Chapter 146

Peng Kehong held a stack of papers and said, "How am I full with nothing to do? I am doing this for the collective interest!"

He glanced at Su Xinghui, who had just entered, and said loudly, "Ever since certain people arrived in our Meng Hu Ling Township, the telephone bill for our Party and Government Office has been getting higher and higher. Last month, the bill was almost two thousand yuan. If we don't investigate this, how can we let it slide?"

After finishing, Peng Kehong smugly glanced at Su Xinghui. Only then did Su Xinghui realize that what he was holding were the call records printed from the Post and Telecommunications Bureau.

Su Xinghui understood immediately; Peng Kehong was targeting him. No wonder Peng Kehong had been secretly standing outside last time when he was making a call.

Su Xinghui had indeed made quite a few calls last month, but most of them were incoming. He hadn't actually made many outgoing calls himself, but this had created the impression that he was making many calls. It was likely because of this that Peng Kehong assumed Su Xinghui had made many calls.

Su Xinghui was actually someone who didn't like to take advantage of the public. If it weren't for the fact that some of his calls could only be made at night when the Post and Telecommunications Bureau was closed, he would have preferred to pay to make them there. Therefore, unless it was an essential call, he wouldn't make it from the Party and Government Office.

Yao Xuexin and Fu Bo both said that Peng Kehong was making a mountain out of a molehill and doing something unnecessary. Although Wang Wenjing didn't speak, her expression was very poor, and Wei Bingyi was frowning tightly.

Su Xinghui knew that they didn't make fewer calls themselves; after all, who wouldn't want to use the office phone? Peng Kehong's move had actually offended everyone, yet he remained oblivious and self-satisfied.

Peng Kehong said, "Director Wei, do you think we should investigate? Anyway, I have already marked the private calls I made on these records. I made two private calls in total, costing three yuan and twenty cents. I will pay this money first."

As he spoke, Peng Kehong placed the stack of call records on the desk and took out three yuan and twenty cents, placing it to the side.

Wei Bingyi frowned and said, "How can this be investigated? The township government only has two phones: one in Secretary Chen's office and one right here. The leaders make whatever calls they need to make right here."

Meng Hu Ling Township was a poor township and didn't have many phones—just two. It was impossible for ordinary people to go into Chen Hongfu's office to make calls, which meant that everyone else in the township government had to come to the Party and Government Office to make calls. With the current high rates, a monthly bill of one or two thousand yuan was quite normal.

Of course, the township government had more business last month and thus more calls, so the bill was much higher than in October. Peng Kehong thought Su Xinghui made the most calls, so he pulled this stunt to make Su Xinghui look bad.

Peng Kehong hadn't expected what Wei Bingyi said. Of course, he didn't want to drag the leaders into it. His eyes rolled, and he said, "The leaders have high awareness and certainly wouldn't use public phones for private calls. Therefore, I suggest the leaders don't need to be investigated; let's just investigate internally within our Party and Government Office."

Peng Kehong thought he had a clever plan, assuming no one here would dare offend the leaders. After all, his main target was Su Xinghui, and he didn't want to accidentally hurt too many people, let alone the leaders.

But Peng Kehong never expected that there was someone present who wasn't afraid of offending the leaders—that was Zeng Xianglin. He said loudly, "Why wouldn't the leaders make private calls? If we're going to investigate, we investigate everyone, or we don't investigate anyone at all!"

Zeng Xianglin had once been punished for having an extra child. Now that he had a son, he had no hope for advancement, but as long as he didn't commit any major mistakes, he couldn't be fired in this lifetime. What did he have to be afraid of?

Peng Kehong was now caught in a bind. Wei Bingyi stared at him coldly, wanting him to stop making a scene.

Just as Peng Kehong wanted to back down, Zeng Xianglin stood up abruptly, walked to Peng Kehong's desk, picked up the stack of call records, and said, "I'll go first."