Chapter 252: County Magistrate Liu inspects the gold mine site

In the afternoon, all members of the four major committees of Chunshan County arrived at the Laoyingzui construction site.

The discovery of a gold mine vein at Laoyingzui was an incomparably exciting event, the greatest happy event since the founding of Chunshan County. With a gold mine, Chunshan County could finally take off the hat of a poor county it had worn for a lifetime. From then on, among the eight counties and five districts of Hengyue City, it could not only hold its head high but also wash away its past shame.

County Magistrate Liu Qimeng hurriedly ended the Standing Committee meeting he was presiding over and led the four major committees toward Laoyingzui in a grand manner. He wanted to visit the site in person and feel the ecstasy that the gold mine brought to people.

Since Party Secretary Guan Peishan accepted the interview with the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, there had been no news. He was neither seen presiding over work nor had any conclusion been received from the higher-level Discipline Inspection Commission. It was as if he had suddenly disappeared. The gossip left in the streets and alleys of the whole county grew wings and flew over the sky of Chunshan County—Party Secretary Guan had been "placed under investigation"!

A county cannot go a day without a leader, but Guan Peishan's situation made it difficult for Liu Qimeng to grasp the initiative. This elusive sign of Guan Peishan was actually not what he wanted to see. Liu Qimeng became anxious. The pusher behind the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection interviewing Guan Peishan was him, Liu Qimeng.

Logically speaking, as the county's two secretaries, and he was the County Magistrate, Guan Peishan, as the Party Secretary, should give him some face no matter what. But since the two of them started working together, Liu Qimeng had felt like a daughter-in-law with bound feet, receiving Guan Peishan's cold eyes everywhere. These were not important; what was important was that Guan Peishan not only stuck his foot into the handling of land issues and enterprise restructuring but also cast Liu Qimeng aside, publicly saying at the County Standing Committee: "Without my signature, any resolution is a piece of waste paper."

County Magistrate Liu Qimeng's original enthusiasm was doused by a basin of cold water, but he was powerless. All the bureaus and offices in Chunshan County were cronies promoted by Guan Peishan. He was like a lonely man, standing alone in the Standing Committee like a crane in a flock of chickens.

Until Guan Peishan introduced a boss from Guangdong, he smelled a hint of something fishy in the land transfer project of the Martyrs Cemetery. The land that the Standing Committee had resolved to list for sale had become the private land of the Guangdong boss overnight without going through any procedures. He quietly inquired and found that the land transfer fee only accounted for one-third of the Standing Committee's resolution, almost given to the Guangdong boss for free.

There must be something fishy in this! From then on, he kept an eye on it and resolutely refused to participate in any activities related to the Guangdong boss. The Guangdong boss personally sent the key to a house in the commercial building built next to the Martyrs Cemetery. Liu Qimeng accepted the key to his face, but quietly handed the key to the County Discipline Inspection Commission the next day, instructing that no one should spread the word.

Liu Qimeng had spent his whole life in officialdom and deeply understood that to topple someone, without solid evidence, would only invite trouble. Stories of failing to kill a tiger and instead becoming a victim of the tiger were endless. If you can't endure small things, you can't achieve big plans!

From the moment he publicly broke with Guan Peishan at the Standing Committee, he kept an eye on it, deliberately collecting evidence of Guan Peishan's violations of law and discipline.

When it came to the restructuring of the Chengguan Town Cement Products Factory, Guan Peishan initially did not agree with Deng Hanyu's idea. The cement products factory, originally worth three million, was valued at only fifty thousand by the appraisal company Deng Hanyu found. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was the loss of state assets, turning state assets into his own pocket through a trick. This was a crime punishable by imprisonment!

Guan Peishan was still hesitating when Deng Hanyu came to visit that night. Before leaving, he left a box on the sofa, which contained a full twenty thousand yuan.

The next day, Deng Hanyu's father, Deng Li, the County Magistrate of the neighboring county, came to Chunshan County for inspection. The two chatted for a while at noon, and by the evening, Deng Hanyu had received the restructuring plan approved by Guan Peishan.

