Chapter 20: The Beast in Distress (Part 1)

  The movements in the hall were heard clearly by Wang Liben.

  Lost! Actually lost!

  Wang Liben's face turned iron-green, just now he still had a glimmer of hope, thinking that the worst result would also be elected with an extremely low vote, but unexpectedly the worst result still appeared.

  Wang Liben's mind went blank for a moment, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. He felt like his lungs were about to burst, but he calmed down when he heard Liang Huitian's passionate voice in the meeting room. Thinking of the outcome, even someone as strong-willed as him felt a little uneasy. He hesitated outside the meeting room for a while before finally not having the courage to enter.

  He rushed towards Wang Liben, with Luo Zhili and Yang Liguo catching up from behind. Seeing him, they hastily said:

  "Something's gone wrong with the election, let's hurry to the office and report it to the county."

  Wang Liben is very clear about the impact this matter will have on himself, and now he is very passive. If such a thing is reported to the county in a muddled way, his political life may be over. Wang Liben's heart also feels a bit empty.

  He hadn't thought of what to do yet, he had to stall for time to think of a countermeasure. He quickly pulled Luo Zhili and walked a few steps, saying in a low voice:

  "Luogan things, this election is definitely problematic. Let's put our heads together and sort out the situation. Once we have a clue, we'll talk again."

  Four people came to the secretary's office, Wang Liben stared at Xiao Yongnian with a gloomy face, Xiao Yongnian hastily said:

  "Never thought that Liang Hui Tian would come and cause trouble today..."

  Wang Liben glared at Xiao Yongnian and cut him off:

  "What's the point of saying these now! Let the representatives stay this afternoon, Old Xiao and Old Yang you quickly go to find out about the situation from the representatives, investigate who is behind violating organizational principles, secretly manipulating the election results..."

  Xiao Yongnian and Yang Liguo hastily left like they had been granted a great amnesty, only then did Wang Liben turn his head to say to Luo Zhili:

  "Luogan things, this election must be someone making a scene, Luogan things ah, you don't understand, in rural grassroots work how difficult it is, the more things you do, the more people you offend, and some people with ulterior motives, seeing an opportunity to jump out and make trouble. Luogan things, I can responsibly say that this is a completely organized and premeditated conspiracy activity, they are using Comrade Liang Huitian's old revolutionary, old qualifications, straightforward personality, easy to be deceived, to achieve their unmentionable goals..."

  The village party secretary was unexpectedly voted out, if it wasn't someone's conspiracy, then there must be a big problem with this village party secretary. In any case, the first thing to do is to define what happened. As for Liang Huitian's performance in the meeting hall, Wang Liben was so angry that he had to speak up for Liang Huitian - no choice, Liang Huitian's seniority was there, if not saying his behavior was misled, then he couldn't clear himself either.

  Moreover, Liang Huitian has no official position or power. Even if he really did orchestrate this scheme, he would still need to help clear his own name. The influence of a local old man is more effective than that of the village party secretary, so he wouldn't be able to get past the higher-ups...

  Wang Liben saw Luo Zhili listening seriously and continued:

  "I think this way, on the one hand, those who are plotting and scheming must be exposed, on the other hand, we cannot disrupt the overall deployment of the county's party representative election work. I think let's do some more work to make those who have been deceived wake up, and then re-elect in the afternoon."

  Wang Liben naturally hoped that this matter would not be blown up to the top, and such things were hidden from superiors but not from inferiors. As long as the top was not informed, there would be a way.

  Lu Zhili shook his head like a rattle drum. Such a big thing, how could he, a small official, dare to take charge? So he insisted on saying:

  "Secretary Wang, this is such a big matter, I'm just a small official and can't make the decision on my own. This thing probably needs to be reported to the county leaders first."

  Wang Liben didn't take Luo Zhili's persistence seriously, thinking that he was young and not as difficult to deal with as those old foxes in the organization. He waved his hand and said in a low voice:

  "This time, you help Old Wang out, I was also being played this time, don't report it to the county. Luo, as a matter of fact, I'm not someone who likes to cause trouble. Little brother, if you just help me this once, I will definitely repay your kindness. Moreover, since you're here to guide the election work, if something like this happens and it's reported, it won't look good for you either. Also, reporting it would ruin the atmosphere. This time, the representative election is being handled by Director Qiu, if he finds out about the report, he'll have no choice but to report it to Secretaries Liao and Wen. But this isn't a good thing after all, if it's reported, how will Secretaries Liao and Wen look at Director Qiu?"

