Chen Ningxi was speaking with He Yunyi when she saw Cheng Qiaobei walking toward them, a playful smile at the corner of his mouth, exuding a hint of mischief.
"Ning Xi," he deliberately shouted loudly.
The shout ca from behind He Yunyi, his body stiffened, and he turned around to see Cheng Qiaobei already by their side. His standing position was very intentional; he stood next to Chen Ningxi, naturally grabbing her bag and casually greeting He Yunyi,
"Mr. He, long ti no see."
He Yunyi was stunned for half a second, but Chen Ningxi didn’t let him feel too embarrassed.
"I haven’t officially introduced you two. This is Cheng Qiaobei, my boyfriend. And He Yunyi, my high school classmate, who now works as a deputy director at the education committee and has so official business to discuss with ."
Official business?
Did he think he was stupid?
Cheng Qiaobei maintained a calm deanor, inviting, "It’s terribly cold, why don’t we go upstairs to talk?"
Chen Ningxi knew he said this deliberately, and she didn’t stop him because she also wanted to use this opportunity to make He Yunyi recognize that their relationship could only be a friendly classmate connection.
"Co on, let’s go upstairs for a cup of tea and talk slowly."
Both of them extended the invitation, so He Yunyi couldn’t refuse.
Chen Ningxi put her bag down and prepared to go to the kitchen to boil water, but Cheng Qiaobei stopped her, saying, "I’ll go, you two talk."
He Yunyi watched Cheng Qiaobei walk straight to the kitchen, indicating he often ca there.
He followed Chen Ningxi to the living room, and just after sitting down for less than two minutes, Cheng Qiaobei ca over with a fruit plate, placing it on the coffee table, "The tea is brewing, have so fruit first."
"Thank you, much appreciated."
He Yunyi felt like he was sitting on needles, becoming even more reserved.
Chen Ningxi said, "Let’s continue the conversation."
He Yunyi nodded, "I was talking about Wangzhang Village Primary School. The current teaching environnt is very poor. The teaching support teachers are conducting classes with a dozen students in a dilapidated wooden building. The lighting is from a temporary line, which often experiences power cuts during strong winds and rain. Over ti, the aging of the line also poses significant safety risks. If I hadn’t conducted a field investigation this ti, I wouldn’t have discovered the issue."
Chen Ningxi asked, "Doesn’t the village manage this?"
He Yunyi sighed and shook his head, "Wangzhang is a well-known poor village among the nearby villages. There is little land, and it is sparsely populated. Most of it is mountainous, with no flat land for farming. After advocating for environntal protection, logging is not allowed, so they can only rely on collecting and selling so wild mountain products to supplent household inco. The average inco is low, and the village has no money, so the primary school cannot expect the village to pay for repairs."
Chen Ningxi nodded knowingly, "The problem is indeed a bit tricky."
He Yunyi frowned deeply, "The village applied to the town’s power institute to install an electric line, but because the terrain is rugged and the residents are relatively scattered, the laying of the line is a considerable expense. The response from the town’s power institute was that the number of households using electricity had not reached the requirent for installation, so this matter was shelved. I ca today to ask if there is any policy from the power departnt, to set up a line for the school first."
Cheng Qiaobei placed two cups of hot tea on the table and sat on the sofa beside Chen Ningxi.
Chen Ningxi said, "As far as I know, there’s no such policy."
He Yunyi exhaled a long sigh, "Sigh... The teaching support teachers are university graduates from the city, coming in batches and leaving in batches. So leave after just one day because the environnt is too difficult. I have already submitted a construction application for the primary school, but there has been no response yet. The children are suffering, and the teachers have it hard too. Without electricity, even if future school construction is approved, it will still cause great hindrance."
Chen Ningxi remained silent. Although she very much wanted to help, she couldn’t make decisive actions on procedural matters.
"Tomorrow, I’ll go to work," she thought for a mont and then took out her phone to dial a number, "Hello, Manager Zhao, this is Chen Ningxi from the Danjiang Institute, ah yes, it’s . I have sothing I want to ask you, is it convenient to talk now?"
Chen Ningxi got up and walked to the window, discussing the situation of Wangzhang Village in detail with the person on the other end of the line.
During her conversation, Cheng Qiaobei refilled He Yunyi’s tea and asked, "Which county does Wangzhang Village belong to?"
He Yunyi replied, "It falls under Zhaoqing County’s jurisdiction."
"Zhaoqing?" Cheng Qiaobei pondered for a mont, "Isn’t Zhaoqing adjacent to Zhoushan?"
He Yunyi nodded, "Yes, separated from Zhoushan by the Zhouling Mountain, back to back."
Cheng Qiaobei began calculating in his heart, but so things needed ti to coordinate, and he wasn’t completely confident, so he didn’t want to give people false hope.
He Yunyi didn’t expect an outsider to help, and moreover, it was a losing business venture.
The two people on the sofa looked simultaneously at Chen Ningxi, and from her disappointed expression, they knew the consultation result wasn’t positive.
Chen Ningxi shook her head at He Yunyi, "Currently, there truly is no way."
He Yunyi said, "I’m really sorry to trouble you."
It would have been okay not knowing the situation of Wangzhang Village, but understanding it made it a heavy burden on her heart.
"Unfortunately, with my current position, I can’t help you."
From her tone, it was clear that Chen Ningxi felt very guilty. Cheng Qiaobei asked He Yunyi, "How much money can the city allocate?"
He Yunyi said, "We submitted a budget of six hundred thousand. The school is located halfway up the mountain, which results in substantial transportation costs. We also need to flatten a piece of land for building, and after constructing classrooms, laying out a playground, and buying desks and chairs, and teaching equipnt, the costs have already been minimized. We’ve consulted three construction companies for budgets, and this is the cheapest one."
Cheng Qiaobei looked at Chen Ningxi and saw that she was also worried, so he said,
"Jade Jiali has an educational support plan every year. Since the year is almost over, most funding slots are already finalized. I don’t know if there are any slots left this year. Give five minutes; I’ll make a call to confirm. If there are slots left, this problem would be easy to solve."
Chen Ningxi asked, "Really?"
Cheng Qiaobei smiled lightly, "Of course, it can."
He called his secretary, Wei Lai, asking her to imdiately contact the headquarters to confirm the remaining slots. Ten minutes later, Wei Lai confird there were two slots left this year. Chen Ningxi and He Yunyi both breathed a sigh of relief, and He Yunyi repeatedly thanked Cheng Qiaobei.
Cheng Qiaobei maintained a calm deanor, saying, "Since there are slots, leave the circuit installation task to . If the town’s power institute can’t lay down new lines, we could bring a line from Zhaojiang’s Jade Jiali to Wangzhang Primary School. This would shorten the distance and reduce the construction ti. As for the costs, Jade Jiali will cover everything, easing so burden off the education committee. However," he transitioned, "this might trouble Mr. Chen for so approvals again."
Chen Ningxi smiled, "That’s no problem at all."
"No problem?" Cheng Qiaobei raised an eyebrow, "Why didn’t I think it was easy at the beginning? It gets easier when it’s your classmate? There’s room for discussion on your stance; it seems biased."
The words were spoken with a slight tone of jealousy.
Chen Ningxi explained, "The matters are different, adapting asures to local conditions. Constructing a school is a aningful cause. It not only provides a good educational environnt for the children and more learning opportunities, but also allows them to truly understand the outside world during their learning process, providing local children a path to step out of the mountains and realize their dreams. Of course, special matters warrant special asures."
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