Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1070 - 556: Boss Ma Learns Secretly: Using Taxes to Offset Rent_2

Chapter 1070: Chapter 556: Boss Ma Learns Secretly: Using Taxes to Offset Rent_2

Just as one visitor left, another arrived.

Yan Fei was taken aback upon seeing the newcomer, "Uncle Ming, you... what happened to you? Did you get nearsighted?"

No wonder Yan Fei was astonished, Boss Ma’s getup today was something even he, a person who had seen his share of dinosaurs, had a hard time accepting. Typically, Boss Ma dressed well, but how fancy can a man get? At most, he would wear a suit.

But today’s outfit, Yan Fei couldn’t quite put his finger on what was off, it just felt totally different. He had a particularly strange feeling about it, especially since a pair of glasses now adorned his face. Considering he wasn’t that old to begin with, if it wasn’t for the slightly thuggish aura about him, he really did look like a student.

"Can’t I wear glasses without being nearsighted?" Seeing Yan Fei’s expression, Ma Yongming’s face turned dark—it was all his wife’s fault for dressing him this way, making Xiao Fei here laugh at him.

Yan Fei noticed his dark expression and cleverly changed the subject, "You wouldn’t be here about that West River plot of land, would you? As if you have anything to worry about not getting work there. Let me tell you, you could try to avoid it all you want, but once the work starts, they’ll definitely have you bring your crew. Why would you need to make a trip for that?"

Parking his motorcycle at the side, Ma Yongming turned his head, "Do I need to come for that? I’m here for something else. Didn’t you see I specially got... dressed up today?"

I get it now!

It dawned on Yan Fei, although Boss Ma didn’t finish saying he was dressed up, Yan Fei finally realized where the strangeness lay.

Usually, Ma Yongming would ride his motorcycle around, and work onsite. The cold winds of winter and the scorching sun of summer made him look older than his actual age. But today, with a new haircut and clothes, and with evident grooming on his face—despite the makeup being so masterfully applied that most people wouldn’t notice—for someone as familiar with him as Yan Fei, such a drastic change was impossible to miss.

Yan Fei was beginning to admire Boss Ma’s unreliable wife!

Truly, one shouldn’t underestimate anyone. Wang Yue might be known for her indolence and vanity, spending her days in idle pleasure; nobody knew what she was actually capable of. Unexpectedly, with one move, she made Ma Yongming look ten years younger—now Boss Ma could blend into a campus claiming to be a high school student and the most anyone would think is that he started school late.

"So what are you here for?" Yan Fei was curious.

With an appearance like that, one might believe he was going on a blind date, but coming to a cattle farm seemed slightly out of place, right?

"This..." Ma Yongming was a bit embarrassed. "I wanted to discuss something with you, okay?"

Yan Fei was startled, "Uncle Ming, just spit it out. When have we ever stood on ceremony with each other? You’ve got something important, just say it; your presence is a bit intimidating today, so get to the point quickly!"

Ma Yongming glared at him, "What do you mean by ’a bit intimidating’? Forget it, let’s talk about the real issue. It’s like this, aren’t there a bunch of big shots from Provincial City University here doing design and planning for you? I was thinking, since I don’t have much going on these days, I’d come over and see if there’s anything I can help you with. I could take this opportunity to learn a few tricks on the sly, might come in handy in the future, right?"

So that was it!

If you had said you wanted to come and learn from them, wouldn’t that have been easy?

Yan Fei readily agreed, "That’s perfect, I’m afraid the county might get back to me in a couple of days, and I might have to be busy for a while. I was even worried I wouldn’t have enough time to take care of them. You can stand in for me as the host. Besides, they aren’t secretive about their work; you can help out with whatever they need and learn on the side—two birds with one stone!"

Ma Yongming was overjoyed, "Xiao Fei, I really owe you one for this! Let’s go, go introduce me to them and then you deal with what you need to. Don’t worry, I promise to take good care of all the professors!"

Yan Fei was also delighted, this was like someone offering a pillow as he was dozing off!

He had just been concerned that if he got too busy and couldn’t be there, he’d neglect Professor Shu and his team. Now, Ma Yongming was volunteering to help entertain on his behalf and was even grateful to him for it—what luck he had stumbled upon!

