Chapter 699

Peng Qiang said, "Uncle Taiping, I have a girl I like. I plan to go find that girl after I'm busy with this period."

Peng Qiang wasn't lying. When he worked at the county government, he did like a girl who worked at the county government. They had good feelings for each other, but they hadn't developed to the point of being boyfriend and girlfriend before he was transferred to Pengjiawan.

Peng Taiping laughed, "If you have someone you like, go quickly. If you miss it, that's a lifetime thing. When can't you do work?"

Peng Qiang said, "That won't work. If this case isn't solved, the higher-ups will hit the board."

Peng Taiping drank another glass of liquor with Peng Qiang and said, "Qiangzi, it's good that you are serious about work, but you also have to listen to your Uncle Taiping's advice."

Peng Qiang said, "Uncle Taiping, go ahead."

Peng Taiping said, "You must not handle this case too seriously. Who are those people who ran away? They are all your neighbors and relatives, and quite a few are your cousins. Can you catch them back?"

Peng Qiang said, "But they committed a crime. And if they aren't caught back, the higher-ups will hit the board."

Peng Taiping sneered, "What crime did they commit? They just had opinions on some of the practices of the former Mayor Hong and came to express their opinions to Mayor Hong. But Mayor Hong avoided seeing them, which angered them and accidentally injured Mayor Hong. This can at most be considered a contradiction among the people. Besides, if the higher-ups hit the board, it won't hit you. You are just a deputy director; there is still a director and a bureau chief above you."

Peng Qiang raised his glass and drank a glass of liquor with Peng Taiping, "Since it's a contradiction among the people, let them come back and surrender. Wouldn't it be fine if they explained the situation clearly?"

Peng Taiping said, "Can this be explained clearly? What if they are forced to confess after coming back? It's better to hide outside for a while, and it will be fine when the wind passes. You don't have to be so hardworking. You can't catch so many people anyway. What if you can't catch them?"

Peng Qiang raised his glass again, "Uncle Taiping, let's have a drink. I still have to think about this matter carefully."

Peng Taiping drank this glass with him and laughed, "Qiangzi, at the end of this year, our Peng family in Pengjiawan is going to revise the genealogy and rebuild the ancestral hall. This is a big deal. If you really do something that lets down the clan, you might not be able to get on the genealogy, and your name won't be able to enter the ancestral hall in the future."

For the rural people at that time, revising the genealogy and building the ancestral hall was a big deal. Actually, the Peng family originally had a genealogy and an ancestral hall, but they were destroyed decades ago, the genealogy was burned, and the ancestral hall was demolished. They hadn't been rebuilt for decades.

Now their Peng surname had the ability to revise the genealogy and rebuild the ancestral hall. If the Peng Qiang family couldn't get on the genealogy and enter the ancestral hall, that would be a very severe punishment.

Peng Qiang nodded, "I know, Uncle Taiping."

Peng Taiping was very satisfied with Peng Qiang's attitude. It seemed his prestige was still very high, and Peng Qiang was still quite obedient to him.

Peng Taiping drank another glass with Peng Qiang and said, "Qiangzi, you don't have to worry about your future. When you have time, I'll take you to the provincial capital to see your Uncle Jidong. He likes to take care of outstanding young people like you the most. You will definitely become the pride of the Peng family in the future."

The Uncle Jidong that Peng Taiping mentioned was his cousin who was a deputy department-level official in the provincial capital. He was also the biggest cadre in the Peng family at present.

Peng Qiang pretended to be happy and said, "Is that so? Uncle Taiping, that's too great. Come, I'll have another drink with you!"

The two drank for half an hour and finished a bottle of liquor. Peng Qiang said, "Uncle Taiping, let's call it a day. We've already finished a bottle."

Peng Taiping didn't dare to drink too much after getting drunk last time. That feeling of being drunk was really too uncomfortable, so he nodded, "Alright, then eat some food."

After finishing his meal, Peng Qiang said goodbye to Peng Taiping. Walking in the courtyard of the town government, Peng Qiang could feel several pairs of eyes hiding in the dark looking at him, but he pretended not to feel it and walked out of the town government gate without looking sideways.

