Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 1068: Exclusive House

Chapter 1068: Chapter 1068: Exclusive House

Elder Yu’s words may sound casual, but they are not entirely so; the workings of the Huaxia officialdom follow their own set of rules.

First of all, the author must emphasize three key points: This book is not about bureaucracy! It is not about bureaucracy!! It is not about bureaucracy!!!

Now let’s talk about the subsidy for white goods; this isn’t just a digression. In reality, it’s because Yu Qingzhu and Elder Yu are family and communicate a lot, a communication that is incomprehensible to the average person.

From the inception of the "home appliances to the countryside" campaign, there have been many stories. Of course, the original intent was good—which everyone knows—aimed at improving people’s standard of living and absorbing excess industrial capacity, while ensuring the nation maintains adequate industrial competitiveness.

However, unspeakable happenings are inevitable in the operational details, such as the allocation of quotas among different entities, which certainly leads to fierce competition.

Further probing into the specifics—could there be any skullduggery... how could there not be? There are only so many quotas; if your family gets more, mine gets less.

Nevertheless, by and large, these underhanded dealings are still within an acceptable margin of error, and the policymakers have considered these possibilities when drafting the policies, keeping the budgets quite generous.

The Huaxia bureaucratic system has never lacked such experience; over one thousand five hundred years ago, the term "overcorrection" came into use.

Meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxons hadn’t even established this term, and many of them were still leaping about in trees.

Let’s not digress onto lateral comparisons, but just focus on the vertical aspect: Since the establishment of the new Huaxia regime, considerable attention has been paid to the problem of "overcorrection," although the underlying theme has been "correction must be overdone."

This is like a captain, realizing the ship has strayed off course by fifteen degrees north. To get back on track, he demands a thirty-degree turn south, which is an example of overcorrection—why isn’t a twenty-degree turn sufficient?

There are too many specific examples, but it’s not appropriate to delve into them. The most harmless and widely known example is the family planning policy.

Previously, having a second child meant demolition of one’s house; now, if a couple of childbearing age does not have a second child, they might have to pay a "fertility fund"...

Immortal hero tales must stick closely to the central theme... oh well, let’s digress a bit further on something unrelated to the main topic.

There are many policies similar to "home appliances to the countryside" aimed at support, and much idle chit-chat is involved. Elder Yu had once been insulated from such affairs, but that doesn’t mean he was unaware—many people came to his door seeking justice, maintaining his stance of not interfering in affairs not pertaining to his position.

But this time he chose to speak up, and others would give him that respect—after all, he is a revered former leader who rarely speaks out. Shouldn’t we be mindful of that?

A slight tilt in the home appliances support policy, a little preferential treatment in the quotas, and billions are thrown around as if it’s nothing. Elder Yu raises his voice to secure so much for them, what’s a mere fifty thousand fridges and air conditioners in comparison?

Therefore, the meaning behind Yu Qingzhu’s words is: We can certainly assist manufacturers on a policy level, and the manufacturers will undoubtedly... know the score.

After they understand the score, who benefits? Naturally, it’s Feng Jun... and he ought to appreciate the Yu Family’s favor.

Realistically, with Yu Qingzhu’s age and experience, she might not have thought to handle the issue in this way herself, but you cannot deny the influence of her family’s accumulated knowledge—hearing and observing these affairs from a young age.

Having made her suggestion, Elder Yu joyfully accepted—though he’s an old cadre who has stepped back from the core, he has the self-awareness to distance himself from politics, but being self-aware doesn’t mean he will allow himself to be pushed around.

It’s not unusual for someone like him to step out of line occasionally—actually, it might not even be crossing the line, but rather sending out a message.

In short, it’s normal for him not to speak out and more normal to do so occasionally. Since that’s the case, why not exchange fungible resources for a favor to Feng Jun—it’s a win-win, isn’t it?

After the discussion was settled, Yu Qingzhu, pushing the wheelchair with her grandfather, headed toward the valley. Halfway there, they noticed construction for a house on the hillside of a small slope.

The area had few trees, mostly short shrubs, many of which had been trampled, but the workers were assembling temporary prefab houses, which didn’t have much demand for solid foundations.

Elder Yu patted the armrest, and Yu Qingzhu stopped. She looked around and saw Brother Qiang supervising the work, so she waved at him, "Brother Qiang, what’s going on here?"

Gao Qiang came over. He knew that Elder Feng was not intending to keep things from the Yu Family; otherwise, the house wouldn’t be built here. He replied with a smile, "Elder Feng has arranged for this temporarily. Some guests might be coming in a while."

Being friends with Xia Xiaoyu, who is like a sworn sister to Gao Qiang, Yu Qingzhu was on good terms with him, so she asked puzzledly, "This won’t affect the reforestation of the barren hills, will it?"

"It’s only a small patch of land," Gao Qiang replied with a laugh, shaking his head, "Reforestation isn’t just about planting trees; it also includes shrubs."

Elder Yu unexpectedly questioned, "What kind of guests are they, that special houses need to be built for them?"

He was a bit curious and felt a sense of indignation. Here I am, a dignified Elder Yu, about to be charged for living here, and yet there are guests who can have their own exclusive houses in the estate?

