The crisis in Mingshan Town's education system unfolded as follows:
After securing sponsorship from a game company in the provincial capital, Chen Feng immediately brought back all the top students who had gone elsewhere to study.
Other schools were fine; when Mingshan Town's top students left, they simply recruited top students from other towns.
Only the mayor of Lin'an Town was an outlier. He was very upset that Chen Feng had bought back the top students.
This was because Lin'an Town's top students were originally from Mingshan Town. With Chen Feng having lured them all away with money, Lin'an Town was left without any top students, and its educational quality declined at a visible rate.
Unable to tolerate such a drastic downturn, the mayor of Lin'an Town immediately went to Yongming County to file a complaint, arguing that the deputy mayor of Mingshan Town was acting recklessly and disrupting the county's educational order.
In reality, the reason was not important. Yongming County had a top leader who was from Lin'an Town, and naturally, they would side with Lin'an Town on any matter.
Consequently, Yongming County ordered Chen Feng to return the top students to Lin'an Town.
Chen Feng wanted to resist, but Qin Yan advised him to yield.
The reasoning was that although Lin'an Town's top students had returned, there were still half of the top students who had not.
This was the situation; they had to take it step by step, and one couldn't get fat with a single bite.
Lin'an Town had always been a benchmark for education in Yongming County, and with the county's top leader being from Lin'an Town, forcefully confronting Lin'an Town in this situation would yield no results.
Chen Feng considered this and agreed.
Therefore, Chen Feng changed his strategy.
Since Lin'an Town could continue to poach top students from elsewhere, Mingshan Town could also poach top students from elsewhere.
Furthermore, this poaching would not be limited to Yongming County but would extend to the entire province.
To find these top students, Chen Feng significantly increased the scholarship and benefit package for them.
On top of that, to retain these top students, Chen Feng also hired top-tier teachers from across the province at high salaries.
In a flash, the tens of millions in sponsorship from the provincial capital were used up.
"Chen Feng, you're spending money too fast, aren't you?"
Qin Yan sought out Chen Feng specifically to discuss this matter.
"Tens of millions, spent in less than a month, it is indeed a bit fast. But it's also normal. To quickly improve educational quality, throwing money at it is the only option,"
Chen Feng explained.
"I understand what you're saying. But the problem is, if you spend all the money now, what will you do for future expenses?"
Qin Yan asked with a solemn expression.
"Town Mayor Qin, it's like this: if the initial investment is in place, future funds will come knocking on our door automatically,"
Chen Feng said confidently.
"That's interesting. Continue,"
Qin Yan said with interest.
"This time, we'll use money to create a provincial top-tier class. We just need to wait for a month. The provincial September college entrance examination mock test is coming up. As long as our top students in Mingshan Town rank high in this mock test, wealthy underachievers from all over the province will pour money into Mingshan Town to enroll here. That's how we'll get the money, isn't it? You should know this model; Mao Tan Factory Middle School operates on this very model. They spend money to recruit good retakers, and then attract wealthy retakers, creating the Mao Tan Factory myth,"
Chen Feng explained.
"Chen Feng, I have to admire you now. You know all the unspoken rules of education. It's strange; you've never worked in education before, yet you're so adept at handling educational matters,"
Qin Yan asked, a look of confusion on her face.
"To put it boastfully, it's about being good at learning. No matter what happens in officialdom, nothing is truly new. As long as you observe carefully, you'll find examples to learn from."
"That's true in principle, but your learning ability is truly formidable!"
Qin Yan continued to exclaim.
"It's alright,"
Chen Feng replied with a humble smile.
"Alright, regarding the education matters in Mingshan Town, after thinking about it, with your sustained efforts, there shouldn't be any major problems anymore. In other words, it's on the right track. How about this: shift your focus from overseeing education to overseeing urban construction."
"Certainly! Mingshan Town's economic development speed is visibly increasing, but its urban construction is still lagging, unable to keep pace with the town's economic development level. Frankly speaking, Mingshan Town's economy has the feel of a big city, but its urban construction is still akin to an ordinary township. This situation is unacceptable; it will never pass if we intend to upgrade the township to a district in the future,"
Chen Feng explained briefly.
"Chen Feng, you are as intelligent as ever. No matter what, you grasp things instantly. That's exactly what I mean. I'm not worried about Mingshan Town's economy, given the foundation of the old Mingshan Town and the advantages brought by the merger with Lianhua Town. The development of the new Mingshan Town will only accelerate. What I'm concerned about is urban construction, which, as you say, is lagging. It's just the right time to seize this opportunity of being selected as a civilized town to thoroughly overhaul Mingshan Town's urban construction,"
Qin Yan replied excitedly.
"Town Mayor Qin, rest assured, with me here, the selection of civilized town this time will definitely be successful,"
Chen Feng said with conviction.
Qin Yan did not delay Chen Feng further and directly had him move to a different office. The previous office was given to the deputy mayor in charge of education, and Chen Feng's new office was specifically designated for overseeing urban construction.
Chen Feng was not one to hesitate. On his first day in the new role, he summoned the head of the urban management department to his office.
"Deputy Mayor Chen, do you have any instructions?"
Meng Feng, the head of urban management, asked directly.
"Quickly issue an order for the urban management officers to stop tearing down brand logos and stop driving away small vendors,"
Chen Feng also got straight to the point.
"Deputy Mayor Chen, did I hear you correctly? This is a crucial moment for the selection of a civilized town, and you want to stop all of this? How will we be selected as a civilized town?"
Meng Feng asked, utterly confused.
"Elder Meng, I admit you've done a lot for Mingshan Town's civilized town selection. However, your direction is wrong. Officialdom now is different from the past. The selection of civilized towns is no longer superficial. Think about it; many towns with uniform signage and no street vendors are still not civilized towns, aren't they?"
"That seems to make sense. But if we don't reform in these areas, then from what aspects should we reform?"
Meng Feng asked, still confused.
To be honest, as the head of urban management, he was just going through the motions. Whatever the urban management in other towns did, he followed suit, never bothering to think for himself.
"I will handle the specific detailed work myself. You just need to maintain the sanitation and order on the streets. The most basic requirement for a civilized town is that the streets should not be chaotic or stinking. You should be able to achieve these two points, right?"
Chen Feng explained calmly.
"Deputy Mayor Chen, you previously oversaw the economy, and now you're suddenly in charge of urban construction. Are you sure you can handle it?"
Meng Feng was still somewhat uneasy. This was a national civilized town selection, which was no ordinary matter.
"Elder Meng, rest assured, although I haven't overseen urban construction before, I've seen many successful urban construction cases. If I can absorb and digest them a bit, it shouldn't be a big problem,"
Chen Feng continued to reply calmly.
"Deputy Mayor Chen, that principle holds true. But the problem is, this time, Mingshan Town has a strong competitor in the civilized town comparison: Xiaoyan Subdistrict in Hongyan District, Jiangcheng. Xiaoyan Subdistrict is a very developed subdistrict in Hongyan District. They have a much greater advantage in their civilized town selection compared to Mingshan Town. My point is, to defeat such a strong opponent as Xiaoyan Subdistrict in Hongyan District, shouldn't we invite experienced people to help?"
Elder Meng suggested in a low voice.
"Elder Meng, rest assured, Xiaoyan Subdistrict has a significant advantage. However, it's not an overwhelming advantage. I have a secret weapon. As long as I utilize this secret weapon properly, Jiangcheng will see Mingshan Town emerge victorious in this national civilized town selection,"
Chen Feng replied with a meaningful look.