Marry a female star at a bargain price

Chapter 224 223. The "slippery" mayor
I went home and took a nap, and when I woke up it was already past three in the afternoon.

Lin Xiao is in charge of the class tonight.

The shift hours are from 5pm to 8am the next morning.

Anyway, he had nothing to do now, so he took a shower and prepared to leave.

When I came down from upstairs, I found that the weather, which was cloudy in the morning, had suddenly changed and it started to rain.

"It's raining again... The weather is really weird this year!"

Lin Xiao muttered and got in the car.

It was less than four o'clock when I arrived at the office, and the rain was even heavier than when I got on the car.

As soon as I parked the car, I saw the town mayor Qin Zhenggang coming out of the office building wearing rain boots, holding an umbrella and holding a raincoat in his hand.

"Qin Zhen, why are you at work? Today is Saturday!" he asked.

"It's raining again!"

Qin Zhenggang's face was gloomy. He put his raincoat on the ground and lit a cigarette.

After exhaling a puff of smoke, he said, "I figured there would be another flood prevention video dispatch meeting tonight, and I had nothing to do at home, so I came here!"

Lin Xiao nodded. This was Qin Zhen’s usual style.

"Then what are you going to do with your raincoat and umbrella?"

“Go to Zengjiaqiao Reservoir and visit several important flood prevention points along the Chaoshui River!”

Qin Zhenggang said, blowing out a puff of smoke and looking up at the sky, his expression stern, "This year's weather is really abnormal. It has rained non-stop since the beginning of summer. There's a small rain every three days and a big rain every five days... I always feel like God is holding back something big waiting for us!"

Lin Xiao also looked up at the sky with a serious expression.

"Not really... I just checked the weather forecast on the way here, it's just an ordinary rain shower, it will stop at seven or eight o'clock at most!"

“…Who knows?”

Qin Zhenggang still had a gloomy look on his face. Without saying much, he took a deep puff of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground and stomped it out, ready to leave.

Lin Xiao hurriedly said: "Qin Zhen, I'll go with you!"

Qin Zhenggang was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, and nodded.

Lin Xiao hurried upstairs, went to the duty room to greet the on-duty officer, then returned to the office to change into the raincoat and rain boots distributed before the flood, and then went downstairs.

He originally said he would drive his own car.

Qin Zhenggang said, "Drive mine. The dirt roads in the countryside are full of muddy pits. You just bought this car not long ago. Don't let it get scratched. It's a pity!"

Lin Xiao didn't care, but it was difficult to refuse the mayor's kindness, so he nodded and agreed.

They got in the car and set off in the rain.

The first stop is Zengjiaqiao Reservoir, a medium-sized reservoir located on the west side of Chaobai Town and also the largest reservoir in the town.

The total storage capacity of the reservoir reaches 1300 million cubic meters, with a designed irrigation area of ​​1.7 mu. It undertakes the agricultural irrigation function of almost half of Chaobai Town. Of course, it also plays a very important role in regulating the water level of Chaoshui River during the flood and dry seasons.

The reservoir is very large, and it would take at least an hour to walk around it.

Lin Xiaoguang felt dizzy as he stood by the reservoir, regretting that he should not have followed Qin Zhenggang out to "see the world."

Fortunately, Qin Zhen was not as cruel as he thought.

Accompanied by the village chief of Zengjia Village and the director of the hydrological station, Qin Zhenggang went straight to the two entrances and exits of the reservoir, as well as the dangerous points where pipe bursts had occurred during flood seasons in previous years, and inspected them carefully.

Qin Zhenggang is a true expert.

The entire inspection process took only half an hour. The village director and the director of the hydrological station did not even get the chance to introduce themselves. It was basically Qin Zhenggang who asked the questions, and the two of them took turns answering.

After several rounds, the village director and the stationmaster were already sweating profusely, and the rain on their bodies was heavier than the rain from the sky.

Lin Xiao couldn't get a word in the whole process, nor did he have any intention of doing so.

But just standing there would seem stupid.

