Upon hearing this, Liu Yutong replied modestly, "Governor Zhu, you flatter me. As an emerging enterprise, for Wanlonghui Group to receive your recognition is truly an honor. Please rest assured, we will keep our feet firmly on the ground and strive to create more job opportunities for BS Province, repaying the trust of you and the local people with concrete actions."
The leader's smile widened at her words, and he waved his hand. "Ah, no need to call me 'leader' in private from now on. If you don't mind, just call me Uncle Zhu. Seeing young people like you with such vision and sense of responsibility truly warms my heart."
"And my daughter, she's been a bit spoiled and willful since she was little. You'll have to bear with her."
Liu Yutong readily complied, promptly and sweetly changing her address. "Uncle Zhu, Silin is a good friend of mine. I've always regarded her as my own sister."
The leader: "Good, good, good. It's wonderful that you young people can support each other and make progress together. You'll have to guide Silin more in the future."
Liu Yutong: "Don't worry, Uncle Zhu, I certainly will."
The leader looked at the poised and eloquent young woman before him, liking her more and more.
If his own daughter could possess even half of her grace and capability, he would be perfectly content.
"Yutong, from now on, if you have any ideas or encounter any difficulties here, you can always talk to Silin, or have your secretary contact me directly. I have no doubt about your abilities, achieving such a scale with your enterprise at such a young age. From now on, consider BS Province your second home. Don't be a stranger."
These words essentially constituted a complete endorsement of Liu Yutong and conveyed a willingness to offer some personal support.
Liu Yutong understood perfectly; calling him "Uncle Zhu" was absolutely worth it.
This trip to BS Province had been worthwhile!
In fact, she originally hadn't planned to expand into the BS Province market, at least not in the short term, as the front line was a bit too distant.
But now, it seemed like a good opportunity after all.
With this connection, she could fully expand her company's operations here.
Of course, it wouldn't just be a supermarket expansion. She had long drafted plans for out-of-province expansion, generally based on shopping centers, aiming to create large-scale complexes to better achieve economies of scale.
The goal was simple, summarized by a slogan: Wherever a Wanlong Shopping Center is, that's the city's commercial hub.
Liu Yutong's conversation with the leader lasted about an hour before concluding.
This was followed by the formal meeting session.
After all, Liu Yutong's investment of over a billion yuan in public welfare in BS Province was certainly going to be televised.
However, Liu Yutong politely declined this formal media appearance, which surprised the leader, yet didn't entirely surprise him.
What surprised him was that someone would willingly pass up such a good opportunity for publicity.
What didn't surprise him was that his daughter had already told him Liu Yutong disliked the limelight and preferred to work diligently and pragmatically.
The leader respected this and admired her even more for it. Young yet not arrogant, practical and low-key—such qualities were exceptionally rare in today's restless society.
However, such a major public welfare project required someone to represent it publicly.
Thus, Yu Xin, as the representative of Wanlonghui Group, formally met with the leader, appearing on BS Province television in Liu Yutong's stead.
After the meeting concluded, Liu Yutong stood atop a hotel in North C, gazing out at the city about to face trauma.
In her previous life, the damage to North C had been so severe that the entire county town had to be rebuilt at a new location.
She had done all she could.
This was also the best method she could currently devise to get as many people as possible away from buildings and into relatively safe, open areas.
She just didn't know how many people would ultimately be saved.
At this moment in North C, whether on TV news, newspapers, radio, or roadside banner advertisements, the student wilderness training and public marathon activities were being promoted.
It was easier with the teachers and students from schools. As long as the higher-ups' notification was properly relayed, regardless of how much the school principals or teachers complained, they had to comply.
It was a mandatory task requiring cooperation.
Of course, this hundred-li training march wasn't for nothing.
As long as the task was completed, the previously unapproved funding applications would be granted by the higher-ups.
Many schools were short of funds now—for things like repairing classrooms, replacing desks and chairs—there were truly many areas needing money.
Some schools in remote areas even had long-overdue teacher salaries.
But now it was different. Securing that hundred million yuan in funding could alleviate a lot of pressure.
Almost immediately after the notice was issued, teachers and students from various schools set out one after another.
As for the marathon activity, organizing it was a bit more troublesome. Many people, especially the elderly, weren't very interested and were unwilling to participate.
However, the organizers came up with countermeasures.
They set up numerous stalls along the planned marathon route, providing not only water but also placing large quantities of eggs.
Just by showing up, you could get a free bag of eggs. If you could bring friends to cheer for the contestants, you could even get extra eggs.
If the eggs ran out, they'd hand out cash directly.
This instantly ignited enthusiasm even among the group least interested in marathons. They all got incredibly pumped up, rallying friends early in the morning, even dragging their lazy, sleeping children out of bed by the ear to go collect eggs and money together.
This further encouraged more people to leave the buildings.
A similar situation unfolded in the countryside, where people were specifically sent to villages, for instance, to distribute eggs in open spaces.
Villages, relatively speaking, had more left-behind elderly. Upon hearing about free eggs, they all rushed out of their homes in a clamor to get them.
No urging was needed at all.
After the large-scale activity began, the original thousand or so members of the Ten Thousand Dragons Society were far from enough.
They even had to hire many people to help with the work.
Liu Yutong didn't choose to stay in North C. She, along with Yun Cheng and Zhu Silin, joined a nearly hundred-strong wilderness training team from a township elementary school.
Their destination was a martyrs' cemetery a hundred li away.
At the very beginning, the children, thinking it was a spring outing, were all in high spirits and very excited.
Liu Yutong and the other two changed into sportswear, put on volunteer armbands, and blended in among the teachers, directing the students toward their goal.
Following behind them was a box truck carrying supplies to ensure their food and accommodation.
The first half of the hike was fine, but problems started later on.
Many children were young, and even with walking and resting intermittently, after walking over ten kilometers, they began to fuss. Quite a few even plopped down on the ground, refusing to go any further.
Liu Yutong had no choice but to encourage the children like the other teachers, leading them in songs, telling stories about the martyrs, and doing her best to motivate them to keep going.
Perhaps because of her approachability and broader knowledge, many children really liked this pretty and gentle older sister, always clustering around her asking all sorts of questions.
The most frequent question was why the destination was a martyrs' cemetery.
"Big sister, why do we have to walk so far to see the martyrs' graves?"
"Because heroes deserve us measuring the distance of our respect with our own steps. Also, look, how blue the sky is, how green the mountains are. Isn't exercising in nature much more fun than staying in the classroom?"
"Hmm, it's just my feet hurt a bit."
"Just persevere a little longer. Once we're over this hill, we can rest."
"Big sister, can you tell us some more stories?"
"Alright..."
