The Beautiful County Magistrate
Chapter 255: Not Playing by the Rules, Stealing Home Righteously!

Chapter 255: Chapter 255: Not Playing by the Rules, Stealing Home Righteously!

Xu Qianli had no idea about the dirt on Ma Qianjin, but Li Dayou surely did.

A plum position as a police station chief would be enough to make him exert himself.

It didn’t take long for the County Disciplinary Committee’s staff to arrive, and they immediately placed Ma Qianjin under investigation.

Just as Xu Qianli had anticipated, Li Dayou eagerly spilled all of Ma Qianjin’s secrets, airing out all his dirty laundry.

With this information, Ma Qianjin was utterly ruined.

The news of Ma Qianjin being placed under investigation spread like wind throughout Qingshan Town, leaving all the local officials with ugly looks on their faces.

Even a fool could tell it was Xu Qianli’s doing.

His actions were undoubtedly a retaliatory show of force against the morning’s display from all the officials of Qingshan Town.

They had known this guy was ruthless but didn’t realize he could be this extreme; to think he’d take down the police station chief Ma Qianjin on his very first day, it was simply too domineering.

Damn, what a tough character, no wonder he could easily take down Zhang Kuisan and even dare to confront Lan Qianrong head-on.

Many people were already sweating bullets, quietly pondering whether it was right or wrong to stand with Fan Wenbin against Xu Qianli.

The last thing they wanted was to miss out on benefits and end up with the same fate as Ma Qianjin.

Fan Wenbin, in particular, heard the news right away and immediately gathered almost all the officials of Qingshan Town to stabilize morale, cheering everyone on.

He claimed that Xu Qianli’s takedown of Ma Qianjin was simply because Ma had made the mistake of being in charge during today’s bank robbery, which gave Xu Qianli the opportunity to exploit his weakness, on top of Li Dayou turning against him.

Xu Qianli may have dealt with Ma Qianjin, but trying to take on the rest of them would be impossible.

These words greatly reassured the officials of Qingshan Town.

Yes, Ma Qianjin had just been unlucky. Who could have predicted a bank robbery in Qingshan Town today and that Ma Qianjin would walk right into it, giving Xu Qianli the chance to take care of him.

Replacing him with someone else, Xu Qianli wouldn’t have the ability to deal with them.

Just as the officials of Qingshan Town breathed a sigh of relief, over at the government complex, Xu Qianli was also busy.

After dealing with Ma Qianjin, he led the County Disciplinary Committee and the County Public Security Bureau’s staff to search each office.

With professional lock-breakers, they opened every office door, one by one, entering to search for any suspicious items.

Fan Wenbin, that bastard, had purposely taken all the officials of Qingshan Town away from work, trying to intimidate Xu Qianli.

This conveniently allowed Xu Qianli to have his people search all the offices without hindrance, and the operation went incredibly smoothly.

In no time, large amounts of property were found in several officials’ offices.

Especially in the office of the director of the county finance bureau, Zhao Feng, where a large stash of premium tobacco, alcohol, watches, cash, and jewelry was found. A rough estimate put their value at no less than seven or eight million yuan, which clearly didn’t match up with Zhao Feng’s income.

Moreover, this Zhao Feng had the habit of collecting women’s bras; from his office alone, they found three or four dozen of them.

By the time Fan Wenbin got the news and rushed back with a group of officials from the villa, it was too late.

As the group entered the courtyard, they saw heaps of property piled up on the ground.

The faces of many in the group turned particularly unsightly.

Especially the finance bureau director Zhao Feng, whose complexion turned deathly pale as he thought to himself that it was over, he was done for.

The people from the County Disciplinary Committee had been waiting for their arrival and quickly stepped forward to greet them.

"Fiscal Director Zhao Feng, Agricultural Office Director Wang Qiang..."

The County Disciplinary Committee called out the names of seven individuals in succession. It was from the offices of these seven people that a considerable amount of property had been found earlier. Summoning them to step forward for the investigation, they were asked to explain the origins of the property.

The color drained from the faces of those who were named, looking dead as ashes, their eyes pleadingly turned to Fan Wenbin.

