"Donated fully?" Zhang nglong blinked in surprise, having never heard of such a phrase concerning donations in all his years.
"Mr. Zhang, you may not know this," Director Ding explained, "Our annual funds for urban construction have a set budget, partially coming from municipal taxes and other fiscal incos, so from corporate sponsorship bids, and also from donations by affluent individuals like yourself."
"Ah, that I know!"
"But these amounts are not unlimited. The funds we receive each year must be spent within that year; they can't be carried over, as that would cause nurous issues during the year-end settlent."
"Is that so?" Zhang nglong had never heard such a thing before.
"nglong, what Director Ding said is probably true," Lu Yiyao spoke, "Our school, for instance, nearly always engages in so roadwork, planting, or reconstruction towards the end of the year. Take the road by our main entrance at Gusu University. Since I joined, it's been resurfaced 21 tis!"
"Do the roads deteriorate often?" Zhang nglong asked.
"Of course not. At most, a few marble tiles crack. There's really no need for such frequent repairs. Each paving costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions," Lu Yiyao explained, "It's because by year-end, a large part of our budget remains unspent, so the administration has to find ways to spend it! We can't carry the money over to the next year."
"So that's how it is." No wonder Zhang nglong always saw the school engaged in roadwork or building repairs before the winter break; it was all such clever maneuvering.
"Although there are so differences, city planning works similarly," Ding Youguo said, "and city planning is even stricter than university finance. If there's extra money, you can't just casually decide to fix a road, right?"
"Hahaha, that makes sense," Zhang nglong said, "So, what's the budget for this year's urban developnt in Dongji City?"
"This year's city planning only totals 3.5 billion US dollars, and two billion of that has already been secured through bids. That's why I said your donation of one hundred billion has already filled our quota for this year's road construction!"
"That filled it up?" Zhang nglong muttered to himself, "I was hoping to donate a hundred or two hundred billion each month. Spending money is harder than I thought."
Hearing Zhang nglong's mutter, Director Ding's mouth twitched. Was this money cursed or sothing? A month yielding one or two hundred billion? Not even the top-tier cities spend that much on their road planning!
"Director Ding, have there been any notable projects in Dongji City over the past few years?" Zhang nglong was still not giving up. "I haven't just returned ho for the New Year; I also want to see if there's any part of our hotown's developnt where I can contribute," Zhang nglong said, "Twenty billion isn't too small for , and two hundred billion isn't too much!"
This month's donation of $100 billion would bring him 100 Cred Points, and he was determined to find a way to spend that money.
Of course, Dongji City was his hotown. The saying goes that water flowing into another's field is wasted, and having grown up in Dongji, Zhang nglong had a strong affection for it and preferred to spend his wealth there.
"This..." Director Ding was embarrassed. He had seen one-ti donations of several million or even tens of millions, but these multibillion-dollar conversations were beyond his understanding. Was this what life was like for the world's wealthiest?
"This... No, there isn't..." Director Ding searched his mind for a long while. At least within the transportation sectors he oversaw, there weren't any projects on that scale.
After all, those huge projects, typically needing tens or hundreds of billions, require extensive planning and assessnt and can't start without sufficient funds. Even having one such project every few years is considered good.
"There must be sothing!" Zhang nglong looked at him hopefully.
"There really isn't!" Director Ding also showed helplessness, "However, Mr. Zhang, I'm only in charge of the transportation network. Our city's major projects are still managed by the mayor. If you truly wish to donate, perhaps I could introduce you to the mayor."
"Then I would appreciate your help, Director Ding!" Zhang nglong imdiately thanked him.
...
The Mayor's Office in Dongji City, a middle-aged man's complexion seed sowhat dim.
"Guangwei, it's not that I don't want to help you, but this project is long-term and requires a large investnt. Plus, given the current severe pandemic, many costs have risen. I'm afraid the provincial governnt won't approve the construction funds this year!"
"Old leader, is there really no way at all?" Mayor Zhu sighed, "Our Dongji City's high-speed rail plan was completed 8 years ago, and the funding approval process began five years ago. Our city is an island, and although connected to other cities by a sea bridge, it can only be accessed by cars and buses, taking a long ti. Many investors are reluctant to invest in projects here!"
"If the high-speed rail could be built, the travel ti to the provincial capital, Jiangnan City, could be reduced from nearly four hours to just over an hour. Only then could our developnt really take off!"
"Just wait a bit longer, next year, I'll try again next year!"
"Then I'll trouble you." Mayor Zhu hung up the phone, his body slumping weakly into the chair. He had only one year left in his term; he had used almost all his energy and ti for the city.
The construction project for the high-speed rail had seen several mayors retire up to now. It was not only the wish of every mayor but also of every citizen in Dongji City.
At that mont, Mayor Zhu's phone rang.
"Hello, this is Zhu Guangwei!"
"Mayor, this is Ding Youguo."
"Oh, Director Ding, what's the matter?"
"Mayor, it's like this, sothing happened in our city today involving a scam incident."
"Very special?" Mayor Zhu asked. Although scam incidents were bad, they surely didn't need to be reported to him, did they?
"Yes, the person scamd was Zhang nglong."
"Zhang nglong? The world's richest man?" As the city's mayor, Zhu Guangwei was naturally familiar with such matters.
"That's right, you wouldn't have guessed, but he's from our Dongji City!"
"Oh?" Mayor Zhu was sowhat surprised. The world's richest man was from their Dongji City, and having been mayor for so many years, he didn't know about it at all? How low-profile must this family have been so far?
"Zhang nglong said he wants to donate to the construction of our Dongji City, but my current planning projects really can't accommodate such a huge donation, so I wanted to ask if you have any needs on your end?"
"Can't accommodate?" Mayor Zhu was shocked. As the city's second-in-command, he naturally knew exactly how much money each system's plans required. According to this year's plan, the urban road construction of Dongji City needed funds amounting to 3.5 billion US dollars, with about 1.5 billion still unaccounted for.
Such a large amount of money, and it still couldn't accommodate Zhang nglong's donation?
How much money was he planning to donate?
"Did he ntion how much he wants to donate?"
"He didn't specify," Director Ding said. "His exact words were, 'Tens of billions is not too little, hundreds of billions is not too much!'"
"What? Hundreds of billions? He wants to donate hundreds of billions?" Hearing Director Ding's words, Mayor Zhu's heart suddenly started racing.
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