Chapter 1286: The University Student Inspection Group

Song Yunping was very happy.

In fact, she had already been very happy before boarding the train home. After getting on the train, watching the different scenery outside the window, she became even happier.

"Classmate He Xiaoping, we're about to go home, to see your husband and your relatives; you must be very happy right now," a female classmate leaned over, saying with a giggle.

Song Yunping smiled and said, "I was happy even before getting on the train. Wang Yan wrote to tell me that Jin Ling has changed greatly, and everyone's life is getting better and better. You all should take a good look; if you can truly stay in Jin Ling in the future, that would be wonderful."

"Your husband is very capable; the state has commended him several times. Nowadays, when talking about economic development, besides Guangdong Province and Shanghai, people definitely mention your Jin Ling. They are truly wealthy and powerful; I heard there are over three hundred people this time?"

"Some quotas were added later; including the faculty and staff from various schools, there are now over four hundred people."

"Your Jin Ling is truly rich," the female classmate exclaimed once again.

Song Yunping said, "It's not about being rich; it's about valuing talent. Jin Ling's development cannot be separated from outstanding talents. Only with talents can our development become better and faster. That is why so much money was spent, to let university students truly understand Jin Ling, stay in Jin Ling, and build Jin Ling."

"Your ideological awareness is also very high, Classmate He Xiaoping."

"It's all what Wang Yan said; I follow my husband wherever he goes, like a chicken marrying a chicken or a dog marrying a dog."

"Is Jin Ling really that good..."

More and more people joined the chat; both hard-sleeper carriages were filled with the first cohort of university students from Peking University since the restoration of the college entrance exam. Once the topic was started, everyone began discussing freely, making it very lively.

Of course, the conversation still revolved around Jin Ling, ranging from major national policies to various actions taken there, leading to many speculations about Jin Ling's future...

Due to the lack of direct trains, the Peking University students transferred at the provincial capital, then arrived in the city, where they met up with students from Anyun University and the Institute of Technology.

They rested in the city for a while; the textile mill had booked several state-run restaurants there, serving all local specialty dishes. The hospitality was very thorough; everyone ate and drank without spending a penny, and all were quite happy.

Song Yunping finally saw her younger brother, Song Yunhui.

"Xiaohui, have you been well?"

"I'm doing fine. But what about you, Sister? It's been a year; have you adapted to life over there?"

"I'm doing fine too. You know very well that with your brother-in-law causing such a huge stir at our school, how could I not be doing well? It's just that studying is somewhat strenuous; I can barely keep up."

"University knowledge is indeed much more difficult. But it doesn't matter, Sister; you will definitely learn well. University wasn't easy to get into either, yet you still got into Peking University, so you must have confidence."

Song Yunping smiled and said, "Your brother-in-law said something similar; he told me not to rush and not to overexert myself. Whatever I learn belongs to me; as long as I strive to make progress every day, that is enough. He also said I shouldn't fear failing to meet grade requirements or being unable to graduate; as long as I study steadfastly, I will surely complete my studies successfully."

"He also said that university is not the endpoint of learning, but the starting point. Many people, after graduating from university, stop delving into scholarship and give up learning; this is wrong..."

"What he said makes a lot of sense," Song Yunhui nodded, then beckoned, "Let's get on the bus, Sister; we can talk more when we get home."

"Home!" Song Yunping replied, shouldering her bag and boarding the bus together with Song Yunhui.

Due to a shortage of large buses, the textile mill negotiated with the city and chartered dozens of city buses for transport. The university students had no objections; after all, conditions were poor for everyone at this time, and with so many of them, they all boarded the buses happily, proceeding in a mighty procession toward Jin Ling County.

"The road is really finished."

Sitting inside the bus, feeling the smoothness of the asphalt road, someone couldn't help but remark with a smile.

"Didn't they say this road was approved right after the inspection team left last year? It's been over half a year now; for less than fifty kilometers, it should definitely have been completed by now."

Song Yunhui said, "It's still good that the road was built; riding in the car is much more comfortable. Before, it was so bumpy; one trip could shake you half to death. Moreover, I've noticed there are more vehicles on the road now, all cargo trucks transporting goods. He is truly formidable; developing this fast in just two years. Look, Sister, that person riding a bicycle is smiling so happily; they must be a factory worker going into the city to handle some business."

