Me! A high-ranking official!

Although letting the project pass through Deputy Director Wang's hands inevitably means he'll skim off a layer of profit from the material costs and pocket a few thousand yuan in kickbacks, it's currently the most perfect way to break the deadlock because, most importantly, I don't have to personally pay out of my own pocket to cover the costs!

He increasingly understood the underlying logic of grassroots operations within the system: the practice of using funds to cover public expenses was a loophole that absolutely could not be opened. Once you set this precedent, and the higher-ups thought you had a way to solve funding problems, it would become a pathological habit. In the future, if you were to run out of money and refuse to cover expenses in similar situations, it would be seen as a sign of your incompetence or that you had made a mistake!

Zhao Jianguo rode his electric scooter back to the Luojia Village Committee. As soon as he parked the scooter, his cell phone started buzzing in his pocket.

When I took it out, I saw it was an unfamiliar local number.

He understood immediately and pressed the answer button: "Hello, who is this?"

A slightly rough male voice came from the other end of the phone, with a touch of江湖气 (a kind of江湖, a ...

"Oh, Mr. Chen, hello, hello." He greeted him with a smile.

The two had a brief conversation on the phone. He emphasized the time limit, explaining that the work had to be completed and the materials submitted within ten days, otherwise the special funds would be lost. As for the village not having enough money and needing to advance funds, Boss Chen had obviously received a satisfactory guarantee from Deputy Director Wang, and agreed without hesitation.

"No problem, Secretary Zhao. Since Director Wang assigned it, it must be handled with the highest priority!" Boss Chen readily agreed. "How about this, I'll personally take a few workers to the site tomorrow morning to take a look, measure the dimensions, and discuss the specific implementation plan and quotation. Is that alright with you?"

"Okay, I'll wait for you at the village committee tomorrow morning."

After hanging up the phone, he turned around and saw Liu Zhijun standing not far away, holding a broom and listening intently.

"Secretary!" Liu Zhijun approached with a look of surprise and excitement, asking, "Our village... is going to install streetlights?"

Looking at Liu Zhijun's happy expression, he smiled and nodded: "Yes, we just secured 80,000 yuan in special funds for our village. We'll take advantage of these next few days to install streetlights on the main road. From now on, people won't have to fumble in the dark or use flashlights when they go out at night."

"Wow! Secretary, you're amazing!"

Liu Zhijun slapped his thigh excitedly: "Our Luojia Village has two major problems: one is the lack of paved roads, and the other is the lack of streetlights at night. So many village officials have tried to solve these problems but failed. You've only been here a few days, and you've quietly solved one of them! If the streetlights are up tomorrow, the whole village will be grateful to you!"

He waved his hand and said modestly with a smile, "It's just good luck that we happened to come across this policy in the town. But the road repair issue will need to be resolved sooner or later. Right now, we're weak, so we have to wait for the right opportunity."

"Yes, yes, yes, you have to eat one bite at a time!" Liu Zhijun nodded repeatedly, then quickly reported on today's work: "By the way, Secretary, our Environmental Protection Bank collected another batch this afternoon. I just weighed it, and we collected over 980 jin of various kinds of garbage today! We'll be breaking 1,000 jin soon!"

He nodded in satisfaction: "Over 980 jin, not bad. If this momentum can be maintained, our environmental protection bank will basically be able to achieve a balance between income and expenditure, and may even make a small profit. This can be considered the first step taken by our village."

The two of them ate some congee with pickled vegetables and made do with a simple dinner.

After finishing his meal, Liu Zhijun cleaned up the dishes and went home to rest. He sat alone in the empty dormitory and looked at his phone.

There was still no response from Zhou Qingyan on WeChat.

He lit a cigarette, feeling somewhat frustrated and anxious. The investigation into Lin Jiaojiao's clinic was like a Damocles' sword hanging over his head, and he had to resolve it as soon as possible. Moreover, he knew very well that the investigation was definitely aimed at Zhou Qingyan, the county party secretary, not at him, a small village official!

Time passed by, second by second.

It wasn't until after 9 p.m.

"Buzzing..."

His phone screen suddenly lit up. He picked it up and saw that Zhou Qingyan had finally replied with a message.

The message was extremely brief, consisting of only one question mark: "?".

He breathed a long sigh of relief, which meant that she was finally alone and it was convenient for her to answer the phone. Without hesitation, he dialed the number directly.

The phone was answered after two rings, and Zhou Qingyan's voice, clear yet tinged with weakness and exhaustion, came through the receiver: "Hey? What's the rush that you had to call?"

He didn't waste any words: "This morning, someone went to my classmate who runs a clinic to inquire about what happened between us last night. They asked very detailed questions, even about what kind of car we drove and what time we left."

The breathing on the other end of the phone paused for a moment.

He continued, "My classmate sensed something was wrong and called me at noon. I also felt this was very abnormal. Fortunately, the surveillance camera outside her clinic was damaged last night, and I retrieved the camera host and destroyed it, leaving no video evidence."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingyan's tone immediately became extremely serious, even carrying a hint of coldness: "Are you sure the mainframe was destroyed? There was no backup? Do you know who the person who inquired was? Or what they looked like? Did they leave any identification information?"

"The main unit was definitely smashed and thrown into the river. There was no backup." He answered truthfully. "As for the person who inquired, my classmate said he didn't know him. From the description, he was a tall and thin man with a sleazy, gangster-like air about him."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

A full minute passed before Zhou Qingyan spoke again, his voice low and carrying an undeniable authority: "I understand. If there is any further news from over there, you must report to me immediately."

"clear."

He agreed, and the two hung up the phone without warning.

He put down his phone and breathed a sigh of relief.

This hot potato has finally been passed on to the rightful owner. The person behind the scenes who dared to use thugs to secretly investigate the private life of a county party secretary is definitely not an ordinary person!

And what about himself? In the end, he was just a low-level staff member who had been marginalized by his work unit and demoted to a village. He didn't even have the real power of a cadre. He was just accidentally caught up in the battle of the gods because of an accident.