So I looked left and right, and suddenly I found that in the gloomy evening light and the heavy summer rain, the town mayor Qin Zhenggang, who was wearing a raincoat, frowning, and with his face full of worries about flood prevention, seemed to be shining.

Raindrops gathered into streams from the curved brim of his plastic raincoat, gurgling down like a river.

He is not very tall and is a little overweight.

On such an evening with rain, sweat and saliva flying everywhere, he stood with his feet apart in the mud, and the grassroots cadres' dedication and devotion to their duties came directly to the fore through the screen.

Lin Xiao was a little shocked.

Then he subconsciously took out his cell phone and took a picture of the scene.

Qin Zhenggang usually hates having his photo taken, as he thinks it is showy and pretentious. He would rather think about doing his job well than taking that time.

Because he didn't like taking photos and was not interested in publicity work, an important task that should have been done separately was instead assigned to the name of a deputy mayor in charge of economic development.

The reason turned out to be - it was convenient!
When Lin Xiao first came to Chaobai Town, he was shocked to see this division of labor.

Previously, in the streets of Ninghai, propaganda work was the core department second only to party building. The street had a special propaganda department, which was responsible for connecting with various provincial and municipal media externally, as well as publishing internal publications, various lectures, and operating the street’s official account and video account.

Although it is a small street, the Propaganda Department has four staffing quotas, not including non-staff contract workers.

This shows the status of the Propaganda Department.

However, in this grassroots township, there is not only no separate office for propaganda.

Even the person in charge was not the deputy mayor Tu Hui, who was in charge of official affairs, but Jia Bo, who was in charge of economic development, and later Lin Xiao.

The reason why Qin Zhenggang made such a division of labor is very simple. Because in today's context, economic development is the top priority, and naturally, publicizing the progress of economic work has become the top priority of publicity work.

Then putting economic development and publicity together can save more manpower and make work more efficient.

After Lin Xiao arrived: "...Okay!"

Lin Xiao didn't understand Qin Zhenggang's train of thought at first, but after spending a few months with him, he could appreciate Qin Zhen's brilliance.

Because the grassroots level is different from the grassroots level.

Although the street where Lin Xiao works in Ninghai is also at the grassroots level, as an old street in the core urban area of ​​the provincial capital, this street is not only a department-level unit, but also a benchmark for streets in the entire city and even the province.

Higher-level leaders come to inspect from time to time, and various new policies and initiatives will be piloted in this street.

Then the publicity work must naturally keep up.

To some extent, in this street, theoretical work is more important than practical work.

But when we arrived in Chaobai Town, the situation was completely different.

Although Chaobai Town is more than twenty times larger in area, its permanent population is only half of that of the street.

In terms of level, Chaobai Town is just a government department at the section level, which is far from enough.

In terms of status, Chaobai Town is just one of the hundreds of towns in the province, and it really has no highlights or characteristics.

Under such circumstances, it is really unnecessary to assign several people to do publicity separately. It is a sheer waste of manpower.

Instead of wasting time on publicity, it is better to focus on development.

Qin Zhenggang's idea is in line with his pragmatic character and the actual situation of a non-tourist town, so it has continued for so many years.

This almost hands-off attitude towards publicity actually gave Lin Xiao a great deal of autonomy.

When he first started working in the economy, he didn't pay much attention to publicity work and continued his previous style of updating the official account every three to five days with a crude interface layout.

Since the development of the rural tourism project in Chaobai Town began.

Only then did Lin Xiao begin to pay attention to publicity. He allocated tens of thousands of yuan from the rural transformation funds to hire a third party to specially package the street's official account and video account. He also led the publicity officer Zhou Baoping and the village official Leng Tao to produce several high-quality publicity pictures and videos.

The most popular one was the video "A Town That's Not Really Legendary", which he released by taking advantage of the popularity of his wife's singing of "Legend". It eventually received 6 likes on the official Douyin account, and the number of fans exceeded 10 in just one week, and then continued to rise slowly.

After that experience, Leng Tao immediately "got it".

