Chapter 11: Millennium Iron Tree
Hu Jianguo's face turned heavy. "The third matter is related to Liu Jie. She is the daughter-in-law of Deputy Secretary Wu of the Provincial Party Committee. Moreover, during this Phoenix cadre reshuffle, her husband Wu Hao, who was formerly the deputy director of the Provincial Party Committee's General Office's Supervision Division, will also be transferred to Tong County as the acting county magistrate."
Sure enough! This news made Hu Jiao's scalp tingle. He was a little happy that Hu Jianguo was no longer working at Phoenix, so he could have less pressure. But then a heavyweight opponent came flying in.
Now Hu Jiao felt disappointed again. If his father was at Phoenix, he could help a little. But now that Hu Jianguo was not around, and he was under his direct management, it was difficult.
Also, I wonder how much this Wu Hao knows about Liu Jie's affairs. As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles. The husband must have heard something about what happened in Wuhe Town.
I hope it's not some evil rumor.
Hu Jiaoqiang smiled and said, "It's okay, Dad. Every advantage has its disadvantages. Tieshu Township is well-known in the province anyway. I can't achieve anything. At most, others will scold me for being just a name."
Hu Jianguo sighed, "I'm not worried about that. As long as you don't make any mistakes, he won't be able to do anything to you. I'm just worried that you're young and inexperienced, and if something goes wrong..."
"Haha, Dad, why think so much? No matter how bad I am, I can still do academic research, right? Without Hu the Butcher, can we still eat hairy pigs?" Hu Jiao said with a wink and a smile.
Hu Jianguo laughed and said, "You little rascal, I'm Hu the Butcher, and I'll kill you first." He was too concerned and confused, and was not as open-minded as his son.
Li Aiju tied an apron and pushed open the study, "Are you done?"
Hu Jiao patted his belly and said, "I'm so lucky. My poor belly hasn't had any meat for three months."
Li Aiju hugged Hu Jiao and joked, "I heard that when you were in there, Director Liu helped you wash your clothes and gave you special treatment."
Hu Jiao begged for mercy with a bitter face, "Mom, don't bring up that. I've already collapsed, and you're still willing to add insult to injury?"
Hu Jianguo and his wife were amused and laughed out loud. The whole family was eating around the dining table. Li Aiju's two favorite scenes of life were students taking graduation photos and her husband and children having a happy meal together.
This is a combination of career and family. So Li Aiju is satisfied. Her husband is successful in his career and her son is an excellent student. Before they knew it, they both had jobs and even became a small leading cadre.
Although Hu Jiao did not expect to go into politics, she was satisfied no matter what job she did when she saw the two men she loved most in her heart together.
So Li Aiju couldn't help but sigh, "Being contented is the greatest happiness, being contented is the greatest happiness, I have already been content in this life."
After the family finished their meal, Hu Jiao helped his mother clean up. Then they sat together watching TV. Hu Jiao thought of his mother's work. Since he was a child, his mother's footsteps always followed his father's job changes.
But I have never seen my mother dissatisfied. This time my father was transferred to Hongjiang, I wonder how my mother's work will be arranged?
"Mom, what do you say about your job?"
Li Aiju rolled her eyes at Hu Jianguo and said, "What else can I say? I'm used to it. I'll follow your father to Hongjiang City No. 5 Middle School."
Hu Jianguo frowned and said, "Aiju, you should reconsider it. I heard from the people in the Hongjiang Education Bureau that Hongwu Middle School is the worst school in the city in terms of school spirit, discipline, and admission rate. Why are you..."
Li Aiju said decisively, "Old Hu, I have no objection to the job transfer. Wherever you go, I will go. No matter what job position you go to, please respect me."
Hu Jianguo quickly winked at Hu Jiao, and seeing his father's look, Hu Jiao was a little hesitant. Hu Jianguo had previously suggested that Li Aiju retire to administration, but Li Aiju disagreed and insisted on her own opinion and continued to teach.
It has been raised so solemnly this time, it seems that Hongjiang No. 5 Middle School is indeed very bad!
He also understood his mother's thoughts. To teach and educate people, one must go to the most difficult places and educate the most naughty and worst students into useful people. This is his mother's greatest wish.
Seeing the father and son flirting with each other, Li Aiju smiled and said, "Okay, you two, don't have any bad ideas. You have your own careers that you fight for and love, and I have mine. Let's not talk about this anymore."
This is Li Aiju's character, decisive! She is also stubborn. Once she makes up her mind, no one can change her mind.
