138: Chapter 138 Village Intelligence Center

The meeting ended, and the Village Party Secretary of Ma Family Village dialed the Women's Director's phone number.

"What? The Party Secretary has been sitting in on classes at the school all morning? Alright, don't go to any trouble for lunch; just let the Party Secretary eat whatever you all are having."

"You think the Party Secretary is just here for a normal visit and a look around? Very good, then let the Party Secretary look wherever he wants; who knows, he might even come up with a way for our village to get rich."

The Village Party Secretary of Ma Family Village hung up the phone and noticed a crowd of people looking at him.

"Old Ma, you said the Party Secretary went to your village for an inspection? No, I have to call my village too."

The person speaking was the Village Party Secretary of Yin Village, right next to Ma Family Village.

The two villages were adjacent and had a pretty good relationship.

"Old Yin, this Party Secretary is really something. We're still in a meeting, and he just went off without a word!"

Village Party Secretary felt so stifled that he almost let the phrase "young people don't respect martial arts" be coined ahead of its time.

The conversation between the two, after being passed from one to two, and two to ten, became known to all the Village Party Secretaries in the township.

The Party Secretaries in the eastern part of Mishui Township were all very nervous, fearing that Sun Ning would launch a surprise inspection today.

Although the possibility of a surprise inspection was small, no one let their guard down, and they all hurriedly made phone calls to give instructions.

Some of the Village Party Secretaries in the western part of Mishui Township were just gloating.

They were just watching the spectacle from the sidelines.

Du Laosan, the Village Party Secretary of Du Village, had always been known for being carefree.

"Old Ma, why aren't you going back yet? Be careful, or the Party Secretary might just clean you out! Hahaha..."

There was a chorus of agreement from below.

In any case, Sun Ning went to the east, so even if he did a surprise inspection, he couldn't possibly go to the west to do another one.

Du Laosan was very reassured and even used his protective coloration to tease Village Party Secretary.

Perhaps deep down, he felt that Village Party Secretary was also lording it over everyone and acting like a tyrant in Ma Family Village!

This trip of Sun Ning's was really not just a simple inspection.

He came over to gain an in-depth understanding of the situation in each village, so as to avoid being deceived by those Village Party Secretaries.

To avoid the situation seen in the late stages of various dynasties where policies couldn't even leave the capital (here referring to the Township Government).

Sun Ning was a reborn person, not a god.

He hadn't even discovered the situation like the one in Du Village.

This incident served as a wake-up call, making him resolve to maintain a certain level of skepticism about anyone's words when governing a region in the future.

Therefore, he was reflecting.

This was also the reason why the first stop was the village primary school.

At that time, he had completely handed over the school project to Wang Ling, and had Secretary Xue Hongtao supervise it.

From beginning to end, he had been very confident in the school renovation work.

Now he was still confident, but he needed to verify his confidence.

Therefore, for the itinerary of every village, he planned to go to the school to take a look.

For lunch, Sun Ning and his group of three ate at the home of the Ma Family Village Women's Director.

The meal was just simple tomato and egg noodles with a plate of braised meat.

Sun Ning and his group had to pay for this meal; there were standards for official meals, and the Women's Director had not exceeded them.

To the Women's Director's surprise, Sun Ning headed straight for the village's intelligence center, carrying a large bowl.

When Sun Ning first came to Ma Family Village, she had accompanied him the entire time.

But that time, Sun Ning maintained his image and just walked around the village to understand the village's economic situation.

This time, Sun Ning didn't look like a Party Secretary at all; there was no difference between him and the old farmers in the village.

Seeing Sun Ning go out with his bowl, the Women's Director and Xiao Zhou hurriedly followed.

"You are not allowed to follow me. I think noodles taste better when you squat and eat them with a crowd of people."

When Sun Ning arrived, the villagers who liked the hustle and bustle had all gone out with their bowls.

Most people were eating noodles for lunch.

Some people squatted on the edge of the crowd, not saying much, just listening.

Some people sat on tree stumps, and some stood.

Sun Ning's arrival surprised the people in the village.

"Youngster, whose family are you from? How come I haven't seen you before?"

"I'm not from this village; I'm visiting my aunt."

"What's your aunt's name? Relatives are visiting, and she only served you a bowl of noodles?"

"Oh, they prepared a big table at home, but I like the hustle and bustle, so I came over."

"There are fewer and fewer young people like you. By the look of you, are you still in school?"

Then came rounds of bragging and responding to bragging.

About ten minutes later, Sun Ning was completely integrated into the village intelligence organization.

Sun Ning said seemingly unintentionally: "The country's policies are really good now; school is free. It's not like in our day, when school fees were a burden."

"Hmm, it's indeed not bad, but there are still places where you have to pay miscellaneous fees now."

"How much do you pay in our village?"

"We don't pay in our village. Village Party Secretary said it was the Township Head's order that miscellaneous fees are covered by the township, so the principal doesn't dare to collect them."

"Wow, you are very well-informed; you even know about things in other villages."

"Oh, my grandson's maternal grandmother's grandson..."

Sun Ning complimented him on being well-informed, as if plucking that string called vanity.

The people at the intelligence center, one after another, revealed the situation of two primary schools collecting fees in violation of regulations.

Those who frequented the intelligence center year-round were the most active group in the countryside.

They were all famous gossips, and what came out of their mouths was usually true.

Sun Ning silently noted down the names of those two schools.

After talking about the school matters, Sun Ning shifted the topic to everyday trivialities.

This thing has its techniques.

If you keep asking about political matters, they will be on guard.

Sun Ning never underestimated the intelligence of any person in our country.

Don't look down on them just because they haven't had many years of schooling.

But they have radios and televisions.

Teacher Shan Tianfang's storytelling of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" — these farmer uncles don't know how many times they've listened to it while working in the fields.

And all kinds of plots shown on TV.

The War of Resistance Against Japan, dynastic changes, the Four Great Classical Novels...

Which one can't instill some political wisdom in you?

Plus, they are at the very bottom of society, and they have worked out their own set of survival theories.

If Sun Ning had kept asking about political matters, who wouldn't be suspicious?

The people present liked gossip, but deep down they also knew the principle that trouble comes from the mouth.

They also understood the principle that a local official is more powerful than a distant one.

So Sun Ning began chatting with these people about whose child was not promising, and whose daughter married well.

As they chatted, Sun Ning steered the topic to the minimum subsistence allowance.

In summary, the work in Ma Family Village was quite good, and some minor flaws did not obscure its merits.

Next, Sun Ning turned the topic to making money.

This kind of thing is generally what everyone likes the most.

Sun Ning just brought up the topic and started to be a listener.

It cannot be denied that people from these areas further away from the Township Government naturally have fewer opportunities to work in the township compared to those around the Township Government.

Sun Ning discovered that every household here was engaged in small-scale animal husbandry.

It just wasn't on a large scale; for example, with pig farming, each household only had two or three.

It was not hard to hear from their conversation that they envied Mingyue Village.

And it wasn't that Sun Ning was biased; the mountains in Gongfan County as a whole were small dirt hills, the vegetation was not dense, and the scenery was not good.

Only the few villages near Mingyue Village in the south could be considered to have some scenery.

After finishing the meal, Sun Ning had gained a lot.

He had more or less probed all the nearby villages.

In the afternoon, he went to attend classes again.

He wanted to know about the educational level of the village primary school and the current situation of the young teachers he had fought for for Mishui Township.