"Yes, he is truly leading the people of Jin Ling toward socialism."

Song Yunping couldn't help but sigh with emotion; Wang Yan was truly putting his ideals into practice. No matter when, such a person commands respect.

And thinking further that such a person is her own husband, and that she too will eventually follow in his footsteps, striving together for the goal of a socialist Jin Ling County, Song Yunping felt nothing but pride and honor...

The distance was not far; on the wide asphalt road, it took only a little over half an hour for the university students to arrive in Jin Ling County.

They discovered with surprise that along the entire route to the guesthouse, it was all asphalt roads. Beyond this road, the asphalt still extended. At the intersections connecting to the asphalt roads, only a few were asphalt; most were cement roads. But regardless, even the brick-and-stone roads were far better than muddy, dilapidated dirt roads.

At the same time, everywhere within sight was basically construction sites; looking into the distance, one could see various materials piled up in open spaces.

On the roads, many people were riding bicycles. Those walking in groups also had smiles overflowing on their faces, chatting and laughing in a relaxed manner. There was not the slightest feeling of lethargy or listlessness caused by the scorching heat of midsummer.

The whole place exuded a vigorous vitality; one could clearly feel that Jin Ling's state was different from elsewhere...

Although the masses at this time were full of drive and very spirited, the overall state of the people of Jin Ling was on yet another level.

The bus came to a steady stop, and the university students disembarked one after another.

Wang Yan stood at a high place, holding a loudhailer: "Students, comrades, hello everyone. You all remember me, right? You all wanted to come see Jin Ling, to see whether I, Wang Yan, only talk big without any real skill."

"There's no need to rush. After the long journey by boat and cart, everyone should rest well today. We will also communicate with the leading teachers from each school regarding the itinerary and the inspection activities, which will officially begin tomorrow. See whatever you want to see, ask whatever you want to ask. Of course, our factory also has secrets, as these are what make our people prosperous; things that are too confidential certainly cannot be disclosed, but for the vast majority, we can provide answers."

"Alright, the weather is quite hot, so I won't talk nonsense. Let's get settled first; meals are already prepared. Eat and drink well, get a good night's sleep. Hurry up, get all the rooms arranged."

After such a brief speech, the personnel who had long been arranged led the university student inspection group to check in; during the process, of course, some matters were explained, such as whom to contact if any problems arose...

Wang Yan then walked to the side, smiling warmly as he looked at the Song siblings.

"You're back."

"We're back!" Song Yunping nodded with a smile, her eyes full of tenderness.

Wang Yan reached out and took Song Yunping's backpack: "How is it? Does it look unfamiliar?"

Song Yunhui said, "We weren't from the county town to begin with; my sister only stayed in the county town for four months, so it was already unfamiliar to her."

"You don't know how to speak; you should say, 'Brother-in-law, you are truly amazing; in just two short years, you've achieved today's situation: the people in the county town are stable, life is affluent, spirits are high, and we are not far from realizing socialism.'"

Seeing Song Yunhui rendered speechless and choked up, Song Yunping smiled and said, "Actually, Xiaohui did say something like that before. Although not exactly the same, the meaning was about the same."

"I understand; he gets shy when meeting face-to-face," Wang Yan smiled, then beckoned, "Let's go, home; Mom and Dad are waiting."

Wang Yan drove the car, carrying his wife and his younger brother-in-law and sister-in-law pair, chatting and laughing all the way back home.

Their current home was, of course, no longer the previous small bungalow, but a newly built staff apartment building; this was located near the original textile mill, still some distance away from the central area of the county town.

The entire plan was to leave the current cluster of small bungalows in the county town untouched for now. Initially, buildings would be constructed around these structures to carry out the county town's expansion construction.

The small bungalows would serve as temporary residences for newly arrived urban workers, to be demolished later, with functional buildings such as shopping malls, libraries, and museums built in their place. Of course, there were also plans for new office locations for various government departments, including the new county government and the Gongan Bureau. However, these would all be constructed last.

