Zhang Xiaoling nodded in understanding, "Village Chief, shall we sign the rental agreement now?"
"Sure thing!" the Village Chief replied happily, opening the drawer and taking out the contract he had already prepared, handing it to Zhang Xiaoling, "Take a look and see if there’s anything that needs to be changed."
Zhang Xiaoling handed the contract to Luo Shu, who smiled and shook her head, "It’s fine for you to look it over."
"Okay!" Zhang Xiaoling didn’t stand on ceremony with Luo Shu and began to read through the contract carefully, then turned to the Village Chief, "No problem! Village Chief, let’s sign it now."
"Alright!" The Village Chief took out an old fountain pen from his shirt pocket and handed it to Zhang Xiaoling to sign. He had been using this pen for seven or eight years now, it was a reward given to him for being an advanced worker during the collective era.
He cherished it greatly and was reluctant to use it, but he always carried it with him, using it only occasionally when he needed to sign something. However, he would check every day to make sure the pen had ink.
Zhang Xiaoling took the fountain pen and signed her name in the space labeled Party B, and then handed the pen and the contract back to the Village Chief.
The Village Chief took them, made a large sweeping gesture with his pen, and wrote down his name, then turned to Zhang Xiaoling and Luo Shu, "So how will you pay the rent? Monthly or quarterly?"
"We plan to pay the ten years’ rent all at once," Luo Shu said. It seemed like a loss to pay it all at once, but in reality, it was an advantage.
Six thousand yuan was perhaps an astronomical amount for the average person now. But what about in three years, in five years? By then, would the rent still possibly be fifty yuan a month?
"Ah!?" Not only the Village Chief and the Brigade Leader were stunned, but even Zhang Xiaoling was taken aback; all three of them looked at Luo Shu incredulously. Fifty yuan a month, ten years’ rent was a whole six thousand yuan! Wasn’t she just frightening everyone?
"Are you really going to pay it all at once?" Zhang Xiaoling asked, snapping back to reality. There wasn’t that much money in the factory’s accounts right now.
"Yes!" Luo Shu nodded affirmatively.
"But our account..." Zhang Xiaoling tried to remind Luo Shu.
Luo Shu waved her hand to interrupt Zhang Xiaoling, giving her a confident look, and turned to ask the Village Chief, "Village Chief, do you accept cash directly or a check?"
After thinking for a moment, the Village Chief said, "Then a check!" He had never received so much money in his life; it felt like a dream.
"Alright! Just give me the account information for the transfer," Luo Shu said.
The Village Chief hastily took a piece of paper and wrote down an account number with his fountain pen, handing it to Luo Shu, "This is our village’s public account number; you can transfer the money there."
Luo Shu took the slip of paper and glanced at it, "Village Chief, may I use your phone for a moment?"
The Village Chief quickly pushed the phone toward Luo Shu.
Luo Shu picked up the phone and called Luo Qin, and once connected, she said, "Luo Qin, I’m giving you an account number, it’s XXXX, transfer six thousand yuan to this account."
"Alright!" Luo Qin responded, "Chairperson! Wang Jinhui has already taken people over; they should arrive this afternoon."
"Mm," Luo Shu replied and hung up the phone. As for the land application, she was quite familiar with the procedures, having previously acquired land when establishing Tenglong Group in Cloud City. Once things here were settled, she and Zhang Xiaoling would go to the town and submit the relevant land application documents.
"Village Chief, I’ll have people come to renovate the cattle shed this afternoon; do you see any problem with that?" Luo Shu asked the Village Chief.
"Of course not," the Village Chief nodded cheerily and began puffing away contentedly on his tobacco pipe. With that six thousand yuan, the village could construct a road, and even spruce up the village office a bit.
"Also, I’d like to clear the grass behind the cattle shed; could you help me hire a couple of villagers to do it? Of course, I’ll pay them for their labor," Luo Shu said. The application for land wouldn’t take much time to approve; once the cattle shed was renovated, the land behind it should be almost ready to apply for. Then they could build the factory in one go, saving the trouble of doing it in two trips.
"Sure! I’ll take care of that," the Village Chief readily agreed.
"Thank you, Village Chief! Also, I’ve already prepared the land application documents. If there’s no issue, after this, let’s go to the Town Official Residence together and submit them," Luo Shu said, already taking out the documents and handing them to the Village Chief.
Zhang Xiaoling looked at Luo Shu in surprise. Her heart was full of admiration for Luo Shu; she had already prepared everything in advance.
The Village Chief somewhat blankly took the documents. It seemed that the other party had made thorough preparations and was just waiting for his consent.
After reading through the documents carefully, the Village Chief was somewhat shocked and asked Luo Shu, "Have you bought land before?" The application Luo Shu had prepared was very detailed, with no need for modifications.
Luo Shu smiled and nodded her head slightly, "Then, shall we go to the town for a meal now and after eating, we can go to the Town Official Residence to submit the documents. Village Chief, what do you think?"
"Yes!" the Village Chief readily agreed. At this point, he was extremely impressed by Luo Shu. Although young, she handled matters methodically, as if everything was under her control, truly someone capable of great things.
Asking the Brigade Leader to stay behind to handle village affairs, the Village Chief and Luo Shu began walking towards the entrance of the village.
Seeing the car that Luo Shu had parked at the village entrance, the Village Chief looked at her with anticipation and asked, "Shall we take the car there?" He saw Luo Shu driving the car the day before and really hoped to experience what it was like to ride in one. He had ridden on tractors, ox carts, and buses, but he had never been in a car before.
"Yes," Luo Shu nodded.
"Village Chief, please sit in the back," said Zhang Xiaoling, who had already reached out to open the car door for the Village Chief. Those who had never ridden in a car wouldn’t know how to open the door, as it had taken her a while to figure out the first time she got in one.
"Thank you!" the Village Chief nodded gratefully to Zhang Xiaoling and bent over to get into the car.
Once inside, the Village Chief began to survey the car’s interior, pressing his hand against the seat below, "This seat is so soft, really comfortable to sit on. What material did they use, it’s still springy?"
"Village Chief, there are springs inside the seat," Zhang Xiaoling laughed. She had never seen the springs herself, but according to Luo Shu, modern upholstered sofas all contained springs.
"So it has springs in it? No wonder it feels so soft when you sit down," the Village Chief said, nodding in understanding, and when he saw Luo Shu start the car, he stared intently at her actions, not wanting to miss a thing. Having this chance to ride in a car, he feared he might not get another; he wanted to observe closely how to drive a car.