Chapter 472: Hao Qiang Returns

In three days, the overall relocation of Suxi Town will commence.

Every cadre in the town is so busy they can barely touch the ground. I have officially settled into the new Suxi Town, leaving all the work in the county to be handled by County Magistrate Yu alone.

With money in hand, things go smoothly. I have once again realized the benefits of money.

Throughout the town, all the streets are hung with colorful flags, and the rooftops are just as densely packed with them. Looking from afar, the new Suxi Town is like a sea of red, vibrant and full of fiery passion.

Xu Mengda quietly returned to the provincial capital alone, without saying goodbye to anyone. It was only when the Minister of the Municipal Party Committee's Propaganda Department and I went to his room to call him for breakfast that we learned he had left in the early hours of the morning.

Xu Mengda didn't leave a single word, and when I called him, it was always a busy signal.

With Xu Mengda gone, the Propaganda Minister felt there was no point, so he hurriedly ate a little breakfast and took his leave.

Let him go! In any case, the funding supported by the Municipal Propaganda Department has already arrived. Whether he is here or not doesn't really mean much. I offered a half-hearted attempt to make him stay, and the Minister gave a faint smile.

Over these past few days, he had accompanied Xu Mengda and walked through almost the entire new Suxi Town.

Seeing the Propaganda Minister fawning over a businessman made me very uncomfortable. The Municipal Propaganda Minister is a member of the Standing Committee and can be considered a person of significant weight in Hengyue City.

Xu Mengda calling him here couldn't have been to cheer me on. He had other motives. And this motive concerns whether Chen Meng's in-depth report can ever see the light of day.

Ever since I gave the report to Xu Mengda, I have read the Hengyue Daily from the first page to the last for several consecutive days, sighing in disappointment each time. In the newspapers during this period, there hasn't been a single word related to Chen Meng's report.

Could it have died in the womb? It wasn't easy for me to ask while Xu Mengda was here, and now that he's gone, I don't even have the chance to ask. His quiet departure left me harboring a fire in my heart; I even suspect that Xu Mengda never had any intention of helping me at all. His coming to Suxi was nothing more than using this as a pretext to earn my money.

The more I thought about it, the more depressed I felt, so I simply laid it out for the Propaganda Minister: "Minister Niu, did Mengda hand you an article?"

Minister Niu was startled for a moment, then shook his head like a rattle, asking with a look of surprise: "What article?"

I smiled and said nothing.

Minister Niu said with a look of relief: "Is it the article about Suxi's reform and opening up? Don't be anxious; once you officially open for business, I will arrange for reporters to come and cover it."

This explanation from Minister Niu was clearly intentional. He was unwilling to face this topic directly, and I couldn't keep pressing him, so I had to laugh and say: "I'll leave it to you, I'll leave it to you."

After seeing Minister Niu off, I returned to my office, my eyes fixed on a bouquet of flowers on the desk, though my heart wasn't on them at all.

Every day, a bouquet of flowers is changed on my desk. These flowers are picked from the fields and carry a rich, natural fragrance. It is Yue Bai who sends the flowers; ever since my office was renovated, she has insisted on doing this.

I am not usually very fond of flowers and plants; in my view, these things are only suitable for bored people to admire and cherish. A person who is so busy that they think about problems even while sleeping simply doesn't have the heart to watch flowers bloom and fall.

But Yue Bai's persistence ensures my office is always filled with the scent of flowers, and I can feel an infinite sense of warmth the moment I step through the door.

Liu Qimeng announced at the County Party Committee Standing Committee meeting that I should calm down and focus on the Suxi relocation work. On the surface, it looks like he wants me to concentrate, but underneath, it carries a hint of wanting me to avoid suspicion.

The problems that appeared in the Personnel Bureau's recruitment are a subject one dare not speak of.

I set off for Suxi the very next day, leaving Yu Wei and Zhu Huayu behind in the county when I left.

The office building in the new Suxi Town is a five-story structure. The exterior walls are covered with beautiful mosaic tiles. Upon entering, there is a spacious lobby with a floor-to-ceiling mirror as tall as two people placed in the center.

This arrangement was my idea. I said at the Town Party Committee meeting that a floor-to-ceiling mirror should not only reflect a person's appearance but also their heart. Every person who enters this building to work, upon seeing their own image at the door, is reminded that all matters under heaven are clear and manifest.

Inside the building, there are over a hundred offices of various sizes. The total number of cadres in Suxi Town is less than a hundred. This way, regardless of rank, everyone has an independent office. In Chunshan County, no other government agency can compare to this.

Of course, this building was funded by Qian Youyu and the others. I don't have the money to pay them right now, so I also arranged an office for him and Sun Demao each in the building.

