Chapter 675

The two drank a few cups of tea, and the owner brought in a few plates of food and two bottles of wine, placing them on the table. Chen Xianyi said, "Chaochao, don't come in unless there's something important, and don't let anyone else in either."

The owner nodded and went out, closing the door from the outside.

Chen Xianyi said, "This owner is my nephew, my eldest sister's son, so we can be absolutely at ease here."

Su Xinghui nodded to show he understood.

Chen Xianyi picked up a bottle of wine. It was a bottle of Pengwan Xiaoqu, which was produced by the Pengjiawan Winery and sold quite well in Shangjun County.

Chen Xianyi said, "Ordinary people see this bottle and think it's common, but actually, this is thirty-year-old raw liquor that was diluted before being bottled."

As he spoke, Chen Xianyi opened the cap, and a rich, fragrant aroma immediately wafted out. Su Xinghui nodded: "Good wine!"

Chen Xianyi poured a cup for Su Xinghui and one for himself, smiling: "Town Mayor, since you have a bottomless capacity, you drink more, and I'll drink less."

Su Xinghui nodded, picked up his glass, and said, "Come, Chen Shuji, I'll toast you. I hope to have your support in my work in the future."

Chen Xianyi also picked up his glass, drank with Su Xinghui, and said, "Town Mayor, rest assured, I will certainly support you!"

After finishing the glass, Su Xinghui said "Good wine" again. Chen Xianyi poured him another and said, "Eat the food. My nephew studied cooking in Jiangcheng; he makes good dishes."

Su Xinghui nodded and began to eat. As he ate, he nodded: "This food is good. To be honest, I was really hungry. I didn't get enough to eat at noon, and later I just ate a few pieces of your Pengjiawan sponge cake in Secretary Qi's room."

Mentioning the noon incident, Chen Xianyi laughed: "Old Peng must have been furious today. He's used to pulling rank, but today he finally met someone tough."

Su Xinghui asked, "Does he always pull rank like that?"

Chen Xianyi nodded: "Yes. He relies on the fact that he has a cousin who is a Deputy Director at the Provincial Water Conservancy Department. Most people don't want to provoke him, so he's always been like this. Today, he wanted to give you a hard time, but he didn't expect you to push back."

Su Xinghui shook his head. He understood why Peng Taiping did that. If he was the representative of the local bullies in Pengjiawan, then Su Xinghui was a "dragon crossing the river." Coming to Pengjiawanzhen meant threatening the interests of these local bullies, so naturally, he was unhappy.

As Chen Xianyi drank with Su Xinghui, he told him about the people and events in Pengjiawanzhen and the relationships between them. Listening to Chen Xianyi, Su Xinghui realized how intricate and complex the relationships were.

Peng Taiping had always been the leader of the local faction in Pengjiawan. With a cousin who was a Deputy Director, his background was the strongest. Most of the cadres in Pengjiawan followed his lead. In his hometown, Xiaohu Village, the Peng clan's influence was very strong, which was his mass base in Pengjiawanzhen.

The "Five Tigers of the Peng Clan" were from Xiaohu Village. They were Peng Taiping's juniors, essentially his nephews. The five brothers relied on Peng Taiping's influence in Pengjiawanzhen to commit all sorts of crimes—theft, highway robbery, running gambling dens—they were involved in it all.

In the last two years, the Executive Deputy Town Mayor, Yang Huakai, had emerged as a new force among the local faction. Yang Huakai had a cousin who was promoted to Deputy Mayor of Yulin City last year. Suddenly, Yang Huakai's background was no weaker than Peng Taiping's. Previously, the two had conflicts over the division of interests, but when Peng Taiping's influence was stronger, they could coexist. Now that their influence was about equal, the conflict had become prominent.

Now, some of the local cadres in Pengjiawanzhen had also defected to Yang Huakai's side.

Yang Huakai's hometown was Yangwan Village, where the Yang surname was the dominant one. The famous "Three Dragons of the Yang Clan" in Pengjiawan were Yang Huakai's cousins. Relying on Yang Huakai's influence, they were just as lawless in Pengjiawan, committing all sorts of evil deeds.

With Peng and Yang in conflict, the relationship between the Five Tigers of the Peng Clan and the Three Dragons of the Yang Clan was naturally poor. The two gangs of thugs often fought and brawled to compete for territory, making the town a complete mess.

As for the so-called "Thirteen Guardians" and "Eighteen Arhats," although the names sounded intimidating and they had far more members than the Five Tigers and Three Dragons, in reality, they were just small-time thugs and weren't from the same clan, so their cohesion was actually inferior to the Peng and Yang clans.

Of course, the existence of these small-time thugs made the situation in Pengjiawanzhen even more complex and chaotic.

Normally, these criminal forces should have been the primary targets for the public security organs. However, the Town Police Station Chief, Yang Xinhua, was from the Yang clan in Yangwan Village and was a distant cousin of Yang Huakai. He was in league with those criminal forces and received plenty of bribes, so why would he put effort into cracking down on them?

Not only did he not crack down, but he often tipped them off, making it impossible to catch the key figures of these criminal forces. As long as these people couldn't be caught, the gangs couldn't be wiped out, and the chaotic situation in Pengjiawanzhen couldn't be stabilized.

The incident a few days ago where the town government was stormed was carried out by these gangs working together. Facing a greater threat, they set aside their usual grudges to storm the town government, and Yang Xinhua had committed the error of failing to handle the situation effectively.

Listening to Chen Xianyi's introduction, Su Xinghui frowned. He hadn't expected the situation in Pengjiawanzhen to be so complex; it was like a tangled mess, leaving him feeling unsure of where to start.

Su Xinghui asked, "Chen Shuji, where do you think I should start my work?"

Chen Xianyi said, "I think we should start with the incident of storming the town government. If this incident isn't resolved satisfactorily, the town government will have no prestige in the town, and no other work can be carried out."

Su Xinghui pondered for a moment and then nodded: "Chen Shuji, you are very right. By the way, isn't Police Chief Li from the Public Security Bureau in Pengjiawan? How is the progress on his end?"

Chen Xianyi shook his head: "At the time, the list of ringleaders and main participants was obtained, but they all ran away to other places immediately and couldn't be caught. We caught some ordinary participants, but it was of no use; they could only be released after education."

Su Xinghui knew there was no other way. In cases like this of storming state organs, there were many participants; you couldn't arrest hundreds of people. Ordinary participants could only be released after education, at most fined. Only by catching the ringleaders and active participants could they be sentenced.

But catching these people was easier said than done. Once they ran to other places, you couldn't catch them, not to mention that there were insiders like Yang Xinhua within the public security department.

Su Xinghui thought for a while, raised his glass to Chen Xianyi, and said, "Chen Shuji, thank you for your words today. Your words are very important and very enlightening to me. Come, let me toast you again."

Chen Xianyi raised his glass and smiled: "Come, let's have a drink. Town Mayor, I believe in you. You will definitely be a good Town Mayor!" ===== CHAPTER 677 =====