Park.
A sea of people.
**The first day of the Investnt Cultural Festival officially kicked off. Half of the county’s staff were pulled here to work overti. Zhang Dongfang and his team from the Investnt Bureau were entertaining investors, the Cultural Bureau staff handled promotional work, and public security officers patrolled to maintain order. The County Party Office and County Governnt Office staff were spread out across various posts, filling in gaps—so helping with ticket sales, so clearing spaces, and so moving things.
The atmosphere was lively, reminiscent of a festive temple fair during Chinese New Year.
“Secretary, Secretary, Dong Secretary!” soone shouted at the top of their lungs.
Dong Xuebing heard and pushed through the crowd. “What’s up?”
It was a county governnt staff mber gasping for breath. “Mayor Zhang asked to find you. Investors want the signatures of the stars. Mayor Zhang can’t make that decision; after all, we didn’t pay the stars any performance fees. It wouldn’t be appropriate to trouble the stars with autographs and photos. So, Mayor Zhang asked if we could get your opinion.” He then pointed towards the investors. “They’re over there, eating our province’s specialty snacks.”
“Let’s go over first.” Dong Xuebing stepped forward.
The county governnt staff mber quickly cleared a path, protecting Dong Xuebing through the congested crowd until they reached the rows of food stalls.
“Old Zhang.” Dong Xuebing called out.
Zhang Dongfang, accompanying the investors, turned around and ca over. “Xuebing.”
Dong Xuebing asked, “How’s the project presentation going? Do they have investnt intentions?”
“The project lists have all been distributed, and we’re making introductions. However, many investors aren’t focused here—they arrived and imdiately wanted to take photos and get signatures with the stars.” Zhang Dongfang looked a bit troubled. “Fortunately, many investors are still quite eager. After the news broadcast yesterday, the Investnt Bureau contacted several investors. These three real estate tycoons, the first wave to arrive, expressed interest in investing. They’re just looking at whether our preferential policies can et their expectations. So other investors also signed intention letters; they’ve been eyeing a few of our county’s projects for so ti. With the star lineup here, they’ve gained more confidence in us and, without hesitation, signed up. Although the amounts aren’t very large—together, the projects add up to just over ten million—it’s at least a very good start.”
Dong Xuebing nodded slightly. “Good.”
Over there, an investor said, “Oh, Dong Secretary is here.”
“Brother Dong, you’re here! Can you get us a few stars’ autographs?” a Northeast investor, who had a close chat with Dong Xuebing earlier, said with a laugh. “I don’t chase stars, but my son and niece called last night. They gave orders to get their autographs. In our family, my son has a higher status than I do—he’s the leader, haha.”
“Secretary Dong, I also want to take a photo with Teacher Zhou.”
“If it’s convenient, can you arrange it for everyone?”
Dong Xuebing pondered montarily and then said to them, “Sorry, everyone. You might not know, but we don’t pay the stars to perform—they didn’t get a single cent for their appearance. We just begged them with our old faces to co here for a charity performance. Everyone is here out of kindness. Taking photos is a bit…, but autographs are still okay. I can try to arrange that.”
“No performance fees.”
“Autographs are fine too.”
“Exactly, a signature will be enough.”
“Yeah, let’s not make things difficult for Dong Secretary. The stars are here for a charity performance. It wouldn’t be appropriate to trouble them with photos.”
The investors were understanding, and so even pondered to themselves. They got all these big stars without paying a single cent, just based on goodwill. Focusing on Dong Xuebing, this Jiao Lin County honestly had sothing special, a solid foundation. What’s Dong Xuebing’s background, anyway?
Dong Xuebing then picked up the phone and walked a little further, dialing Secretary Su Yan. “Hello, Xiao Su, you’re with the stars. Are they all there?”
The noise was too loud, and Su Yan could only shout into the phone. “No, they’re not all here. Only Chen Ying, Teacher Zhou, and a few others are still here. So stars have already left.”
Dong Xuebing said, “Good. Get so autographs from them. I have so use for them over here.”
Su Yan hesitated. “Secretary, is this, um, appropriate?”
“Just say I said so. Of course, it’s not mandatory. If everyone is willing to sign, that’s great. If not, that’s fine too.” Dong Xuebing reassured.
Su Yan said, “Okay, I’ll do it imdiately.”
“Once it’s done, get soone to bring it to the Food Square here and give it to Mayor Zhang,” Dong Xuebing said before hanging up. He then found Zhang Dongfang. “Old Zhang, I’ve arranged it. The autographs will co over later. I’m not getting involved here; just handle it.”
