Chapter 228
The first fun of the year 1974 was brought by Deputy Director Zhao.
On the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the atmosphere in many offices in the Municipal Revolutionary Committee building became unusually lively, with cadres secretly exchanging gossip.
Zhao Xiaohui walked out of the publicity office carrying a thermos bottle and whispered, "Is what's on the big-character poster true?"
"Who knows?" Shao Ting whispered, holding another thermos. "There's no smoke without fire. He does have a son-in-law who works at the Grain Bureau..."
The cadres of the agency saw the big-character poster on the bulletin board at the door early in the morning. The content of the poster was mainly directed at Deputy Director Zhao, saying that he instructed his two sons-in-law to resell diesel tickets.
Diesel is a scarce commodity, and cars must have tickets to refuel.
You can imagine how valuable the diesel ticket is.
"I heard there were big-character posters posted outside the Grain Bureau as well," Zhao Xiaohui muttered. "That's pretty swift action! They've put so much effort into reporting him, they probably already have the key evidence."
"Who do you think the whistleblower is?" Shao Ting's tone was filled with excitement. "The office sent someone to ask the security guard on duty last night, and he said the poster was put up this morning before work."
"Did the guard see the man?"
"I saw him. It was a man, but he was wearing a cotton-padded jacket and a hat, so I couldn't see his face clearly. When he went to post the big-character posters, the security guard didn't pay any attention. Mainly because he didn't look like someone who would do anything bad. He carried a bucket of paste and a brush, and spent a long time measuring in front of the bulletin board before slowly putting up three big-character posters. The security guard thought it was a notice from the office and didn't take it seriously at all."
Zhao Xiaohui couldn't help but smile and said, "Those three big-character posters are indeed posted neatly and neatly, with all the corners aligned."
Shao Ting also laughed. "Big-character posters have been posted here and at the Grain Bureau. It's caused quite a stir. I heard the leaders have already called the Grain Bureau."
"Wang Zaofu was mentioned on the big-character poster," Zhao Xiaohui sighed. "He's been implicated by his father-in-law and brother-in-law, right?"
Wang Zaofu used to be a colleague in their publicity group, and he developed very well after being transferred to Shuguang Factory.
The Shuguang Factory is well-known throughout the city for its good performance. I heard that it will soon be able to mass-produce televisions.
If this momentum continues, it won’t be long before Wang Zaofu becomes the head of Shuguang Factory.
However, this time both my father-in-law and brother-in-law got into trouble, and I wonder if Wang Zaofu will be implicated.
Shao Ting walked into the boiler room carrying a thermos and said softly, "It depends on how the leaders handle it. I guess someone from the Grain Bureau has already arrived by now."
The big-character poster was posted at the door for more than an hour before it was taken down. Most people in the office saw or heard about it.
It is impossible to suppress the matter with such a huge impact on public opinion. Even if it is to clear Deputy Director Zhao's name, we have to investigate the matter of the diesel ticket.
When rumors were flying around the office, Director Song of the Grain Bureau had already been summoned to the Revolutionary Committee by a phone call from his leader.
In front of a group of leaders, he certainly could not admit that there was any infringement of farmers' interests in the bureau.
"Big-character posters can't be used as evidence. The diesel coupons issued by the bureau were specifically awarded to rural production teams. As long as they exceeded their unified grain purchase quota, we would give them a certain amount of diesel coupon subsidies based on the amount of excess. As far as I know, all the rewards were distributed to the counties and communes before New Year's Day."
The Grain Bureau will apply for diesel quotas from oil companies and reward them to advanced production teams.
This indicator is usually higher than what is actually needed to prepare for emergencies.
Director Song suspected that the resale reported in the big-character poster might be the spare diesel tickets.
But before he could figure out the situation, he was called to the Revolutionary Committee. He didn't dare to guarantee Lu Minghao, so he could only be vague and talk about the superficial situation.
Deputy Director Zhou frowned and said, "Before New Year's Day, a large number of production teams received bonus diesel coupons. Could the big-character poster refer to these diesel coupons that flowed back from the countryside to the city? The poster is vague and doesn't provide any key evidence. If you can convict someone based solely on a big-character poster, that's ridiculous."
Hearing this, everyone else lowered their eyes and remained silent.
Zhou and Zhao have always stood on the same side. As the person involved, Deputy Director Zhao is not in a position to defend himself, so what Deputy Director Zhou said is roughly equivalent to his attitude.
