Chapter 2: Fantasies and Dreams Twenty Years of True and False are Hard to Distinguish (Part 2)

  The calmness shown by Shen Yangmei was slightly unexpected. This is because in his impression, Shen Yangmei has always been a person who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Although Shen Yangmei became the deputy director of the county committee office at a young age, it's mostly due to Xiang Beijing's appreciation for him. To be honest, when it comes to observing words and expressions, being unruffled by favors or insults, and having a deep understanding of officialdom, Shen Yangmei still has a long way to go.

  Usually, Shen Yangbrow is obedient to Item Beijing's words and listens to his plans, with an attitude of being a knowledgeable person. Just now, when I saw Shen Yangbrow looking so haggard at the door, I thought he was worried about Item Beijing and had become like this. However, after seeing Shen Yangbrow's expression when he heard the news about Item Beijing, I secretly thought to myself: could it be that Shen Yangbrow is not worried about Item Beijing's safety, but rather because of Item Beijing's incident, Shen Yangbrow is worried that his own future prospects are hopeless and has become like this? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but laugh in my heart. People will do anything for their own benefit; it seems that Shen Yangbrow hasn't done anything wrong either. He wouldn't have expected the situation today, which Shen Yangbrow had already experienced once before. So, it's not surprising that he would use a small person's mind to measure a gentleman's heart.

  "Secretary Xiang's intention is to hope that you can go out and avoid the storm for a while..." He said in a low and slow tone, "You know, the reform of county-owned enterprises has always been a problem between Secretary Xiang and you. I'm not clear how deeply you are involved in this matter, but I think Secretary Xiang must have his reasons for letting you go out and avoid it for a while. So, I think..." As he spoke, his eyes were fixed on Shen Yang's eyebrows, but when he saw Shen Yang's calm expression, his voice gradually became weak and powerless, until it was almost inaudible.

  It was indeed the case, although Shen Yang's expression didn't change, but in his heart he was already furious. He couldn't help but want to immediately jump up and question the truth of the matter, whether Beijing really wanted him to pass on a message to himself. His right hand forcefully twisted at the root of his thigh, the intense pain making Shen Yang slightly calm down, now wasn't the time to be impulsive.

  Shen Yangmei stared at him with a expressionless face, her entire life almost ruined by this young man's few words. Not long after Xiang Beijing was sentenced, he died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances, and the driver responsible was never found. Therefore, Shen Yangmei could almost be certain that he was just a pawn in County Secretary Wang De's hands. The message he passed on to her from Xiang Beijing was just part of Wang De's plan to frame Xiang Beijing, but it was unclear whether his death in the car accident a few months later was an accident or intentional - Shen Yangmei suspected that the latter was more likely. Thinking about this, Shen Yangmei suddenly felt that her resentment towards him wasn't as heavy as she had imagined, after all, she had at least managed to keep her life. But he, on the other hand, had paid the price of his life for his mistake.

  Shen Yangmei raised an eyebrow, glanced at him, and retracted the faint, enigmatic smile on her lips. She nodded slightly and said, "Since Secretary Xiang has put it that way, this matter must involve me." With a deep sigh, she continued, "It's just as well; I wouldn't be of much help staying in Jiaoliang anyway. Time is of the essence; I'll head to Quyang tonight and lay low for a few days to see how things develop."

  As soon as Shen Yangbrow agreed to leave Jiaoliang County, he let out a sigh of relief and his face showed an expression of being relieved of a heavy burden. Perhaps the previous Shen Yangbrow would not have noticed this subtle change in expression. However, after struggling in society for over a decade and experiencing countless storms, how could these subtle expressions and movements escape Shen Yangbrow's eyes? Through these subtle expressions and movements, Shen Yangbrow was almost certain that he was being lied to. But what left Shen Yangbrow puzzled was what role he had played in the Beijing case and why Wang Dezhai had gone to great lengths to have him transferred away from Jiaoliang. Was it simply because he was the director of the county committee office? In the struggle between Wang Dezhai and Beijing, his small position as deputy director of the county committee office was not even worth mentioning. This speculation clearly did not hold up. By leaving, using the tactic of "turning against one's own kind" to destroy Beijing's psychological defenses, it didn't seem possible either. It seemed too obvious, like giving up something close at hand to seek something far away, and the cunning Wang Dezhai would never use such a crude tactic. Could there be other weaknesses in the Beijing case that he had not discovered?