If Heizi and the others from the surrounding area were to accompany Professor Shu’s team, he was afraid they might mess things up, given the evident gap between them. However, Boss Ma had been around the block for the past few years, seen a bit of the world. Even if he lagged a bit culturally, Professor Shu and his team were easygoing. Apart from Professor Shu, the rest were students; apart from work, they had no special requirements.

Moreover, Boss Ma was hoping to learn from them, so how could he not do his best in this task?

Seeing Boss Ma somewhat shy, Yan Fei encouraged him, "You’re here to learn, there’s no shame in that!"

Does this sound familiar?

When Boss Yan was still Yan Sanfen, he met Professor Qi at the library for the first time. He asked Professor Qi a question, and later, when the professor asked him what his major was, Boss Yan, being somewhat clueless and fearing that people would find out he was an outsider, replied that he was majoring in cattle farming—then, having a spark of inspiration, he promptly corrected himself, saying he was specializing in animal husbandry, specifically cattle raising.

Seeing that he was lying, Professor Qi wasn’t too pleased and offered him this piece of advice, "Coming to the library to learn is nothing to be ashamed of."

Now, he finally had the chance to pass this saying on to Ma Yongming.

Boss Yan was a person who kept things under wraps. He’s been able to keep the secrets of a dinosaur world for so many years, so keeping a small embarrassing incident from back in the day wasn’t hard at all—other than Xu Xiaoyan, really no one knew he had such a story.

But today, to put Boss Ma’s mind at ease as he stealthily learned from others, he didn’t mind disclosing his own embarrassing experiences of sneaking into someone else’s university library and pretending to be a student to copy books.

Boss Ma also had his share of emotions and talked about similar experiences he had. However, he didn’t go to the library but rather sneaked onto somebody else’s construction site to learn.

Talking about it all brings tears of bitterness!

The disadvantage lay in the lack of education; otherwise, why would everyone now understand the importance of learning! The world changes too quickly, three days without learning, and you’ll fall behind the times. Even if you can earn a little money now, sooner or later you’re going to be eliminated. Anyone with true vision, or at least some expectations for the future, understands this and keeps it at heart.

Professor Shu didn’t care who showed up; they didn’t need much, after all. During the design process, when it was time to consider the actual local conditions, they just needed to find someone to get a better understanding.

In this respect, Ma Yongming was definitely the man for the job, being familiar with every nook and cranny in the surrounding area, both in the county and Provincial City.

Leaving Ma Yongming behind, Yan Fei didn’t have much time to relax before he saw Secretary Xiao Zhao from the county.

Then Secretary Xiao Zhao said something that startled him, "What? Eight million? Why is it so expensive?"

He thought that with five million, both the county and township would be quite content—now they were asking for eight million from him, was this bleeding him dry?

"Listen to me, will you?" Secretary Xiao Zhao wasn’t in a hurry at all. "Just kidding with you, heh-heh, Boss Yan, don’t be surprised. Here’s the thing, drink some tea first and let me explain."

"This piece of land is about three thousand acres, give or take. We can measure it in detail later. Anyway, for this much land, eight million isn’t expensive at all. The money’s not meant to come out of your pocket entirely. You’ve got two million, right? Just pay two million, and that’s fine. The remaining six million will be covered by a tax lease. In actuality, it’s as if you’ve paid two million and the land is yours to do with as you please."

"Tax revenue you pay in the future will have two designations: one part is tax, and the other is the land lease. Got it now?"

Yan Fei thought it over for a moment: "I sort of get it now!"

"Good to hear!" Secretary Xiao Zhao immediately smiled. "Secretary Jiao was worried that you wouldn’t understand all the ins and outs of this deal, so he specifically sent me to explain it to you. After all, for such a large area of land, if the county, to show their support for you, charged too little, it would be difficult to justify to higher authorities. But if they charged too much, considering you are a local business and a leader in wealth creation, it wouldn’t be right not to support you, hence they came up with this method!"

Yan Fei was puzzled: Isn’t that the same thing? Just explained in a different way, is it necessary?

It’s absolutely necessary!

This was a solution that the county folks, after much deliberation, came up with—a way to ensure that state assets are not lost, as land leases are indispensable. However, local enterprises must also be supported; otherwise, once the cattle breeding base is built, it would be embarrassing for people to turn off the road and stop by for a drink of water.

Now, a tax lease elegantly resolves everything, achieving a win-win situation for everyone.

If Boss Yan thinks it’s unnecessary, it only signifies one thing: his limited experience!