My dream connects to three thousand years later.

Chapter 85 Exclusive Management Division for Urban Renewal Areas
"Alright, then let's just assume it's true!" Madam Xue rubbed her temples, looking troubled. "Well then, Mr. Xiaozhu, I really don't understand... You don't want to go on blind dates with my daughter, and you don't want to be my husband's secretary! So what's the point of all this talk...?"

“I’ve already said, I’m an intelligence dealer! As a dealer, I naturally have to make a deal.” Chu Zhu calmly took a sip of tea, then his expression twisted for a moment. Although it wasn’t the first time he’d drunk it, he still couldn’t get used to this kind of classical tea!

Damn it! In the real world, he only drinks milk tea!!
"I gave you two pieces of information, which indirectly prevented the Xue family from suffering a major blow... Don't look at me like that. Even if this matter had been leaked, it would have been a good thing if it had only severely weakened you!"

Chu Zhu patiently analyzed, "The capital has always disliked the Jiangnan region. Do you think they sent judges here to uphold justice? Who are they trying to fool? The taxes paid by Jiangnan in the past two years are only 50% or 60% of what they were twenty years ago! They've dropped so quickly, do they really think the emperor can't see it? Do they really think the emperor is a great benefactor?"

"Yes, yes, the Xue family will feel very innocent, after all, this matter doesn't seem to have much to do with you. In the current environment, there isn't much profit in manufacturing. If you pay all the taxes according to regulations, you will definitely go bankrupt... The biggest reason is those people in the First District who play financial operations... But who told you to let your flaws be exposed?"

"Anyway, if the capital finds out about this, they'll be in for a lot of trouble! And coincidentally, the Great Qian Dynasty is facing a fiscal deficit this year."

At this point, Chu Zhu showed an ambiguous expression.

Actually, this matter is unlikely to shake Lu Jin's position... However, the emperor can use this to make a fortune, then severely punish, manipulate, and, well, bestow favors upon Lu Jin. For the emperor, this is a win-win situation!
"But...we can't confirm it yet..."

"Wake up! You can't see how you rose from humble beginnings to this point?" Chu Zhu laughed. "And please stop asking for evidence... I've really laid out the evidence in front of you. How much is this intelligence worth?"

What are you thinking? The price is this precisely because there's no evidence! If there were real evidence, I'd ask for a hundred times more, and you'd have to accept it even if it was thrown right in front of you!

"...How much money do you want?" Madam Xue took a deep breath, forcibly calming her agitated blood. This kid, his words are really annoying...but there's nothing she can do about it!
Furthermore, if this is true, one would even owe a huge favor afterward...

"Give me money? Are you kidding me?" Chu Zhu looked at Madam Xue speechlessly. "Can money solve this kind of problem?"

Madam Xue: “…”

"To put it bluntly, even if you gave me all the assets and funds that the Xue family has invested in Jinghai City... as long as my information is true, you wouldn't lose out on this deal, and you would even make a huge profit."

Chu Zhu curled her lips. After all, if the emperor really found something to use against you... even if he blew up half of your gold coins, it would be considered that the emperor was kind-hearted... even if he confiscated all your assets, you wouldn't have anything to say!
Lady Snow remained silent.

"What we're exchanging," Chu Zhu looked at Lu Jin and held up three fingers, "is three things you can do!"

Lu Jin's expression turned serious, but she did not immediately refuse; instead, she listened attentively.

"Firstly, I want to enter the official system through this assessment, and I don't want to take up any of the original slots—it's unfair to the other candidates who took the exam with me to compete for those slots! Anyway, I've passed the assessment, so it shouldn't be difficult for you to pull some strings."

Lu Jin's expression was subtle. What kind of condition was this? Or was it just a prelude to the real sadness to come?
"My second condition is that I hope you can push forward... well, it's the decision you made at the meeting half a month ago, but which ultimately came to nothing for various reasons: the proposal to establish a dedicated management agency for shantytown redevelopment areas..."

Lu Jin: "...?"

No, you know about this too?!
There were only three people present at the meeting. Who told you that?
"Wait a minute! What good will this do you?" Lu Jin sensed something was wrong. After all, if the management of the shantytown renovation area were really made more standardized, it would actually weaken the power of the trade union!

