Chapter 352

As soon as Liu Qimeng's voice fell, someone raised their hand; looking over, it was actually Guo Wei.

The Chairman of the People's Congress was amused and laughed, "Comrade Little Guo, voting is a matter for the County Party Standing Committee; your raising your hand doesn't count."

This made Guo Wei's face turn bright red; he sheepishly put his hand down and said, "I'm sorry, I thought I could vote."

"If you want to vote, it won't be today," Guan Peishan said, seeing that no one else raised their hand, and said unhappily, "I respect the opinion of the County Party Committee."

Liu Qimeng said, "Those who agree with Comrade Liu Yue Bai serving as Suxi Town Mayor, please raise your hand."

I was the first to raise my hand without hesitation. Huang Qishan followed me and raised his hand.

The Chairman of the People's Congress and the Chairman of the CPPCC looked at Liu Qimeng, hesitating for a long time without moving.

"I agree!" Liu Qimeng said, and then raised his hand.

Once he raised his hand, the others followed suit. In this way, Yue Bai passed the resolution to serve as Suxi Town Mayor with a unanimous vote.

The Standing Committee meeting continued to make arrangements for several key tasks at the end of the year. The County Magistrate was responsible for the county-wide consolation of disabled soldiers and widows, and the People's Congress had to arrange the county People's Congress meeting for next spring before the New Year. Because I still held the position of Suxi Town Party Secretary, I not only had to make deployments for the town's personnel arrangements and work for this winter and next spring, but also had to pre-plan all funds according to the County Party Committee's plan.

The meeting adjourned near noon, and everyone suggested going out to eat. Liu Qimeng did not agree, saying it was better to eat at the County Party Committee cafeteria. He took the lead and left first, so the others couldn't go out and followed Liu Qimeng toward the cafeteria.

I had something on my mind; Yue Bai being appointed as Town Mayor by the County Party Committee was news I couldn't hide. Moreover, the County Party Committee had already decided that the entire personnel arrangement for Suxi Town would be decided independently by the Suxi Town Party Committee. Who is the Suxi Party Committee? It's me, Chen Feng! In the end, I was the one who made the decisions.

I walked quickly to catch up with Liu Qimeng and said in a low voice, "Secretary, I cannot accompany you for lunch. I have to rush back to Suxi."

Liu Qimeng looked at me and said, "Eating at the cafeteria won't take much time. People have to eat, right?"

I said with great apology, "Secretary, you know that it takes at least some time to get from the county to our Suxi. Besides, I haven't been home for a while. My heart is eager to return."

Liu Qimeng laughed and said, "You have a strong sense of career."

I accompanied him with a smile and explained, "Secretary, you entrusted Suxi Town to me; no matter how incompetent I am, I cannot lose face for you, right? The problem of eating is easy to solve; I'll just buy a few steamed buns on the street later."

Liu Qimeng waved his hand at me and said, "Go, go! Don't starve yourself."

I greeted the standing committee members one by one, slipped out, and took my phone to call Yu Wei.

Yu Wei was holding a porcelain bowl, running while shoveling rice into his mouth. When he reached the car and saw my dusty appearance, he threw the bowl on the ground and asked, "County Magistrate Chen, where are we going?"

"Back to Suxi," I said, climbing into the car and closing the door.

"Secretary Zhu hasn't come yet," Yu Wei said, starting the car.

"Don't call her," I said, "She should stay home; it's convenient for handling some official business."

Yu Wei drove the car very steadily, and the scenery outside the window flashed by.

I leaned back in my seat and called Yue Bai. I told her to notify all the town cadres to have a meeting in the conference room in an hour, as I had important matters to announce.

Yue Bai was still hesitant and asked me, "Why am I the one notifying them?"

I laughed and didn't explain. I just instructed her to make sure everyone was notified. No one was allowed to be absent.

As the car passed Laoyingzui, what met my eyes was a construction site. The site was quiet, and not a single person could be seen. It was the end of the year, and the weather was bad, so both Sun Demao's site and Qian Youyu's site had stopped work.

