Dramatic changes in the movies and TV shows

Chapter 1324 Reverse Support
After returning to Lin County, Lin Jie immediately convened the county committee to discuss the proposal to use some of the reserve grain to support the province.

Lin Jie looked around at the county committee members present, tapped the table, and asked, "By the way, is everyone here?"

"Old Tong isn't here!" Li Mingyang said at this moment.

"Not here? Where did he go again?" Lin Jie asked, somewhat angrily, but then felt a little happy that the spy wasn't there.

Old Sun said with a disdainful look, "Besides the prefectural committee, where else do you think he could have gone!"

"Going to see Deputy Secretary Yu again?" Although it was a question, the tone was unusually certain.

"Hehe~, what else can we do!" Even the kind-hearted Li Mingyang couldn't help but say.

"Alright, let's ignore him and get down to business!" Lin Jie then said in a calm but serious tone:

"There's something I need to discuss with everyone."

"Actually, the original grain reserve of our county was not 10 million jin, but 30 million jin."

"Thirty million jin?!" Upon hearing such explosive news, Li Mingyang was the first to exclaim in shock, then his eyes widened as he asked:

"Old Lin, how...how can there be so much?"

Sun Shihou was also stunned, and subconsciously repeated, "Wasn't it...didn't you say ten million catties?"

"Shut up!" Lin Jie calmly waved his hand, signaling them to calm down, before continuing:

"I asked Old Du from the Grain Bureau to keep this a secret and not to spread the news."

Li Mingyang came to his senses and said in a tone that was both funny and exasperated:
"You old Lin, you've set up such a big ambush for us old buddies!"

"I've already confessed!" Lin Jie chuckled and said frankly.
"To be honest with everyone, we used up more than 4 million jin of food in the previous period, including supplies to Pingshun County. We still have more than 26 million jin in our reserves."

"Wait, something's not right," Li Mingyang, being in charge of economics, immediately noticed the problem and quickly asked:

"Old Lin, just the support for Ping Shun County was 1.3 million jin, and considering our consumption over such a long period of time, how come we only used a little over 3 million jin? This doesn't add up."

At this moment, Lin Jie looked at Chang Shun, the director of the Finance Bureau. Chang Shun immediately understood and took over the conversation with a smile, his tone filled with barely suppressed excitement:
"County Chief Li has hit the nail on the head! The credit for this matter goes primarily to Comrade Lin Hao!"

"Through his old classmates in Beijing, he managed to secure several batches of essential supplies for us, including a considerable amount of grain!"

"He even managed to procure a batch of special supplies, which were American military reserves captured during the Korean War, such as canned food and compressed biscuits. These were filling and convenient, and they were a great help!"

He paused, then, thinking of the support from the people of Linxian, said with emotion:
"Furthermore, everyone has witnessed the strong support from the people of the entire county for this canal construction project."

"When they go to the construction site, many of them bring their own food rations. The amount they actually take from our warehouse is not as much as you might imagine."

"These factors combined are what kept our grain consumption at just over three million catties. In fact, strictly speaking, it was far more than that."

After these words were spoken, a brief silence fell over the conference room.

Everyone was initially shocked by Lin Hao's "old classmate," who was said to be incredibly powerful.

Upon hearing that the local people were repairing the canal, most of them had brought their own food, a deeper sense of emotion welled up in my heart.

At this moment, they once again deeply felt the determination and selfless dedication of the people of Linxian in bringing water from the Zhanghe River.

"Alright," Lin Jie's voice pulled everyone back from their reverie as he continued:
"Everyone knows the situation. We definitely can't use up these 26 million jin of grain."

"I asked Lin Hao to make an estimate based on the progress of the project. If we only consider the consumption of food, even if we include all the subsequent projects, at most half of the food will be consumed."

"What we lack now is mainly money and supplies, to be precise, money, cement, steel, explosives, tools, and so on."

"Although Xiaolin got some supplies from his classmate, it's far from enough. We need to buy more everywhere."

He changed the subject, his expression turning serious, and said:
"The current situation is that there is a nationwide drought, and many places are experiencing food shortages, putting the province under tremendous pressure."

"I was thinking, shouldn't our Linxian County take the initiative to contribute some of its grain to support the province's disaster relief efforts?"

At this point, Lin Jie lowered his voice and reminded him:

"Moreover, the prefectural committee and the province know that we provided 130 million jin of grain to Pingshun County. When other counties find out, we will likely face endless troubles because we still have a large amount of grain on hand!"

