Me! A high-ranking official!

Back at the village committee, he quickly cooked a bowl of noodles on an induction cooker, ate a bite, and then lay down on the bed for a nap.

Around 3 p.m., as the sun began to set, Zhao Jianguo strolled over to Liu Zhijun's house again.

Pushing open the half-closed courtyard gate, one could see Liu Zhijun sitting hunched over on a small stool under the door of the main room, staring blankly at the withered grass on the courtyard wall in the distance, exuding an aura of death like a walking corpse.

He strode over and grabbed Liu Zhijun's withered arm: "Brother Zhijun, don't just sit there and get moldy, come on, let's go for a walk again!"

Liu Zhijun was startled and was half-pulled, half-draggled to his feet by Zhao Jianguo. With a pained expression, he pleaded, "Oh dear, Secretary Zhao, I can't go on! I really can't walk anymore! I walked all afternoon yesterday, and my legs are still trembling today..."

"Life lies in movement! The more you sit still, the worse your health will become." Without waiting for a reply, he pulled him outside, jokingly saying, "Besides, I don't know anyone in the village, I can't even tell which house is where. You have to be my guide. Think about it, besides your family and Haitao's family, who else in the village is having a hard time? Let's go over there and find out what's going on."

Liu Zhijun was pulled along by him, stumbling out the door. Knowing that this young secretary was a man of his word, he sighed helplessly and pondered as they walked, "Secretary, if we're talking about difficulties... how about we go and take a look at Aunt Wang's house at the east end of the village?"

"What's her family situation?" Zhao Jianguo slowed down and asked.

"Sigh, she's a pitiful person." Liu Zhijun sighed. "Her husband passed away early, and she's all alone at home. She used to have a son and a daughter, both of whom work in other places, but neither of them are very filial. They're rarely seen all year round, and they rarely even call. Just a couple of days ago, there were no streetlights in the village, and Aunt Wang tripped and fell while walking at night, breaking her leg. Now she's lying at home, unable to move, and her eating, drinking, and toileting all depend on the neighbors who occasionally take pity on her and cook her a hot meal and bring it to her."

Upon hearing this, he immediately frowned: "Raising children to provide for old age, and they don't even come back after breaking their leg? Come on, let's hurry over to Aunt Wang's house."

The two followed the bumpy village road to the east end of the village. They pushed open the wooden door of Aunt Wang's house, and a strong, stuffy smell mixed with the smell of herbs hit them.

On the earthen bed in the inner room lay an old woman with a full head of white hair and a withered face. Two rough wooden boards were bound to her right leg, wrapped with old strips of cloth.

As Liu Zhijun entered, he called out, "Aunt Wang, the village secretary from the county has come to see you."

When Aunt Wang heard the name of the village secretary, although she didn't know how high-ranking an official he was, the villagers knew in their hearts that he was a government official who was in charge.

The old woman's eyes instantly reddened, and tears streamed down her face. She tried to sit up, but Zhao Jianguo rushed forward and pressed her down, saying, "Auntie, please lie down and don't move!"

"Your Honor, the Lord..." Aunt Wang grabbed Zhao Jianguo's hand as if it were a lifeline, and immediately burst into tears, sobbing and complaining, "What sins have I committed! I've given birth to two devils! My leg has been broken for days, and the neighbors helped me call them, but those two heartless bastards, one said he couldn't get leave from the factory, and the other said he couldn't buy a train ticket... They won't even come back to see me! My old bones might as well just die of pain on the bed..."

His heart ached as he listened, and he grasped the old woman's rough, tree-bark-like hand tightly, gently comforting her, "Auntie, don't cry. Your health is the most important thing. Even if your children aren't around, you still have our village committee and the government! Don't worry, I'll find a way to contact the town's health center for your leg injury. I'll definitely take care of your medical expenses and living expenses. Just focus on recovering and don't say anything discouraging."

He held the old man's hand and patiently comforted him for a long time, then carefully inquired about the old man's health condition and medication.

