Chapter 25: Lift Up Your Lid (2)

  Yao Zhi Fei and Ma Lin both furrowed their brows and darkened their faces when they saw someone had forced their way in, but upon seeing that the intruder was a lame old man, they swallowed the scolding words they were about to utter.

  "Director Yao and Secretary Ma, this is our village's old Party member and veteran revolutionary Comrade Liang Huitian."

  Yao Zhi Fei and Ma Lin's faces eased a bit, they had already heard about Liang Hui Tian's situation from the villagers, and also let the investigation team members go to Liang Hui Tian's home to prepare for a talk with him, but it was in vain. Unexpectedly, Liang Hui Tian took the initiative to come to their door.

  Although Liang Huitian's stance in this election is problematic, before the matter has been concluded, one should still show courtesy to an old comrade like him. So Yao Zhifei smiled and said:

  "Ah, it's Old Comrade Liang! How's your health? You're a precious treasure, you must take good care of yourself. With your robust health, you can continue to exhibit the fine traditions of an old comrade and Party member, offering guidance to fellow villagers, helping them do their work even better... Why bother you with running errands? We'll just make a trip ourselves, no need for you to trouble yourself."

  Yao Zhi saw Liang Hui's face turn black, and he smiled and said that when dealing with old comrades, he knew that many of them were most afraid of wearing high hats. A few high hats would make them easier to talk to. However, today this trick didn't work on Liang Hui, who was still staring at him with wide eyes and said:

  "Wang Liben hates me to the bone and can't wait for me to die early. I'm a dog farting advisor, someone is afraid that I will report the situation to your investigation team, so they hid me! I want to ask you two county leaders, is Shanhe under the leadership of the party? Is it under the leadership of the county committee and government? Does the county committee and government manage the affairs of Shanhe?"

  Everyone present was stunned, Lu Zhengdong was still puzzled in his heart. Liang Huitian and Luo Jinming were both very careful. Liang Huitian had long wanted to report Wang Liben's wrongdoing to the county leaders, but Wang Liben had also been on guard against Liang Huitian. Last time during the Yang Yaqing incident, he had found someone to block Liang Huitian. Liang Huitian's target was too big, and he and Luo Jinming were also very careful. This time, they had already reminded Liang Huitian through his relatives from outside the county, but unexpectedly, Liang Huitian almost fell into Wang Liben's trap again.

  However, as long as Liang Hui Tian has arrived, it's a great thing. I estimate that Wang Li Ben's face will turn green this time and he'll be like an ant on a hot wok, running around in circles...

  Yao Zhi Fei thought to himself that Liang Hui Tian seemed to have a very high opinion of Wang Li Ben, so he said:

  "Of course, the mountains and rivers are under the leadership of the Yanghe County Party Committee and the county government, and they must be managed..."

  Lu Zhengdong saw Yao Zhifei and Ma Lin's gaze sweep over him, seemingly thinking that he was the one who did it. However, Lu Zhengdong knew in his heart that this must have been done by Wang Liben.

  Liang Hui Tian immediately said:

  "That's good, I came today just to reflect on the situation..."

  Lu Zhengdong and Xiao Yongnian heard that Liang Huitian wanted to report the situation, so they took advantage of the momentum to retreat.

  In the room, Ma Lin helped Liang Hui Tian sit down. Yao Zhi Fei offered a cigarette to Liang Hui Tian. Seeing that the two men were being polite, Liang Hui Tian's expression improved slightly.

  "I came here today mainly to reflect on the situation with Wang Liben. Wang Liben always has a phrase on his lips, 'dictatorship, dictatorship', and he often arrests ordinary people at will, making it seem like the people of Shanhe are class enemies and targets of dictatorship. He has made Shanhe a place where heaven and earth are angry, and chickens and dogs are not at peace. The people all hate him to the bone. He doesn't do good things, but does bad things to the extreme. Don't even mention those things about pulling pigs and sheep, just talking about recently, if you want to collect money from the people, shouldn't there be some in their pockets? If the village has money, shouldn't they fix the roads so that people can sell some straw or bamboo and increase their income a bit? He refuses to do it... Do you know what the people behind his back call him? They call him Wang Baichang. I think even calling him Wang Baichang is being too kind, he's completely like an emperor of Shanhe..."

  Yao Zhi saw Liang Huitian's anger and frustration, talking endlessly, his words becoming more and more unrefined. Seeing that the investigation team had come mainly to investigate problems in the election process, he quickly said:

  "Comrade Lao Liang, Comrade Wang Liben is also a party cadre and your comrade. If he has done something wrong, you can bring it up at the party life meeting or report it to the township party committee, or even to the county level. It's not proper to address him in this way, and we cannot disregard party spirit, organizational discipline and principles on issues like elections."

  Yao Zhi Fei has worked in rural areas and knows that just talking is not enough when working in rural areas, sometimes you need to be tough. Wang Li Ben has been doing a good job in the county for several years, completing all tasks assigned by the county government. The better he completes his tasks, the more people he offends. It's normal for ordinary people to have opinions about him.

  Yao Zhi Fei's tone was somewhat stern, but Liang Hui Tian didn't take it seriously and continued to say:

  "The party's life meeting, the township party committee? I see you two are still confused. Wang Liben is in charge of Shanhe Township, and whatever he says goes. The party's life and the township party committee are just decorations. If it were useful to talk, would I need to find you? In this town, except for me, this stubborn old man, who can't be dealt with by him, other cadres who dare to disobey his orders will be beaten to death. This is how cadres are treated, let alone ordinary people. Isn't he a local tyrant? You tell me what he is. I even had to sneak out to report to you, not to mention going to the county. If it's like this for me, others won't dare say anything..."

  Liang Hui said with increasing momentum:

  "I strongly oppose what Minister Yao said about not following organizational discipline and principles! Why didn't this election follow organizational discipline and principles? Wang Liben deceived the county leaders, fooling them into a mess, but the eyes of the broad masses of cadres are clear. I think that in the end, the vast number of party members and cadres in Shanhe Township stood up to the danger of being hit back by Wang Liben, doing something that upheld principles. Wang Liben cannot represent us, the vast number of party members and cadres in Shanhe Township!"

  You big shots from the county, all you do is sit in your offices in the county seat every day. When you come down here, you just eat and drink, bring some local specialties back with you, and then head back home. You don't understand the real situation on the ground at all. I guarantee that this time when you came to investigate, it was still Wang Liben leading you by the nose, and you didn't get a grasp of the real situation at all.

  "Why don't you two go and visit the scene, to see what's really going on? If Wang Liben really did provoke the villagers into rebelling that day, I'd like to see how those county officials will deal with it. County Secretary Wen, County Head Zhong, they don't care about the lives of ordinary people, but at least they should care about their own official hats..."

  Yao Zhi Fei and Ma Nai listened to Liang Hui Tian's words with a serious expression, sent him off at the door, closed the door, and both of their faces were somewhat stern. This time before the investigation team came down, there were also leaders in the county who had made arrangements. Wang Li Ben had some problems, should be criticized and educated, focusing on investigating the issues that arose during the election.

  However, judging from various situations, Wang Liben's problem is not small either. Previously, when talking to many people, the answers were all like they came out of a mold, and both people felt that there were some problems. What Lu Zhengdong and Liang Huitian just said made both people dare not underestimate it.

  The two men consulted with each other and decided to continue investigating the election issue on one hand, while also letting the investigation team send some people out to conduct a secret visit to understand the real situation before reporting back to the county.