183: Chapter 183 Zhu Wenhao's Strategy

Director Zhang Qiu's steps were unsteady; the two gift boxes in his hands had become a hot potato, neither fit to be thrown away nor to be carried, as they were eyesores.

He had just reached the landing on the second floor when he bumped into a few officials from the Town Government.

Xiao Wang from the Party and Government Office and Old Li from the Finance Office.

Usually, when they met in the courtyard, these people would always politely call out, "Director Zhang."

At this moment, their gazes swept over Director Zhang Qiu's face and finally fell in unison on the gifts he was carrying.

Only the door to the Deputy Secretary's dormitory upstairs had just closed.

This scene of a gift-giving attempt being rebuffed needed no words; the sharp-eyed people in the compound understood it at a glance.

"Director Zhang, out for some exercise so early in the morning?" Old Li said with a hollow, insincere laugh.

Director Zhang Qiu's throat felt dry; he couldn't squeeze out a smile, so he just mumbled a vague reply, lowered his head, and quickened his pace, rushing out of the compound as if fleeing.

The cold wind outside blew, but instead of sobering him up, it ignited the sense of humiliation deep in his heart.

He had operated in Heishi Town for so many years, relying on the reputation of the Zhang Clan to act without restraint.

Yet today, he had been stripped of his dignity by a twenty-four-year-old kid right in front of the people in the compound.

Diving into the car parked outside the compound, Director Zhang Qiu slammed the gift boxes onto the passenger seat.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly; Zhu Wenhao had blocked all paths.

Not only did he refuse to see him, but he also told him to turn himself in to Director Li Qiang at the County Commission for Discipline Inspection.

This showed that the other party didn't care at all about the reputation of local forces; he was determined to use him as a sacrificial flag.

Return to the health clinic? If he couldn't figure out Zhu Wenhao, going back would be walking right into a trap.

Director Zhang Qiu floored the gas pedal, jerked the steering wheel, and headed straight for Heishui Village.

He couldn't handle this matter alone; he had to find someone who could truly make decisions.

Heishui Village, Zhang Clan ancestral hall.

Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi was draped in a black, front-buttoned cotton jacket, sitting in a master's chair, slowly and methodically rolling two shiny walnuts in his hands.

Director Zhang Qiu stumbled into the room and poured out what happened this morning in a few sentences.

"Seventh Uncle, that kid Zhu Wenhao is completely stubborn!" Director Zhang Qiu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Not only did he throw my things out, but he also called me out by name, saying that Heishi Town is not the Heishi Town of our Zhang Clan! He is trying to drive us to extinction!"

The walnuts stopped in Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi's palm, the two hard objects colliding with a muffled sound.

The old man's eyelids lifted slightly, and he glanced at the ancestral tablets on the altar table.

"He doesn't accept gifts, doesn't show leniency, and doesn't even bother with superficial gestures," Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi said, his voice as hoarse as a broken gong. "Village Secretary Zhang Dahai is in, and Zhang Xing is also inside. This Zhu Wenhao is no idle official here to gild his resume at the grassroots level. He is a fierce dragon crossing the river, aimed specifically at the pot that is our Zhang family."

"Then what should we do? We can't just sit here and wait for death!" Director Zhang Qiu said anxiously.

"What's the panic?" Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi picked up the purple clay teapot beside him. "A powerful dragon doesn't suppress the local snake. He has his national laws, and we have our village rules. Go, call all the core members of the Zhang Clan, as well as those relatives in town who have a say, to the ancestral hall tonight. We will hold a night meeting."

Nightfall, Heishui Village.

The ancestral hall was brightly lit.

On both sides of the long table sat the core members of the Zhang Clan. Several cousins of Village Secretary Zhang Dahai, relatives of Zhang Xing, and a confidant representing Town Peoples Congress Chairman Zhang Jianming Zhang Jianming to observe, were all present.

Those sitting at the head of the table were all from the first branch.

While the few men representing the second and third branches could only shrink on the round stools at the lower end, their faces dark.

"Who does he, Zhu Wenhao, think he is!" A cousin of Zhang Xing slammed the table. "He arrested Uncle Village Secretary Zhang Dahai and forced Director Zhang Qiu to the point where he can't return to his unit. Our Zhang family has roots in Heishui Village for hundreds of years; can we take this insult? Seventh Uncle, just say the word, and I'll take dozens of young men to surround the Town Government compound tomorrow! Let's see if Zhu Wenhao dares to arrest us all!"

"Exactly! Confront him head-on!" The young people of the first branch clamored, their emotions running high.

In the shadows of the corner of the ancestral hall, Zhang Yuanhang, wearing that old military coat, watched this group of clamoring clowns with cold eyes.

The people of the first branch kept shouting about "clan face" and constantly talking about "hundreds of years of roots."

But when the huge dividends from the stone quarry and land compensation money—that real gold and silver—fell into their pockets, when did they ever think about the life or death of the second and third branches?

