Chapter 428

At this point they went to eat, and Su Yang's worldview was refreshed again.

Besides eating, it's just playing mahjong. Why don't you come to the township office?

Listening to Tupiao's tone, Cui Mingjiu hardly ever comes when he has nothing to do; such a carefree township head who doesn't take work seriously, Su Yang had never seen before.

The township government staff have various problems, mostly due to inadequate supervision; they are basically local tyrants who completely disregard the existence of the Cultivation Organization's discipline, and he knows this.

Especially if the Party Committee Secretary and the township head don't lead by example, the situation could be even worse, which also relates to the higher-level unit's inability to effectively supervise.

But that they could relax to this extent is something Su Yang never expected.

Before Su Yang could come to his senses, the office door slammed shut.

That Tupiao in red underpants earlier must have gone back to sleep; just as the door closed, Su Yang saw through the crack beer bottles and cigarette packs scattered all over the floor, indicating that this guy probably drank all night with someone else, the smell of smoke and alcohol strong and not dissipated.

Xie Siyang said angrily, "I've never seen such a person; with such quality, how could they become a township staff member? With this attitude, we say that even someone coming from the county behaves like this; imagine if the Common People went to him for help, he'd surely ride roughshod over them."

Gao Peixia said, "Don't be angry; it's probably like this all over the township, and Director Fang also told us that the situation in Xiushui Xiang is especially serious; you need to be mentally prepared, don't keep finding fault with everything, or you'll probably be angered to death."

"I estimate what we're seeing now is just the tip of the iceberg; you haven't seen the more aggravating parts yet."

Hearing this, Su Yang also nodded, thinking his judgment was indeed correct; this Gao Peixia still understands the grassroots work situation.

He said, "Well, we actually came; let's check each office to see if anyone is actually working."

After saying that, he knocked on each office door in turn; some had the curtains drawn and still no response, while others had the curtains open but nobody inside.

One office door was ajar; Su Yang pushed it open and could see a thick layer of dust on the desk. Yet on the desk lay photocopies of the red-headed documents issued by the county…

On the bedside table on the other side, there was also a steamed bun with a bite taken out of it.

Obviously, this office should be someone's workspace, but that person seems not to have come for several days, and the bun has gone moldy.

Su Yang grew angrier the more he looked; this is hardly a township office—even a pig farm isn't this lazy.

Earlier he was angry about Tupiao in red underpants not showing up for work on time, having no sense of schedule. Now it seems Tupiao being able to sleep in the office is already the best performance.

At least he's still here; at least when you knock he can get up. Others either don't come at all or are still sleeping soundly.

Just like that office just now, nobody has come for several days; from the dust accumulated in the office, it's been more than three days.

Xie Siyang and the other person saw Su Yang's face turn dark, didn't dare speak as they followed behind, and kept walking until they reached the room at the farthest corner; going any further would be the toilet.

Su Yang even gave up knocking on the door, because under normal circumstances no one would be in a room like this—who would want to work while smelling the toilet?

Moreover, there are so many offices here, yet nobody uses them normally.

As it turned out, the door was open; he walked in and saw a bespectacled, disheveled young man filling out forms there, and they were entirely handwritten forms.

On his small desk lay thick stacks of materials, about seven or eight piles.

Su Yang glanced at materials concerning poverty alleviation, family planning, and various application documents required by the county, etc.

And that bespectacled young man was there frantically filling out forms related to poverty alleviation.

Su Yang craned his neck to look; this was making up for last year's forms.

He roughly understood: it seemed the whole township government was just loafing around, and only this person was actually working.

He gave a light cough, and the young man, who had been burying his head frantically filling out forms, finally looked up blankly at Su Yang and asked, "Who are you? Is there something you need?"

He glanced at his eyes behind the lenses, already reddened from staying up, and said, "Oh, nothing much, I'm just here to find your township head."

The young man pushed his glasses up a bit, rubbed his eyes, and said, "Our township head usually doesn't come to the office; sometimes he's at home, sometimes he's playing cards at an outside shop, or eating at a restaurant."

"If there's an urgent matter, you can go there and try your luck."

Su Yang gave an affirmative hum, then turned and walked out, with Xie Siyang and Gao Peixia closely following behind.

"The people here are really over the top—this isn't bullying honest folk, is it? Just from that outfit you can tell they're newly assigned college students, and not from particularly well-off families, with no connections or background."

"The whole township office treats him like a beast of burden."

Xie Siyang spoke out indignantly.

Su Yang didn't comment on this; he only said, "Let's go find Cui Mingjiu first."

"Otherwise we've been here half a day and still haven't seen their leader—if this got out we'd lose face."

Saying that, Su Yang took the lead and walked out, leaving the township office to inquire on the street where the restaurant was.

An old man at a small shop told him that, walking forward 200 meters, the few tile-roofed houses that looked the most impressive were the biggest restaurant in the township, where township officials usually eat.

Su Yang and the two others hurried over; the place looked upscale with bright tile roofs and no signboard—if not for that old man telling them it was a restaurant, they would never have found it.

After they pushed the door open and entered, they saw the restaurant was indeed proper, with several tables placed toward the back, and even a round table.

At the far end there was also a bar, with shelves behind it holding baijiu such as Luzhou Laojiao and various canned teas.

Upon entering they could still smell a rich meat aroma, but they didn't see Cui Mingjiu or anyone else eating here.

"Anyone here?" Su Yang shouted.

After a while a plump woman came out, dressed extremely lightly.

Then he heard her say, "You're here to eat? Hurry up and sit—what would you like? We have not only chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also mountain game."

"You guys don't seem to be from around here—are you from the county?"

This landlady wore light clothing, her figure round; she was about 1.6 meters tall, roughly 130 pounds, walking with a round wobble, the flesh on her body shaking, but her skin was fairly pale, and her flashy appearance made people dizzy.

But her eyes were indeed sharp; at a glance she could tell Su Yang and the two others weren't locals.

"Ah, right—we're looking for Township Head Cui; is he eating here?"

The woman then said, "Yes, yes, yes—come with me."

"Are you friends of Township Head Cui, or county workers? We've never seen you before."

The landlady asked while leading them inside; at that moment Su Yang realized this so-called restaurant was actually her home, with the street-facing part presumably for normal passersby to eat.

And the two rooms to the east inside were noisy with people; apparently that was where Township Head Cui and his group were, and it seemed they often ate in this courtyard.

This wasn't strange to him; in many rural places homes and businesses are combined.

Usually they don't bother with business licenses, health permits, etc., and their customers are basically fixed—aside from township officials and staff, it's the school principals and teachers, and also the employed staff at the health clinic.

Besides those, it's also the village committee cadres who come here for meetings and eat a meal costing a few dozen yuan; in short, anyone able to run a restaurant here is a local notable.

Besides that, even the bus driver who goes to the county town every two days is someone with considerable standing in the countryside.

Basically, these people are the ones who consume at the restaurant. To be frank, don't look down on this kind of eatery just because it's not high-end and even a bit rustic; its profits are still quite considerable, because the customer base is fixed and their ingredients never go to waste.

Such pork and the like are raised at home, and most of the vegetables are home-grown; of course, except for those that cannot be grown due to physiological reasons, which need to be bought outside, so it can almost be said to have zero cost or extremely low cost.

Otherwise, how could the proprietress be so white and plump?

Su Yang followed him and had just reached the door of that room when he heard someone inside shout, 'I say, today we invite Township Head Cui to perform a special stunt for us—how about that?'

We haven't seen Township Head Cui perform a deep-water bomb for us in a long time.