Chapter 58 I Am the Protagonist

As Lu Chengwen stood up, the conference room instantly fell into a dead silence.

Lu Chengwen had completely transformed today.

The look of a good-for-nothing was gone, and his cunning smile had vanished.

The current Lu Chengwen was elegant, confident, and full of poise, while the pungent smell of rotten eggs permeated the entire meeting room.

Lu Chengwen said:

"Did everyone see that? Just now, my suit was torn apart by an elderly woman, and my face and neck were scratched. Why? Because her grandson couldn't get into school, because her son broke his leg delivering food and the family lost its source of livelihood, and because she herself is sick, struggling to afford her medicine. So... I became her outlet for frustration."

"Ahem, ahem," Mayor Zhao quickly explained, "The common people can sometimes be a bit impulsive because they are genuinely facing hardships in life. To put it bluntly, it means our government hasn't done a good enough job..."

Daringly, Lu Chengwen raised his hand to signal and interrupted Mayor Zhao.

Not only Mayor Zhao, but Secretary Wu and all the business leaders present were utterly astonished.

"Pardon me, Mayor Zhao, please allow me to finish."

Lu Chengwen continued: "However, there was one sentence the elderly woman said that deeply inspired me. She shouted right into my face: 'You rich people drive luxury cars and live in mansions, have you ever cared whether the poor live or die?'"

Lu Chengwen began to clap his hands rhythmically: "Actually, this has been the fundamental truth since ancient times. Today, I, Lu Chengwen, solemnly emphasize here!"

Everyone held their breath.

With every single word, resolute and powerful, Lu Chengwen declared: "The shanty town redevelopment project—the Great Sage Group will see it through to the very end..."

As soon as Lu Chengwen uttered these words, Mayor Zhao let out a heavy sigh of relief, which clearly showed how immensely crushing this governing pressure had been for him!

Leng Qingqiu, Xu Xuejiao, and Chen Mengyun were extremely astonished.

They truly did not recognize the Lu Chengwen of today.

Was this really the Lu Chengwen who always took advantage of others and never suffered a single loss?

Wasn't he clearly threatened by Long Aotian just yesterday?

Long Aotian had a terrifying syndicate of assassins backing him up with threats, yet he actually...

Flames seemed to be blazing in Lu Chengwen's eyes: "The Great Sage Group is willing to lose every penny of its fortune, but we must ensure that every elderly mother in Snow City can afford her medicine! We must ensure that every child in Snow City can go to school and study! We must ensure that the livelihood of every ordinary working-class person in Snow City is guaranteed!"

Mayor Zhao was thrilled!

What a conscience! What a conscientious entrepreneur!

If Lu Chengwen truly lived up to these promises, he would be the hero of Snow City!

He would be the great business leader who restored the public's faith in the government!

Just as he was about to lead the applause, Lu Chengwen angrily emphasized:

"And another thing! I am going to overhaul the agricultural product market!"

Everyone was dumbfounded. What did this have to do with the agricultural product market?!

With a grievance-filled roar, Lu Chengwen shouted: "If the eggs go rotten, stop selling them to the grandmothers! I propose! Let's treat the vendors who sell rotten eggs as criminals violating laws against selling biochemical weapons—execute them by firing squad first, arrest them later, then pierce their fingernails with bamboo skewers, and then soak them in saltwater—"

Mayor Zhao hastily stood up: "Alright, that's enough, leave the rotten egg vendors alone. Well... everyone, please give President Lu a round of applause! Let's thank President Lu for his wholehearted devotion to the people of Snow City!"

Still nursing his lingering anger, Lu Chengwen showed himself to Mayor Zhao: "This suit of mine was so expensive. Having it ruined like this by that old lady is so humiliating..."

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll pay for this suit out of my own pocket!"

"The key is this smell, Mayor, just smell it yourself..."

"Shut your mouth!" Mayor Zhao was so exasperated he almost laughed: "Watch out or I'll hit you!"

Lu Chengwen pressed on: "Also! I request the comrades of the working group to immediately compile statistics. For everyone facing financial difficulties, the Great Sage Group will cover three years of back rent in one lump sum! As for the children who cannot attend school, you must figure something out—how can children be barred from attending classes when they clearly qualify for housing allocations? Furthermore, for shanty town residents who cannot earn a living due to injury or illness, specific policies must be formulated for their medical expenses. Our No. 9 Pharmaceutical Factory can engage in deep cooperation to provide them with one-on-one assistance at cost price..."

