Chapter 135: The New Official Takes Office and Strikes the First Blow

  20 minutes later!

  Vice County Magistrate Li Bing and Poverty Alleviation Office Director Tan Zhongjian conducted a telephone investigation to verify the facts. On that morning, Vice Director of the Poverty Alleviation Office Chen Yonglu used an official vehicle for personal purposes and was on his way back from handling affairs in Hengyang City when he hit and killed a sheep, then drove away!

  After receiving this news, the whole scene was in an uproar!

  No one had expected that the newly appointed county magistrate would encounter such a thing, and after discovering it, he wanted to solve it on the same day! What does this mean? What kind of information does this represent? The officials present couldn't help but think deeply about it. This new county magistrate's style of governance was completely different from his predecessor, and even more so with the vice-county magistrate.

  The former county magistrate, Cheng Aiguo, had a seasoned and sharp governing style, with a steady hand that was also incisive. Gong Chunshan has always been pragmatic and utilitarian, with a strong sense of regionalism, preferring to make big issues out of small ones and vice versa. In contrast, the new county magistrate appears young and impulsive, but is actually very bold and highly efficient.

  "Vice County Magistrate Li Bing, the Poverty Alleviation Office is under your jurisdiction. What's your opinion on how to handle this?" Liu Fei said calmly, his tone devoid of any emotion, but his face was filled with anger.

  Li Bing smiled wryly and said, "I suggest giving Chen Yonglu a major administrative demerit, and making it public throughout the county." To be honest, although Li Bing was in charge of the poverty alleviation office, his influence over the office was negligible. The director, Tan Zhongjian, and deputy director, Chen Yonglu, were both under the command of Vice County Magistrate Gong Chunshan, and they would often disobey Li Bing's orders. To avoid conflict with Gong Chunshan, Li Bing had basically given up on managing this department, even though it was a lucrative position in Xishan County. However, not everyone could take advantage of this opportunity. Gong Chunshan had a tight grip on the poverty alleviation office and the finance bureau, and even the county party secretary couldn't do anything about it. As for Li Bing, he was just a low-ranking vice county magistrate. Today, he finally had an opportunity to vent his frustrations, so he suggested a more severe punishment. This way, he could avoid incurring the wrath of the angry county magistrate on stage, and also get some satisfaction out of it - killing two birds with one stone.

  Liu Fei asked for the opinions of several other deputy county heads, and everyone knew that the head and deputy head of the poverty alleviation office were actually whose people, but they didn't dare to speak out about it. So when someone finally came forward to clean up the mess, everyone was happy to see it and expressed their approval. Finally, it was Liu Fei's turn to speak. His eyes suddenly flashed with anger, and his tone became extremely agitated: "Comrades, this incident may seem small, but its impact is very bad. Do you know that there's a popular saying circulating among the people: 'Going to the countryside to alleviate poverty, the more you help, the poorer they become; government buildings, the more you build, the more diligent!' Do you know this saying? Why is it like this? Look at the luxurious government office buildings, the luxurious villas, and the dilapidated houses of the people. Haven't you seen them? Why are the people from the poverty alleviation office so arrogant? You killed a sheep and don't even know how to compensate for it. Don't you have any sense of justice in your eyes? Is this really how our party's cadres treat the people?"

  Liu Fei's face turned iron-green as he spoke, and he slapped the table with a loud "pa pa" sound!

  Below, all the cadres were silent.

  No one expected that the new county magistrate, who had just entered Xishan County, would immediately take this opportunity to raise such a sharp question! It is worth noting that the construction of this luxurious office building was done by Cheng Aiguo's predecessor, Lu Guangming, who was the county magistrate a year ago and is now the vice mayor of Hengyang City. Does Liu Fei want to compete with Vice Mayor Lu as soon as he arrives?

  At this moment, everyone has their own thoughts and intentions. Some are gloating over the misfortune of others, some are applauding in agreement, while others are watching with a cold eye. What most people are considering is how to maximize their own interests under the leadership of the new county magistrate. Although Gong Chunshan is quite autocratic, there are not a few officials who have drawn close to him, including more than half of the people present here. This is also well understood by everyone in the scene. Many people have even prepared themselves to mock Liu Fei. Because Liu Fei's predecessor, County Magistrate Cheng Aiguo, wanted to use the luxurious office building project of the county government as a breakthrough to investigate and deal with corruption problems, establish his prestige and foothold, but did not expect to bring about a disaster, which directly led to his official career being dull and without glory. Who dares to say that there is no trace of Vice Mayor Lu Guangming in this?

  Almost everyone in the scene sentenced Liu Fei to death. Everyone thought that this young county magistrate was too young and lacked political struggle experience and skills. Such a naked declaration of one's goals, isn't it equivalent to exposing oneself? It's no different from looking for death!