Later, he made several videos himself, taking advantage of whatever was popular on the Internet, showing every tree, grass, mountain and river in Chaobai Town from all angles.

Although the video is not released frequently, each video can get thousands or even tens of thousands of likes.

This account has become completely popular.

Even Anyang County and even the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department took notice and forwarded the Chaobai Town video several times.

Under Leng Tao's active involution.

Zhou Baoping, who was in charge of publicity, could no longer sit still and began to practice his skills secretly.

Having gained experience from the official account of Douyin, he also changed the lifeless white-shirt style of his previous public account and began to move towards a dull, curious and even dark direction. The manuscripts became more and more frivolous, and several times the reviewer Lin Xiao couldn't stand it and blushed.

However, in order not to dampen the enthusiasm of the two propaganda generals.

As long as there are no principled errors in the manuscripts and videos they submit for review, Lin Xiao will sign them and send them off!

Lin Xiao: Who says that the official accounts of government departments must be serious? !
With the support of this unruly leader in charge, in just a few months, Chaobai Town's publicity work has achieved a new path and overtaken others, and the number of fans of the official account and video account has increased rapidly.

The Douyin account, in particular, has become one of the top ten official accounts in the city in terms of the number of followers.

Now the publicity work of Chaobai Town is well-known in Yizhou City.

Lin Xiao was not happy about this. After all, to him, publicity was just an auxiliary to economic development and tourism development.

Available now.

Looking at the vivid photo on his phone, he suddenly had a great idea - perhaps, publicity can not only be used to assist, but also to break through head-on.

……

It was already 4:30 in the afternoon when we left Zengjiaqiao Reservoir.

Qin Zhenggang had no plans to return to the county yet, so he drove in the rain, traveling on provincial and rural roads.

Lin Xiao didn't understand where he was going at first.

Later, I realized that his patrol route was completely in line with the direction of Chaoshu River - because Chaoshu River is not parallel to the national highway that runs through the town, but intersects with it.

So if you want to patrol the river, you either have to measure the river bank on foot, which is too slow.

Or they could be like Qin Zhenggang, driving from village to village along the river, turning provincial roads into rural roads, and rural roads into muddy roads. Finally, when they couldn't drive any further, they got out of the car and walked to the river bank.

Six p.m.

The two got off the car for the third time and came to an abandoned dam on the river bank of Zhoujia Village.

Lin Xiao has a deep impression of this dam. When he was a child, he often took a bath with his cousins ​​upstream of the dam. When he was 17 years old, he jumped into the river to save people downstream of this dam.

He and this earth-and-rock embankment, which is less than 40 meters wide, have a life-and-death relationship.

Now.

Qin Zhenggang looked at the dam and said with some pride: "There are a total of 17 such earth-rock dams in Chaoshui River in Chaobai Town. Because they were built too long ago, they do not meet the current flood control requirements, and 15 of them have been abandoned.

"About eight or nine years ago, the county held a meeting to discuss the demolition of these abandoned dams. I slammed the table and tried to stop them because even if these earth-rock dams could not store water and prevent floods, they could still be used as bridges across the river. If they were demolished, we would have to rebuild new bridges, which would be time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly.

"Besides, it is said that earth-rock embankments cannot prevent floods. If the water flows too fast, there is a risk of the embankments being destroyed at any time. But after so many years of use, these earth dams are still in good condition. If a big flood really happens, these dams can at least stop it. It is better than letting the flood run away, don’t you think?"

Lin Xiao nodded.

These things are too professional and he doesn't really understand them.

But listening to Qin Zhenggang talking so eloquently and knowing everything about the river, he was inexplicably moved. Then, when Qin Zhenggang walked to the middle of the embankment, wearing a raincoat and holding an umbrella, looking at the flowing river, he raised his mobile phone and took another photo.

As soon as I put down my phone, I heard a scream from the front.

"Alas alas..."

Qin Zhenggang slipped and fell into the water along the embankment.

Lin Xiao almost couldn't hold his breath. His first reaction was not to save people, but to raise his phone and take a few pictures.

After taking several photos, I went over to pull people over.

