The Beautiful County Magistrate
Chapter 326: The mountain people’s suffering is on me, Xu Qianli!

Chapter 326: Chapter 326: The mountain people’s suffering is on me, Xu Qianli!

The meeting was specifically targeted at Xu Qianli, intended solely to deal with him.

And yet he wasn’t even present, how were they supposed to carry on with this?

Lin Feng was absolutely seething with nowhere to vent his anger.

Damn Xu Qianli, I had all my weapons ready, all set to give you a hard time, and you just vanish like that? What the hell is this?

Lin Feng was so furious that the atmosphere in the entire conference room was terrible, extremely oppressive.

After a while, it was still Fan Wenbin who broke the silence, clearing his throat and saying, "Well, Deputy County Chief Lin, what do you think, shall we start the meeting and discuss the future development of Qingshan Town? What are your thoughts on our town’s future development?"

Lin Feng abruptly slammed on the table and sprung up.

"My intention for this meeting was to take Xu Qianli down a notch, not to have any thoughts on the future development of Qingshan Town."

"The fact that Xu Qianli isn’t here is really killing me, who can tell me where he ran off to?"

"Don’t tell me, Fan Wenbin, you purposely leaked the news, allowing him to get wind that I was going to deal with him and deliberately duck out?"

Thinking it over, Lin Feng felt this was the most likely possibility that someone had tipped off Xu Qianli.

And the most likely candidate was undoubtedly Fan Wenbin.

Upon hearing this, Fan Wenbin’s face turned pale as he forced a smile and said, "How could that be possible? How would I dare tip him off? Deputy County Chief Lin, you’re wrongly accusing me. If you don’t believe me, I can swear an oath, it wasn’t me."

"You want to swear?"

"You first served Li Zhu like a dog, then switched allegiance to Xu Qian, on my first day in Qingshan Town, I threw you a bone, and you became my dog. With your kind of treacherous, opportunistic nature, who would believe your oath?"

"It had better not be you, otherwise, see how I’ll deal with you, you dog!"

"This shitty meeting, let’s not have it, we’ll talk when we find that Xu Qianli!"

"Damn it, this is infuriating me!"

Huffing with rage after saying all this, Lin Feng stormed out, angrily leaving the conference hall.

Inside the conference hall, everyone’s gaze fell on Fan Wenbin’s face.

Party Secretary Si Cheng even spoke up with a chuckle.

"Deputy Town Chief Fan, you don’t look so good."

"Could it be because of Deputy County Chief Lin’s words just now?"

"Chasing bones like a dog, treacherous and conniving, you mustn’t take it to heart, it was probably just a casual remark."

"All of us cadres in Qingshan Town know Deputy Town Chief Fan’s integrity. We wouldn’t believe those words."

"Ai, I’m trying to speak up for you, and yet why does your face seem to grow even more unsightly? Is it really necessary?"

Si Cheng’s teasing made Fan Wenbin hit the table hard, "Shut your mouth!"

"Look at you, getting angry, I wasn’t the one who called you a dog or treacherous."

"When Deputy County Chief Lin directly cursed at you, you didn’t dare make a sound, as lowly as a dog."

"Here I am, kindly speaking on your behalf to comfort you, and you get all bristly?"

"Could it be that his words hit home? You accepted the bones he threw you, and now you’re short on speech?"

Si Cheng continued.

"You..."

Fan Wenbin’s face turned scarlet, shaking with anger.

That Si Cheng old bastard, what is he doing? Exposing his own secrets and belittling himself here, he really has some nerve!

Just a deputy party secretary with no real power dares to pick a fight with me, the town chief. What audacity!

On second thought, Fan Wenbin felt something was amiss. Si Cheng was usually polite to him, so why had he dared to cause trouble for him today and publicly mock him?

Could it be that Xu Qianli was behind this?

Which meant that Xu Qianli had indeed found out that he had sided with Lin Feng.

At this point, Fan Wenbin was well aware there was no turning back.

Hopefully, hopefully Lin Feng could truly defeat Xu Qianli.

If Lin Feng couldn’t get the upper hand over Xu Qianli, Fan Wenbin expected he would be the first one Xu Qianli would come after.

...

Cuiyun Village.

Xu Qianli finally met Ding Meixin’s mother, also Liu Qian’s auntie, named Zhang Xiufen.

In her early forties, the years had left numerous marks on her face, which was already creased with wrinkles; her skin had a wheatish complexion from years of labor, and she wore a simple set of clothes. Upon seeing Xu Qianli, she greeted him with a smile and was incredibly enthusiastic.

It was rare for a little mountain village to receive visitors, let alone someone like the party secretary, who was considered a big shot in the eyes of the villagers. Not just the Ding Family, but the whole of Cuiyun Village were stirred.

The village chief invited everyone to bring out tables one by one, slaughtering pigs and sheep, and held a grand feast for Xu Qianli, treating him with great respect.

After filling their stomachs, Ding Meixin and Liu Qian accompanied Zhang Xiufen to talk about women’s private matters.

The village chief pulled Xu Qianli aside for a chat.

After a few cups of liquor, the village chief smoked his pipe and discussed many things with Xu Qianli.

From him, Xu Qianli quickly learned that life in Cuiyun Village was actually far from easy.

Near Cuiyun Village were large mountains with little land suitable for farming, and the crops harvested from the fields were simply not enough to feed the people.

The villagers all had to rely on going into the mountains to gather herbs, dig for mushrooms, and catch game to sell in the city, supplementing their household income just to scrape by.

Yet the mountains were fraught with danger, with steep and difficult trails, slippery from the rain, plagued by poisonous insects and miasma, and occasional landslides. In short, it was extremely risky.

Despite being a small village of just over thirty households, almost every year someone would lose their life in the mountains.

Not to mention anyone else, Ding Meixin’s father, Old Ding, had fallen off a cliff while collecting herbs in the mountain and died.

Moreover, with such treacherous roads, once the villagers faced any health emergency, they often couldn’t get medical attention in time.

Just last year, a new bride had premature labor pains. The villagers carried her to the hospital overnight, but they didn’t make it in time. Luckily, mother and child were safe, otherwise, it would have been a lifetime of regret.

Knowing such circumstances, Xu Qianli said, "Village chief, since life is so difficult here in Cuiyun Village, with inconvenient transportation and medical care, haven’t you considered moving out of the mountains?"

The village chief shook his head with a bitter smile.

"In the mountains, at least we can scrounge something to get by."

"If we leave the mountains, where will we live, what will we eat, what will we use?"

"It’s not that we haven’t thought about moving out of the mountains, but once we leave, we have no means to make a living."

Xu Qianli said, "What if I say, I can take care of it?"

"What did you say, leader, you can take care of it?"

The village chief’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Are you planning, for the sake of Old Ding’s daughter, to move all thirty-plus households of Cuiyun Village out of the mountains, and then arrange housing for us and provide us with jobs to make a living?"

Xu Qianli said, "Not just Cuiyun Village, I plan to relocate all the villagers from all the villages with difficult lives within the bounds of Qingshan Town, arrange housing for them, and find them jobs."