Chapter 75

Xu Xiaoguang said they hadn't planned to pay attention to Qian Hongye anyway, just treating him as if he were farting.

Hanging up the phone, Su Xinghui couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. It seemed Qian Hongye was afraid. For such a big project, he naturally wanted to get his hands on it, but public bidding left him too little room for backroom deals. His biggest opponent was naturally Haimin Construction Company, and dragging Xu Haimin to accompany the bid was also an attempt to eliminate his biggest opponent directly.

If it were before, Xu Haimin might have agreed to accompany the bid, but after talking with Zhang Kaishan, he naturally wouldn't submit so easily. With such a fair opportunity to get the project himself, who would want to always take subcontracted projects from Hongye’s hands?

Su Xinghui immediately called Zhang Kaishan again and told him about the situation. After hearing it, Zhang Kaishan just said lightly not to pay attention to Qian Hongye, and that this time he would definitely ensure the bidding process was handled well.

After entering October, the cadres of Menghuling Township government became even busier, and the village cadres from the various villages below came to the township government every few days to inquire about the special fund for agricultural industrialization.

They naturally saw the booming appearance of Yezhugou Village, and seeing that Yezhugou Village had hope of shaking off poverty and becoming rich, who wouldn't be jealous? They naturally also wanted to follow suit and get rich, and hearing about this "special fund for agricultural industrialization," they all came to the township government to apply.

Chen Hongfu and Dong Jianshu discussed it and felt that the approval power for this special fund could not be placed in just anyone’s hands. Since the special fund was secured by Su Xinghui, the first step should be for Su Xinghui to verify it, and after verification, it would be signed and reported by Li Maofa and Dong Jianshu.

This was naturally a great power; without Su Xinghui’s signature, no one could apply for this special fund. However, for Su Xinghui, the greater significance was to firmly control the leading power and direction of agricultural industrialization in his own hands, so as to avoid it going off course.

As for using this power to seek personal gain, he hadn't even considered such a thing.

Regarding Su Xinghui possessing such great power, some people in the township government were very unconvinced. A newcomer who had only been in the township government for three months—why should he have such great power?

Hu Chengli, Jin Taihe, Yang Xinrong, and others had all sought out Dong Jianshu and Chen Hongfu, the gist being that they wanted to be in charge of the special fund for one village each; they not only wanted the audit power but also wanted to hold the special fund directly in their own hands.

Menghuling Township had been poor for too long, and now that there was finally an opportunity to get a special fund, who didn't want a piece of the pie? Even if they didn't get any benefits from it, having power would make their backs straighter.

However, their requests were rejected without hesitation by Dong Jianshu and Chen Hongfu. Their reasons were also very sufficient: Little Su had been following the experts to every village to conduct investigations and research, and he knew better than anyone what industries were suitable for development in each village, so giving him this audit power was the most appropriate thing.

They also told these few that the province had clearly stated that the special fund was to be distributed directly to the agricultural enterprises or cooperatives of each village group, and it must be used for its designated purpose; no individual had the power to hold the special fund in their own hands, not even Dong Jianshu and Chen Hongfu themselves.

Dong Jianshu and Chen Hongfu knew more about the inside story of this matter and knew how well-connected Su Xinghui was to secure these projects. For others to try to get ideas about this special fund—wasn't that looking for death?

In addition, neither of them was from Menghuling Township; before, they only thought about how to get transferred, but now they saw an opportunity to achieve political success here. Could they not seize this opportunity? How could they let those few mess around?

Although the few township leaders were very dissatisfied, the top and second-in-command of the township had this attitude, and Li Maofa, who was in charge of agriculture, had no objection either. What else could they say?

Su Xinghui naturally wouldn't pay attention to their thoughts; he was so busy now that his feet were hitting his buttocks, and he had no time to think about other things.

During this time, several villages had gone to Yezhugou Village to learn from their experience and had established joint-stock companies or cooperatives on a village basis, making all the villagers shareholders.

According to the guidance of several experts, these villages had decided on the agricultural projects they were prepared to develop. For example, Qishuping Village, west of Yezhugou, had started a special breeding farm and was also preparing to plant Chinese medicinal herbs.

Hutou Village, Taohua Village, Hujia'ao, and several other neighboring villages were preparing to plant yellow peaches, citrus, and other fruits on a large scale, and in these villages, Luo Ping and Huang Chuanyong were also preparing to establish breeding and protection bases for rare tree species such as the dove tree, southern yew, and magnolia, also applying to the province for related subsidy funds.

