Chapter 106: District Council Meeting: Giving the Other Councilors a Little Shock!

"The most excellent one is this!"

The secretary placed all the proposals on the table, singled one out, and set it in front of Diao Yaozu.

——Signed: Guan Zu!

"Good."

Diao Yaozu started by looking at the other proposals first.

At a glance, he frowned.

They were written poorly, all clichés—charity this, public health that, public toilets...

The final conclusion was always one thing—government funding!

Damn it all!

Did they think government funding was that easy to get?

Diao Yaozu was extremely unimpressed.

He looked directly at the one marked by the secretary as the most excellent, to cleanse his eyes.

"Linking all sectors of society, focusing on charity for children, and contributing to the healthy growth of children" — Guan Zu.

He opened it and began to read.

From the very beginning,

Hmm...

Diao Yaozu’s eyes lit up.

This opening was written with substance; the language was plain, but the data was detailed. It was clear that this was someone who had worked at the grassroots level and was extremely familiar with the current situation of children there.

Unlike those trash councilors before, who wrote a bunch of empty nonsense—it looked like a lot of words, but there was almost no content.

The difference in quality was clear at a glance.

Looking further down...

It even had a solution—the successful case study from Southeast Middle School!

Awesome!

Looking at the end—

Wow!

It didn't require government funding!

Causeway Bay citizens would donate 1 million to set up three after-school tutoring centers?!

Diao Yaozu’s eyes shone.

This was what a councilor should look like!

In fact, Diao Yaozu had always paid close attention to Guan Zu, because he was a record-breaking councilor with over 10,000 votes, while most councilors only had 800 or more—over 10 times the amount!

"It’s him. Let him be the final speaker on stage tomorrow!"

Causeway Bay.

"Brother Zu, the investigation is complete."

Ah Wah arrived at Guan Zu’s office early in the morning, ready to report on the charity organization.

"Sit."

Guan Zu and Ah Wah sat in the sofa area and began to brew tea.

Ah Wah reported: "I’ve consulted on it. Establishing a charity organization isn't too difficult. First, we need to prepare the 'Governing Document,' which is used to clarify the charity's purpose, daily management procedures, financial and asset handling methods, etc."

"Then we submit the application, governing document, board member list, financial statements, and other relevant documents and materials to the 'Social Welfare Department'... and wait for them to review it."

"After the review is passed, the charity will receive a registration certificate and be included in the relevant registration database."

"By then, the charity will be officially established!"

Guan Zu asked: "Have you checked the management of that Social Welfare Department?"

Although the process didn't seem difficult, it was people who handled the work.

Guan Zu didn't think it would actually be that easy.

Especially since they were still gangsters... wait, I'm not a gangster anymore.

Ah Wah nodded: "I checked. Here is the list."

He took a folder out of his briefcase and placed it in front of Guan Zu. Inside were seven or eight high-ranking officials from the Social Welfare Department, mostly foreigners.

"So many foreigners?"

Seeing this, Guan Zu actually felt relieved.

This bunch of foreigners were quite aggressive about making money now; they shouldn't pass up this opportunity to get rich.

And the Independent Commission Against Corruption wouldn't investigate foreigners, because when the ICAC was established during the era of the Four Great Sergeants, it relied on the staff of the Political Department, and the Political Department’s origins were in the British Intelligence Service. (Cold War)

Now, the ICAC was investigating the leftists quite crazily, but they wouldn't even touch the foreigners.

Guan Zu said to Ah Wah: "Find an opportunity to contact the foreigner with the highest position and see if we can meet..."

Ah Wah nodded: "Okay!"

At this moment, Guan Zu took out a few tickets: "By the way, I signed you guys up for a business management class. It’s very expensive, 40,000 per quarter. Remember to go to the lectures."

This class was recommended by Jimmy, who thought it was good.

Ah Wah took the tickets: "Okay."

Then he asked curiously: "Brother Zu, are you going?"

Guan Zu: "............"

Good question!

"Ahem... me? I'm quite busy... You guys just need to work hard. As the boss, I have a lot to think about—I have to steer the ship, balance the interests of all parties, and also... sigh, anyway, I'm too busy."

Ah Wah leaned back: "............"

See if I believe you!

You clearly just want to be lazy!

Ring ring ring~~~

Guan Zu’s phone rang.

An unknown number.

Guan Zu answered: "Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, is this Mr. Guan Zu? I'm from the District Council office. I'm Diao Sir’s secretary, my surname is Wu."

"Hello, Secretary Wu."

"It’s like this: Diao Sir thinks your proposal is quite good, so he hopes you can give a speech at this afternoon’s meeting."

