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Chapter 4 - Do in Rome as Rome does

After Lu Hao left, Li Zhen sneered with a gloomy face: "This kid still dares to taunt me, he doesn't know he's courting death. Without Liu Yuanda, he's nothing. A word from me can make him unable to survive in Fangshuixiang, and sooner or later I'll make him get out of the system."

"Hehe, Secretary Li, why bother with such a minor character? However, we need your help with the project payment in Fangshuixiang. The township is out of money," Liu Ruyan said with a bright and charming smile.

Her calling him "Secretary Li" made Li Zhen, who was acting as the county committee secretary, smile broadly, feeling very comfortable in his heart.

"How about this, I'll get the county finance bureau to allocate a special poverty alleviation fund to Fangshuixiang as soon as possible, and then let the township temporarily divert it to settle the project payment for you," Li Zhen quickly came up with an idea.

"Thank you, County Chief Li."

"You're too polite, President Liu. I still need you to speak well of me to the city leaders and the province. As long as I can become the county committee secretary, there will be plenty of benefits for you."

While the two were discussing happily, Lu Hao had already handed over his work and packed up his things, leaving the county committee.

Outside the county committee building.

A young man, smoking a cigarette, chased after him and shouted from behind, "Lu Hao, I heard your cousin had an accident, and you were transferred to Fangshuixiang by County Chief Li. What a pity, such is the impermanence of life. Otherwise, you would definitely be promoted to deputy section chief this year."

The man who spoke first expressed shock at Liu Yuanda's accident, and then put on a sympathetic face towards Lu Hao.

This man, named Wang Shaojie, is a colleague of Lu Hao in the county committee, a few years older than Lu Hao.

Although Lu Hao usually doesn't interact much with him, he is actually annoyed by Wang Shaojie.

Every time Fang Jing comes to the county committee to see him, Wang Shaojie would come to join in the fun, shamelessly greeting Fang Jing and complimenting her beauty, clearly showing his interest in her.

Even though he and Fang Jing are engaged, Wang Shaojie still doesn't forget to make his presence known in front of Fang Jing.

Fortunately, he and Fang Jing have been in love for six years, otherwise, it's possible that Wang Shaojie might have taken advantage of the situation.

"You came down specifically to tell me this, you wouldn't be trying to make fun of me, would you?"

Lu Hao couldn't help but sneer, knowing that Wang Shaojie was not here to comfort him sincerely.

"How can you think of me like that? I was thinking that if you are willing to spend some money, maybe I can help you talk to County Chief Li and say some good words for you, and you might be able to stay in the county committee," Wang Shaojie feigned displeasure.

He said this, but the gloating in the corners of his eyes was hard to hide.

"You don't have to, just take care of yourself," Lu Hao knew Wang Shaojie was being sarcastic, turned around and was about to leave.

"Don't rush to leave, the day before yesterday when Fang Jing came to the county committee, I heard her say she wanted to transfer from the rural middle school to the county town. But now that your cousin is in trouble, you definitely can't handle it. How about I help you find some connections?" Wang Shaojie blocked his way and asked with a smirk.

Lu Hao frowned, his face gloomy.

He knew Wang Shaojie was not really trying to help, but deliberately making fun of his fall from grace. Lu Hao could tell.

However, what Wang Shaojie said was also true. Without Liu Yuanda, and with him being sidelined by Li Zhen, who in the officialdom would dare to help him would be offending Li Zhen, of course, no one would sell him face anymore.

"No need, I'll figure out Fang Jing's transfer myself," Lu Hao didn't give Wang Shaojie another chance to speak, got into his Jetta and drove away.

Watching Lu Hao drive away, Wang Shaojie immediately showed his true colors, disdainfully saying: "Without a backer, he's still so arrogant, really courting death."

Wang Shaojie cursed Lu Hao, then his eyes turned, a plan came to mind, and he took out his phone and called Fang Jing.

...

