Is your village chief here?
"No, he went out."
Did they say where they were going?
"It seems they have something to do and need to go to Hezibao."
Upon receiving the call from the city, the poverty alleviation office staff stationed in Hongshan Town immediately rushed to various villages.
Despite their haste, it seemed they were still a step too late. The village chiefs, village party secretaries, and other influential figures from all six villages were nowhere to be found! They had all gone to Hezibao!
Before they could ask for more information, the staff member sped off on his bicycle, leaving a trail of afterimages, heading straight for Hezibao. They could see the Hezibao village branch office in the distance, but before they even got close, they heard a loud argument.
The cacophony of voices rose and fell, one after another, making it impossible to discern the content of the argument, but one could sense the immense anger contained within the voices.
It seems the operator's guess was correct; Secretary Li is indeed in trouble!
After hurriedly sending a message to his colleagues, the staff member, disregarding that he was alone, rushed up to the second floor, slammed open the half-closed door, and the loud 'bang' as the door hit the wall completely drowned out the arguing inside.
"What are you doing!" the staff member shouted before they could even catch their breath. "This decision was made by our poverty alleviation office. If you're not satisfied, then..."
Um?
Secretary Li stood unharmed in the center of the room, his clothes clean and spotless, a slight smile on his refined, fair face. In contrast, the leaders from several other villages stood nearby, their clothes disheveled, their exposed arms bruised and battered, and several loose buttons lying on the floor.
What's going on?
Surely it couldn't be that Secretary Li single-handedly defeated all six of them, could it?
Cough cough ————
After clearing his throat twice to ease the awkwardness, the staff member waved to Secretary Li: "Secretary Li, could you please come out with me for a moment? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Okay!"
Li Sixin nodded blankly and was about to put the box on the table when he seemed to remember something. He carefully held the box in his stomach, stuffed the stack of blank slips of paper on the table into his pocket, and then followed the staff out.
"Secretary Li, are you encountering any difficulties in your work that you can't solve on your own and that require assistance?"
After thinking seriously for a moment, Li Sixin nodded solemnly: "We have indeed encountered a problem that Hezibao alone cannot solve."
Could you elaborate?
"The roads are not very smooth, and transportation is inconvenient, making it difficult to transport some materials and equipment. Many villagers' houses were built at the beginning of the last century and are already considered extremely dangerous, posing a great risk to residents."
At first, the staff listened attentively, but as they listened, they realized something was wrong. The issues that Secretary Li was raising seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of their visit today!
"And that too?"
Seeing that Li Sixin was about to continue, the staff member quickly interrupted, "Secretary Li, I mean, have you encountered any difficulties in your work recently?"
"The work lately!" Li Sixin pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "There have indeed been difficulties, but everyone in Hezibao has been very cooperative."
"Secretary Li, I mean, have you encountered any difficulties in your recent cooperation with Xu's Catering?" The staff member tried to steer the conversation back on track.
"Of course not. Mr. Xu is very kind and considerate in every aspect. The cooperation has been quite pleasant."
The staff member was unsure whether Li Sixin genuinely didn't understand what he meant, or if he understood but was too intimidated to respond. So, he decided to stop beating around the bush and state his purpose directly.
"Secretary Li, we have a detailed understanding of the situation in Hezibao." The staff member recounted the key points from the meeting to Li Sixin: "As long as you focus on cooperating with Xu's Catering, the rest will be handled by our poverty alleviation office!"
His words were incredibly moving, but instead of the expected gratitude on Li Sixin's face, he saw a hint of panic.
"Do you have a black pen on you?" Li Sixin asked, rummaging through his pockets with both hands, but finding nothing, which made him even more anxious.
"No!" The staff member searched around for a while and finally found a black pen refill in the back pocket: "Only the refill, no pen barrel."
"That's enough!"
Li Sixin grabbed the black pen refill, squatted down, and opened and crumpled up the crumpled papers in the box one by one. Finally, he took out a crumpled paper, tore it into pieces, and buried it in the soil.
He then took out the blank piece of paper he had just grabbed from his pocket, wrote a large "中" (zhong, meaning "middle") on it, crumpled it into a ball, and mixed it into another ball of paper, making it look completely normal.
After completing the operation, Li Sixin breathed a sigh of relief and stood up again, a look of joy finally appearing on his face.
"Thank you so much! With the poverty alleviation office here, I have no worries and can work hard without any worries!" Li Sixin shook the staff member's hand vigorously.
These words were not insincere or flattering, but a genuine expression of gratitude.
With the poverty alleviation office's intervention, I no longer need to worry about other villages sabotaging me behind my back, and I can proceed with my work with peace of mind.
The two then returned to their room, while the others continued to argue about who should draw first and who should draw last.
Cough cough ————
Li Sixin cleared his throat deliberately and forcefully, and taking advantage of the moment when everyone stopped arguing and looked at him, he said loudly, "This is a staff member from the Poverty Alleviation Office. He will witness our lottery results!"
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