Chapter 151: More Arrogant Than You

  Deputy County Head Zhao Haijun looked at the four people being taken away, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness. He hadn't expected that his colleagues who were laughing and chatting with him just moments before would be taken away by the Discipline Inspection Committee. Looking at their dejected expressions and scattered eyes, Zhao Haijun knew they were finished. If they dared to embezzle funds from a project like this, what wouldn't they dare to do? Moreover, Secretary Lei Hu of the Discipline Inspection Committee was a man of iron face and impartiality, almost no one could remain calm under his strong pressure and psychological attack.

  Zhao Haijun's gaze at Liu Fei now carried a hint of inexplicability. A young man, barely 23 or 24 years old, who had only been in the official circle for about 4 years and was still a young county magistrate, had quietly settled four big shots who used to dominate Xishan County. He had even taken down Gongsun Chenshan's trusted aide, a representative of local forces in Xishan County. The young man's vigor and courage were admirable, but his methods were even more astonishing. Even he himself didn't realize until the end that he almost got caught up in the whirlpool. What he still couldn't understand was how Liu Fei had managed to move Discipline Inspection Secretary Lei Hu. Zhao Haijun knew very well that Lei Hu was County Party Secretary Zhou Wenfu's iron-clad ally, and the two had always advanced and retreated together. Just recently, Zhou Wenfu had joined forces with Gongsun Chenshan to push out former county magistrate Cheng Aiguo. So how did Zhou Wenfu suddenly join hands with Liu Fei?

  But no matter how hard he thought, he would never have guessed the deal between Zhou Wenfu and Liu Fei. He could only sigh in his heart: "In politics, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests."

  Liu Fei smiled and looked at the deputy county head in charge of urban construction, saying: "Director Zhao, thank you for your hard work. The follow-up matters of the Hope Primary School still need to be handled by you. This Hope Primary School must be demolished and rebuilt. Please coordinate with the education department leaders on the construction costs and student placement measures, and try to resolve them as soon as possible. If there are any difficulties, they can be raised at the county head's office meeting for everyone to discuss together."

  Zhao Haijun nodded solemnly and said: "County Magistrate Liu, I understand. I will start preparing as soon as possible."

  At this moment, Zhao Haijun no longer had the same disdain for Liu Fei as before, and a hint of respect was already evident in his words.

  Turning his head, Liu Fei smiled. In this world, there is no love without reason, and no hate without reason. Love, hate, dignity, and respect are not given by others, but are earned by oneself. Only when you show strong strength can you win the respect of others. This was deeply felt by Liu Fei when he served as a secretary for Jiang Zhengyuan. At that time, Liu Fei was only a deputy director-level secretary, and there was a department head under him who looked down on him. Later, there was an incident where the department head made a mistake that was caught by Liu Fei, and through Jiang Zhengyuan's hands, he was immediately dealt with. After this incident, those hall and department level leaders who had previously looked down on Liu Fei no longer dared to underestimate him when interacting with him, because everyone knew that this young man, although arrogant and impulsive, indeed had the ability and vision, unless they made a mistake themselves, otherwise they would be finished by his hands.

  These things were all figured out by Liu Fei little by little.

  Things have developed to this point, and Liu Fei doesn't need to do anything else. He beckons Secretary Li Qing'an to head towards the next town. This time, Liu Fei is just visiting some of the towns below, not every single one, but rather selecting a few representative ones to visit. From then on, no town leader dares to be as arrogant as Zhang Jianxin and Wang Sheng were earlier, for they have already heard about what happened in Hongqiao Town and are filled with reverence for this new county magistrate.

  Liu Fei did not make things difficult for them, and when he arrived at each township, he would inspect the development of agriculture, industry and other industries in each township under the accompaniment of the township leaders, so that he had a clear understanding.

  However, in this world, there are always ghosts who are not afraid of death. Just as Liu Fei and his group had visited seven or eight towns smoothly and were about to return to the county after visiting the last town of Gudushu, they encountered another problem.

  The day before the Secretary went to Gushu Town, he informed the leaders of Gushu Town that County Magistrate Liu would visit the town the next day. However, when they arrived at the Gushu Town government office that morning, only Mayor Wang Yonglin and a group of town leaders came to greet them. After meeting, Wang Yonglin apologetically told Liu Fei: "I'm sorry, County Magistrate Liu, Secretary Zhang Haogu has something else to attend to this morning, he will come over at noon."

