232: Chapter 232 Has Wei Kuan gone mad?

The atmosphere of the Standing Committee meeting had never been as bizarre as it was today; before the meeting began, County Mayor Bai Weijun and Xu Weidong had arrived early as usual.

County Mayor Bai Weijun sat down to the right of the main seat, opened his notebook, and chatted in low voices with Xu Weidong about the topics to be discussed that afternoon, his expression relaxed.

Xu Weidong nodded occasionally and added a few words from time to time; their interaction was tacit and natural.

The other Standing Committee members arrived one after another, some carrying tea cups, some holding folders, and some exchanging pleasantries at the door before taking their seats.

Everything was no different from usual; no one had a premonition of the coming storm.

Secretary Wei Kuan was the last to enter, wearing a dark jacket, his hair combed meticulously, his expression no different from usual, revealing neither joy nor anger.

He sat in the main seat, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, pausing briefly on the faces of County Mayor Bai Weijun and Xu Weidong before moving away.

That pause was very short, so short that no one noticed it.

He picked up his tea cup, took a sip, opened the folder in front of him, and spoke.

"For today's Standing Committee meeting, let's first discuss the progress of the projects. County Magistrate Bai, please brief everyone on the progress of the recent projects."

County Mayor Bai Weijun didn't think much of it, opened his notebook, and began his report.

He started with the four major projects approved by the province, spoke about the arrival of special funds, the implementation progress of matching funds, and the advancement of preliminary work such as project site selection, environmental impact assessment, and construction permits.

Clear logic, detailed data, prominent key points—this was his consistent style.

After he finished, he habitually glanced at Secretary Wei Kuan, waiting for him to summarize.

Secretary Wei Kuan did not summarize; he leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand, his gaze fixed on County Mayor Bai Weijun.

The conference room was silent for a few seconds; everyone felt the subtle change in the atmosphere, like the oppression before a storm, with an indescribable unease permeating the air.

"County Magistrate Bai, I have heard what you just said. The data is impressive, the progress is fast, and both the province and the city are very satisfied."

"However, I have a few questions I would like to ask you."

County Mayor Bai Weijun's fingers moved slightly, but the expression on his face did not change.

"Secretary Wei, please go ahead."

Secretary Wei Kuan opened the folder in front of him, pulled out a piece of paper, held it up for everyone to see, and then put it down.

The paper was densely packed with text; the content was unclear, but everyone knew it wasn't an ordinary piece of paper—it was the ammunition Secretary Wei Kuan had prepared.

"The first question: the agricultural product deep-processing project at the Agriculture Bureau had its approval process delayed for half a month, and the enterprise filed a complaint with the County Government Office."

"You said at the meeting at the time that we must deal with it seriously and hold people accountable. What was the result? Only Deputy Director Zhou of the Agriculture Bureau was transferred to the Archives Bureau."

"What about the enterprise? Did you soothe them? Did you go to apologize? Have you written your reflection materials? Have your rectification measures been implemented?"

County Mayor Bai Weijun's face changed; he hadn't expected Secretary Wei Kuan to bring up old accounts in public at the Standing Committee meeting.

The Agriculture Bureau matter had passed for nearly a month; Deputy Director Zhou had been removed from his post, and he had also sent the Office Director to apologize to the enterprise, and the other party had expressed understanding and did not pursue it further.

As for the reflection materials and rectification measures, he had written and implemented them, but in Secretary Wei Kuan's words, it was as if he had done nothing at all.

"Secretary Wei, I sent the Office Director to apologize to the enterprise..."

"The Office Director?"

Secretary Wei Kuan interrupted him, his voice not loud, but every word felt like a nail driven into County Mayor Bai Weijun's ears.

"You are the County Magistrate, the primary person responsible for enterprise investment and settlement. When an enterprise complains to you, and you send an Office Director to apologize, where is your sincerity?"

"Where is your sense of responsibility? Where is the importance you attach to the enterprise?"

County Mayor Bai Weijun opened his mouth to explain, but Secretary Wei Kuan didn't give him the chance.

"The second question."

"The special funds approved by the province, nearly 200 million, took you a month to submit the matching plan."

"A month."

"The money from the province had arrived long ago; what were you doing? What were you waiting for? What were you hesitating about? Do you think that once the money arrived, it was yours? Do you think that the province wouldn't rush you anyway, so you could take your time and not worry?"

"Do you know that the enterprise is waiting for this money to start work, the workers are waiting for this money to get paid, and the common people are waiting for this project to land so they can find employment and increase their income?"

"For every day you delay, the project starts a day late, tax revenue comes in a day late, and the common people benefit a day late."

"Have you calculated this cost?"

The air in the conference room seemed to have been sucked out.

