Chapter 26: Does the Hall Master Count?

  "It's him, but how can he get so much funding again." Chen Gong was definitely unhappy in his heart.

  "Chen Gong, come to our house for dinner tonight. I'll leave work a bit early and we can head back to Fuhai together. Tonight Luo Ge is coming back, you guys can chat again after dinner before leaving." Song Yanru didn't know what was going on either, so she had her husband step in to analyze the situation.

  Fu Hai City, Luo Chuan's home.

  Chen Gong told the matter to Luo Chuan, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Chen Gong, this is normal. Although we agreed, there was no written evidence, and Qu Yangzhong didn't take anything from us. Maybe Luhe Town has made some 'efforts'."

  Chen Gong naturally knew that Wang Guoqiang had done something, "Luo Ge, I don't understand, taking public funds to give gifts, and finally getting money allocated by the public, does it make sense?"

  "Of course it makes sense, let me give you an example. If someone gives a 200,000 yuan gift and gets 2 million yuan in funding, but actually only gets 1.8 million, their achievement is still considered to be getting 2 million yuan in support funds from the higher-ups. The 20,000 yuan can just be written off as some other kind of expense. They're giving you something, so not giving gifts and already having 2.2 million is pretty good." Luo Chuan carefully instructed Chen Gong.

  "Alas, the money is not enough. To develop Qinghe, I think my term is not working." Chen Gong knew that whether he could go further or not depended on the development of various aspects of Qinghe Town.

  "The funds have probably been allocated, and it's impossible to squeeze out any more money from the 8 million yuan quota in Xin Qiao District. We can only look at other districts and counties to see if they have any unused quotas that we can try to get, but the possibility is very small."

  "I don't want to deal with Qu Yangzhong anymore, is there another way? Brother Luo, you have many methods." Chen Gong still placed his hopes on Luo Chuan.

  Luochuan smiled and said, "Chen Gong, actually the person who can help you is someone you are very familiar with, and doesn't need you to send anything. Of course, sending a small something might have an even better effect."

  "Brother Luo, what are you talking about? Isn't this still about giving gifts? How much can I afford to give with this little money?" Chen Gong thought Luo Chuan was joking.

  "You said that giving gifts is just a formality, buying something like a watch, a bracelet, a wallet or clothes would be fine." Luo Chuan continued.

  "What are you talking about, Luo Ge? The more I listen, the more confused I get. Who is it?"

  "It's been a long time since we last contacted each other? Wei Shuqin from Fuhai Daily." Luo Chuan announced the answer.

  "What can she do?" Chen Gong was puzzled.

  Luochuan could tell that Chen Gong had no idea about Wei Shuqin's background, "You should talk to your girlfriend about this, it might be helpful."

  "Not a girlfriend, haven't reached that stage, just ordinary male and female friends." Chen Gong explained. "Does Shu Qin have a way to explain the problem with this funding?"

  "I don't know if it will work out, but you've definitely found the right place by looking for her. Don't go back to Xin Qiao tomorrow, go to Fuhai Daily and look for your girlfriend, maybe there will be a surprise."

  On the second day, Chen Gong came to Fuhai Daily with half-belief and half-doubt, without telling Wei Shuqin in advance, wanting to give her a surprise.

  Fu Hai Daily is a subsidiary newspaper under the Fu Hai Newspaper Group, and the building of the Fu Hai Newspaper Group has the Fu Hai Daily on the lower part and the upper part is the group's headquarters office.

  Chen Gong walked to the security office of the building and asked, "Which floor is Wei Shuqin on?"

  A security guard walked over, "Please sign in first, which department are you from?"

  "Department? I think it's the news department."

  "Either elevator or stairs, go up to the third floor."

  Chen Gong entered the building after registering his name, department and purpose.

  The news department is very large, and it's impossible to find Wei Shuqin immediately without asking people in the newspaper office. Chen Gong looked at a man wearing a daily work permit walking towards him and asked, "Comrade, may I ask which office is Wei Shuqin in?"

  That man thought for a moment, and then another young face appeared, who replied, "Wei Shuqin? There is no such person here. You may have made a mistake. Sorry, please leave."

  Chen Gong was bewildered, "Impossible, she must be here, are you new and don't know?"

  "Who just came, I'm an old employee, I said no, there is no, don't believe it, you go find out yourself." Chen Gong heard this and indeed went to search everywhere.

  Chen Gong looked at every office on this floor, but couldn't find Wei Shuqin. Not even the name of Wei Shuqin was found on the bulletin board hanging at the door of each office. Chen Gong felt very strange in his heart.

  "Are you Chen Gong?" Chen Gong heard someone calling him from behind and immediately turned around.

  "Deputy Editor-in-Chief, hello! Hasn't Wei Shuqin been working here?" Chen Gong asked as soon as he saw that it was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Fuhai Daily, whom they had met during their last interview in Qinghe.

  "Ah, I just saw her a moment ago, you were standing at the door of her office, I thought you had found her."

  "Deputy editor, is this her office? Why isn't her name on the bulletin board?" Chen Gong looked at the bulletin board on the wall by the door, which listed names, destinations, phone numbers, and notes, but clearly did not have Wei Shuqin's name.

  "Oh, there's a reason for this. Shu Qin is our newspaper's flower, and not only are there many admirers within the company, but also outside. Every day, people come to look for her, so we can't get any work done. That's why we removed her name, to avoid trouble. It's an internal rule." The deputy editor-in-chief explained.

