Chapter 793: Local Specialty, Cellar-Aged Head Qu

Sure enough, when Tian Xiaofei heard this, he flew into a rage, shouting into the microphone: "What the hell do you mean? We're here to give you money, and this is your attitude? Tell County Magistrate Su not to put on airs."

After he finished speaking, Su Yang took the phone and said, "General Manager Tian, regarding this winery investment project, on behalf of the County Party Committee and County Government, I warmly welcome your arrival."

"'But if you act high and mighty, mess around, and show no respect for our local government, then this welcome banquet would be pointless. If you want to leave now, that's fine—I, as a representative of the County Party Committee and County Government, won't let you come for nothing; at least I'll reimburse your travel expenses.'"

To others, these words might mean nothing, but to Tian Xiaofei and his group they were outright humiliation. They had come to invest with a lot of money, only to be made out like beggars—if they could be happy about that, it would be strange.

Could Tian Xiaofei dare to withdraw? He didn't dare, and Su Yang had precisely grasped this point, which is why he acted so rudely. Unable to back down, he said to the two behind him:

"'They're so clueless about gratitude—we might as well go back. With a pile of money, where couldn't we invest? Wherever we invest, they treat us like their own fathers to be waited on hand and foot. In this godforsaken place, what makes them think they're special?'"

But before his words had finished, an overseas Chinese businessman behind him said, "General Manager Tian, we've come all this way—let's still go talk. We're quite interested in this project ourselves. If you don't want to go, we won't force you; the two of us can go instead."

Tian Xiaofei was so angry his nose twisted. Being squeezed by Su Yang was bad enough, but then those two merchants gave him snide remarks.

He was about to wave them off, but then he realized these people were arranged by Jia Guolong—even if he didn't give those two face, he still had to give Jia Guolong face. Besides, letting him lower himself this time was also the clan's decision; at this point he had no choice, so he said:

"'Then, for your sakes, I'll go talk with them. Otherwise, even if you begged me, I wouldn't set foot in this backwater place.'"

Over at the cafeteria, everyone's gaze snapped to Su Yang, their eyes full of disbelief.

To put it bluntly, at this point they'd be willing to send someone to the hotel to pick them up, maybe even go themselves. This concerns the employment of thousands, and the issue has reached a critical point that cannot be delayed.

Not to mention someone of Su Yang's stature—even if the city's leaders were present, they'd probably have to rush out to greet them. But right now, they're only asking to meet at the door, and Su Yang flatly refused. Normally, what's wrong with meeting at the door? Isn't that perfectly normal?

Su Yang said, "All right, stop staring at me like that. Rest assured, they won't leave—they'll definitely come talk with us. When the time comes, just handle the relevant details; I've got this under control."

Of course—if he didn't have a plan, would he dare pull this off? He probably went to the Lieshan Xian Hotel last night to meet with Tian Xiaofei and the others.

Amid the doubtful looks of the crowd, a sweat-drenched Jiao Qiang led Tian Xiaofei and the two overseas Chinese businessmen upstairs. Everyone present stared wide-eyed—Su Yang could certainly handle the county cadres, but to also sway the investors was beyond their imagination.

Su Yang watched Tian Xiaofei walking ahead, saying nothing and even pretending not to know him. Tian Xiaofei likewise held his head high, displaying an overbearing, lofty attitude that fully showed off the distinctive bearing of Jingcheng's young elites.

Jiao Qiang introduced: "County Magistrate Su, this is General Manager Tian, and these two are the investors who came with him." Then he turned to Tian Xiaofei and said, "General Manager Tian, this is our County Magistrate Su. Because our county's situation is somewhat special, he is currently acting as the head of all county work." After that, he introduced the remaining leaders as well.

After the mutual introductions, it was time to shake hands, but Tian Xiaofei was so arrogant he didn't even offer his hand.

Su Yang gave a light smile, not minding it, and reached past Tian Xiaofei and the two others to shake hands: "Welcome, bosses, to discuss investment in our Lieshan Xian. Yesterday, with so many things going on, I couldn't make it to the hotel in time to greet you properly—I hope you'll forgive me."

The two laughed and said, "We've long heard that County Magistrate Su is young and capable, but only after meeting him do we realize he's excessively young. We're confident that under his leadership we'll surely clinch this cooperation. Oh, let me introduce myself: I'm Teng Huayuan, a director of Dahua Company, and this is my colleague Niu Aiguo, also a director of our company."

Su Yang said, "Welcome, General Manager Teng, welcome, General Manager Niu."

Then Zhou Yanru, Chen Bo, and Hou Junlai each shook hands with the two Dahua Company bosses.

After everyone sat down, Tian Xiaofei kept a stony face and stayed silent, already in a foul mood. The government's welcome banquet was actually held in the cafeteria—bad enough as it is—but one would expect the food to be better and the drinks of decent quality. We still don't know how the food turns out, but the liquor certainly isn't Maotai or Wuliangye; it's actually Shuangqu Daqu.

Seeing this, Chen Bo explained, "Please bear with us, bosses. The County Party Committee and County Government have held a standing committee meeting and clearly banned all external banquets; every banquet is held in each unit's cafeteria. Moreover, due to our county's current financial situation, we follow the principle of using local resources to entertain friends who have come from afar."

"'Shuangqu Daqu was once a well-known trademark, a table wine for thousands of households. It's also a specialty of our county—we specially took this special qu from the wine cellar to express our welcome.'"

Su Yang silently praised—indeed, a beautiful cadre sent down from the city speaks so well. Clearly these wines are unsellable, stuck in the warehouse, but coming from Chen Bo's mouth they instantly become cellar-aged fine liquor, a special brew for entertaining honored guests.

Zhou Yanru, Hou Junlai, and Li Lingyu naturally needed no comment; they just nodded repeatedly, their opinion of Chen Bo rising another notch.

Tian Xiaofei's expression improved a bit—for someone like him, face is everything. This is the finest cellar-aged brew, a local specialty; hearing it, it's not much worse than those expensive liquors, at least the basic respect has been shown.

But his newly relaxed face hadn't held for even a few minutes when the dishes arrived, and it twisted again.