"Lu Hao also mentioned you to me, saying you two are getting married soon. I will definitely have to come and drink a toast to your wedding then," Lin Xiyue said with a smile.
Women become familiar with one another much faster than men do.
The two women chatted as they walked out of the hospital, and Fang Jing even added Lin Xiyue on WeChat.
Fang Jing casually brought up the fact that Lu Hao had lent twenty thousand yuan to Tang Chunyan's father for his medical treatment. This time, right in front of Lin Xiyue, she completely changed her tune, praising Lu Hao for caring about his subordinates and declaring her full support for what he had done.
Her motive was simply to leave Lin Xiyue with a good impression of both Lu Hao and herself. Since the money had already been lent to Tang Chunyan anyway, she needed to make sure the leadership knew about Lu Hao's considerate style toward his subordinates.
Lu Hao could barely listen to any more of this, yet he did not interrupt Fang Jing.
Lin Xiyue also had many good things to say about Lu Hao's dedication to his work, mentioning that a deputy township head position had recently opened up in the township and that Lu Hao stood a chance. This made Fang Jing endlessly happy. She immediately flashed a satisfied smile at Lu Hao, and then hurriedly said, "Secretary Lin, I'm sorry to trouble you. Lu Hao lacks grassroots experience, and sometimes he is stubborn and a bit rigid in how he handles things. In the future, we will still have to rely on you to guide and mentor him. If there is anything that needs to be taken care of behind the scenes, just say the word."
A while ago, Wang Shaojie had frequently told her how poorly Lu Hao was doing in Fangshui Township and how many leaders he had offended. That had made Fang Jing anxious and upset, leading to arguments whenever she called Lu Hao.
Yet after this conversation with Lin Xiyue, she discovered that Lin Xiyue actually held a rather good impression of Lu Hao and kept praising him. This undoubtedly gave Fang Jing complete peace of mind, letting her know that Lu Hao was not a total failure in Fangshui Township.
If Lin Xiyue was willing put in a good word for Lu Hao in the future, his chances of promotion to a deputy section-level rank would be somewhat higher.
Fang Jing's words caused Lu Hao to frown involuntarily.
Although gift-giving and pulling strings were common in official circles, ever since he began interacting with Lin Xiyue, he knew she did not play that game and instead detested such practices.
Still, since Fang Jing had already said it, Lu Hao chose to remain silent.
Sure enough, Lin Xiyue smiled calmly and said, "Fang Jing, things aren't like the old days anymore. You can't climb up just by having a smooth tongue. Personal ability is far more important than flattery or playing politics. Lu Hao has always done well—he speaks little, works hard, and is grounded and pragmatic."
"Secretary Lin is right. That is one of Lu Hao's strengths," Fang Jing chimed in.
Yet deep down, she did not entirely agree with Lin Xiyue's view. In official circles, most people still rose through connections and networks; very few climbed purely on merit, and she did not believe Lu Hao was that kind of person.
However, since Lin Xiyue was Lu Hao's superior, she would not openly contradict what Lin Xiyue had said.
"It's getting late, I should head back soon. Lu Hao, tomorrow is your day off—why don't you stay in the county seat to keep Fang Jing company? I can just hail a cab back," Lin Xiyue suggested at the appropriate moment.
Seeing this, Fang Jing quickly said, "Secretary Lin, you should still let Lu Hao drive you back. My father is the deputy director of the Agriculture Bureau, and he's been overworked lately with a slightly high blood pressure, so I need to take care of him. I can go to Fangshui Township to find Lu Hao later."
Since Lin Xiyue was a leader, Fang Jing could not possibly let her take a taxi by herself, but her remarks also subtly flexed her own father's identity.
Lin Xiyue nodded with a smile and got into Lu Hao's car.
Before leaving, Fang Jing did not forget to remind Lu Hao to make sure he maintained a good relationship with Lin Xiyue.
After sending Fang Jing off, Lu Hao drove Lin Xiyue back to Fangshui Township.
"I can tell that your fiancée cares more about your career than you do," Lin Xiyue teased in the car.