This is something that Mr. Zhu, the uncrowned king of the shantytown renovation area, absolutely cannot accept!
In fact, the reason why it ended without a result was because the union had already occupied the ecological niche of the official management of the shantytown renovation area... It's not that the government can't forcibly requisition it, but the problem is that when there was no order before, you didn't deal with it, but after an order was established, you started to reap the benefits.

Aren't they afraid the union will stage a protest, or even a bigger one... If this really causes chaos in the city, and the cause is traced back afterward, several deputy district-level leaders will be arrested! It might even shake the prestige of the person who first proposed it.

“So,” Chu Zhu said with a smile, “my third condition is that I have successfully entered the official system and become one of our own. In addition, I have made a lot of contributions, and my status is special enough. According to the rules of handling special cases specially, I should be able to be promoted to… the position of Director of the Special Management Department, right?”

Lu Jin's eyes widened slowly.

Chu Zhu continued speaking eloquently, "Moreover, according to the records in the founding jade edict of the Great Qian Dynasty, anything that appears for the first time can be handled specially and investigated at designated locations... There is a lot of room for discussion regarding the system of this exclusive management department!"

"For example, temporarily centralizing personnel management authority in shantytown redevelopment areas under the management department..."

"..." Lu Jin remained silent for a long, long time, and he understood the other party's subtext.

Finally, he downed the now-cold tea in one gulp and said, "You little rascal, you want to get the union officially recognized, huh?"

Lu Jin finally understood the true thoughts of the person in front of him. He could only say... he was truly shocked!
He was now starting to believe that the information the person in front of him hadn't simply come from the workers and poor people in the shantytown redevelopment area—because there was a lot of outrageous information involved, which would only be possible if someone in the upper echelons had access to it!

Yes, but it's only a possibility.

Most importantly, after much deliberation, Lu Jin realized that this matter could only be successfully implemented if it was discussed with him...

If it were anyone else in Jinghai City, even the former head of the government, or the remaining supervisor of the Jinghai City Three-Person Meeting, they would never agree!
Because Lu Jin was the only one who took action to address the issue of the shantytown redevelopment area!
"...Or perhaps we should discuss the Xue family's investments in Jinghai?" Madam Xue hesitated, speechless. She now felt that even transferring this astronomical sum of assets to Chu Zhu might be easier than pushing this matter through...

"No, no, no, this is a good thing!" Chu Zhu said with a smile. "If we can really bring the shantytown redevelopment areas under the system, then... this will be a great achievement for you, Lao Lu! If I remember correctly, you're running for that position, right?"

"After all, the shantytown redevelopment areas are scattered throughout various parts of Jinghai City and are notorious for their instability! It is something that Jinghai City, and even the Great Qian Dynasty, has always wanted to solve, but has simply no way to do so... especially in the Jingjiang area, after the union integrated the shantytown redevelopment areas into a whole."

"Yes, appointing me as director and allowing me to promote people at will... it seems like they've granted me control of the shantytown redevelopment area?" Chu Zhu paused slightly before asking, "But doesn't the shantytown redevelopment area now belong to me? To put it another way, this actually gives the government control over the shantytown redevelopment area!"

Although Chu Zhu never considered the entire shantytown redevelopment area as his private property, that did not prevent him from using it as a basis for his argument.

"At the same time, as time goes by, as long as the policies provided by the government are in place and as long as the government does not deliberately discriminate, then it will naturally be able to gradually win the hearts of the people in the shantytown renovation area and truly integrate the shantytown renovation area into Jinghai City."

"At that time, Jinghai City was the only large city in Daqian that had developed large-scale industry but had no unstable factors or slums... cough cough, I mean, a city without shantytown redevelopment areas! At that time, Jingjiang would be a national model, and you would naturally be a nationally renowned reform star!" In essence, shantytown redevelopment areas are slums... but Daqian had specifically issued an order not to use the term "slum."

and so……

"...What you say sounds wonderful!" Lu Jin wasn't blinded by his emotions. He calmly said, "But there's a condition: you have to be truly willing to cooperate with me and the authorities, and not cause trouble for me behind my back after the organization is established!"

"Old Lu, have you forgotten something?" Chu Zhu looked at Lu Jin strangely. "You don't think I'm trying to persuade you to accept my proposal, do you? I'm not your advisor!"

