Chapter Thirty-two: Resolving Trouble

  After a weekend, on Monday, Chen Gong still felt very tired. He had drunk wine, spent money, and helped with busy work, but his body and mind were exhausted. However, the things that belonged to him could not be taken away.

  The party and government office called, asking Chen Gong to go to the Xinqiao District Letters and Visits Bureau for a meeting in the afternoon. The meeting was about the compensation issue of Jia Shufang Kindergarten's land use. Chen Gong is now listening to Jia Shufang, who is furious. Chen Gong tidied up his desk, picked up his briefcase, called Lu Feng, and headed to the district. Although it was an afternoon meeting, they still had some distance to travel, so they went early, had lunch in Xinqiao, and were able to attend the meeting without rushing.

  A deputy director of the District Letters and Visits Bureau personally presided over this coordination meeting. Jia Shufang sat directly opposite the deputy director, with a furious expression, holding the agreement signed with Qinghe Town, constantly complaining to everyone, while Chen Gong was drinking tea leisurely on the side.

  The deputy director listened to Jia Shufang's outpouring and then asked Chen Gong, what opinions do you have on behalf of the Qinghe Town Government?

  Chen Gong said, "Leader, what she said is not entirely true. As far as I know, the 700,000 yuan has been returned to her in a disguised form, but there's no written evidence. You asked for my opinion, and all I can say is let her make a fuss if she wants. If she wants money, there isn't any; if she wants land, there isn't any either."

  Jia Shufang heard what Chen Gong said and started going crazy again, saying that Chen Gong knew there were problems inside, with power and money transactions, and the government didn't care about the lives of ordinary people.

  The deputy director saw Chen Gong and didn't relax his tone, "That Sister Jia, if not like this, you sue Qinghe Town according to normal procedures in court, we'll all listen to the final verdict of the judicial organ."

  Jia Shufang herself was also uneasy, fearing that she had left behind some evidence. "Going to court, who would pay the costs? All my family's money is stuck in this land, you and the court are all in cahoots with each other, officials protecting each other, can I win a lawsuit? If it drags on for over a decade, I don't have time to wait any longer. Either give me back my land or return my money, otherwise I'll continue to petition the city and provincial governments, I dare to go all the way to Beijing!"

  The deputy director saw that the woman was not a kind-hearted person, and if things were to be made public, the district leaders would be criticized, and he would also be implicated. "Don't get agitated, we will think of a way to handle it properly. For now, Auntie Jia, please go back first, and we'll discuss and come up with a solution. We will definitely give you a satisfactory answer within this week."

  Jia Shufang said what she had to say, "Fine, I'll wait. If I'm not satisfied, I won't come here again. I'll go to the city, there will be someone who can help me out." With that, she left the conference room first.

  "The deputy director let the others leave, now only he and Chen Gong were left in the conference room. 'Mayor Chen, if this matter is not resolved, it will be reported to the higher-ups, and the leaders will have an opinion about you. You don't have evidence, and besides, it wasn't during your tenure that this thing was done. Why don't you just let your town submit a report to the district, and let the district allocate funds to solve it? At most, the leaders will have an opinion about Qinghe Town, but it won't affect you personally.'"

  Chen Gong didn't dare to say more, he knew that this matter might implicate Li Jiangtao who had already stepped down. "Leader, I've already expressed my opinion to you earlier, let her make a fuss, see how far she can go, anyway she's also afraid in her heart."

  The deputy director couldn't handle it anymore, after all, the power was limited, so he let Chen Gong return to the town first. He reported the events of today truthfully to the district leaders, and if things got out of hand, he would let Chen Gong clean up the mess himself.

  Chen Gong was thinking on his way back to Qinghe Road, there must be no physical evidence, if there are witnesses and the incident is not blown up, it may be perfectly resolved. As he thought about it, he suddenly had an idea and called his old leader whom he resented in his heart, "Director Qi, I'm Chen Gong from Qinghe, yes, it's been a long time since we last contacted each other, just showing concern for the latest developments of the leader, there's something I'd like to ask Director Qi for help..."

  Qí Xiào Nán is now the head of the Construction Bureau, Chen Gong's idea was to have him find someone to appraise the old road that Jiā Shū Fāng had repaired, if the quality of the road was a problem, it could be used to threaten her from the side and make her calm down, of course, Chen Gong did not tell Qí Xiào Nán about this petition matter, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

  Zi Xiaonan naturally agreed without hesitation for such a small matter that could also increase his connection with a potential new star.

  The next day at work, several technical personnel came to the Construction Bureau, led by Lu Feng, and they went to the old road leading to the Da Tou Cai company.

  After a day of inspection by technical personnel, it was found that the road was built with substandard materials and the cheapest things, resulting in many potholes. Lu Feng immediately reported the results to Chen Gong, who took out the original road repair agreement and compared it with some key indicators and completion targets. The result showed that although the road is now a mess, it actually met the "bean curd residue engineering standard". Chen Gong was overjoyed and decided to take matters into his own hands and make plans for the next step.

  On Friday, Jia Shufang was preparing to take a bus to the district, today is the day when the Letters and Visits Bureau will give a reply. For this, Jia Shufang specially invited a lawyer to come along, and also asked the Letters and Visits Bureau to find a lawyer, intending to directly intimidate them.

