Chapter 1854

Chapter 1854: Chapter 1854

At midday, the room was a battlefield, and under the display of Song Guanchao’s Eighteen Martial Arts, Qu Xiangru’s modesty had long been discarded.

More than half an hour later, Song Guanchao lay on the bed, panting, while Qu Xiangru lay beside him, her cheeks rosy and strands of hair clinging to beads of sweat, looking enchanting.

Song Guanchao moved toward the head of the bed, glanced at her, and asked, "Jiangzhou’s economy declined last year, the province must be quite dissatisfied, right?"

Qu Xiangru lifted her eyes slightly, "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Then she added, "Are you worried about your Wu Qiangwei?"

"..." Song Guanchao’s mouth twitched, he reached out and pulled her in, toying with her lightly, and was panting heavily within seconds.

Half an hour later, Qu Xiangru was completely drained, her limbs weakened.

"Does the province have any opinions about the city?" Song Guanchao asked.

"What do you think?" Qu Xiangru dared not mention "your Wu Qiangwei" again, she was a bit overwhelmed.

Song Guanchao appeared pensive; Wu Qiangwei was just appointed last year, so the economic downturn couldn’t be blamed on her, he just wondered if the Provincial Committee leaders thought the same.

"Rest assured." Qu Xiangru saw through his thoughts, saying, "She just took office, Secretary Gao and the others won’t think she’s incompetent. Before her, the Mayor was Zhou Zheng, this blame shouldn’t fall on her."

Song Guanchao thought about it and realized she was right. He smirked; this was quite good.

"But if the economy continues to decline this year, your... her days will be hard."

"Has the province’s work policy for this year been released?"

"That’s not something you should be concerned about." Qu Xiangru shook her head, "Just do your job well."

Song Guanchao didn’t press further; the work policy hadn’t been discussed in meetings yet, so it was indeed inconvenient to share with him.

Still, Song Guanchao had his own ideas for boosting the economy.

Jiangzhou’s primary pillar industry was electronic information and software, followed by petrochemicals and automotive manufacturing. In recent years, they’ve also been exploring emerging strategic pillar industries, like intelligent manufacturing equipment and the health industry, such as biomedicine.

But the real estate market’s sudden surge in the past few years shifted Jiangzhou’s focus.

Though selling land boosted the economy during those years, it also overdrew at least five years of developmental time for the future.

Now, with the overall environment sluggish, except for first-tier cities barely maintaining stability, the economy in second-tier cities like Jinling had declined last year too.

So Jiangzhou’s economic downturn last year must have some responsibility on Zhou Zheng, but pinning it all on him alone wouldn’t be fair.

The short-term most effective way to boost the economy is attracting investment and creating employment.

With employment rates up, citizens’ income stabilizes, leaving them with disposable income for consumption, entering a virtuous cycle.

He touched his chin; in terms of attracting investment, the dozens of companies he pulled from Pinghai last year could settle in this year.

A single company won’t do much, but dozens can still make a difference.

Moreover, the companies he chose were all labor-intensive, with their own factories.

Solving employment for thousands of workers is no problem just from these factories alone.

And once factories are built, the upstream and downstream industrial chains can bring numerous indirect employment opportunities too.

Song Guanchao suddenly felt a bit regretful, wishing he had attracted more companies.

Qu Xiangru had been watching him, seeing his brows furrow and relax, thinking deeply, realizing he must be worried about Jiangzhou’s economy.

No, worried about Wu Qiangwei’s political performance.

Qu Xiangru didn’t say it, but she felt a bit bitter inside.

"I need to conduct a survey after the New Year." Song Guanchao suddenly said.

"Survey what?" Qu Xiangru struck at him, "You’re a government internal affairs director, is it your place to conduct a survey?"

Song Guanchao ignored her jab, "As part of the Jiangzhou Municipal Government, it’s my responsibility to boost Jiangzhou’s economy."

"Hehe." Qu Xiangru scoffed.

"Are you mocking me?" Song Guanchao raised an eyebrow, skillfully turning over to pin her down, "Seems you’re not convinced yet, come on, let’s continue!"

"You, um..."

...

In the evening, they ordered takeaway, and after eating, Song Guanchao pulled her back to the room for more in-depth discussion.

Tomorrow was the eighth day of the new year and back to work; the time he could be close to Qu Xiangru was very limited, he couldn’t waste it.

...

The next day, Song Guanchao woke up early. Seeing it was still early, he gave Qu Xiangru a thoughtful wake-up service.

After much tossing, Qu Xiangru woke up.

They didn’t get up to dress until eight o’clock.

Concerned about being seen, Qu Xiangru left first, exiting through the underground parking lot, took a cab home, changed clothes, and then went to the Provincial Government.

Song Guanchao bought buns and soy milk, filling himself during the interval at the red light, went to the City Government, and seeing the busy atmosphere of clerks coming and going, he instantly switched into work mode.

As soon as he walked into the office, he received a call from Shu Xue, "Director Song, come to the fifth-floor conference room at nine thirty for a meeting."

"Okay."

The first day of work in the new year, there’s certainly a meeting to discuss the new year’s work plan. ℴ

At nine thirty, the conference room gathered the directors of various departments, and Wu Qiangwei had everyone speak in turn, describing this year’s work plan.

During this, Wu Qiangwei frequently glanced at her wrist, likely other matters to deal with after the meeting.

Soon, it was Song Guanchao’s turn to speak.

"Mayor Wu, I have a suggestion."

Everyone turned to him, some curled their lips disdainfully, some internally ridiculed, saying your plan is fine, why suggest anything, just trying to show off."

They only dared to grumble inside, not to say it out loud, even in private they wouldn’t dare to mock.

Wu Qiangwei asked, "What suggestion?"

Song Guanchao said, "I suggest forming a research group to conduct an assessment of the city’s industries."

Wu Qiangwei recalled what he said in Modu.

He had mentioned he had ways to boost Jiangzhou’s economy.

This survey must be his first step.

But she knew, others didn’t, proposing a survey so abruptly seemed too sudden.

"Assessment?" Wu Qiangwei appropriately showed a look of doubt.

Song Guanchao replied, "Our city faced an economic downturn for the first time in years last year; I think it’s necessary to conduct a detailed survey and prescribe the right remedy."

The gaze of others grew more peculiar toward him, feeling he was meddling like a dog chasing a mouse, taking himself too seriously.

Is it really up to you to worry about this?

Wu Qiangwei nodded slightly, asking, "Who do you need to cooperate with?"

Song Guanchao said, "Director Zhou would be enough."

Though Zhou Xingjian wasn’t sure why he took on such a troublesome task, he still immediately stated, "I will assist Director Song with all the work."

"Alright, then you focus on the survey, but don’t neglect your main duties." Wu Qiangwei reminded him.

He was, after all, the City Government Office Director, needing to coordinate communication between various bureaus, committees, and the city government. If anything went wrong, people might use it against him.

The meeting ended, Wu Qiangwei picked up her notebook, hurriedly walked out, with Shu Xue following closely.

Without looking back, Wu Qiangwei said, "Tell Wu Ming to prepare the car, we’re going to the City Committee for a meeting."

The first few days after starting work are the busiest; Wu Qiangwei has endless meetings, City Government, City Committee, and even meetings at the Provincial Government these days.