Chapter 27: The Funds Arrive

  Chen Gong thought Wei Shuqin was joking, "Stop teasing, if the director helps, then I'll be famous in Xin Qiao district."

  Wei Shuqin continued, "Then I'll make a phone call, you go directly to the Transportation Department to find him."

  Chen Gong looked at Wei Shuqin and said as if it were true, "Who are you looking for?"

  "Wei Shuqin said, 'My dad's younger brother, Second Uncle Wei Xingbang. I'll ask him now and see if he was in the hall this afternoon.'"

  Wei Shuqin took out the phone, "Second Uncle, I'm Shuqin. Are you in the hall this afternoon? Ah, good. I have a very good friend who's coming to see you because of funding issues with road repairs. You can take extra care and help him wholeheartedly, okay? Alright, I'll let him come find you as soon as he gets off work. His name is Chen Gong, thank you, Second Uncle."

  "It's not obvious, but our Book Qin sister is still formidable. Luo Ge indeed didn't misjudge, I'll go find your Second Uncle as soon as I start work this afternoon." Chen Gong looked at Wei Shuqin, "This is going too smoothly, isn't it?"

  After Chen Gong sent Wei Shuqin back to the unit at noon, he went directly to the Transportation Department and waited. As soon as it was time for work, Chen Gong immediately went to the office of the Transportation Department and asked, "Sister, which office is Director Wei in?"

  "You don't even know which office our Director Wei is in, what are you doing here?" a middle-aged woman in the office said.

  "Oh, I've already made an appointment with Director Wei, and I'll come over as soon as I start work." Chen Gong explained.

  "Impossible, Director Wei is about to leave for Mountain Spring City to attend a highway groundbreaking ceremony, he should be leaving soon. I think you'd better come another day." The woman looked at Chen Gong as if he wasn't some kind of big shot.

  "You tell me where the office is, I'll ask around myself, or you can help me make a call to let them know. I really have an appointment with Director Wei at noon." Chen Gong was very anxious, what if this person leaves?

  "Come back another day, you can come back another day. Everyone says it's agreed upon, do we need to go ask the leader every time? The leader is busy with many things, you can specifically find the business office, don't always look for the director, leaders also dislike your way of doing things. And you, which company are you from?"

  The woman seemed to have encountered this situation of people directly coming to find the leader many times before, so she was very uncomfortable and wanted to speak out to vent. Moreover, the woman had seen Chen Gong at the Construction Management Office yesterday, so she didn't believe he could see the leader directly.

  Chen Gong felt like throwing the woman down the stairs after hearing this, and his attitude was no longer friendly. "I am a local government official in Fuhai City, not some company's employee." After all, he couldn't say it was a township-level one; the gap was too big.

  The woman listened and still didn't give face, "A small local government, many secretaries and mayors have come here, but none of them had an attitude like yours."

  This woman is too ruthless, directly bringing out the mayor and the secretary, it seems I really can't enter his eyes, never mind, I'll slowly find my way myself. After finishing speaking, Chen Gong turned around and walked out of the office.

  The woman said to the middle-aged man sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper, "Liu Shifu, what are you still looking at here? Hurry up and call Director Wei, remind him not to be late, or he'll get scolded. Don't get me in trouble." It turned out that this woman was in charge of dispatching cars in the office, and the middle-aged man reading the newspaper should be Wei Xingbang's driver.

  Liu Shifu looked up at the woman and took out his phone. "Hello, Wei Ting, it's time to set off. Oh, okay, I'll wait for your call."

  Hanging up the phone, Liu Shifu lit another cigarette. "Rush, rush, rush, what's the hurry? Secretary Wei is still waiting for someone, saying that after they arrive, they'll chat for a bit before leaving."

  The woman felt a little guilty after hearing this. Wei Tinglong was definitely not waiting for that young man, and the young man was probably not some leader or someone with background. He couldn't even find Wei Tinglong's office, if he knew Wei Tinglong, why did he go to find Qu Pangzi yesterday? It mustn't be him, it mustn't be him. The woman kept repeating this in her mind.

  The phone in the office rang at this time, and the woman reflexively picked it up. The voice of Wei Ting, the director, came from the other end of the line. The woman replied, "Uh-huh, okay, Director Wei, if there's a young man named Chen Gong, bring him directly to your office, okay." The woman hung up the phone and immediately ran out of the office, now only thinking about confirming what that person's name was just now.

  Chen Gong was looking at the names on each door one by one, when that woman caught up with him, "Young man, young man, I'm calling you, what's your name?"

  Chen Gong thought, what does this woman want with his name, did someone ask her? "I'm Chen Gong, are you looking for me?" Chen Gong pointed to himself.

  "Ah, it's you! I've been looking for you. Come on, let's go see Director Wei. The leader is getting impatient. You should have told me earlier that you know the leader, I thought you were a petitioner." The woman's attitude changed 180 degrees in an instant.

  Chen Gong didn't want to make things difficult for this woman either. There were too many people like that in the unit, "Sister, would you mind leading the way?"

  Knock knock knock, the woman knocked on the door. Chen Gong looked at this entrance and saw no signs of any department or leader's office. "Sister, you guys don't even have a sign on your leader's door?"

  "It was there originally, but it's really impractical and too much trouble. The leaders can't manage it, so they took it down and threw it away."

  "Come in." A calm voice came from inside the room.