All of this fell into Liu Qimeng's eyes. Holding several pieces of evidence in his hand, Liu Qimeng still dared not act rashly. The economic problems of cadres were now a common phenomenon. It was as if officialdom was a big dyeing vat; Liu Qimeng himself might not be completely white.

It wasn't until one day, when the director of the county TV station complained to him about work, complaining that the current female host was disobedient and too difficult to manage, and requested that the county give them personnel rights, that Liu Qimeng's heart moved, and he decided to start from the cadre's work style.

Thinking of it, he put it into action. Liu Qimeng was, after all, a County Magistrate, and he had a few trusted people around him. After arranging it like this, he found that Guan Peishan had a goddaughter, who was now the county TV news anchor, a woman named Lin Xiaoxi. Although there was no direct evidence to prove that their relationship was ambiguous, as a senior cadre of the Party, appearing in the form of a "goddaughter," wasn't that "there is no silver three hundred taels here"? The painstaking Liu Qimeng reported it to the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission anonymously, and at the same time copied the report letter and sent it to the relevant departments in the province.

A County Party Secretary being reported was taken very seriously by the province, which ordered the Hengyue Municipal Party Committee to reach a conclusion within the specified time. The Municipal Party Committee did not dare to be negligent. Thus, an investigation team led by the Discipline Inspection Commission and joined by the Procuratorate and Public Security entered Chunshan County with great fanfare. Within a week, Guan Peishan had not appeared again.

The city entrusted Party Secretary He Zhi to call Liu Qimeng personally, saying that before the conclusion was reached, the work of Chunshan County would be fully presided over by Liu Qimeng!

After receiving the call, Liu Qimeng hurriedly convened a Standing Committee meeting. It was at the meeting that he received news from the County Public Security Bureau Director—there was a gold mine vein at Laoyingzui!

Laoyingzui had never seen so many cadres come together. The people of Laoyingzui Village, who had been scared back, gathered around the construction site one after another, like sheep droppings, scattered in twos and threes on the slopes around the water pool.

Qian Youyu looked miserable, following behind me like a lost soul, and almost cried when he saw County Magistrate Liu.

"Old Qian, did someone owe you money?" County Magistrate Liu looked at Qian Youyu with a smile and asked.

"County Magistrate, I've been harmed to death," Qian Youyu said with a sobbing tone: "If a gold mine comes out, where will my water plant be built?"

"Chunshan County is so big, is there no place for you to build a water plant?" County Magistrate Liu patted his shoulder with a smile: "Rest assured, Old Qian, we won't let investors lose everything. In Chunshan County, any investor will enjoy the most favorable policies."

As soon as Qian Youyu heard this, he avoided to the side as if he had taken a reassurance pill, and his face slowly regained some color.

Guo Wei and I were the landlords of Laoyingzui, so we stood beside County Magistrate Liu, pointing to the pit emitting wisps of white steam, introducing the process of digging out the dog-head gold and the process of discovering the mineral vein.

County Magistrate Liu listened with great interest and occasionally called his secretary to take notes.

After we finished introducing the situation, we pushed Professor Xu out.

Professor Xu was dizzy from the sudden array. He was a rigorous scientific and technical personnel. In his academic concept, merely discovering a mineral vein did not mean it had value.

County Magistrate Liu held Professor Xu's hands with both hands and said earnestly: "Thank you, Professor Xu, you've worked hard!"

Professor Xu opened his mouth but didn't make a sound for a long time. After a while, he said solemnly: "County Magistrate, it's still impossible to determine the mineral resource amount now; further survey is needed."

"I understand. Rest assured and survey; if you need anything, just say so." County Magistrate Liu waved his hand generously, feeling that the taste of being the number one leader was different, and a smile involuntarily floated on his cheeks.

"I need a drilling rig," Professor Xu said straight to the point.

"Good," County Magistrate Liu beckoned Guo Wei and me over and said seriously: "Use all your strength to solve the drilling rig problem as quickly as possible."

We nodded and agreed hurriedly.