Guan Zu’s eyes lit up, and he immediately said: "No problem! Thank you, Secretary Wu!"

Secretary Wu: "You're welcome."

After hanging up, Guan Zu and Ah Wah looked at each other and smiled.

Just as Guan Zu was preparing to put on a show at the District Council,

Over at the Wong Tai Sin Court,

The case regarding Ding Xie murdering Fang Jinxin thirteen years ago finally went to trial.

The entire Fang family had come.

I have to say, Ding Xie’s constitution is just tough. After having a piece of bone dug out of his knee and 10 days of healing, he was actually able to walk without a wheelchair.

Impressive!

Of course, no matter how tough the constitution is, one must respect the Basic Law; he was still crippled and couldn't use much force.

He was already disabled.

Ah Xing accompanied Fang Min and sat with the Fang family.

And Fang Zhanbo sat in the plaintiff’s seat, as he was the eyewitness who saw his father die with his own eyes.

"Bang bang bang~~~~"

The gavel struck.

"Court is in session!"

After Fang Zhanbo swore in, he began to recount the situation when he was 16 and saw Ding Xie beat Fang Jinxin to death with his own eyes.

Next, it entered the segment where Ding Xie refuted Fang Zhanbo.

The "Crab-speak" began to take effect.

"I beat your father to death—that’s not important. What’s important is why I beat your father to death."

"Let me give you an example: I went to eat with a friend, but the friend refused. I would think the friend was too arrogant and had too much of an ego. But in fact, the friend just had a stomachache and wanted to vomit, and couldn't eat..."

"This example tells us that eating isn't important; what's important is the reason. If you knew he had a stomachache, you wouldn't blame him; instead, you would sympathize with him."

"And I, beating your father to death, had a reason. If you knew the reason, you would understand me and sympathize with me. I’m not a bad person."

After speaking, Ding Xie revealed a wronged expression.

I only killed one person,

But I lost a friend!

The entire room: "............"

They were rendered speechless by Ding Xie’s self-righteous crab-talk.

No, you killed someone!

Is killing someone not important?

After more than two hours of debate,

the judge finally delivered the verdict,

"It is now announced... Ding Xie, for intentional homicide... and showing absolutely no remorse, is sentenced to 40 years in prison!"

"Bang~~~"

The gavel fell,

and the case of the murder of Fang Jinxin was officially brought to a close!

The Fang family instantly burst into tears of excitement.

As for the jurors and reporters in the room, having grown to loathe Ding Xie to the extreme during the two-hour debate, they all began to applaud and celebrate as the verdict was delivered.

As for the old hag?

Because she was too old, she didn't come at all. Otherwise, she probably would have cried herself to death on the spot.

"I don't accept this!"

"I am innocent!"

Ding Xie could not accept such a reality and cursed loudly: "You are all bad people, and you judges, every one of you is fat-headed and brainless, why are you framing me like this."

"I did kill someone, but I am not a bad person!"

He was dragged away directly by the police in the courtroom; although he had a limp, he was very strong, and it took four burly police officers to pin him down and handcuff him.

"Ding Xie was sentenced to 40 years?"

In Tongluowan,

Guan Zu was a bit surprised after receiving the call from Zhou Xingxing.

According to the original plot, Ding Xie was supposed to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

But thinking about it carefully, perhaps it was because in the original plot, Ding Xie forced Fang Min to jump to her death, which provoked the court's fury, leading to the life sentence. Now that the Fang family had been saved by him and the incident where Fang Min was assaulted and jumped to her death did not occur, the sentence was a bit lighter.

"Ding Xie with a crippled leg, along with Ding Xiaoxie, Ding Wangxie, and Ding Lixie who also have crippled legs..."

"I wonder what kind of fun will ensue when the father and sons are reunited in prison."

Guan Zu was looking forward to it.

That’s right, Ding Xiaoxie, Ding Wangxie, and Ding Lixie were already crippled.

After all, the ruthlessness of Killer Xiong was no joke; with a bunch of desperate criminals in Stanley Prison, it’s easy to dodge an open spear but hard to guard against a hidden arrow, and the three brothers were quickly beaten until they were crippled and disabled.

Among them, Ding Wangxie and Ding Lixie, being thin and weak, were even played to ruin by a group of gays.

After hanging up the phone with Zhou Xingxing,

Guan Zu stood up, took the documents, and went downstairs.

There was still half an hour until the first meeting of the District Council was set to begin.

He needed to get there early.

Xi Gui was waiting at the entrance of the boxing gym in a blue Bentley; Guan Zu got into the car and headed straight for the Government Offices in the Hong Kong Island District.

He got out of the car.