No one spoke, no one dared to move, and even their breathing became quiet.

County Mayor Bai Weijun's face turned from red to white, then from white to green; he pressed his lips tightly together, wanting to say something but swallowing it back.

He knew that the problems Secretary Wei Kuan mentioned existed, but he didn't think they were that serious.

After the special funds arrived, the Finance Bureau worked overtime to create the matching plan, taking less than a month to submit it, which was fast throughout the province.

But in Secretary Wei Kuan's words, it was as if they had committed a grave error.

Secretary Wei Kuan didn't stop; he opened the folder, pulled out another piece of paper, and moved his gaze from County Mayor Bai Weijun to Xu Weidong.

The gaze wasn't heavy, but Xu Weidong felt it was like a mountain, pressing down on him until he couldn't breathe.

"County Magistrate Xu, you are in charge of investment promotion, work safety, and urban construction; your scope is large, and you have many achievements. However, you also have many problems."

"Regarding the Brilliant Fireworks matter, you handled it very well—sealing, rectification, restructuring—done in one step, leaving no hidden dangers."

"But have you ever thought about why Brilliant Fireworks existed under our Changyuan County for so many years? Why didn't you discover so many hidden dangers before? Why did you have to wait until something happened to deal with it?"

Xu Weidong's fingers gripped the pen in his hand tightly; he took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound calm.

"Secretary Wei, the problem with Brilliant Fireworks was only fully investigated after I took office. The Safety Supervision Bureau had checked it before, but each time it was just going through the motions, not going in-depth."

"I admit that in the daily supervision of work safety, we indeed had shortcomings."

Secretary Wei Kuan didn't spare him any face and said, "Shortcomings? That is serious dereliction of duty. You are the Executive Deputy County Magistrate in charge of work safety."

"Brilliant Fireworks existed right under your nose for so many years with piles of hidden dangers, and you actually didn't know?"

"Did you really not know, or were you pretending not to know? Did you lack the ability to discover it, or did you discover it and not take it seriously?"

Xu Weidong was left speechless; he wanted to defend himself, to say that the Brilliant Fireworks problem didn't just start during his term, to say that General Manager Hu Dakuan hid it very deeply, and to say that the Safety Supervision Bureau's inspections being mere formalities was not something he could control.

But he couldn't say these things; to say them would be shirking responsibility, making excuses, and telling everyone he had no sense of duty.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed the words, "Secretary Wei, please listen to my explanation."

Secretary Wei Kuan didn't give him a chance to breathe.

"In terms of investment promotion, you went after several major projects, signed several letters of intent, the media reported it, and the province and city praised it."

"But how many of the signed projects actually landed? How many of the landed projects went into production? How much benefit did the projects that went into production generate?"

"Have you tracked, analyzed, or evaluated these data? Or do you think that signing the letter of intent is the end of it?"

"The rest is just the enterprise's own business? It has nothing to do with you?"

A layer of fine sweat seeped from Xu Weidong's forehead; he quickly organized his language in his mind, wanting to answer this thorny question in a decent and neither humble nor pushy way.

But when he looked up and met Secretary Wei Kuan's icy, temperatureless eyes, he found that all the words he had prepared were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single syllable.

The conference room was deathly silent; no one dared to speak, and no one dared to move.

Some Standing Committee members lowered their heads, pretending to look at their notebooks, but in reality, they couldn't read a single word.

Some people held their tea cups and kept drinking water; the water had long gone cold, but they didn't dare to put it down.

Some people looked out the window with empty gazes, not knowing what to look at, but it was better than watching Secretary Wei Kuan lecture people.

Secretary Wei Kuan's state today was completely wrong; he hadn't been like this before.

Previously, he had always been polite to County Mayor Bai Weijun and Xu Weidong, even publicly praising them at the Standing Committee meeting, saying they were role models for young cadres and the hope of Changyuan County.

What was wrong today? Did he take the wrong medicine? Or was someone backing him up from behind?

County Mayor Bai Weijun and Xu Weidong sat there like two students punished by their teacher to stand in the corner.

They had never encountered such a situation; in Changyuan County, who didn't give them some face?

Provincial leaders were polite when they met them, city leaders greeted them with smiles, and county cadres bowed and scraped before them.

They thought they had gained a firm foothold, thought they had earned respect, and thought they could call the wind and summon the rain in Changyuan County.

Now, Secretary Wei Kuan had used these few dozen minutes to tell them that they had not gained a firm foothold, had not earned respect, and could not call the wind and summon the rain in Changyuan County.

All they could do was sit there.

Secretary Wei Kuan closed the folder and picked up his tea cup to take a sip.

The tea had gone cold, but he didn't frown, slowly swallowing that mouthful of cold tea.

"That's all for today's meeting. Dismissed."