Chapter 226 - 198: Chen Dong’s Attitude

Chapter 226: Chapter 198: Chen Dong’s Attitude

The fact that Yang Yangyang had thought about Chen Li’s situation and proactively suggested staying at the milk tea shop to avoid giving people anything to gossip about — that alone showed he genuinely cared about her.

Chen Jun and Tang Ying were thoroughly impressed.

"Good guy. And he’s willing to come out to the village and open a shop — that takes care of every concern we had."

Chen Jun grinned, cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Exactly. The biggest problem with long-distance relationships is the distance itself. I was even wondering whether our daughter should go back to the city for work. But now Yang’s coming to the village, so that’s all sorted."

Tang Ying beamed over her teacup.

Seeing each other every day — who knew how fast things might move? A wedding this year wasn’t out of the question.

The old mother’s mind had already raced far ahead.

Chen Jun was no different — that dopey grin on his face said it all. He was probably already picturing grandchildren.

Chen Yuan didn’t stick around the main room for long. Once he’d filled them in on Yang Yangyang, he slipped upstairs before the two of them got too excited and started turning the conversation on him.

"Shower first."

He flipped on the AC, grabbed a change of clothes, and headed into the bathroom. When he came out and flopped onto the bed, the tension drained out of him all at once.

He didn’t stay lying down long though — he was back up quickly, opening his laptop to keep working on the proposal.

It was fairly urgent. Uncle Dong was waiting on the detailed plan, and Uncle Bin would definitely be expecting a thorough village-enterprise cooperation document too.

Just past seven.

Chen Jun came upstairs to call everyone for dinner. They were eating at home tonight — Yang Yangyang included — so it was just the five of them. Chen Kingdom and the others hadn’t stayed.

After dinner, Chen Yuan headed straight back upstairs to work on the proposal.

Yang Yangyang had wanted to help clean up, but Tang Ying shooed him out of the kitchen. No way was she letting him do that. She pushed Chen Li out too — go on, you two, go enjoy yourselves.

"Let’s take a walk," Chen Li said, waving Yang Yangyang over to walk off their dinner.

"Sure, give me a second."

Yang Yangyang darted back to Chen Li’s room. He’d brought a backpack with him, and he fished a small, beautifully wrapped box out of it — nobody knew what was inside.

But it was obviously a gift for Chen Li.

After all, this was their first meeting since they’d made things official. Yang Yangyang had put some thought into making it feel special — it was just that Chen Yuan had grabbed him the moment he arrived and steered him straight over to Chen Li, so he hadn’t had a chance to bring it out.

This was actually better. Presenting it against the backdrop of a sunset would feel even more romantic.

"Old man, get over here and look at this."

Tang Ying stuck her head out of the kitchen as she watched Chen Li and Yang Yangyang head out, waving urgently at Chen Jun to come quick.

Just as they stepped out of the courtyard, Yang Yangyang reached over and took Chen Li’s hand, their fingers lacing together — a picture-perfect image of young love. The two of them watched with faces full of delight.

The old couple was thoroughly living for the drama.

Chen Yuan had no time for any of that. He sat at his laptop, working steadily on the proposal — pausing now and then to light a cigarette and think, then getting back to typing.

"Done."

Just before eleven, Chen Yuan finally wrapped everything up. He closed the laptop and stretched out with a long, satisfied yawn.

He glanced at the time, then quickly headed over to the Old Pond to redeem his system rewards. Once that was taken care of, he wrapped up and headed back with his sister and the others.

Things were already finished on the small pond side. Chen Jun had waited up for them, got Yang Yangyang set up with toiletries and sorted out the guest room, then turned in for the night.

Chen Yuan wasted no time either — he was upstairs, had a quick shower, and went straight to sleep.

The next day.

After taking care of the morning session, Chen Yuan walked Yang Yangyang to the village entrance, watched him board the bus, then went back and reviewed the proposal one more time.

Everything looked good. When the timing seemed right, he hopped on his three-wheeler and headed over to the village committee.

"Uncle Bin~"

When he got to the office, Chen Wenbin had apparently just arrived himself. He was at the kettle heating up water, a few tea leaves already sitting in a cup waiting to be brewed.

"I was just about to come find you."

Chen Wenbin turned, saw Chen Yuan, and waved him in with a smile.

"You were looking for me, Uncle Bin?"

Chen Yuan walked over, set his laptop on the desk, and pulled out a cigarette, offering it across.

"Probably the same reason you’re here."

Chen Wenbin glanced at the laptop on the desk and already knew what Chen Yuan was after.

He tilted his head, lit his cigarette, took a long drag, then pulled open a drawer and produced a document, sliding it toward Chen Yuan with a jerk of his chin.

"What’s this?"

Chen Yuan took it curiously. The moment he flipped it open and read the title, he sat bolt upright, eyes sharpening.

"New Rural Construction?"

He looked up, visibly stunned.

"That’s a policy your Uncle Dong pushed for — though ’pushed for’ isn’t quite the right word. The state’s been driving rural development hard across the board, and plenty of villages have already gone through it. We were still in the pipeline, but your Uncle Dong helped bump us up."

Chen Wenbin smoked contentedly.

"This is huge."

Chen Yuan flipped through the document, his excitement growing with every page.

According to the plan, the entire village would be rebuilt with new housing, with all residents relocated to a single consolidated zone.

Just like a proper urban development.

On top of that, this particular New Rural Construction initiative was tied to the pilot project to transform Yu City Village into a tourist resort — which meant every registered resident in the village would have to vacate their current homes.

You couldn’t have some original residents still living in the middle of things and other houses sitting empty — it would wreck the visual continuity of the village and make the redevelopment a nightmare.

So this initiative had real teeth, unlike the programs in other villages where residents still had a choice.

