I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

In the office building of Yuetang Commune, Li Bo was racking his brains to write a letter.

The letter was addressed to Cheng Zhaoying, who wanted a bicycle, and Li Bo was determined to fulfill her wish.

Leaving the military region and coming to Yuetang to serve as the secretary, although he was richer and had more power than he had in the military region, it was not easy to get a bicycle.

The commune had a bicycle, a tall, heavy-duty model. How could Cheng Zhaoying ride it?

She had to ride a small, stylish women's bicycle.

Where can I get tickets?

No one in the entire commune could get a bicycle ticket; only people from the city could possibly obtain one.

So, Li Bo thought of Niu Da from Dakanzi Village. His brother had some influence in the city, and he might be able to get it through coercion and bribery.

How should I reply to the letter? I don't care about anything else, I can't let Cheng Zhaoying down, so I'll just agree immediately. Surely a dignified commune secretary wouldn't be stumped by a bicycle?

Li Bo picked up his pen and wrote: Zhao Ying, I'll be taking a vacation next month and going to the city. I'll bring you a bicycle ticket, and we'll go shopping together.

"No, no, that's too tacky," Li Bo thought, scratching his head.

Cheng Zhaoying loves literature and romance, but how do you write something romantic?

Just as he was scratching his head in frustration, someone knocked on the door: "Excuse me, is the Party Secretary in?"

Damn it, who is it? Li Bo quickly put the letter in the drawer, got up irritably and opened the door, only to find a stranger's face.

"What is it?" Li Bo asked coldly.

"Yes, hello, my name is Zhao Jintao, you must be Secretary Li?"

"Yes, what is it?" Li Bo asked impatiently.

"I was sent by Secretary He. We have a new batch of wheat seeds coming soon..."

Secretary He? County Party Secretary?

Li Bo's expression changed instantly, and he put on a smile: "Please come in, please come in. How is Secretary He?"

Zhao Jintao entered the room and said, "Very good." Li Bo bowed and went to make tea, and then the two sat down on the wooden sofa in the office.

"What instructions does Secretary He have? A phone call would suffice; there's no need for you to come in person," Li Bo said with a beaming smile.

"This matter could be big or small, so it's better to come. You know that Tonggang County is implementing the household contract responsibility system, and the province has also provided a large amount of new wheat seeds, corn seeds, piglets... In short, all the good stuff has been sent to Tonggang County."

"Yeah, I don't know what the provincial agriculture minister was thinking. Is Tonggang County the favored child, and we were adopted?"

Li Bo echoed Zhao Jintao's words, expressing his strong dissatisfaction.

"Secretary He personally went to the provincial capital and waited outside the minister's office. He finally managed to catch the minister and he agreed to give our county new wheat and corn seeds. As for the seed money, it will be distributed to the communes first, and the loan will be repaid after the autumn harvest."

"Really? That's great! Secretary He is really capable!" Li Bo was overjoyed.

"Secretary He is asking you, what are your plans? How much wheat and corn seed does your commune need?"

"Well... the more the better."

"The new wheat seeds are expensive, costing one yuan per kilogram. However, the yield is 50% higher than before."

"What are Secretary He's thoughts?"

"What could Secretary He be thinking? What are your thoughts?"

"If possible, could you provide a few thousand more kilograms of wheat seeds?"

After careful consideration, Li Bo said.

Since Secretary He personally sent people here, it must not be something that can be done openly. They can resell two or three thousand catties of wheat seeds at a higher price, easily making over a thousand yuan.

"Approximately how much wheat seed does your commune need?"

"Around 10,000 jin."

"So how many kilograms are you planning to report?"

"Fifteen thousand?" Li Bo looked at Zhao Jintao.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm just delivering a message," Zhao Jintao said with a smile.

"Then it's 15,000. You tell Secretary He that the profits will remain the same, 30/70 split."

Li Bo said firmly, "Zhao Jintao's chest hurts a little. Uncle Zhou has been trying to raise money everywhere for wheat seeds and still owes the research institute a huge debt. But the people below him are reselling the wheat seeds to make money. Where is justice?"

"Okay, Secretary Li, the rest... pigs..." Zhao Jintao deliberately hesitated, letting Li Bo finish the sentence.

Li Bo chimed in, "Don't worry, Secretary He. I'll keep a record of all the extra grain, chicken, duck, fish, and meat we collect and send it to the county. The city is short of meat, but as soon as we send some to the vegetable shops, they're all snapped up."

Their method of embezzlement and bribery was to plunder goods from farmers and resell them to vegetable shops for profit.

What audacity! The county party secretary colluded with the commune secretary to embezzle funds. How should this be accounted for?

I wonder how many communes in Liuxian County are like Yuetang Commune.

After finishing their business, the sun was about to set. Li Bo warmly opened a guesthouse for Zhao Jintao and invited him to have dinner at the canteen that evening.

Zhao Jintao did not refuse. It was lunchtime, and eating in the cafeteria was not against the rules, was it?

When Zhao Jintao arrived at the cafeteria, he realized he was still too naive; there was a table full of delicious food.

Zhao Jintao had never eaten so lavishly in his life. Even at Zhou Wenhui's house, there were only two or three meat dishes.

Braised chicken with pork belly, braised pork trotters, braised carp, boiled prawns, wild rabbit, stir-fried beef...

A mere commune secretary eats more lavishly than the mayor.

Li Bo laughed and said, "Please sit down, please sit down. These are just some cheap country dishes, nothing special."

There's a bottle of strong liquor on the table; it probably isn't cheap.

Zhao Jintao was restless. Would Uncle Zhou blame him for indulging in food and drink while he was at work?

If you don't want to eat it? It's already been done, what a waste.

Compared to Zhao Jintao's high-quality treatment, Zhou Zhonghai's was far inferior.

I followed He Youcai to visit several communes. They were all ordinary and uneventful. The commune members went to work and did what they were supposed to do.

In ordinary households, the most common meals are porridge, cornmeal buns, steamed buns, and cornbread.

The dishes on the table were mostly pickled vegetables and cabbage. As he looked at them, He Youcai complained about being poor: "Minister Zhou, you can't just favor Tonggang County! Our county is poor too. Now that Tonggang County has distributed land to individual households, can't our county follow suit? And what about pigs and chickens? Can we allow them to be raised freely?"

Zhou Zhonghai frowned. Liuxian County has abundant rainfall and a lot of arable land, so how come it is poorer than Dashui Village?

"Distributing land to individual households is an inevitable trend, but Liuxian County is a plain, so how come it's poorer than mountainous areas?"

"Alas, Minister Zhou, we have no money. Without money, we can't get good wheat seeds. One mu of wheat field can only yield two or three hundred jin of wheat. If you can support us, I, He Youcai, guarantee that next year's tax revenue will double."

Doubling? Zhou Zhonghai's expectation was not just doubling, but at least more than two times.

After going through all that, it all boils down to one word: poor.

Zhou Zhonghai did not express his opinion; he wanted to wait for Zhao Jintao to return before making a decision.

That evening, He Youcai arranged for Zhou Zhonghai to have dinner in the canteen, accompanied by various leaders from the county party committee.

On the dining table, there was a small bowl of braised pork, a large pot of pumpkin soup, a fried egg, a dish of snail meat stir-fried with chopped chili peppers, and a fried tofu.

Looking at those dishes, Zhou Zhonghai felt nauseous. He wasn't a picky eater, so why did the county committee have to eat so poorly?

Who would understand? Zhou Zhonghai was eating pumpkin soup at the county committee office, while Zhao Jintao was eating with his mouth covered in oil at the small commune...