Fortunately, the rural earth dam was not high, and he fell upstream, so he was just a little embarrassed, and nothing serious happened.

Lin Xiao pulled him up with one hand.

The clothes inside were not wet, but the rain boots were filled with water, which splashed across the ground.

This incident shattered Qin Zhenggang's authority as the top leader, and he dared not look Lin Xiao in the eye anymore.

The two returned to the car and headed home.

When he arrived in the town, a flood emergency dispatch meeting was held as Qin Zhenggang had expected.

This kind of meeting is usually attended by the leaders on duty in the evening.

But today Qin Zhenggang was here, and Deputy Mayor Qiao Xuyang was also here, so Lin Xiao didn't have to go, so he stayed in his office. He wanted to chat with his wife.

It turned out that my wife was busy and didn't answer the phone.

He also thought about calling his father-in-law and telling him about Qin Zhenggang's situation - because he had already made up his mind to make some money from this poor grassroots leader who only knew how to work hard but was dragged away by the county leaders to take the blame.

But when I was about to make a phone call, I remembered that it was raining heavily outside and even the county was holding a video conference. As the head of a city, my father-in-law must be very busy.

So I had to give up.

Lin Xiao threw his phone on the table, lay back in his office chair, and stared blankly at the sound of rain outside.

Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration.

"Hey? If you want to save Qin Zhenggang, you don't have to ask my father-in-law for help. I can do it on my own!"

He was shocked.

Now is the critical period for flood prevention. Generally, after the completion of such key tasks, each unit will reward their merits and select outstanding cadres and advanced individuals.

The prize money is not worth mentioning.

What is important is that this honor is crucial for the future promotion and appointment of cadres.

Then the problem is coming.

Since honor can be the key to promotion and appointment, then conversely, can it also be used as a reason to atone for one's sins?

Lin Xiao thought about it again and again and felt that it was feasible.

Of course, the right to select advanced individuals in flood prevention in townships lies with the county.

The punishment of Qin Zhenggang had already been agreed upon by the county leaders, and it was almost a foregone conclusion, with no further changes.

That is to say, the recent rainfall situation has been strange and the whole county has been busy with flood prevention, so the disciplinary decision has not been made yet.

If you want to make the county leaders suddenly decide to select a cadre who is about to be punished as advanced after the flood season is over.

This is something that can never happen.

But the good thing is that the flood season is not over yet.

As long as there is time, everything will turn around.

The corners of Lin Xiao's mouth curled up - he already had an idea.

If you want the county leaders to select Qin Zhenggang as a model of flood prevention, it is basically impossible to do this through formal channels. There are only two ways.

First, the higher-ranking officials can suppress people to death, and the leaders of the city or even the province have the final say.

Lin Xiao can do this. He can just go to his father-in-law directly.

But if you want to find your father-in-law, you don't have to go through so much trouble. You can just ask him to give a private call to Anyang County Magistrate Liu Wang, and Qin Zhenggang's punishment can be directly revoked. There is no need to go through the strategy of attacking Wei to save Zhao by evaluating advanced people.

This is Lin Xiao’s ultimate magic weapon, and it cannot be used easily until the last moment.

The second way is to suppress public opinion.

The county won't give him an advanced title, right? Then we should first package Qin Zhenggang's advanced image and gain recognition from the people of the whole town, the whole county, the whole city, and the whole province.

Lin Xiao: I want to see how tough the skulls of the leaders of Anyang County are to punish good cadres trusted by the general public against public opinion.

Of course, if Qin Zhenggang is indeed corrupt and commits abuse of power, then the county should punish him as it sees fit, and perhaps he will even be regarded as having handled the matter impartially.

But Lin Xiao knew that Qin Zhenggang’s situation was not a big deal at all.

The country has been cracking down on corruption and swatting flies for so many years, and netizens have seen many ups and downs. Things like "cousin" and "Uncle Fang" are not uncommon.

Qin Zhenggang did not embezzle or accept bribes, nor did he have promiscuous relationships.

