Chapter 493: The Training Exercise Begins

Liu Yutong listened modestly, saying, “Governor Zhu, you’re too kind. As an emerging enterprise, Wanlong Society is truly honored to receive your recognition. Please rest assured, we will stay grounded and strive to create more employment opportunities for BS Province, using practical actions to repay the trust of you and the local people.”

Hearing this, the leader’s smile grew even wider. He waved his hand and said, “Ah, in private from now on, don’t call me Governor. If you don’t mind, just call me Uncle Zhu. Seeing you young people with such vision and sense of responsibility makes me genuinely happy.”

“Oh, and about my daughter—she’s been somewhat spoiled and willful since childhood. You’ll need to be patient with her.”

Liu Yutong readily agreed and immediately changed her tune. “Uncle Zhu, Silin is my good friend. I’ve always treated her like a sister.”

The leader: “Excellent, excellent. It’s best that you young people can support each other and progress together. You’ll need to guide Silin more in the future.”

Liu Yutong: “Don’t worry, Uncle Zhu. I definitely will.”

The leader looked at this young woman before him—so poised and articulate—and the more he looked, the more he liked her.

If his own daughter could have even half of her poise and capability, he would be completely satisfied.

“Yutong, if you have any ideas or encounter any difficulties here in the future, you can tell Silin anytime, or have your secretary contact me directly. To build an enterprise to this scale at such a young age—your ability is beyond doubt. From now on, treat BS Province as your second home. Don’t stand on ceremony.”

These words essentially represented complete approval of Liu Yutong and conveyed a willingness to offer certain personal-level considerations.

Liu Yutong understood clearly in her heart. Calling him “Uncle Zhu” hadn’t been a loss at all.

This trip to BS Province had been worth it!

Actually, she truly hadn’t planned to open up markets in BS Province originally, at least not in the short term—the front lines were being stretched a bit too far.

But now it seemed this might actually be a good opportunity.

With this relationship in place, she could completely expand her industries over here.

Of course, the expansion wasn’t just about a supermarket. She had long since drafted plans for out-of-province expansion, typically using shopping centers as a baseline to create large-scale complexes. Only this way could they better achieve economies of scale.

The goal was also simple, summarized in one slogan: Wherever Wanlong Shopping Center is, that’s the city’s commercial center.

Liu Yutong chatted with the leader for about an hour before concluding.

Then came the formal meeting segment.

After all, Liu Yutong was spending over a billion on charity in BS Province—it definitely had to be on television.

However, Liu Yutong tactfully declined this formal media appearance, which both surprised and didn’t surprise the leader.

What surprised him was that someone would be willing to give up such a great opportunity for publicity.

What didn’t surprise him was that his daughter had already told him that Liu Yutong didn’t like being in the limelight and preferred to work with her feet on the ground.

The leader expressed respect for this, even admiring her more—young but not arrogant, pragmatic and low-key. In today’s restless society, this was truly rare.

But for such a large charity project, someone had to make an appearance, right?

Therefore, Yu Xin, as the representative of Wanlong Society, formally met with the leader, appearing in BS Province Television’s cameras in Liu Yutong’s place.

After the meeting, Liu Yutong stood on the top floor of a hotel in Bei C, looking out at this city that would soon face trauma.

In her past life, Bei C had been so severely devastated that the entire county was relocated and rebuilt elsewhere.

She had done everything she could.

This was the best method she could think of so far 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 Bei C, whether on television news, newspapers, radios, or roadside banner advertisements, everywhere was promoting the student wilderness training exercise and the city-wide marathon events.

Those school teachers and students were fine—as long as the notifications from above were delivered, regardless of how much the principals or teachers complained, they had to implement it.

This was a mandatory task that required cooperation.

Of course, this hundred-li training exercise wasn’t for nothing.

As long as they completed the mission, funding that had been previously applied for but not approved would be granted.

Many schools were short on money now—repairing classrooms, replacing desks and chairs, and many other places requiring expenditure.

Some schools in remote areas had even delayed teachers’ salaries for a long time.

But now it was different. As long as they could obtain that hundred million yuan in funding, it would relieve a lot of pressure.

Almost on the same day the notice was issued, teachers and students from various schools set off one after another.

As for the marathon event, it was a bit more troublesome to organize. Many people, especially the elderly, weren’t particularly interested and were unwilling to participate.

However, the organizers came up with a solution.

They set up many stalls along the planned marathon route. In addition to water, they placed large quantities of eggs.

Just by showing up, people could receive a free bag of eggs. If they could bring friends to cheer for the participants, they could receive additional varying amounts of eggs.

If the eggs ran out, they would just hand out cash directly.

With this incentive, even the groups least interested in the marathon were suddenly fired up. They rushed to call friends and drag their sleeping children out by the ears to go get eggs and money together.

This further motivated more people to leave buildings.

The same was true in rural areas. People specifically went to the countryside, like open spaces in certain villages, to distribute eggs.

In villages, it was mostly left-behind elderly people. Upon hearing about free eggs, they hurriedly left their homes to get them.

They didn’t need anyone to urge them at all.

After the large-scale activities began, the original thousand-plus Wanlong Society members were far from enough.

They even hired many people to help.

Liu Yutong didn’t choose to stay in Bei C. She, Yun Cheng, and Zhu Silin also joined a wilderness training team from a township elementary school of nearly a hundred people.

Their team’s destination was a martyrs’ cemetery a hundred li away.

At the beginning, the children thought it was a spring outing, so each one was cheerful and very excited.

The three of them changed into sportswear, put on volunteer armbands, mixed among the teachers, and directed the students toward their goal.

Behind them followed a box truck loaded with supplies to ensure their food and accommodation provisions.

The first half of the hike was fine, but problems began to arise later on.

Many children were young. Even with frequent rest stops, after walking a dozen kilometers, they began to act up. Many simply sat on the ground and refused to walk.

Liu Yutong had no choice but to encourage the children like the other teachers—leading them in songs, telling stories about martyrs, and trying her best to encourage them to keep going.

Perhaps because of her approachable nature and broader experience, many children quite liked this beautiful and gentle older sister, always crowding around her asking questions.

The most common question was why they chose the martyrs’ cemetery as their destination.

“Big Sister, why do we have to walk so far to see the martyrs’ cemetery?”

“Because heroes are worth measuring the distance of our respect with our footsteps. And look, how blue the sky is outside, how green the mountains are. Isn’t exercising in nature much more interesting than staying in a classroom?”

“Yeah, but my feet hurt a bit.”

“Hang in there. Once we pass this hill, we can rest.”

“Big Sister, tell us more stories, okay?”

“Alright…”