I had Yu Wei pull the car over to the side, got out of the car myself, and looked around.

I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw someone running over, tumbling and crawling, shouting as he ran, "It really is you! I knew I hadn't seen wrong."

The person who came was Zhao Dequan, wearing a cotton jacket with the cotton batting exposed, and a pair of fur-lined leather shoes on his feet that were said to have been worn for over ten winters.

Zhao Dequan was panting heavily like a dog, his face full of fat still twitching because he had run too fast.

"Town Mayor, Town Mayor, it really is you." He laughed and exaggeratedly counted on his fingers, saying, "I calculated it; you haven't been back for a month."

"What Town Mayor? Call him County Magistrate Chen," Yu Wei scolded him from the side.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhao Dequan nodded repeatedly, smiling ingratiatingly, and reached out to slap his own face, saying, "Look at me, I just don't have a good memory. Don't blame me!"

I waved my hand and asked, "Old Zhao, are Old Qian and the others not here?"

"They are, why wouldn't they be?" Zhao Dequan said with exaggerated surprise, "Old Sun isn't here; he went back to the city. Boss Qian has been here the whole time. He was just playing cards with us earlier."

I said "Oh," my heart as clear as a mirror. Qian Youyu didn't leave Laoyingzui because of Yue Bai. If others didn't know, how could I not?

"Where is he?" I asked, looking around.

"He's coming. Old Qian can't run; he's full of useless fat. How can he compare to me?" Zhao Dequan laughed and pointed to a shadow rolling over in the distance, saying, "Look, isn't that him?"

"How did you know I came?" I asked curiously. The Laoyingzui site was at least several hundred meters away from the village; people with poor eyesight wouldn't be able to see clearly at all.

Zhao Dequan chuckled, scratching his head in embarrassment, and said, "It's the middle of winter, and there's nothing to do, so we were playing cards together. We played all morning, and my bladder was about to burst. Holding your pee can kill a person! Isn't that right?"

He stared at me with wide eyes and said seriously, "I just came out to take a leak. Old Qian followed me to take a leak, and we saw your car parked here. I even made a bet with Old Qian. I said it was you, and he didn't believe it."

I cursed in my heart, Zhao Dequan, you son of a bitch, you used me as a bet for your pissing!

But I didn't show it on my face. If I weren't a County Magistrate now, but still a Town Mayor, I would have definitely kicked him at this moment.

I am a person of status now; I must be refined and reserved.

"County Magistrate Chen, here for an inspection?" Zhao Dequan circled around me with a grin, clicking his tongue and sighing, "Now that you're a County Magistrate, your bearing is really different."

I finally couldn't hold it back and laughed, "Get lost!"

Zhao Dequan didn't mind at all; he was long used to being scolded by me. If I didn't scold him when I saw him, he would feel uncomfortable instead, thinking he had displeased me somewhere.

"I'm really rolling away!" Zhao Dequan made a gesture as if to pounce on the ground. Before he could pounce, he jumped up again and shouted loudly, "Old Qian, you have to admit defeat."

Then I saw Qian Youyu running over, panting, his face flushed red.

"Admit defeat your mother's head!" Qian Youyu cursed, "Zhao Dequan, you thunder-struck thing, you ran off by yourself and didn't care about me. You want to trip me to death?"

He patted the mud off his pant legs, cursing and swearing.

After cursing a few times, he approached me and said, "County Magistrate, you're back!"

The news of me becoming a Deputy County Magistrate had already spread throughout Chunshan County, and many people had already set me up as a role model. I was the youngest Deputy County Magistrate since the founding of the country, the first Deputy County Magistrate in Chunshan County's history to come from the outside, and a cadre who had soared directly from being a Town Mayor.

I didn't want to talk nonsense with him and asked straight to the point, "Old Qian, how is the situation at the construction site?"