Although these rare tree species did not have wild forests in these places like the Eucommia in Yezhugou Village and were only sporadically distributed, Jiangcheng Agricultural University had mature breeding technology, and the conditions here were also very suitable for the growth of these trees, so breeding bases could be established here.

These tree species were very precious and had a wide range of uses; for example, they all had high medicinal value, and the dove tree and southern yew were even more precious ornamental and timber plants. In short, once they were bred into forests, they could bring considerable economic benefits to the local people.

Su Xinghui had also been running around to various villages during this time to determine the projects for which these villages would apply for special funds from the province.

One day in mid-October, Su Xinghui first went to Qishuping to take a look at the special breeding farm being built in their village, and then rode his bicycle to Yezhugou Village.

These two villages were adjacent and only a few miles apart; he arrived in ten minutes by bicycle.

Arriving at Yezhugou Village, Su Xinghui prepared to go see Xia Zhu. During this time, Xia Zhu’s sketching had improved rapidly, and Su Xinghui had already begun to teach her traditional Chinese painting. Of course, he couldn't teach for an hour every day now; he didn't have that much time and could only use fragmented time to squeeze it in.

On the way, Su Xinghui met Xia Lan. As soon as Xia Lan saw him, she said happily: "Director Su, it’s good that you’ve come; we were just about to go to the township government to find you."

Su Xinghui asked: "Sister Xia Lan, what happened?"

Xia Lan said: "Luo the Madman and Peng Kehong from the township led a few people to the village, saying they wanted to catch a few wild boars, pheasants, and bamboo rats from the village’s breeding farm to take back to eat. Branch Secretary Fang and Director Zhao naturally refused, but Luo the Madman said that one of the people was the County Magistrate’s son."

The County Magistrate’s son? Could it be that Shan Xiaolong had come? Su Xinghui thought to himself.

Shan Xiaolong was the son of County Magistrate Shan Guozhi; above him were two older sisters, and Shan Guozhi only had this one son, so he was naturally a bit doting on him.

Since he was a child, Shan Xiaolong had been a little bully in the county; whatever he wanted, he had to get. In his teens, he peeked at girls bathing, and after graduating from high school, he got a girl pregnant. Leading a group of lackeys to run rampant on the street was a common occurrence. His father was the County Magistrate, so anyone who was bullied dared to be angry but dared not speak.

If he had come, Fang Youcai and the others probably really couldn't stop him. No wonder Xia Lan wanted to go to the township government to find Su Xinghui; in their view, Su Xinghui was the most capable and would definitely be able to settle this matter.

Hearing Xia Lan’s words, Su Xinghui went to the breeding farm with Xia Lan. This breeding farm was a piece of his hard work, and he naturally couldn't tolerate this group of people running wild here.

Soon the two arrived at the breeding farm. Outside the gate, Su Xinghui saw a Crown sedan and a Bluebird sedan, and another jeep parked outside.

Before he even got off his bicycle, Su Xinghui heard Fang Youcai’s voice: "I’m really sorry, the wild animals raised in this breeding farm have all been signed with exclusive sales contracts with others, so I can't give them to you!"

Next was Luo the Madman’s clamor: "Fang Youcai, Brother Xiaolong eating some of your game is looking up to you; don't talk about this and that. If you don't move aside, don't blame us for taking action."

Zhao Zhongfu’s voice rang out: "I’ll see who dares to take action. This is the blood and sweat of all our villagers; don't you have any law?"

A somewhat unfamiliar voice said: "Law? In Shangjun County, what Brother Xiaolong says is the law!"

Hearing this, Su Xinghui laughed outside the breeding farm. To be able to say such arrogant words—this group of people really had no brains.

However, it wasn't their fault. In the early 1990s, if Su Xinghui hadn't appeared out of nowhere, what Shan Guozhi said in Shangjun County would have been about the same as the law; who would dare to disobey him?

Luo the Madman’s words could be considered correct. What did it matter if Shan Xiaolong wanted to eat some game? Many people wanted to send it to his house, only worrying that they couldn't get it in.

Su Xinghui parked his bicycle leisurely and then walked into the breeding farm, laughing loudly: "Which one is Brother Xiaolong? What you say is actually the law? I really want to see!"