Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 475 - 170: Discussion_1

Chapter 475: Chapter 170: Discussion_1

The evening glow gradually dimmed, and the crowd blocking the door of Sancha River Township Government office had disbursed.

But the group standing at the government’s gate, no one could manage a smile. Everyone knew that the people would return only to renew their strength, they were certain to come tomorrow. They will probably continue to make trouble until they get the result they want.

Seeing the grave look on everyone’s face, a man in his thirties looked around at everyone, then glanced at his watch and shouted to the crowd, "It’s almost eight o’clock, everyone hurry back and eat! Stop looking so glum, we still have to eat, remember the meeting is at half past eight and everyone knows who should come. Come back after you have eaten, don’t come looking for me hungry, all I can do is start and I can’t be responsible for your dinner!"

Everyone laughed a little at the joke, and each said, "Then Mayor Chen should hurry back to eat as well..."

After everyone left, Lin Baoguo was ready to go back, but someone next to him grabbed him, "What’s the rush? I don’t believe you can even eat when you get back, come on, let’s go eat together."

Lin Baoguo knew he had something to say. He sighed and followed the man to a restaurant at the intersection.

The restaurant owner quickly stood up to greet them. Before he could say anything, Old Pan familiarly shouted at him, "No need for formalities! Just prepare two bowls of pulled noodles, strain them with cold boiled water, nothing more. Ah, bring a pot of tea first, not too hot."

He chose a corner table with Lin Baoguo and said, "Go on! How are we going to manage this?"

"What do we do? Isn’t there a meeting later?" Lin Baoguo replied, somewhat annoyed.

"A meeting? Are you just going to wait for the meeting and listen to their arrangements? What if they bring up your nephew during the meeting?" Old Pan scoffed.

"Whoever brings up my nephew, I’ll confront them! I can’t believe it! You can’t even try to do something good without messing up!" Lin Baoguo glared, his face turning red with anger.

"See, I knew you were going to lose your temper, that’s why I brought you here to eat!" Old Pan said while pouring Lin Baoguo a cup of tea that the restaurant owner brought over. "Didn’t you ask someone to call your nephew over this afternoon? Have some water first! Don’t get agitated yet, it’s just the two of us here, your worry won’t accomplish anything, take your time."

"Sigh...Didn’t I anticipate their intentions this afternoon? I even thought they got the wrong information, and thought the bull distribution was part of the township poverty relief work. I just didn’t expect it... People’s hearts are unpredictable!" Lin Baoguo drained the cup of tea, sighing deeply.

Having heard all the noise these people made earlier in the day, Lin Baoguo gradually understood their intentions, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit despondent at the moment.

Old Pan smiled, "Young people! It’s okay to make mistakes when you lack experience, as long as you learn from them. Your nephew came and left in the afternoon, can you guess who pulled him away?"

"Who?" Lin Baoguo demanded.

"His father-in-law, Old Xu! Presumably, he took him away to hide." Old Pan drank tea slowly as he continued. "Don’t worry, his hiding is a good thing. Find someone later tonight to send a message, tell him not to show up until everything is settled."

"So, he just needs to keep hiding?" Lin Baoguo asked skeptically.

"Judging from Mayor Chen’s temperament, he would definitely not back down easily. This is his third year here, everyone has seen what he has done, he is just afraid that these people will mess things up. As long as they can’t find Xiao Fei, any tricks they play will be in vain. At most, these people are just causing a riot at the government’s door. They wouldn’t dare to go to the cattle farm."

"What if they really do go? Don’t ask my nephew to start, you know when he loses his temper, do you think those people will end up in one piece? You want the sky to fall!"

Upon hearing what Lin Baoguo said, Old Pan burst into laughter, "You, all you ever do is worry about your nephew. Have you ever thought that if these people really do go, it would be easier to handle? If they protest in front of the government office, as long as there are no major violations, we can only persuade them but can’t use force. If they encroach on private property, then they are at fault. We can arrest people then, no need for your nephew to report it. There will be as many detentions as there are violators, we don’t believe they can’t be handled!"

