Chapter 151: I Have Arrived (Part 1)

Chapter 151: I Have Arrived (Part 1)

Here is the second update. It was supposed to be earlier, but I took a nap at noon and woke up at 4:30 PM. Sigh, if only humans didn’t need sleep. Enough chatter; the third update will be a bit later.

Having just dealt with the late-night burial incident in Xingping Village, another case arose in Shangqinglin: a family refusing to pay fees and insisting on a traditional earth burial. Qin Dajiang had gone to do the persuasion work, so the family had temporarily held off on the burial. Hou Weidong led a team to continue the negotiations, promising the son a job working at the Dog’s Back Bend site. This finally convinced the parties involved, completing one more cremation task.

On the way down the mountain, Hou Weidong was exhausted. Sitting in the car, he uttered only one sentence: “Three people died in two days. Are we allowed to live or not?” Su Yajun, also in the car, felt a pang of heartache. “In just three days, we’ve spent over ten thousand yuan on labor costs alone. How is the Social Affairs Office supposed to survive the rest of the year?”

However, their bitterness and fatigue were inevitable. With a population of nearly thirty thousand in Qinglin Town, statistically, there were births and deaths every day. Family planning still needed to be enforced, and the funeral reform had to continue its push forward.

It was late April, approaching the May Fourth Youth Day. Guan Xiao, the Secretary of the Town Youth League Committee, invited Hou Weidong, who had not yet reached the age for leaving the League, to participate in a Youth League activity: a trip to Shazhou.

Guan Xiao had an outgoing personality. He smiled as soon as he spoke, blinking his eyes with a very sincere attitude.

Hou Weidong forced a bitter smile. “Where do I have the time to travel? I’m on edge every day, terrified that the phone will ring.”

Guan Xiao had participated in several of these operations, though he was merely going along with the flow. His heart was more focused on how to make the Town Youth League’s work stand out. He reported, “Township Mayor Hou, I have something to report to you. Our Youth League is poor and empty-handed. This trip to Shazhou is for study purposes, but we’re hoping to scrape together some funds from the Social Affairs Office. We’re requesting your support.”

Hou Weidong laughed. “Inviting me to a Youth League activity is a pretext; wanting me to bleed money is the truth.”

Guan Xiao just smiled. “Township Mayor Hou is a role model for our League members. Last time, you said that every branch secretary should establish a tangible entity for the Youth League to have prestige. I think that makes a lot of sense. This time, I’m taking the branch secretaries to visit Shazhou’s largest youth entrepreneurship base. After we return, we’ll hold discussions and implement plans step by step.”

Guan Xiao was also a graduate of Shazhou College, one year behind Hou Weidong. He was well-liked in the town. During the recent Youth League leadership change, he became the new Secretary. He was luckier than Hou Weidong; upon arrival, he was assigned to the broadcasting station and participated actively in town activities, which led to his appointment.

“I’ll give Director Su a heads-up. As for how much, you can discuss it with Director Su yourself.”

Guan Xiao left, overjoyed.

Hou Weidong sat in his office for a while. Then, Su Yajun appeared at the office door again. Hou Weidong’s heart jumped to his throat. But this time, Su Yajun was beaming with a smile. He entered and delivered good news: “Township Mayor Hou, I have good news. I just received a call from Secretary Tang of Jianshan Village. Someone passed away in their village, and the family agreed to pay the fees. The money has already been handed over to Secretary Tang.”

Hou Weidong patted his chest and said, “Seeing you walk in scared me to death. If this keeps up, I’ll turn into a riot police officer.”

Su Yajun, lost in his own joy, said, “After a few more operations, the Social Affairs Office will be left with nothing but our pants. We’ve spent over ten thousand yuan on three operations, but finally, the money is starting to flow back.”

Hou Weidong had been closely monitoring the funeral reform these past few days. He had mentally prepared himself for several more tough battles. Hearing this good news, his mood instantly relaxed. “Everything is hard at the beginning. We’ve finally made a good start.”

After Su Yajun left, Hou Weidong continued to savor this hard-won victory. He noticed Su Ming’s figure flashing past the door and wanted to go share the good news with him. But as he stepped out, he saw Su Ming had already slipped into Zhao Yongsheng’s office. Unable to contain his excitement, Hou Weidong walked briskly toward Zhao Yongsheng’s office.

Zhao Yongsheng’s office was at the far eastern end, while Su Ming’s was at the far western end. This layout had been established by Zhao and Qin in the past, and Su Ming had naturally inherited it upon taking over.

Hou Weidong walked quickly past Liu Kun’s door. In his peripheral vision, he saw Liu Kun reading a newspaper with intense focus. He slowed his pace, thinking to himself, “The couplet in Zhao Yongsheng’s office is well-written: ‘When facing major events, maintain calmness.’ Why am I so excited? It’s too unstable.”

Just as he reached the door, he heard Su Ming’s voice coming from inside. “I believe Township Mayor Hou’s viewpoint has its merits. Currently, there are nearly a hundred elderly people in Xiaqinglin receiving five-guarantee support. If we rebuild on the original site, it can accommodate at most forty people, and there will be no space for activities. Moreover, Deputy Director Li Wenlong of the Civil Affairs Bureau has already agreed in principle to the new plan.”

Hearing Su Ming mention his name, Hou Weidong instinctively stopped. Seeing no one around, he stood outside and listened in.

Zhao Yongsheng seemed somewhat displeased. “Hou Weidong has strong execution abilities, but his tenure is too short, and he doesn’t understand the rules. Reporting such a major matter without going through the Party Committee is acting on his own. He is putting us in a difficult position.”