  "Director Shen, is there anything else you'd like to entrust?" Zhang Jian interrupted, breaking into Director Shen's train of thought.

  Shen Yang raised an eyebrow and pondered for a moment, saying: "After I arrive in Quyang, I will change to a new pager. I will tell you the number of the new pager. If there are any new developments in Secretary Xiang's case, please notify me promptly."

  She nodded silently, looked at Shen Yangmei and didn't say anything else, reminded her to rest well and left Shen Yangmei's office.

  As Zhang Jian walked out the door, Shen Yang's eyebrows were heavily furrowed as he leaned back in his office chair, his mind filled with information related to the Beijing case. This case had caused a huge stir in Jiaoliang County due to the involvement of the county party committee deputy secretary, and various versions of rumors and gossip had spread throughout the streets. However, Shen Yang, who was well-versed in the inner workings of the case, knew that the truth behind Beijing's case was actually quite simple. At the beginning of the year, Beijing had started conducting research on more than a dozen large and small county-owned enterprises within Jiaoliang County, including the county dairy factory, brewery, food processing plant, fertilizer factory, and cement factory. The results of this research were unexpected. Most of these factories were in a state of financial distress, with some even planning to use their products and equipment as collateral to pay wages to their employees. It was worth noting that these enterprises had originally been the county's major taxpayers and pillar industries, and had once flourished. However, now they had all been hollowed out. If other factories were struggling due to poor management, outdated technology, or rigid thinking, it might be understandable. But the situation at the fertilizer factory and cement factory was suspicious.

  Shen Yangmei still clearly remembers a conversation with Xiang Beijing about the cement plant and fertilizer plant. Regardless of how much cement the cement plant produces every day or how many products it sells, just looking at the few stone mines under the cement plant, one small stone mine that is less than one-twentieth the size of the cement plant's mine, has a net profit of over 10 million yuan per year. This was before the price of ore increased. In the past two years, the price of ore has almost doubled, but the cost of mining has not changed much - explosives, equipment, miner wages, transportation costs, etc. have not risen much. Almost half of the cement plant's mines sell stones as building materials to aggregate machine owners, and their profits should be equivalent or even higher because their costs are lower. How many workers does the cement plant have? What is the total monthly wage? Just selling ore would be enough to support dozens of cement plants. However, in recent years, the cement plant not only did not pay a single penny in taxes but also borrowed hundreds of millions from credit unions, and workers' wages did not increase. There must be a big problem here.

  As for the fertilizer plant, Shen Yangmei's parents are farmers, so they deeply understand the shortage of fertilizers in rural areas. Many farmers even prepay the next year's fertilizer purchase fee one year in advance just to get it earlier. The fertilizer plant in Jintai County, adjacent to Jieliang County, has squeezed into the top 100 national fertilizer enterprises, but Jieliang County's fertilizer plant is still losing money. Shen Yangmei clearly remembers that when Xiang Beijing said these words, his tone and expression were severe, and he was furious.

  At that time, Shen Yangmei didn't think much about it. In his heart, it was just a matter of several corporate leaders being corrupt. As long as Secretary Xi was determined to investigate, these things would definitely be brought to light and the moles hiding in the cement factory and fertilizer factory would also be held accountable. Shen Yangmei remembered that after listening to his words, Xi Beijing didn't say anything, just sighed and shook his head, as if there was something he couldn't say. Now thinking back, Shen Yangmei feels that what he thought at the time was really too simple.

  Are the lids of county-owned enterprises so easy to lift? I'm afraid that many of the people in charge of the cement and fertilizer factories on the surface are just puppets pushed forward by behind-the-scenes manipulators. If Beijing really wants to thoroughly investigate the problems with these two factories, it's likely that not only will the interests of some county officials be affected, but also those of municipal leaders, or even some who have been transferred to other cities and counties - several of whom may be implicated. I suppose Beijing has already considered these issues, which is why they looked so helpless when Shen Yang said those naive words.