Through her conversation with Fang Jing, she realized that Fang Jing had quite a few of her own ideas about officialdom and was overly fixated on promotions. That was not a good thing; sometimes, the harder one chased a promotion, the more one stayed stuck in the same place.
"She's been possessed by the idea of me getting promoted to deputy section-level lately. Whenever we talk on the phone, she brings it up within the first three sentences," Lu Hao said with a bitter smile.
"It's understandable, I suppose. After all, every woman hopes her man is successful enough," Lin Xiyue said, looking out the car window with a smile. She did not think Fang Jing's actions were entirely wrong.
When they returned to the township middle school, it was already dark.
Lin Xiyue cooked again, this time making pancakes, and Lu Hao was treated to another delicious meal.
During dinner, he even used a soft drink in place of alcohol to thank Lin Xiyue for speaking up for him that afternoon.
Judging by how happy Fang Jing looked when she left, she was clearly quite satisfied with Lu Hao's performance in Fangshui Township. In the future, if Wang Shaojie wanted to smear him in front of Fang Jing, it wouldn't be so easy anymore, and all of that was thanks to Lin Xiyue.
Having been busy all day, Lin Xiyue went to rest quite early. Lu Hao originally wanted to go home to sleep as well, but his left eyelid had been twitching non-stop since morning, leaving him with an ongoing sense of unease.
Chapter 40: Organizing Firefighting
"Hello!"
"Township Head, everything has been arranged."
"Are you sure? Make sure you don't cause any other mess—can you guarantee zero accidents?"
"You can trust me to get things done, there's absolutely no way anything will go wrong. Not only will that brat suffer this time around, but Hong Haifeng, the supervisor in charge, won't be able to escape either. It's killing two birds with one stone, just wait and watch the good show," Wei Bin said with absolute certainty over the phone.
"Don't let it backfire on us, otherwise we'll just be lifting a rock only to drop it on our own feet," Li Haotian said, still somewhat uneasy.
"Impossible. The patrol team members are just slacking off; nothing has ever happened in the mountain forests before, so they won't take it to heart. Plus today is Friday, and tomorrow is a day off, so nobody will be patrolling around. You can set your mind at ease," Wei Bin said, full of confidence.
Only then did Li Haotian hang up the phone with satisfaction, after which he rushed from his home to the township government office.
He intended to hold down the fort at the office tonight, and the moment the phone rang, he would rush to the scene to put on an appearance of being deeply conscientious and devoted to his duties.
...
On the other side, Lu Hao was driving around the mountain roads.
He first went to the mountain forest far away from the chemical plant. The mountain breeze blew, and the air quality was noticeably much better than the villages surrounding the chemical plant, with the sound of babbling stream water audible.
However, when he patrolled the mountain forest near the chemical plant, Lu Hao caught a foul stench. He got off his motorcycle to take a look and found that the river water was somewhat darkened, clearly polluted, and the air quality was very poor.
Although Li Haotian was right that the mountain forests of Fangshui Township had development potential, the prerequisite was that the chemical plant had to be shut down and environmental remediation carried out; otherwise, the natural environment of Fangshui Township would only continue to deteriorate.
By the time he finished this large circle, it was already past twelve o'clock.
Just as he was preparing to head back to sleep, he suddenly noticed a flash of fire on a distant mountaintop, and Lu Hao's nerves instantly tightened.
Could that place be on fire?
He hurriedly rode his motorcycle toward the spot. Right after that, the firelight seemed to turn into actual flames, and Lu Hao's heart skipped a beat.
The place where the fire broke out was up on the mountain, and a motorcycle certainly couldn't be driven up there. Lu Hao had no choice but to jump off his motorcycle and run up the mountain on foot, calling the village cadres down the mountain as he ran to get them to immediately organize the villagers to come out and fight the fire.
Not only that, Lu Hao also called the members of the patrol team, notified the fire department, and reported the situation there to Hong Haifeng.
Just as Lu Hao was running up to where the fire had broken out on the mountain, halfway there he saw a shadowy figure sneaking out of the forest and running down the mountain.
"Hey, the mountain is on fire! Stop running down, come up with me to fight the fire!" Lu Hao shouted at the top of his lungs.