  "I think so, apart from the disciplinary actions mentioned by County Magistrate Li, let Chen Yonglu go to the Party History Office as a deputy director." Liu Fei's tone was decisive. The several vice county magistrates below did not raise any objections. When Liu Fei suddenly showed such strength, who dared to block his edge? The first rule of survival in officialdom is to preserve one's own stability and rise above things that don't concern oneself!

  After the meeting, Liu Fei communicated with County Secretary Zhou Wenfu again and told him about the results of the county government's discussion. At first, Zhou Wenfu was slightly dissatisfied when he heard this news, after all, such an important matter did not involve the county party committee, which was very improper. But thinking that this way he avoided direct confrontation with Gong Chunshan, he felt a little relieved. However, he still pointed out to Liu Fei: "County Mayor Liu, in the future, we need to communicate more."

  Liu Fei scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed, and said: "Secretary Zhou is right. Today I was mainly too angry. In the future, I will communicate with Secretary Zhou more often."

  Zhou Wenfu nodded in satisfaction.

  Hanging up the phone, Liu Fei fell into deep thought.

  His sudden outburst today was with reason, it was the result of his careful consideration.

  This morning, Liu Fei couldn't shake off the image of Xiao Bao from his mind since he got on the car. He remembered Xiao Bao's childish eyes, his tattered clothes, and the language textbook tucked into his waistband. All this made Liu Fei feel extremely heartbroken. Now that most parts of the country have achieved a relatively comfortable standard of living, how could such a phenomenon still exist here? Is it an individual or collective phenomenon? Later, he learned that someone from the poverty alleviation office had hit Xiao Bao and fled the scene, which made him extremely angry. When they entered the county town, seeing the wide roads, luxurious office buildings, and grand villas, Liu Fei's anger reached its peak. He had previously studied some materials and judged from them that the county government building was built using poverty alleviation funds during Lu Guangming's tenure. At that time, the executive vice-county magistrate was Gong Chunshan, who was in charge of the entire project.

  When Liu Fei arrived at the gate and saw that Gong Chunshan was not among the crowd, his anger finally erupted. Although he didn't expose it at the time, he had already become a live volcano. So, as soon as the welcoming ceremony ended, he convened the first county government work meeting.

  But what shocked Liu Fei was the mentality of everyone below at the meeting. He only realized now that everyone was waiting to see him make a fool of himself, although they didn't oppose his first move, but Liu Fei also knew that they were waiting for Gong Chunshan to come out and clean up after him.

  "Hmph, so it's Guo Chunshan? I don't care about your connections and background, go ahead and use whatever tricks you have, Liu Fei can take them on."

  Liu Fei picked up his teacup and took a sip of strong tea.

  The strong tea was poured by his first secretary Feng Yuan himself.

  Feng Yuan was arranged by Pi Jian Shu, the director of the government office. Liu Fei had just arrived and could only accept with a black eye, although he suspected that Feng Yuan was a mole sent by Gong Chunshan to his place.

  Feng Yuan looked around 30 years old, with a short haircut, looking quite spirited. However, his narrow and long eyes fully exposed that he was an extremely sinister person. Liu Fei couldn't read faces, but he knew the saying "don't judge people by their appearance". When he first met the secretary assigned to him by the government, he felt very uncomfortable. The key was his gaze! Although he always smiled when talking to himself, after turning around, a hint of disdain and contempt would appear in his eyes.

  Liu Fei sipped his tea while pondering the reason behind Feng Yuan's disdainful gaze. He reckoned it was probably because Feng thought he would end up like his predecessor, Cheng Aiguo, being driven out in a sorry state. However, Liu Fei sneered inwardly: Who will drive whom away is still uncertain, after all these years of following Governor Jiang, am I just a mere freeloader? You have your Zhang Liang strategy, and I have my own bridge tactics; let's each come up with our own clever plans. From now on, let everyone open their eyes wide and take a good look at my true worth.

  Liu Fei's office is located on the 8th floor of this luxurious county government building, at the easternmost sun-facing position. The office of Deputy County Magistrate Gong Chunshan is next to his. In official circles, the arrangement of leaders' offices has certain connotations.

  Liu Fei has just taken office and there aren't many things that need his attention. Because many matters are currently being handled by Gong Chunshan, time flies quickly and it's already 5 pm, the end of the workday.

  Liu Fei stood up.

  Secretary Feng Yuan walked up to Liu Fei and said with a smile, "County Head Liu, your room has been arranged. It's at the county committee guest house. I'll take you there."

  Liu Fei nodded. As a secretary, no matter who Feng Yuan was, there were some things that he had to do, otherwise he wouldn't be able to keep his job for long. Liu Fei was a born-and-bred secretary and naturally understood these things very well.

  However, when Feng Yuan spoke using the word "you" instead of "you (respectful)", Liu Fei sneered to himself. Is it because you look older than me and feel uncomfortable with honorifics? Wait for it, there will be a day when I'll use you. In his heart, Liu Fei had already sentenced Feng Yuan to death. This guy would become one of the targets he would clean up in the future.

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