Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a portly, fat man with two men arrogantly squeezing in.
"Damn it, here comes the one who got wronged."
"That bastard is here, those fishermen are going to suffer."
"Yes, they're all birds of a feather..."
A murmur arose from the crowd of onlookers.
Clearly, she had no good feelings towards this man who had suddenly appeared; in fact, she felt a sense of fear and disgust towards him.
The man's name is Zhao Dezhu, and he is the director of the fishing wharf management committee.
"Hmph, what's going on here? All this noise and commotion, what kind of behavior is this!"
Zhao Dezhu, with a condescending expression, scanned the group before finally fixing his gaze on Feng Ye and his companions, his tone clearly displeased.
Feng Ye stared back at him coldly, secretly on guard.
Judging from this, this fat-headed man probably has an unusual relationship with those thugs.
Sure enough, the leader of the thugs stepped forward and said:
"Director Zhao, that woman is too greedy. She agreed on a price, but when it came time to weigh the goods, she wanted to raise the price again... Those people are all her accomplices."
His indignant demeanor could easily be mistaken for genuine conviction by an uninformed person.
Feng Ye saw through it immediately; it was just a pretense, an excuse.
After all, it's happening in public, so even if it's fabricated, you have to come up with a plausible reason.
We can't just openly say that we want to force you to buy or sell.
"Oh, I see."
Zhao Dezhu nodded, then turned to his head and said, "That's where you're wrong."
"When it comes to buying and selling, integrity is key. Since the price has been agreed upon beforehand, how can you change your mind at the last minute?"
"And what are you all doing? Instead of helping to persuade them, you're causing trouble and disrupting the normal order of the dock. Disperse, all of you disperse."
The two of them worked together to shift all the blame onto Feng Ye and his group.
"He's lying. The person who negotiated the price with me wasn't him at all; he was the one who tried to force me to buy my fish..."
Gui Xiang said angrily, her eyes reddening, her finger trembling as she pointed at the local thug leader.
"That's enough!"
Zhao Dezhu abruptly interrupted Guixiang, a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes, "This is a fishing port, and I have a responsibility to maintain order and fairness here."
"You keep accusing others of forcing you to buy or sell, but do you have any evidence? If not, it's defamation..."
The crowd was furious, but dared not speak out.
Throughout history, the common people have never fought against the officials.
Although no one knows exactly what Director Zhao does, it's certain that he's an official, at least in the minor and major ranks.
Having lived two lives, Feng Ye was not afraid of Director Zhao. Just as he was about to step forward, he heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from the crowd.
"What an arrogant official!"
"Who? Who said that?"
Zhao Dezhu was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his eyes flashing with anger and vigilance as he tried to find the person who dared to challenge his authority.
The crowd fell silent immediately, everyone looking around, wondering which audacious fellow dared to provoke them at this moment.
"What do you want from what I said?"
A middle-aged man dressed casually walked slowly out of the crowd with a blank expression.
He was accompanied by another middle-aged man dressed similarly.
The two walked steadily through the crowd to Zhao Dezhu and stared at him.
Feng Ye was slightly taken aback, then a look of joy flashed in his eyes: "No wonder the voice sounded familiar, it was him."
He recognized both of them, one of whom was none other than Qin Aijun.
The other person who spoke was Hao Aiguo, who had gone fishing in the South China Sea with him.
"Whose pants weren't pulled up tight enough? You were let out here spouting nonsense!"
The leader of the local thugs curled his lip and mocked Hao Aiguo and the others with disdain.
His henchmen joined in the jeering, their laughter filled with provocation and contempt.
When Zhao Dezhu saw the two men's faces, his heart skipped a beat, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He slapped the thug leader across the face and said, "Shut up."
"You! How dare you hit me?"
The local thug leader stared at Zhao Dezhu in disbelief, his face covered in astonishment.
The henchmen around him fell silent instantly, and the atmosphere became extremely eerie.
Zhao Dezhu's face was so gloomy it could drip water, and he glared fiercely at the local thug leader.
He immediately changed his expression, putting on a fawning smile: "County Chief Hao, President Qin, what brings you here? You didn't even give me a heads-up so I could have come to greet you."
Upon hearing this, Feng Ye thought to himself, "Just as I thought."
He had long suspected that Hao Aiguo's identity was not simple, but he never expected that he would be the county magistrate. He just didn't know if he was the head or the deputy.
"If we didn't come, how could we see you, Director Zhao, strutting around like this?" Hao Aiguo said with a forced smile.
Qin Aijun, however, was blunt and coldly laughed, "You're just a nobody official, yet you put on such airs. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the county magistrate. Do you really think this fishing dock is your backyard?"
"County Chief Hao, General Manager Qin, you've misunderstood. I... I was just maintaining order at the dock, I..."
Zhao Dezhu's face turned pale and then red, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.
His voice trembled slightly, his eyes flickered, and he tried to explain his actions, but he was clearly not confident enough.
Hao Aiguo coldly interrupted him: "You don't need to explain to me, just wait to explain to the Discipline Inspection Commission."
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
