Chapter 368: Chapter 368: Parting on Bad Terms
"I’m telling you, kid, stop wagging your finger around here. How to manage the village, that — I naturally have my own level, and I don’t need you here pointing fingers. Besides, if you want to manage properly, that’s fine. Go back to your village now and manage your village. What does it have to do with me?"
"But Uncle Yang, I have to tell you, the situation is decided. The merger of the two villages is a done deal, with no chance of any change."
"Let me tell you, you have no business telling me about these things, and you don’t need to tell me about any sure-fire merger of two villages. Who told you that? Who agreed to that? If I don’t agree, tell me, who can do such a thing?"
"Uncle Yang, we’re trying to be reasonable here, and it’s not about who shouts louder to get their way. That’s not the point because, in terms of administrative level, for many years now, ours have never changed; in fact, we’ve always been the same village, organizationally speaking."
"Stop bothering me with this useless talk, what administrative organization, what administrative level, what’s that got to do with me? I don’t understand, anyway, I’m the village head right now, and it’s none of your business."
Liu Zheng could see that there was simply no way to continue the discussion between them and felt that he was like an old man set in his ways, utterly incapable of getting through to him.
Indeed, Liu Zheng knew that since taking office, he would certainly encounter many troubles, but he hadn’t expected to run into such a difficult situation on his very first encounter.
"Old man, they are very sincere right now. There’s really no way around it; how can you take this attitude? If you take this attitude with me, then naturally, I won’t say anything. But if you treat him this way, then I’m not going to stand for it."
"What’s it to you? I’m telling you, stop butting in where you’re not wanted. If you didn’t handle things well during your term, do you really think the next person can? I’m telling you, don’t even dream about it unless I’m dead."
"Liu Zheng, enough, don’t waste your breath on him anymore. He’s just set in his ways, and you can’t get through to him. Just let him cling to his own old rules and go to sleep in the yellow earth; let’s go."
The old village head spoke, then took Liu Zheng by the arm, and quickly they both left. Although Liu Zheng was reluctant to just walk away like that, after all, the issue hadn’t been genuinely resolved.
"Uncle, by pulling me out like this, do you think the problem can be solved? Besides, I wanted to stay and talk things over with him."
"Liu Zheng, you want to talk to him, but do you think we’ve actually had a conversation? I’ve talked to him far too many times to count, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve approached him. So, talking won’t give any results; you’ll have to find another way, understand?"
"But with his attitude right now, how am I supposed to accept it? Even if he responds to us on the surface, who knows what he might say behind our backs later on?"
"His petty mindset? Let me tell you, I know exactly what he’s up to even with my eyes closed. Rest assured, if he dares to play dirty, I’ll certainly foil his plans. So about that, I’m still somewhat confident. Besides, you don’t know ’offer the carrot before the stick’? Now, we’ve extended all due courtesies; later on, we don’t need to talk about these things with him anymore."
"Uncle, do you have a plan?"
"Heh, a plan? It’s not that there isn’t one. It’s just that when I was in charge, these weren’t really options, but now that you’ve taken over, they become good options. So, don’t worry. That factory you talked about attracting investors to, that is a great opportunity. You must act quickly to get this accomplished. Once the factory is established, spanning both villages, you’ll have no choice but to be the village head."
Hearing the old village head’s words, Liu Zheng could roughly guess that what he was saying was indeed the case.
If he truly wanted to successfully merge the two villages and take it upon himself, he had to achieve something tangible, at the very least to give the villagers some hope after taking office.
When he returned to the village committee office, it was already afternoon. He had been so busy all day that he hadn’t had a chance to eat.
"Let’s go, come home with me. Your Aunt will cook us a couple of dishes, and then we’ll have a drink together. I’m telling you, none of this is a big deal; you’ve got to keep a cool head because he can’t hold us back."
"Uncle, I’m really not in the mood, and I’m not hungry at all. You go on back. You’ve been busy with my taking office these past few days. Now that I’ve taken over, you should take a break and rest at home for a couple of days. If anything comes up, I’ll contact you. Right now, I need to get back to the village committee office to prepare for the work ahead."
"True, you’ve just taken office and haven’t yet secured your position. Also, the people around you haven’t really been established as a team, so you need to get that set up."
"Exactly. I’m heading back now to get things arranged. You should go home, get some rest, and have something to eat."
"Alright, if anything comes up, call me. That’s it, then."
At the entrance of the village committee office, the old village head left from there. Watching his departing figure, Liu Zheng just shook his head helplessly.
They say a new official sets fire to three things, but as much as Liu Zheng wanted to do so, he had no idea whether his fires could even ignite or, once started, whether they could illuminate anything for others.
Upon opening the door, he indeed saw Li Yanling busily at work. She had a stack of thick files in front of her, and she was sitting there, seemingly recording something with her hands.
When she heard someone coming in, she hurriedly looked up, and it seemed that when she saw Liu Zheng, her eyes were filled with surprise.