Qian Youyu was overjoyed at my arrangement; with an office, he could come and go freely like the cadres, strutting about with his head held high. Sun Demao, however, was ungrateful; whenever he saw me, he would nag like Xianglin's Wife, asking me when I would settle the accounts with him.

Settle the damn accounts! Every time I see him, I feel annoyed.

I don't have a fortune in my pocket! Even if I did, I wouldn't settle with you right now! I wouldn't lose my temper, and each time I would say with a smile: "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, good things take time."

Sun Demao naturally understood that I was stalling him, and with a pale face, he said: "If you don't settle the accounts, I'm locking the doors."

I remained smiling, patting him on the shoulder as I said: "Old Sun, I'm afraid these doors cannot be locked. Once you lock the doors, the cadres will have nowhere to work. If things are delayed, let alone you, even I cannot bear that responsibility."

Sun Demao stiffened his neck and said: "If you don't give me the money, can't I even lock the doors of the building I paid to build?"

"It truly cannot be locked. If you insist on locking it and trouble arises, I won't be able to help you." I remained smiling, leaving a fuming Sun Demao feeling neurotic and at a complete loss.

Looking back on the history of building the town over these two years, there has been so much bitterness and sweetness. To think that Sun Demao and Qian Youyu's money alone could build a new city is simply a pipe dream.

In this, I did a lot of work. First, I sought bank loans, not in the name of Suxi Town, but in the name of Sun Demao and the others. The banks happened to have plenty of money and were eager to lend it out, so they didn't care about the procedures and gave Sun Demao and the others two hundred million each in loans.

This means that the new city before us not only exhausted the money in Sun Demao and Qian Youyu's hands, but they are also burdened with four hundred million in bank loans.

This is an astronomical figure that Suxi Town has no ability to repay.

All of this is something only I know clearly. I cannot tell anyone about Suxi Town's debt. Chunshan County also deliberately pretends not to know; since the founding of Suxi Town, Liu Qimeng hasn't even stepped half a foot here. The Standing Committee once made a decision that Suxi's taxes for three years would not need to be turned over to the national treasury. All tax revenue is to be shared by other townships in the county.

This decision kept Chunshan County in a state of unrest for a period, with cadres from other townships clamoring to build new cities as well. Even if they weren't allowed to build, they were unwilling to share the tax burden. They said Suxi had no money to play with, so how could they ask everyone else to foot the bill.

Liu Qimeng withstood the pressure, persuaded everyone with earnest words, and eventually, the matter died down.

This decision actually couldn't solve Suxi's practical problems. Suxi has no industrial base, and agriculture is not very developed either. The total tax revenue is less than two million a year. Moreover, I heard the central government is going to abolish the agricultural tax. Without the income from the agricultural tax, Suxi's annual income might not even reach double digits.

To try to plug the hole of building a city with such a small amount of money, I estimate that even if you plugged it for a hundred years, you wouldn't be able to fill it.

Therefore, I had my reasons for arranging offices for them in the office building.

People say that one who owes many debts does not worry; I am indeed like that.

While I was lost in thought, I heard a knock on the office door.

I called out: "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and then a bald head poked in.

I looked closely and was startled.

It was Hao Qiang who had entered, with Lao Mo following behind him.

"You're out?" I was overjoyed, stood up, and walked over, extending both hands to shake theirs.

Hao Qiang hesitated for a moment, but still extended his hand.

His hand was bony and ridiculously thin.

"It's good to be back!" I said, looking them both over.

"Thank you for your concern, leader," Hao Qiang said coldly, pulling Lao Mo out and saying: "Lao Mo, we found the person, you tell him."

Lao Mo gave a dry laugh, rubbing his stubbly scalp.

"Why did you both shave your heads?" I asked.

"When you get to that place, can you survive without shaving it?" Hao Qiang's eyes turned red, as if he were about to shed tears.

I hurriedly comforted them, saying, "It's good that you're alright. You've been wronged."

"Wronged is hardly the word, but now that it's over, you owe us an explanation, don't you?" Lao Mo's face stiffened.

"What kind of explanation do you want?"

"Let me say it," Hao Qiang sighed and said, "The two of us are still out on bail pending trial. County Magistrate Chen, you tell me, what kind of situation is this?"

"Is that so?" I furrowed my brows and cursed, "What nonsense!"

"Have you been home yet? You two," I asked.

"Not yet. When we arrived at the county, we heard you were in Suxi, so we came straight here."

"That's fine too. Let's drink first and celebrate. Afterwards, you go home and rest; once you've rested well, we'll talk again."

"I can't even remember what alcohol tastes like anymore," Lao Mo let out a dry, hollow laugh.

"Let's go." I grabbed my jacket from the chair and took them to Qian Youyu's hotel.