"I didn't expect Laoyingzui to be a place of such natural treasures," County Magistrate Liu sighed, looked up at the sky. The sun was lazily falling behind the treetops, and the yellowish sunlight had no heat at all, but rather revealed a faint autumn chill in the late autumn evening.

"This place has a great background and has historical value," County Magistrate Liu quoted classics: "During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhang Fei was stationed in Laishui County, serving as the Laishui County Magistrate. While stationing troops, he also engaged in garrison farming and built this plank road at Laoyingzui. When he led troops to Qishan, he passed through this place. The troops that came out of this plank road that year were a surprise force."

Everyone around him nodded in agreement, looking like they were listening carefully.

County Magistrate Liu led us around the water pool, turned back to wave at the people of Laoyingzui Village squatting on the hillside. The villagers pushed each other, and finally, it was Zhao Dequan who came out, timidly approaching, secretly glancing at me, not daring to speak.

I encouraged him: "Zhao Dequan, County Magistrate Liu called you over, speak boldly."

County Magistrate Liu glared at me and said kindly to Zhao Dequan: "Old fellow, your home is right under here, right?" County Magistrate Liu pointed to the Laoyingzui village emitting human smoke and asked.

"That's right. I am from Laoyingzui Village, I am the village chief, my name is Zhao Dequan." Zhao Dequan actually said it very smoothly, which surprised me a bit.

"The new town government is built at your doorstep, and enterprises are also investing here. What plans do you have?" County Magistrate Liu smiled, speaking gently.

"No plans. The land was requisitioned by them, and we didn't get a cent. Each household just got an agricultural-to-non-agricultural indicator, which can't be eaten or worn. We were hoping to build a water plant so everyone could be a worker, but now a gold mine has popped up. Do you want us to be miners?" Zhao Dequan seemed to want to pour out all the grievances in his stomach, chattering: "Finding a gold mine is a good thing, but we aren't even given a chance to take a look, and we are threatened with jail for no reason. I don't know whose world it is now."

County Magistrate Liu frowned at his chattering words, looking at Guo Wei and me suspiciously.

Guo Wei waved his hand hurriedly and said: "These things are all handled by Town Mayor Chen, I don't know much about them."

"Nonsense!" County Magistrate Liu cursed and comforted Zhao Dequan: "Old fellow, rest assured, in the Communist Party's world, we won't let some people act recklessly."

After finishing, he left us behind and got into the car and left.

Guo Wei and I looked at each other, our legs soft with fear. County Magistrate Liu was angry with us, and very angry!

I kicked Zhao Dequan in the butt and cursed viciously: "Zhao Dequan, I'll screw your mother, what nonsense are you talking!"

After receiving a kick, Zhao Dequan jumped away like a frog, touching his butt and grinning: "Town Mayor Chen, everyone says we should advocate telling the truth, didn't I just tell a few truths?"

"Truth your mother's head!" I chased after him to kick him, but he dodged nimbly, shouting: "Can't kick me, you can't kick me."

The two of us were jumping like clowns. In front was Zhao Dequan dodging left and right, and behind was me in a fit of rage.

"Zhao Dequan, I'll remove you from your post," I shouted, stopped, squatted down panting, grabbed a stone from the ground, and made a gesture to hit him.

Zhao Dequan stopped dodging me, approached, exposed his butt, and said: "Leader, if the fire hasn't gone out, kick me again."

I was amused by his appearance and couldn't help but laugh. I threw down the stone in my hand and cursed: "Zhao Dequan, if I kick you again, don't dirty my feet. Listen to me, I'll give you until dark to find a drilling rig, otherwise, you'll see."

"Leader, where do you want me to find a drilling rig? I'm completely in the dark." Zhao Dequan looked at me pitifully: "You'd better kick me twice."

"Get lost!" I shouted: "I don't care where you find it. If you can't find it, go die."

As soon as Zhao Dequan heard this, he ran away like a rabbit, looking back as he ran: "Town Mayor Chen, rest assured, I'll find it before dark." ===== CHAPTER 253 =====