But Gao Qiang, who already had instructions from Feng Jun, politely replied, "The visitors won’t interact with others in the estate, so it would be inconvenient in the main compound. Hence, a special arrangement was made here."

Elder Yu understood; it was not that the guest was of high status, but that the guest was very mysterious—preventing the guest from contact with the manor’s people, and conversely, preventing the manor’s people from contact with the guest.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but comment, "Isn’t that placing too much importance on these people? The treatment seems quite generous."

He was trying to probe, but who is Gao Qiang? That’s someone who engaged in exposing fraud in traditional Chinese medicine, perhaps a bit too straightforward, but definitely smart enough. He just smiled and remained silent, leaving the other person frustrated.

However, Elder Yu didn’t mind; he was merely trying to shirk his duties.

As long as it was something he wanted to find out, how could it be impossible to do so? It was sufficient to have the guards outside stay alert.

What he did not anticipate, though, was that his calculations would ultimately come to naught.

The guest Feng Jun was hosting was not even from this dimension. Considering that Yang Yuxin and the others should be able to leave the small world tomorrow night, he felt it necessary to start preparing for other matters.

That night, he entered the Mobile Phone Plane, and thought about selling the forty thousand tons of rice he had brought over—otherwise, there were many things on the Earth Plane that he simply couldn’t afford.

Huang Fu Flawless was moderately impressed with the rice he brought, as it was not Spirit Rice. Just for staving off hunger, it seems that flour might be a bit more effective—it’s easier to gain weight from it. However, she didn’t split hairs over this, only indicating that they should secure more flour in the future.

What she was most dissatisfied with was the quantity; we’re engaged in interdimensional trade after all, and a hundred thousand tons is the minimum, yet you’ve only brought over so little... I’m almost embarrassed to conduct the trade.

Feng Jun responded—procuring food was troublesome and acquiring too much in a short period was unlikely; it’s better to take it slow.

And, this small transaction can actually give the other party a chance to gauge the quality of the goods; after all, this is their first deal, so gradually increasing understanding is not a bad thing.

Of course, the most crucial point was that Feng Jun simply didn’t have a large enough Storage Bag. His biggest blue Storage Bag was only five hundred cubic meters, and just to transport that amount of rice, he’d shuttled back and forth through the planes over a hundred times.

Upon hearing this, Huang Fu Flawless couldn’t help but laugh. She genuinely remembered when Feng Jun had to buy dozens of Storage Talismans in an embarrassing fashion, but the next moment, she realized a problem, "Then how did you transport this rice?"

Feng Jun gave a slight smile, "That’s not convenient to say. I’ll try to get a larger Storage Bag later on."

"Large Storage Bags are very expensive," Huang Fu Flawless said seriously, "Generally, for a Cultivator’s needs, your blue Storage Bag is already enough. There are ones a hundred times larger, but the price is also a hundred times more... Are you really going to buy one?"

Feng Jun faintly remembered that the blue Storage Bag was about five thousand Spirit Stones each, so if it’s a hundred times the price, wouldn’t it cost five hundred thousand Spirit Stones for one?

This was, momentarily, unaffordable for him. He just laughed, "It’s a matter of sooner or later that I will buy one."

In the future, large-scale grain and electrical appliance trades will all benefit from a Large Storage Bag, not to mention that Feng Jun also wanted to trade crude oil—purchasing a Large Storage Gourd was also part of his plans.

"For Large Storage Bags, you could just rent one," Huang Fu Flawless suggested, "Renting one for a day costs only two to three hundred Spirit Stones; it’s quite cost-effective."

Feng Jun roughly estimated and felt the price was not too expensive. If he bought a Large Storage Bag, renting it out for two thousand days would allow him to break even.

Six years to break even seems slow, but Feng Jun, who studied business administration, knew for significant capital, an annual return of sixteen percent was astonishingly efficient.

What if the rental demand wasn’t consistent and it couldn’t be rented out? Those who think this way are perhaps worrying unnecessarily. Feng Jun believed it was just like owning a fleet of vehicles on Earth; those who own the fleet first and foremost have their own transportation requirements.

If one’s own business isn’t busy enough, or even if it is but the owner wants to earn more, using the idle time of the Storage Bag for rent is the correct way to utilize it.

However, Feng Jun was instinctively reluctant to use the services provided by Huang Fu Flawless—You wouldn’t leave any mark on the Storage Bags, would you?

He knew well that Huang Fu Flawless had helped him a lot, and he was aware of that. But in this unpredictable world, one has to be cautious—the sentiment not only a duty to himself but also to his parents, his lady, and his followers.

So he smiled, "As for renting, I’ll pass. My household is modest; I can’t afford it."

He thought he was not short on money until the idea of buying a Large Storage Bag came up—turns out I’m still poor.

Huang Fu Flawless’s eyes flickered as she probed, "You’re not worried I might investigate your Space Door, are you?"

The Space Door is an item even more advanced than Teleportation Formation. The common Teleportation Formation is fixed, also known as Transmission Array, and there are even one-time-use Teleportation Talismans that can be carried around.

The Space Door can be carried around and used multiple times, but its drawback is that it’s more delicate than a Teleportation Formation.