters were better than mountains of gold and silver. The county leadership, including himself, were very clear about this principle.

So, he refused the enterprise boss's demands on the spot, and as a result, he was called a fool by the enterprise boss on the spot for not wanting political achievements.

On the same day, this enterprise was taken away by the county adjacent to Xian County. He didn't know what kind of treatment they gave this enterprise, but there was one thing he was very glad about: before he came back, he found out that this enterprise didn't want to move out of Zhou Tai City on its own, but was driven out by the leadership of Zhou Tai City because the pollution from this enterprise was so severe that the lives of the residents near the enterprise were affected.

However, he still felt very uncomfortable because he knew that if this enterprise were truly introduced, it would definitely elevate Xian County's economy by a level, and his political achievements would also be affirmed. But he had so resolutely refused. He absolutely could not sacrifice Xian County's environment for his own future.

Shortly after Zhang Ou sat down, he heard a knock on the door and a male voice saying, "Is Director Zhang in?"

"Please come in!" Zhang Ou was a little puzzled. Generally speaking, no one would come looking for him at this time. There were only a few enterprises in the Development Zone.

The person who entered was a young man in his twenties. Zhang Ou had a very deep impression of this young man. This young man was the son of Zhang Ming, the boss of the machinery processing factory not far from the entrance of the Development Zone.

Moreover, he had drunk with Zhang Yi, the Deputy County Magistrate, and Zhu Gang a few days ago. He had also heard about the incident involving his father, Zhang Ming, and felt a little regretful. It was important to know that although Zhang Ming's machinery factory was small and no different from those machinery processing workshops, this processing factory was also well-known in the Development Zone. Basically, if any factory in the Development Zone needed to process relatively precise mechanical parts, they would go to Zhang Ming's place for processing.

Is Zhang Yi preparing to quit? After all, such a big thing happened to his father, and he himself is so young. I believe many enterprises in the Development Zone won't believe that Zhang Yi can process precise parts. Otherwise, what would he be doing here? But if he's not quitting, he wouldn't come to me. Could it be that he wants me to find a buyer for him? But it seems there's nothing valuable in their processing factory. Even that machine tool seems to be an old product from decades ago! Zhang Ou thought to himself.

Despite this! Zhang Ou still received Zhang Yi very warmly. After all, one should look at the monk's face for the Buddha's sake. Not to mention that he was very familiar with Zhang Yi's father, just the fact that he was the Director of the Development Zone meant he should prioritize the enterprises in the Development Zone. Although Zhang Yi's family's processing factory was just a workshop, it was still an enterprise under the jurisdiction of the Development Zone.

"Director Zhang! I've come uninvited because I have something I'd like to trouble you with. Director Zhang, I wonder if the factory building opposite the Xian County Auto Parts Processing Factory in the Development Zone has been rented out? If not, then I'd like to rent this factory building," Zhang Yi said after walking up to Zhang Zhuo and shaking his hand.