It was finally time for the meeting.
Lu Yiwei did not sleep at all last night. He woke up at 4 am and rushed to the guest house to wait.
There were two buildings in the guest house. One was for the governor, Zhao Kunsheng, and the other was for the secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Zhang Bingtong. Zhao Kunsheng's building was deserted, while Zhang Bingtong's building had armed police standing guard. The first floor was brightly lit, serving only one person.
Although it was 4 am, there were many people in the courtyard. Lu Yiwei saw Guo Jinzhu's car parked at the side and heard snoring sounds coming from inside. He walked over curiously.
As soon as Lu Yiwei walked out, a person jumped out of the bushes beside him, giving him a fright.
"Shh! Don't disturb Secretary Guo. He just fell asleep. "Secretary Cui Xiaofei whispered.
Lu Yiwei's eyes widened. "Secretary Guo slept in the car last night?"
"Sigh!" Cui Xiaofei pulled Lu Yiwei aside, lit a cigarette and said, "That's right. Last night, Secretary Zhang and Secretary Guo chatted until two in the morning. We were planning to go back to sleep, but after thinking about it, we decided not to go back and just stayed in the car."
Lu Yiwei did not know what to say. He was thinking, what did the two of them talk about until two in the morning? From Guo Jinzhu's behavior yesterday, he seemed to be in trouble. Lu Yiwei did not say, and Lu Yiwei did not dare to ask.
Cui Xiaofei took the initiative and said. "Secretary Guo was exhausted yesterday. He rushed to the airport, but Teacher Yan had already left. Secretary Guo tried his best to catch up with him and paid a huge price to have dinner with him. After dinner, he accompanied Secretary Zhang to Black Mountain County. "
"Oh." Lu Yiwei asked carefully. "How was Secretary Zhang feeling?"
Cui Xiaofei shook his head. "I really can't tell. He looked good on the surface, but I don't know what he was thinking."
Time flew by, and the sky brightened in the blink of an eye. More than 10 buses were waiting in the guest house. All the staff were in place.
At half past six, Lu Yiwei saw the curtains in Zhang Bingtong's room open. He must have woken up. There was already a group of people waiting to see him downstairs. Secretary General Tu Qiang stood at the door and called out to them one by one. This discussion definitely had nothing to do with today's meeting. Lu Yiwei also wanted to be summoned, but how could it be his turn?
People came in and out one after another. Lu Yiwei looked at his wristwatch and called them one by one to ask about the situation.
At half past seven, Zhang Bingtong went downstairs. A large group of people immediately surrounded him and crowded around him. Lu Yiwei followed closely behind and asked the staff to serve the dishes.
While Zhang Bingtong was eating, the leaders of the other cities and counties had already boarded the cars.
At eight o'clock, Zhang Bingtong boarded the minibus on time. Lu Yiwei quickly climbed onto the first police car and waited for Guo Jinzhu's order to set off.
Before he could sit down, Guo Jinzhu rushed over and opened the door. "What are you doing in the police car? Go to the bus. Secretary Zhang is looking for you."
Lu Yiwei boarded the bus anxiously. When he saw Zhang Bingtong, he bowed deeply.
Zhang Bingtong looked back at Guo Jinzhu. Guo Jinzhu quickly introduced, "Secretary Zhang, this is Lu Yiwei."
Zhang Bingtong nodded slightly and pointed to the opposite seat. "You sit here."
Lu Yiwei tiptoed over and sat on the seat. He straightened his back and waited for the other party to ask questions.
"Relax." Zhang Bingtong saw that Lu Yiwei was nervous, so he joked. "Am I that scared?"
Seeing that Zhang Bingtong was laughing, everyone in the car laughed along, including the driver. Was it that funny?
Lu Yiwei was usually nervous at the beginning. Once he started chatting, he would be relaxed and could deal with it easily. Zhang Bingtong's questions were nothing more than harmless words. They had arrived at Xiaowang Village after a few sentences.
The villagers "spontaneously" walked to the entrance of the village. All of them were excited and shouted happily, "Hello, Secretary Zhang!" Zhang Bingtong was very friendly to the enthusiastic villagers. He shook hands with them and shouted, "Hello, fellow villagers." At that moment, dozens of cameras were aimed at Zhang Bingtong and took pictures. Everyone's amiable and respectful smiles were fixed at that moment.
Lu Yiwei put in a lot of effort to have a discussion with the villagers. Zhao Jiancheng originally suggested to have the discussion at the village committee meeting room, but he objected. After looking around, they decided to have the discussion at the threshing ground in front of the villagers' houses. They even specially erected corn cobs around the threshing ground to create a scene of farmers having a bumper harvest. Under the corn wall, there were small tables and stools borrowed from farmers' houses for the villagers to chat with Zhang Bingtong.