By the time the old man finally calmed down and left Aunt Wang's house, the sun was almost setting, and it was five o'clock in the afternoon.

Liu Zhijun followed behind Zhao Jianguo, looking at the young man's back, and couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration. In the past, when cadres went to the countryside, they would just walk around with their hands behind their backs and leave. How could anyone be like Zhao Jianguo, who sincerely held the dirty old lady's hand and chatted with her for most of the day?

"Come on, Brother Zhijun!" Zhao Jianguo turned around and grabbed Liu Zhijun's arm again without saying a word, pointing directly at the village committee.

"Secretary, where...where are we going this time?"

"Let's go to the village committee! Today I'll let you taste my cooking!" he said with a hearty laugh.

Back at the village committee, Zhao Jianguo rolled up his sleeves and, using an induction cooker and the ingredients he had bought the day before, quickly stir-fried some shredded pork with green peppers and made a cucumber salad.

Liu Zhijun initially wanted to decline, but he couldn't resist Zhao Jianguo's enthusiasm. The two sat facing each other, eating and chatting. Zhao Jianguo didn't put on any official airs, asking about the village's customs and traditions, and old stories. Liu Zhijun gradually opened up, and his face showed a rare hint of human warmth.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content and tidying up their belongings, they personally escorted Liu Zhijun home.

By this time, it was completely dark. I glanced at the time on my phone; it was 7:30.

He took a deep breath, turned around and strode back to the village committee. The live broadcast at 8 p.m. tonight was about to begin.

The clock on the wall was pointing to 7:50, but the village committee courtyard remained quiet.

Zhao Jianguo picked up his phone and called Luo Shuishan and Luo Ming respectively. As expected, there was only a long dial tone, and neither of them answered.

Putting down his phone, he wasn't angry at all; instead, he scoffed disdainfully. This tactic of deliberately ignoring the new leader and trying to undermine him through passive-aggressive tactics is arguably the lowest and most unseemly method in grassroots political struggles.

Actually, he wasn't afraid that Luo Shuishan wouldn't come; what he was afraid of was that if the old fox came, he would act arrogantly on the live stream, contradicting him and trying to smooth things over in front of the whole village. That would only cause trouble. Now that they weren't coming, the live stream had become Zhao Jianguo's personal domain, allowing him to act more freely and thoroughly implement his governing philosophy.

At 7:55, he found a few books, propped his phone up on his desk, and adjusted the angle of the desk lamp.

At 8:00 sharp, he clicked to start the live stream.

The screen flashed, and his face appeared. He glanced at the data in the upper left corner: 0 online users.

He wasn't in a hurry. Without saying a word, he switched to the live streaming software, opened WeChat, and sent the message again in the Luo Family Village villagers' communication group: "Fellow villagers, the live stream has started. You can click the link to enter. If you have any difficulties or suggestions for the development of the village, you can put them in there."

After sending the message, I switched back to the live stream and waited quietly for two minutes.

Suddenly, the number in the upper left corner jumped and changed to "1".

Someone came in. He looked closely and saw that the user's profile picture was a yellowed landscape photo. Immediately afterwards, a line of text appeared on the public screen:

"Hello, Secretary Zhao!"

He recognized the familiar tone and unassuming profile picture immediately. He smiled and nodded at the camera, as naturally as if making a video call with an old friend: "Brother Zhijun, good evening. You've been with me all day; are your legs tired?"

"I have to tell you a few things. Your health is ruined by sitting all day without moving around. When you have free time, try to walk around the village more and get to know everyone. After I finish what I'm doing, I'll go to the county hospital to see if I can get a few free medical check-up slots for our village. I'll take you there to get your stomach checked out."

While I was chatting with Liu Zhijun, the number of people in the upper left corner suddenly jumped to "3", and two more people came in.

He smiled and waved: "Good evening, my two new friends. Could you type that you're from our village?"

A few seconds later, two comments popped up on the screen:

"Hello, Secretary Zhao, I'm Luo Haitao, and I'm working on a construction site."

"I am Ding Jianjun."