Regarding this point, the county cadres still had a consensus. At this time, it was not yet the moment for government personnel to enjoy themselves; having a place to handle affairs and work was sufficient, and there was no need to occupy funds in the early stages.

Even among the county's staff, some were quite dissatisfied that the workers had moved into apartment buildings first while they were still living in bungalows, but absolutely no one dared to express it. If asked, the answer was simply about carrying forward the style and demonstrating the ideological awareness expected of a Party member...

Indeed, it was currently impossible to settle everyone properly; buildings were not being constructed quickly, but the speed of rural population moving into the city was not slow. Therefore, housing could only be freed up little by little, and people recruited into the city little by little.

Only when the newly arrived urban population could directly move into apartment buildings would this large area of bungalows in the center of the county town be demolished.

At the same time, there were no disputes whatsoever, no troubles whatsoever, and no nail households whatsoever.

Because the houses in the county were all distributed by the factory, no one held property rights. And the various factories in the county were state-owned enterprises under county jurisdiction, belonging to ownership by the whole people. And ownership by the whole people is led by the Party; at the national level, this means the Party Central Committee and the State Council, while in Jin Ling County, it lies with the County Committee and the County Government.

Therefore, as long as a destination is found for the people, they must move when told to move, and demolition can happen whenever declared...

Once the car was parked and the three had disembarked, they saw a household on the first floor open their balcony door to welcome them out.

"Dad! Mom!" The Song siblings called out to their biological parents; seeing each other again after a year, everyone was overjoyed.

"You must be exhausted from riding in the car all the way? Hurry inside and rest; my dishes will be ready shortly," Mother Song said, ushering her son and daughter indoors.

They naturally went into Wang Yan's large eighty-five-square-meter apartment, where the first thing the Song siblings, Song Yunping and Song Yunhui, did was inspect the interior condition of the house.

If calculated according to the future Yan Suan Fa which includes shared public areas, Wang Yan's western-style house would measure one hundred square meters, and a high-rise would be one hundred twenty square meters; with the balcony area not even counted, the actual living experience was quite good.

It was a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment; the decoration was not particularly luxurious, merely simply painted and fitted with wooden flooring. This was the standard decoration for leadership residences, whereas ordinary workers had marble flooring installed.

The soft furnishings were acquired separately, yet there wasn't much—just built beds, cabinets, and the like; against the living room wall stood bookshelves packed densely with books, along with a sofa and a coffee table, and beyond that, there was nothing else.

The house where Father Song and Mother Song lived was even simpler, a fifty-five-square-meter one-bedroom unit; Wang Yan had installed a few cabinets and placed a sofa as well, so there was nothing else there either.

After looking around, they finally sat down to talk.

"The house is really built quite nicely," Song Yunhui said, patting the soft and comfortable sofa. "If this is just within this staff housing complex, it's truly no different from being in the city. This sofa is made so soft; did the factory make it?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "The workers had a need. Originally, I intended for them to pool their resources, but with so many people ordering so much furniture, there wasn't enough timber nor enough carpenters, and since we will be building more houses in the future and workers will still need to buy, what do you suggest we do?

With no other choice, the factory opened a furniture plant, centralized the procurement of timber, and recruited many carpenters to join the factory. We have cabinets, beds, sofas, and so on, all in different styles. We even opened a store right on our street; workers can just go there and select what they need."

"Brother-in-law, you aren't planning to sell furniture permanently, are you?"

"You do have keen eyes," Wang Yan said, nodding with a smile. "The city is also going to build apartment blocks for its workers, plus there is normal turnover, so this business is still viable. After quite a bit of effort, we opened a furniture store in the city. Surprisingly, business is quite good."

"But doesn't the city already have a furniture factory?"

"Of course it does; we release new styles, and they immediately copy them. Copying isn't enough for them; they also lower their prices. But it doesn't matter; the masses still recognize our Jin Ling brand. Indeed, there has been considerable impact, but those who need to buy will still buy. This is exactly what I have always emphasized: building our Jin Ling brand.

You know about foreign luxury goods; why can they sell for such high prices? It isn't for any other reason, but simply because of the brand. For the same item, with the same craftsmanship, a luxury brand can sell it at double the price. What are they selling? Status, a symbol of wealth. This is a field of study, psychology; if you're interested, you can look it up in books."

