Official career

  Fu Zhenbo arrived with several police officers more than half an hour later. After arriving at the scene, Liu Fei first told Fu Zhenbo about what had happened, then pointed at Secretary-General Li Qing'an's face and angrily said: "Director Fu, the public security situation in our Xishan County is very good, isn't it? Someone dared to beat my secretary-general in broad daylight, right under my nose as county head. I'd like to ask, does the law still exist in Xishan County?"

  Fu Zhenbo hurriedly laughed and said: "County Magistrate Liu, you can't say that. The public security in our Xishan County is very good. I'll say one thing, don't get angry, no matter what you want me to do, we have to talk about evidence, right? You're just talking nonsense, how can I believe what you say? Besides, He Yaxing is the chairman of the county CPPCC and a representative of the municipal People's Congress..." Today, Fu Zhenbo also let go of his inhibitions. He has now completely stood on the side of Gong Chunshan, and since he has already learned about He Yaxing's attitude, he is not afraid of Liu Fei, this young county magistrate who has no foundation at all.

  "What more evidence do we need? We are the evidence!" Liu Fei was almost out of breath, his face burning with anger. As the newly appointed county head, he had only been in office for a few days, and yet someone had dared to brutally beat his secretary right under his nose. This was a matter of face that absolutely could not be lost, and he would stop at nothing to get it back. Moreover, he had summoned Fu Zhenbo today with ulterior motives, so he thundered at him: "Deputy Director, if you can't even protect the safety of the county government's secretary-general, how can your public security apparatus protect the people?"

  However, Fu Zhenbo had made up his mind to confront Liu Fei today. Although he nodded and agreed on the surface, he only instructed someone to send Li Qingan's secretary to the hospital, without any intention of further investigating the perpetrator.

  However, Li Qing'an was not grateful for Zhen Bo's kindness and had no intention of going to the hospital. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sat down with Liu Fei and others to drink after being injured again. The injuries he sustained were not severe because Liu Fei came to his rescue quickly, and he was only kicked a few times by He Yaxing's two bodyguards at the beginning, which only broke the corner of his mouth.

  When leaving, Liu Fei walked away with a gloomy face.

  Behind him, Zhang Qunshu and Li Qing'an could also feel that the young county magistrate's mood was not good. However, both of them were powerless to do anything about it, because they too understood the current situation clearly. Although this new county magistrate had clever means and was a decent person, for now, with Gong Chunshan as the leader, the local forces in Xishan County held an advantageous position that was real and tangible. However, since both of them had already taken sides, they could only try to comfort Liu Fei and advise him not to take Zhang Zhenbo's unreasonable behavior to heart.

  Xue Lingyun looked at Liu Fei's gloomy face and depressed mood, also somewhat worried. But in the current situation, for the sake of Liu Fei's official career, she couldn't show excessive concern to him, lest it cause unnecessary gossip.

  Liu Fei's face was gloomy, and his mood was indeed not good. But in fact, it wasn't as heavy as he showed. He just wanted to make this gesture today, and he did it for some people to see. He also knew that calling Fu Zhenbo over would not cooperate with himself, but he still had to call him over, because this is the officialdom. In the officialdom, there are some procedures that must be followed, even if you don't want to, but these procedures can't be less.

  He did this today to show Li Qing'an and Zhang Qunshu. He wanted to send them a signal: "No matter who, as long as they are my people, Liu Fei will not ignore anyone's bullying." Perhaps in today's confrontation with Fu Zhenbo, he lost some face, but in his heart, Liu Fei had already sentenced Fu Zhenbo to death. For someone like Fu Zhenbo, Liu Fei didn't take him seriously at all, it's just that the time to deal with him hasn't come yet.

  However, today's events also made Liu Fei see some things clearly. He believed that He Yaxing dared to be so arrogant in front of him today, and it was absolutely not just because Gong Chunshan was his relative. He must have had a bigger backer than Gong Chunshan to dare to be so arrogant. This also made Liu Fei start planning his trip to Hengyang City ahead of time. Since he took office as the county magistrate of Xishan County from the provincial government, he has not visited the main leaders of Hengyang City. So, he had decided that after handling the incident of Li Qing'an's secretary being beaten, he would go to visit the main leaders of Hengyang City at the first opportunity. After all, he wanted to develop in Hengyang City in the future, and it was absolutely impossible not to have a good relationship with the local main leaders. As the saying goes, "having someone in the imperial court makes it easy to be an official." Liu Fei also agreed with this point very much. Especially before he came to Xishan County, the old governor Jiang Zhengyuan helped him analyze the current situation of Hengyang City: "Hengyang City Municipal Party Committee Secretary Han Wenlong is a person who is now the Standing Vice Mayor Ma Ao's confidant. The Municipal Organization Department Director Guo Youli is also Ma Ao's confidant. The Deputy Mayor in charge of industry, Lu Guangming, was Liu Fei's predecessor as county magistrate, and he leaned towards Han Wenlong. As for the female mayor, Liu Meiyu, she is a relatively gentle mayor, who is low-key and has always maintained a neutral attitude. Moreover, her mysterious background made no one dare to provoke her."

