Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

"Director Su."

Xu Wenshan spoke first, his voice not loud but clear: "Five hundred thousand is not a small amount. There are more than a dozen health centers like Siping Township in the city. If we give it to them all, the bureau can't come up with that much money. If we only give it to Siping Township, how will we explain it to the other townships? That's not fair."

"fair?"

Su Meng looked at him. "Director Xu, what do you mean by fairness? Does it mean that every health center gets a share, so no one is full but no one starves? Or does it mean that it's distributed according to relationship or closeness?"

Xu Wenshan's expression changed slightly: "Director Su, that's not what I meant. I meant that funding must be based on evidence and standards. You can't just decide to give money because you took a look at the conditions today and thought they were poor."

"If that's the case, every bureau chief who goes down to check on things will have to pay money. Will the bureau have enough money?"

"I have a research report here."

Su Meng pushed the documents over, "We have the building safety assessment report, equipment list, drug inventory, and payroll records for the Siping Township Health Center. This is the evidence you need."

Xu Wenshan picked up the report, glanced at it, then put it down, a dismissive smile on his face: "Director Su, I don't doubt your investigation. But you need to understand, the Siping Township Health Center's poor conditions didn't just appear overnight. Why didn't anyone mention it before? Why bring it up now?"

The meaning of this statement is quite clear: you are helping your ex-husband.

The atmosphere in the meeting room became tense.

The group kept their heads down, not daring to look at Su Meng or Xu Wenshan.

The short-haired female cadre sat in the corner, twirling her pen around in her hand, but not taking notes.

Su Meng looked at Xu Wenshan without avoiding him or getting angry.

Her voice was calm: "Director Xu, the problems at Siping Township Health Center didn't just start today, but nobody brought them up before because nobody went there before."

I went to see it, I mentioned it; it's my duty. As for your doubts about my motives…”

She paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping over everyone present: "Everything I, Su Meng, have done in this position has been in accordance with my conscience."

The 500,000 yuan from the Siping Township Health Center isn't for my ex-husband; it's for the doctors who haven't been paid for three months, for the patients who can't afford medicine, and for the villagers who are receiving treatment in dilapidated buildings.

Su Meng got divorced, and her ex-husband Chen Ping was transferred to the Siping Township Health Center, which was no secret in the bureau for a long time.

Su Meng is not afraid of what people say, and she has a clear conscience.

This money isn't for Chen Ping; it's for the entire Siping Township Health Center.

The meeting room fell silent again.

Xu Wenshan was speechless after hearing her words, but he was unwilling to give up.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then spoke again: "Director Su, I'm not against allocating funds, I'm saying that there should be procedures and oversight for allocating funds."

Five hundred thousand is no small sum. What if it's embezzled or misappropriated? Who will be held responsible?

"I'll take responsibility," Su Meng said solemnly.

Xu Wenshan was taken aback by her quick response, paused for a moment, then laughed: "Director Su, you're in charge? How are you going to take responsibility? Once the money gets down there, how will you know how they spent it?"

"Therefore, while allocating funds, there must be a monitoring mechanism."

"I suggest that the bureau directly allocate this money to the account of Siping Township Health Center, for its designated purpose, and that every expenditure be reported. At the same time, the bureau can send people to conduct regular inspections," Su Meng said.

Xu Wenshan shook his head: "Director Su, what you're saying is all post-event supervision. What I need is pre-event supervision; someone needs to be watching before the funds are allocated."

"So what suggestions do you have?" Su Meng asked Xu Wenshan.

She was a little confused as to why Xu Wenshan was going against her today.

This is exactly what Xu Wenshan was waiting for.

He put down his teacup, leaned forward slightly, and said in a calm and unhurried voice, "My suggestion is that the allocation of funds is fine, but the bureau should send someone to the Siping Township Health Center to supervise the use of these funds throughout the process. As for the candidate, the supervisor in charge can make a recommendation."

Su Meng frowned slightly.

She knew exactly what Xu Wenshan was planning; sending someone to supervise was a pretense, but his real intention was to send someone to cause trouble.

If we actually send someone, who knows, the person sent might make a quick buck first.

But she couldn't refuse.

Refusing would be tantamount to admitting that there was a problem with the funding, and would give Xu Wenshan a reason to object.

"Can."

Su Meng nodded. "We'll decide on the personnel selection at the next bureau meeting. Today's meeting will focus on voting on the funding."

"Wait a minute." Xu Wenshan raised his hand. "I won't sign off on the funding until the personnel selection is finalized."

The two stared at each other, neither willing to give in.

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze; you couldn't even hear breathing.

The short-haired female cadre finally couldn't hold back any longer and whispered, "How about... we vote on the funding first, and discuss the personnel selection in another meeting?"

Su Meng glanced at her, then at Xu Wenshan, and nodded: "Okay. Let's vote on the allocation of funds first."

"I disagree," Xu Wenshan insisted. "Either we decide together, or we don't decide at all."

"Director Xu, this is unreasonable." Su Meng's voice turned cold.

"Director Su, I'm just following procedure."

Xu Wenshan's smile vanished, replaced by a serious, businesslike expression. "With such a large sum of money allocated, and no oversight mechanism in place, who will be responsible if problems arise? You? Can you even take responsibility?"

The meeting room fell silent again.

The group looked at each other, none of them daring to speak first.

The conflict between Su Meng and Xu Wenshan has been going on for a while, but it's rare for them to be so antagonistic.

After all, both of them are deputy directors, so they have to maintain appearances at least.

Now, the two deputy directors are arguing, leaving the staff to struggle for survival. So they try to remain silent and avoid expressing their opinions whenever possible.

"I agree with Director Su's opinion." A middle-aged man who hadn't spoken until now said from the corner.

Everyone looked at him. He was Zhao, the head of the Planning and Finance Department. He was usually quiet and rarely spoke in meetings, but today he spoke up.

I know a little about the situation at Siping Township Health Center.

Section Chief Zhao pushed up his glasses. "I read the building safety assessment report they submitted at the end of last year. It really did need to be repaired."

As for the oversight mechanism, it can be improved later without affecting the initial allocation of funds. If we wait until all conditions are met before allocating funds, that money might never be disbursed.

Xu Wenshan's expression turned even uglier.

He didn't expect Section Chief Zhao to jump out and undermine him at this time.

"I agree with Section Chief Zhao's opinion."

Another voice rang out, from Section Chief Sun of the primary healthcare department: "The conditions at Siping Township Health Center are indeed poor. I visited it two years ago, and it was even worse than what Director Su described today. 500,000 yuan isn't much; allocate it first to address the immediate crisis, and we'll discuss the rest later."

Once the two section chiefs expressed their opinions, the winds of change shifted.

Two more people raised their hands in agreement, then a third, and a fourth.

Xu Wenshan sat there, his facial muscles twitching.

He glanced at Su Meng, but Su Meng didn't look at him.

He picked up his teacup; the tea had gone cold. Xu Wenshan downed it in one gulp.