Upon seeing Luo Haitao's name, his smile softened slightly: "Oh, it's Haitao. I just visited your home yesterday. Uncle Luo and I chatted for a bit. I know your family is indeed facing a difficult situation. The whole family relies on you to earn money by doing hard labor outside to support four people. You're a responsible man. Thank you for your hard work."

"Don't worry, I've taken your family's situation to heart. I'm trying to figure something out. I'm planning to go back to the county this weekend to see a psychiatrist at the county hospital or check if there are any suitable hospitalization policies that can help alleviate your mother's and sister's condition."

Soon after, Luo Haitao sent a comment: "My dad called me yesterday and said, 'Secretary Zhao, thank you so much!'"

He smiled and nodded: "No need to thank me, I'm the village secretary, this is what I should do. Haitao, do you have any other requests? As long as they are reasonable and legal, I will do my best to help."

Luo Haitao replied, "That's all, thank you, Secretary."

Just then, Zhao Jianguo's spare phone, which was next to him, lit up and a WeChat friend request popped up. He picked it up and saw that the note read, "Secretary Zhao, this is Luo Haitao."

Zhao Jianguo understood and clicked "accept". After that, Luo Haitao didn't send any messages, obviously just wanting to save the secretary's contact information so he would have a better idea of ​​who he was talking to.

As they were talking, three more people quietly entered the live stream, bringing the total number of viewers to six.

"Who are the three new friends?" he asked.

But these three people were like mutes, not responding to any comments. He knew perfectly well that this was probably someone in the village spying on them, or even someone arranged by Luo Shuishan to gather intelligence.

Seeing this, he didn't ask any more questions. He straightened his posture, looked at the camera seriously, and said, "Since some villagers have come in, I'll formally say that from today onwards, I will be doing a live broadcast at this time every week. There are three purposes for this broadcast: First, to provide everyone with a channel to report difficulties and doubts; second, to report on the problems I discovered during my visits to the village this week; and third, to report on my work progress this week."

"In short, it's about building a platform for our village committee to interact with the villagers face-to-face without any distance, and also making it convenient for young people like Haitao who work away from home to learn about the situation and changes in their hometown anytime, anywhere."

He paused, picked up his notebook, and continued, "Taking advantage of today's first live broadcast, I'd like to announce my work plan for the coming week. Next week, I'll focus on three main things!"

"The first thing is about paving the village roads. Everyone knows the roads in the village are in bad shape. I'm going to the county tomorrow to find out about the status of the special funds for road repairs. We must put road repairs on the agenda!"

"The second thing is that during my visit today, I discovered a huge garbage pit behind our village. The environment inside is filthy and chaotic, seriously affecting the lives of several households in the surrounding area. Moreover, with summer approaching, it's extremely easy for diseases to spread. I plan to fill and clean up this large pit next week, and I will also communicate with the sanitation company in the town or county to try to establish several standard garbage collection points in the village, completely solving everyone's problem of having difficulty disposing of garbage!"

"The third thing is to address the problems of several families in need that I've encountered during my visits over the past two days. This includes Brother Liu Zhijun and Luo Haitao, who were just in the live broadcast room, as well as Aunt Wang from the east end of the village who broke her leg..."

Just as Zhao Jianguo was clearly reading out the work plan, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an extremely inconspicuous system notification flashing at the bottom of the screen: "Peace and Prosperity" entered the live broadcast room.

His heart skipped a beat.

Peace and tranquility?!

Isn't this the nickname of Zhou Qingyan's private WeChat account?!

How could he have entered his own live stream? His mind raced, and he instantly realized that the live stream account must be linked to his WeChat account. When he started broadcasting, people in his WeChat friend list would probably receive a system notification. But he never expected that the head of the county party committee would actually click into the live stream of a village-level cadre so late at night!

The county party secretary personally entered the venue to watch from the shadows—this was an incredible political opportunity that had fallen from the sky! This was also a pleasant surprise after being forced into this remote and impoverished area by Zhang Baocheng.