Chapter 432

Lu Kai silently cursed Cui Mingjiu's ancestors down to the eighteenth generation, thinking to himself that if these people could all arrive for a meeting within half an hour, you would have already agreed to this matter long ago.

Do you still need me to say it? It's clearly making me the scapegoat. Of course, these insults toward Cui Mingjiu could only be thought in his heart; he didn't dare to say them out loud at all.

Moreover, he could not go against the wishes of the county leaders, so he could only say, "The spirit of poverty alleviation must certainly be conveyed, but is half an hour a bit tight? It just happens to be lunchtime now; let's have a meal, and let them have something to eat too. We can't work on empty stomachs, can we?"

"It doesn't matter. So many of our common people are suffering from hunger; as government workers, it doesn't matter if we occasionally skip a meal or two. Let's stick to the half-hour we agreed on, and half an hour is enough for us to eat, right?"

"Of course, don't interpret this as me deliberately increasing the difficulty of the work here. Before I came, the county committee leaders specifically instructed me not to waste time or squander our days."

"We must earnestly and solidly execute the instructions of our Poverty Alleviation Office Director Fang. Secretary Fang also concurrently serves as the Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary, you know."

"Therefore, although she won't come to the poverty alleviation site, she still attaches special importance to our work."

"I think you wouldn't want to be targeted by a Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary."

"I won't hide it from you: Secretary Fang said that we must see changes in our Xiushui Xiang within three months. Otherwise, it's hard to say who will be on the receiving end when the board comes down."

After Su Yang finished speaking, he leaned back. Today, he wanted to see if these people could arrive within half an hour, and how many would come.

The reason he said half an hour was just to give those sleeping in their offices a chance. As for those who hadn't shown up for days, or even treated their work as a side job, such people wouldn't be able to make it here in half an hour even if he told them to.

Right now, his status as a mere Deputy Director of the Poverty Alleviation Office couldn't hold these people in check, but at least he could let Lu Kai and Cui Mingjiu know that poverty alleviation work wasn't just about shouting slogans like before; this time, they were playing for real.

Lu Kai's expression turned ugly in an instant. Cui Mingjiu said with a stiff face to a deputy township mayor beside him, "Hurry up and tell them to get to the large conference room immediately to prepare for the meeting. Tell them if they don't arrive within half an hour, they can roll home and don't bother coming to work anymore."

A few minutes later, the restaurant owner's wife delivered the food. She brought eight dishes, six of which were meat, and all were served on large platters—the kind that would feed a city family for two days with just one plate.

She also brought along two bottles of Luzhou Laojiao.

Seeing the food arrive, Cui Mingjiu immediately said, "Director Su, let's eat now. It's perfect timing to wait for those comrades coming to the meeting."

"Sure, sure. People are iron, rice is steel; you feel famished if you miss a meal. You two should also try these wild delicacies unique to the countryside."

Xie Siyang and Gao Peixia glanced at Su Yang, thinking to themselves: Didn't he just say it didn't matter if they missed a meal? In the end, it turned into feeling famished if they missed a meal. Why did that sound so awkward?

However, they only thought it in their hearts. Cui Mingjiu invited Su Yang to drink, but Su Yang refused because he had work in the afternoon, which made Cui Mingjiu feel snubbed.

Generally speaking, when leaders from above come down, how could there be no drinking? Su Yang was purely not giving him any face.

This meal was eaten quite oppressively, to the point that no one spoke. Half an hour later, after everyone finished eating, Su Yang asked, "Which conference room are the comrades in? Let's go over now so we don't delay the work."

Cui Mingjiu glanced at the deputy township mayor who had just gone out to notify everyone about the meeting. The deputy mayor was sweating profusely, and he knew right away that not many people had come.

But he thought to himself, Su Yang is only responsible for poverty alleviation work, not discipline inspection. If the people aren't all here, they aren't here; what else could you possibly say?

"Director Su, please follow me." As he spoke, he stood up first and walked toward the conference room.

Inside the conference room, there were sparsely scattered people, no more than ten in total. Among these dozen or so people were the ones who had just been eating with Cui Mingjiu at the restaurant; these people were all swaying, and some were still dazed.

Even worse, there was a strong smell of alcohol on them.

At this time, they had definitely just crawled out of bed and weren't fully awake. Being covered in the stench of alcohol was one thing, but the key was that these people were still puffing on cigarettes, looking completely unorganized and undisciplined.

Among everyone, only that young man with glasses seemed to have washed his face; he was in much better spirits, and his attitude was the only one among these people that looked relatively positive.

"Today, I've gathered everyone here for one thing: leaders from the county's Poverty Alleviation Office have come down to station themselves here to help us."

"So, starting from today, all our work must be carried out actively and with all our might. We cannot continue to be lazy and scattered. Now, please have Director Su from the Poverty Alleviation Office speak to everyone."

After finishing, Cui Mingjiu took the lead in applauding.

The others also began to clap, but they weren't even fully awake, and the sound of their applause was limp, sounding completely perfunctory.

Su Yang didn't stand on ceremony either. He said directly, "When Secretary Lu arrived, I looked at the roster for our township. There are 36 staff members in total. I just counted the people here, including all of you, and there are 15 people. May I ask where the other 17 are?"

As soon as Su Yang opened his mouth to ask where the others were, Lu Kai, who had been harboring wishful thinking and hoping to quickly gloss over this meeting, broke out in a sweat.

Because many of those people definitely couldn't make it back in this timeframe.

He had thought Su Yang wouldn't be serious, but who would have thought that someone in charge of poverty alleviation would actually ask about their attendance?

These people might have gone out for lunch, and they couldn't be reached because some didn't have home phones, and they didn't have mobile phones either.

Mainly because he was the Party Committee Secretary, and he was responsible for all the work.

If this were to be investigated, it would be his responsibility.

Su Yang said, "Is that so? If that's the case, should the work in the township continue normally? Without even the most basic people, how can we alleviate poverty?"

"Perhaps you all feel that I should just handle poverty alleviation and shouldn't interfere in these matters, as attendance is your own business and has little to do with me. But I want to tell you that I have been entrusted by the County Committee, the County Government, as well as the County Discipline Inspection Commission and the Organization Department. The situation today is absolutely not allowed."

"A government team cannot function without cohesion and leadership. Township Mayor Cui, is this situation common in your township?"

"I think if that's the case, it's necessary for me to request people from the Discipline Inspection Commission and the Organization Department to come over."

"Also, the comrades who came to attend the meeting right now are either not fully awake, reeking of alcohol, or smoking. This place is a conference room, not your home."

"If you all work according to this style, then I think there's no need to go to the villages for poverty alleviation, because you don't take the work seriously yourselves."

Cui Mingjiu, whose face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot and who was prepared to push back, heard this and instantly lost his nerve.

While cursing Su Yang in his heart, he said to the crowd with a dark face, "You unorganized, undisciplined people who deliberately skipped work: everyone will be given a demerit. If there is a next time, I will immediately report it to the higher-level Discipline Inspection Commission for disposal."

"Comrades, everyone must be at their posts before 2:30 this afternoon."

"If anyone is not at their post, just see how I deal with you!"

"You people, apologize to Director Su immediately and ask Director Su to forgive you, or I won't spare you."