  "Lu Gan said, doing it this way would put the leader in a difficult position. If we can resolve things at the grassroots level without troubling the leader, that's truly sharing the leader's worries..."

  Wang Liben is very overbearing to people below him, but when interacting with people from the county, he still keeps a low profile. He has had contact with people like Luo Zhili from the government agencies and has a good understanding of their mindset. When it doesn't concern him, he will definitely stay out of it, only thinking of ways to deal with it when his own interests are involved.

  Wang Liben's words made Luo Zhili somewhat hesitant. If it was true that the leaders of the department had a bad impression of him because of this matter, it would definitely have a great impact on his future. However, Luo Zhili had been in the organization department for several years and still had some political sensitivity. He knew that this matter was not ordinary and could be considered a political event. It would be difficult to cover up, and if he took matters into his own hands, the consequences would definitely be more severe. So he shook his head and refused.

  Wang Liben tried to persuade Luo Zhili in a gentle tone, but seeing that he still refused to agree, he had no choice but to compromise.

  "In that case, let's wait for Old Xiao and Old Yang to investigate and get some facts straight before reporting back to the county."

  Lu Zhili hesitated for a moment, thought for a while before reluctantly nodding.

  Xiao Yongnian and Yang Liguo acted quickly, immediately organizing several groups to find representatives one by one for talks, searching for any clues of someone secretly manipulating the election. Xiao Yongnian personally went to talk to Liang Huitang, but was scolded and lectured for half a day instead.

  Other effects are also bad, the people being surveyed all patted their chests and said they voted for Secretary Wang's vote, denying that anyone did their work.

  It's already past two o'clock, if we don't start dinner soon, the delegates will probably create a disturbance.

  Xiao Yongnian and Yang Liguang looked at each other with gloomy faces, having investigated for half a day without finding anything. After eating dinner, many people wouldn't care about it anymore and went back home directly. If they wanted to continue the investigation, they would have to go down to the village, which was even more difficult.

  Both of them knew Wang Liben very well, and this election was specifically handled by the two of them. If they didn't find some excuse, Wang Liben would definitely vent his anger on their heads as well.

  "Let's think of a way to keep these people here for dinner tonight, or else we won't be able to part ways."

  Yang Liguo thought for a moment and said.

  Many delegates came just for this meal.

  For this meal, the village specially had the village food station kill a pig and invited two chefs who ran red and white happy events in the countryside to be the head chef.

  Every time such a meeting is held, a big meal must be eaten. This is an unwritten rule in the countryside, and this rule is also a helpless measure. In recent years, the masses have had many opinions on the work of the township government, and many people are unwilling to attend meetings, so the meeting cannot be held due to lack of quorum.

  Mountains and countryside ordinary people at home to eat are all pickled bacon, can eat fresh pork is also red and white happy events and kill the year pig, so this meal for many representatives is still very attractive, some representatives even themselves do not want to eat, pack up bring back to family wife children to solve hunger...

  Xiao Yongnian also nodded:

  "It can't be helped..."

  Xiao Yongnian let out a sigh, and Yang Liguo followed suit with a sigh of his own.

  Two men puffed on their cigarettes in silence for a while before Yang Liguo spoke up in a low voice:

  "Secretary Xiao, I don't know what kind of ending this matter will have after this..."

  After finishing speaking, they looked at each other for a moment and then quickly shifted their gaze away.

  Two people also deeply know that many of Wang Liben's practices are unpopular, and continuing to follow Wang Liben will probably not end well.

  For a long time, Wang Liben's power and overbearing manner had left an indelible mark on their minds, making them not dare to have any ideas that would defy Wang Liben. But this time, these representatives actually dared to vote Wang Liben down, which also caused some stirrings in the hearts of two people. Now that things have come to this point, the two people can't help but think about retreat...