Chapter 126: Reversal

The effect of the smoke bomb was to make everyone think I didn't care about the election. Even Guo Wei didn't understand my intention, so he specially found me to have a heart-to-heart talk, earnestly persuading me to seek progress and development.

Guo Wei's words were insincere, and I knew it very well. The *Daily* report had already made him very unhappy, so I wanted to make him feel good. Therefore, I deliberately said helplessly, "Anyway, it's just a supporting role. Everyone knows the result, so why care so much?"

Guo Wei deliberately pretended to be disappointed that I wouldn't live up to expectations and said, "As a cadre of the Party, you must obey the organization's arrangements. The Party needs you to take responsibility now, so you must be duty-bound."

I nodded and admitted my mistake, saying that my awareness was still a bit lacking and hadn't reached Secretary Guo's expectations. From now on, I must work hard and strive to gain the trust of the broad masses and the requirements of the organization.

Guo Wei was very clear that I was stalling him. He stared at me for a while and then decided, "Since you have realized it yourself, I require you to do three things. First, stop your oil mill immediately. A Party and government cadre thinking only about doing business to make money—what kind of system is that? Second, collect the opinions of the cadres and prepare for the relocation. Third, enthusiastically accept the election task arranged by the organization."

I smiled bitterly and said, "Secretary Guo, the oil mill is a matter left over by the former Secretary Liu. I've put tens of thousands of dollars into it. If I don't start it now, the money will be thrown into the water. Besides, the oil mill is a thing that improves the lives of the people in Suxi Township, which counts as a good thing. If you want me to stop immediately, there might be difficulties."

Guo Wei said without room for negotiation, "You decide for yourself whether to stop or not. I'm just advising you. Cadres should pay attention to their influence."

It was impossible for me to stop the preparations for the oil mill. I just let out the word that the oil mill was run by me, but I hadn't stepped foot in the township hall from the beginning; it was all operated by Pan Shurong. I couldn't let others have an excuse that I wasn't focused on my official duties.

Zhu Shizhen finally came to drink with me again, giving me a thumbs up and praising me, "Little Brother Chen, you are a real man."

Of course I understood what he meant. In the township head election, I was running against him, and I was positioned as the foil. Originally, the chances of winning weren't high. Later, there was the Chen Meng report, which directly affected his responsibility during his acting period. Responsibility varies in size, but a death was a huge responsibility. Zhu Shizhen had originally despaired of the election, but now seeing me running an oil mill and ignoring personal influence, it was clear that I had cut off the idea of a political future. The county couldn't possibly arrange another person to run, so it seemed that the township head position was Zhu Shizhen's after all.

I smiled and said to Zhu Shizhen, "Township Head Zhu, you can be an official with peace of mind, and I will make money quietly. Each gets what they need, and we are both happy."

Zhu Shizhen smiled ambiguously, threw me a cigarette, and said, "You can't call this making money; you are creating welfare for the common people. If you can press a few more pounds of oil from a hundred pounds of oil tea seeds, the income of the common people will increase, and they will gradually understand the importance of science. This will be a living textbook for changing the concepts of the common people in the future. How can you call it making money quietly?"

I giggled and said, "Township Head Zhu, you are praising me."

Zhu Shizhen said seriously, "I'm not praising you; I'm speaking according to facts."

He thought for a while and asked me, "Has that female reporter from the *Daily* contacted you since?"

I shook my head and said, "No. After coming once, there was no news."

"Didn't she say she would follow up?"

"I'm not very clear." I said, deliberately scaring him, "Generally, in this situation, there will be a final conclusion."

"What conclusion?"

"For example, the newspaper will publish another report to clarify some problems in the previous report, letting others know that everything has a reason, and not to guess wildly."

"Didn't the female reporter say she would reach this conclusion?" Zhu Shizhen was uneasy, and the look of despair spread in his eyes again. He squinted his eyes inadvertently, and I clearly saw a grain of eye booger roll down, fall into the dust under his feet, and disappear without a trace.

