Chapter 88 - 89: The Gap is Too Great

Chapter 88: Chapter 89: The Gap is Too Great

Li Yang quickly recovered, walked over, and sat down. "Hello, my name is Li Yang. I’m a resident of Bishui Village in Gaodi Town. Here’s the thing: our village’s elementary school is very old. The rainy season is almost here, and I’m worried it might collapse. I want to get a new school built for our village during the summer vacation, which is why I came to your company."

Liuwan looked Li Yang up and down and saw that the receptionist was right. The man’s clothes were very ordinary, probably not worth more than five hundred yuan in total.

’A guy like him wants to build a school for his village? I’m finding that hard to believe.’

"Oh?" Liuwan’s interest was piqued. "You want to build an elementary school for your village. Do you have any idea how much that costs?"

Li Yang shook his head.

"According to the notices issued by the province..." Liuwan knew this stuff best, and she began, "Renovating an old school, even a basic elementary school, would cost at least half a million. If the school is larger, it could be over a million. About how many students does your school have?"

"About one hundred and eighty students in total!" Li Yang said after a moment of thought.

"One hundred and eighty... according to standards, that would be at least in the eight hundred thousand range. Do you have that kind of money?"

"Yes!" Li Yang nodded immediately. "So, eight hundred thousand is enough?"

Liuwan was taken aback for a moment. It sounded like he really did have it.

"That’s just based on the official notice. The actual cost can’t be determined yet because every school has different requirements. Besides, since we’re the contractors, we need to make a profit, right?"

Li Yang gave a dry laugh and nodded. "Yes, yes, of course..."

"Alright then. Since you’re so committed, tell me what kind of facilities you have in mind for the school."

"A main school building, with at least one and a half classes per grade, a dormitory building, a cafeteria, an auditorium, a library... oh, and it would be best if we could also build an indoor gymnasium..." Li Yang laid out his ideas.

In reality, these weren’t his ideas. He’d heard them from Ye Xiu long ago.

The quality of education for children in the countryside wasn’t good, so not many managed to get out through their studies. Every time she saw a student drop out of middle school or fail to get into high school, Ye Xiu would feel disheartened. She would tell Li Yang that if their school had better equipment, or if they had other facilities, the students could learn other skills, like sports or art. Then they wouldn’t have to enter the workforce so early.

So, unconsciously, Li Yang had adopted these as his own requirements.

But Liuwan frowned and cut Li Yang off. "I’m sorry, but a million yuan probably wouldn’t be enough for a school like that."

Li Yang was stunned. "It’s... not enough?"

’I only have a million yuan right now! I thought it would be enough, but I guess not.’

"Your requirements are quite high!" Liuwan said firmly. "Setting everything else aside, just the indoor gymnasium you mentioned would cost several hundred thousand yuan. Then you’ve got the auditorium and other things. A typical elementary school might just have a main school building, a cafeteria, and a dormitory. At most, you might add a small library, and that alone costs a lot of money. You’re adding an auditorium and an indoor gymnasium on top of that. This is a massive project."

Li Yang stared blankly for a moment, then asked again, "Then how much would it cost?"

"At least one and a half million!" Liuwan said seriously. "If you don’t have that kind of money, don’t even think about building this school."

Li Yang gave a bitter smile. ’Looks like I really underestimated the situation.’

Just then, Liuwan’s phone rang.

"Director Mai, I’m on my way over. Please wait a moment!" After saying this, she hung up. Liuwan stood up. "I’m sorry, Mr. Li, but I have another business meeting to get to now. How about this: when you’ve gathered enough money, we can talk again, okay?"

Without even waiting for Li Yang to object, she had already gestured for him to leave.

Li Yang had no choice but to give an awkward laugh and walk out.

When he got outside, the young woman at the front desk saw him and hurried over. "How did it go? Did you make a deal?"

Just then, Liuwan came out from her office, bag in hand, moving with brisk efficiency. A whiff of perfume trailed behind her as she walked past them.

"No deal!" Li Yang said, frustrated. "I don’t have enough money. Manager Liu said it would cost at least one and a half million."

The receptionist was stunned. "That much...? Well, why don’t you try some other construction companies? There really aren’t many good people like you around anymore."

Li Yang nodded. It was time to check out other companies.

"How about this, leave me your contact information!" The receptionist was genuinely trying to be helpful. "Our manager just left for a meeting. When she gets back, I’ll contact you and see if you can talk with her again."

"Okay, thank you so much!" Li Yang said, looking grateful.

The receptionist smiled brightly. "It’s nothing. You’re donating a whole school to your village. What I’m doing is nothing compared to you."

Li Yang smiled. "You’re pretty amazing yourself."

After exchanging contact information, Li Yang left to find another construction company.

But to his disappointment, he went to two more companies in a row, and both rejected him after hearing his requirements.

One company even quoted him a price of two million, which was even more outrageous compared to the price Manager Liu had given him.

This was like a bucket of cold water dumped on the hopeful Li Yang. ’Is this whole thing going to be impossible?’