All of a sudden, Lin Baoguo became silent, playing unconsciously with the teacup, "Do you think that their fuss this time has been orchestrated by a ’mastermind’?"

"Whether there is or not, we don’t need to consider that for now. I gained some insight today. If they come tomorrow, we’ll continue observing. I invited you to eat not to discuss this, but to tell you that if someone mentions your nephew at the meeting later, you don’t have to intervene directly, let me handle it."

"That’s my nephew, do you expect me to let you offend him?"

"Do you really think I’m someone who’s afraid of trouble?" Old Pan gave Lin Baoguo a glance. "You’re still young, fired up and full of energy. I’ve spent my whole life at this post, is there anything I shouldn’t say or do? Don’t forget your nephew is my right-hand man. It wouldn’t be fair if I just sat back and took all the credit while he did all the hard work, would it? Moreover, my ability to retain this position in the coming years depends on him."

Lin Baoguo was about to respond, but the food arrived, so he stopped.

As soon as the dishes were served, Old Pan picked up his chopsticks and started eating, talking while he chewed, "Alright, enough. That’s it. Let’s eat, we have to head to a meeting after, and just because I deal with hard-headed folks day in and day out doesn’t mean I’m one of them. Even when it comes to being a pain in the ass, you’re far behind me!"

After slurping down a big bowl of noodles, the two left without checking whether they were full or not. Lin Baoguo returned to the station and seeing Xiang Changqing on duty, he called him out and whispered a few instructions. When Xiang Changqing had ridden off on his bike, Lin Baoguo hurried over to the government compound next door.

He arrived at the township government’s conference room within a few steps and saw that Old Pan had already made himself tea, totally in his own world. Lin filled a cup of water for himself and took a seat.

No more than two minutes had passed before Mayor Chen arrived. Before sitting down, he addressed everyone, "No need for formalities. If any of you have a solution or idea, speak up now!"

"I have something to say." Before anyone else could react, Old Pan, who had looked lost in his own world a moment ago, started speaking. Seeing that he had everyone’s attention, he continued.

"We cannot compromise with these sort of incidents, let alone tolerate them; otherwise, it would only breed more misbehavior. I observed the situation this afternoon. It’s clear that this incident has been a well-organized and disciplined effort. Someone behind the scenes is stirring up trouble. I think we must take action tonight, sending out the police and our militia division to overnight apprehend these troublemakers."

As soon as he said this, the room erupted in a chorus of disagreement.

Even Lin Baoguo was bewildered, wondering why Old Pan would make such an impractical suggestion?

Although it seemed reasonable on the surface, the actual situation was different.

You’d have to know which households are involved before you could arrest anyone. Where could you find someone familiar with the ins and outs of that village on such short notice? Without someone to guide you, how would you locate their homes?

Even if you know, can you guarantee not to alert anyone during the arrest? The village houses are haphazardly built with no planning whatsoever. Except a broad road in the village could barely accommodate a tractor; anyone unfamiliar with the area would have difficulty just keeping their bearings, let alone conducting an arrest.

If you stir up the villagers, will you still be able to arrest anyone?

Moreover, even if you arrest someone, can you be certain that you’ve got the real instigators and leaders? Can you guarantee that there won’t be others left in the village continuing to fan the flames and organize more trouble?

If anything goes wrong at any point, that’s when real trouble begins!

However, as he listened to everyone’s debate, Lin Baoguo gradually understood Old Pan’s intentions — he was leading everyone down a path of resoluteness with this most radical approach.

So now the discussion centered around resolving this issue with a non-negotiable approach.

Lin Baoguo was engrossed in the conversation, fearing that someone would bring up the idea that he and Old Pan had speculated about.

The thing you fear the most always happens. This unwanted notion did come up.

During the general consensus on not compromising, someone voiced out, "Aren’t these people making trouble just because they want more cattle? The most reliable solution would be to let that comrade Yan give them a few more cattle to quiet them down. A few heads of cattle could solve this problem. As long as we properly handle Boss Yan’s thought process, I think there’s room for negotiation."