"Oh, Director Lei, how did the money get transferred? I explained it clearly, how could there be a mistake?" Hou Peng asked again.
Lei Yi showed a puzzled expression at this time: "Mayor Hou, what's wrong? There is nothing wrong. You signed the document to pay the overdue teachers' salaries and overdue education funds, and I arranged for them to be paid. There is nothing wrong. Everything is in accordance with the procedures. There is no problem."
"Director Lei, your words are meaningless. What I mean is that this money should be diverted from the project funds of the New Rural Demonstration Village, not from the township treasury."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mayor. This is my question. I thought you were talking about taking it from the township finances. It has always been like this before..."
Hou Peng's heart began to sink as he watched Lei Yi's somewhat clumsy performance, but he still held onto a last glimmer of hope: "Okay, then, let's allocate some money from the funds allocated for the construction of the New Rural Demonstration Village to fill this hole..."
Lei Yi shook his head without a second thought. "Mayor, this is really unacceptable. At noon, our director called and said that the project funds for Meilin Village must be used for their designated purpose and must not be misappropriated for any reason."
Hou Peng's face turned completely gloomy, and he stared at Lei Yi with anger overflowing from his eyes. Lei Yi did not avoid it at all and met Hou Peng's gaze. I'm sorry, Mayor Hou, but it's because Xiuyuan has a good relationship with our director.
Wang Zhiyi, who was standing by, watched the scene in front of him, his eyes moving between Hou Peng and Lei Yi, with a look of inexplicable meaning. Hou Peng was about to lose control of his finances.
If a mayor loses his financial power, what else does he have? Is he still a mayor?
"Lei Yi, we have been together for such a long time. For the sake of our past relationship, please tell me the truth and I won't make things difficult for you." Hou Peng finally spoke again, but his tone softened.
Lei Yi finally sighed, looked at Hou Peng and said, "Mayor Hou, since you said so, then I will tell you the truth. Our Director Shao has a very good relationship with Deputy Mayor Li. He has already told me that we must support Mayor Li's work in the central town, so the rest is easy to discuss.
The funds for Meilin Village must be earmarked for their intended purpose. Without the signature of the deputy mayor, we won't allocate a single cent."
Lei Yi's words were direct and straightforward, making his attitude clear: he supported Xiuyuan.
Moreover, this was not only his own idea, but also the idea of the Finance Bureau. If Lei Yi and Xiuyuan had a good personal relationship, they could think of a way to get rid of Lei Yi and replace him with someone else as the director of the Finance Bureau.
He is the mayor. If he really forcefully proposes to replace the director, and he doesn't get along with the director, he might punish Lei Yi. But the problem now is not that Lei Yi and Li Xiuyuan are close, but that the Finance Bureau and Li Xiuyuan are close. Even if you replace the director, the people who come back will still support Li Xiuyuan.
Unless he could replace the director of the Finance Bureau, but was that possible? The two were of equal rank, and the director of the Finance Bureau was even more powerful than him. As the county's god of wealth and the county magistrate's confidant...
At this moment, Hou Peng could feel the feeling of powerlessness that Zhang Xingguo had felt when he appeared in the meeting room of the county government office in the morning.
Xiuyuan's background is really strong. Everyone knows that he was a county magistrate's secretary. However, this county magistrate's secretary really has too many advantages. It is really hard to offend him. At this moment, Hou Peng felt powerless facing Xiuyuan.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