No one said that a conviction should be made based on a big-character poster, so we have to organize people to investigate.
When everyone was thinking about different things, someone knocked on the door of the conference room.
Ye Manzhi, sweating profusely, was brought in by his secretary.
As soon as Ye Manzhi entered the room, she said anxiously, "I'm so sorry, leaders. Our Shuguang Factory is located in the suburbs. I'm late even though I rushed."
"It's okay, just find a seat and sit down first." Peng Jingyun, deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee, raised his chin towards the empty seat.
"I won't sit down. I'm here to make a self-criticism on behalf of Shuguang Factory." Ye Manzhi placed the folded big-character poster on the nearest table. "Someone posted a big-character poster in the factory this morning. When the city called me, I was checking the factory's accounts based on the report."
"Oh," Peng Jingyun asked, "What did you find out?"
"It's too short a time, so we haven't found anything yet," Ye Manzhi said stiffly. "Shuguang Factory has been doing a lot of transportation business in recent years, and diesel is running low. So every month, we have to exchange diesel tickets with our sister companies. This exchange of diesel tickets happens in every factory, and since everyone uses universal diesel tickets, the factory Party Committee didn't pay enough attention. We didn't expect diesel tickets issued by the Grain Bureau to appear in the factory this time."
Peng Jingyun seized the key point and asked, "Does your factory have diesel coupons issued by the Grain Bureau?"
Ye Manzhi seemed eager to defend the factory, and spoke quickly, "We really didn't intend to infringe on the farmers' interests. We paid for these diesel tickets, so it can't be considered as infringement, right?"
She didn't look at the reactions of other leaders. She rummaged through the pockets of her cotton-padded jacket, took out a stack of diesel tickets, and put them all on the table.
"I have collected the diesel tickets that the factory has not used yet. If the Grain Bureau wants to recycle them, we are willing to hand them over."
He looked cautious, as if he was afraid of being held accountable by his superiors.
Peng Jingyun was closest to her and took the diesel ticket to look at it first. He asked in surprise, "So many?"
"It's not bad. We fill up 50 liters every time. These tickets look like a lot, but they're actually all in smaller denominations, only a little over 100 liters in total," Ye Manzhi explained. "Last month, we had fewer transport missions, so we had a few diesel tickets left over, and I collected this month's unused ones. So, adding up the two months' worth, it looks like a lot."
In fact, only a few of the diesel tickets from the Grain Bureau were used by Master Xu last month, and the rest were all exchanged by Ye Manyi for general diesel tickets.
There are more than 20 to 30 small-denomination oil coupons for two months, which are very visually impactful.
Who would believe that this was exchanged from a rural production team?
Peng Jingyun asked: "Where did these diesel tickets come from?"
"Deputy Director Wang Zaofu is in charge of transportation operations. He's been the one who's managed to get the fuel coupons for the factory over the past few years," Ye Manzhi said, pretending to defend Wang Zaofu. "Director Wang has been in charge for two or three years. Previously, we'd been using general diesel coupons. According to the fleet drivers, they've only been using fuel coupons from the Grain Bureau in the last few months."
"Where did Wang Zaofu get the diesel tickets?" Peng Jingyun asked.
Ye Manzhi glanced at Deputy Director Zhao, whose face was as gloomy as water, and said awkwardly, "Wang Zaofu is right outside the conference room. Why don't we let him in to talk?"
"Wang Zaofu is here too?"
Ye Manzhi was stunned and said, "When the Municipal Party Committee called us to notify us, didn't they ask us to come to the city together? That's what our comrades in the factory office said."
The person who called the factory only asked Ye Manzhi to come to the city and did not require Wang Zaofu to be present, but who would care about these things at this time!
Most people would like to see Wang Zaofu, one of the parties involved, explain himself in person.
Of course, the ones who don't want to see Wang Zaofu here are Deputy Director Zhao and Director Song from the Grain Bureau.
The Revolutionary Committee organized a meeting shortly after the big-character poster was posted, so Deputy Director Zhao did not have time to communicate with his two sons-in-law.
Director Song's situation was similar to his, so in order to prevent an uncontrollable chaos, he did not bring the person involved, Lu Minghao, to the Municipal Party Committee.
However, Ye Manzhi had already done this, so how could she possibly leave them time to collude with each other?
If she didn't take advantage of the opportunity to catch them off guard and prove their guilt, it would be even more difficult for her to find another opportunity to bring down the father-in-law and son-in-law.