"Therefore, considering that it is still unclear how long the drought will last, we will keep three million catties for emergency use and give the other ten million catties of grain to the province for disaster relief!"

Lin Jie explained the matter to everyone in detail, especially Secretary Gao's implication about sharing the country's burdens and securing national-level projects, which he explained to everyone in a more tactful way.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Li Mingyang was the first to voice his opinion, saying firmly:
"I agree, this proposal is excellent! From a public perspective, we should shoulder this responsibility; from a private perspective, it is beneficial to the long-term development of the Red Flag Canal!"

"I agree too!" Sun Shihou loudly echoed.
"Old Lin, you did a great job! As the old saying goes, when one place is in trouble, help comes from all sides! Now that we have the ability, we can't just watch our brother regions suffer!"

The other county committee members nodded in agreement, chatting amongst themselves in a warm and united atmosphere, unanimously agreeing to support the province.

Looking at the united team members, Lin Jie smiled with satisfaction.
"Alright! Since everyone agrees, then it's settled on the matter of providing grain support to the province!"

······
Afterwards, Lin Jie took Li Mingyang and Sun Shihou to the provincial capital and went directly to see Secretary Fang.

Lin Jie led Li Mingyang and Sun Shihou into Secretary Fang's office, a slightly unusual smile on his face.

"Old Chief, there's something I'd like to report to you," Lin Jie said.

Secretary Fang was already overwhelmed with the province's food shortage when he saw Lin Jie with Li Mingyang and Sun Shihou, and assumed that Lin Jie had gotten into some trouble.
So he said irritably, "Speak, what is it now!"

"Let me make this clear first: if you're here to ask for money or food, you'd better keep quiet, or I'll yell at you later!"

"No, no!" Lin Jie stopped being mysterious and said with a grin:

"Old comrade, I'm not here to cause you trouble this time, but to solve your problem!"

"Oh, solve a problem?" Secretary Fang glanced at Lin Jie, who had no one to help, and said, "Solve what problem? I'll be grateful if you don't cause me any trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jie's smile faded, and he said with a serious expression:
"Here's what happened: seeing that this year's drought is even more severe than last year's, our Linxian County Party Committee, after careful discussion, decided... to donate a batch of grain to the province free of charge to support disaster relief efforts throughout the province."

Upon hearing this, Secretary Fang abruptly raised his head, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes before turning into complex emotion.

At this difficult time when everyone was reaching out to him for food, Lin Jie brought over the very thing his family relied on to build the irrigation canal—a gesture of kindness far more precious than a thousand pounds. He took a deep breath, deeply moved, and then waved his hand encouragingly:

"Forget it! Your spirit is commendable, and I appreciate your kindness, but how much extra food do you have besides enough for yourselves?"

"Let's use all the money to build the Red Flag Canal, strive to get it running as soon as possible, benefit the people, and solve their water shortage problem—that's the real priority!"

"The provincial and prefectural committees have already failed to provide you with any support, which is already shameful enough. How can we ask you to provide food aid to the disaster area!"

Lin Jie was deeply moved upon hearing this; at this moment, the old commander's first thought was still the Red Flag Canal.

So Lin Jie said with a smile, "Old Chief, please listen to me."

"The socialist family is all about helping each other when one is in trouble."

"Actually... we can't donate much, maybe a few thousand kilograms."

Lin Jie, filled with pride, spoke in the most indifferent tone, saying things that were utterly infuriating.

"How much?" Upon hearing this, Secretary Fang abruptly stood up, his eyes widening as he stared at Lin Jie in disbelief, asking for confirmation:
"Ten million jin?! Lin Jie, say that again?!"

Lin Jie straightened his back and nodded proudly, saying, "Yes, it's ten million jin!"

"Secretary Fang, this is all the resources we can squeeze out in Linxian County right now. We still need to keep some for emergencies."

Secretary Fang was somewhat dizzy from the shock of this number. He held his forehead, trying to clear his mind:

"After you...donated ten million catties, how much will be left in the warehouse?"

Lin Jie remained as nonchalant as ever: "Oh, roughly speaking, there should be about 13 million catties left."

"What?!" Secretary Fang felt like he was hearing a fairy tale. He even subconsciously rubbed his ears and asked again to confirm:

"My ears...are there something wrong with them? Lin Jie, you can't joke like that with me!"

“No, Secretary Fang, you heard it perfectly,” Lin Jie said firmly.

He then said to Li Mingyang beside him, "Mingyang, don't just stand there like an idiot. Give Secretary Fang a detailed report on our situation."