If the county really makes his disciplinary decision public, netizens will be shocked to see that the mayor actually used the special funds for economic development to build street lights for the village? What a good official!

Lin Xiao didn’t even dare to imagine how the county leaders would be scolded!

Therefore, he was convinced that in a case like Qin Zhenggang, once he was portrayed as an "Internet celebrity mayor", the county and even the city would definitely succumb to public opinion.

The final result will surely be to turn a big matter into a small matter - not only will there be no punishment, but there is a high probability that the person will be further promoted and appointed.

Lin Xiao sat there and thought about it, and felt that this approach was quite feasible.

But calm down.

He also rationally realized that it was difficult to achieve the level of public opinion he needed.

If Qin Zhen fell into the reservoir today and drowned directly, he would definitely be portrayed as an archetype.

But he is fine and still alive and kicking.

It is much more difficult to create a typical example of "being safe and sound" than of "lying still".

Lin Xiao was a little worried about what the first step should be in pushing public opinion.

He frowned, picked up the mobile phone on the desk, and looked through the photos he took in the evening.

As he flipped through the pages, his eyes lit up.

I quickly called my old classmate Zhang Peng and the call was connected quickly.

"Hey, Pengzi, are you asleep?"

"No, I'm still working on my manuscript!"

Zhang Peng's tone was half dead, and he sighed and asked, "What? Are you looking for me to drink?"

Lin Xiao said, "Let's drink some other time. I'm on duty at work today. Well, you asked me if I had any news material the other day. I thought of one. Do you think it's okay?"

The person on the other end of the phone suddenly became excited.

"tell me the story!"

"It's the flood season now, and flood prevention is the main task of our town, so the materials I found are also related to the flood situation!"

"It's flood prevention again..." Zhang Peng's tone suddenly became disdainful.

“It’s flood prevention, but it’s also from a different angle!”

Lin Xiao shouted hard, "I recommend our town mayor to you. He is an outstanding cadre who has been rooted in the town for more than 43 years. He is years old this year. He is very capable and has a good attitude towards the grassroots..."

Lin Xiao made a lot of noise.

He told the whole story of how Qin Zhenggang took responsibility, how he devoted himself to the people, and how he knew the weak points in Chaobai Town's flood prevention very well.

Finally, he said, "Pengzi, good cadres like our mayor are the positive energy that needs to be promoted in this era. I know that your Nanzhou Daily not only reports news information, but also often publishes advanced model figures. Then, isn't it worth reporting on a good grassroots cadre like our mayor who works diligently for the people?"

Zhang Peng on the other end kept shaking his head with a calm smile.

He really didn't want to offend his old classmate and good brother, but after thinking about it, he said, "Lin Xiao, you are indeed an excellent and positive mayor, but you are far from qualified to be reported in the Nanzhou Daily as a typical figure!"

Zhang Peng quickly explained: "This is a provincial daily newspaper. The people who can be published separately in our newspaper are either top experts in their fields or positive people who have a sensational effect... We rarely report on cadres within the system, especially those who are still alive!"

Zhang Peng's implication was very clear.

Unless Qin Zhenggang died in the line of duty, then it can be widely reported and no amount of praise would be excessive.

But he is alive and well.

That is far from being worthy of being advertised in newspapers.

Lin Xiao had already expected this answer, but he was very dissatisfied.

Do good people have to wait until they die before they can be praised, admired, and worshipped? What's the point of that?
It’s like what people often say on the Internet: justice is late, but it is not absent.

But is justice delayed still justice?

Good people are honored after their death. Does it still have any meaning to them?
Why can't good people be given the honor and respect they deserve while they are still alive?
Lin Xiao couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried.

But he also knew that as a journalist, Zhang Peng's job required this and it was not something he could change.

Even if he accepted the call of brotherhood and went through with the interview with Qin Zhenggang, and submitted the manuscript, it would most likely be rejected by the editor-in-chief.

Even if it is not banned, at most it will be reported briefly in a tabloid affiliated with the daily newspaper group.

That wouldn't make much sense.

