Hong Kong Film: Jimmy? Please call me Councillor Li

Chapter 186 Special Mission
庙街
"Boss, one roast goose, half a goose, please."

"I'll pack some fish porridge for Grandma Cai to take home later."

At a food stall near the Tin Hau Temple, Li Jiayuan, Huang Lei, and Ruan Mei sat at a table on the left.

This food stall is a long-established business in Temple Street. Their roast goose porridge and fish congee are exceptional, comparable to those from Sham Tseng.

Li Jiayuan often comes here to eat.

This restaurant was recommended by Bao Wenlong. He and Huang Tian are both food connoisseurs on Hong Kong Island. They have never missed any of the best restaurants on the island. They are experts and their food is of high quality.

Ruan Mei never gets tired of cooking, but Li Jiayuan sometimes gets tired of bland food and wants to change things up and treat himself to something delicious.

Although he is now worth hundreds of millions, he still enjoys this down-to-earth lifestyle, so he often eats at roadside stalls and sometimes goes to high-end restaurants.

The main idea is to do whatever you want.

As for Ruan Mei and Huang Lei, they were, as usual, by her side, and they didn't care what they ate.

"Hey, Yuan-ge, you're here for dinner with your wife again. Same as always?"

The shop owner, who was extremely busy, saw Li Jiayuan arrive and made a special trip over to help him place the order and greet him. Upon hearing this, everyone else also turned around.

"Brother Yuan*1"

"Brother Yuan*3"

No matter how many times this enthusiastic scene happened, it still made him feel very embarrassed.

"The roast goose should be taken from the bottom of the vine, with three left legs, and should not be cut off."

The boss first had the kitchen prepare Li Jiayuan's order, and the food was served in less than five minutes.

Whether a roast goose is delicious or not can be judged by looking at its skin and smelling its aroma. This familiar fragrance made Li Jiayuan's mouth water.

"Here, one for you, one for me."

Huang Lei has a rather elegant way of eating. Even a whole roasted goose leg can make her feel like she's eating a high-end Western meal. Her main focus is on elegance.

Then there's Ruan Mei, with her chubby cheeks, diligently eating, which is quite adorable.

Only Li Jiayuan had the air of a starving ghost reincarnated, eating with his mouth full of oil, because this was his first meal of the day, and it would be strange if he wasn't hungry.

He's been so busy these past two days, so busy that he has to squeeze in time to eat. Actually, he did eat something at noon, a bowl of locust flower wine.

But this kind of dessert is hardly enough to fill your stomach.

While Li Jiayuan was enjoying his meal, the closed-circuit television in the restaurant was broadcasting TVB news directly at them. Because they were sitting too far away, they couldn't hear what was being broadcast.

But from the footage, it was clear that the content was news related to the protests, and he asked curiously.

Are there any protests recently?

Hong Kong Island enjoys judicial autonomy, and even after the establishment of the Hong Kong Basic Law, it has always been governed by the well-known "one country, two systems" principle.

This system contains a rather unique feature that is rare or even nonexistent in inland areas.

On Hong Kong Island, there is a labor union system, and residents have the right to strike, while citizens can also hold demonstrations independently.

In contrast, strikes have long been banned, and demonstrations require various approvals and can only be carried out "arranged" after it is confirmed that they will not endanger public safety.

So you can imagine why you can hardly see any parades up there.

Based on his understanding of the people of Hong Kong Island, Li Jiayuan knew that if something really happened that violated the interests of the people, they would actually hold demonstrations and strikes. To be honest, he had heard of such a situation, but he had never actually witnessed it.

So I was a little curious when I saw it on TV news.

Huang Lei, who was taking small sips of porridge with a spoon, looked up with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"do not you know?"

"hold head high?"

"what do you know?"

At this point, Ruan Mei added from the side.

“Their march took place on Nathan Road, from Mong Kok all the way through Yau Ma Tei and Jordan to Tsim Sha Tsui. It should still be about the incident of people starving to death.”

"People are starving to death!" Upon hearing these three words, Li Jiayuan was stunned.

He never imagined that in this day and age, people would still starve to death. This can't be a joke, can it?

Seeing that he didn't believe her, Huang Lei briefly explained the whole story.

One week ago, one morning, right in Yau Ma Tei—yes, right in Yau Ma Tei, within the territory managed by Lee Ka Yuen—an elderly man was found starved to death at the entrance of the Social Welfare Department in Yau Ma Tei.

That's right, they starved to death. In the 90s, people still starved to death; it's really too surreal.

What angered the people of Hong Kong Island was not that someone starved to death, but that this person starved to death at the entrance of the Welfare Department—how ironic.

Hong Kong Island has always touted itself as a place of freedom of speech and economic prosperity, yet this kind of thing actually happened right under its nose.

We can see that only one person has starved to death, but there are countless others in the same predicament who have not yet received any attention.

In addition, over the years, there have been continuous reports of Welfare Department officials being involved in corruption and bribery. These two factors combined have become too much for some members of the public to bear.

And so the demonstration took place.

After listening, Li Jiayuan felt it was quite surreal, and at the same time, he felt a surge of anger.

It's no wonder that the public is so angry. As far as he knows, the government spends billions of Hong Kong dollars every year on social security, elderly services, family and child welfare.

I don't know how much money is involved in just one public welfare fund.

But now there are elderly people starving to death in front of the welfare department. How can this not make people angry?

The slogans sound better than anyone else's, but in reality, the lives of the lower-class residents are still a mess.

But what angered him the most wasn't that; it was that the old man who starved to death was actually from their Yau Ma Tei.

When the incident at the welfare home happened before, he had already cleaned up institutions in Yau Ma Tei where similar situations had occurred, but he did not expect that there were still some that had slipped through the net.

He simply didn't believe that anyone in the welfare department was embezzling funds; such was the nature of the times.

What he found abhorrent was that this kind of thing was happening in the area he was in charge of.

Suddenly, Li Jiayuan remembered the special task that the system had triggered two days ago.

He seems to know what the mission is.

"Are you full? If you are, we'll go back."

"Remember to pack some for Grandma Cai."

The next day

After returning to the company, Li Jiayuan asked Ruan Mei to investigate more details behind the matter and some related information.

It would have been better if he hadn't investigated; the investigation almost made him so angry that he flipped the table on the spot.

The elderly man who starved to death at the welfare department is not an isolated incident. Similar incidents have occurred in recent years, with two such cases happening last year alone.

One is in Wong Tai Sin, and the other is in Sham Shui Po, both relatively poor areas.

Moreover, they are all elderly people living alone in society.

Faced with these recurring scandals, the welfare department habitually resorts to shirking responsibility and evading reality.

No wonder those people wanted to hold a protest this time.

This reflects a fundamental problem: the Welfare Department doesn't care about these social phenomena at all, and it doesn't pay any attention to the public's attitude.

But Ruan Mei found out more than just these things.

Every year, some of the funds approved for the welfare department are inexplicably wasted on some messy, or even strange, things.

The question of where these funds ended up and whose pockets they belonged to is worth investigating.

"Xiaomei, can you help me contact the organizers of this march? I need to meet with them."

"Brother Yuan, what are you thinking?!"

Li Jiayuan did not answer, but Ruan Mei could tell his answer from his cold eyes.

(End of this chapter)