  Liu Fei smiled, but didn't say anything. However, he already felt a bit displeased in his heart. Everyone knew that the town party secretary and the town mayor accompanying him had different meanings. It seemed that as the county magistrate, he wasn't considered an important role in their eyes. Most importantly, before coming, Li Qing'an had told Liu Fei that the town party secretary of Gu Shu Town, Zhang Haogu, was a distant relative of Gong Chunshan and had always been favored by him.

  In the morning, Liu Fei and Li Qing'an followed Wang Yonglin to visit various villages in Gushu Town. Liu Fei used his digital camera to record the situation in each place, but he was not satisfied with what he saw. Gushu Town, although richer than some other towns, was still quite poor compared to some of the more affluent villages. This visit gave Liu Fei a thorough understanding of the true state of Xishan County, one of the poorest counties in the region. The county's industrial foundation was weak, with hardly any decent industrial enterprises. The agricultural model was single-minded, mainly focused on grain production, with very few cash crops. The roads were old and in disrepair, full of potholes. Throughout the morning, Liu Fei visited various places while thinking about how to solve Xishan County's economic development problems. Fortunately, he had gained a lot of experience following Governor Jiang over the past four years and had developed a deep understanding of economic development. However, by lunchtime, he still hadn't come up with any good solutions.

  After three rounds of wine and five flavors of dishes, the town party secretary finally came in with a red face. He first gave Liu Fei a fist bump, then gave Secretary-General Li Qing'an a fist bump, saying: "County Mayor Liu, Secretary-General Li, I'm sorry, I'm late, please forgive me. But I had no choice, it's not easy for our small town to get an investor, and this time we have a representative from a foreign-funded enterprise, County Mayor Gong gave me the task and I dare not take it lightly!"

  Liu Fei furrowed his brow upon hearing this, "County Magistrate Guo? Foreign-funded enterprise? How are these two things related?" However, he didn't plan on thinking deeply about it. Since Guo Chunshan had already taken a stance against him, even if he came up with something, Liu Fei would just take it in stride and not be afraid of him. When he saw Zhang Haogu apologize, Liu Fei remained seated and merely said indifferently, "Heh heh, County Magistrate Guo's task is certainly important, I'm just here to take a look around casually. Secretary Zhang has many important things to attend to, so it's not necessary for you to trouble yourself, having Mayor Wang accompany me is already sufficient."

  Seeing Liu Fei's expression, Zhang Haogu began to feel uneasy in his heart. He dared to be so slow with Liu Fei for two reasons: one was that he wasn't greedy for money and didn't have any hopes for the project, and the other was that today a representative from a foreign company had come to visit Gutou Town, and he needed to entertain him well. However, seeing Liu Fei actually scolding someone in front of the host, Zhang Haogu's face couldn't hold up anymore. He suppressed his anger and stood up with a thick face to toast Liu Fei along with Mayor Wang Yonglin. Liu Fei didn't stand up either, sitting majestically in his seat and clinking glasses with the two men, but his eyes were only on Li Qingan. This move stunned all the officials from Gutou Town who were accompanying them for drinks. Who didn't know that their town party secretary Zhang Haogu was a man of Gong Chunshan? Even if County Party Secretary Zhou Wenfu came, he hadn't seen him have such a big attitude! Arrogant, truly arrogant! However, they also discovered that Town Party Secretary Zhang Haogu, who was usually very arrogant, had endured it today and didn't show any signs of losing his temper. He seemed to be careful and cautious instead. This made them pay even more attention to this young county magistrate, and they all stood up to toast Liu Fei.

  It's just that Zhang Haogu didn't know, his remedial actions now are already too late. Mainly because he couldn't handle Liu Fei, Liu Fei has a arrogant personality deep down, back then he even dared to violently beat the deputy secretary of the provincial government, today he just gave them a bit of cold shoulder and that's already giving them face, if it were in the past, Liu Fei might have gone up and hit someone. Fortunately, after four years of tempering, Liu Fei has matured a lot and can control his emotions most of the time.

  After 3 days of traveling through 8 towns, Liu Fei's first visit after taking office ended with a hard journey.

  This trip to Xishan County has been very rewarding for Liu Fei, allowing him to see the county's economic backwardness and the flaws in its economic development. A massive economic development plan is slowly taking shape in Liu Fei's mind, but he won't be unveiling it anytime soon. He still needs to conduct more detailed investigations and research before presenting it, and even then, he won't reveal everything at once. Liu Fei is no fool and doesn't want his hard work to become a bargaining chip for others to take credit for. He will implement his plan step by step, bringing Xishan County's economy to a very high standard. In Liu Fei's eyes, Xishan County has great potential waiting to be tapped, lacking only a good helmsman. Liu Fei believes he can fill that role, and at the core of his plan is Xue Lingyun and her Xin Yuan Group.