  Jia Shufang's husband, whose surname is Lin, is a man recognized by the villagers as being honest and reliable. He spends his days doing household chores at home while Jia Shufang goes out to earn money. Due to their good living conditions, they were able to build a luxurious four-story villa with a large courtyard below, similar to an American mansion. The whole family lives a comfortable life.

  Lao Lin was then in the yard to raise flowers, these flowers are Jia Shufang's favorite, can not be careless, if raised poorly, that can not be avoided from being beaten and scolded.

  Chen Gong walked into the yard after confirming that Jia Shufang had left, leaving a technical staff member from the Construction Bureau outside, "Excuse me, is this Sister Jia's home?"

  Lao Lin put down the kettle, "Yes, young man, who are you looking for? The one from our house just left."

  Chen Gong walked up to Lao Lin's side, "Then I'll ask you, you're a man, your family must listen to you."

  Lao Lin was overjoyed and repeatedly said yes, asking Chen Gong to explain the purpose, and he could decide on it himself. Chen Gong found a stone bench to sit down, "Your family didn't pave a road in the town more than ten years ago? It's the one that leads to the Da Tou Cai company, but now there seems to be a problem."

  Lao Lin didn't usually interfere with things, but he was aware of what was going on, and many materials were purchased according to Jia Shufang's standards. He suddenly became flustered, "What's the problem?"

  "Hey, it's not easy to say, it's a big deal, if not handled properly, you'll get into trouble."

  Lao Lin of course knew what Chen Gong meant by "going in", that was prison, he had never seen a prison gate in his life, but he also knew that inside it was chaotic, and small things like beating people were not even managed.

  Lao Lin is honest and still a clever person, "That road is fine, it's been many years, the road being difficult to walk is normal."

  Chen Gong saw that Old Lin had already revealed a clue, and he could clarify it. "Is everything normal? Do you know about the road maintenance in town?" Old Lin nodded to indicate that he knew about it. "The Construction Bureau of the district has sent someone for inspection before commencement, and the quality of the road you contracted is unqualified, seriously unreliable. They said they will report to the higher-ups and handle personnel!"

  Lao Lin was afraid in his heart, "What to do? Comrade, I'm telling you, it's not entirely our fault. A large part of that money is the compensation for our kindergarten's land requisition. You tell me, can a road be built with just over 200,000 yuan?"

  Chen Gong continued, "Hmm, what you said is indeed consistent with the results of the investigation. Actually, I'm from the town government. If you want this matter not to be exposed, I have a way..."

  Lao Lin took a look at the person standing at the door, holding some instruments, and confirmed that Chen Gong was telling the truth. After listening to Chen Gong's plan, Lao Lin made up his mind, "Alright, I'll listen to you. That woman is simply crazy about money."

  Jia Shufang was sitting in the petition office at this time, Liu Yadong, as the duty officer of the petition leadership, unexpectedly came to the conference room personally today. Seeing that Chen Gong still hadn't arrived, Jia Shufang became emotional: "Leaders, I think they have no intention of solving the problem in that town and don't take us ordinary people seriously. You must stand up for us! That town head is really arrogant, a young man with not even a full set of teeth, and it's unknown how your district selects its personnel."

  Liu Yadong also nodded and said, "There is indeed a problem of lightness in the appointment of cadres in our district. Now that you've spoken out about this situation, we'll record it and report it to the organization department. Comrade Chen Gong's behavior is really not good. You should truthfully report today's meeting to Secretary Huang, this is what our party's excellent cadres are like."

  Liu Yadong thought about it and calculated the consequences, but he could only make the contradictions even greater. If he didn't come, that would mean neglecting the interests of the masses and disobeying organizational arrangements. Such a big thing was ignored, with an attitude that was not serious. Anyway, this time he had to be dealt with properly, at least making it impossible for him to become the permanent deputy mayor.

  Liu Yadong also considered that if the town asked for money from the district and gave it to Jia Shufang, not only would Chen Gong'an be accused of losing state assets, but the money would also be unrecoverable. Jia Shufang had discussed this with them, plus Yuan Quzhang, and the three would split it evenly.

  Liu Yadong looked at the time and saw that nearly an hour had passed, so he patted the table and said: "I see that Chen Gong doesn't have the masses or leadership in his eyes. I personally presided over this meeting today, but it didn't appear. You should reflect the situation to Secretary Huang before the end of work at the Letters and Visits Bureau, and let the secretary decide. Sister Jia can go back first, we will send a car to pick you up, you don't need to rush, I think the district leaders will consider your side, after waiting for so many years, wait a few more days, as deputy district head, I personally apologize to you, and immediately allocate the money to you."

  "Not in a hurry, will you guys disperse or what?" Chen Gong knocked on the door and looked at the group of people.

  "Chen Gong, you're just in time. If you don't make a statement today and take responsibility to the people, being town head won't be easy." Liu Yadong looked at Chen Gong who had just walked in, his face not pleasant, seemingly wanting to continue scolding.

  Chen Gong walked in, pointing to a middle-aged man with a rural air about him. The man came in and pulled Jia Shufang away, saying "The government has compensated us, how can you be so shameless? Go back quickly." The man turned to the crowd, "Leaders, sorry for the trouble, my wife is short-sighted and too greedy. I hope you won't hold it against us, we won't petition anymore, we really did receive compensation." Chen Gong comrade, thank you for your trouble. Jia Shufang was pulled away before she could even react.