"I'm not interested," Song Yunhui said, shaking his head.

Song Yunping smiled slightly and asked her biological parents beside her: "Dad, Mom, have you adapted well since moving here?"

"At first, we truly weren't accustomed to it, but it's been several months now. Your father is at the health clinic, and I've planted the courtyard ground and tidied up the house. Wang Yan keeps an eye on things; everything is going very well, so you two need not worry."

Seeing both siblings looking over, Wang Yan smiled and waved his hand: "A son-in-law is half a son; since I have no father or mother, isn't that just making me a full son? We are all one family, so you two siblings need not speak such unnecessary words."

Song Yunping did not say thank you again, but instead asked: "With all these university students just arriving, plus so many faculty and staff, don't you need to accompany them?"

"At noon, our factory and the county government will jointly communicate with them regarding subsequent arrangements. Then, around four o'clock in the afternoon, I still have to give a speech at the county auditorium to introduce the overall situation of our county to the university students, discuss the changes we've made over these past two years, and exchange ideas with everyone. After the meeting concludes, I will dine with them in the evening. That is when I will truly be accompanying them to eat and drink."

"Do my sister and I still need to go?"

Hearing Song Yunhui's question, Wang Yan glanced sideways: "Those include your alumni; if you don't go to fulfill your duties as a host, would that be appropriate? He Xiaoping, you just rest; your husband will entertain them on your behalf."

"I think I'll go anyway," Song Yunping said with a laugh, looking at Song Yunhui's speechless, choked-up expression.

"As you wish."

Soon, the meal was ready, and the long-separated family ate and drank together; although they frequently exchanged letters and generally knew each other's circumstances, they still happily discussed all sorts of things that had happened over the past year.

Song Yunping lamented how difficult the university courses were; Song Yunhui said that because Wang Yan had gone to the school, he himself had been exposed, gaining quite a famous reputation on campus which caused him some trouble; he also mentioned that some classmates had had their labels removed and asked about the situation here in Jin Ling. Wang Yan gave them a reassuring pill, saying that before the end of the year, the labels would definitely be removed.

In fact, this was information County Head Xu had revealed to Wang Yan. As Wang Yan's father-in-law and mother-in-law, it was clearly unreasonable for them to still bear disciplinary sanctions; everyone had long wanted to remove their labels. It was Wang Yan who held things back, considering certain impacts, choosing not to handle it as a special case but rather following normal procedures.

This was a major matter for which Beijing had issued clear directives, and the county had been advancing it in an orderly manner. Although the textile factory had rapidly developed the economy, making the entire county's situation appear exceptionally good, in reality, it was not so.

Take the simplest example: regarding quotas for entering the textile factory, in the villages, the vast majority of families wearing labels were unable to receive any allocation. Only when circumstances were truly dire and village cadres possessed a bit of conscience would they relinquish a single quota.

As for some of the monetary transactions involved, there is no need to elaborate; Wang Yan had heard in the county just how rampant these activities were in the villages below, though he simply hadn't had the time to deal with them recently.

Once the university students were sent off, the next step would be to deal with these village cadres and the village bullies...

The situation for Father Song and Mother Song was, of course, good; no one would make things difficult for them. Wang Yan arranged jobs and allocated housing for them; throughout the entire factory, including within the county, not a single person uttered an extra word of complaint.

Whether there were grievances, Wang Yan was unclear, but overall, everyone accepted it. Although Wang Yan had taken advantage, there was no doubt that this was a tragic matter...

Yet Father Song and Mother Song smiled very happily, repeatedly saying it was all due to Wang Yan, and that without Wang Yan, they would not have their good life today.

These words, in fact, were spoken at the dinner tables of many households, especially by this group of people in the county town, who spoke them with the most sincere hearts...

After finishing lunch, clearing away the kitchen waste, and cleaning up, Song's parents returned to their own house, and Song Yunhui, being very sensible, picked a few books from the bookshelf and left.

Song Yunping looked at Wang Yan with eyes full of emotion and said, "I missed you!"

"How much did you miss me?"

"Very much."

"Where did you miss me?"

"Everywhere!"

She actively moved forward and embraced Wang Yan...