139: Chapter 139 Arrest

In the afternoon, Sun Ning returned to the Township Government.

Village Party Secretary did not feel like staying in the township and returned to the village as soon as the meeting ended.

At the village committee office, Village Party Secretary sat at his desk, listening to the report from the director of the Women's Federation.

"Are you saying that the Party Secretary stayed at the school all day?"

"Yes."

"That's a relief. It seems the Party Secretary just wanted to look into education. After all, it's the first major project he's spearheaded since coming to Mishui Township. It's Wu Miao from the Education Office who should be getting a headache."

The director of the Women's Federation saw that Village Party Secretary's mood had relaxed significantly.

She hesitated and said, "Old Ma, the Party Secretary only ate a bowl of noodles for lunch."

"Hey, that's even better. Who doesn't know that the Party Secretary dislikes extravagance and waste?"

"But he carried his bowl to the entrance of the small shop to eat, and he wouldn't let us follow him."

"What?"

Village Party Secretary almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Is our village's financial disclosure not being done well? Did the Party Secretary say anything?"

"No, the Party Secretary was at the school the whole time."

"This won't do. I need to go to the small shop!"

Without pausing, Village Party Secretary hurried toward the small shop.

It was just that Sun Ning's conversational skills were quite high, and the impression he left on the villagers of Ma Family Village was mostly just chatting and joking around.

In the end, after spending nearly two packs of cigarettes and about an hour, Village Party Secretary managed to gather a few useful pieces of information from the villagers.

First, Sun Ning asked about school miscellaneous fees.

This was within Village Party Secretary's expectations.

Second, Sun Ning asked about the households receiving subsistence allowances.

Village Party Secretary recalled carefully; it was just those optional quotas he had used to take care of his own relatives, so there shouldn't be any major issues.

Third, Sun Ning asked about the livestock farming in Ma Family Village.

That was a good thing!

As for other matters, they didn't amount to anything major.

The issue that gave Village Party Secretary the most headache was Sun Ning asking the villagers if they knew where the village's money was being spent.

Village Party Secretary left the intelligence center.

He returned home in a somewhat low mood.

His wife took one look and wondered what was going on—he hadn't been home for three days, and now that he was back, he was pulling a long face, so she hurriedly asked for the reason.

Village Party Secretary gave a rough account of the situation and lamented his bad luck.

"What's the big deal? Just go to the township tomorrow and apologize to the Party Secretary! You haven't taken or misappropriated anything anyway!"

Village Party Secretary's wife didn't think it was a big deal; she had never heard of any village where the villagers actually knew where their village's money was spent.

Hearing his wife say this, Village Party Secretary also realized the truth.

Anyway, he hadn't taken or misappropriated anything, so what was there to be afraid of!

Consequently, as he looked at his wife, her clearly aged face seemed to appear delicate and pretty again.

He grabbed his wife and pulled her into the room.

"What are you doing? We haven't eaten yet. Mmph, you're annoying."

The next day, when Village Party Secretary saw Sun Ning appear at the village committee, he rubbed his eyes vigorously.

"Party Secretary, why are you here again? No, I mean, why didn't you notify us so I could go to the village entrance to welcome you?"

"Does Party Secretary Ma not welcome me?"

"Party Secretary, what are you saying? Who doesn't know that wherever you go, prosperity follows."

"I can't guarantee prosperity, but I see that your village has advantages in livestock farming, so I came over today to chat with you about it!"

"Good, please sit down, Party Secretary!"

"No need to sit. Let's walk around the village; we can talk as we walk."

Next, a group of people appeared in Ma Family Village, strolling through the fields and wandering in the wild mountains.

And some of the people who were at the intelligence center yesterday recognized Sun Ning.

Only then did they realize that the young man who claimed to be visiting relatives yesterday was a high-ranking official from the township.

When Sun Ning called them by their names with a smile, they felt even more honored.

Who wouldn't want to be valued by someone more powerful than themselves?

Consequently, Sun Ning's reputation in Ma Family Village was surprisingly good.

A few days later, when they learned that Sun Ning was the former Township Head Sun, they praised him even more.

This is the will of the people.

"Party Secretary Ma, I see that our villagers have a high enthusiasm for livestock farming. Has our village ever thought about building a pig farm of its own?"

"You also know that Deep Blue Food in the township has already opened up sales channels, and their demand for live pigs will increase day by day."

"As long as your products meet the standards, you won't have to worry about sales at all."

"Any thoughts?"

Sun Ning stood on a small earthen mound looking into the distance, talking to Village Party Secretary, who was by his side.

"Party Secretary, the village has no money!"

"Who told you to foot the bill? Do you understand what fundraising is?"

When Sun Ning said this, Village Party Secretary didn't respond.

What kind of fundraising? Isn't that just apportioning expenses?

Village Party Secretary didn't dare claim to be incredibly upright, as he had never taken anything.

But he considered himself a village official with a conscience, and he was certainly unwilling to carry out forced apportionments.

If this sort of thing went wrong, he would be the one being pointed at and criticized behind his back.

In serious cases, the village elders would point at his nose and call him an unfilial descendant.

Sun Ning saw that Village Party Secretary was extremely unwilling and understood his thoughts.

The social atmosphere now was not as simple and honest as in the 80s and 90s, and no one wanted to do the work of forced apportionments.

"The fundraising I'm talking about is not mandatory."

"Can the project I mentioned turn a profit or not? If you think it can be profitable, then mobilize the masses!"

"You officials should lead the way, then mobilize the strength of the Party members, and then those in the village who have become prosperous first."

"Tell those people the full truth; if they are willing, they can even use their own breeding pigs as capital contribution."

"Doing any kind of work requires patience, meticulousness, and flexibility."

"The technical aspect is not a problem either; you can go to the Deep Blue livestock farm to learn, and the Township Agricultural Technology Station will also support you."

"The main thing is that your village has this foundation, so you can get started relatively quickly."

Sun Ning hadn't noticed this advantage when he first came.

When he arrived at Ma Family Village, he went straight to the mountains and fields and didn't even look at the village itself.

This time, he discovered that Ma Family Village actually had a tradition of livestock farming.

When the time comes, they could conduct simple training and set up a sterile facility.

Then, batch after batch of live pigs could just be sent to Deep Blue Food.

Sun Ning believed there would be villagers with long-term vision.

But the village committee still needed to provide guidance.

On the third day, Sun Ning went to another village.

This village was also considered a relatively excellent village by the people of Ma Family Village.

Currently, Du Laosan had not yet been brought to justice, so he couldn't cause panic and make Du Laosan wary.

On the fourth day, the fifth day, and until a week later.

At the Mishui Township Police Station, everyone except those on duty and the household registration police gathered in the courtyard.

Station Chief Ding Jun didn't even state what the mission was; he just ordered everyone to move out.

They met up with several police cars on a county road.

Station Chief Ding Jun got out of the car, communicated with the people who had arrived for a few moments, and then the police cars set off toward Du Village.

Upon arriving at Du Village, the police split into three groups: one group headed straight for the village committee office, and one group headed for Du Laosan's house.

There was another group, the vast majority of the personnel, who headed straight for the mountain behind the village.

For a time, Du Village was thrown into chaos.

About an hour later, a dozen or twenty people were escorted into the police cars, among whom was the Du Village Party Secretary, Du Laosan.

Among the crowd of onlookers, someone shouted "Good!" and then, as if it were contagious, everyone started cheering.

Meanwhile, a few women nearby who were causing a scene and rolling on the ground had originally intended to interfere with the law enforcement, but they were so frightened by the criminal police holding their enforcement equipment that they collapsed to the ground, not daring to make a sound.