Chapter 55 This Doesn't Make Sense, Does It?

"Jiang Zhaoyang called him yesterday and unexpectedly took the initiative to demand a clean break with his daughter. It came like a bolt from the blue, leaving him utterly in disbelief."

"He stood frozen on the spot, as if struck by lightning, unable to recover his senses for a long time. No matter how much he tried to persuade him, it was of no use—his mind was completely made up."

Chen Qigong was startled. Such a thing had actually happened?

Jiang Zhaoyang served as both a reservoir keeper and a forest ranger, hardly an enviable job.

Such a position typically required long periods of solitary living, enduring the wilderness of remote outbacks and keeping company with deep mountain forests.

Given such harsh living conditions, why would he despise his own girlfriend and even insist on severing ties with her?

Logic suggested that it should normally be the girlfriend looking down on him.

How did this make any sense?

Yet, could Lin Weiquan's words be doubted?

It certainly was not unfounded!

Sure enough, Lin Weiquan's next words left Chen Qigong even more astonished. "At first, I was also skeptical, assuming he was at least exaggerating."

"And then?"

"And then what?" Lin Weiquan urged anxiously.

"And then he played a voice recording from his mobile phone for me. At that moment, faced with that undeniable audio evidence, faced with the facts, I had no choice but to believe it."

Lin Weiquan quickly pulled his phone from his pocket, his fingertips tapping the screen, and Jiang Zhaoyang's voice rang out clearly: "My fate with Xiaowen has reached its end. I do not want her to continue suffering for my sake, nor could she bear this hardship."

"Therefore, I propose dissolving our engagement."

"From a legal standpoint, our engagement was never anything more than a piece of paper without legal binding force."

"...She has every right to pursue her own happiness."

"Goodbye!"

A look of derision spread across Lin Weiquan's face, the corners of his mouth curling into a disdainful smile as his voice carried a hint of sarcasm and contempt: "With character as wretched as his, just listen to his words—'She has every right to pursue her own happiness.' To abandon one's fiancée and still speak so virtuously, it reaches the height of hypocrisy and utter shamelessness!"

"Wanting to be a whore while setting up a monument to chastity—if such despicable conduct does not make him a hypocrite, what does?"

"His thick skin is truly comparable to a city wall, simply breathtaking."

Pausing momentarily, righteous indignation swelling within him, he continued, "This fellow is full of malicious schemes, plotting this and calculating that. To what extent has his character degenerated? For such a person to live in this world is an absolute insult to all kind-hearted people!"

***

Listening to this, Chen Qigong thought to himself that Jiang Zhaoyang's morality had completely collapsed.

With such despicable behavior, according to conventional logic, shouldn't such a person immediately become a public target, face severe moral condemnation, be submerged by the torrent of public opinion, be spurned by everyone, and find it impossible to ever redeem himself?

Once confirmed, this was enough to drag him down from the clouds into the abyss.

Moreover, with the audio recording as evidence, the matter was entirely verified.

Lin Weiquan's attitude toward the affair was transparent in his triumphant and thinly veiled expression.

Clearly, he would never choose to hide it, nor could he possibly keep such explosive news locked away in his heart.

On the contrary, he was most likely treating it like a precious treasure, eager to share it with everyone and let the whole world in on the secret.

To put it mildly, it would be a wonder if he didn't broadcast it everywhere; he had probably already been embellishing and vividly recounting the story behind closed doors since last night.

News of this sort invariably spread like wildfire.

Within a single night, it could easily become the favorite after-meal gossip among the township committee and government staff, becoming common knowledge where everyone knew everything about it.

Yet why was the current situation so radically different? Not only had Jiang Zhaoyang not fallen into disrepute, but he had actually won a staggering number of votes?

Why had those negative rumors had zero impact on him?

Was this normal?

Didn't they say that the eyes of the masses were discerning? Implying that the public possessed the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

Could it be that at this very moment, the eyes of the masses were no longer discerning?

Had they lost their ability to tell right from wrong?

For a moment, Chen Qigong's head spun as if he were lost in a dense fog, completely incapable of drawing a conclusion.

He knitted his brows tightly, staring blankly ahead, his heart filled with confusion and bewilderment.

After a long while, he managed to drag his thoughts back to reality, turning with a hesitant expression toward Lin Weiquan standing beside him, his voice tinged with disbelief: "Director Lin, what on earth is going on here?"

"Since Jiang Zhaoyang's performance in all aspects is so deplorable, why did the voting turn out like this? It is simply beyond comprehension."

Hearing this, Lin Weiquan's expression shifted abruptly as well. He likewise had not anticipated such an outcome.

Prior to this, he had racked his brains, personally calling each member of the party committee and government leadership one by one, instructing and imploring them repeatedly to cast all their votes for He Di.

To ensure foolproof success, he had even specifically requested these members to coordinate with the voting cadres under their respective jurisdictions, demanding complete unity from top to bottom in supporting He Di.

***

At the time, everyone had agreed readily, patting their chests and promising to carry out his wishes.

Lin Weiquan had assumed that under such circumstances, He Di securing a high vote count was a foregone conclusion.

However, worldly affairs were unpredictable, and human hearts were unfathomable.

Those who had nodded in agreement on the surface had secretly engaged in double-dealing.

Or perhaps during the secret ballot, opposition votes could not be traced back to any individual.

The lower-level cadres felt completely free to vote according to their own wishes without any apprehension, which ultimately resulted in opposing votes against He Di.

Thinking of this, Lin Weiquan could not help but say with a trace of frustration, "These people are simply more than enough to ruin things and incapable of accomplishing anything!"

"I have said all along that this competitive recommendation method is fundamentally flawed, as it gives opportunists with malicious intentions an opening. Had we adopted an uncontested recommendation system, how could there ever be such troubles?"

"Why not have an uncontested one?"

Chen Qigong understood Lin Weiquan's current state of mind.

Now that things had reached this stage, regret was of no use.

"Secretary Lin, you must understand that while an uncontested recommendation can indeed avoid such a situation and ensure a smooth transition, it also strips away the competitiveness and vitality that a competitive recommendation brings."

"Most importantly, this is stipulated by the Provincial Party Organization Department. The promotion of a deputy township head is a competitive selection process, intended to unearth true talent with genuine capability and a sense of responsibility."

"Of course we need competition, we need candidates!" Chen Qigong retorted sharply.

Although Chen Qigong spoke thusly, in reality, he was carrying out the leadership's intentions, and the person slated for promotion was definitely not Jiang Zhaoyang.

What baffled Chen Qigong was that the newly arrived County Party Secretary, Wei Rong, held views that coincided surprisingly with those of the county magistrate.

Upon her arrival, she immediately sought to promote He Di, which played right into Zhang Chaoshen's hands.

In truth, Zhang Chaoshen was the backer behind He Di and his father. He had originally worried that the new secretary would shatter the existing power structure and erect obstacles to He Di's promotion.

He had never expected the situation to turn out so unexpectedly favorable—how could he possibly disagree?

The two of them hit it off immediately!