  Not long after, Xiang Beijing was isolated and investigated by the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission for accepting a huge bribe from Zhou Yu, the director of the cement plant, during the restructuring process. Of course, this is only the official news released by the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission, but the actual situation is slightly different.

  Liu Mincai, the deputy head of the financial department of the cement plant, was the fuse that triggered the case. Liu Min claimed to be Ye Jing's mistress in Beijing. During the restructuring of the cement plant, Ye Jing first arranged for Liu Min to work as the deputy head of the financial department through his connections, and then used her to extort tens of thousands of yuan from Zhou Yu, the factory director. Zhou Yu also confessed to the bribery by Ye Jing through Liu Min without any qualms. Liang Jiahui, who was the party secretary of Jieliang Town and deputy head of the restructuring team of the cement plant at that time, corroborated Zhou Yu's words when facing the investigation by the discipline inspection committee.

  This is the main reason why Xiang Beijing was isolated and reviewed by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection. It was precisely because of Liu Min, Zhou Yu, and Liang Jiahui's testimony that Xiang Beijing finally went to prison. However, Liu Min and Zhou Yu were exempt from criminal punishment due to their good attitude in confessing guilt.

  Seven years later, after Wang De Cai was exposed for accepting huge bribes and embezzling large amounts of state property, the case against Xi Beijing was brought up again.

  Wang Decai, with a heart as dead as ashes, no longer concealed anything and confessed that seven years ago he had instructed Liang Jiahui, then the Party Secretary of Jieliang Town, and the cement factory director to falsely accuse Ximen Beijing of embezzlement and bribery, and messing around with men and women.

  Seven years ago, Xiang Beijing presided over the restructuring of a cement plant and found that the large cement plant had almost become an empty shell, with huge foreign debts. At that time, Xiang Beijing suspected that the factory director Zhou Yu had embezzled huge amounts of state property. What he didn't know was that Zhou Yu's sister Zhou Ling was actually Wang De Cai's mistress, and Zhou Yu was just a puppet pushed to the front by Wang De Cai.

  So, just as Beijing was about to investigate Zhou Yu, Wang Decai took the initiative and let Liu Min and Zhou Yu voluntarily go to the Discipline Inspection Commission to expose Beijing's acceptance of bribes. He also arranged for Liang Jiahui to make false testimony when answering the commission's inquiry, which led to Beijing's imprisonment. The reason why Wang Decai could accurately grasp Beijing's dynamics was that Beijing's secretary was actually his person. All of Beijing's moves were transmitted to Wang Decai through him.

  Although Shen Yangmei knew the cause and effect of the whole thing, she was distressed by the lack of evidence. If he really ran directly to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and told Secretary Lin Liren that he had experienced the next decade or so, and therefore knew that Beijing was being framed by Wang Dejun. Not to mention Lin Liren, anyone would not accept such a fact, and it is very likely that they would be sent to a mental hospital.

  Shenyang knew that the case of Item Beijing would take some time to come to a conclusion, after all, only Liu Min and Zhou Yu's one-sided words were not enough evidence, and the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission would not lightly make a judgment. The most urgent thing now is still to go to the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission first, since the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission has summoned itself for inquiry, it must be that there is some situation that needs to be understood by itself. In his previous life, he had walked away with just one word, leaving behind a lifelong regret that could not be made up for. This time, even if the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission was a dragon's lair, he would still have to take a risk. If he could help Item Beijing clear his name, it would be even better; even if he had limited ability and could not uncover Wang De's conspiracy, at least he could keep his position safe. With such a good platform, plus his own decade-long foresight, he would definitely be able to go further in the officialdom. Of course, things wouldn't be that simple, as he was an official promoted by Item Beijing, it was impossible not to be affected by Item Beijing's case. However, after several years, the case would eventually come to light, and at that time, he would still be able to soar to great heights. The storms of the past decade had unknowingly changed Shenyang's character, making the originally naive and simple-minded Shenyang become more realistic and utilitarian.