Chapter 324: Unexpected Election Results

Ye Cheng closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and told himself it was fine.

"One vote for Chen Jinhai!"

"One vote for Chen Jinhai!"

"One vote for Ye Cheng!"

"One vote for Chen Jinhai!"

"Vote counting finished!"

With a loud shout from Duan Chunsheng, the election finally settled, and everyone looking at the results before them found it hard to believe.

Chen Jinhai got 321 votes, Ye Cheng got 303 votes.

Chen Jinhai was elected Village Chief!

Ye Cheng lost the election and could only be a Village Committee Member.

This result exceeded many people's expectations; many thought Ye Cheng should have been elected Village Chief, but they didn't expect this outcome.

Ye Cheng stood up, frowned slightly, something was wrong—where did the problem lie?

He was behind by 18 votes, which isn't a large margin.

Chen Jinhai looked at him smugly, pulling up a smile at the corner of his mouth that could be checked at the end.

Over there, the Chen family elder's cloudy eyes suddenly brightened; he looked at Ye Cheng with disdain and slowly took a sip of tea.

Chen Jinhai took the microphone and began spouting nonsense.

Duan Chunsheng looked at Ye Cheng with an apologetic expression; he couldn't help it, and the final result was just this.

"A Cheng, you don't need to rise in one step; getting into the village committee is fine too." Ye Guowei said with a hint of regret.

"A Cheng, it's fine; you're still young, being able to join the village committee is already awesome." Jiang Yunxiang also stood up to comfort him.

Both wanted to pull Ye Cheng to sit down; standing like that was too conspicuous.

Only Xiao Hu stood up, furious, saying, "Brother, something's off—did someone deceive us?"

He knew Ye Cheng's personality well; he must have been confident to join, and seeing Ye Cheng like this, he knew something must have gone wrong in some step.

"I don't know." Ye Cheng's eyes were full of scrutiny as he looked at the people around him; they had shown him their ballots when filling them out, and there was no problem.

He then looked toward Chen Zhangfu; Chen Zhangfu made eye contact with Ye Cheng, immediately lowered his head, his face flushed with shame.

"Damn! I knew the Chen family was unreliable!" Xiao Hu also realized this, shoved through the crowd, and rushed over.

Most people actually had no strong preference for who would be village chief, so after voting they just stood around chatting and shooting the breeze.

They were chatting animatedly when suddenly a burly bull charged out, startling everyone; no one could stop Xiao Hu in time, and he rushed straight past them, grabbed Chen Zhangfu by the collar, and threw a punch.

He hit someone?

Violence broke out at the re-election site?

The leader's smiling face on the chairman's platform darkened, and he turned his gaze toward Chen Jinhai.

Chen Jinhai had been speaking proudly, but when he saw the fight break out below, he instantly flew into a rage.

On this great day of his election, with leaders present, you actually dare to fight.

This is fighting? This is slapping my face!

"What the hell! What the hell! Pull them apart fast!" Chen Jinhai shouted into the microphone.

Actually, he didn't need to shout; the Chen family people below had already taken action.

"Holy shit! I hit our Chen family's people—hit them back!"

"Motherfucker, you're bullying us, right? Wang Xiaohu, you're asking for death."

The speaker was a few youngsters from the Chen family.

With all the villagers present, Xiao Hu charged over; at first he knocked Chen Zhangfu to the ground, but he was quickly beaten back.

Four or five youngsters surrounded Xiao Hu; although he was fierce, two fists can't fight four hands.

At the critical moment, two benches flew out of the crowd and smashed into the heads of several Chen family youngsters.

Ye Cheng and Ye Guowei rushed over, pulled Xiao Hu back; the Chen family people still wanted to come forward, but Ye Cheng swung a bench and drove them back.

"Come on, you bastards!" Ye Cheng swung another bench in his hand, daring anyone to approach—he'd smash them.

"Motherfucker, you think you're done after beating our Chen family? Dream on!"

Ye Cheng lifted a stool; the Chen family side also picked up theirs. The Chen family had more people, but Ye Cheng's side wasn't few either—aside from some usually neutral villagers, everyone else basically took sides.

The powder keg was about to explode; at this point, if anyone made a move, it would instantly become a villagers' brawl.

At that point, whether they'd live or die was uncertain.

"Stop! What are you doing!" A stern voice boomed from the chairman's platform.

Deputy County Magistrate Li stood on the chairman's platform with a grim face, and several members of the supervision team hurried down, standing between the two groups.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"Everyone, calm down!"

As Deputy County Magistrate Li, after all a leader, his shout instantly stunned the scene.

Seeing the situation stabilize, Deputy County Magistrate Li gave Chen Jinhai a hard stare, said nothing, and walked straight around him toward the villagers.

"Village Chief, I..." Chen Jinhai tried to explain, but they ignored him completely.

Deputy County Magistrate Li stood with his hands behind his back between the two factions, his expression solemn, his gaze sweeping over both sides.

Leaders naturally have an aura; just that glance made many on both sides lower their heads and put down their stools.

Ye Cheng also put down his stool; every game has its own rules.

To play, you must stay within the rules; stepping out of line means you'll get punished.

Especially these leaders—though their rank isn't high, they may not get things done for you, but they can certainly cause trouble.

Besides, Xiao Hu was just overly excited earlier; it really wasn't necessary—many things, once they reach a certain level, don't need to resort to violence. Look at rich people: who still goes around fighting? They have white gloves and black gloves; doing it yourself is just stupid.

What are you doing? This is the village committee re‑election; you fought at the election meeting, and if it gets out, how will other villages view your Baiyun Village?

Huh? Aren't you afraid of being gossiped about? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by others?

Deputy Township Chief Li stood with his hands behind his back, face darkened, and scolded everyone.

Seeing that the people present remained silent, he continued speaking,

"Who started the fight just now? Come forward and tell me why."

After saying that, his gaze fell on Xiao Hu and Chen Zhangfu; here, only the two of them had blood on their faces, even a blind person could tell they had fought.

"Oh, leader, they two argued while drinking yesterday; young people are hot‑headed, they couldn't hold back when they met today, so they started fighting again." Ye Cheng interjected directly.

He didn't want to talk about the election matter; such things can't be said openly.

Some things can only be done, not spoken; you can't say that Chen Zhangfu promised to vote for him and then defected, can you?

Voting is inherently voluntary; there's no such thing as defection.

If it were spoken, it might even pin a vote‑canvassing charge on oneself; better to just attribute it to personal grudges.

"Is that so?" Deputy Township Chief Li looked at the two.

Xiao Hu nodded, speaking solemnly: "Yes, leader, he said he took a fancy to my family's old sow, wanted to come once, I disagreed, so we argued."

"You..." Chen Zhangfu's face showed shock and anger.