These days, Su Xinghui clearly felt relatively large resistance in his work. No matter what task he arranged, the relevant personnel would drag it out if they could. In short, they just wouldn't complete the task straightforwardly.

Su Xinghui could also anticipate this situation. He came to Pengjiawan to move some people's cake. It would be strange if these people didn't cause some trouble for him. This just echoed a common saying: the temple is small but the evil wind is big, the pond is shallow but there are many turtles.

Su Xinghui couldn't help but sigh, he wanted to do some proper work, why was it so difficult?

For this kind of thing, Su Xinghui had long been mentally prepared, and he wasn't afraid. As long as there was progress in the public security side, this kind of thing would be solved easily. He also had great confidence in Li Chengan, Wu Jun, and Peng Qiang.

It was just that there was one thing he couldn't wait for, and that was the preparation work for flood prevention and disaster relief.

It was already mid-May. At most, in a month, the flood peak might strike. If the flood peak didn't come or wasn't big, it would be fine. If the flood peak was a bit bigger and not prepared in advance, that would be a quite dangerous thing.

Although the county had reinforced and maintained the Yangtze River dry embankment, and some sections had even been rebuilt, before experiencing the great flood of 1998, the flood control standard of the Yangtze River dry embankment wasn't that high. If not prepared in advance, there was a possibility of a breach when encountering a relatively large flood peak.

If the Yangtze River dry embankment breached in the Pengjiawan section, Su Xinghui being responsible was secondary; the loss suffered by Pengjiawan would be huge. Pengjiawan was densely populated and a flat plain. If the flood breached, the common people would have nowhere to hide.

Precisely because of this, at a town mayor's office meeting held in early May, Su Xinghui specifically established the Pengjiawan Town Flood Prevention and Disaster Relief Leading Group. He personally served as the commander-in-chief, with deputy mayor in charge Zhang Lihui, armed forces minister Xiao Tiezhu, police station director Wu Jun, and water conservancy station director Han Zhixiong serving as deputy commanders-in-chief, and the persons in charge of each station and office as members of the group.

Su Xinghui arranged the various flood prevention and disaster relief preparation tasks. Everyone spoke quite well at the meeting, but after coming down, except for Wu Jun who could listen to Su Xinghui, the others were all paying lip service.

Especially the two deputy commanders-in-chief, Zhang Lihui and Han Zhixiong. They were the most important members of the flood prevention and disaster relief leading group, and most of the work needed them to arrange directly, but they were the two least cooperative.

For example, the pre-flood inspection for flood prevention and disaster relief mainly checked flood control facilities, early warning and forecasting, duty systems, flood control material reserves, and other safety hazards. However, after Su Xinghui arranged the work, he couldn't get a report for a long time.

On this day, Su Xinghui called water conservancy station director Han Zhixiong to his office and asked, "Director Han, have you done the pre-flood inspection I asked you to do?"

Han Zhixiong said stammeringly, "Mayor, done, done."

"Done?" Su Xinghui said calmly, "Then I asked you to submit the pre-flood inspection report last week. Why hasn't it been submitted yet?"

Han Zhixiong had already received instructions from several town leaders: no matter what work Su Xinghui arranged, drag it out for him, don't do it straightforwardly for him. He agreed, but when he truly faced this young town mayor, he knew how great the pressure was. His back was already soaked with sweat.

This town mayor's age was only half of Han Zhixiong's, but his steadiness was comparable to the county Party secretary. The biggest cadre Han Zhixiong had ever contacted at close range was only the county Party secretary, and he could only compare Su Xinghui with the county Party secretary.

With just this one calm sentence from Su Xinghui, Han Zhixiong felt like a mountain was pressing down on him, making him sweat profusely.

Seeing the sweat on Han Zhixiong's forehead, Su Xinghui turned on the ceiling fan and said, "It's only May, is Director Han already so afraid of the heat?"

Han Zhixiong laughed sheepishly, "That's right, Pengjiawan only has this one bad point, it's too hot."

Su Xinghui said, "Then Director Han, tell me, why wasn't the inspection report handed in?"

Han Zhixiong wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "It's like this. Originally, I handed the task of writing this inspection report to Xiao Ma at the station. But Xiao Ma has been sick these days, so this matter was delayed. When he recovers, I will definitely let him write it out quickly."