Chapter 82

Hearing that their son was doing well in the city, the elder Lu and his wife both wore expressions of relief and satisfaction.

Lu Dawang’s wife had prepared a table full of dishes. As she brought them out, Su Xinghui noticed her complexion was quite good; it seemed the Lu family had been taking good care of her.

Lu Dawang went next door to call his two younger brothers over to help entertain the guests. When Lu Erwang saw Su Xinghui, he gave an embarrassed smile.

Perhaps because Lu Dawang had warned them, neither of his brothers mentioned the incident where Lu Dawang had drunk pesticide.

The group ate and drank boisterously, while Lu Dawang’s wife and his three daughters, who had returned from school at noon, ate at a small table nearby.

The three Lu brothers toasted the Xu father and son and Su Xinghui repeatedly. When Lu Erwang toasted Su Xinghui, he smiled apologetically, likely feeling sorry for the day his brother drank pesticide, when he had tried to attack Su Xinghui without asking any questions.

Su Xinghui certainly didn’t blame him, and he readily drank a cup with Lu Erwang.

After the meal, the three of them bid farewell to the Lu family. Xu Haimin told Lu Dawang to rest at home for two days and spend some time with his parents.

The three of them arrived at the township government office to meet Chen Hongfu. Su Xinghui introduced Xu Haimin as the boss of the company that had won the bid for the secondary highway from the county seat to Menghuling Township. Chen Hongfu was taken aback when he recognized Xu Xiaoguang as Su Xinghui’s classmate who had visited Menghuling before.

Su Xinghui smiled and said, “Secretary Chen, Xu Xiaoguang is my classmate, whom you’ve met before; he is also General Manager Xu’s youngest son.”

Only then did Chen Hongfu smile and extend his hand to Xu Haimin: “General Manager Xu, a pleasure to meet you!”

Xu Haimin shook his hand and smiled: “Secretary Chen, this highway will begin construction soon, and we will be troubling you then.”

Chen Hongfu replied: “What are you saying? You are helping us build a road; we couldn’t be more welcoming.”

Xu Haimin said: “In any case, we will rely on your support.”

Chen Hongfu said: “The two of you haven’t eaten yet, have you? Come, let’s go eat.”

Xu Haimin said: “Secretary Chen, no need for formalities. We have already eaten; we ate at the home of a worker whose family lives in Menghuling Township.”

Chen Hongfu complained: “Since you came to the township, why didn’t you eat with us?”

Xu Haimin smiled: “We will have many more occasions to trouble Secretary Chen in the future, as long as you don’t find us bothersome.”

Chen Hongfu laughed heartily: “How could that be? General Manager Xu, you are joking.”

Chen Hongfu then asked Su Xinghui to call Dong Jianshu to his office to meet Xu Haimin. Since Haimin Construction would be building the road in Menghuling Township, there would be many matters requiring coordination with the township, so it was necessary for them to meet and get to know each other.

Xu Haimin decided that the Shangmeng Highway would officially begin construction in three days. Chen Hongfu and Dong Jianshu also stated that the Menghuling Township government would provide full cooperation.

After the start date was set, Xu Haimin returned to Shangjun County first, as there were many matters there that needed coordination. He left Xu Xiaoguang in Menghuling Township to be in charge of the construction section here, and the township government arranged for Xu Xiaoguang to rest in the reception room.

Su Xinghui asked Huang Sao to make up the bed in Xu Xiaoguang’s room, then chatted with him for a while. Xu Xiaoguang felt very happy to be staying in Menghuling for this period.

After chatting for a while, Su Xinghui let Xu Xiaoguang rest, then went downstairs and returned to the Party and Government Office.

As soon as he arrived at the office, Su Xinghui saw that the atmosphere today seemed a bit off. The entire staff was present, and Zeng Xianglin was pointing at Peng Kehong’s nose, cursing: “Peng Kehong, are you full and have nothing better to do?”

Peng Kehong held a stack of papers and said: “How am I full with nothing to do? I am acting for the collective interest!”

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

After finishing, Peng Kehong glanced triumphantly 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 when he made calls last time.

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 the one making them. Peng Kehong likely 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 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, he wouldn’t make calls from the office unless necessary.

Yao Xuexin and Fu Bo both said 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 deeply.

Su Xinghui knew that they didn’t make fewer calls than him; after all, who didn’t want to use the office phone? By doing this, Peng Kehong had actually provoked public outrage, yet he remained oblivious and self-satisfied.

Peng Kehong said: “Director Wei, do you think we should investigate? Anyway, I have already marked all the private calls I made on these records. I made a total of two private calls, 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, setting it aside.

Wei Bingyi frowned: “How can we investigate this? The township government only has two phones. One is in Secretary Chen’s office, and the other is here. Whatever calls the leaders need to make, they make them here.”

Menghuling Township was a poor township and didn’t have many phones—only two. It was impossible for ordinary people to go into Chen Hongfu’s office to make calls. This meant that everyone else in the township government had to come to the Party and Government Office to make calls. Since the current telephone rates were high, a monthly bill of one or two thousand yuan was quite normal.

Of course, the township government had more business last month, so there were more calls, making the bill higher than in September. 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. Naturally, he didn’t want to drag the leaders into this. 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 the Party and Government Office.”

Peng Kehong thought his plan was clever, assuming no one here would dare offend the leaders. After all, his main target was Su Xinghui; he didn’t want to accidentally hurt too many people, and certainly not the leaders.

However, Peng Kehong never expected that there was someone present who wasn’t afraid of offending the leaders—Zeng Xianglin. He shouted: “Why wouldn’t the leaders make private calls? If we’re going to investigate, we investigate everyone, or we don’t investigate at all!”

Zeng Xianglin had been punished for having children beyond the quota. Now that he had a son, he had no hope of advancement, but as long as he didn’t commit any major errors, he couldn’t be fired in this lifetime. What did he have to fear?

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

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.”