He wouldn't have shouted if he hadn't, but the moment he yelled, the other person ran even faster.
Seeing the fire on the mountain growing larger and larger, Lu Hao didn't have time to overthink and could only sprint upward alone.
When he reached the ignition point, his heart sank by half.
A little less than half of the mountaintop was already ablaze, and the fire was spreading rapidly. This was a mountain forest with a total of three peaks, overgrown with trees and weeds, and there was a village right at the foot of the mountain. If the fire consumed not only the mountain but also the residential houses, the situation would blow up into a massive disaster.
Lu Hao wanted to fight the fire, but the mountains were high and the woods dense, and he had no tools. One person's strength was like a cup of water trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood, and he could only stamp his feet in place, frantic with worry.
What made him even more despairing was that a strong wind started blowing. With the wind howling, the flames surged upward with a roar, and Lu Hao instinctively took several steps back as his heart plunged into an abyss.
Fortunately, at that moment, the village Party secretary at the foot of the mountain arrived successively with quite a few villagers. Everyone was holding buckets and a series of other tools ready to fight the fire, but trembling at the sight of the flames several meters high—who would dare approach a fire that big?
"Lu... Director, what... what should we do now?" The village Party secretary was completely dumbfounded.
"You go notify the villagers at the foot of the mountain first, evacuate everyone out of here completely."
"We've already notified them, but Fangshui Township is already poor to begin with. If everyone's houses burn down, how are they supposed to live? We have to put out the fire, Director Lu! Call the fire department!"
"I notified them the moment I came up, but the fire is too big. By the time the fire department gets here, it'll already be a sea of flames." Lu Hao paced around in circles, frantic.
"Then... what do we do?" The village Party secretary was completely out of ideas and kept asking Lu Hao.
Annoyed by the noise, Lu Hao forced himself to calm down, gritting his teeth as he said, "Before the fire department arrives, we must stop the fire from spreading!"
"Ah? It's so big, how do we stop it? The little bit of water we have won't extinguish it, and besides, who dares go near it?"
"I'll go in first to scout out the situation, you guys wait for me to come out."
Lu Hao snatched a shovel from a nearby villager and rushed toward the edge of the blaze.
He was grabbed by the village Party secretary, who cried, "Director Lu, what are you doing? You absolutely cannot go in there, you'll get killed!"
"I know what I'm doing. I have to go in and see how the fire is spreading to know what to do next. The mountain forest is too big; if the fire keeps expanding, the consequences are unimaginable. All of you wait here, don't panic, do you hear me?"
Breaking free from the restraint, Lu Hao yelled and charged into the sea of flames with his shovel.
Everyone was shocked when they saw Lu Hao's figure vanish inside.
A few minutes later, Lu Hao burst back out of the sea of flames. His clothes were burned full of holes, not to mention his hair, and several cuts on his body were bleeding. He looked utterly wretched.
"Director Lu, you're burned, you have to go to the hospital..."
Lu Hao waved his hand and hurriedly instructed, "I'm fine, go to hell with the hospital. Gather all the villagers over here, I have something to say."
The fire inside was too big, and the wind was fierce. Even though he had reported the situation upward, by the time the rescue personnel arrived, it would be too late.
Seeing that all the villagers had gathered, Lu Hao took the village Party secretary's loudhailer and shouted, "Fellow villagers, listen to me! I just went inside to take a look, and the fire has completely spread. From here further down the mountain, it's mostly shrubs and grass, so it's only going to burn faster and bigger, and there's no way we can put it out. But we can chop out a firebreak right where we entered the mountain, and that way the fire will be blocked."
Based on the terrain of the mountains and the conditions of the fire scene, Lu Hao made a swift decision.
When he was a soldier in the military, he had cooperated with local fire departments to fight fires, and clearing a firebreak was the most effective method.
"Now, everyone follow me. Where I say to chop, you chop! We must clear this firebreak before the fire spreads down!"
Chapter 41: Sent to the Hospital
As Lu Hao spoke, he already took the lead and headed down the mountain, while urging the village Party secretary to notify the remaining villagers. In short, they needed to organize everyone able to work to come and chop trees and clear grass, forming a network of firebreaks.
