230: Chapter 230 This isn't shit, it's a gold nugget

Secretary Sha Ruijin touched his nose awkwardly when the man ignored him. He and Secretary Tian Guofu were conducting a private, unannounced visit today, aiming to see the most authentic situation.

However, the situation was so authentic it didn't seem real, and it was even a bit stinging.

He gave a light cough and smiled, "Brother, I am from out of town and not very familiar with Lvzhou."

"From out of town? You look like a businessman." The man Fishing finally looked at him properly, then suddenly looked wary. "Let me tell you, Yueya Lake is a protected area; large-scale Fishing is not allowed. If you want to buy fish, go to an artificial breeding place. You can only fish here."

Secretary Sha Ruijin laughed, "No, no, I'm in the industrial goods business. I just heard that Yueya Lake is quite beautiful and came over for a stroll."

"Oh..." The man Fishing nodded, looking proud. "Our Yueya Lake in Lvzhou is a great place. Look at this scenery; we'll probably get a four-star scenic area rating this year. It's just a pity that no famous people have come from here, and there are no historical anecdotes, otherwise we could have applied for five stars."

Secretary Sha Ruijin nodded and changed the subject, "I heard that the food court over here used to have quite severe pollution..."

"Pah!" The man Fishing waved his hand, interrupting Secretary Sha Ruijin. "That is ancient history. Let me tell you, ever since Secretary Gao Yuliang introduced the waste incineration plant, there hasn't been any pollution for a long time. It's been years."

"A waste incineration plant?" Secretary Sha Ruijin's Face turned serious. "As far as I know, waste incineration plants are heavily polluting projects."

The man Fishing glanced at him with disdain. "You're a businessman, how can you have zero common sense? Who said waste incineration plants are heavily polluting? If they were really that polluting, would they be allowed to operate?"

"Uh..." Secretary Sha Ruijin was stunned, choked up, and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Secretary Tian Guofu quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "Brother, these waste incineration plants emit exhaust gases, are you sure there's no pollution?"

"You out-of-towners, you don't understand anything." The man Fishing stood up and pointed proudly at a chimney in the distance. "See that over there? That huge chimney is the incineration plant's chimney. Look at the smoke; does it look like pollution?"

Secretary Sha Ruijin and Secretary Tian Guofu looked in the direction he pointed and both showed expressions of surprise. The chimney was very thick, looking like a roofless granary from afar, with some white gas drifting above it—clearly water droplets condensed from high-temperature steam.

"That is the waste incineration plant's chimney?" Secretary Sha Ruijin asked in surprise. "I thought it was a steel furnace."

A middle-aged man Fishing nearby corrected him with dissatisfaction. "What waste incineration plant? That sounds terrible. They call it a 'Resource Recycling and Reuse Processing Center'."

The man Fishing chuckled sheepishly. "Right, right, right, I'm just used to calling it that. It's the processing center, okay?"

Secretary Sha Ruijin and Secretary Tian Guofu exchanged looks, both wearing expressions of surprise. A Resource Recycling and Reuse Processing Center? They really didn't know Handong Province had such a thing.

"Ever since Secretary Gao Yuliang introduced this processing center," the man Fishing opened up, "not only Yueya Lake, but all the trash in Lvzhou has a place to be processed. At that place, dry trash is burned to generate electricity; kitchen waste from the food court is dehydrated, fermented, and turned into organic fertilizer; the remaining residue is also burned to generate electricity."

"When this trash is burned, does it really not pollute the air?" Secretary Sha Ruijin asked cautiously.

"Of course not," the man Fishing said. "They say it uses some kind of nuclear weapon technology. The furnace is at high temperatures, over a thousand degrees, comparable to the Pill Furnace of Taishang Laojun! It can burn away any harmful substances."

Secretary Sha Ruijin nodded and said casually, "We haven't heard of this thing where we're from."

The man Fishing's expression became even prouder. "That's because you haven't met a good official like Secretary Gao Yuliang. He approved this food court back in the day, and it did have pollution at first. But even though he went to the provincial level, he didn't just walk away. When he saw technology to manage pollution, he thought about bringing it to Lvzhou—I've never heard of such a responsible official in my life. I heard that this processing center not only processes Lvzhou's trash but also handles Lincheng's, collecting quite a lot of treatment fees from Lincheng. As a result, Lincheng also wanted to build its own processing center, but Secretary Gao Yuliang rejected it."

Secretary Sha Ruijin and Secretary Tian Guofu asked in unison, "Why?"

"You don't understand that, do you?" The man Fishing took on the air of a teacher. "One processing center can clean up the trash for many areas around Lvzhou. Wouldn't Lincheng building another one be redundant construction? This thing is planned; it's not something just anyone can build. Get it? Our Handong Province officials are very thoughtful in how they do things."

Secretary Sha Ruijin pursed his lips, feeling strange inside. This Handong Province seemed very different from what he had imagined.

Secretary Tian Guofu couldn't help but ask, "Brother, you seem to be very clear about the situation with that processing center."

"That's because," the man Fishing laughed, "my son works there. They have high requirements for hiring; you need at least a bachelor's degree. The city organized us citizens to visit, and man, it was full of big screens, like watching a sci-fi movie. Have you seen 'The Wandering Earth' from earlier this year? The sci-fi movie starring Wu Jing! Their factory floor is just like inside a spaceship. You out-of-towners should go and broaden your horizons, see the technological development of our Handong Province."

"Mm-hmm, okay..."

Secretary Sha Ruijin gave a few perfunctory responses and then left the Yueya Lake Scenic Area. Back in the car, he was silent for a long time.

This Handong Province was far too different from the information he had received before coming here.

First, there was Governor Liu, who was said to basically ignore government affairs and be in a semi-retired state.

But what was the reality? He was enthusiastically preparing to lead an inspection team to inspect other provinces, and the team even included two members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: the Party Secretary of Jingzhou City and the Party Secretary of Lvzhou.

And then there was this Yueya Lake in front of him.

Secretary Zhong told him that this was Secretary Gao Yuliang's dirt! It was the shit under the Zhao Faction's butt. But what was the reality? This wasn't shit; this was a gold nugget.

Secretary Tian Guofu's important task in coming to Handong Province was also to deal with the Zhao Faction. Seeing Secretary Sha Ruijin looking troubled, he rolled his eyes and said, "Secretary Sha, this processing center is essentially still a waste treatment station. Can it really be as good as they say? I don't believe it. And saying one treatment station can handle the trash of several surrounding cities, wouldn't that imply wasted production capacity? Could it also be a vanity project? I suggest we go see it ourselves and conduct a surprise inspection."

Secretary Sha Ruijin frowned slightly and nodded slowly. "Fine. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Secretary Tian Guofu thought for a moment. "Aren't we going to inspect rural work with the Lvzhou Municipal Committee tomorrow?"

Secretary Sha Ruijin smiled slightly. "We will pass by Yueya Lake tomorrow. I will change the itinerary on the spot and go to see that processing center."

Secretary Tian Guofu smiled in realization. "Brilliant, Secretary Sha. This way, they won't have a chance to fake anything. I really don't believe that a waste treatment station can be as good as they say."