As soon as she received the notice from the Municipal Party Committee, she lied to Wang Zaofu without blinking.
"The leader asked us to go to the city immediately. Director Wang, let's go now."
Wang Zaofu was still immersed in the festive atmosphere of the New Year yesterday, but this morning someone posted a big-character poster on him. The incident was so unexpected, like being hit hard in the face with a stick, and he was unable to recover for a long time.
He was afraid of his father-in-law, and after messing up, he instinctively didn't dare to call Deputy Director Zhao. So in the limited time he had, he first called his brother-in-law Lu Minghao.
Unfortunately, Lu Minghao was also busy dealing with the big-character poster and was not in the office at the time, so the call was answered by his colleague.
Wang Zaofu hesitated for a while, then picked up the receiver again, intending to call his father-in-law.
Then that damned woman Miao Sufen ran in and yelled, "Director Wang, what are you still hesitating about? The driver's already honking downstairs. Hurry up and get going! I have a meeting in the city today!"
"I'm not going. You guys go first."
Wang Zaofu didn't want to go to the city to meet the leaders before he had reconciled his testimony with his father-in-law and brother-in-law.
Ye Manzhi followed in and said gently, "Director Wang, although the diesel tickets from the Grain Bureau are a bit special, they were purchased by our factory with real money. Just explain it clearly to the leadership. Big-character posters can't convict people, so don't feel burdened."
Miao Sufen tutted and said, "Wang Zaofu, are you still a man? What's so great about having big-character posters posted on you? Director Ye and I were also posted big-character posters a few years ago, and we're still fine! What are you afraid of? As long as you behave properly, no one can do anything to you! Get out of here!"
Tian Chunshan heard the commotion and ran over to say, "It's okay, Director Wang. Everyone has seen your contribution to the fleet. The big-character poster is nothing. Just go to the city government and explain it to the leaders!"
"Right," Huang He echoed, "Explain it clearly as soon as possible to minimize the impact on you and our factory!"
Wang Zaofu was put in a difficult position by these people, unable to move forward or backward. There were so many people watching him in the factory, and if he didn't go, he would inevitably appear guilty.
He had no choice but to force a smile and followed Ye Manzhi and Miao Sufen into the truck heading to the Municipal Party Committee.
However, when he was brought in front of a group of city leaders and saw his father-in-law sitting among them, Wang Zaofu felt so regretful that his intestines turned greener than his father-in-law's face.
Shouldn't have come!
Peng Jingyun asked on behalf of everyone: "Comrade Wang Zaofu, did you get these diesel tickets for the factory?"
"Yes." Wang Zaofu said stubbornly, "I exchanged it with the production team."
"Which production team can get you so many diesel tickets?"
Wang Zaofu was quick-witted. He lowered his head and said, "I can apologize to the organization for this matter. The factory urgently needs diesel, and I can't find the universal fuel coupons. I had no choice but to buy diesel coupons from the production team on the black market."
"Shuguang Factory has been using diesel coupons issued by the Grain Bureau for several months. You must have come into contact with people on the black market more than once, right?" Peng Jingyun said. "Where is that person operating? What does he look like? Let's send a public security officer to verify it."
Wang Zaofu remained calm, his lie becoming increasingly fluent. "It's rare to come across so many diesel coupons. Diesel coupons have no expiration date, so I bought them for several months at a time."
Peng Jingyun looked at Ye Manzhi and asked, "Since which month did your factory start using the diesel tickets from the Grain Bureau?"
"According to the fleet, it started being used in October last year."
Peng Jingyun then asked Wang Zaofu, "Did you buy the diesel tickets on the black market in October?"
"yes."
Hearing this, Peng Jingyun slammed the table with a clang that scared everyone.
Wang Zaofu was feeling nervous and shrank back in fear at the loud noise.
Peng Jingyun said sullenly, "That's complete nonsense! The rewards for the autumn harvest start being distributed in November. Which production team could have received diesel tickets in October?"
Everyone present was a little surprised. They didn't expect her to be so clear about such work details.
However, Peng Jingyun is in charge of agricultural work, so it is reasonable for him to know these things.
Ye Manzhi secretly admired Deputy Director Peng and named her "Female Bao Zheng" in her heart.
Good, good, good!
We must defeat Wang Zaofu without leaving a single piece of armor behind!
However, Wang Zaofu, an ordinary worker, was able to marry the daughter of the deputy director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee, not just because of his looks.
He has a very clever mind when it comes to unconventional methods.