Su Ming said, “Hou Weidong is willing to get things done, which deserves encouragement. Although his methods were incorrect, we can educate him gradually. However, the new location for the nursing home is indeed good.”

Hou Weidong quickly and quietly retreated. He knew Su Ming was using a roundabout way to persuade Zhao Yongsheng, but hearing Su Ming’s words still made him feel uncomfortable. The matter of reporting to the Civil Affairs Bureau had actually been handled by Su Ming.

He sat back in his office and let out a bitter laugh, thinking, “Why do I feel like a pawn that has crossed the river?” The longer he sat in the office, the more irritable he became. Hou Weidong went downstairs to the Social Affairs Office. Laughter was continuous inside. Zeng Qiang was teasing Cheng Yilin with jokes that were sufficiently vulgar, provoking a strong counterattack from Cheng Yilin.

After greeting Zeng Qiang, he returned to the Grain Station.

There were more people at the Grain Station than usual today. Station Master Liang’s office door was open. Hou Weidong went over to greet him, chatted for a few sentences, and then returned to the single-story house in the backyard.

Old Xing was wearing glasses, holding a pruning knife, and trimming a bonsai. His bonsai was unique; most used withered, decaying tree trunks as the main body. Although the main trunk was decayed, with various hollows in the wood, the edges of the trunk were still lush with branches and leaves. The roots exposed outside the soil gave the impression of dead wood meeting spring, conveying a sense of prosperity.

He was fully concentrated and did not notice Hou Weidong standing behind him. Turning his head inadvertently, he saw Hou Weidong and said, “Why are you standing silently behind me? You scared me.”

“I saw you were so focused and didn’t have the heart to disturb you.”

Old Xing put down the pruning knife, clapped his hands, and remarked, “Township Mayor Hou is a man of true temperament.”

In Hou Weidong’s mind, Old Xing was an eccentric who had not achieved his ambitions. But seeing him today, his language was peaceful, even hinting at the style of a hermit. Hou Weidong said, “I am a man of true temperament? How can you tell?”

“I heard from Old Yin yesterday that you are in charge of the town’s sanitation, right?” Old Xing squatted down to pick off a withered leaf and continued, “Cleaning the town streets is not rare, and planting avenue trees is normal. But planting osmanthus trees along the sidewalks of such a remote small town is not something an ordinary town government official would do. Without true temperament, one wouldn’t think of planting osmanthus.”

Hou Weidong laughed. “What does that count as true temperament? Qinglin Mountain has so many osmanthus trees. Not utilizing them would be a waste. I am a utilitarian.”

“I am also an old Qinglin resident. In these dozens of square kilometers of Shangqinglin and Xiaqinglin, only two people love osmanthus trees the most. One is Tie Bingsheng from Shangqinglin School, and the other is you.” Old Xing rolled his eyes several times and said, “If I didn’t know you liked planting trees, I wouldn’t bother with you.”

Hou Weidong finally understood. No wonder Old Xing’s attitude was so good; it was because of the osmanthus trees. A background introduced by Yang Feng flashed through his mind: “Old Xing was formerly the Deputy Director of the Grain Bureau. He was sent down to the Qinglin Grain Station due to conduct issues.” Thinking of this background, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He thought, “Old Xing is truly a man of temperament. To have conduct issues in that era.”

After chatting idly with Old Xing for a few sentences, he returned to his room, opened the windows and doors to air out the dampness. In the corner of the room, a wooden box contained quicklime, prepared by Zeng Qiang from the Social Affairs Office to absorb moisture.

Hou Weidong still felt a lump of stifling anger in his heart. He turned on the television and sat on the bed watching for a while, but his mind gradually drifted away. Currently, he faced three choices: transferring to work in Shazhou, transferring to the Development Zone, or staying in Qinglin Town. Each choice had its pros and cons.

Transferring to Shazhou: Liu Xiaoyang had already agreed to this. As long as he could pull Su Mingjun in and do some work, there should be no major problem. The downside was that after transferring to Shazhou, he would have to abandon all the connections he had built in Qinglin Town. Everything would have to start from scratch, and all relationships would need to be rebuilt. The upside was that the Shazhou Economic and Technological Development Zone held a very important position, incomparable to Qinglin Town. If he could develop himself in the Development Zone, his future prospects would be limitless.

Transferring to the Yiyang Development Zone: Qin Feiyue was the top leader in the Development Zone and could transfer him over at any time. The downside was that his position as Deputy Township Mayor had been obtained through a loophole, and the Organization Department had reservations about it. If he transferred, he definitely wouldn’t become a deputy leader in the Development Zone; he would have to start from the secondary leadership team or even as a general cadre. The upside was that Qin Feiyue was the boss of the Development Zone. He would receive attention, and the probability of promotion was higher.

Staying in Qinglin Town to continue working hard: The downside was that from the snippets he had overheard just now, Hou Weidong realized that Zhao Yongsheng still held prejudices, and Su Ming was not necessarily reliable. In the town, he was merely a vanguard. Even if he worked hard for three years, whether he could retain his position as Deputy Township Mayor in the next leadership change was still unknown. As for public prestige and such, they were but fleeting clouds. The upside was that staying in Qinglin Town allowed him to directly manage the Shangqinglin Crushed Stone Plant and the Xingping Village Bluestone Quarry. The scale of highway construction in 1996 was enormous, and he should be able to make a good profit.

These three thoughts spun around in his head. Hou Weidong had not previously taken the time to fully consider this major question of where to go. Now, having paused from the intense struggle, the question suddenly burst forth.

“Stay in Qinglin Town for another year. Wait until the highway is completed, then transfer to the Shazhou Economic and Technological Development Zone.” Hou Weidong thought of an incomplete famous quote: “What is the Development Zone? I came, I saw, I conquered.”