"Alright, alright, alright... I'll go call people again right now, but the fire on the mountain..." The village Party secretary was still worried.
"Don't worry about the fire on the mountain for now. As long as we stop the fire from spreading and keep it from burning the houses, once the fire department arrives, they can focus on dealing with the fire on the mountain," Lu Hao arranged with extreme clarity of thought.
The village Party secretary nodded hastily and ran down the mountain to gather manpower.
Meanwhile, Lu Hao led the people already present toward the foot of the mountain, while calling the Party secretaries of several nearby villages to have them assemble able-bodied young men with shovels to rush over and help fight the fire.
Signal reception was poor in the mountains, and Lu Hao had to repeat himself several times before getting the message across to everyone.
If anyone else had made these calls, those village cadres might have been somewhat lax. Even if some village cadres agreed, certain villagers might not have come—after all, the fire hadn't reached their homes, so who would leave their beds in the middle of the night to fight a fire? Besides, there was no benefit in it.
But Lu Hao was different. Earlier, during the verification of impoverished households eligible for subsidies, he had gone deep into the grassroots to investigate the actual situation, interacting with villagers in many surrounding villages, and a large number of them had gotten to know him.
Under Song Bo's past administration, many eligible impoverished households had continuously been left off the subsidy lists. This time, Lu Hao included all of them according to the regulations, filling numerous impoverished families with deep gratitude toward him.
Hearing that Lu Hao was asking for their help, the villagers agreed without a second thought, grabbing their shovels and rushing over.
Country folks were simple and honest; the poorer the place, the more capable people were of mutual understanding and assistance.
Ever since Lu Hao took charge of the Poverty Alleviation Office, he had handled everything according to rules and regulations, genuinely letting them feel the care and concern of the government and poverty alleviation policies. Now that Lu Hao was in need, they naturally gave it their all.
Dozens of meters up from the foot of the mountain, Lu Hao selected the location for the firebreak, leading by example and starting to chop trees and clear grass with the initial twenty-odd villagers.
Before long, many more villagers arrived in successive waves. Once each group showed up, they all rushed to ask Lu Hao what they should do.
Using the loudhailer, Lu Hao divided the villagers into several groups, telling them which areas to clear while continuing to work himself and constantly directing the villagers on site.
More and more people joined the battlefield. Looking out, there were workers everywhere—there had to be at least two hundred people.
With so many people coming to help, Lu Hao felt deeply moved, but he had no time for sentimentality. After all, the fire was already painting half the sky red, and they had to clear the firebreak as quickly as possible to stop the fire from spreading.
When Hong Haifeng arrived at the scene, looking at the blazing fires all over the mountain, he was also burning with anxiety, continuously making calls to summon more personnel and urge the fire department.
Yet seeing that Lu Hao had already mobilized a firefighting army of over a hundred people, Hong Haifeng was profoundly shocked.
Such mobilizing power—let alone Li Haotian, even he himself, as the township leader in charge of poverty alleviation work, might not have been able to pull it off. Yet Lu Hao, who had arrived in Fangshui Township not long ago, had actually done it.
Soon, the fire department arrived as well.
After more than an hour, the fire was finally extinguished—or to be precise, the fire essentially burned itself out.
The firebreak that Lu Hao led the villagers in clearing played a crucial blocking role, and it also provided convenient conditions for the fire department to mop up the fire scene.
At this point, Lu Hao's clothes had nearly been torn into strips of cloth by tree branches, and his entire body was covered in numerous cuts that were all bleeding.
He was carried out of the fire zone by several villagers; while cutting the firebreak, he had accidentally missed his footing and tumbled down the mountain, leaving his entire leg unable to move.
Fortunately, villagers had discovered him in time, otherwise Lu Hao might well have perished in the sea of flames.
Seeing Lu Hao's condition, Hong Haifeng didn't ask anything and roared for people to send Lu Hao to the county hospital immediately, while he stayed behind to guard the area.
Just after Lu Hao was sent away, Li Haotian hurried over.
