Chapter 441 The Ugly Duckling (Subscribe for monthly tickets)
Zhang Yunqi felt that he was very grown up.

But Ji Ling's weird questions left him speechless. Given this girl's personality, he really didn't know whether Ji Ling had grown up.

What else could he do?

Let's wait until she feels she's grown up.

Zhang Yunqi stayed in Yunxi for five days and prepared to return to Jiangchuan.

Ji Ling wanted to stay in Yunxi for a while, mainly because her home was in Lizhen, and there was nothing to do in Jiangchuan. When university started, Zhang Yunqi would go to Lizhen to pick her up.

The next day, after lunch, Zhang Yunqi drove away from his hometown Yunxi and returned to the city. On the way to Shuixie Yundu with Xiaoxiao, he saw the billboards on the side of the road covered with slogans and related introductions of the Jiangchuan City Night Market Cultural Festival.

Zhang Yunqi suddenly remembered that the Yuxianli Night Market in Jiangchuan would open for business tomorrow.

This night market was approved by the municipal government and is franchised by Zhangji Catering under United Times. It is supervised by the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and is the first officially regulated night market in Jiangchuan City.

The city attaches great importance to this project.

Yang Jiarong hopes to build the Yuxianli Night Market, linking the 2200-year-old Yuxian Street with the Chunjiang River, to create Jiangchuan City's first tourism brand, and make it a "top landmark" for the province's nightlife and economy, promote secondary and tertiary industry employment in Jiangchuan and make up for consumption shortcomings, and achieve a balance in the three aspects of vendor production needs, residents' livability and government management.

When Zhang Yunqi got into trouble, he was taken away for investigation. The Yuxianli Night Market project went through a lot of twists and turns and almost became an unfinished project.

The merchants who had already paid high deposits to Zhangji Catering were panicked and all crowded into Zhangji Catering's office to demand the return of the deposit, because everyone knew that once Zhang Yunqi and Yang Jiarong fell, the project would fail, and even if it did, it would 100% not fall into Zhangji Catering's hands.

Zhang Yunfeng followed Yu Lin's advice at the time and swallowed his anger. He borrowed two million yuan from his sister Qiulan and settled the debt.

However, God did not abandon us, and Zhang Yunqi turned the danger into safety.

The day after he came out, Zhangji Catering's almost paralyzed investment promotion plan was completed almost overnight.

All the merchants who had demanded a refund of their deposits returned, but Zhang Yunfeng unceremoniously left them aside and gave priority to other merchants. Those who had refunded their deposits wanted to take over the business and raised the rent. This twists and turns not only proved the attractiveness of the Yuxianli Night Market project itself, but also indirectly reflected the influence of the Zhang family in Jiangchuan.

After completing the work of attracting investors for the night market, the next step was naturally to promote and prepare for the opening. Zhang Yunqi was busy with the Aihua Electronics project and did not participate in this matter. He asked Lianzhong to help. Most of the people in Lianzhong's marketing department were old employees who had started a business with him since the Subor learning machine. They understood Zhang Yunqi's thoughts very well and developed an operation plan to rely on the Yuxianli Night Market to carry out the 1995 Jiangchuan City's first Night Market Cultural Festival.

The theme is: Gather at the Spring River and light up the mountain city at night!
Yang Jiarong was quite satisfied.

Zhang Yunfeng planned to rely on this operation plan and spend money to advertise on the provincial TV station, but was rejected by Zhang Yunqi.

This is a project that needs to be operated continuously. Marketing and promotion should be carried out in a steady stream. There is no need to spend money lavishly. For night markets, the sustainability of influence is the most important. In later generations, he has seen too many street market projects that were hyped up as soon as they were launched, but after a period of excitement, they became less popular day by day.

Of course, necessary publicity is still necessary, and Yang Jiarong attaches great importance to this project and hopes that it will be grand. Around this publicity plan, the city’s propaganda department has concentrated on some advertising offensives, and Jiangchuan TV station and newspapers have also worked hard, broadcasting news related to the cultural festival and Yuxianli Night Market every day.

The news is very positive.

For example, during the investment promotion period, Zhangji Catering cooperated with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to handle low-interest and low-rate entry loans for merchants, provide door-to-door point-to-point financial services, and launch night financial services.

For example, there is news that the Yuxianli Night Market appropriately reduces or exempts rents and deposits for vendors such as those receiving five guarantees and the disabled, giving them preferential treatment in starting businesses there.