He stood at the main entrance of the Government Offices building.

Guan Zu straightened his suit and gold-rimmed glasses to make himself look more decent, then looked left and right... no female secretary, what a pity.

He walked into the lobby and asked the two beautiful receptionists.

"Excuse me, which floor is the District Council on?" Guan Zu smiled politely, looking incredibly handsome.

The eyes of the two beautiful receptionists lit up, and they said enthusiastically: "Hello sir, the District Council is on the 3rd floor."

Guan Zu smiled: "Thank you."

Then, under the gaze of the two beautiful receptionists, he took the elevator to the 3rd floor.

"He's so handsome!"

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend!"

"You're such a fangirl!" Soon,

Guan Zu walked into the elevator; everyone else was dressed in suits, full of the aura of government civil servants, and for the first time, Guan Zu felt — now that I have come here, I finally won't feel out of place.

I, Guan Zu, am also a public official!

He arrived at the 3rd floor.

Guan Zu asked a few more people and finally found the place where the councilors were meeting.

It was a large conference room on the 3rd floor.

He walked in.

Quite a few councilors were already sitting inside, all wearing suits; Guan Zu noticed that most of them were forty years old, and there were even several 60-year-olds wearing reading glasses.

And Guan Zu was so young and so handsome.

As soon as he entered the door,

he instantly attracted everyone's attention.

!.

"Who is this?"

"I know him, he's from Tongluowan."

"From Tongluowan? That freak who got over 10,000 votes?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"The ten of us combined don't even have as many votes as him, it's absurd!"

The councilors present who had won their elections generally had around 800-1200 votes; don't look at the large population, very few people were actually willing to go and vote.

Only a freak like Guan Zu could suddenly pull in over 10,000 votes; it was terrifying.

"What? He's that guy from Tongluowan?"

"Hiss~~ so it's him?!"

"Seems like he's from Hongxing?"

"What? Hongxing? How can someone from Hongxing be a councilor?"

"I don't know, but I heard he got over 10,000 votes."

"Hiss~~"

"Could it be that he threatened the neighbors to vote for him one by one?"

"That's possible."

"But he doesn't look like it; this handsome guy looks refined and gentle, like a good person."

"Don't you know? This Guan Zu is a famous philanthropist; he is very willing to spend money on charity."

"A Hongxing boy doing charity? Is that for real?"

Some were shocked, some were surprised, and some were curious.

As the discussion spread, all the councilors in the room turned to look at the handsome man at the door.

At this moment, Le Huizhen, a TVB reporter filming the first meeting, hurriedly asked the cameraman to aim the lens at Guan Zu.

She gave Guan Zu a close-up of his face.

Le Huizhen was an old acquaintance of Guan Zu, having interviewed him once before.

"Hello everyone, seniors!"

Guan Zu cupped his hands in a salute,

and after walking into the conference room, he began to enthusiastically hand out business cards to the councilors one by one.

"My name is Guan Zu; in the future, you seniors can just call me A-Zu... I am relatively young, and I might not be as thoughtful in my actions, so I hope you seniors will give me more guidance in the future. If I offend anyone, please bear with me."

His attitude was humble, and his smile was warm.

The councilors thought to themselves: This young man is actually quite decent!

Moreover, he doesn't look like a gangster at all.

Those gangsters are all wearing floral shirts and have dragons and tigers tattooed on them, but you couldn't tell anything from this one.

Thinking that Guan Zu was a terrifying powerhouse with 10,000 votes, he definitely had strong backing.

Many councilors were very respectful and exchanged business cards with Guan Zu one after another.

Just like that, Guan Zu suddenly became a social butterfly, becoming the first person to collect business cards from everyone in the room.

Guan Zu had his reasons for doing this; above the councilors there are committee members, above the committee members there is the District Council Chairman, and above the Chairman there is the Chief Commissioner...

By building good relationships with this group first, maybe he could become a committee member or council chairman in the future.

Then many things would be easier to handle.

I, Guan Zu, also want to advance!

15:00...

The start time for the conference room arrived,

and the District Council Chairman, Diao Sir, finally walked into the conference room with his secretary.

He swept his gaze across the room, and his eyes immediately landed on Guan Zu in the crowd.

Guan Zu was too young and too handsome; amidst a group of old fogies, he stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens!

"Diao sir!"

All the council members greeted him one after another.

"Alright, the meeting has begun; everyone, please return to your seats."

All the council members sat down in their seats one by one.

One 68-year-old council member was slow on his feet, and Guan Zu habitually helped the old man to his seat.

"Uncle Chen, take it slow~~"

"Thank you, Ah Zu~~~"

The other council members who had some objections to Guan Zu's status as a gangster wore strange expressions.