"Dong’s vision is to turn Yu City Village into a model tourist resort. That’s why the policy’s being applied so forcefully. But that also means the terms are more favorable — more compensation, basically. For instance, villagers won’t have to pay anything for their new homes."

Chen Wenbin tapped his cigarette ash as he spoke.

Normally, under a New Rural Construction program, villagers could choose whether to take a new home or not — and if they did, they were expected to chip in a portion of the cost themselves.

Everyone building the new countryside together, after all.

But Chen Dong had managed to get that requirement waived.

"What happens to the houses belonging to people who’ve already moved their household registration out?"

Chen Yuan asked.

"They’ll have to come down. This is all tied to the resort development — there’s no way those houses stay standing. But they’ll receive compensation."

Chen Wenbin noticed the water had come to a boil and, cigarette still in his mouth, moved to brew the tea.

Chen Yuan was faster — he picked up the kettle and brewed Chen Wenbin’s tea, then grabbed a paper cup for himself, dropped a few leaves in, and let it steep.

"With this policy clearing the way, we can basically build the guesthouses however we want."

Chen Yuan said as he poured.

"The whole village is yours to work with."

Chen Wenbin nodded with a smile.

"When does construction start?"

Chen Yuan sat down with his tea, took a drag, and flicked his ash.

"This is an internal document — not public yet. It could be put on hold at any time. The only reason I got to see it early is because I’m the Party secretary of Yu City Village. I’m at the center of this whole project, so Dong made sure I was in the loop."

Chen Wenbin pressed his hand on the document, sliding it back into the drawer as he fixed Chen Yuan with a meaningful look.

Chen Yuan paused mid-drag, turning the words over in his mind. What did he mean, it could be put on hold at any time?

"The earliest this document gets its official red-header stamp is the end of the month. I think you know what that means."

Chen Wenbin let the hint hang in the air.

Chen Yuan furrowed his brow for a moment, but it only took a few seconds for everything to click into place.

This policy was Chen Dong’s way of showing his hand.

It was the beginning of his full backing.

But Chen Dong needed to see results first.

What kind of results?

The projects in the village that were about to open — the guesthouses, the Flower Sea, and everything being built at the Old Pond site, the Hot Spring Paradise, the children’s entertainment area, all of it.

If the launches went well, the document would be fast-tracked into effect. Otherwise, the best they could hope for was that it stayed on the back burner.

"I have faith in you."

Seeing the crease between Chen Yuan’s brows smooth out, Chen Wenbin knew he’d figured it out.

"Funny — so do I."

Chen Yuan grinned.

Chen Wenbin raised a finger and pointed at him. That quick mind and easy confidence — that’s what he liked about the kid.

"Make a strong start for Dong, and not only does it take a lot of pressure off him — it makes the road ahead much smoother for all of us. And when it comes time to actually build out the village, that work is going to come to us."

Chen Wenbin lifted his cup, blew on it, and took a small sip.

Chen Yuan watched him drink and couldn’t help breaking into a wide grin.

The implication couldn’t have been clearer.

Just like the landscaping and planting work before, they’d be the ones handling the New Rural Construction too.

"Uncle Bin, take a look at this."

Chen Yuan stubbed out his cigarette and quickly pulled up a file on his laptop — the village-enterprise cooperation proposal.

"Sure, let me see."

Chen Wenbin already knew what Chen Yuan had come to show him. He took the laptop and started reading carefully, and within the first few seconds his eyes had narrowed — clearly caught off guard.

About ten minutes later, Chen Wenbin finally finished.

He looked up and his first words were a measured question: "You’re sure you want to give the village a twenty percent cut of the profits?"

"Absolutely."

Chen Yuan nodded, expression serious. "Don’t worry, Uncle Bin — that twenty percent doesn’t come out of my own pocket. It’s tied to the village’s resource contribution, which will dilute everyone’s existing shares proportionally. I’ll still have full controlling interest."

He needed to spell that out, given that Wang Tao had been brought in as a front to cover the construction funding — the equity situation needed some explaining.

"The other projects are fine, but pull the fish pond out of this. That’s your own operation. There’s no reason to hand over twenty percent of that — you’d basically just be working for everyone else."

Chen Wenbin considered it and said.

He’d watched the fishing venue’s business with his own eyes. Packed every single day. Even that stretch of back-to-back thunderstorms a while back hadn’t made a dent.

At its current scale, annual profits were already in the millions. If the big pond kept up its momentum and Chen Yuan’s plans came together, tens of millions a year was well within reach.

A twenty percent cut on that would be millions, minimum.

The lease fee was pocket change by comparison.

It wasn’t worth it.

"The big pond is village land too. Structuring it this way means no lease fee — it more or less evens out."

Chen Yuan gave a light laugh. He knew exactly how much money was in play, but once it went to the village committee, how it got distributed was Uncle Bin’s business.

"It’s different."

Chen Wenbin shook his head. He wouldn’t agree to folding the fish pond into the profit-sharing arrangement. In his view, the fishing venue was Chen Yuan’s own private enterprise — a different situation entirely.

The village land and other resources, though — those were fair game for a partnership.

"Alright, I’ll go with whatever you think, Uncle Bin."

Chen Yuan didn’t push it. He stood up and opened another file on the laptop — the detailed development plan for the big pond, along with broader plans for the village.

This was meant for Chen Dong, but he wanted Uncle Bin to look it over first.

Chen Wenbin slid the laptop toward himself, then picked up the cigarette pack and passed one to Chen Yuan, took one for himself, and settled in to read the proposal carefully.

Chen Yuan was in no rush. He sat beside him, smoking quietly and waiting.

Another ten-odd minutes passed before Chen Wenbin finally pushed the laptop back to Chen Yuan, said it all looked good, and asked him to send over a copy of the file.