Lin Xiao quickly gave up this approach, thanked Zhang Peng, and hung up the phone.

But he did not give up.

Since the official media avenue is not feasible, then let’s go the wild path of our own media - Chaobai Town’s official Douyin account already has 30 followers, and the official WeChat public account also has 10 followers.

Humph, who isn’t a big V?
In fact, Lin Xiao doesn't need to ask anyone for help. He just needs to make good use of his two accounts, which is enough to create a wave within a certain range.

However, online media is different from official media such as Nanzhou Daily.

If it can be published in the daily newspaper, it doesn't matter whether the manuscript is well written or not. This report and the name "Qin Zhenggang" will definitely appear on the desks of leading cadres at all levels in the province, city and county on time the next day.

By then, Qin Zhenggang will be a typical example.

But if you want to attract attention through online channels, you have to find angles and be curious enough to attract clicks, attention and comments from netizens.

Only then will it be possible to stir up the heat.

This is difficult to deal with.

Because it is to promote the scenery, you can be a little stubborn and take advantage of the popularity. After all, the scenery is not shameful.

It is different if we can promote advanced figures.

Typical propaganda within the system is a very serious matter in itself. It is not suitable for making jokes or riding on the popularity of others, and it is difficult to get the attention of netizens.

To put it bluntly, Chinese people are naturally disgusted with typical propaganda, and those who understand will understand.

If it is not done well, not only will Qin Zhenggang fail to be promoted as a role model, but it can also easily backfire and be accused by netizens of being a show or forced hype.

That would be totally not worth it.

The more Lin Xiao thought about it, the more he felt that there was a crisis. The excitement he had just felt had disappeared, and he only felt nervous at this moment.

However, after just a few seconds, he calmed down.

Fortune and wealth have to be sought through risk, it has been like this since ancient times.

He was determined to make this happen, so he focused on thinking about which angle to approach it from so as to make the dull typical propaganda interesting without causing disgust among netizens.

No clue for a moment.

At this time, a loud cry of "ouch" was heard from downstairs, and then Qiao Xuyang's voice came up: "Qin Zhen, are you okay? You almost fell. It's raining and the ground is slippery. You have to be careful when walking..."

Lin Xiao looked down from the window.

I saw Qiao Xuyang holding an umbrella and supporting Qin Zhenggang as they walked towards the car. Qin Zhenggang was limping as if he had sprained his foot.

Lin Xiao laughed as he watched, wondering what happened to Qin Zhen today, why did he keep slipping and falling twice...

The thought paused, and his eyes immediately became clear.

He immediately called the publicity officer Zhou Baoping, and when the call was connected he asked, "Baoping, I remember you told me before that the mayor once broke his leg and went to the enterprises to inspect environmental protection with a plaster cast, right?"

Zhou Baoping on the other end of the phone was confused by the question.

I looked up and saw that it was already nine o'clock in the evening. I didn't know what was wrong with Deputy Mayor Lin!

"Yes, it happened. It's been four or five years... What happened, Lin Zhen?"

"Do you still have the photos from that time?"

"Have!"

Zhou Baoping answered straightforwardly, "At that time, our town's official account had just been established. This article is still on the official account, and there are photos from that time!"

Lin Xiao was overjoyed: "Okay, thank you, go to bed early!"

Then he hung up the phone.

Zhou Baoping was even more confused, thinking, is Lin Zhen really crazy on this Saturday?!
On the other end, after Lin Xiao hung up the phone, he immediately started searching on the "Chaobai Window" public account.

After spending a few minutes searching for the report, I actually found the photo taken at that time. In the photo, Qin Zhenggang had one foot in a plaster cast and one hand on a crutch, inspecting the environmental protection rectification situation in the factory.

In the picture, Qin Zhenggang's face is obviously very serious, but with this pose of standing on one leg, it is really full of humor.

Lin Xiao laughed as he saw it, feeling like he had found a treasure.

I saved the photos and looked at the photos I took on the embankment today, and confirmed one thing.

"Qin Zhen...probably has flat feet!"

(End of this chapter)