On the other end, Lu Hao had packed up his things and returned the keys to the logistics department, vacating the house, and drove to Fangshuixiang to report for duty.

In his mind, like a movie, he recalled what had happened in the past few hours. Everything came so suddenly, like a roller coaster, and he was suddenly demoted to the bottom.

However, Liu Yuanda's accident was obviously reported by someone, and the discipline inspection committee only investigated after they had at least掌握了柳如烟以及十根金条的事.

But why is Liu Ruyan fine?

Even the discipline inspection committee seems not to have reviewed her, does this woman have such a strong backing?

And who reported Liu Yuanda?

Although Fang Jing also knew about the gold bars, Lu Hao knew it was definitely not Fang Jing who did it. After all, Liu Yuanda's accident would implicate himself, which would not benefit Fang Jing at all, and even if Fang Jing was confused, she would not do such a thing.

Then who is it?

Apart from Fang Jing and himself, the only one who knew about this was Liu Ruyan!

Could it be that Liu Ruyan and Liu Yuanda had a falling out over money or something else, so she turned around and conspired with Li Zhen to send Liu Yuanda to the discipline inspection committee?

Thinking about Liu Ruyan sitting in Li Zhen's office today, Lu Hao felt more and more that this possibility was the greatest.

At this time, Fang Jing's call came in.

After answering, Fang Jing said excitedly, "Lu Hao, I heard from Wang Shaojie that my cousin had an accident, that's why you were taken away by the discipline inspection committee, and now you have been demoted to Fangshuixiang by County Chief Li. Is this really true?"

"It's true," Lu Hao was stunned and said honestly.

He knew Wang Shaojie deliberately called Fang Jing to tell her these things, hoping to cause trouble between him and Fang Jing.

"Then the matter of my transfer to the county middle school, you can't handle it either?"

"Temporarily it's difficult, but I will think of another way."

Upon hearing this, Fang Jing was silent for several seconds and couldn't help but complain, "Lu Hao, what should I say about you, you've played a good hand badly."

"I told you before, if your cousin was corrupt, you must be more cautious to prevent him from getting into trouble one day, and you shouldn't just revolve around him, but also please County Chief Li on all sides, more people are more ways, after all, he is the second in command no matter what."

"Also, why didn't you cooperate with the discipline inspection investigation? Don't you know the consequences of resisting the organization? If you cooperate with the investigation, and then ask someone to give gifts to County Chief Li, you might be able to stay in the county committee."

"Now it's good, County Chief Li has directly demoted you to the township!"

Fang Jing said this and sighed helplessly, still unable to accept the sudden change.

She had told Lu Hao many times that the officialdom emphasizes being smooth in all directions, and not to be so straightforward, and not to pin all hopes of promotion on Liu Yuanda alone.

If Lu Hao had listened to her before, he would not have been sidelined, and Fang Jing was naturally disappointed.

Lu Hao also heard the loss in Fang Jing's words and couldn't help but joke, "Baby, don't be so discouraged, you won't regret the marriage because I have no backer, will you?"

"Go to yours, don't talk nonsense!" Fang Jing was displeased.

She had been in love with Lu Hao since college, at that time just because Lu Hao was handsome and good to her.

At first, her parents didn't agree, but later knowing that Lu Hao's cousin was transferred to Anxing County as the county committee secretary, Fang Jing's parents also began to promote the two, and even got engaged.

But now Liu Yuanda has fallen, and Lu Hao has been demoted, representing that Lu Hao's career prospects in the officialdom are likely to stop here, and the quality of life in the future will also decrease.

At this moment, although Fang Jing had not yet thought of withdrawing the marriage, she questioned whether she could be happy marrying Lu Hao.

"Don't worry, without my cousin, I will also work hard to make a name for myself, this千里马will always meet a mentor," Lu Hao comforted Fang Jing.

Today's officialdom is no longer the same as in previous years. Although having a backer is very important, strength is also indispensable. Even if he was sidelined to the township, Lu Hao did not lose his fighting spirit.

"I hope so."

