Secretary Wen nodded, turned around, and glared at Shi Jixing: "Shi Jixing, do you know your crime?"
Shi Jixing's heart skipped a beat. He sensed something was wrong and quickly protested, "Secretary Wen, what...what do you mean? I...I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Didn't do anything wrong?" Secretary Wen sneered. "You arbitrarily assigned vegetable market stalls and even used that to accept gifts. You still dare to say you didn't do anything wrong?"
Shi Jixing's face turned deathly pale. He hadn't expected Secretary Wen to know everything. He hurriedly tried to deny it, saying, "Secretary Wen, you...you mustn't believe these rumors! I...I've always done business according to the rules, and I've never cheated anyone!"
"Still dare to argue!" Secretary Wen angrily rebuked, "You've disrupted the entire vegetable market, causing other vendors to be unable to sell their produce, and you still have the nerve to say you haven't done anything wrong?"
Shi Jixing's eyes darted around, and he quickly turned his attention to Xu Kuo: "Secretary Wen, you...you must have misunderstood, right? The one who's really disrupting market order isn't me, it's Xu Kuo! He takes advantage of growing some vegetables and sets up a stall at the entrance of the vegetable market, stealing all our business! He even deceives customers, saying that his vegetables are organic and selling them for several times the price of ours. Isn't that cheating people?"
Upon hearing this, the old man became furious: "You're talking nonsense! Their food is clearly better than yours, and the price is fair. You're just slandering me!"
Shi Jixing snorted coldly, turned his head and glared at the old man: "Old man, if you dare to talk nonsense again, believe me, I'll tear your mouth apart?"
Secretary Wen flew into a rage: "Shi Jixing! How dare you threaten an old man! This is utterly lawless!"
Seeing that Secretary Wen was truly angry, Shi Jixing became even more flustered. He couldn't understand why Secretary Wen would target him like this for the sake of a poor vegetable vendor and an old man from the countryside.
"This senior is an honored soldier who participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan. He shed blood for the country and made meritorious contributions. How dare you disrespect him?" Secretary Wen's voice was as cold as frost.
“And then there’s Xu Kuo,” he pointed at Xu Kuo, “He earns his own living, works hard, and provides fresh vegetables for the people, yet you obstruct him in every way and maliciously slander him. It’s utterly shameless!”
Shi Jixing was completely dumbfounded. He never expected that the ragged old man was actually a veteran!
"Oppressing the masses and bullying the market, what face do you have, you black sheep!" Secretary Wen was furious, spitting out each word.
Shi Jixing was so frightened that his legs went weak, and cold sweat rolled down his forehead like raindrops. This was a terrible crime, and he could not bear it!
Beads of sweat rolled down Shi Jixing's forehead. He hurriedly turned to the old man and bowed deeply. "Grandpa, I'm sorry, I... I was blind to your greatness. Please forgive me this time!"
The old man snorted coldly, turned his back, and didn't even glance at Shi Jixing.
The old man pointed at Xu Kuo and said in a loud voice, "You oppress the people and slander good people. Do you think you deserve my forgiveness? If you want to apologize, you should apologize to this young man!"
Shi Jixing felt a rush of heat to his head, his face turning as red as a pig's liver. But in this situation, he had no choice but to lower his head.
Shi Jixing gritted his teeth, enduring the humiliation, and moved step by step to Xu Kuo. He lowered his head and his voice was so low that it was like a mosquito's hum: "Xu...Xu Kuo, I...I'm sorry, I was wrong before, I...I apologize to you."
Xu Kuo had a faint smile on his face, his hands in his pockets, looking nonchalant: "Oh dear, Secretary Shi, what are you doing? I can't accept this. But, to err is human, to forgive divine. You've become sensible now."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The surrounding customers could no longer contain themselves and burst into laughter.
"This kid is really interesting!"
"Shi Jixing has finally met his end! It's truly gratifying!"
"Serves him right! He bullies ordinary people all the time and slanders good people!"
People were talking all at once, their words filled with praise for Xu Kuo and contempt for Shi Jixing.
Shi Jixing wished he could disappear into the ground. He had never been so humiliated in his life! With his head down, he mumbled something to Secretary Wen and then dashed out of the market, his back view showing how utterly disheveled he looked.
Xu Kuo watched Shi Jixing's retreating figure and felt a surge of satisfaction. He turned around and bowed deeply to the old man: "Grandpa, thank you! If it weren't for your help, I don't know how long this guy would have kept bothering me."
The old man waved his hand, a kind smile on his face: "Young man, no need to thank me. If you hadn't kindly served me the food, I wouldn't have done it. It's all what I deserve. By the way, I still don't know your name."
"Grandpa, my name is Xu Kuo."
“Xu Kuo…a good name!” The old man nodded. “My name is Chen Baoguo.”
"Chen Baoguo..." Xu Kuo murmured the name in his heart, feeling that the name exuded a sense of righteousness. He took out a few fresh vegetables from the basket and insisted on putting them in the old man's hands, "Uncle Chen, these are vegetables I grew myself, please take them home and try them."
"This...this is too much trouble," Chen Baoguo declined.
"Take it, sir! Don't be so polite with me!" Xu Kuo insisted.
"This young man is really good!"
"Yes, she's both kind and principled!"
"Grandpa Chen helped him so much, he's just being grateful!"
The surrounding customers all praised Xu Kuo.
Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Chen Baoguo had no choice but to accept the vegetables, thanked him repeatedly, and then left the market.
Secretary Wen stood quietly to the side, observing everything. Her admiration for Xu Kuo grew even stronger. This young man not only possessed courage and decisiveness, but also a kind heart.
"Xu Kuo, I'm sorry to have troubled you with today's events," Secretary Wen said softly as he walked up to Xu Kuo.
"It's nothing, it just happened to help me solve a problem," Xu Kuo replied modestly.
Secretary Wen paused for a moment, then said, "This old man is a retired soldier with military merits. He was originally supposed to receive preferential treatment, but he asked me to give it to you. I will consider it carefully when I get back and give you a good treatment."
Xu Kuo wanted to refuse, but Secretary Wen didn't give him the chance.
She said goodbye to Xu Kuo and turned to leave.
In the market, the other vendors looked at Xu Kuo with eyes full of jealousy and resentment.
"Pah! What a load of rubbish! He just got lucky and managed to get on the good side of Secretary Wen."
"Just wait and see, he'll be crying sooner or later!"
"This kind of person deserves a terrible death!"
They lowered their voices and cursed viciously, but dared not let Xu Kuo hear them.
Xu Kuo ignored their curses. He glanced at the empty vegetable basket, satisfied. "Well done today!" he thought. He called to Niu Erbao, "Erbao, pack up!"
The two packed their things and were preparing to leave.
Suddenly, Shi Jixing returned and blocked Xu Kuo's way.
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