"Splendid!" Mayor Zhao excitedly shook Lu Chengwen's hand, speechless, and patted his shoulder firmly: "Chengwen! On behalf of the elders and folks of Snow City, I thank you!"

"And about the rotten egg sellers..."

"Stop right there! Can you temporarily forget about the rotten egg sellers?"

"No, just smell this odor on my body..."

Mayor Zhao was about to go mad: "Damn it, hasn't the person delivering the clothes arrived yet? Can someone shut this kid up immediately?!"

Mayor Zhao's face beamed with joy.

Even the cleverest housewife can't cook a meal without rice, and the city's overall economy had been quite poor over the past two years.

He had been in office for two and a half years, harboring countless ambitions, but simply lacked funds in his hands!

The shanty town redevelopment project had weighed so heavily on everyone that they could barely breathe.

If this project could actually be successfully implemented!

Then Snow City would undoubtedly usher in its springtime immediately!

Just how difficult was it to get entrepreneurs to part with their money?

Not only could the government spare very few funds for this project, but historical debts also required someone to step up and acknowledge them.

Begging everyone high and low was useless; while you could ask business leaders to give you face, expecting them to pour tens of billions into a bottomless pit with uncertain returns was something no one would do.

Countless methods had been tried, but they lacked a leading figure to take charge.

Fortunately, Lu Chengwen's brain had short-circuited... no, wait, he possessed noble character and a deep sense of righteousness.

Otherwise, if this matter had been dragged out for a few more years, Snow City—even if it wasn't completely ruined—would at the very least have missed out on a prime window for development due to this project.

Mayor Zhao immediately convened a press conference to introduce the good news to the citizens of the entire city.

Meanwhile, Lu Chengwen instructed Li Meiqi to directly transfer the five billion yuan received yesterday into the account of the municipal government's shanty town project working group.

With this sum of money firmly in Mayor Zhao's hands, his backbone felt straight and strong!

When I, old Zhao, first came to Snow City, its development wasn't this fast. It lacked major financing projects, lacked benchmark enterprise leaders, and most importantly, it lacked money.

When I went to see the leaders at the provincial level, guess what they said?

"Go on, go on! There's no money, but we've got plenty of tasks for you! Old Zhao, see how much our heads are worth, take them and trade them for cash!"

"If I had money, what would I need you for? If old Zhao, you have the ability to be a mayor, you should have the ability to raise funds!"

"Otherwise, go home and hold your babies, stop making a spectacle of yourself here!"

And just like that, I turned to the Four Great Families led by Lu Chengwen.

Now the five billion funds have arrived!

With money in our pockets, our spines are rigid!

Without this funding, would I dare to swagger into a press conference?!

In your dreams!

Of course, these were Mayor Zhao's internal reflections.

One had to admit, Mayor Zhao's efficiency in spending money was truly high.

Why?!

Because this project had been weighing on Mayor Zhao to the point of suffocation. Basic calculations and various program evaluations had been run through multiple times—they just lacked the funds!

Now that they had the money, they could immediately give the ordinary people an explanation.

There were about two hundred thousand original residents in the shanty towns. Calculated at an average of four people per household, it came out to roughly seventy thousand households.

Distributing a rental subsidy of four thousand yuan per household per year amounted to two hundred and eighty to ninety million yuan. Three years would total nearly one billion yuan.

The remaining four billion yuan could be used as employment subsidies, education subsidies, and medical subsidies to compensate the common people for their losses over the past three years.

Simply put, five billion yuan should theoretically be more than enough, and there would even be some surplus.

Crucially, this would extinguish the discontent among the common people, boost their confidence in the project, and genuinely solve practical problems for them.

Lu Chengwen firmly refused to attend the press conference.

Despite Mayor Zhao's repeated assurances that not a single egg would be allowed into the venue, Lu Chengwen still declined.

...

Lu Chengwen summoned Leng Qingqiu, Xu Xuejiao, and Chen Mengyun into the conference room and pulled out three contracts.

They were guarantee contracts, meaning: regardless of how the project progressed, the Great Sage Group would guarantee that they recovered their principal investments.

All three women realized that Lu Chengwen had gone mad.

He would rather give all his money to the ordinary people of Snow City to do practical good than let Long Aotian benefit.

