Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 362 Taking a Different Approach to Secure Transportation Projects

Wu Zhiyuan's heart skipped a beat. If Hu Tianlong really had an illegitimate daughter, he would have something to say when they met next time.

Of course, this doesn't qualify as a threat.

It's unclear whether Hu Tianlong was happy or worried upon hearing this news.

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "Are you sure Liu Yue'e's daughter was born to Hu Tianlong?"

Old Li said, "My cousin Liu Yue'e said yes, if it wasn't Hu Tianlong's, then whose was it?"

Wu Zhiyuan then asked, "Which village does my cousin Liu Yue'e live in? I'd like to meet her."

Old Li pointed to a nearby village: "She's in the next village, but I don't know if she's home now. If you want to go, I can show you the way."

Wu Zhiyuan made a quick decision and went to see Liu Yue'e's cousin.

Wu Zhiyuan and Lao Li talked as they walked.

The most discussed topics were Hu Tianlong's work and life in Lizhuang Village, including what he did and what his hobbies were.

Old Li said, "During Hu Tianlong's tenure as the first secretary of the village's Party branch, he always wanted to build a road connecting the village to the provincial capital and he traveled around for this purpose, but for various reasons, he did not succeed."

Later, Hu Tianlong ended his term early, and nothing more was heard of him.

More than twenty years have passed, and the road conditions have not improved significantly.

Although Old Li is over seventy years old, he is still agile and walks with a brisk pace.

As he walked, he said, "Liu Yue'e's cousin, Liu Yuefang, is about ten years younger than me. She's a very straightforward person."

She introduced Liu Yue'e to our village back then, and after that incident, she was quite worried about it.

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "Secretary Li, has Liu Yuefang maintained contact with Liu Yue'e all these years?"

Old Li said, "Yes, they are cousins ​​after all."

Liu Yue'e later remarried, and Liu Yuefang visited her several times.

However, in recent years, Liu Yuefang has gotten older and her legs have become weak, so she walks less.

But during holidays and festivals, when she returned to her parents' home, and Liu Yue'e also returned to her parents' home, they still had opportunities to meet.

We arrived at Liu Yuefang's house.

This is a two-story building with white tiles on the exterior walls, and the yard is kept very clean.

This indicates that Liu Yuefang's family is well-off.

In Lizhuang Village, not many families can afford to live in apartment buildings; many families still live in tile-roofed houses.

The door was open.

Old Li muttered to himself, "People should be at home."

Old Li shouted at the top of his lungs, "Yuefang!"

A woman in her fifties came out.

She was slightly plump, with some gray hair, and a kind smile on her face.

Upon seeing Old Li with his group, Liu Yuefang asked in surprise, "Secretary Li, what's the matter?"

Old Li introduced with a smile: "Yuefang, this is Wu, the newly arrived County Chief. He came specifically to ask you about the situation."

"You want to know what's going on?" Liu Yuefang was stunned.

The county head sought her out to inquire about the situation?

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Liu Yuefang invited Wu Zhiyuan into her home.

While she was making tea, Wu Zhiyuan stopped her, saying, "Sister, no need to trouble yourself. I'll just sit for a while, say a few words, and then leave."

Liu Yuefang sat down beside her and asked, "County Magistrate Wu, what's the matter?"

Wu Zhiyuan got straight to the point and asked about Liu Yue'e's situation.

Liu Yuefang was silent for a while before speaking: "I watched Yue'e grow up. She had a hard life."

She is seven or eight years younger than me. She was beautiful from a young age, with a delicate and fresh appearance, like a person in a painting.

Her father died early, and her mother raised her.

When she was eighteen, I arranged a marriage for her with a miner from our village.

Back then, miners were state employees with high wages, and I thought she could have a good life if she married him.

Who would have thought that just a few months into their marriage, the man would die in a mine?

Yue'e became a widow at a young age.

Her in-laws wanted her to marry her brother-in-law.

But her brother-in-law was lazy, good-for-nothing, and ugly, so Yue'e absolutely refused to marry him.

