137: Chapter 137 Go out for a walk and take a look

The Market Supervision Bureau is a large organization formed by the merger of several bureaus; just counting the departments beneath it, there are over twenty. With section chiefs and deputy section chiefs, there are dozens of people, and if you include principal staff members and deputy principal staff members, the number is even higher.

After Secretary Dai released the signal at the enlarged Party group meeting, everyone knew that Director Qin was the boss of the bureau, basically equivalent to one person shouldering two responsibilities, so many people came to show their faces.

For two or three days in a row, there was no shortage of people coming to Qin Chuan's office to proactively report work.

After sending off another section chief who came to report, Qin Chuan thought to himself that this was completely opposite to the situation when he first took office in Dahe Township, and he felt a bit of gratitude toward Secretary Dai.

"If you respect me an inch, I will respect you a foot."

Even if you lie flat, I will still give you enough respect; in public, Qin Chuan has always been polite to Secretary Dai.

If he had time, he would also frequently take the initiative to go over to Secretary Dai's place to sit for a while and chat about work matters.

He intended to go over for a visit today, but Secretary Dai had clearly really "laid flat," as he hadn't come to work at the unit today; he wondered if he was really at home looking after his grandchildren.

Qin Chuan had no intention of returning to his office either, as once he returned to the office, someone would soon come to report work again.

It would be better to go out for a walk and take a look.

The largest farmers' market in Jianning City was not far from the Market Supervision Bureau, taking at most ten minutes to walk there. It was large in scale, had high foot traffic, and was very lively; going there to take a look seemed like a good choice, better than sitting in the office.

He didn't bring anyone with him, only telling Director Huang, the office director, that he was going out for a bit and to call his phone if anything came up.

Then, he left the Market Supervision Bureau alone, walking slowly, and before he knew it, he had walked into this large farmers' market.

It was now 2011, and even though it was already late November and about to enter December, with a chill in the air, the place seemed bustling and noisy with people.

At this time, people were accustomed to buying things at physical stores; e-commerce was nowhere near as developed as it would be over a decade later, and especially for buying groceries, people either went to supermarkets or farmers' markets.

Walking into this farmers' market, Qin Chuan strolled around on the surface like an ordinary person, but his focus was still on checking food safety, short-weighting, and so on.

Seeing a fair-scale not far ahead, he walked over, but was a little disappointed to find that this fair-scale was actually broken.

This issue had to be noted down; the market management must be urged to rectify it thoroughly—how could a fair-scale be broken?

Passing a pork stall, he saw business was good, so Qin Chuan asked, "Boss, how is the pork sold?"

"Twelve per jin, how much do you want?"

Qin Chuan looked at the pork; it didn't look like sow meat and had quarantine marks, so he nodded slightly, then took out his iPhone 4 and placed it on the electronic scale, which displayed 167 grams.

This scale isn't right!

His own iPhone 4, including the case, should be 140 grams, yet this scale had actually measured it at 167 grams; it was clearly a "nine-tael" scale.

"Boss, your scale is a bit off."

That burly, rough-looking pork boss was unhappy and warned, "Young man, don't talk nonsense; everything here is full weight, and this scale even has a compliance sticker on it."

Since there was a problem, he certainly wouldn't let it go. Qin Chuan said, "My phone is 140 grams, but it weighed 167 grams here."

The pork boss was slightly taken aback, not expecting Qin Chuan to use a mobile phone to weigh things. He walked over two steps, pressed a certain key on the scale in a relatively concealed manner, and then said, "Put the phone on and weigh it again; I suspect you measured it wrong."

The phone was placed back on, and sure enough, it was 140 grams.

"Look at you, you don't even know how to use a scale. You measured it wrong yourself and then said my scale has a problem. Are you buying meat or not? If you're not buying, don't hinder my business."

Qin Chuan shook his head slightly; it seemed he had encountered a "ghost scale." This problem also needed to be rectified; he estimated there was more than just this one in the entire market.

Not far away was a beef vendor; the scale was not small, with a good twenty stalls or so, and business was also quite good.

Qin Chuan walked to one of them and placed his phone on the scale. This one was quite outrageous, actually displaying 181 grams, a full 41 grams more than the normal weight of 140 grams.

Before he could say anything, an auntie who had been shopping for groceries came over carrying the beef she had just bought and loudly questioned, "Boss, your scale has a problem. The beef I bought here was two jin and one tael, but when I weighed it at home, it turned out to be only one jin and six taels—it was a full half-jin short!"

The beef boss's attitude was very rude; he glanced at the auntie with disdain. "Who knows if you took some beef out? My scale is fine, don't talk nonsense."

The auntie was not someone who was afraid of trouble either. She put the beef on the scale and then said loudly, "Look, it weighs two jin and one tael here, but in reality, it's only one and a half jin!"

The beef boss walked over, pressed something on the scale, and then said, "Where is it two jin and one tael? It's one and a half jin. It's half a jin short—you must have taken some beef out and then come here to cause trouble for me!"

An argument inevitably began.

The beef boss was clearly losing the argument to the auntie, so he picked up a boning knife and threatened, "Damn it, you're clearly here to cause trouble. If you affect my business again, do you believe I won't stab you?"

"Go ahead, stab me! If you have the guts, then stab me to death!"

There were many onlookers because the place was already crowded, and many people supported the auntie because everyone was a consumer and had experienced being short-weighted in this farmers' market.

Those beef bosses clearly formed a group, unanimously supporting that unscrupulous merchant who was short-weighting.

The market management was quickly alarmed, and three people came over. One of them was wearing the uniform of the Market Supervision Bureau, while the other two were wearing ordinary clothes but had red armbands with "Market Management" on them.

"What's going on? What's going on!"

"What are you arguing about!"

Seeing the market management personnel arrive, the beef boss was not only not flustered but instead became full of confidence, accusing the victim first.

"Leaders, you came just in time. This shrew is deliberately looking for trouble and affecting my business; hurry up and kick her out."

One of the people with a red armband nodded. "This lady, please do not disrupt the market order; otherwise, we will ask you to leave."

The auntie wouldn't have it and appeared very angry, saying loudly, "It is clearly them who are short-weighting! My two jin and one tael of beef—he shorted me by a full half-jin!"

The beef boss said, "Don't talk nonsense; the beef you brought over was only one jin and six taels. You must have taken out half a jin beforehand and deliberately came here to cause trouble. I suspect you want to commit extortion."

The person wearing the Market Supervision Bureau uniform had not spoken the whole time, but he noticed Qin Chuan and, seeing him holding a phone and taking pictures, hurriedly walked over two steps with an imposing manner.

"Put down the phone! No filming allowed!"

"I'm talking to you! Did you hear me!"

Seeing Qin Chuan holding the phone and filming, after issuing two warnings, he directly reached out to snatch the phone.