Zhang Bingtong was very photogenic. He held a farmer's rough hand and talked about daily life. He asked if the farmer was living well and if there were any difficulties that the Provincial Party Committee and the government needed to solve. The villagers cooperated and raised their flags. "My life is good, thanks to the Party and the government's concern …"
Tu Qiang, the Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee, had foresight. Zhang Bingtong talked for more than 20 minutes before he stopped. When he was about to get into the car, a reporter came up and asked for an interview. Zhang Bingtong readily agreed. He talked for more than 10 minutes, from the Party's policies to the development of the province. The topic seemed to have deviated from the main topic of today's meeting.
With Zhang Bingtong's presence, Governor Zhao Kunsheng was naturally overshadowed. However, he knew his place and hid far away. He didn't even bother to appear on camera.
Then he went to the Dongguan Town Hospital. Here, he mainly wanted to understand the situation of the province's fight against SARS. Zhang Bingtong listened to the report and kept nodding in response.
Finally, he arrived at the meeting room. The meeting was chaired by Tu Qiang. Lu Yiwei made a speech on behalf of Heishan County. Although he didn't prepare in advance, he spoke freely without a script and won the applause of the audience.
Zhang Bingtong made a concluding speech. It was not until 1 pm that the meeting ended.
After the meeting, a group photo was taken and everyone was sent off after lunch. It was not until 4 pm that Heishan County regained its usual peace.
All in all, the meeting was a success. At least there were no major mistakes in the middle.
Guo Jinzhu originally wanted to hold a meeting, but seeing that everyone was tired, he brought the municipal leaders back to Xi Zhou City.
It was finally over. Lu Yiwei was completely relieved, but the pressure on him didn't ease at all. Because of this meeting, the county's financial resources were all gone. From now on, they would have to tighten their belts.
According to the county's financial statistics, the meeting cost more than 12 million yuan. Excluding the money given by the city, the provincial department, and the borrowed money, the county's financial department still spent more than 6 million yuan. This did not include the cost of the gala.
No matter how much money was spent on the gala, no matter what Lu Yiwei asked, Niu Fuyong refused to say. However, he heard from others that the gala cost at least 10 million yuan. Just the appearance fees of the celebrities accounted for more than half of it.
In total, more than 20 million yuan was spent, which was equivalent to a quarter of Heishan County's financial revenue. It was not a lot for other counties, but for Heishan County, it was a huge figure.
This time, the county's financial department was completely emptied. Next month, they couldn't even pay the salaries of public servants. How could they talk about being the home of tussah?
Not long after the meeting, there was already a lot of discussion in society. Some people with ulterior motives targeted Lu Yiwei. They accused him of spending the hard-earned money of the people of Heishan County for so-called political achievements. Lu Yiwei never directly responded to these remarks. In fact, he knew in his heart that this statement was not wrong.
What did the meeting bring to Heishan County? It seemed like there was nothing. After the meeting, the media reported on it, but the focus was on Zhang Bingtong. Heishan County was not mentioned at all. It could be said that this live show was prepared for him alone. As for the farmers of Heishan County, they still lived in poverty.
Not long after the meeting, the villagers of Xiaowang Village collectively went to the township government to petition. They said that Secretary Zhang had agreed to increase their social security benefits and build a cultural compound. The leader's words made the people below him at a loss. The chain effect spread, bringing a lot of pressure to the county.
A week later, the Municipal Party Committee held an emergency special meeting and decided to appoint Lu Yiwei as the Secretary of the County Party Committee of Heishan County. Lu Yiwei did not know whether to be happy or helpless about this result.
However, the more shocking thing was yet to come.
Two weeks later, without warning, Guo Jinzhu was suddenly transferred out of Xizhou City. He was transferred to the Provincial Tourism Bureau as the director. And the person who replaced him was actually Xu Shousong, the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Regarding this result, the discussion in society was particularly intense. Some said that Guo Jinzhu was promoted, while others said that he was going to be unlucky. As for who guessed correctly, Lu Yiwei could not react for a while. However, he had a hunch that Guo Jinzhu was going to be unlucky.
One had to know that the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of a district was at least a member of the Provincial Party Committee and could be directly promoted. The Provincial Tourism Bureau was just a department of the provincial government. Although they were at the same level, they were obviously one level lower.
Lu Yiwei remembered the former Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Beizhou City, Tian Chunqiu, who was suddenly transferred to the Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office and was found to be problematic within a few days. The scene in front of him was so similar. Could it be that Guo Jinzhu's political career was over?
Who was Xu Shousong? This person was sinister, cunning, and petty. Because of his children's marriage, he fell out with his good brother of decades and was almost sent to the "guillotine." He really did not know what the provincial government was thinking to let such a person become a feudal lord.
For Lu Yiwei, this was not a good sign. What would happen in the future was unknown. However, before Lu Yiwei could react, Xu Shousong had already started.
On the third day after taking office, he sent an audit team composed of deputy mayors to Heishan County to audit all the expenses of the on-site meeting. Moreover, his attitude was very tough. He was not allowed to leave until the problem was found.
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