However, this move would undoubtedly infuriate Long Aotian.

Judging by previous circumstances, Long Aotian was backed by dark forces, and certainly wouldn't let him off the hook.

Leng Qingqiu glanced at the contract, sneered coldly, and tore it to pieces right on the spot.

Lu Chengwen was startled: "Qingqiu, what are you doing?!"

Leng Qingqiu replied: "I have money now. What do I need your guarantee for? I only invested a little under five billion; if it goes down the drain, so be it. If I were to sign this contract of yours, would I still even be human?"

After saying this, she cast a glance at Xu Xuejiao and Chen Mengyun.

Chen Mengyun smiled faintly and also tore up her contract: "A mere twelve billion yuan, I can afford to lose it. Besides, it might not necessarily yield zero returns. So many new houses will rise in the shanty town; once the momentum builds up, we might even turn a profit."

Lu Chengwen said: "Mengyun, this is a major matter. You'd better discuss it with your family."

Chen Mengyun grew angry and stared at Lu Chengwen: "Do you think I'm inferior to Leng Qingqiu?"

Leng Qingqiu smiled provocatively from the side. She had intentionally stirred up Chen Mengyun's competitive spirit to make her tear up the contract.

Lu Chengwen explained: "I didn't mean that. This isn't a competition..."

"This is a competition!" Chen Mengyun declared: "You trust Leng Qingqiu, but you don't trust me!"

Leng Qingqiu looked over. While the two of them were arguing, Xu Xuejiao had already signed her contract, reviewed it carefully, and looked thoroughly delighted.

Leng Qingqiu let out a huff, and when Chen Mengyun turned her head to look, she was taken aback.

Xu Xuejiao walked up to Lu Chengwen holding the contract and draped her arm around his shoulder: "Little Lu!"

"What did you just call me?"

Xu Xuejiao grinned mischievously: "Hey, today you owe Sister a huge favor!"

With that, she also tore up the contract she had just signed and made a funny face at Lu Chengwen.

Lu Chengwen suddenly felt a warmth flood his heart.

What he had done was bound to provoke immense hatred.

Yet these three romantic confidantes all supported him unconditionally.

What is true support? Spending real money without blinking and sharing massive losses together—that is absolute, genuine support!

Xu Xuejiao giggled: "Little Lu, what are your plans for this?"

Lu Chengwen looked at her: "Cut it out with the arm-around-the-shoulder stuff. Act like a young lady."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Xu Xuejiao said: "Hey! I heard your old man called my old man!"

"So what?"

"Don't you want to know what they talked about?"

"Don't care."

Lu Chengwen said: "Why are you all still lingering here? Go home."

Leng Qingqiu walked over: "Chengwen, what are your next steps? Long Aotian won't just let this go."

Xu Xuejiao rolled her eyes dramatically.

Leng Qingqiu glanced at her and ignored her.

Lu Chengwen laughed heartily: "When soldiers come, block them with generals; when water rises, build an earthen wall. If my head falls, it's just a scar the size of a rice bowl. I've beaten him before, and I want to see if this bastard is truly invincible."

Chen Mengyun advised: "You should still hire more bodyguards, for safety's sake."

Lu Chengwen smiled.

[Bodyguards are worth a damn. Can Long Aotian's subordinates not handle a few bodyguards?]

[I reckon I'm in a dead-end situation now. Before I die, I have to finish what needs to be done.]

[Since I can't change it, I might as well fight with all my might! In your world, Long Aotian, you are the big male protagonist! But in my world, Lu Chengwen, I am the protagonist!]

[I might not be able to change anything else, but before I die, if I can see the shanty town project implemented! If tall buildings rise from the ground in the future, and thousands of families live in peace and contentment! Then I won't have lived in vain!]

[Long Aotian! I've been dodging you all this time, but today, I've decided to stop hiding and fight you to the finish!]

[I need to put some distance between myself and these girls so they don't get implicated.]

Thinking of this, Lu Chengwen turned around, put on a stern face, and said: "Alright, the contracts are signed, now all of you get out of here and stop bothering me for nothing. It irritates me just looking at you lot of lasses."

When Lu Chengwen finished speaking, he noticed that none of the three girls were angry. Instead, they were all looking at him with smiles.

Lu Chengwen was somewhat bewildered.

[Are the three of them idiots?]