Hu Jiao inherited this from his mother. For example, he was determined to learn the best when he was studying. Therefore, his role as the township head and secretary of Tieshu had already inspired his stubbornness in the deepest part of his heart.
Hu Jianguo looked at his wife's determined expression and had no choice but to follow her advice. "Okay, let's not talk about this matter. But there is only a vacant vice-principal position in Hongwu Middle School, and I'm afraid you will have to condescend to take the position. It would be great if I could help prevent it..."
With Hu Jianguo's transfer, Li Aiju's job was also filled by a vacant position of the same level in the Hongjiang education system for Li Aiju to choose. After all, she was the mayor's wife, so the Hongjiang Education Bureau still sought her opinion first.
What Hu Jianguo meant was that as long as he eliminated the position at Hongjiang No. 5 Middle School from the positions offered by Hongjiang, Li Aiju would have to choose other schools.
Li Aiju ignored her husband's complaints and asked Hu Jiao about his work arrangements. Hu Jiao thought that he couldn't hide this matter, so he should confess. "In Tieshu Township, Tong County, the party and government are shouldered by one person."
Li Aiju surprisingly didn't look at her son. Instead, she stared at Hu Jianguo closely. The minister felt very uncomfortable being stared at by his beloved wife, and his eyes looked extremely embarrassed.
Hu Jiao clung to his mother's arm, twisting his body like a little kid, "Mom, I took the initiative to apply to the organization."
Li Aiju's face was full of frost. "Even if I haven't eaten pork, I have seen a pig walk! You two agreed to fool me, right?"
Hu Jiao quickly twisted his body, increasing the amplitude. "Mom, don't be angry. Yueyaer assured the great leader that she definitely didn't fool you. My dad just asked for my personal opinion. I think..."
Seeing that his mother's attention was shifting from his father, Hu Jiao said hurriedly, "I think that after this incident, I must go to the most difficult place to train myself. There is an old saying that goes, 'If jade is not polished, it will not become a useful tool.' Besides, I am the only one who has the final say there, and I can give full play to my role... Don't blame my father. He even helped me get more than 2 million yuan in poverty alleviation funds."
Li Aiju glared at Hu Jianguo fiercely. "For the sake of my son, I won't argue with you. What a character! You're almost the deputy mayor, and you still let others bully your son! I think you're climbing up the ladder by stepping on your son's shoulders, and Jiaojiao has to take the blame..."
At this point, he couldn't help but poke Hu Jiao's forehead with his finger, "I love you in vain! What else can't you do? If you stay in college, you can be promoted to a lecturer at least. I was counting on you to get a doctorate. No hope!"
After saying that, she stood up. Hu Jiao had never seen her mother so angry before, and was so frightened that she was fascinated. "Mom, mom, don't you still believe me?"
Li Aiju turned her head away and walked towards the bedroom. "Don't pull me. I'm angry! I get angry when I see you and your son."
Seeing the bedroom door closed, the father and son smiled bitterly at each other. This was bad!
"Dad, I tried my best to look at you this time, alas..."
Hu Jianguo said nonchalantly, "It's okay, your mom has a little girl's temper, it comes quickly and goes even faster. As for you, I haven't seen you act like a spoiled child for many years, how come... your skills are regressing so quickly."
Hu Jiao was furious and said, "Dad!"
Hu Jianguo laughed quietly, it felt good to tease his son. Hu Jiao could only go into his room and feel depressed.
He was really depressed. How could he not be depressed when he thought of the word "Iron Tree"? When he was in the Political Research Office of the Municipal Party Committee, he did a lot of research on the information of Tieshu Township.
Although it is not comprehensive and detailed, it should not be much different from the actual situation. Of course, it is not ruled out that the cadres of the township party committee and government made false reports and received relief while holding relief signs.
But relief is only relief, what good can it do? Even if the cadres in the village are greedy and frivolous, they cannot starve people to death.
Some people have also mentioned that the biggest natural resource of Tieshu Township is the old mountain forest. The township covers an area of 44 square kilometers, and the forest coverage rate reaches 75%. On average, each person there owns 2.5 acres of forest.
This is also the reason why Tieshu has not been able to solve the problem of food and clothing, as there are more forests than arable land.
In theory, with so many forestry resources, as long as they are cut down reasonably and scientifically, and the method of felling and planting is followed, it will not affect forest coverage and can achieve economic benefits.
But the problem is that the Iron Tree People have a superstitious tradition of only planting trees, not cutting them down. If they want to cut down trees, they must cut down people first. This has been passed down from generation to generation, and they would rather starve than cut down trees.