  " Wei Hall, Comrade Xiao Chen has arrived. Xiao Chen, quickly sit down, I'll pour you some tea. Hehe." This this this, Chen Gong couldn't believe that someone's face could be so thick.

  "Never mind, I'll get it myself, thank you." The woman had already brought a cup of tea in front of Chen Gong.

  "I'll leave first, you two can chat slowly." After finishing speaking, he consciously left the office and closed the door.

  Chen Gong politely stood up, "Uncle Wei, hello." Chen Gong didn't address him by his title because Wei Shuqin taught him to do so, which would help narrow the distance between them.

  "Ah, sit down, I still have to go to Shanchuan City later. Chen Gong, let's get straight to the point, I'm listening." Wei Xingbang said as he looked directly at Chen Gong.

  As expected, there is a kind of superior temperament. I finally saw someone with a similar temperament to my father's. Chen Gong observed Wei Xingbang for just five seconds, "Uncle Wei, I came here specifically for the special funds for road repairs in our town. Our town has secured 2.2 million yuan, but it's still not enough, and there is at least an 800,000 yuan shortfall. If we can get 3 million yuan, I think our town's economic development will definitely accelerate."

  "The total budget for a district is 8 million yuan. Has your district's quota been used up?" Wei Xingbang asked Chen Gong, seemingly very clear about the matter.

  "I'm not very clear about this." Chen Gong replied truthfully.

  Wei Xingbang made a phone call, "Director Qu, are you in the hall? Hmm, come to my office right away."

  Qu Yangzhong rushed to Wei Xingbang's office at the fastest speed and looked at Chen Gong sitting on the sofa, "It's Little Chen."

  Chen Gong returned the courtesy, "A humble abode is a long-standing delight."

  Wei Xingbang asked Qu Yangzhong, "You know each other, that's good. Director Qu, I'll ask you this: has the 8 million yuan quota for Xiao Chen and others in Xin Qiao District been used up?"

  Qu Yangzhong's heart was in a mess, this Chen Gong actually knew Wei Tingzhang and pretended to be a country bumpkin to find me, playing tricks on me. In the end, I reduced their 6 million by 600,000, I don't know if he came to report to Wei Tingzhang or not.

  "Xin Qiao district, well, it's all been used up. There are many impoverished towns there, and some of them are far from the budget, but funds are limited, I'm getting anxious just looking at it." Qu Yangzhong said with his head lowered.

  Wei Xingbang asked Qu Yangzhong, "Apart from the 8 million yuan for each county and district, is there any other supporting funds this time?"

  Quyang Zhong immediately replied, "It is a basic infrastructure construction fund with 40 million yuan, and it will be notified to the localities for application next month."

  "Uh, that's it. The long and short of it is, first take out 2.8 million yuan and allocate it to Xiao Chen and the others. I'll go talk to the finance department about it." Wei Xingbang's voice wasn't loud, but his tone didn't allow for any opposition.

  "I'll go and get it done right away. Comrade Xiao Chen is waiting for me in the finance office, I'll have it sorted out in just over ten minutes." With that, Qu Yangzhong left Wei Xingbang's office.

  "Alright, Xiao Chen, I've got to go. My phone's battery is running out. You finish up quickly and head back home, I won't keep you late today. We'll invite Shu Qin to dinner another day." Wei Xingbang tidied up his office and picked up his briefcase.

  "Alright, Uncle Wei, thank you so much today. Next time it should be my turn to treat you to dinner." Chen Gong was overjoyed in his heart, and unexpectedly, it was that simple, and now he had 50 million yuan for road maintenance and construction funds, adding to the previous amount, if they couldn't spend it all, they could even build some other things, what a wonderful day.

  Financially settled, Song Yanru was also happy for Chen Gong, "Chen Town Chief, this time your performance has earned enough, another day you are not allowed to mix with us at home, you have to take us out to eat a good meal."

  Chen Gong promised and immediately took a car to Qinghe, calling Wei Shuqin on the way. "Shuqin, thank you, it's settled, you're my lucky star..." The two were chatting on the phone when Lu Feng answered the call and handed it to Chen Gong. "Mayor, it's Secretary Chen on the line."

  Chen Gong told Wei Shuqin something and then picked up Lu Feng's phone, "Secretary is good."

  "Director Chen, I heard from the secretary that you're on your way back. No need to rush, don't come back now. Go straight to Xin Qiao district for a meeting at the Finance Bureau, it's hosted by Director Yuan. It's about a briefing on this round of road repair funds, and the district will also give some extra money as rewards to the top two townships. I think our 2.2 million might be able to get second place. I heard that my old township, Luo He, got 3 million, impressive!"

  Chen Gong smiled and replied, "Secretary, I'll give you a surprise at that time. Let's talk when we meet."

  "Xiao Lu, drive the car to the district finance bureau."

  At the entrance of Xinqiao District Finance Bureau, Wang Guoqiang also arrived here and saw Chen Gong at the entrance. He sneered, "Isn't this Chen Daitou? Sorry about that, our town has balanced your funds a bit. You should have told me earlier, as an elder brother, I might have given you a few hundred thousand." Wang Guoqiang intentionally emphasized the word "Dai".

  "Town Chief Wang, I'm no match for your skill in asking for people."

  "That's natural, there are still many things you don't understand." After finishing speaking, Wang Guoqiang walked into the finance bureau.