How is it that this gangster is so skilled at helping an old person?

When Diao sir saw this, he was even more satisfied with Guan Zu.

Guan Zu helped the old council member to his seat and then returned to his own.

The system notification sounded:

"You helped a North Point District council member; you have accumulated one good deed. Reward: 100 Hong Kong dollars."

"When you accumulate 100 good deeds, you will gain +1% approval rating from the citizens of North Point District."

"Alright, the meeting begins..."

Diao sir opened the session and began to speak at length.

"First, I would like to express my warmest congratulations to every new council member present..."

"As new council members, you will shoulder..."

"In the upcoming work..."

"Next, I will invite 10 council members to come up and give a speech..."

"Chen Zhongxin..."

Soon, one council member after another was called to the stage to talk about their understanding and suggestions regarding education, medical care, housing, sanitation, public security, the elderly, youth and children, government administration, and public services.

Diao sir listened until he was drowsy.

Every term, every year, the proposals from these council members were all about the same; the proposals they raised were just scratching the surface—superficial, hollow, and full of nonsense.

For example, Cao Chali, the council member for the North Point Tin Hau community, spoke about youth and children's proposals, saying something about asking the government to approve 500,000 in funding to expand community publicity and education so that parents would pay more attention to their children's healthy growth. ("The Detective")

Please, does this even need you to suggest it?

Which parent doesn't know they need to pay attention to their child's growth? Do I need you to teach me?

Can you come up with something practical?

Damn it!

I even suspect you're trying to swallow government funds!

Finally,

The ninth council member—Cao Chali—finished speaking.

It was the turn of the tenth, the very last one.

Female secretary: "I invite the final council member to the stage—Councilor Guan Zu!"

Diao sir finally perked up.

The grand finale is here!

Let me show you weaklings what a real proposal is!

Seeing that everyone was drowsy, Diao sir tapped the table with a loud thud and said loudly:

"Councilor Guan's proposal is the best in my opinion; everyone, please listen carefully."

His tone was already a bit blunt.

All the council members in the room cast sidelong glances.

The best?

They looked at Guan Zu with unconvinced expressions.

Guan Zu stood up and, under the gaze of everyone in the room, walked onto the stage.

"Hello everyone, my name is Guan Zu."

"This time, my proposal is 'Focusing on Youth and Children's Charity Work...'..."

Talking about youth and children's charity?

A few of the council members couldn't help but feel unconvinced.

That council member for the North Point Tin Hau district named Cao Chali curled his lip: I also talked about youth and children; could you possibly speak better than me?

"I have a school in my hands called Southeast Middle School..."

Guan Zu explained the general situation.

"Children nowadays don't want to study; they are dazzled by the outside world... especially arcades..."

"Recently, I partnered with the Wan Chai Education Service Center to set up an extracurricular tutoring school at Southeast Middle School..."

"Up until now, it has been implemented for over a month, and the results are very significant."

"The number of students whose grades have improved is over 90%."

"Parent satisfaction rate is 100%."

"According to the current data, this extracurricular tutoring school has very obvious effects in educating youth!"

"Therefore!"

Guan Zu swept his gaze across the room,

"My proposal is to set up three more extracurricular tutoring schools, covering the area of Causeway Bay and the surrounding Wan Chai region..."

"To place all students in these extracurricular tutoring schools after school."

"To urge them to study and isolate them from outside influences."

"With the previous successful experience, I believe we can definitely allow more youth and children to receive a better education!"

Guan Zu's voice fell.

The room was deathly silent.

They looked at each other in dismay.

While these council members were still talking about empty, superficial proposals and trying to scam government grants, Guan Zu had already put forward a substantive solution.

What is this?

Dimensional reduction strike!

No, you're a Hongxing gangster, how are you more concerned about people's livelihoods than us?

Wait!

A few council members caught a loophole in Guan Zu's proposal.

Among them, council member Cao Chali stuck his head out and said sarcastically:

"Councilor Guan, although I very much agree with your suggestion..."

"However!"

"This plan of yours must cost a lot of money, right?"

"Three extracurricular tutoring schools would cost at least over a million, right? It's impossible for the government to allocate that much money to you."

Cao Chali was very smug.

So what if your proposal is awesome? If you don't have money, you're talking nonsense!

————————

ps: Still asking for monthly tickets~~ Mwah~~

Thanks to Jiuceng Futu for the 10,000-point tip, and qxb1 for the 6,000-point tip, as well as Haochi Baozai Fan, Xinxian De Wo... and many other book friends for their tips; I can't count them all! Thank you very much!!!