Upon seeing the chaotic scene billowing with black smoke, Li Haotian flew into a towering rage, cursing Lu Hao furiously for being irresponsible. He claimed that with such a massive fire breaking out, Lu Hao, as the head of the patrol team, had failed to discover and report it in the first place, allowing the fire to spread, and bore unshirkable responsibility that must be investigated!
Not only that, he also pointed the finger at Hong Haifeng, claiming that as the township leader in charge of safety, he too bore mismanagement responsibility.
Seeing that Li Haotian didn't inquire about Lu Hao's injuries upon arrival, but instead immediately clamored to hold people accountable, Hong Haifeng was so furious that he started shouting right back at Li Haotian.
As a military cadre transferred to civilian work, he had a fiery temper. Township head or not, Hong Haifeng didn't care; besides, Li Haotian had always targeted Lu Hao, and resentment had been building up in him for a long time.
If villagers hadn't held him back, Hong Haifeng probably would have thrown hands with Li Haotian.
However, Li Haotian didn't care about that at all. He directly took over the extinguished scene, personally holding down the fort under the pretext of preventing reignition.
Not only that, he bypassed Zhao Gang and reported the situation of the massive fire directly to County Head Li Zhen.
The matter had to be blown out of proportion now, so that when the time came, Zhao Gang wouldn't even be able to put in a good word for Lu Hao. This was something Li Haotian had planned long ago—this time, nobody would be able to save Lu Hao.
Wei Bin arrived at the scene before dawn. When Li Haotian saw him, his expression was pitch black and extremely grim.
The two men walked over to a deserted spot, and Li Haotian immediately cursed fiercely, "Wei Bin, this is the fine mess you've made! Are you trying to get me killed? If I go down, you'll just be a deputy township head for the rest of your life."
Looking terrified, Wei Bin asked anxiously, "Township Head, what happened?"
Boiling with anger, Li Haotian rebuked furiously, "What happened? Look for yourself—this is the good spot you chose to start a fire! Do you have any idea? If Lu Hao hadn't promptly rallied nearby villagers to hack out a firebreak with their bare hands, the residential houses at the foot of the mountain and even the two nearby mountain ranges would have burned to ash! If by any chance people had burned to death, forget about Lu Hao being finished—even I, as the township head, would be finished, and not even the gods could save us."
Wei Bin's face turned pale, and he quickly explained, "Township Head, you can't blame me for this. I heard there was a strong wind on the mountain at night—who could have anticipated that?"
Infuriated, Li Haotian almost slapped Wei Bin across the face a few times, but in the end he gritted his teeth and held back. Easing his emotions, he said with a cold, gloomy expression, "Enough, what's done is done. Although the fire was a bit big, the outcome is still good. I've already reported it to County Head Li, heh heh..."
Fortunately, only one mountain peak had burned, and no one had died. No matter how big the issue was, it couldn't get that out of hand—at least everything was moving in the direction he had planned.
"What's County Head Li's attitude?" Wei Bin asked tentatively, his expression uneasy.
Glancing at Wei Bin, Li Haotian sneered, "Naturally, he's furious. County Head Li repeatedly emphasized that accountability must be enforced and severe disciplinary action taken. I'll get a tongue-lashing, but Hong Haifeng and Lu Hao are definitely not going to get off easily."
Wei Bin's expression finally relaxed, and he quickly said, "I heard that our new County Party Committee Secretary, Secretary Ye, has already arrived and is going to carry out personnel adjustments. If Hong Haifeng can be disciplined and demoted, I'd ask the Township Head to put in a good word for me with the County Head. Once I sit in the position of executive deputy township head, I certainly won't forget you, Township Head."
Li Haotian was slightly stunned, then reacted, laughing and cursing, "I didn't expect this was the scheme you brat was hatching."
Wearing a fawning smile, Wei Bin pulled out two thick envelopes he had prepared in advance and shoved them into Li Haotian's hands.
He had long set his sights on the position of executive deputy township head. Once he secured that seat, the power in his hands would be even greater, and in the future, there was a strong possibility he would be directly promoted to township head, becoming a full section-level official.