Fang Jing gave a wry smile : "Forget about my transfer, I'll ask my dad to send some gifts and try to find a way, I don't want to stay in the rural middle school anymore, I'll hang up first, you work well."

 

The fact that Liu Yuanda had an accident was already irreversible, and Fang Jing did not continue to blame Lu Hao.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Hao felt much better.

Fang Jing's family are all in the system, paying great attention to interpersonal relationships, handling interpersonal relationships in a comprehensive way, and they also like to interact with people in high positions. During festivals, Fang Jing's family often goes to give gifts and socialize.

In today's society, there are many families like Fang Jing.

So Lu Hao also knows that Fang Jing is with him, to some extent, because his cousin is the background of the county committee secretary.

But now that he has no backer, Lu Hao thought Fang Jing would scold him after knowing this, and might even withdraw the marriage, but he didn't expect Fang Jing to just complain a few words, which also made Lu Hao feel Fang Jing's consideration.

He couldn't help but feel that he and Fang Jing's six-year love seems to be able to share weal and woe.

Soon, he drove to the Fangshuixiang government.

It's less than forty minutes from the county town to Fangshuixiang, but the road is bumpy all the way, and Lu Hao's bones are almost shaken apart.

The government yard is a dilapidated three-story building.

After parking the car, Lu Hao first found the director of the poverty alleviation office, a man named Song Bo, to report.

Song Bo had naturally received the notice that Lu Hao was coming to report, not very enthusiastic, more perfunctory, said the party committee secretary and the mayor are not here, and then take him to meet later, let him go to the office directly.

When Lu Hao walked into the poverty alleviation office, there were four people sitting lazily in the office.

Some were eating melon seeds, some were playing games, and some were brushing TikTok, but no one was working.

If he didn't know this was a government office, Lu Hao thought he had come to a shopping mall leisure area.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lu Hao, I was just sent to our poverty alleviation office by the county, and I have just met with Director Song Bo." Lu Hao greeted everyone with a smile.

As a newcomer, he had to be polite.

"Hey, you are Lu Hao."

At this time, a middle-aged man with a beard raised his head and said with glee: "I heard your cousin is the county committee secretary, how can you be sent to the township? Our small place can't accommodate you this big Buddha."

The fact that Liu Yuanda was taken away by the discipline inspection committee has been quietly spread in the system, and the people of Fangshuixiang government have also heard about it.

And Lu Hao was suddenly transferred here at this time, everyone has already gossiped about his background, so the middle-aged man said this is obviously deliberately making fun of Lu Hao's loss of backing.

"That's all in the past, I am now a member of our poverty alleviation office, please take care of me in the future." Lu Hao still smiled and handed a cigarette to the other party.

 

The middle-aged man smiled on the skin but not in the heart to take it, but pretended not to hold it and let the cigarette fall to the ground, then sneered: "My name is Niu Dashan, I am the deputy director of the poverty alleviation office, I have the final say in this office."

In the system, there is a kind of person who relies on seniority and likes to establish authority over newcomers, and Niu Dashan belongs to this kind.

"What instructions does Director Niu have?"

Lu Hao's face also sank.

He didn't know why he always felt that Niu Dashan was very hostile to his arrival, but in the system, he must not tear his face in public unless absolutely necessary.

"You're right, there is something urgent for you to do."

Niu Dashan looked playful and shouted to one of the people in the office: "Xiao Zhang, bring all the poor household information forms and detailed poverty fund expenditure forms of our poverty alleviation office in the past few years."

"Lu Hao, who is from the county, is a talented student, and he must be good at organizing materials, let him do it."

Xiao Zhang was surprised and said, "Ah, Director Niu, he has never done poverty alleviation before, can he understand it?"

"Why are you so much nonsense, just bring it over, if he can't do it, it's his stupidity, do you have to worry about it, in short, the poverty alleviation office does not support the waste." Although Niu Dashan was scolding Xiao Zhang, it was obvious that this was said to Lu Hao.