  "Then I just asked a colleague of your newspaper, how did he say that he didn't know Shu Qin, is it also an internal rule of yours?" Chen Gong asked again.

  "This shouldn't be the case, you're not holding a bouquet of flowers, nor do you look like a wealthy master, you must have encountered a love rival!" Deputy Editor-in-Chief helped Chen Gong speculate.

  "Love rival? What a coincidence."

  "Yes, as far as I know, there are no less than eight people in this building who want to pursue Shuqin and haven't had a romantic relationship yet." The deputy editor made a gesture with his hand. "Why don't you just give her a call?"

  Chen Gong explained, "I wanted to give her a surprise, who knew she was so popular here, if I said I wanted to chase after her, maybe I wouldn't be able to get out of this door."

  The deputy editor-in-chief was very understanding, "Alright, I'll help you give her a call and have her come back to the office to take care of some things."

  After a while, Wei Shuqin indeed appeared, coming from the direction of the washroom on this floor. "Chen Gong!! It's you, why didn't you tell me first? Anything going on? Deputy Editor-in-Chief."

  "It's nothing, I just helped you guys get in touch with each other, I'm leaving."

  "Shuqin, where are you going? Are you just going to the restroom?" Chen Gong asked Wei Shuqin.

  "What's going on? A colleague told me that a young guy came looking for me, I was so scared that I went to the bathroom to hide."

  "Isn't this an exaggeration??? Chen Gong thought that even if someone was looking for him, it wouldn't be like this."

  "How could I not know? Last time, someone insisted on pulling me to watch a movie and was dragged down by the security guard. They even waited for me at the entrance until 8 o'clock. It was three of my colleagues who sent me back together. What if I encountered some kind of pervert...” Wei Shuqin's face turned red as she stared at Chen Gong.

  "Alright, alright, that colleague of yours must be my rival in love. I'll wait for you here until you get off work, and we can have lunch together and talk about our ideals." Chen Gong prepared to pull out a stool to sit on.

  "No need, I'll go now. Wait for me to grab my bag." Wei Shuqin walked into the office, slung her handbag over her shoulder, "I have something to attend to, I'll leave first." After saying that, she walked out.

  Two people arrived at a KFC, Wei Shuqin asked Chen Gong to find a seat for two, and she lined up to buy things. She was afraid that Chen Gong wouldn't know how to order, so she just spent the 200 yuan he gave her: New Orleans roasted wings 5 pairs, Sichuan spicy cod burgers 2, egg meat floss rolls 4, 6 chicken legs...

  Well, this KFC stuff is neither cheap nor expensive. Wei Shuqin ordered about 100 yuan worth of food and really couldn't think of anything else to eat, besides, the things she ordered were already excessive.

  Wei Shuqin walked up to Chen Gongxun's seat, "Are you the town head or not? Never mind, I'll let you off for today. You know that KFC is not cheap, right?"

  "I don't know, I don't like eating this kind of junk food. Just eat your fill, you can call again later." Chen Gong really didn't know that the things here were actually very filling.

  "You!!! A moment ago you couldn't finish eating, now you must eat it all up, otherwise I won't leave." Wei Shuqin still thought Chen Gong was ridiculing her.

  "Right, Shu Qin, actually I asked you out today because I need your help with something." Chen Gong said, getting straight to the point.

  "What's going on? If it's something minor, don't mention it. I'm someone who does big things." Wei Shuqin was indeed very willful.

  "Our Qinghe Town is now striving for provincial funding to repair roads, this is an opportunity, I went to run and asked Luo Ge for help, but in the end only 2.2 million yuan was allocated, which is really not enough, it's not that we are greedy, but because we are a poor town, the district can't provide much support."

  "A town has already been divided into 22 million, which is not a small amount, what are you thinking, wanting one hundred million?"

  "Originally, the Transportation Department allocated 2.8 million yuan to us, which was very useful for our project, but then Luohe Town asked for 3 million yuan, so they cut our original allocation and we only got 2.2 million yuan..." Chen Gong told Wei Shuqin the whole story.

  Wei Shuqin listened carefully and said, "I understand, to put it bluntly, you just want to get more road maintenance fees for your Qinghe Town."

  "Ah, right." Chen Gong took a deep breath.

  "I understand, but what's the point of telling me?" Wei Shuqin stared at Chen Gong with wide eyes.

  "Alas, I knew it. Brother Luo must have been drunk and talking nonsense. He can't even help me himself, yet he says finding you is the right thing to do." Chen sighed.

  "Did Luo Ge tell you to look for me?" Wei Shuqin asked Chen Gong.

  "Yeah, it seems he took you for someone else. Never mind, I'll think of a way myself." Chen Gong was disappointed but knew there was no other choice. If not, he might go find Xiao Xingya to think of a solution. He knew it's best not to deal with that woman now, as he wasn't her match.

  "We need to find which unit to solve it, let me see if I have any acquaintances." Wei Shuqin suddenly said after drinking a sip of Coke.

  Chen Gong didn't hold out much hope, but he thought to himself, "Right, or maybe Luo Ge's intention is to find someone familiar with Shu Qin." But how would Luo Ge know who Shu Qin knows? It was strange. "We have to get the Transportation Department leader to come out and resolve this." Chen Gong said casually.

  Wei Shuqin asked Chen Gong sincerely, "Does the hall count?"