There is also news about issues such as solving the problem of occupying the road for business and effectively alleviating disputes, oil smoke, noise pollution and other problems caused by illegal street stalls.

The city's night market and Zhangji Catering also invited some unknown minor celebrities, and together with the city's art troupe, they planned to hold a song and dance performance and a fireworks show in the big square in the center of Yuxianli Night Market on the opening night of the cultural festival.

With waves of advertising, the hottest topic on the streets of the city during the month of August was the soon-to-open Yuxianli Night Market and Jiangchuan’s first Night Market Cultural Festival, and citizens were all looking forward to it.

Zhang Yunqi thought about this and drove home.

As soon as I parked the car, my cell phone rang.

He answered the phone. It was the fat guy Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Tian Zhuangzhuang said, "Boss Zhang, the university is about to start. Do you want to get together with your old classmates? Have a farewell dinner?"

It has only been over a month since he graduated from high school, but Zhang Yunqi already feels like a long time has passed. Hearing the fat man's voice, it sounded a bit friendly: "Sure, when?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang said: "The last round of cheap squad leader Lin Xueqing's suggestion is tomorrow night, the location is Yuxianli Night Market. Tomorrow happens to be the official opening of the city's night market, and there will be a large-scale event in Yuxianli, so it will be lively."

Zhang Yunqi nodded and said yes, and asked, "Which restaurant?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang said: "Lin Xueqing recommends the Shangongguan Restaurant. The food is good and the quality is not low. I just don't know if it suits your taste, Boss Zhang. Also, it's hard to book a restaurant in Yuxianli now..."

Zhang Yunqi thought that students just like to join in the fun. If it were him, he would never be interested in going to Yuxianli to experience the crowd. The cultural festival will open tomorrow, and Yuxianli will definitely be crowded. It will not be easy for students to book a restaurant for a meal. However, since everyone has already decided, there is no point in opposing it.

He said, "I'll book the hotel."

After hanging up the phone with Tian Zhuangzhuang, Zhang Yunqi called his elder brother Zhang Yunfeng. He didn't know what Shangongguan restaurant it was, but these catering businesses were all under the unified management of Zhangji Catering. He asked his elder brother Zhang Yunfeng to say hello to the owner of that Shangongguan restaurant and book the whole place for tomorrow. After thinking about it, he asked his elder brother to help book a big KTV room.

After dealing with this small matter, Zhang Yunqi turned around and was about to walk into the courtyard when he saw Chu Jian and Chun Lan walking towards him from the side, holding books. The two girls were talking and laughing.

When he first saw Zhang Yunqi, he said, "You're back, Yunqi."

Zhang Yunqi nodded and told Chu Jian about the farewell dinner for Class 156 tomorrow.

Chu Jian thought about it, nodded and agreed. The three of them went home.

Mother Zhang was cooking dinner. When she saw Zhang Yunqi coming back, she asked him about his father and the villa building in the village.

After dinner, I went back to the room to rest.

The next morning, Zhang Yunqi went to the city to discuss the Aihua Electronics large-scale production base with Yang Jiarong.

He hopes that the city can introduce policies as soon as possible to expropriate land, change the nature of land, and speed up land consolidation and infrastructure construction, which are the so-called "three connections and one leveling", "six connections and one leveling", or "nine connections and one leveling".

This piece of land belongs to the first-level development, which requires government-led operation. Only after the "raw land" is turned into "mature land" that can be used, Aiwa Electronics can enter the site, acquire the land through bidding, auction and other forms, pay the industrial land transfer fee, and then carry out secondary development and build a large-scale production base on it.

Today is the opening day of the Cultural Festival, and Yang Jiarong will attend in person. He is quite busy, but he still patiently listened to Zhang Yunqi's opinions, and finally waved his hand and said: "After the Cultural Festival, I will personally take charge of the Aihua Electronics large base to ensure the progress of land acquisition, approval and transfer, so as not to affect your production."

At this point, Yang Jiarong said, "Yuxianli is also your project. It officially opens today and the cultural festival is about to start. Why don't I see your name on the guest list?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "I will go too, but there is a class reunion tonight. We are graduating from high school, and this may be the last time for many of my classmates to meet. I can't miss it."

Yang Jiarong laughed: "We are young students, full of vigor and vitality. I understand!"

After a brief chat, both of them had something to do, so when Zhang Yunqi left Yang Jiarong's office and drove back home, it was already afternoon.