Later, a cadre sent to the village came, Hu Tianlong.

That young man was tall and handsome, cultured, polite, and kind to Yue'e.

When Yue'e was alone and couldn't do the work in the fields, he would go and help her.

Over time, the two developed feelings for each other.

I knew about this at the time. Yue'e said that the man was good to her, and she wanted to marry him.

I was happy for her at the time, thinking that she had finally made it through.

But who knew that something like that would happen later…

Liu Yuefang paused for a moment, then continued, "That night, Yue'e's father-in-law discovered their affair, locked the door, and called people to make a scene."

The whole village was in an uproar, and Yue'e couldn't lift her head.

Hu Tianlong was also beaten and returned to the provincial capital ahead of schedule.

Later, Yue'e discovered that she was pregnant.

She called Hu Tianlong and told him that he would give her some money to abort the child.

It was then that Yue'e realized that Hu Tianlong did not truly love her, or rather, although he loved her, he would not marry her.

After all, the two people have vastly different educational backgrounds, social statuses, and family circumstances.

Yue'e was self-aware; she took the money and stopped bothering Hu Tianlong, lying that she had an abortion.

Actually, she couldn't bear to part with the child, so she didn't have an abortion; she considered the money as child support.

Unable to stay in Lizhuang Village any longer, Yue'e returned to her parents' home and never came back to Lizhuang Village again.

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "What's the child's condition now?"

Liu Yuefang said, "It's a girl. Her name is Liu Siyu."

Siyu looks exactly like Yue'e when she was young; she's very beautiful and exceptionally intelligent, always excelling in her studies.

I'm 22 years old this year and I'm studying at a university in Jiangzhou, the provincial capital. It's a 985 key university, and I'll graduate next year.

When Yue'e gave birth to Siyu, she claimed that the child was born to her deceased husband in order to avoid gossip. In fact, the child was Hu Tianlong's.

Later, through an introduction, Yue'e married a miner from the same town.

The miner was remarried; his wife had died of illness, leaving behind a son.

He was honest and kind, and treated Yue'e and Siyu well.

Yue'e thought to herself, "Finally, I have a stable home."

But who knows, fate is something that can never be explained.

When Siyu was seven years old, her stepfather also died in the mine.

Both were gas explosions, both occurred underground.

Wu Zhiyuan was startled.

The same woman, two husbands, both died in mining accidents?

Liu Yuefang sighed softly: "From then on, people in the village started gossiping, saying that Yue'e was unlucky and would bring misfortune to her husband."

They even said she was the reincarnation of the White Tiger Star, and whoever got involved with her would be unlucky.

I'm too embarrassed to learn those harsh words.

Upon hearing this, Yue'e simply wept. "Just imagine how difficult her life was, as a widow raising three children alone."

"Three children?" Wu Zhiyuan asked.

Liu Yuefang said, "She and her later husband had a daughter. Her later husband originally had a son, so with Siyu, there were three of them."

Later, Yue'e raised the son her husband left behind as her own.

That child later got into a junior college and now works in the provincial capital.

Yue'e's youngest daughter is still in middle school.

Wu Zhiyuan fell silent.

Liu Yue'e's life was truly filled with suffering.

Liu Yuefang's eyes were red: "Over the years, Yue'e has raised three children all by herself. Only she knows how much hardship and grievance she has suffered."

She never went to see Hu Tianlong, nor did she ever mention the past to anyone.

I asked her about it, and she said that the money from back then was evidence that the two of them had broken up.

The person gave her the money, she accepted the money, and then the two of them had no further relationship.

She didn't want Siyu to know about her background, nor did she want Siyu to acknowledge her biological father.

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "Does Siyu know about her background?"

Liu Yuefang shook her head: "I don't know. Yue'e kept it a secret."

Siyu always believed that the man from Lizhuang Village was her biological father, and that she was a posthumous child.

Yue'e forbade me from mentioning this to anyone, not even Siyu.

She said, "Letting Siyu grow up safely and peacefully is more important than anything else."

Wu Zhiyuan then asked, "Elder sister, where does Sister Yue'e live now?"

