37: Chapter 37 Liu Qiang is out

Inside the office.

Qin Chuan was on a call with Township Head Chen Qunfeng.

This Township Head Chen Qunfeng really wouldn't give up; he had his sights set completely on this money.

Furthermore, he was very angry.

After discussing this matter with Deputy Township Head Zhang Mengying yesterday, he had assumed that Qin Chuan would at least call him or come over to visit him in person.

He thought that since he held sway over the entire educational resources of Dahe Township, Qin Chuan would surely obey, as he had plenty of ways to deal with Dahe Township.

As it turned out, he waited all afternoon, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea—there was absolutely no news.

Furious, Township Head Chen Qunfeng went out of his way to investigate again, confirming once more that Qin Chuan did not have the support of any county leaders behind him.

He only heard that Qin Chuan might have some connections in the provincial capital, but that was a classic case of distant water failing to quench a near thirst; it could not influence Sanjiang County.

Unless Qin Chuan had heaven-reaching connections.

If he really had such connections, how could he possibly have come to a godforsaken place like Dahe Township, which was so poor and miserable? Wouldn't it be better to work in some government agency in the provincial capital?

Township Head Chen Qunfeng speculated that Qin Chuan might have some background in the provincial capital, but it shouldn't be very strong. Coupled with the lack of support from county leaders, he had nothing to worry about.

The call lasted only a minute or two before hanging up.

Qin Chuan thought coldly to himself that Township Head Chen Qunfeng must have water in his brain; the demands he made were absolutely ridiculous.

Unexpectedly, less than an hour later, Township Head Chen Qunfeng arrived at Dahe Township in person.

He looked quite unhappy, with a cold expression on his face; anyone who didn't know better would have thought some leader had come to hold him accountable.

In reality, he was just the Director of the Education Bureau, a section-level official, and held the same rank as Secretary Qin Chuan.

"Secretary Qin Chuan, this money is a special fund for education, and since it is required to be used entirely on education, it must be managed centrally by our county education department!"

Qin Chuan didn't want to give him any face at all and retorted directly, "Township Head Chen Qunfeng, are you still dreaming? This was allocated directly to our Dahe Township by the provincial Project Hope, intended for the construction of our 12 primary and secondary schools in Dahe Township."

Township Head Chen Qunfeng's expression changed, and he became very angry, his voice rising, "Qin Chuan, you are completely disregarding the big picture and only caring about your own little plot of land."

"That's just how I am. If you have the ability, go report me to the county leaders."

"Fine, fine, very good," Township Head Chen Qunfeng threatened, "Since that's how it is, don't come begging me for anything in the future, Dahe Township."

After saying this, he stormed off in a huff.

He had traveled all this way in person, originally thinking that Qin Chuan would give him some face; if he couldn't get the full 100 million, forty or fifty million would have been acceptable.

As it turned out, he didn't get a single cent.

Qin Chuan curled his lips; he was just an Education Bureau Director, yet he really thought of himself as a county leader. Even if he were a county leader, as long as he had his eyes on this money, he wouldn't give him any face either.

He sat down and picked up today's newspaper to read for a while, only then did his mood calm down.

Just now, he had truly been disgusted by Township Head Chen Qunfeng.

By the way, Township Head Liu Qiang was released from the detention center today; why hadn't he been seen anywhere?

Picking up the phone, Qin Chuan called Director Hu Qibin over.

"Secretary, you called for me?"

"Yes." Qin Chuan nodded slightly, then asked, "Where is Township Head Liu Qiang? Has he come to work?"

This guy was still thinking of revenge, so he would first give him a hard time and make his life difficult.

Checking his labor discipline shouldn't be a problem, right?

Director Hu Qibin said, "I haven't seen him, and he hasn't asked for leave."

Qin Chuan said, "Call him and tell him to get over here. This is truly outrageous; he doesn't act like a township leader at all."

Where was Township Head Liu Qiang at this moment?

He was still at Hong Langman.

After being released from the detention center, a few of them went straight to Hong Langman for a bath and enjoyed the services of the technicians.

Township Head Liu Qiang was in a post-coital state of clarity at the moment; he had no intention of thinking about work today, at least not until tomorrow or the day after.

As for asking for leave, that was even less likely.