"?" Lu Jin suddenly realized, "That's right, this is the content of the deal they made with me... not advice they gave me..."

"It's already quite good that this deal has reached a consensus between the interests of both parties... I haven't made things difficult for you, what more do you want? As for your feeling that there is risk, that's laughable. Even if this management office is not established, I can go back and give an order to cause another big riot by the union, just like before, even with bloodshed... then you'll be out of trouble? You'll be out of risk?"

Lu Jin: "..."

What you said makes so much sense; he was speechless.

After a brief moment of bewilderment, Lu Jin silently clenched his fist beneath his sleeve, his emotions growing increasingly complex.

How could someone be so capable... It's one thing to build such a vast empire from scratch, but to also easily achieve perfect scores in assessments, their knowledge is beyond question—after all, even university students would find the assessments for officials quite challenging...

Needless to say, his speaking and persuasive abilities were so impressive that even someone of his stature was convinced...

However, while praising and being amazed by the other party's abilities, Lu Jin felt somewhat aggrieved.

Even though it's already quite perfect... the biggest problem is that it's too perfect.

This proposal was thrown out entirely by the other party... it wasn't part of his plan at all!
It was so perfect that even if he were asked to intervene and make changes, it would be impossible.

So, who's the leader here, you or me? If you were really going to bow down and call me father-in-law, that would be one thing, but you just...

Finally, Lu Jin made up her mind.

Agreeing is necessary, after all, it's a condition of the deal... but we also need to add some twists and turns, so that the other party doesn't think he's someone who's so easily persuaded and has no opinions of his own.

"Okay! But even if it's established, I can only give you a position of the ninth rank at most. And the people under you can only serve as clerks! Moreover, the number of clerks cannot exceed thirty."

Chu Zhu raised an eyebrow. Logically speaking, the total area of ​​the shantytown redevelopment zone isn't smaller than an entire district! And with hundreds of thousands of people, it's comparable to a large district…

Even if the establishment of such a Jinghai agency is not directly comparable to the district-level government offices of the First, Second, or even Third Districts, it should at most be one level lower than them.

However, the ninth rank... that's the lowest rank in the nine-rank official system! It's simply not commensurate with the authority to manage such a large population in Jinghai City.

And officials... needless to say!
Officials have no official rank. Not to mention there are only thirty positions available... Who is this shivering about? The number of officials in the Third District is almost ten thousand.

Thirty people managing hundreds of thousands?!
Regarding this…

"No problem," Chu Zhu agreed readily. It was good that this door had been opened; once inside, the possibilities were endless… If she wanted to improve her rating in the future, there would be countless methods…

To put it bluntly, if Chu Zhu thought that Lu Jin agreed that day, and the organization was subsequently entered into the official system, the labor union would be directly transformed into a dedicated shantytown renovation management department—

The next day, Chu Zhu was able to use various methods to persuade the old ruling party, and even people in Tianjing, to raise the management department's rating by one level every year! All the way up to a position that could match the size of the shantytown renovation area.

“…You.” Lu Jin was speechless for a moment, glanced at Chu Zhu, and moved his lips a few times.

“Alright, Lao Lu.” Madam Xue suddenly spoke up, placing Bai Yingying’s hand on the back of Lu Jin’s hand. “I remember you said before that the interview should be kept under half an hour! But now, the time is almost over… Are you planning to postpone the next meeting? I have no objection, but you should at least tell Xiao Song!”

Lu Jin opened his eyes, followed his wife's gaze to look at his daughter, and instantly realized what was going on. He went along with it, "Alright... then so be it!"

"Okay, Xiaoxue, your mom and I will be leaving now... You should go home soon! Of course, if you really can't go home... it would be good to give us a call!"

Lu Jin took Madam Xue's hand, stood up, and quickly walked towards the door.

Lu Muxue was left standing there, completely bewildered and confused. How come martial law has been lifted again?
Didn't you always keep a very strict eye on her?

Wait! Could it be...?

Lu Muxue wasn't truly stupid; she realized something, gasped, and turned to look at Chu Zhu in astonishment.

"What are you looking at me for? Aren't you leaving now?" Chu Zhu rolled his eyes and got up to stretch. He said, "Are you really here to go on a blind date?"

(End of this chapter)