Chapter 625

Lin Zhinan originally thought Su Yang, this arrogant young leader, would definitely not answer a call made right on the dot.

Even if he answered, he wouldn't really let Lin Zhinan go report work, which is completely unlike the flashy style of Su Yang that Lin Zhinan had heard about.

But suddenly letting them come over made them a bit uncertain; however, since they made this call, they were mentally prepared, and they said: 'Okay, then I'll rush over right away.'

County seats are usually not large; in fact, the trip from the County Public Security Bureau to the County Government building is only about ten minutes, but Lin Zhinan somehow took over twenty minutes to get there.

During this process, Su Yang showed no anger; if merely a punctual report could make him lose his composure, how could he possibly do his job?

When the knocking sounded, Su Yang said 'Come in,' and Lin Zhinan entered with an apologetic face, saying: 'County Magistrate Su, I'm really sorry; it was supposed to take just a few minutes, but it happened to be rush hour and there was a traffic jam. I'm really sorry—this is my first time coming to report work, and I've kept you waiting so long.'

While speaking, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his bag and quickly offered one to Su Yang.

Su Yang chuckled and said: 'What are you talking about, Bureau Chief Lin? A few minutes early or late means nothing to me; besides, I have no other work tonight, so it doesn't matter.'

After taking the cigarette, Lin Zhinan lit it with a soft click.

Then Su Yang leaned back, took a drag; having reached his position, he naturally had to maintain his composure—he couldn't just go ahead and ask what was going on.

Lin Zhinan originally thought Su Yang would ask them, but after waiting a while, Su Yang just sat there smoking, giving no hint of what this young leader was thinking, and since they couldn't just stay stiff, they said: 'County Magistrate Su, I have a case on my end; I'm not in a position to decide on my own, so I had to come report it to you.'

Su Yang let out an 'oh' and said: 'What happened? I've just arrived; there are many things I don't yet understand or am unfamiliar with, so briefly tell me and I'll listen.'

Lin Zhinan then appeared earnest and said: 'County Magistrate Su, I believe you already know the general situation of our county; our county's development basically relies on the Twin Ditch Large Koji Winery.'

The Twin Ditch Large Koji Winery's scale has grown considerably over the years; eighty or ninety percent of the county's industries are closely tied to it, and of course, over ninety percent of the county's populace work at the winery or in related enterprises.

Thus, all trades have very close ties with Geng Miao and his associates; whenever something occurs, it can be linked to them. Today we received two or three reports, all concerning the pesticides sold by Geng Miao's subordinate enterprises.

Lin Zhinan launched into a lengthy preamble right away; seeing that they intended to keep going, Su Yang cut them off bluntly: 'Just get to the point—what exactly happened?'

Lin Zhinan's expression suddenly shifted; they had originally intended to lay out the background properly and gradually reveal the matter, but Su Yang outright refused to listen to their long-winded exposition, which nearly threw them off their rhythm.

They could only say: 'County Magistrate Su, some Common People in our county need to buy fertilizer each year when they farm, but you also know that Common People don't always have cash on hand, so they have to purchase pesticide on credit.'

But when the harvest is poor, they may not be able to repay the pesticide money on time; if they fail to do so, they will be charged interest and such.

This has become quite absurd: on one hand they say the interest is too high for them to bear; on the other hand they insist their original intention was to aid farmers, giving them nearly half a year of interest-free credit, yet if the Common People still can't repay, there's nothing to be done.

Su Yang's expression turned grave: 'Is the pesticide and fertilizer on credit that you described for the Common People provided by Geng Miao's subordinate enterprises? Just tell me directly what consequences the unpaid money has led to—no need to keep rehashing the background here; that's unnecessary, this isn't a case analysis meeting, I only want to know the outcome.'

Lin Zhinan took a deep breath and said: 'In Shuanggou Town there is a man named Xu Zhibo who owed 300 yuan for fertilizer; because he kept failing to pay, dragging it out for two or three years, finally the owner of the pesticide and fertilizer shop came to demand payment, and Xu Zhibo, in a fit of rage, drank pesticide and killed himself.'

"Then his wife, accompanied by their two daughters, caused a disturbance; but for unknown reasons, his two daughters later went missing as well, and his wife also became mentally unstable, though she occasionally comes to file a report. Previously we had also accepted this case, and we had basically cleared it up: Xu Zhibo died after drinking pesticide in anger; as for his two daughters, they were said to have gone out to work, and they haven't returned in the past half year—could we really have the Public Security Bureau go help him look for them?" Other similar cases are also related to fertilizer credit, and local farmers and door-to-door

The debt collectors came to blows, and because their methods might be improper, they directly injured people, leading to further reports one after another. However, the trigger for these several cases is simply that they owed money and failed to repay on time, which in turn caused a chain of events.

The key is that after the incident, Geng Miao's subordinate fertilizer company also privately reached a settlement with them and gave them a substantial compensation. Yet these people, for some reason, have been flooding in with reports over the past couple of days; as the Public Security Bureau we must still handle it. However, the case behind the scenes affects the Twin Ditch Large Koji Winery and related enterprises, so we cannot handle this matter on our own, nor can we directly arrest people.

So, we will first brief you on the situation, and then we will convene a related case seminar to analyze how to handle and resolve these several cases.

When Su Yang arrived, he had already heard about a pesticide incident in Lieshan Xian that resulted in a death; originally he hadn't planned to investigate these matters directly, intending first to steady his footing.

But who would have thought the matter would actually come knocking on the door, and moreover Lin Zhinan personally came over to report it; logically speaking, shouldn't Lin Zhinan have directly suppressed this?

The so-called debt collectors in the county are actually the haughty, high-interest-lending security force raised by Geng Miao and his associates, which is precisely the fundamental reason the province has resolved to let him come eradicate this malignant tumor.

But this arrival caught him off guard; previously these matters had all been suppressed by Geng Miao, and from Lin Zhinan's standpoint it would be even less likely for them to voluntarily tell him what really happened behind the scenes.

But standing in his position, he naturally wouldn't go straight to asking; he merely posed the question lightly: 'Bureau Chief Lin, what exactly is the main point you're trying to convey by coming to tell me this? Should I go negotiate with Geng Miao and his associates, or do you want to arrest people but are restrained by pressure?'