When had he, Township Head Liu Qiang, ever asked for leave in Dahe Township? Only others came to him to ask for leave; he had never asked anyone else for leave. If he wanted to go to work, he would go; if he didn't, he wouldn't.

How could he have known that Director Hu Qibin would call him?

"Township Head Liu Qiang, where are you? Why haven't you come to work?"

If it had been someone else who had just been released from the detention center, it wouldn't have mattered if they were given a day or two to rest, but since it was Township Head Liu Qiang, Qin Chuan certainly wouldn't do that.

Township Head Liu Qiang didn't care, "What, is Director Hu Qibin checking attendance now?"

Director Hu Qibin said with a serious expression, "Deputy Township Head Liu Qiang, it is now working hours. You are not at your post; can I not even ask?"

Township Head Liu Qiang was furious inside, cursing and swearing. It was truly a case of a tiger fallen to the flatlands being bullied by dogs; he was a dignified township head, what was a Party and Government Office Director like him worth?

No, he was now a Deputy Township Head, and had even been removed from his position as a member of the Party Committee.

"Director Hu Qibin, I just got out today. I am taking today off, and I will definitely come to work tomorrow."

Realizing that he was no longer what he used to be, Township Head Liu Qiang still had to bow his head and promise to go to work tomorrow, though he felt very aggrieved inside.

Director Hu Qibin said, "Tomorrow won't do. You must come to work this afternoon; I still need to rearrange your office."

Now that he was no longer the township head and had been demoted to deputy township head, he could no longer use the previous township head's office and had to move out.

Helpless, Township Head Liu Qiang could only say, "Fine, I'll come to work this afternoon."

At noon, the few of them drank together. Because he felt so aggrieved, Township Head Liu Qiang tried to drown his sorrows in alcohol and got heavily drunk.

He completely forgot about his promise to go to work in the afternoon.

Wang Jun also drank quite a bit, but he wasn't drunk.

After the meal, he took a nap at the hotel, then returned to the coal mine first. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, he carried a cardboard box into Qin Chuan's office.

The coal mine contracting contract was about to expire, with less than a month left at most.

If Township Head Liu Qiang were still the township head, and Dahe Township were still under his control, he wouldn't be worried at all; in fact, Dahe Township would even proactively seek to renew the contract with him.

That's right, Jiucailing Coal Mine was not private property; its ownership belonged to Dahe Township, and Wang Jun was just the coal boss who contracted this coal mine.

Now, the person in charge of Dahe Township was Qin Chuan, and Township Head Liu Qiang had already been demoted to Deputy Township Head. To avoid complications, Wang Jun wanted to get the contract matter settled first.

Would Qin Chuan sign a contract with him?

He wasn't worried about that at all.

In his dictionary, there was no one in the world who didn't love wealth. Even if they didn't like money, what about beautiful women? If they didn't like beautiful women either, what about power?

There was always something they liked. He was completely confident that he could drag Qin Chuan into the water and make him one of their own.

"Qin Chuan, are you busy?"

Knocking and entering, Wang Jun's attitude was very calm, completely different from his usual high-and-mighty, fierce expression; it was almost as if he had become a different person.

Qin Chuan looked up and knew exactly what was going on.

The system had long since hinted that Wang Jun would come this afternoon, so there was nothing strange about it. Furthermore, Qin Chuan guessed that it was most likely related to the renewal of the coal mine contracting contract.

This morning, Qin Chuan had even asked Director Hu Qibin to take out the previous contracting contract and read it from beginning to end.

The more he read, the angrier he became.

Township Head Liu Qiang, oh Township Head Liu Qiang, you practically sold such a huge coal mine for the price of cabbage!

Not only was the contracting fee extremely low, with an annual fee of a mere 300,000, but I ask you, would you dare to believe it?

This was a medium-sized coal mine with a planned production capacity of 300,000 tons, famous throughout the entire Sanjiang County, with one of the largest scales.

Now, every ton of coal is seven or eight hundred yuan. Even if the contracting fee were calculated at 100 yuan per ton, that would be an annual contracting fee of 30 million.

Cabbage price, it was too much of a cabbage price!

Besides the ridiculously low contracting price, many clauses in the contract were favorable to Wang Jun, and the status of Dahe Township as Party A was not reflected at all.