After receiving the whistleblower letter, Ma Tao went directly to Li Xiuyuan's office to report the matter. Li Xiuyuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "You should report this to Secretary Zhang and see what his attitude is. I think this is a bit far-fetched. How could Deputy Mayor Wang do such a thing?"

Listening to Li Xiuyuan's words, Ma Tao was unsure of Li Xiuyuan's meaning. Everyone knew about the relationship between Li Xiuyuan and Wang Zhixing. How could Li Xiuyuan speak up for Wang Zhixing?

However, he agreed with Li Xiuyuan's analysis, saying that the matter was just hearsay and had no evidence whatsoever.

Ma Tao nodded: "Okay, Li Zhen, I'll report to Secretary Zhang."

"Yes, I need to report this to the Party Secretary. This whole thing is a mess. I'm in charge of this project in Meilin Village, and I know that Deputy Mayor Wang is involved. I've talked to him, and he said it's just a cousin, and he can't control him. I was worried before that someone might spread the word and it would have a bad impact on Deputy Mayor Wang, but I didn't expect it to still get out."

“Old Ma, you’re the discipline committee member, you need to be careful. If you expand the influence, it won’t be good for Deputy Mayor Wang’s reputation…” Li Xiuyuan said to Ma Tao meaningfully.

Now that Ma Tao felt more confident, he tentatively looked at Li Xiuyuan and said, "Mayor Li, quite a few people know about this whistleblower letter, and its influence has probably already spread."

"Well, then let's keep it confined to the town and make sure it doesn't spread outside," Li Xiuyuan said earnestly.

Ma Tao nodded, understanding what to do. He took the letter of complaint to Zhang Xingguo. Upon seeing the letter, Zhang Xingguo immediately prepared to suppress it. He knew about the relationship between Wang Zhixing and Li Xiuyuan; the two were at odds. He was more than happy if Wang Zhixing could cause trouble for Li Xiuyuan.

He directly instructed Ma Tao: "It's not easy to cultivate a cadre. We can't let some unfounded rumors cause such a big fuss. Cousins ​​are cousins, and we won't resort to the practice of punishing relatives."

Ma Tao nodded. After returning from Li Xiuyuan's place, he immediately arranged for people to spread the news about the whistleblower letter. Before noon, rumors were flying all over the central town.

Some say that Wang Zhixing was unhappy because Li Xiuyuan had taken his position, so he instructed his cousins ​​to cause trouble for Li Xiuyuan in Meilin Village.

Some say that Wang Zhixing only sent his cousins ​​because he didn't get any benefits from the project in Meilin Village.

Some people say that Wang Yongde was pushed forward by Wang Zhixing, and that Wang Zhixing pocketed all the compensation he received.

Such rumors can spread very quickly if they want to.

At the same time, the county discipline inspection commission also received the news. Generally speaking, the discipline inspection commission would not take action against such a letter of complaint without substantial evidence. However, since Wang Zhixing was involved in a key project of the county, it was taken very seriously. The complaint was reported up the chain of command, and finally, the letter of complaint was submitted to Secretary Song of the discipline inspection commission.

Seeing that it involved the central town, Song Huai'an did not take it lightly. The central town had an accident last year, and this year it was because of the Meilin Village project. It was something that needed to be taken seriously.

After a meeting, it was decided to send an investigation team to the central town to find out the specific situation.

The investigation team had barely been formed and hadn't even set off yet when all sorts of rumors started circulating.