Li Mingyang immediately stepped forward and reported in a serious tone, "Secretary Fang, let me tell you the truth!"

We're going to make a big push this year and try to get the main canal all the way to Fentouling by the end of the year!

"In addition, simple earthen ditches are currently being built on a large scale in Linxian County, which will benefit 600,000 people in Linxian County."

"First, we need to get the 600,000 people in Linxian County using water from the Zhanghe River to solve their immediate problem. As for proper irrigation canals, we can build them gradually later."

"As long as the water arrives, the grain harvest will be ready next year, and the remaining county grain reserves will be more than enough to repair the Red Flag Canal."

"Once the Zhanghe River flows, the food problem will no longer be a problem!" Li Mingyang concluded.

Lin Jie smiled and continued, "Now, you should believe me, right?"

Secretary Fang slowly sat back in his chair, shaking his head with a wry smile, pointing at Lin Jie with his finger, his tone full of admiration:
"Lin Jie, Lin Jie... what's in your belly, you little rascal?"

"No, the land in Linxian County isn't just full of treasures, it's practically a mountain of grain!"

"To tell you the truth!" Lin Jie continued his report at this point:

Before we started building the canal, we conducted a survey and found that every household had surplus grain.

"Moreover, our county committee had 30 million jin of grain reserves at that time!"

Secretary Fang was shocked again, and Sun Shihou, who was outspoken, couldn't help but feel indignant on Lin Jie's behalf.

"Secretary Fang, the reason we have so much grain is because Old Lin saved it up little by little!"

At this point, Old Sun said indignantly:
"Back then, in order to hoard this grain, we offended Deputy Secretary Yu, and now he's constantly making things difficult for Secretary Lin!"

Upon hearing Sun Shihou's words, Secretary Fang's gaze sharpened, and he instantly understood the crux of the matter. It turned out that the root cause of Yu Fenggao's repeated obstruction of the Red Flag Canal lay here.

He actually knew about this matter. It seems that Lin Jie offended Yu Fenggao in the matter of reporting production in order to save up this wealth for the people, thus incurring retaliation.

But then a surge of anger welled up in his heart. Yu Fenggao had disregarded the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people because of his personal grudges. His heart was simply despicable!
They even claimed to oppose the Red Flag Canal because of work disagreements, but these are clearly long-standing grievances!
Looking at his old subordinate who silently endured the pressure but never complained, Secretary Fang felt both heartache and admiration.

He secretly resolved that he would find a suitable opportunity in the future to eliminate this malignant tumor that hindered ordinary people from living a good life.

If a county committee like Linxian, which is dedicated to serving the people, continues to suffer injustice instead of receiving support, is there any justice left?
"Old Sun!" Seeing the change in Secretary Fang's expression, Lin Jie quickly stopped Old Sun, who was about to speak.

He didn't want to discuss this issue for the time being. Lin Hao had once told him that if you don't kill the snake, you'll get bitten instead, and you shouldn't be reckless if the time isn't right.

So they immediately changed the subject and continued talking to Secretary Fang:
"To be honest, Secretary Fang, our Linxian County doesn't have the skills or the courage to take on the task of diverting the Zhang River into Linxian!"

"But now that the whole province is facing a food shortage, and the provincial and prefectural committees are extremely worried, we happen to have food on hand, so we certainly can't stand idly by!"

Upon hearing this, Secretary Fang excitedly walked around the desk, tightly grasped Lin Jie's hands, and shook them vigorously, his voice choked with emotion:

"Lin Jie! Thank you! Thank you, and thank you to the Linxian County Party Committee and the 600,000 people!"

"With your 10 million kilograms of grain, it's truly a timely help for the province and the people in the disaster area!"

Then Secretary Fang said with great emotion:

"You have relied on your own efforts and worked hard, while keeping the overall situation in mind. You have dared to take responsibility in the face of difficulties. You are worthy of being learned by the whole province, and the province must commend you!"

"Wait here, I'll go report to the top leader right away!" With that, he headed towards the leader's office to report.

At this moment, Lin Jie said with a smile, "Okay, then you'll have to send a few more trucks. All the trucks in Linxian are used on the construction site, and we really can't spare any more!"

After thinking for a moment, Secretary Fang added:
"Lin Jie, go back and prepare immediately. Once the province makes a decision, we will send a convoy to transport the grain as quickly as possible!"

Lin Jie stood at attention and replied loudly, "Yes, sir! We guarantee to complete the mission! Lin County is ready to receive the provincial convoy at any time!"