Zhang Dongfang said, “No problem. Just do what you need to do.”
Dong Xuebing had a lot more on his plate than Zhang Dongfang. After handling the imdiate situation, he hurried back to the park entrance. It had already been open for an hour, and the crowds should have been dispersed mainly by now. The first wave of people queued up should have entered the park. However, Dong Xuebing was not reassured by what he saw.
The queue at the entrance was once again overflowing.
Five or six thousand people had already entered, yet it was still so congested!
Director Chang Lin of the Public Security Bureau was directing people nearby. Seeing Dong Xuebing arrive, Director Chang turned to him. “Secretary, there are just too many people.”
Dong Xuebing asked, “Why isn’t the crowd decreasing?”
“I don’t know, Secretary. Another batch just ca in right after one did. It’s almost endless. We might break ten thousand at this rate before the concert even starts.” Director Chang said.
“That’s not good.” Dong Xuebing thought montarily, then said, “Old Chang, it’s all on you now. Coordinate with the public security officers. Once the crowd exceeds ten thousand, we must restrict ticket sales. We can’t keep letting people in like this. While the park might theoretically accommodate tens of thousands, everyone can’t spread out and stand everywhere. There are bound to be so concentrated spots, especially near the concert stage. If tens of thousands pile up there, it won’t fit and could get dangerous.”
Director Chang nodded. “Limit to ten thousand?”
“Right, not more than fifteen thousand.” Dong Xuebing had underestimated the crowd size. They would need to make temporary adjustnts now.
Director Chang sighed. “Okay, I’ll do my best to manage the crowd. Sigh, I’m just puzzled. How many people does our county even have? Why are so many here today?”
Dong Xuebing said, “A lot of them are from outside, just coming for the concert.”
“True, the stars are huge this ti.” Director Chang exclaid. They’d never seen Jiao Lin County so lively before.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
11:30 AM.
The crowd at Central Park had already surpassed the 40,000 mark, and the number was still growing, though the growth rate had slowed down. Of course, it was only temporary; once everyone had their lunch and the evening arts show was about to begin, the crowd would likely surge again. At this rate, ten thousand was definitely not going to be enough—the public was just too enthusiastic.
Lunchti had arrived.
Zhang Dongfang took the investors out through the side entrance. Dong Xuebing also led a group of stars and so staff out through the side entrance to a designated restaurant for lunch. Yes, the sa restaurant they had agreed upon the previous day with free als and drinks.
The stars were accustod to this kind of scene and didn’t bat an eye, casually chatting and enjoying their al. So were even discussing the evening’s performance with a smile.
But the Jiao Lin County staff had never experienced such a grand event. They were all exhausted, and so staff mbers lost their shoes in the rush. They had to have their family mbers bring them replacents to the restaurant. They looked increasingly worse for wear with each passing mont, so visibly shaken.
“Just about fell over there.”
“You lost your shoes? I lost mine!”
“This is crazy; there are just too many people. It’s only morning. How are we going to handle this in the afternoon?”
As Dong Xuebing ca out after having lunch with the stars, he overheard the conversations of other Jiao Lin County staff in adjacent private rooms. He knew everyone was genuinely working hard today. Today’s scale was much more considerable, catching many people off guard. As for Dong Xuebing, he didn’t feel out of place because he had grown up in Beijing. Every year during May Day and National Day, his family would go to Tianann Square, and such events were almost a tradition. The scale there was much more prominent than here; it was not just a mountain of people but an entire sea of people. You couldn’t go where you wanted, only following the crowd. Wherever the crowd went, you went too, and even stopping for a break wasn’t an option as thousands of people would be pushing you along, not allowing you to rest. Dong Xuebing had often seen such grand scenes, so he was not fazed by the Jiao Lin County staff’s overreaction.
Ring.
The phone rang.
It was Vice Secretary Wei Zhixuan calling. “Secretary, it’s Old Wei here. Just now, another investor contacted us. They want to visit our Jiao Lin County’s Cultural Festival for investnt research. I’ve already sent people to pick them up at the airport and train station.”
Dong Xuebing asked, “How many people?”
Wei Zhixuan chuckled. “We’ve been in contact with over seventy people today. Adding the new ones from last night, we might get about a hundred and fifty people here today or tomorrow. If we add so leeway, two hundred isn’t a problem. Including the previous hundred investors, having three hundred investors is almost a sure thing. The investnt amount for this ti will break our historical record.”
“Good.” Dong Xuebing clenched his fist.
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