  The next morning, Liu Fei arranged for the gorilla to report to the government office and serve as his driver. This was one point that Liu Fei couldn't argue with the gorilla about, as the gorilla had made up its mind to be Liu Fei's driver. It wasn't until many years later, when Liu Fei stood in a high position, looking out over the masses, that the gorilla, now promoted to being Liu Fei's special bodyguard, revealed the real reason why it had chosen to be Liu Fei's driver back then.

  With Liu Fei's care, the gorilla reported exceptionally smoothly. Before long, the gorilla called Liu Fei and said that the formalities had been completed, and he was now waiting in the county government's driver class, ready to go out at any time.

  Liu Fei had been working in the office for a while when his secretary, Feng Yuan, knocked on the door and came in to report: "Director Liu, the special funds for economic development in Xishan County allocated by the province have arrived." However, as he spoke, Feng Yuan's face was stifling a strange smile. Liu Fei didn't notice it.

  He just smiled, nodded in satisfaction, and thought to himself that the old brother from the Provincial Finance Department was quite efficient, after all, it didn't take long for the money to arrive. When he goes to the provincial city in a few days, he must go visit him and have a good chat to express his gratitude.

  However, Feng Yuan continued to say: "County Mayor Liu, the special funds have indeed arrived, but it's not the 30 million you mentioned, but 5 million!" Feng Yuan's face looked very calm, but his heart was laughing wildly. Haha, Liu Fei, this time your bluff has been called out, 30 million only turned out to be 5 million, see how you explain this to Vice County Mayor Zhang Qunshu. Humph, trying to compete with County Mayor Gong, you're still too young and inexperienced, what kind of person is County Mayor Gong? In the entire Hengyang City, he's a figure who can be said to have a wide network of connections, how could he possibly lose to someone as young and inexperienced as you?

  Liu Fei had no idea that Feng Yuan had such thoughts in his heart. If he knew, with his temper, he would probably kick Feng Yuan down the stairs directly. However, after hearing Feng Yuan's report, Liu Fei's eyebrows were tightly furrowed: "Are you sure it only reached 50 million?"

  "Feng Yuan replied very affirmatively: 'Confirmed. I personally checked the account on the household register.'"

  Liu Fei suddenly raised his head, just in time to see a sneer on Feng Yuan's face. Liu Fei gave a cold smile and didn't say anything, only faintly saying to Feng Yuan: "En, okay, I understand."

  Feng Yuan quietly retreated, and after exiting, the mocking and disdainful expression on his face became even more pronounced. Immediately afterwards, he took out his phone and quickly sent a text message to Gong Chunshan and He Yaxing: "The special funds have been diverted, Liu Fei is very angry." After sending the message, he smugly tapped his fingers lightly on the edge of the table, starting to indulge in fantasies. He knew that the day of his promotion was not far away, as Gong Chunshan had previously sent someone to hint to him that as long as he could obtain reliable information from Liu Fei's side, he would be promoted.

  Liu Fei leaned back in his office chair, gently massaging his temples with his fingers. His mind began to spin rapidly: "This 300 million special fund was personally requested by me from the province, and its allocation must have been named after Xishan County's economic development special fund. Who could have manipulated it? The county government? Absolutely impossible! The county implements a system where all financial transactions require the county head's personal approval. It is absolutely impossible for funds to be intercepted within the county. The provincial government? Even more impossible! The funds were directly allocated from the provincial department to the city, and given my relationship with the finance minister, it is absolutely impossible for them to be intercepted. So the problem must lie in the city government."

  Who would have made the move in the city? As soon as Liu Fei thought of this, he knew that his plan to go to Hengyang City had to be advanced. After all, he had announced in front of so many county officials that 300 million funds would be allocated, but if only 50 million was received, where would his prestige be? Suddenly, thinking of this, Liu Fei's heart jumped violently, could it be that the other party had ulterior motives for intercepting the funds? Could it be that they wanted him to lose credibility in front of everyone? If so, the other party's intentions were really too sinister and vicious.

  Picking up the phone on the desk, Liu Fei dialed County Secretary Zhou Wenfu's office phone. Zhou Wenfu happened to be in his office and saw that it was Liu Fei's cell phone, so he didn't use a secretary to transfer the call and directly picked up the phone with a smile, saying: "County Magistrate Liu, what's going on?"

  Liu Fei said in a low voice: "Secretary Zhou, have you known about the special fund for economic development of Xishan County?"