"At least I haven't heard of it yet." I comforted him, "However, some things are just a gust of wind. Once the wind passes, who remembers? The newspaper publishes reports every day; who remembers so much?"

"You don't know, Little Brother." Zhu Shizhen sighed, "The female reporter who came here to interview is the daughter of Municipal Committee Secretary Chen. Otherwise, why would a piece of bullshit article be published on the front page?"

I deliberately pretended to be surprised and said, "There is such a thing?"

Zhu Shizhen looked at me with strange eyes and said, "You don't know?"

I said, "I don't know."

He laughed, his smile looking dry and bitter.

"It's good that you don't know; it's not a good thing."

He dropped this sentence and walked away swaying. I stood under a white magnolia tree in front of the township government, watching a group of ants carrying the corpse of a newly hatched green worm, and in my ears, I seemed to hear them shouting slogans. I suddenly felt that spring had arrived!

In the distant fields, the grass seeds were blooming with colorful flowers, a few small bees were flying wantonly among the grass and flowers, and a colorful butterfly flew over, landing on the corners of the earth's eyes and brows, turning into a landscape. The weeping willows by the stream were already dressed in new green, and the weeds under the trees were growing wildly in the bright spring. Everything looked so quiet, and everything looked so peaceful.

A sturdy woman was walking on the ridge, a purple headscarf wrapped around a thick head of black hair. She stopped, looked around for a while, and then a string of mountain songs drifted from her throat, scattering in the fields, as expressive as the sounds of nature.

The sun was big and warm, making people feel as comfortable as if they were in a swaddling cloth. Suddenly, a burst of frog sounds, accompanied by the woman's singing, made the fields and ridges vivid. A burst of emotion surged in my heart, and I felt that life was so beautiful!

After standing for a while, I saw Xue Bing coming slowly. I was happy in my heart, and regardless of the eyes looking out from behind the window, I ran over to greet her.

Xue Bing held a feeling of both joy and worry about me running for township head. After the New Year, I finally understood her thoughts. Xue Bing thought that I was a cadre from the city and not a person with real power, so I would return to Hengyue City sooner or later. If I became township head, I would have to stay for a full term. If the results were good, I might be promoted; if the results were not good, I didn't know how many years I would have to stay.

And Xue Bing always complained that her profession couldn't be displayed in the countryside. No matter how talented the rural children were, it was hard to spend more money to cultivate them. She was gradually changing from an excellent music teacher to a peasant who sang. She was unwilling, she wanted to go out, and the best way was to marry me.

I once comforted her, "Gold will always shine!" This sentence felt incomparably disgusting even to me. Whether Xue Bing was gold or not, using this sentence on her was simply nonsense.

Xue Bing looked at me with a smile and handed me an apple.

I didn't think about going to the stream to wash it at all. I wiped it on my clothes and bit into it with a crunch.

She hadn't been here for a while. During this time, we were both busy. She was busy with the start of school, and now she had to teach Chinese for the second grade, and all the music classes in the school were covered by her. And I, after finishing a series of election matters, started to set off smoke bombs to run the oil mill. No one could figure out what I was thinking. In fact, regarding the election, I was as clear as a mirror in my heart. Zhu Shizhen was already in a losing position without even running, and it was an understatement to describe it as internal and external troubles. The *Daily* report wasn't as simple as I said. County Magistrate Liu Qimeng told me privately that even if Zhu Shizhen's dereliction of duty wasn't investigated, he couldn't be successfully confirmed. And internally, Pan Shurong had almost searched all the representatives in the township, bringing Pan Xiaoqin's cigarettes and alcohol, visiting every household to say hello, and Yue Bai specially found her uncle and even lowered her status to find Zhao Banxian.

Now the situation was completely reversed. On the surface, Zhu Shizhen was still the glorious first candidate, but underneath, I was already surging. ===== CHAPTER 127 =====