I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

"Are you sure that's what he really said?" Mayor Zhu still felt somewhat bemused.

It was one thing to have someone attempt to swindle him and not make a fuss about it, but to actually offer a donation, and to start talking hundreds of billions at that, are there really such people in the world?

"Yes, that's why I came to contact you. Do you have some time? I can bring Mr. Zhang to visit you."

"No, no, no! Why should he visit me? Of course, I should visit him!" Mayor Zhu immediately started to put on his coat, "Where are you now?"

"Right here in my office."

"Good, entertain Mr. Zhang well, I will be there immediately!"

"Little Fu, come with me!" Mayor Zhu immediately made a call to his secretary.

"Mayor, is there something you need?"

"The high-speed rail in our Dongji City could start construction this year; bring the engineers and the blueprints, and let's head to Director Ding's place!"

"Really?" Secretary Fu was also surprised, "Did the province finally approve the funding?"

"No! It's not money from the province, it's Zhang Menglong, he's from our Dongji City, he wants to donate a huge sum to our city, at least several hundred billion!"

"Alright, alright! I'll arrange it right away!" Hearing such explosive news, Secretary Fu also became excited.

Having Zhang Menglong come from Dongji City is truly Dongji City's fortune!

Less than twenty minutes later, Mayor Zhu, panting, arrived at Director Ding's office with his entourage.

"Mayor, this is Mr. Zhang Menglong, and this is his girlfriend, Miss Lu Yiyao," Director Ding introduced.

"Mr. Zhang, this is our Mayor Zhu Guangwei."

"Hello, Mayor Zhu," Zhang Menglong shook hands with Mayor Zhu, "You are also my elder, calling me Mr. Zhang is too formal, just call me Menglong!"

"Okay, Menglong, welcome back to Dongji City," said Mayor Zhu, "You just got back and already encountered such an unpleasant event, I'm really somewhat embarrassed as the mayor."

"Hahaha, Mayor, you are too courteous, no matter how big the city, there will always be a few bad apples," Zhang Menglong laughed, "But indeed, our Dongji City's character needs some reform."

"Yes, I understand," Mayor Zhu nodded, "Once I get back, I will start advocating for the whole city to enhance character education and social atmosphere construction!"

"Mr. Zhang, I heard from Director Ding that you are here this time to donate to the construction projects of our Dongji City?" Mayor Zhu asked cautiously.

"Not really," Zhang Menglong said, "I was just back for the New Year and just happened to come here, so I casually inquired if there was somewhere I could donate some money, also considering it as contributing to my hometown."

"Casually?" Mayor Zhu and Director Ding exchanged glances, coming to the Bureau of Transportation, and casually planning to donate hundreds of billions, has the threshold for 'casually' reached such heights?

"Yes, if it weren't for coming here, I might not have had the chance to meet you both!"

"Then I'm wondering if I should also go thank the swindler?" Mayor Zhu couldn't help but feel both amused and distressed, that a mere swindle directly brought Dongji City an investment and donation of several hundred billion.

Such an achievement, even as mayor, he couldn't accomplish it. Doesn't that swindler deserve to be awarded an 'Inspire Dongji' award?

"Mayor Zhu, I'll just ask directly, does our Dongji City have any significant construction projects?" Zhang Menglong got right back on point, "The bigger, the better, the more the merrier, don't worry about the money! I feel that having money, I must give back to society and to my hometown; otherwise, I can't even sleep peacefully!"

"Indeed, there is!" Mayor Zhu nodded, "Menglong, since you are from Dongji City, you must be very aware that the biggest obstacle restricting our city's development is the transportation issue!"

Zhang Menglong immediately nodded, "Yeah! When I used to go to Jiangnan City for school, I didn't even know my family was so wealthy, I traveled by bus, and it was at least four hours one way. It was absolutely exhausting, not to mention a disaster if you suddenly needed to use the bathroom!"

"Yes, to travel to other cities, we can only go by bus or go first to Ningyong City to catch the high-speed train, but that undoubtedly increases the time cost," Mayor Zhu sighed, "In fact, the planning for the high-speed train was completed five years ago, but has been postponed until now because it's been hard to secure the funding."

"Hasn't this problem been solved yet?" Zhang Menglong asked.

"Yes, this year construction was supposed to start, but because of the pandemic, all industries have been severely impacted, and the economy is incredibly hard hit. The province can't come up with that much money right now."

"No problem, I'll cover the entire high-speed rail project!" Zhang Menglong had once been looking online for ways to spend money—building rockets, repairing the Great Wall, constructing high-speed rails had all come up, but he'd never had the chance until today.

"Cover the whole project?" Mayor Zhu was taken aback.

Actually, Mayor Zhu's expectations weren't that high. After all, building a high-speed train isn't a matter of one or two years. According to the original plan, the total construction time was expected to be five years.

Therefore, the funds didn't need to be in place all at once, just one-fifth or even less was enough to start, and when the province's funds came in, they could continue. This would also save a year's time.

He just hadn't expected that Zhang Menglong would speak of funding the entire high-speed rail right off the bat. Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

"Menglong, this is about building a high-speed rail, not a small amount of money. I brought an engineer today; perhaps you should listen to the details first," he suggested.

"Hmm," Zhang Menglong nodded, eager to know what the plan for the high-speed rail was.

"Engineer Zhang!" Mayor Zhu spoke to the engineer behind him.

Engineer Zhang was a man of few words; he found a table and immediately unfolded the planning map.

"Mr. Zhang, in the plans, the railway is 77 kilometers long, designed for speeds of 250 kilometers per hour, with an expected 17 tunnels totaling 35.246 kilometers, including one undersea railway tunnel. This is the most difficult and costly part of the project."

"In hilly areas, a typical four-track high-speed railway costs about 1.2 billion, but due to our complicated geographical conditions in Dongji, the cost will likely need to be doubled, so the entire project might need around 270 billion Huaxia yuan."

"Damn! 270 billion?"

Seeing Zhang Menglong's expression, Mayor Zhu thought he was concerned about the high cost and immediately said, "Mr. Zhang, this is just the total cost. We don't need so much upfront; we just hope to get the project started soon. If we could even get a few tens of billions, that would already be great."

"No, I mean, only 270 billion?" Zhang Menglong was somewhat disappointed. 270 billion Huaxia yuan wasn't even close to what he could donate in a month. How could building a high-speed rail be so cheap?

"Only?" Mayor Zhu's eyes widened. This was 270 billion, not 270 million, let alone 270 yuan. Was he even speaking human language? For this amount of money, several mayors of Dongji City had been exchanged without yet securing the funds.

"What I mean is, couldn't it be more expensive?" Zhang Menglong asked, "There must be variations in the quality of high-speed rails, right?"

"This..." Mayor Zhu turned to the engineer. Zhang Menglong actually thought the price was too low!

How many people in all of Huaxia had assets reaching 270 billion yuan? And how many could have 270 billion in cash? It was an unknown if they even existed!

"Our subway plan is designed for a maximum speed of 250 kilometers per hour, using standard materials. If we increase the speed to 350 kilometers per hour, then the construction cost would increase by about 30% to 50%. If we used top-of-the-line materials, the total construction expenses might exceed 500 billion!"

"Hiss!" Hearing this, Director Ding and Mayor Zhu both gasped. A 77-kilometer high-speed rail costing over 500 billion when even the 1300-kilometer-long Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail was less than 2000 billion yuan.

"It'll barely do," Zhang Menglong sighed, "Then let's go with this standard for now!"