"Very good!" Qian Youyu answered me, "After we held the Hundred-Family Banquet last time, our Yuetang Village and Laoyingzui have successfully paired up. Now in my Yuetang Village, every household has relatives at Laoyingzui. We have discussed that after the New Year, when spring begins, people from both villages will go to the construction site together. I guarantee that within three months, I will make Laoyingzui look completely different."

I tossed him a cigarette and looked at his disheveled appearance, wanting to laugh.

Qian Youyu didn't have much education, but after all, he had spent a few years in Hengyue City. He had some of the hypocrisy of a city person. In the past, he liked to wear suits and leather shoes, and he would use hair wax to make his sparse hair shine. His leather shoes were always spotless.

But now, the suit on his body was as sloppy as if it had just been dragged out of a cow's mouth. His shoes were full of mud. His hair was also messy, almost like a chicken coop.

Qian Youyu seemed to have discovered my thoughts; he became self-conscious and tugged at the corner of his clothes, saying, "I hang out with them every day."

I didn't speak and took the lead in walking toward the construction site.

The construction site was as messy as ever. This open space at Laoyingzui now had the initial outline of a town.

Qian Youyu followed behind my butt, chattering endlessly, "County Magistrate, you've been promoted, will you still look after us?"

I stopped and stared at him, and after a long while, I squeezed a sentence out through my teeth, "Old Qian, just like you, I am Hu Hansan who has returned. I tell you, I am still concurrently serving as the Suxi Town Party Secretary; you tell me, will I look after you or not?"

Qian Youyu was stunned for a moment, but in the blink of an eye, he was overjoyed. He kicked Zhao Dequan's butt and cursed, "I fuck your grandmother. I said, County Magistrate Chen wouldn't ignore us, would he?"

Zhao Dequan was almost knocked down by his kick; he stood his ground, glared at Qian Youyu, and roared, "Old Qian, you mad dog, why did you kick me?"

Qian Youyu apologized with a smile, "Wasn't I just happy?"

"Fuck! You son of a bitch, you're happy today so you kick me, tomorrow if you're unhappy, are you going to take a knife and kill me?" Zhao Dequan patted the mud off his butt and said to me with a slobbering face, "County Magistrate, you have to control this old immortal."

"Who is an old immortal?" Qian Youyu was most afraid of others calling him old; Zhao Dequan's words touched his nerve. His originally smiling face suddenly sank.

Zhao Dequan saw that the situation was not right and quickly said, "Old Qian, you can't take a joke."

I helped Zhao Dequan smooth things over, "Forget it! Old Qian, whether you're old or not, others might not know, but don't I know? Why bother with him?"

My words were actually telling Qian Youyu: you, Qian Youyu, are not old; you're still young! If you weren't young, would you be so determined to chase Yue Bai?

You, Qian Youyu, don't even care about your own image, staying at Laoyingzui every day; isn't it because Yue Bai is from this village?

The farce immediately vanished into thin air. I have plenty of ways to deal with these people.

Qian Youyu is at most an upstart—rich, loyal, and generous! The only flaw is that he is too obsessed with women. But it's understandable; he has been a bachelor for several years. Although solving personal physiological problems is simple now, a man always needs a home.

For a man, a home is a safe harbor and also a place to heal his wounds.

Any man working hard outside, no matter how capable he is, will have times when he gets hurt.

Yue Bai just happened to appear at this time; Yue Bai's beauty, gentleness, and capability made Qian Youyu even more obsessed. Qian Youyu had seen all kinds of women, but only Yue Bai could move him. It made him willing to dedicate everything to her.

As for Zhao Dequan, he is nothing more than a small rural peasant. He has no ambition, no aspirations, and no money. He is just a person who likes to stir up trouble but doesn't dare to face it directly.

I grasped Zhao Dequan's pulse when he brought a bunch of old men and women to make trouble at the township government. As soon as this person lifts his butt, I know whether he is going to shit yellow or black.

The two living treasures before me are my harvest in Suxi Town. Although I have never categorized them as friends, I know better than anyone that they might be more important than friends and more worth cherishing.