Me! A high-ranking official!

He stood at the door, watching Luo Ming's figure gradually disappear into the darkness. He silently shook his head, closed the door, and lay back on the bed. But he felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on his chest, and he couldn't fall asleep. What kept churning in his mind was Luo Ming's trembling hand holding the knife, the complicated clan feuds of Luo Family Village, and the seemingly unsolvable impoverished deadlock of tomorrow.

That night, he couldn't sleep at all, staying up until dawn broke outside the window.

The next morning, Liu Zhijun arrived at work as usual, carrying a mop. He was startled when he opened the door and saw Zhao Jianguo's prominent dark circles under his eyes, resembling those of a panda: "Oh! Secretary, what happened to you? Did you stay up all night writing reports again?"

He rubbed his face wearily and gave a wry smile: "I didn't write any materials, I just had insomnia, I can't fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes."

Looking at his haggard appearance, Liu Zhijun tossed the mop aside with concern: "Secretary, please rest. Don't go to the fields anymore. Didn't you cook breakfast this morning? I'll go to the breakfast stall at the village entrance and buy something hot right now. You wait here!"

A short while later, Liu Zhijun returned carrying fried dough sticks and tofu pudding.

The two of them moved stools and sat under the big tree in the yard to eat breakfast. The morning air slightly soothed the anger of the previous night. He forced himself to put Luo Ming's matter out of his mind, took a bite of a fried dough stick, and instructed Liu Zhijun: "Zhijun, if you don't have much work to do today, please make an effort to go door-to-door and help me find out all the elderly people in the village who need special care, especially those like Wang Xiujuan, or those who have difficulty walking or have limited mobility. Make a detailed list and give it to me."

He picked up the tofu pudding, took a sip, and continued, "Now that the village clinic has made progress with Dr. Yang, our worries in this regard have been alleviated. Next, I plan to carefully consider how to fundamentally solve the problem of elderly care and funeral arrangements for the elderly left behind in our village."

Liu Zhijun, who was chewing on half a fried dough stick, was stunned. He nodded repeatedly in agreement, then looked up at him, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

"What's wrong?"

Liu Zhijun hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but advise, "Secretary, you really don't need to be so stressed. I've been in the village for so many years, and I've seen other village cadres and first secretaries. For them, just getting some experience is enough. If they can even manage to repair one ditch or accomplish one thing smoothly throughout the year, they're considered lucky. But you've only been here for less than a month, and you've already cleaned up garbage, built the clinic, and repaired streetlights... You've done better than anyone else in terms of progress. There's really no need to rush into ruining your health like this!"

Zhao Jianguo knew that Liu Zhijun mistakenly thought his insomnia last night was due to worries about the village's development. He was too lazy to explain Luo Ming's knife-wielding visit at night, and he absolutely couldn't let the villagers know. He smiled faintly, his gaze falling on the slightly dilapidated rooftops of the old houses outside the courtyard: "I've done the math. All I can say is that I can only stay in this position for a maximum of two years. Two years isn't a long time, and I can't do anything earth-shattering, but it's not short either. Since I've put on this uniform and taken this position, I can't just waste two years. I have to leave something tangible behind."

Looking at the young man who always shouldered the burden of problems, Liu Zhijun's eyes inexplicably welled up with tears. He put down his bowl and said earnestly and with deep respect, "Secretary Zhao, really, you are the most conscientious and responsible village secretary I have ever met! You are an excellent official!"

"Don't flatter me."

He gave a self-deprecating bitter laugh, waved his hand without saying anything more, and buried himself in the remaining half of the fried dough stick in his bowl.

After breakfast, he suppressed the fatigue from the sleepless night and went out again to take a walk around the village to check on the progress of the street light installation.

Walking along the main road, he happened to run into his aunt, who was carrying a vegetable basket. She greeted him happily, pulling him close and praising him repeatedly: "Jianguo, you've really done a great service to our village! With these streetlights installed, villagers no longer have to walk in the dark and worry when visiting each other at night!"

He smiled and said a few modest words. The aunt glanced around and suddenly lowered her voice, saying, "Jianguo, I heard that you're planning to solve the problem of elderly care in our village next?"

He nodded and smiled, "Yes, Auntie, do you have any good ideas or suggestions?"

The aunt smiled sheepishly, "Hey, what kind of ideas could an old farmer like me, who can barely read, possibly have? I just wanted to discuss something with you. You found garbage-collecting jobs for Liu Zhijun and Xiaoxin from Haitao's family, and they can earn over a thousand yuan a month. I'm alone at home now, and there's not much work in the fields, so I'm just sitting around doing nothing. If you ever find a place where I can do some odd jobs and earn a little extra money, please think of your aunt! Or... if you're planning to set up a nursing home or something in the village, I can help you with cooking or cleaning, as long as you don't mind that I'm old!"

His aunt's simple words stirred something within him.

Yes! There are quite a few women like Auntie in the village who stay behind. Most of them are in their early sixties. They're not young anymore, and no one wants to hire them if they go out to work. But they're also old. For rural people who have spent their whole lives working the land, they still have a lot of strength. Every day at home, besides tending to their small plot of land and taking care of their grandchildren, they spend most of their time chatting idly. They are indeed a valuable but underutilized human resource! If we could revitalize the labor force of these women, we might not only solve their retirement problem but also create an industry along the way.

His mind suddenly cleared, and he smiled earnestly at his aunt, "Auntie, I'm so glad you said that! Don't worry, as long as you're willing to work, I'll definitely find a way for you and all the other women in the village like you to earn a living!"

Upon hearing this, Auntie beamed with joy and nodded repeatedly, "That's wonderful! Auntie will be waiting for your news!"

After saying goodbye to his aunt, he took several photos of the streetlights and the improved village appearance from good angles, keeping them as supporting materials for submitting progress reports to the bureau and county later.

As soon as he returned to the village committee compound, he saw a group of people gathered under the big tree. Yang Zhenhai had arrived early and was now intently giving an acupuncture treatment to an elderly woman. Looking at Yang Zhenhai's radiant and energetic appearance, he couldn't help but chuckle. This guy had clearly found a sense of being needed in this remote little village, which was a good thing.

He didn't go over to disturb them, but smiled and gestured to Yang Zhenhai as a greeting before going straight back into the house.

He took out his phone and dialed the number of Guo Nanguo, deputy director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau.