Chapter 1055

Zhaikai laughed and said: "Enough, stop pretending with us, lying in the hospital bed asking us to eat—who would believe that? But you really do owe us a meal, you kid—you got married and never treated everyone to a meal, and we've always remembered that."

Su Yang quickly said: "Please rest assured, Secretary Zhao, Mayor Wang, and Department Head Lu; the first thing I'll do after leaving the hospital is to treat all the leaders to a meal."

Amid the laughter and chat, Sun Chengjun, the Lie Shan Public Security Bureau Director who had just been questioned about whether his promotion was too rapid, already had half his butt on the Vice County Magistrate's seat.

In the afternoon, members of the Lieshan Xian leadership team, along with Jiao Qiang and Sun Chengjun, came to the Hospital to visit.

Everyone recounted how, over the past two days, they had been summoned for questioning, and how the Discipline Inspection Commission had prompted them to testify that Su Yang had violated discipline.

Especially Chen Bo, who was practically fuming: "Some of our officials really use underhanded tactics; many things are out in the open, yet they insist on fabricating baseless accusations."

"To be honest, I still can't figure out why the Former County Magistrate went to your office and jumped; besides making you feel sick, he couldn't change anything at all."

Su Yang smiled without speaking; some matters, when told to people of this rank, can only be described superficially—delving deeper would likely confuse them, and it's not something they can casually discuss day after day.

Jiao Qiang this time also thoughtfully brought Su Yang a bowl of chicken noodle soup, saying his wife made it.

Su Yang was naturally grateful; although the Hospital was soon piled high with all kinds of nutritional supplements, in terms of sentiment and value, nothing compared to this bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Bao Shuang, on the other hand, was desperately trying to draw a clear line with Zhao Nanxing and the others: "County Magistrate Su, I want to declare that I have never been tied up with Zhao Nanxing and his gang; since I came to the county, I've actually been striving to be myself."

They've been looking for me, offering me some benefits, even trying to drag me into the Guantan Gou Zhen affair, but with your example before me, how could I do such a thing?

On many major personnel issues before, I wasn't able to publicly support you, and I apologize for that. But from now on, I will definitely rally around County Magistrate Su, do the county's work well, especially in the Publicity Department, and will never let County Magistrate Su down.

Logically speaking, the position of a County Party Committee Publicity Department Head isn't necessarily lower than that of a Vice County Magistrate near the bottom of the rankings, and his whole display of loyalty basically means he doesn't even have Zhang Jiangbo in his eyes—it sounds so creepy it gives you goosebumps, even a bit nauseating.

But in practice, within the System, if you avoid making yourself or others feel nauseated, you simply won't achieve any effect.

Even Su Yang found the remark useful, but he laughed and said: "Department Head Bao, I appreciate your intention, but your words are serious—we are under Secretary Zhang's leadership, united in doing substantive work for the whole county's Common People. Even if Secretary Zhang sometimes goes to the city for work, we still have Department Head Chen."

His words actually carried a hint; everyone present indeed understood, but a flash of surprise crossed their eyes: Could it be that Department Head Chen is about to leap up in one step?

Of course they also understood that within the System nothing is impossible, but that doesn't stop them from rallying around Su Yang! Back when Zhou Yanu was still around, wasn't it centered on Su Yang?

Afterward everyone exchanged some pleasantries, and aside from Chen Bo and Sun Chengjun, the others left first.

Chen Bo said: "Zhang Jiangbo was taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission early this morning, and I hear the situation is quite serious. They say that all matters in the county related to you will likely be pinned on him, after all he's the top leader, and all responsibility falls squarely on him."

It should have been like this all along, but I don't know where he gets the confidence to pin all these hats on your head, especially the projects concerning the expressway and Yingbin Dadao.

Furthermore, I've always felt that the illicit sand mining in Sha He definitely has hidden motives; otherwise it couldn't have escalated so quickly.

She was hinting at it; the three people present all understood, but no one directly responded to her comment.

Su Yang said: "No matter what, it won't affect him much for now, but his days ahead probably won't be easy. You all should still rally around Secretary Zhang, finish the remaining projects, don't let this effort go to waste, and don't really let the Common People blame us for wasting their labor and wealth."

Chen Bo, a bit anxious: "Now that everything's been clarified, regardless of your situation, normally speaking, even if we don't comfort you, we shouldn't punish you."

Su Yang said: "I can't explain some things either, but I feel that their 40‑meter‑long big knife has already been drawn; it can't just be sheathed like that. As the saying goes, a shy blade is hard to resheath—if it doesn't cut me, how can it be put away?"

I estimate that, no matter how this affair ends, I'll be cut down by a single blow—at the very least, Lieshan Xian will have no place for me.

The reason is simple: wherever I go, the officialdom collapses; once or twice you could blame others, but this has happened three or four times, and I keep saying it's others' fault—even if they really do have problems, others might not believe it. You work in the Cultivation Organization, so you understand this situation best.

Saying that, he turned to Sun Chengjun: "Director Sun, over the past six months your work has earned high praise from all leaders; from now on, you must absolutely not let up, and in the future you must follow the Cultivation Organization's leadership, stand by Department Head Chen, and deliver a satisfactory answer to the people."

Then you go ask your girlfriend about the marriage proposal—can this little Vice County Magistrate pull it off? If not, I'll help you shake up two people.

He was saying Sun Chengjun's private matters right in front of Chen Bo, which basically means he didn't treat Chen Bo as an outsider at all.

Chen Bo laughed on the side: "Congratulations, Director Sun! We didn't even get to drink County Magistrate Su's wedding wine, and I don't know if we'll be able to drink yours."

Sun Chengjun felt a bit embarrassed: "Department Head Chen, what are you talking about? You'll have to be an honored guest then—it just depends on whether you have the time."

Then he said to Su Yang: "Shuyue didn't make any special demands; otherwise, when the time comes, you go with me, and we'll avoid bothering the leaders if we can."

After they finished, the three burst out laughing, but Su Yang decided he still needed to discuss this with Zhou Ruohan; if Old Zhou has time, it'd be best to let Old Zhou step forward—then it wouldn't just be a matter of appearances, and it would play a crucial role in Sun Chengjun's future development.