Now that the first branch has caused trouble and faced lawsuits, they want to bring out the ancestral tablets and kidnap the whole clan, old and young, to act as meat shields to take the fall for them.

Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi coughed twice, and the seething ancestral hall instantly quieted down.

"Confront head-on? With what?" Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi's murky eyes swept over the crowd. "They even dare to fire guns; if you go to cause trouble, you're just handing them political achievements."

Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi pressed his hands on the dragon head of his cane.

"To deal with officials, you have to use methods that officials fear."

The old man set the plan. "The day after tomorrow morning, organize all the seventy- or eighty-year-old men and women in the village, as well as the women. Put up white banners, and on the banners, write: Zhu Wenhao bullies the villagers and destroys unity."

"Don't smash doors, and don't hit anyone. Just sit outside the gate of the Town Government and cry; the more miserable, the better." Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi's eyes glinted with calculation. "The town needs stability, and Secretary Qiu Dehai also wants to drive this parachuted official away. We will make a big scene and attract the attention of the higher-ups. As a Deputy Secretary in charge of petitioning, Zhu Wenhao has intensified the conflict between officials and the masses—he will have to carry this big black pot whether he can afford to or not."

Using the weak to bully the strong; the law does not punish the masses.

After hearing this, the people of the first branch nodded in agreement and began to discuss who to send to lead the charge the day after tomorrow and how to distribute the "lost wages compensation."

Zhang Yuanhang sat in his original place, listening to those schemes, only feeling that in this incense-filled ancestral hall, there was a nauseating stench of decay.

He stood up and tightened the collar of his military coat.

"Yuanhang, where are you going?" A man from the first branch stared at him.

"I need to pee, going outside for a smoke."

Zhang Yuanhang didn't even turn his head, lifted the heavy cotton door curtain, and stepped into the cold wind.

Walking to the old locust tree outside the ancestral hall courtyard, Zhang Yuanhang looked around to confirm no one was there. He took out his old mobile phone with a cracked screen from his inner pocket.

His thumb typed rapidly on the keys, detailing the plan set by Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi to have "the elderly and women surround the Town Government" into a text message.

Recipient, Police Chief Zhao Gang.

Zhang Yuanhang put the phone back in his pocket and lit a Baisha cigarette.

The flame flickered, illuminating his eyes that no longer held back.

This broken wall of the Zhang family should fall.

Town Government staff residential compound, inside a single dormitory.

Zhu Wenhao was wearing a faded gray sweater, sitting at the table, picking up a white porcelain bowl; a thin layer of rice oil had formed on the surface of the porridge, and he was just about to use his chopsticks.

The screen of the phone placed beside him lit up.

An unread text message.

Zhu Wenhao picked up the phone with one hand and scanned the screen. The intelligence forwarded by Police Chief Zhao Gang was only a few words, but it laid out the entire conspiracy of the night meeting at the Heishui Village ancestral hall.

He put the phone back in its place, picked up the bowl, and took a sip of the warm porridge.

Su Qinghan sat opposite him; seeing him check the information without his expression fluctuating in the slightest, she put down her chopsticks and served some side dishes onto his plate.

"Is there a change?" Her tone was light but hit the mark.

"Not a change, just an expected death throe," Zhu Wenhao picked up some vegetables and put them into his mouth. "Director Zhang Qiu hit a wall and went to Heishui Village to bring in reinforcements. That clan elder, Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi, set a soft-knife strategy of using the elderly and women to surround the Town Government, planning to use pressure to force me to bow my head."

Su Qinghan frowned slightly.

She worked on cases at the Discipline Inspection Commission and knew best how tricky such methods were. If it were young adults causing trouble, the police could directly arrest them; but if it were septuagenarian elders and women and children, they couldn't be touched or hit. Once any pushing or falling occurred, public opinion could instantly swallow the investigation personnel.

"This method is vicious," Su Qinghan evaluated. "Secretary Qiu Dehai is probably eager for this fire to start so he can take the opportunity to report to his superiors that you don't understand grassroots work methods and have you forcibly transferred. How do you plan to respond?"

Zhu Wenhao swallowed the food in his mouth and put down his bowl and chopsticks.

"The Six Secret Teachings says: To catch, one must first let go; to take, one must first give."

"I forced Director Zhang Qiu into a dead end and arrested Village Secretary Zhang Dahai precisely to force them to act. If they kept shrinking into that tortoise shell of Heishui Village, acting as cowards in the name of the clan, it would actually be hard for me to strike."

Zhu Wenhao stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the empty street outside the town compound.

"The law does not punish the masses—that is based on the premise that the legal system is incompetent and the person in charge is timid. Clan Elder Zhang Laoqi thinks he is clever, thinking that by bringing out a few old bones, he can coerce public power. He has underestimated the state apparatus."

"I'm only afraid they won't fight back."

"If the snake doesn't come out of its hole, where am I supposed to swing this blade?"