Chapter 10: Something Happened!

"Xiao Xu, you're just in time. Come with me."

Xu Junran was in a daze when he encountered Feng Kuang, who had just left the office. At that moment, Feng Kuang looked very anxious. Seeing Xu Junran, he hesitated for a moment before speaking.

Hearing Feng Kuang's words, Xu Junran was taken aback. He never expected that on his first day at work, he would be assigned a task.

Generally, the people in the Comprehensive Group mainly worked in the office and rarely went to the grassroots level. After all, accompanying leaders on grassroots research was mainly the responsibility of the Secretarial Group. However, it had only been a few years since the turbulent times had ended, and the staff at the grassroots level was not very sufficient. Unlike in later times, where an office might have dozens of people, even the Secretarial Group of the County Party Committee Office now only had about ten people. Although this number sounded significant, it wasn't so much when divided up.

"Director, what happened?" Xu Junran asked softly while following Feng Kuang toward the Comprehensive Group's office.

Feng Kuang looked very anxious and said helplessly, "Don't mention it. Li Family Town and Da Wang Village are fighting again! The old secretary is at a meeting in the city, and County Magistrate Yang is going to take people there."

Xu Junran's steps faltered, almost letting out a cry. If it weren't for the composure he had cultivated over many years in his previous life, he might have lost his cool.

Li Family Town and Da Wang Village?

Xu Junran knew that these two places were communes under Wude County. They had always been in conflict over water irrigation issues. Every time there was a problem, Yan Wangsong had to negotiate with the elders on both sides to get them to compromise.

It was now summer, the time for irrigation. Could it be that they were fighting again?

As he thought this, Feng Kuang had already called out the others from the office and was giving instructions as they walked: "You will follow the police officers and try to dissuade the crowd. Absolutely do not let the two sides come into contact."

The group hurried to the courtyard of the County Party Committee, where Xu Junran found many people already waiting, receiving instructions from their respective department leaders.

Soon, several county leaders hurried out, with Wude County Magistrate Yang Weitian leading the way.

This was the first time Xu Junran had met the legendary County Magistrate Yang. Compared to Yan Wangsong's seasoned and resilient demeanor, Yang Weitian looked very young, tall and slender, with good skin, clearly someone used to a comfortable urban life. His square face exuded a sense of righteousness and authority. It had to be said that Yang Weitian was naturally suited for leadership. His stern yet warm smile made people feel close and willing to serve him.

Right behind Yang Weitian was a man in police uniform, about thirty years old. If described in four words, he would be "eagle-eyed and wolfish."

This man was the County Public Security Bureau Chief Cheng Hongda, the one who had taken Li Dongyuan's position.

That day at the Li family, Li Dongyuan had told Xu Junran why he was now just the County Political and Legal Affairs Secretary instead of the County Public Security Bureau Chief.

In the second year of Xu Junran's university, a murder case occurred in Wude County. A villager in the Changqing Commune was killed at home, and the murderer was nowhere to be found. The person in charge of the investigation was then County Public Security Bureau Chief Li Dongyuan.

The details of the case were now hard to verify, but what Xu Junran knew was that after interrogations, Li Dongyuan believed that the suspects previously arrested were not the murderer and released them. Unexpectedly, Deputy Chief Cheng Hongda, who had been transferred from the city less than four months earlier, personally led a team to re-arrest one of the suspects and eventually found evidence proving that person was the murderer.

In those times, a murder case was a major issue, and Li Dongyuan's mistake in the case was heavily criticized. Someone in the city pursued the matter, and he was relieved of his position as County Public Security Bureau Chief. If not for Yan Wangsong's strong support, he might have lost his position on the County Party Committee.

This incident caused a significant stir in Wude County and greatly reduced Li Dongyuan's prestige in the county's political and legal system.

Cheng Hongda took over Li Dongyuan's position.

This was a regrettable matter for Li Dongyuan, but Xu Junran knew that Li Dongyuan was not wrong. The person arrested was indeed not the murderer.

It was just that the time to reveal the truth had not yet come.

Standing in a borrowed Jiefang truck from the County Party Committee Office, Xu Junran set out on his first trip to the countryside after his rebirth.

Li Family Town and Da Wang Village were not far from the county town, only about ten miles away. The truck drove quickly and soon arrived at the scene.

From the truck, Xu Junran saw two groups of people gathered, men, women, and children, holding various farming tools. Some even had old-fashioned muskets and hunting rifles. Xu Junran then remembered that the national "Firearm Control Law" would not be officially implemented until 1996, and before that, there were many privately owned firearms in China, especially in regions like Wude County with a tough local culture, where almost every ten households had at least one gun.

Frowning, Xu Junran whispered to Tu Wenying, who was standing beside him, "Brother Tu, if these people have guns, it's going to be difficult."

Tu Wenying, who was also encountering such a scene for the first time, showed a bitter smile with a pale face: "It's like this every year, but it's just the leaders of the communes making a fuss in the county. The old secretary would calm them down, and the matter would be over. But this year, I don't know what happened, it's so much bigger!"

Scanning the crowd from Li Family Town, Xu Junran shook his head helplessly. There were quite a few familiar faces, and it seemed the whole town had come out. He recognized several respected elders in the town, who were of the same generation as Li Yifeng's grandfather.

Yang Weitian arrived in a jeep. At that time, it was already quite good for officials to have a jeep. He got out of the car and walked to the crowd, shouting loudly, "Fellow villagers, please calm down, calm down."

Cheng Hongda was also anxiously trying to calm the agitated villagers.

While persuading them, Yang Weitian couldn't help but feel a surge of anger and quietly scolded the Party Secretaries of Li Family Town and Da Wang Village, Li Xuan and Wang Shuo, who were also trying to calm the villagers: "What are you doing? Why did such a big mess happen?"

The two secretaries each let out a cold snort but said nothing.

Actually, there was no need for them to explain. Yang Weitian knew the cause of the incident. Wude County was quite large, and Da Wang Village and Li Family Town shared the same irrigation channel. Every time they fought, it was over this channel. The reason was simple: both communes wanted more irrigation resources, and neither was willing to give in. After all, it affected their income for the next year. In a place like Wude County, three crops of rice could be grown in a year. Early rice was sown in late March to early April and transplanted in late April to early May. Mid-season rice was sown in mid-April and transplanted in mid-May. Late rice was sown at the end of June and transplanted in late July. This period was the most critical for water, and thus the most intense for conflicts.

"Fellow villagers, please listen to me!" Seeing the situation getting worse, Yang Weitian, without regard for his dignity, climbed onto the roof of the jeep and shouted loudly.

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