The locals believe that there is a mountain god in the mountains, and the trees are the descendants of the mountain god. Every person will turn into a tree after death. Anyone who cuts down a tree is disrespectful to the mountain god and to the ancestors.
More than ten years ago, the deputy county magistrate of Tong County wanted to make a good coffin for his old father and took a fancy to the wood of Tieshu. He first contacted the Party Committee and government of Tieshu Township, but the township replied, "Just remove me."
Someone gave the deputy county magistrate an idea and asked him to hire someone to cut down trees illegally.
The trees were cut down, but before they were pulled out two kilometers, they were surrounded by hundreds of iron tree men. If an old Red Army soldier had not happened to come across them, the illegal loggers would have been beaten to death.
This is not the end. After the illegal cutters recovered from their injuries, they were forced to plant trees in the area. They planted saplings as heavy as the trees they cut down. The iron tree man was not stupid. He would not pay for cutting down one tree, even if he had to pay for a hundred trees. Trees have a growing period, right? If you count the trees used to make coffins, they must be hugged by two people, at least two to three thousand kilograms.
Since then, no one has ever thought about taking over Tieshulin Industry.
So don't dream of using forestry resources. If we have such a good old forest, we can develop tourism and build a forest park, right?
Nonsense, how can we build roads if we are not allowed to cut down trees? Besides, the geographical environment of Tieshu is either endless forests or high and steep cliffs, and the rest is arable land, with less than half an acre of arable land per capita.
So if the road cannot be built, everything else will become empty talk.
Anyway, regarding the ironwood forest industry, many people have come up with ideas and suggestions, including making handicrafts relying on forests, building paper mills, and proposing to set up composite wood processing plants. The list goes on.
I mentioned before that the Iron Tree Man is superstitious about trees, so all the trees in the forest that have died of disease, been blown down by the wind, been struck by lightning, or have branches that have fallen naturally, once discovered, are buried.
The only exception is building houses, where trees cannot be cut down, only branches can be cut and connected by carpenters. Therefore, in the entire Tieshu Township, except for the township government, where cement brick houses can be seen, the rest of the places are all mud-walled, stone-walled and thatched houses.
Finally, the previous municipal party secretary summarized the situation of Tieshu Township in one sentence: the biggest resource of Tieshu Township is the forest, and the biggest problem is also the forest . If the forest problem is solved well, Tieshu will be able to get rid of poverty and become rich.
The current municipal party secretary Li Mingyong also summed it up in one sentence: The Iron Tree People are guarding treasures but going hungry.
Hu Jiao had learned about these situations from various materials when he was in the Policy Research Office. Now he still had some hope in his heart, but he had never visited the site, so perhaps the situation was not as exaggerated as what he saw in the paper articles.
The routine in officialdom is that if you haven’t achieved any political achievements, they will always find all kinds of problems and shortcomings, and deceive people from bottom to top, layer by layer, until the truth is finally covered up.
Hu Jiao thought, what if the iron tree is just a fig leaf for some people?
This was the hope he had, but the third thing Hu Jianguo told him was definitely not optimistic. From the fact that he had been confined for three months and his father was eventually transferred out of Phoenix City, it was not difficult to see that both father and son were actually exiled.
Moreover, there is also a Wu Hao who is acting as the county magistrate of Tong County. He has a strong background, even terrifying. One can imagine how difficult his life will be in Tieshu.
It was impossible for Hu Jiao to complete the work of the township party committee and government alone, and he did not have the ability to do so. So, with a big county head on his shoulders, if Hu Jiao wanted to gain a foothold in Tieshu, he had to rely on the support of the cadres of the party committee and government first.
If by any chance Wu Hao gives some pointers to certain township officials, Hu Jiao would have no choice but to become a walking corpse or a statue in a temple, enjoying only the sight of worldly affairs but not caring about the world.
Thinking of this, Hu Jiao sighed softly. There was still time, more than a month left. He had to get ahead of everything and seize the initiative.
The next day, Hu Jiao slept until noon before being woken up by Li Aiju. It was rare for Hu Jianguo to go home for lunch at noon. Perhaps since things had been settled, there was no need for him to let people gossip about him and to compete with his successor for benefits before leaving.
Turn a blind eye, put all personnel matters aside, and leave it to those who come after you to complain about being "busy".
"Jiaojiao, do you have any preliminary ideas?" Hu Jianguo was afraid that his son would be confused and get hurt.
