Rebirth of the Rising Sun

Therefore, the person in charge of each road section did not show up this morning. Faced with this situation, some farmers and workers who were quick to react felt something was wrong when they arrived at the construction site. Not only did they not see the person in charge, but they also heard that Deputy County Chief Feng, who was in charge of this work, might have been arrested by the Municipal Party Committee. Suddenly, the scene exploded. Some people threw their road construction tools on the ground and started a strike. At this time, Fang Xianzhi's special car and the video car of the county propaganda department arrived.

Fang Xianzhi had originally thought of asking the Propaganda Department to record a video for him to build momentum, but he had not expected to face such a situation when he arrived here. For a moment, he was speechless. Looking at the angry crowd, he was at a loss.

"Oh no! Hurry, ask the driver to turn around." Fang Xianzhi shouted softly to the driver.

But it was too late to leave now. Someone had already recognized his car and someone shouted, "Look, that's County Magistrate Fang's car. The county magistrate is here. Let's go ask him for clarification."

"Yes, ask the county magistrate for an explanation."

The people quickly surrounded Fang Xianzhi's special car as it was about to turn around and leave. The crowd came from all directions and surrounded the car so tightly that no one could get in or out.

Fang Xianzhi didn't expect the situation to be like this. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't be so anxious. He would have sent other people to take a look first. But now he is surrounded, and even if he wants to leave, it's probably too late.

Secretary Wu Lei was quite sensible. He opened the door and got out of the car first, shouting to the angry crowd that had gathered around him, "Fellow villagers, don't be anxious. I'm the county magistrate's secretary. Everyone calm down. Calm down."

"Calm down, what's going on in the county? Why can't we see any responsible person this morning? I heard that County Chief Feng was arrested. What's going on? We want an explanation."

"We want an explanation. Now that County Magistrate Feng has been arrested, does the county's promise to exempt us from agricultural taxes by using work points still count? If it doesn't count, then pay us quickly. We've worked here for so many days, we should be paid."

"Yes, give us wages. We want wages and we want to eat."

Wu Lei originally wanted to use his identity as the county magistrate's secretary to suppress the crowd and let them curb their crazy behavior, but he didn't expect that he couldn't control the situation at all. His appearance did not calm the restless crowd at all. Instead, the exciting scene became even more heated.

Looking at this uncontrollable crowd, knowing that a group attack might happen if things went wrong, Wu Lei finally turned around and looked towards the car and Fang Xianzhi for help.

Fang Xianzhi, who was sitting in the car, cursed Wu Lei for being useless, and then he opened the door and slowly walked out. This was not because Fang Xianzhi wanted to stand out, but because he had no choice but to come out. If he didn't come out, who knew if these angry people would overturn his car, and if so, he would only be in a more embarrassing situation.

As soon as Fang Xianzhi opened the car door and walked out, a loud voice came from the crowd, "This is County Magistrate Fang. I've seen him give a report on TV."

"Ah, it's the county head, then he must have the final say, let's ask him to give us a guarantee." As soon as the crowd heard that it was the head of a county, everyone immediately began to surge towards Fang Xianzhi. It was no wonder, when even the person in charge of the project could not be found, the appearance of Fang Xianzhi undoubtedly gave everyone a glimmer of hope.

Seeing the crowd constantly rushing towards Fang Xianzhi, and even the possibility of something unpredictable happening, Wu Lei quickly used his body to block the leader, and then shouted loudly while waving his arms, "Everyone calm down, calm down, let's listen to the county magistrate's words now."

Wu Lei's shout finally resonated with everyone, and the restless crowd seemed to calm down after the shout. Seeing that the restless crowd finally seemed to be able to control their emotions, Fang Xianzhi breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that these people would rush over without asking any questions. If that happened, he would not even have a chance to speak.

"Fellow villagers, comrades, please be quiet. I am Fang Xianzhi, the county magistrate of Dahu County. Now would you please listen to me for a few words?" Fang Xianzhi stretched out his hand and pushed away the secretary Wu Lei in front of him, so that he could face everyone, and then shouted loudly.