At this critical moment, it was up to him to decide what to do.

Fan Wenbin mustered his courage and stepped forward.

"Comrades from the County Disciplinary Committee, your actions seem to be out of order."

"There is a procedure even in the Disciplinary Committee’s case handling, isn’t there? How can you impose disciplinary measures on people so indiscriminately, especially when it involves seven or eight comrades all at once? The impact is too negative."

"Why don’t we do this: take the items with you, and leave the people here. I’ll have them write up a detailed list, specifying the sources of those properties."

The leader of the County Disciplinary Committee team was the deputy secretary, Meng You, who responded with a cold sneer, "What now, Mayor Fan, you want to interfere with the conduct of the County Disciplinary Committee and maybe offer us some guidance on our work?"

A heavy accusation was thrown his way, leaving Fan Wenbin in no place to catch it, and he quickly tried to appease with a sycophantic smile.

"I wouldn’t dare, I certainly wouldn’t dare to instruct the County Disciplinary Committee on its work."

"It’s just that we in Qingshan Town haven’t had it easy, having just managed the issue with Li Zhu, which has weakened us all, spirit and vitality alike. We have just welcomed a new secretary and were eager to cooperate with his work. With the County Disciplinary Committee taking away so many people at once, I’m afraid it might demotivate the remaining staff from being proactive in their duties."

"County Magistrate Lan mentioned to me before that I must lead Qingshan Town’s team well. I must hold down the fort here; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to explain myself to her."

In his speech, Fan Wenbin directly dropped Lan Qianrong’s name.

Lan Qianrong is currently the Jiang City Magistrate and is very likely to be promoted to Jiang City County Secretary next year. Mentioning her name, Fan Wenbin hoped the County Disciplinary Committee would not ignore this significant influence.

Meng You gave a mild smile and said, "You claim County Magistrate Lan has asked you to take good care of the team in Qingshan Town. Then I have to ask, are you the team leader of Qingshan Town? Don’t forget, you’re just the deputy leader. The real leader is Secretary Xu Qianli. With such an incident occurring in Qingshan Town, he, as the team leader, isn’t panicking, so what’s a deputy like you worrying about?"

Meng You was known for his straightforward personality, and he didn’t hesitate to hit back hard. Fan Wenbin, you’ve got some nerve, using Lan Qianrong’s name to pressure me—you think I’d be afraid of you?

Above me stands Secretary Ge Changhong, and as long as there isn’t a change in the term, your backer, Lan Qianrong, is firmly under the thumb of Secretary Ge.

Moreover, there’s a rumor that Minister Zhao Mei from the City Organization Department has acknowledged Secretary Ge’s daughter, Ge Pingping, as her sworn sister. Next year, it’s very likely that Secretary Ge won’t retire but may even have a chance to be promoted further.

Fan Wenbin’s face turned an ugly shade. Not even resorting to using Lan Qianrong’s name worked; he truly had no way to deal with Meng You now.

Left with no choice, he temporarily gave up and rushed elsewhere, busying himself with phone calls to Lan Qianrong for help.

At this point, the only person who could save Zhao Feng and the others was Lan Qianrong.

Unfortunately, after the phone call, Fan Wenbin’s heart completely sank.

Lan Qianrong stated that since the County Disciplinary Committee had obtained conclusive evidence, she couldn’t intervene in this affair, let alone plead for Zhao Feng and the others. Otherwise, even she might become implicated.

Now, the only option was to sacrifice the pawns to save the king by giving up on Zhao Feng and the few others.

Having received such a response, Fan Wenbin almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

He had thought Qingshan Town was a solid block, entirely under his control. Even if Xu Qianli arrived, he was nothing but a figurehead, unlikely to be effective.

He could never have dreamed that Xu Qianli, who had been there for less than half a day, would sweep through like a swift storm, easily taking down eight officials.

Among them were two heavyweights from the official circles of Qingshan Town, the Police Station Chief Ma Qianjin and the Fiscal Director Zhao Feng!

That guy’s move was really damn ruthless!