He opened his eyes wide and said in confusion, "Leader, I don't know when the rural areas received the diesel ticket reward. The guy on the black market said he collected it from the production team, so I believed him. That's how the black market works. There's no such thing as digging too deep. If you get too serious, people might not sell it to you."
If it is not collected from rural areas, then it must be from other channels.
The city can send someone to investigate.
But Wang Zaofu was determined not to admit it now. As long as he insisted that the diesel tickets were bought from the black market, he could buy time for everyone, and then the three of them, the father-in-law and the son-in-law, could make long-term plans.
Deputy Director Zhao, who had remained silent the entire time, felt a little relieved. Although his expression was serious, it visibly softened.
This son-in-law is not hopeless. He can withstand the pressure at the critical moment, which at least shows that he understands the situation clearly.
If Lu Minghao were to be exposed, that would be real trouble.
Glancing at his father-in-law's affirmative look, Wang Zaofu felt more confident. No matter how others asked, he insisted that those diesel tickets were bought from the black market.
The matter was at a stalemate, and no one could do anything to him in front of Deputy Director Zhao.
Someone suggested, "There's a discrepancy between what's happening and what's written on the big-character poster. How about we just leave it at that for today and organize some people to conduct a thorough investigation?"
Deputy Director Zhou said, "That's fine. We can first have the Grain Bureau conduct a thorough internal investigation."
Ye Manzhi thought to himself, what problems can be found through a thorough internal investigation?
Just looking at the statement made by Director Song of the Grain Bureau, you can tell that he doesn't want to offend anyone because of a big-character poster.
Fortunately, her previous guess was correct. Not everyone in this office was on Zhao's side.
There are people like her who hope to see Zhao suffer misfortune.
"The Grain Bureau has already been reported. Asking it to conduct an internal investigation is child's play! The impact of that big-character poster this morning was quite severe, implicating not only the Grain Bureau but also Deputy Director Zhao. This matter must be investigated swiftly and thoroughly to determine whether any diesel tickets from the Grain Bureau are missing. If so, where did the missing items go? Who handled them? We must give the public a clear explanation as soon as possible, and we must also clear Director Zhao and the relevant personnel. We have worked with Director Zhao for several years, and I believe he would not condone his son-in-law making such a mistake."
"Well," Peng Jingyun said, "I agree with Director Ma. Lu Minghao, as the main party involved, has never appeared. We should still listen to what he has to say."
“…”
At the suggestion of several deputy directors, Director Li made the final decision to draw personnel from the Political Department and the People's Security Department of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee to form an investigation team to enter the Grain Bureau to conduct an investigation.
What happened next was not something Ye Manzhi could participate in, nor could she even watch from the sidelines.
It was already afternoon when they left the Revolutionary Committee. Ye Manzhi had been working on an empty stomach all day and only now felt hungry.
She took a bus directly back home, then went to the market to buy vegetables and meat, and cooked a few dishes herself.
When Wu Zhengrong came home from get off work, he smelled the aroma of food as soon as he entered the door.
Director Wu didn't ask any questions about Director Ye's rare diligence and virtue. He just washed his hands and sat down to enjoy the food.
Ye Manzhi diligently put food into his bowl, letting him taste this and then that.
Seeing that he had almost finished eating, he smiled and said, "Sergeant Wu, thank you for your hard work today!"
"Um."
Ye Manzhi smiled and inquired, "The task was completed very well. Who did you ask to do it?"
"What do you think?"
"For something this important, you must have done it yourself!" Ye Manzhi continued to put food into his bowl. "No one found out, did they?"
"The paste is a bit frozen, which delayed us a bit. No one should notice," Wu Zhengrong said nonchalantly. "So what if they do? The three people who were reported are not innocent. Let's just consider it a military-civilian collaboration, eliminating harm for the people."
Youyan hadn't come back yet, so it was just the two of them at the dinner table.
Ye Manzhi held his face and kissed him twice.
"Oh, I'm sorry for asking you to do such a sneaky thing for me."
"I put it up openly, right under the guard's nose," Wu Zhengrong defended himself. "When have I ever done anything sneaky? You should be more concerned about your fourth brother."
"Hey, my fourth brother is really good at this kind of thing. I'll call him at work tomorrow and listen to him brag for five minutes."
Ye Manzhi was really busy today. She had to post three big-character posters early in the morning.
Due to limited trustworthy personnel, she re-employed the elderly Comrade Ye Mangui to be responsible for posting big-character posters at the Grain Bureau.