"Okay, let's listen to what the county magistrate has to say." After hearing Fang Xianzhi's voice in the crowd, someone finally stopped moving forward with reason, stood there and began to stare at Fang Xianzhi.

"Fellow villagers, comrades, I don't know why this happened, but I think today's incident should be a misunderstanding. I hope you can continue to build the road like before and yesterday. I think the county party committee and county government will definitely keep their promise to you." Fang Xianzhi looked at the excited crowd and didn't know what to say to comfort them. He thought that these people must be afraid that the road construction work would be in vain, so they were so excited. Then he would solve the problem from the root and promise that the county party committee and county government's promise would not change. I believe that this would make the excited crowd less impulsive.

"What do you mean by 'you think'? We want a definite answer. County Magistrate Feng never said this before." Someone in the crowd found Fang Xianzhi's sick words, and the sentence "I think he will definitely come true" immediately became the reason for everyone to attack him.

Fang Xianzhi certainly did not neglect it, but said it on purpose. His purpose was to muddle through, because he did not dare to guarantee that the agricultural problems in Dahu County would improve during the harvest. He did not have the vision and confidence of Feng Sizhe. If the agricultural reform failed this year, there would be no one to plant the land next year. How could the agricultural tax be used to offset the road construction funds? If the people came to them to ask for the road construction wages at that time, what would he give them?

Fang Xianzhi was afraid of causing trouble in the future, so he had to say such ambiguous words. But he didn't expect that someone would understand what he meant and would argue with him about it. Helpless, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, then I promise everyone that the county party committee and county government will definitely exchange your wages for road construction, for sure."

"No, the county magistrate cannot speak in the name of the county party committee and county government. We want your personal guarantee. If we don't get the money for road construction, we will ask the county magistrate for it. Is that okay? Just give me your answer."

No one knows who is targeting Fang Xianzhi and actually asking for a personal guarantee from him. In other words, if Fang Xianzhi agrees to this request, then he can be directly blamed for any problems with the road construction funds.

Fang Xianzhi was really depressed, and wanted to see who said this. Isn't this obviously asking for trouble? If he agreed to this request, he would be completely trapped in this matter. If there was a problem, he would probably be the one to take the blame.

"Did you see that? The county magistrate didn't agree. He was just trying to fool us. We can't agree to it either. We have to arrest the county magistrate." It was the same man's voice. He seemed to see that Fang Xianzhi was intentionally avoiding the question, and he immediately exposed Fang Xianzhi's little trick.

As this person spoke, the people who had been quiet began to stir again, and their momentum was even stronger than before. Some people who were close to Fang Xianzhi had already touched the edge of the county magistrate's clothes with their outstretched hands.

Fang Xianzhi was so frightened by this situation that his face turned pale. He knew that if he didn't say a few words of affirmation and responsibility at this moment, he might be beaten up by these people here today. If that happened, not only would he lose face, but it might even cause a mass incident and he might be removed from his position as county magistrate.

In order to save his life and his position, Fang Xianzhi had no choice but to shout, "Everyone listen to me, I promise you, I promise you, anyone who wants to farm next year will be given agricultural tax offset depending on how much you contribute to the road construction, and for those who don't want to farm, the county will exchange you for cash, anyway, everyone's contribution will not be in vain. If my words are not fulfilled by then, you can all come to me personally, is that okay?"

There was really no other way, so Fang Xianzhi said this out of necessity. Regardless of whether it was a stopgap measure or to cope with the current crisis, he had made the promise in front of everyone.

It was also because of Fang Xianzhi's promise that he was able to withdraw when he was about to face danger. Those who wanted to attack him also stopped one by one and stood where they were.

A large-scale public petition incident was thus resolved under Fang Xianzhi's three guarantees. Driven by some people, many people have rejoined the road construction army. Of course, some of them abandoned their tools and went home. In the eyes of these people, it seemed that without Feng Sizhe, it would be difficult to get the wages for the road construction. They didn't want to make efforts today and have to work hard again in the future to get their wages. That would be a loss.

No matter how many people left or stayed, Fang Xianzhi finally left here safely. He really didn't have the confidence to stay at the road construction site to watch or give instructions. He just wanted to go back to the office, drink some tea, and comfort his frightened heart.