Chapter 192

Xu Jin was somewhat at a loss; these past two days there seemed to be no meeting agenda, and nothing had happened in the town, so he asked, "Secretary Qin, what is the meeting topic?"

Qin Chuan gave a hehe laugh and said, "Party conduct, clean governance, ideological and moral education."

"This was also proposed by Secretary Su earlier; although he is not here today, we still need to hold this meeting. Oh, right, let all cadres come to the meeting."

"Now the work style of some of our town's cadres has already attracted the attention of the county leaders, which greatly affects the image of our Huatian Town. So… you hurry up and go notify them."

Xu Jin immediately understood; Secretary Qin finally made a move against Secretary Su. This kind of thing won't do anything to Su Yang, but his reputation will become unpleasant from now on—that's what is called official reputation.

Moreover, the two words "ideological and moral" in the meeting topic really fit well. This move is truly clever, capable of killing invisibly.

Even if Su Yang returns, he won't find a reason to blame Qin Chuan; anyway, the implementation is right before us, so Qin Chuan's doing this is also reasonable and compliant.

One could even say it is an instruction issued under the leadership of the County Party Committee and the County Political Commissar.

Could it be that Su Yang would still go and ask the County Party Committee leaders one by one?

Upon hearing that the town would hold a clean governance and ideological moral education conference, the town's leaders and cadres, for a moment, still didn't understand what was going on, and they all came to the meeting room with their notebooks.

Shortly after, the meeting room was packed tight with everyone. This meeting, because Ma Zhengyang knew it was aimed at Su Yang, he came especially early.

Seeing everyone present, Qin Chuan cleared his throat and said, "Comrades, today we have urgently summoned you to hold a meeting because there is a particularly important matter to tell you: namely, an unhealthy trend that has recently sprung up in our town."

"If this trend only affected our clerical staff, I could still turn a blind eye, but it has struck our leading cadres and drawn the attention of county-level leaders; the County Discipline Inspection Commission has already summoned our town's relevant leaders for admonitory talks."

"Therefore, we all should take this as a warning and correct our own conduct."

"Our Huatian Town has always been at the bottom economically; the County Party Committee leaders have always been dissatisfied with us. Now that this matter has arisen, do we still want to keep face for our Huatian Town? Please, Ma Zhengyang, explain the specifics to everyone."

His words set the tone completely.

Ma Zhengyang was originally a show-off; seizing this opportunity, he could not only vent his dissatisfaction toward Su Yang, but also display the domineering aura of this parachuted cadre.

He coughed, then after mentioning his own self‑considered flamboyant hairstyle, he said, "Comrades, this morning hearing that the Discipline Inspection Commission had summoned Secretary Su for a admonitory talk, my heart feels deeply ashamed and self‑reproachful."

"Why say ashamed? Because as a member of the leadership team of our Huatian Town Party Committee, I failed to timely advise and restrain Secretary Su's behavior, leading to this incident, causing our entire Huatian Town to lose face."

"Self‑reproach means not having, at the time of the incident, proactively and actively reported to the County Discipline Inspection Commission, striving to obtain a lenient handling for Secretary Su." His words inside and out speak of righteousness, of responsibility, and show his leadership ability.

Of course, the most important point is directly naming him: saying that Su Yang's fooling around outside has affected the entire town's atmosphere.

Upon hearing this, the faces of those present varied; some secretly gloated, after all, the ones doing this aren't them—even the renowned Secretary Su is playing around ambiguously; if later someone brings this up against them, they'll just push Secretary Su forward as the scapegoat.

Also some were indignant, having seen with their own eyes how much Su Yang has done for Huatian Town; never mind whether this matter is true or false, even if it were true, what then?

For an unmarried man and a widowed woman, isn't it quite normal for something to happen?

Of course, the vast majority are just bystanders; Su Yang has done many good things for the common people, but for them the benefits have not changed at all.

Therefore, a good official is good to the populace, but not necessarily good to them. When such a thing occurs, not following along to step on it or spit is already not bad.

Ma Zhengyang continued to speak at length, "Comrades, saying this out loud makes me feel ashamed; a dignified town mayor, under the pretext of going to the villages below to carry out assistance work, under the guise of serving the masses, deliberately approaches the widows in those villages."

"If you really have that intention, you could find a more concealed place to do it; why must you do it out in the open, in someone else's field?"

"Is he seeking stimulation or what? As the saying goes, 'You may know a person's face but not their heart.' Our esteemed Secretary Su usually appears as a lofty, hypocritical gentleman, yet he can still do such things."

"Just imagine, what consequences does his behavior bring? Setting aside other matters, how will that village widow ever face people again? I hear she is also a privately hired substitute teacher; how will the school's teachers and students view her?"

"Comrades, such things are absolutely unacceptable; now Secretary Su has already been— I won't hide it from you— summoned for a direct talk by Secretary Fang of the Discipline Inspection Commission."

"Although it is Secretary Su who was called, in fact it is the faces of everyone in our Huatian Town government that are being smeared. Therefore, comrades, we must take this as a warning: keep away from women, do not indulge, do not entertain such thoughts."

"We serve the people; we are public servants in the eyes of the people, trusted cadres of the Cultivation Organization, not demons that gnaw away at those shady, fly‑blown, dog‑like deeds."

Qin Chuan, beside himself, felt moved: "He really picked the right person! This Town Mayor Ma Zhengyang has no other talents, but let him here curse people, carry out retaliation, host meetings spouting nonsense—he truly is a dragon among men."

Anyway, among the people he knows, being able to reach this point can be said to be none.

The key here is to strike back with retaliation, saying it with such righteous indignation, such a soaring tone, such reasonableness.

Given time, if he could rise to division‑level or indulge in a daydream to reach bureau‑level cadre, he would certainly promote someone like Ma Zhengyang to be close by. He is truly too useful.

Even a professional spokesperson cannot match Ma Zhengyang.

While Ma Zhengyang continued his spray of spittle, furious denunciation, Su Yang knocked on the door of Secretary Fang Jingwen's office.

"Hello, Secretary Fang."

After Su Yang entered and gave a greeting, Fang Jingwen completely ignored him, merely telling her secretary, "You may go out……"

After the secretary left, Fang Jingwen continued to lower her head and look at the documents on the desk, completely ignoring Su Yang; this manner seems rather bureaucratic.

Moreover, seeing her whole body exude a cold aura, Su Yang dared not joke as before or casually sit on the sofa; instead he stood there looking at Fang Jingwen.

This appearance seems exactly the same as when he was once taken to the Discipline Inspection Commission's interrogation room, where Fang Jingwen sat at the interrogation table with that icy, focused expression.

After a full half hour passed, Fang Jingwen's gaze finally withdrew from the documents, and she coldly looked at Su Yang, asking, "Why did such a thing happen?"