After the morning meeting ended, Hou Peng led a group of people to a restaurant. Although Li Xiuyuan had suggested the meal, Hou Peng couldn't let Li Xiuyuan be the good guy, and he didn't care about saving face anymore.

If it were before, he might have refused to go if he got angry, but Li Xiuyuan would have taken everyone with him if he wanted to.

But now he's not letting any opportunity slip by. If Li Xiuyuan were to go with his men, he wouldn't know how to win them over at lunch. If this goes on for a long time, everyone will only know about Mayor Li and not Mayor Hou.

So Hou Peng shamelessly followed along. He felt that with him there, although he couldn't control Li Xiuyuan, at least the others would have to be more careful and wouldn't dare to flirt with Li Xiuyuan in front of him.

Hou Peng was right. With Hou Peng around, the village cadres in the villages under his jurisdiction did become much more restrained. They didn't understand the political struggles in the town, but they knew that if the mayor was there, they would definitely flatter the mayor first, and then the deputy mayor as well.

People certainly wouldn't abandon the mayor and turn their attention to the deputy mayor.

However, this didn't matter to Li Xiuyuan. He mainly wanted to take this opportunity to get to know everyone. Of the sixteen administrative villages in the central town, excluding Meilin Village, the largest village, there were fifteen others.

Each village has an average population of several hundred.

Of course, due to economic development, the urbanization level of the central town is still very high, over 60%, with more than 30,000 people, of whom nearly 20,000 live in the central town itself.

Even so, more than 10,000 people still live in the village.

To be a good mayor of a central town, one cannot ignore these more than 10,000 people. To get in touch with these people, the first thing to do is to get in touch with the village cadres of each village and understand each village through them.

Li Xiuyuan gained a lot from lunch. He chatted with the village cadres from each village. It wouldn't be accurate to say that he became familiar with all the village cadres from these fifteen villages overnight, but at least he had an impression of them. He couldn't remember everyone's name, but he remembered most of them by their surnames or given names.

In the middle of the dinner, Shi Yufei, who came from Meilin Village for the meeting, was the one who stayed in the village to oversee the project. Shi Yufei was very straightforward and didn't approach Hou Peng at all. Meilin Village was different from other villages; they were definitely Li Xiuyuan's staunch supporters.

There's absolutely no need to worry about Hou Peng.

Hou Peng watched as Shi Yufei followed Li Xiuyuan around like a little brother, introducing this person to that person. His face darkened, but there was nothing he could do.

Meilin Village was given to Li Xiuyuan, and he no longer wanted to interfere. The problem is that Li Xiuyuan is now trying to seize his power and meddle in other matters in the town.

Normally, Hou Peng would sit for a while at these kinds of dinner parties, and leave after a few rounds of drinks and dishes. Although he was just a town mayor, he was still a big leader in the central town, which had the best economy in the county and many businesses. Hou Peng was very particular about food and drink, choosing the people and the places to eat.