"It's in the village where her parents live. She does odd jobs to earn money and support her children."

She was very beautiful when she was young, but the burdens of life crushed her.

Liu Yuefang turned and went into the house, took out a photo, and handed it to Wu Zhiyuan.

The photo has yellowed, but it's well preserved.

The photo shows a young woman wearing a floral dress, standing under a locust tree, smiling sweetly.

Standing next to him was a tall, thin young man wearing a white shirt and a shy smile on his face.

"This is Yue'e and Hu Tianlong. Hu Tianlong comes from a well-off family and owns a camera. Yue'e gave me a picture of him."

I am Yue'e's cousin and also her best friend. She is willing to tell me anything.

To be honest, when she married into this family from so far away, she didn't have many people she could talk to.

Wu Zhiyuan took the photo and examined it carefully.

The Liu Yue'e in the photo is youthful and beautiful, with a bright smile, showing no signs of the many hardships she would later endure.

In his youth, Hu Tianlong had clear eyes and a scholarly air, a stark contrast to the composed and dignified director he portrays on television today.

Wu Zhiyuan said solemnly, "Sister, I'll keep the photos for now, and I'll definitely return them when I'm done."

Liu Yuefang said, "The photos are not important. What is important is that I hope you can help Siyu reunite with her biological father."

Although Yue'e has always opposed her daughter recognizing her relatives, I think that it is not good for flesh and blood to be separated, and father and daughter should always recognize each other.

Moreover, to be realistic, Hu Tianlong is now a high-ranking official, and if Siyu acknowledges him as a relative, her future development will be very different.

These days, as you know, you need connections to get anything done.

Even to become an official, you need a powerful backer. Without a powerful backer, you can't become a high-ranking official.

With Hu Tianlong as her biological father, Siyu will definitely be able to find a good job.

Otherwise, even graduating from a 985 university doesn't guarantee a good job.

Wu Zhiyuan nodded.

Although Liu Yuefang spoke in a simple and realistic manner, it was very true.

That is the truth.

Just like Wu Zhiyuan, without Lin Xue and Xu Youwei behind him, he wouldn't have become the county magistrate before he was thirty.

Impossible, don't even think about it.

……

A dozen days later, Wu Zhiyuan and his group went to the provincial capital.

Under Liu Yiyi's arrangement, he met Hu Tianlong.

Hu Tianlong was over fifty years old, and his hair was neatly combed.

In the conference room, Hu Tianlong received Wu Zhiyuan and his delegation in a businesslike manner.

The principle of reciprocity is highly valued in officialdom.

When a division-level cadre comes to the department, only the division chief receives them.

If Lin Xue or Wen Changcheng come to the hall, Hu Tianlong is the standard person to receive them.

But Wu Zhiyuan was only the county magistrate.

Hu Tianlong's willingness to step forward is considered an exception.

Prior to this, Wu Zhiyuan learned that several transportation projects in Qingyan County had been stalled at the provincial level, either rejected or requiring further study.

There is a saying that Hu Tianlong disliked Qingyan County and disapproved of any project involving Qingyan County.

It seems that his experience back then was a humiliation for him.

Today, he met with Wu Zhiyuan for Liu Yiyi's sake, or more precisely, for Xu Youwei's sake.

However, he only said some platitudes.

such as:

"The provincial department is aware of Qingyan's difficulties. But with so many counties and districts across the province, everyone needs money and projects. The province's resources are limited; there are too many monks and not enough porridge."

"I've heard about that road in Wuhe Town; it's definitely in bad condition."

However, the province's project schedule for this year is already full, so we'll have to wait until next year to consider it. Under the same conditions, we will give priority to those candidates.

"Go back and make a plan first, and do a solid preliminary job."

Project applications must comply with procedures and withstand scrutiny.

……

His words were all just perfunctory.

Wu Zhiyuan thought to himself: It's time to unleash my trump card. Of course, I can't discuss personal matters in front of a large audience; that would backfire. It has to be a one-on-one private chat. But the prerequisite is that there must be an opportunity for a private chat.