He rested for a while and waited for Chu Jian to come back.

Her little face was flushed and there was sweat on her forehead, as if she had been busy with something and had just rushed back. Zhang Yunqi originally thought that she had gone to make up lessons, but from this perspective it didn't seem like that, so he didn't ask.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhang Yunqi called Tian Zhuangzhuang and told him that he was ready to leave. After hanging up the phone, he took Chu Jian with him to Yuxianli.

I didn't drive a Mercedes because I was afraid that the crowds would make it impossible to get in or out.

He took Chujian there on his bicycle.

The bicycle crossed Xiangshan Road and passed the intersection of Sheqiao City. In the midsummer evening breeze, when we reached the intersection of Yuxian Street and Chunfeng Road, the front was already crowded with people. Densely packed heads were like black ants, smeared on the ground, slowly moving towards the brand new and imposing red gate with gold characters on it that stood at the Yuxianli Night Market.

Zhang Yunqi felt that he had miscalculated. He should not have ridden the bicycle without a lock. He paid ten yuan to leave the bicycle at a nearby store, and walked into Yuxianli with Chu Jian.

When Chu Jian put his hand in Zhang Yunqi's palm, there was a bit of novelty in his clean eyes: "I haven't seen such a lively festival atmosphere in Jiangchuan for a long time."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "This is the first cultural festival in Yuxianli. There will probably be one every year. It will be summer vacation, so you can come and have fun."

The two held hands and talked as they made their way through the crowds on Chunfeng Road, and finally squeezed into Yuxianli with great difficulty.

It was just after six in the evening, and the night had not yet fallen on the city. The setting sun was slanting in the west of the sky. Various specialty restaurants were lined on both sides of the main street of Yuxianli. The west district was entertainment venues such as karaoke bars, discos and ice rinks. There was a large open-air barbecue square in the east district. A platform had been set up in the center of the square. At 7:30 in the evening, some city leaders such as Yang Jiarong and senior executives of Zhangji Catering such as Zhang Yunfeng would come here, and there would be singing and dancing performances and fireworks shows.

In the middle of the bluestone road that connects the entire Yuxianli are stalls selling special snacks and barbecue.

Zhang Yunqi held Chu Jian's little hand and walked forward along the bluestone road among the slowly moving crowd. He was looking for the restaurant called Shangongguan. The weather was hot and it didn't feel good to stay in the crowd as it was easy to sweat.

Thinking of this, his hand was suddenly pulled by Chu Jian.

Zhang Yunqi tilted his head: "What's wrong?"

Chu Jian pointed to the barbecue stall on the side and said in a daze, "Look, the clouds are rising."

Zhang Yunqi looked in the direction Chu Jian's finger pointed, and he saw his former good friend Yang Wei.

Yang Wei was standing behind a small barbecue stall, with a sweat-wiping towel hanging over his shoulder, and was sprinkling seasoning on the lamb skewers on the barbecue grid.

I haven't seen him for more than half a year. He has grown taller. The long flowing hair that he loved when he was in school has been shaved off and cut into a short hair. His skin is dark and his frame gives people a very strong feeling. He has become a real adult.

Zhang Yunqi was not surprised to see Yang Wei.

After Yang Wei dropped out of school, he had been selling barbecue at a stall. Everyone in Class 156 knew that this guy was different from Wang Xiaokai. He was very hot-tempered and never asked him for help. In fact, as long as he said a word, Zhang Yun would give him a large stall with tables in the barbecue square.

What really surprised Zhang Yunqi was that he saw his old classmate Yan Shi, whom he hadn't seen for many years.

Yan Shi has changed a lot.

At this moment, she was wearing a blue floral shirt and loose black pants that didn't fit her well. Her hair was tied in a ponytail. She still had as many pockmarks as before, but her face was burnt yellow by the smoke, and she no longer had the aura of a young girl.

She stood next to Yang Wei, sweating all over, busily putting together barbecue skewers, packing the barbecue, collecting money, and always smiling to attract tourists who came and went: "Hey, young man, do you want to have barbecue with your girlfriend? Here we have beef skewers, lamb skewers, spicy snails, and weird chicken wings..."

Time is a butcher's knife.

This ugly duckling, who had suffered inhuman humiliation and abuse and was nicknamed "Sister Hua" by the whole class, finally grew up and became an ugly big duck.

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ps: There is one last plot in this volume [The Boy Here], which will end in about four chapters.

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(End of this chapter)