Me! A high-ranking official!

Filled with shame and gratitude, Li Xiuxiu could only bow deeply and say, "Thank you, Brother Jianguo..."

He waved with a smile, then turned and called out to the courtyard, "Folks, everyone lend a hand! Come with Ganzi and move the things out of that old room to make room for Xiuxiu!"

As soon as he shouted, the dozen or so villagers in the courtyard responded enthusiastically, "Yes, Secretary!"

"Leave it to us!"

Everyone rushed forward and followed Li Gan into the house. With many hands making light work, the house was completely emptied in less than half an hour. They not only moved the new bed in, but also cleaned the house inside and out, creating a warm and tidy space for Li Xiuxiu to recuperate.

The next morning, Zhao Jianguo sat at his desk and called Zhu Yan and Luo Ming over. He first told them the good news that they had finalized the establishment of a joint supervision account for road repair funds in town the day before.

Luo Ming had always served as the village accountant and knew the accounts best. Zhao Jianguo looked at him and entrusted him with an important task: "Luo Ming, you'll have to take the lead in managing the joint account. You'll not only be responsible for liaising with the town, but you'll also have to list out every single detail of the income and expenditure for the village's road construction and land transfer projects, line by line, item by item, clearly for me!"

He tapped the table and said seriously, "Every single income and expenditure must be posted at the entrance of the village committee for public disclosure! We must ensure complete transparency in our accounts; we absolutely cannot allow our fellow villagers to speak ill of us behind our backs!"

Luo Ming nodded solemnly in agreement.

Then, Zhao Jianguo turned to Zhu Yan: "Sister Zhu, please make a trip today to visit the dozen or so disabled or semi-disabled elderly people in the village, contact their families who live elsewhere, and explain in detail the plan I proposed during my live broadcast of contributing 300 yuan per month for mutual assistance in old age. See how many families agree and how many disagree, and make a record of each one."

"In addition, find a few quick-handed villagers to thoroughly clean Luo Xinniu's old house that he plans to use as a classroom. Later, I'll have Li Gan go to the town's secondhand market to find some cheap secondhand tables and chairs to bring back. That will set up the hardware for our tutoring center."

After arranging these tedious tasks, Zhu Yan, while quickly jotting down notes in her notebook, suddenly looked up and asked with a worried expression, "Secretary, the hardware is easy to handle, but has the teacher situation been resolved? We can't just have classrooms without anyone to teach, can we?"

Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but scratch his head and give a wry smile: "This matter has really stumped me. I don't have any suitable targets at the moment. You've been in the village for a long time, do you have any recommendations?"

He paused, then said half-jokingly, "If we really can't find anyone else, I'll have to fill in myself for the time being. After all, I graduated from a prestigious university, but it's been years since I systematically studied those middle and elementary school things. I don't know if I can still teach these little rascals!"

Zhu Yan sighed and said with a wry smile, "Secretary, you know the situation in our village right now. Any young person with a bit of education has already gone to work in the big cities. Who would want to stay in the village?"

Luo Ming, standing to the side, shook his head helplessly in agreement.

He spread his hands: "There's no other way. We can't be poor in education. The next generation is the hope for Luo Family Village to turn things around. If all else fails, I'll just have to tough it out for a while."

Zhu Yan laughed and said, "Secretary, you're running around like crazy every day for the village's projects, and you still have to prepare lessons and teach at night. Even the donkeys in the production team don't work as non-stop as you. How can you manage?"

Just as the three were at their wits' end, Luo Ming suddenly seemed to remember something, his eyes lighting up: "Secretary, I suddenly remembered someone who might be able to help!"

He perked up: "Quickly, tell me, who is it?"

"Rodomi!" Luo Ming blurted out.

Upon hearing the name, Zhu Yan immediately shook her head vigorously: "Uncle Luo? No way! Although he's a retired teacher, he's almost seventy years old! How can he possibly manage those naughty kids?"

Luo Ming waved his hand disapprovingly and looked at Zhao Jianguo, analyzing earnestly, "Secretary, although Grandpa Luo is not young and has been retired for almost twenty years, don't forget, he was a key teacher at our Sanchahe Town Middle School! He taught and nurtured students for over thirty years, and many men in our town now in their thirties and forties were his students back then!"

"Besides, Grandpa Luo is in very good health now. He's just sitting at home doing nothing, wandering around all day. He has a monthly pension, so he's not short of money and doesn't have to worry about making a living. If you really go and ask him to come out of retirement and find him something to do to contribute his remaining energy, he might actually be more willing!"

He sat in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, carefully considering Luo Ming's suggestion.

If there were such a respected and experienced senior teacher in charge, the results would be much better than that of a self-taught monk like myself! Moreover, the tutoring class is mainly held in the evening after the children have finished school, and it only lasts for a little over two hours each day. It mainly involves helping with homework and answering questions, so the workload is not too heavy, and the elderly person's health should be able to handle it.

Having weighed the pros and cons, he nodded decisively: "Alright! An elder in the family is a treasure. I think Luo Ming's suggestion is very reliable. Luo Ming, I'll leave this matter to you. Take some time today to visit Grandpa Luo and sound him out, see if he'll come out of retirement to help us with this!"

He added, "Although Grandpa Luo isn't short of money, our village can't let him work for free. Tell him that as long as he's willing to come, the village will deduct 1,500 yuan from its account each month as a nutrition subsidy for him!"

"Alright, Secretary, leave it to me!" Luo Ming readily agreed and turned to get on with his business.

He looked out the window at the rising sun, took a deep breath, and involuntarily thought about the appointment he was to keep at the municipal party committee guesthouse at three o'clock in the afternoon. What kind of scene would this unknown meeting be?

After lunch, Zhao Jianguo drove his brand-new SUV straight to the city center.

When I arrived at the entrance of the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse, it was just 2:30 p.m., half an hour before the agreed time of 3:00 p.m. I parked the car under the shade of a tree by the roadside, took out my phone and sent Zhou Qingyan a WeChat message: "I'm at the entrance."

The message was sent, but it disappeared without a trace, like a stone thrown into the sea.

He rolled down the car window, lit a cigarette, and waited idly in the car. More than twenty minutes passed before his phone screen finally lit up. Zhou Qingyan replied with a message: "My mom has some other business to attend to. You'll have to wait a little longer. She probably won't be back until four o'clock."

He frowned upon seeing the message, but since he was already here, he could only patiently wait.