Chapter 678 A brief silence

Chapter 678 A brief silence

After a short silence, Qi Tongwei nodded: "Okay, Liangping, I'll listen to you. But we have to be quick and can't keep you waiting too long." Hou Liangping responded: "Of course, we'll start tonight and split into two groups. You go visit the villagers and learn more details, and I'll take people to check the contractor's accounts and related procedures."

As the night deepened, the two rushed to the scene with their respective tasks. Qi Tongwei knocked on the door of each household, patiently listening to the villagers' complaints, filling a notebook with notes, and his anger grew stronger and stronger; Hou Liangping brought professionals to carefully read the mountains of accounts under dim lights, not letting go of any suspicious points.

After working non-stop for several days and nights, the truth gradually became clear. It turned out that the contractor colluded with some officials in the town to embezzle the compensation money and illegally changed the land use in an attempt to gain greater benefits. After obtaining solid evidence, Qi Tongwei and Hou Liangping acted quickly and brought the relevant personnel to justice in one fell swoop. The compensation money of the old farmer was also recovered in full.

When the dust settled, the two stood at the entrance of the village again and smiled at each other. In this smile, there is the relief of resolving the conflict, the pride of upholding justice, and the fearlessness of the still bumpy road ahead. Qi Tongwei patted Hou Liangping on the shoulder: "Liangping, thanks to you this time, if I had been impulsive, I don't know how much trouble I would have caused." Hou Liangping patted back: "Dongwei, we are partners, and we can go further by complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. The road ahead is still long, and there are more challenges waiting for us, but as long as our hearts are together, nothing can stump us."

Qi Tongwei's hand was still on Hou Liangping's shoulder, with a smile of gratitude and relief on his face, and his voice was a little rough: "Liangping, I really have to thank you this time. I lost my temper and almost made a big mistake. If I really relied on my brute force and lost my order, I might have caused a lot of trouble for the villagers, and it would have ruined all our efforts over the years." As he said this, he patted his head slightly, as if to convey his sincerity.

Hou Liangping raised a slightly reluctant arc at the corner of his mouth, avoiding Qi Tongwei's gaze, and whispered: "Dongwei, don't take all the credit on me. This time it was solved, but what about the future? We will face more troubles." He paused, raised his eyes to look at the mountains in the distance, frowned slightly, "Take this contractor incident for example, it seems to be a simple conclusion, but there is a lot of water behind it. We caught those little minions in the town, but what about the big fish behind the scenes? I'm afraid they are still watching coldly in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to make a move."

Qi Tongwei's smile gradually faded, and a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes. He followed Hou Liangping's gaze and looked into the distance, saying in a low voice: "I know this is just the tip of the iceberg. We want to develop our hometown, but we have touched too many people's cheese. Those forces hidden in the dark are intertwined and complex, and a single move can affect the entire body. This time, they sacrificed a pawn to save the chariot, but next time, they may kill us."

Hou Liangping sighed softly, crossed his arms, and looked solemn: "There is also the issue of funding. In order to introduce industries and restore the ecology, we have been begging for investment and applying for funds everywhere. It's not easy to see some improvement, but subsequent maintenance and upgrades will cost money. The funds allocated by the higher authorities are limited, and corporate investment also depends on benefits. If the funding chain is broken, all projects will be paralyzed."

Qi Tongwei scratched his head in annoyance and paced a few steps. "I ran around to attract investment, but when they heard that our area is remote and mountainous, with inconvenient transportation and a shortage of talent, many people backed off. Even those who were willing to invest put forward a lot of harsh conditions. If we are not careful, we may fall into a debt quagmire."

"Let's talk about the officialdom," Hou Liangping took over the conversation, his tone becoming heavier. "We have been rectifying things for a while, and the atmosphere has just improved, but the foundation is not stable. We can't guarantee that some guys who pretend to obey but actually disobey for their own interests will emerge one day and trip us up. We are in the open, and they are in the dark. We can't guard against them."

At this time, a cold wind blew, and the old locust tree at the entrance of the village rustled, as if it was whispering their helplessness. Qi Tongwei stopped pacing and stared at Hou Liangping with burning eyes: "Liangping, I know what you said. But we can't just give up like this, the future of our hometown still depends on us."

Hou Liangping smiled bitterly, "Give up? When have I, Hou Liangping, ever given up halfway? It's just that the road ahead is difficult, and we have to proceed step by step carefully. We can't let ourselves be divided internally like we did this time. We have to form a united front and have a comprehensive response plan for the forces behind us, the financial difficulties, and the hidden dangers in the officialdom."

Qi Tongwei nodded heavily and held out his hand: "Okay, Liangping, it's a deal. No matter what happens in the future, let's discuss it first and work together to overcome the difficulties."

At the entrance of the village, Qi Tongwei and Hou Liangping held hands tightly, as if to lock each other's determination firmly. However, the haze of reality did not dissipate because of their vows, but followed them like a shadow, becoming heavier.

In the days of promoting the development of their hometown, problems came one after another, like turbulent undercurrents, hitting their defenses of faith again and again. In terms of funding, although the several industrial projects introduced previously have achieved initial results, the funds required for subsequent expansion and upgrading of technology have not yet been settled. Qi Tongwei ran around and dealt with major banks and investors, but the responses he got were either loan plans with ridiculously high interest rates or almost harsh additional investment conditions. Once, in order to win key funds for an agricultural deep processing project, he forced himself to smile and toast at an investor's drinking party, and drank until he had an unbearable stomachache, but in the end he still got an ambiguous reply from the other party.

On Hou Liangping's side, the open and covert struggles in the officialdom also made him exhausted. Despite the vigorous rectification in the early stage, there were still some hidden "rats" working in secret. Once, an eco-tourism development plan that they had been preparing for a long time was about to be implemented, but the approval documents were stuck for no reason at a certain link. Hou Liangping conducted an in-depth investigation and found that it was an official who colluded with local evil forces who was behind the scenes, trying to introduce the project into his own network and make huge profits from it. When Hou Liangping was collecting evidence, pressure from all sides came one after another. Anonymous threatening letters were stuffed into his office, and even unidentified people followed him on his way home from get off work.

At the same time, the villagers began to have differences over some changes in the development process. The younger generation was eager for rapid industrialization, higher income and urban life; the older generation was worried about the disappearance of traditional farming culture and feared that the ecological environment would be irreversibly damaged. The land at the entrance of the village, which was planned to be converted into an industrial park, became the focus of the conflict.