164: A minor incident during an inspection tour of the countryside

Wang Zhongyu returned to work after taking three days of marriage leave.

Time flew by, and over half a month passed; it was already the end of October.

Various tasks in Yushu County were progressing steadily, especially those related to education.

Schools that previously lacked computer labs had purchased computers and established them.

Sixty-three tutoring centers were closed, more than half of which had been privately run by teachers.

Thirty-three teachers with poor conduct, devious minds, and a purely money-oriented mindset, who ran tutoring centers to rake in cash, were removed from the teaching profession.

The Director of the Education Bureau received a demerit, and one Deputy Director was dismissed.

Nine principals and Vice Principals received varying degrees of disciplinary action, which greatly pleased many people; they praised the county for doing a good job and expressed strong support.

However, where there is happiness, there is unhappiness; those teachers who were removed from the teaching profession hated the County Party Committee and County Government to the core.

Not only did they lose their jobs, but their lucrative tutoring centers were also banned, and they would no longer be able to engage in educational businesses in the future.

Therefore, they were extremely dissatisfied with the County Party Committee and County Government. Learning from other channels that this work was pushed by the County Mayor, Lin Zifeng, they gritted their teeth in hatred toward Lin Zifeng, the instigator.

These dismissed teachers knew each other, and their private communications began to increase.

They even created a QQ group, intending to discuss how to get their jobs back and make Lin Zifeng, the 'culprit' who caused them to lose their iron rice bowls and shut down their money-making tutoring centers, pay the price.

They all wanted to see Lin Zifeng suffer a great misfortune to satisfy their hatred.

However, while these people were bad, they were not stupid; they knew they couldn't stir up any trouble on their own turf in Yushu County.

To make Lin Zifeng suffer a great misfortune, they would have to go to the City Level or the Provincial Level to cause a scene.

They also knew that without a reasonable excuse, it would be useless no matter where they went to make trouble.

Using their own affairs to make trouble and report Lin Zifeng would be completely groundless.

Therefore, these people constantly monitored news from all aspects of the county, like vipers hiding in the dark, wanting to find the right opportunity to deal a fatal blow to Lin Zifeng.

Someone among them suggested writing whistleblower letters to the City Level first, under the name of corruption and bribery.

This person's reasoning was simple: since Lin Zifeng was so young and had already attained the position of County Mayor, attracted so much investment, and presided over the advancement of so many projects, it was impossible for his hands to be clean.

By skimming a little bit of benefit from these projects, he could achieve financial freedom; he believed that anyone would be moved when faced with money that could be easily obtained.

This person had another reason: since Lin Zifeng rose so quickly, it was impossible that he hadn't accepted or offered bribes.

Besides, even if Lin Zifeng were truly upright and clean, writing anonymous whistleblower letters wouldn't affect them in any way.

As long as they wrote enough, it would attract the attention of the Municipal Leaders, and if they really came down to investigate Lin Zifeng, it would cause him some impact.

If they really found something, they could directly topple Lin Zifeng and satisfy their hatred.

Others suggested that the thirty-three of them pool their money to hire some unemployed drifters to hang banners at the entrance of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, accusing Lin Zifeng of being overbearing and engaging in formalism in Yushu County for the sake of political achievements.

Accusing him of making rash decisions without listening to the voices of the people.

Some parents wanted to improve their children's grades and were looking for places to tutor them, but now they had no way to do so.

Lin Zifeng ordered the closure of all tutoring centers in the county, leaving students with nowhere to go if they wanted to improve their grades in their spare time.

Therefore, he made a mountain out of a molehill, forcing over thirty teachers to lose their jobs without considering the impact it would have on these teachers' families.

After an hour of discussion, these people reached a consensus and decided to proceed according to these two plans.

Writing whistleblower letters was absolutely a piece of cake for them; after all, they were once in the education field, and writing eight or ten anonymous letters a day was as simple as eating and drinking water.

Although the second plan would cost some money, they felt it was worth it.

Without exposing themselves, they could retaliate against Lin Zifeng while also testing the attitude of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government regarding their dismissal.

If the City Level's attitude toward their side was mild and Lin Zifeng fell out of favor, they could then come forward personally.

By that time, in order to appease public opinion, the City Level might allow them to return to their posts and resume their work.

These people began to take action step by step in the dark, following the agreed-upon plan.

First, they began to write whistleblower letters; within a few days, a flurry of letters began to be sent from Yushu County to the City Level.

Some also began to secretly contact those unemployed drifters and troublemakers, teaching them what to say and do if they went to the City Level in the future.

Lin Zifeng was completely unaware of these things happening in the dark.

On the morning of that day, as soon as he started work, he followed his previous schedule, accompanied by Deputy County Mayor Zhang Linhua and the Director of the Animal Husbandry Bureau, along with two staff members from the Animal Husbandry Bureau.

They left the County Party Committee and County Government compound, split into three cars, and drove toward Xiangyang Town.

Before nine o'clock, the three cars arrived at Xiangyang Town; the leadership team of Xiangyang Town had long been waiting in front of the Town Government to welcome their arrival.

After everyone got out of the cars, they shook hands and exchanged greetings. Under Lin Zifeng's instruction, the Secretary of Xiangyang Town, the Town Mayor, and the Deputy Town Mayor in charge of animal husbandry joined them, got back into the cars, and drove toward the village where livestock farming was concentrated.

Throughout the morning, Lin Zifeng and his party visited many farmers and listened to the difficulties of some local villagers who wanted to engage in animal husbandry.

In the middle of this, a small episode occurred: an elderly woman in her sixties, upon learning he was the County Mayor, grabbed his hand and wouldn't let go.

She begged him to help her get a loan so she could raise eight or ten sheep to increase her income.

Lin Zifeng kindly held the old woman's hand and said in a gentle tone: "Auntie, didn't the county roll out a policy? As long as you have the desire to raise livestock, you can go to the rural cooperative and apply for a low-interest loan, right? Besides, do you really need a loan if you only want to raise such a small number of sheep?"

"County Mayor, let alone ten sheep, I can't even afford one! Besides, loans require a guarantor. I have no money and no one in my family; there is no one else except my granddaughter who is in school. I am so old; if I happen to lose money, people are afraid I won't be able to pay it back and they will be stuck with the debt, so no one dares to guarantee for me!"

The old woman said with tears in her eyes.

Hearing what the old woman said, Lin Zifeng was stunned. He did not expect that within the jurisdiction he governed, there were still such difficult families.

So he spoke again: "Auntie, can you take me to your home to have a look?"