Of course, the content of the big-character poster was also copied by my fourth brother.
He rarely writes for many years, and his handwriting is always different, which is something most people would not think of.
Wu Zhengrong was served a meal gently and attentively by his wife. After he had eaten and drunk his fill, he took on the task of washing the dishes.
When he returned from the kitchen, she finally asked, "How did it all turn out? Is there any hope of apprehending Zhao?"
Whether Wang Zaofu stays or leaves is not the key; the root of the problem lies with Deputy Director Zhao.
"It's hard to say," Ye Manzhi frowned. "It depends on how his two sons-in-law perform. If they can hold up, then Director Zhao will be fine. Wang Zaofu's performance today was a bit unexpected. It really shows that we can't underestimate anyone. I underestimated my enemies before, and I have to change that habit in the future."
Wu Zhengrong hummed and said nothing.
He had already thrown Wang Zaofu into the list of "idiots" and only regarded the other party's performance today as a flash of inspiration of an idiot.
Ye Manzhi knew that he looked down on Wang Zaofu, and when she saw Dr. Wu's contemptuous expression, she pretended not to see it.
When they are at home, they both "are themselves". Ye Manzhi can share her thoughts with him, and of course she can accept his harmless little flaws.
She changed the subject and said, "Let's wait a little longer. It depends on how Lu Minghao performs. The city has asked the police to get involved in collecting evidence, so it will probably take some time."
She thought Lu Minghao could at least hold on for a few days. However, as soon as she went to work the next day, she heard the latest news from the factory.
Wang Zaofu was taken away by the police last night!
I actually missed such a big piece of gossip! Ye Manzhi hurried to find out what happened.
Kang Jian chuckled and said, "What else could it be? He was dumped by his brother-in-law!"
"What do you mean? He was reported by his brother-in-law?"
Kang Jian and Wang Zaofu are neighbors. They know everything about what happened last night and their eyes sparkle when they talk about it.
"His brother-in-law couldn't withstand the police's questioning and confessed within a few hours. The diesel tickets did come from the Grain Bureau, and he wasn't the only one reselling them; two other people in their department were also involved. However, these tickets wouldn't circulate on the black market, so they could find acquaintances to take them over. Therefore, Wang Zaofu's claim that he bought the diesel tickets on the black market is untenable. The rural production team hadn't received the diesel tickets yet, and the Grain Bureau's tickets hadn't circulated on the black market, so where did his tickets come from?"
The police were asked to go back and investigate.
Tian Chunshan sighed hypocritically, "I never realized Wang Zaofu was such a person! Did he embezzle public funds?"
"Not necessarily," Huang He said, "If the diesel tickets were bought from his brother-in-law, then it wouldn't be considered corruption."
"His brother-in-law works at the Grain Bureau. Diesel tickets don't cost anything, so how could I possibly take his money? Haha."
No one believes that Wang Zaofu is innocent.
But Ye Manzhi felt that from Deputy Director Zhao's perspective, this son-in-law must be innocent.
The eldest son-in-law is doomed to failure as he resold diesel tickets. If the second son-in-law also has a stain, then as the father-in-law, Deputy Director Zhao will definitely be implicated by both sons-in-law.
After all, he was the one who arranged the jobs for these two people. In everyone's eyes, this family cannot be innocent.
Therefore, Ye Manzhi guessed that Deputy Director Zhao might find a way to let his eldest son-in-law take the responsibility alone and then remove Wang Zaofu.
Even if he really got the diesel ticket for free, he still had to buy it with money.
Wang Zaofu was the deputy director of Shuguang Factory. Such a big thing had happened, and there was a lot of discussion in the factory.
Some people think that Director Wang is doomed this time, while others believe that he will be able to come back safe and sound.
Just when everyone in the factory was discussing the issue, the organization department suddenly called Ye Manzhi and Kang Jian for a talk.
A few days later, the Municipal Party Committee adjusted the leadership team of Shuguang Factory.
Wang Zaofu, who had not appeared in the factory for a long time, was temporarily suspended and assigned to another position.
Kang Jian succeeded Wang Zaofu as the deputy secretary of the Party Committee, deputy director of the factory revolutionary committee, and deputy director of Shuguang Factory.
At the same time, the superiors transferred a new deputy director, Zhang Yilin, to Shuguang Factory.
Staring at this unfamiliar name, Ye Manzhi thought, no matter what Deputy Director Zhao planned, Wang Zaofu might not be cleared of all charges...
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