Hu Jiao nodded, "I'll prepare for both situations. I want to go to the provincial capital in a few days to meet old classmates. Well, Teacher Wang wrote me two letters saying that he will go to Nanzhao Party School at the end of October. I guess he still has time now, so I want to take this opportunity to go and take a look."
Li Aiju looked at her son lovingly and said, "Oh, I sawI found your email address and put it on your desk. I didn't expect it to be a letter from Professor Wang. That's good. I'll prepare something for you to thank the old professor. You, he has high hopes for you! "
Hu Jiao smiled helplessly, "Mom, it's just a Ph.D., I asked Professor Luo if I can study while working, and he even advised me to change my major."
"Changing majors? Isn't this giving up halfway and throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds?" Li Aiju was very dissatisfied with her son's stubborn attitude in studying.
Hu Jiao smiled confidently, "All roads lead to Rome. This was originally Professor Luo's idea. The director of the Law School of Renmin University has agreed to be my doctoral supervisor, but unfortunately I insisted on coming back."
Li Aiju was very angry. Her son concealed the truth. What a great opportunity! "Hu Jiao! Do you still have me as your mother?"
Hu Jiao blinked. He knew his mother was not angry, but just a little regretful. "Mom, I promise you that I will get a doctorate in law before I turn 35. How about that? In this way, your son will have three majors: a bachelor's degree in Chinese, a master's degree in political science, and a doctorate in law. How about that? It's very impressive, right?"
Li Aiju was proud now, "Okay, you said it!" She turned to look at Lao Hu with an expression of presenting a treasure, "This is my son."
Hu Jianguo looked at the innocence his wife inadvertently revealed and couldn't help laughing, "He's my son too."
Li Aiju rolled her eyes at him and said, "I trained her. It has nothing to do with you."
Hu Jianguo laughed, "Yes, yes, you are a great contributor to our Hu family, okay? Should I give you the Most Outstanding Mengmu Award?"
Li Aiju said complacently, "No need! Pride is the best award!"
Hu Jianguo looked at Hu Jiao and said, "I support you to go to the provincial capital and find a chance to invite Liu Jie and her husband out to confront them face to face and clear up the knot in everyone's mind."
Li Aiju was quite happy just now, but when she talked about her son's next job, she was worried. Hu Jianguo told her everything last night, especially about Liu Jie's husband, Wu Hao, the son of the provincial party committee deputy secretary, going to Tong County.
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong between me and Liu Jie. He's the son of the provincial party secretary and a leading cadre himself, so he won't bear a grudge against me. I'll go to the provincial capital to see what's going on with the meeting. On the other hand, I'd like to trouble Dad to remind Secretary Li that the poverty alleviation funds allocated to Tieshu should be made into special funds and set up in a separate account, without going through the county finance department, and transferred directly from the municipal finance bureau to the Tieshu Finance Office?"
Hu Jiao's thinking was very clear. He should not have the intention to harm others, but he should always be on guard against others. After all, they were not people of the same level. If Wu Hao really wanted to make things difficult for him, he could strangle him by blocking the financial allocations.
Hu Jianguo stared into his son's eyes and said, "I can help you with this, but you have to be mentally prepared for the relief food money."
Hu Jiao smiled leisurely, "That's not a problem. If the county doesn't give it to me, I'll just withhold it from the old Red Army soldiers."
Hu Jianguo laughed and pointed at Hu Jiao, "You little bastard, you are so mean. I wanted to remind you, but it seems that these three months were not in vain!" He turned around and looked at his wife affectionately, "Are you satisfied now? You don't have to worry about him anymore. He is almost qualified to think this far!"
Li Aiju was not interested in these twists and turns. She had the habit of taking a nap at noon, so she hugged Hu Jiao and went straight to rest.
Hu Jianguo thought about Tieshu's matter, and tried to consider various issues, and gave his son advice, not seeking merit, but avoiding mistakes. "Jiaojiao, the first and most important thing when you go down is to try your best to build a good relationship with the local cadres, unite some people to the best of your ability, and do everything you can to gain a foothold. Don't be greedy for merit and rush, don't be impatient! Think twice before you act, think more, listen more, watch more, and talk less. No matter who it is, you must leave some room when you get along with them. You must remember that in the officialdom, the most taboo is "liver, gall, face, and photo"! If you can keep silent, keep silent, and delay everything, especially when it comes to money. Be careful every time you sign."
Hu Jiao's face was serious and he listened attentively. He understood that these were his father's twenty years of political experience. These things were all leadership wisdom that had stood the test of time and were more valuable than real gold and silver.
"Dad, I will keep it in mind and reflect on myself three times a day!"
