Chapter 32 Call Mom Again
The mayor's office on the seventh floor of the Hongjiang Municipal Government Office Building was decorated as designed by Tian Fumin after Hu Jianguo took office. Except for hanging a few ink paintings on the wall and replacing a new set of stationery, the other decorations and equipment remained basically unchanged.
The office is divided into three rooms. The innermost one is a lounge with a bathroom. The middle one is the largest, about 30 square meters. The desk faces south and north, and there is a set of leather sofas in front of the floor-to-ceiling window near the garden on the right.
There is a small door leading to the secretary's office, which is furnished with four or five single sofas and two connected coffee tables. This is a place for cadres waiting to be interviewed to rest.
It was already nine o'clock in the evening, and there were only two people in the office: Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee Member, Secretary-General Wu Changjun and Hongjiang Mayor Hu Jianguo.
Wu Changjun doesn't smoke, drink tea, cold boiled water, or plain water. He only drinks bottled mineral water. This habit is a bit uncommon. But he can drink a lot, and is known as the best in the provincial party committee. Anyway, no one has ever seen him drunk.
After listening to Hu Jianguo's informal introduction to the inspection work, Wu Changjun smiled. The mayor in front of him was an old friend. "You will take the lead in the inspection work in Hongjiang. The provincial party committee means that during the supervision and inspection process, we cannot regard ourselves as 'imperial envoys' and boss people around, nor can we be 'good guys' and be 'peacemakers'. We must do our job properly without overstepping our authority, and be appropriate without going too far. We must carry out our work in accordance with the intentions and requirements of the provincial party committee leaders, not take things for granted, not take advantage of the situation, and not issue orders without authorization; when we find problems and shortcomings at the grassroots level, we should make suggestions in good faith, criticize less, and discuss more. These are the views adopted by the provincial party committee."
When Hu Jianguo talks about work, there is a strange attraction that makes others listen to him carefully involuntarily.
Whether facing his superiors or subordinates, Hu Jianguo's eyes give people a very sincere feeling, and his expression will change from time to time, but not obviously.
Moreover, Hu Jianguo's eyes are not big, but small, but his eyelashes are very long, and his eyebrows are long and black, and they bend down at the ends. Whenever he frowns his forehead, three lines appear.
Therefore, when he is peaceful, he looks kind and gentle, but as soon as he is dissatisfied with something, he immediately makes people feel intimidated.
Wu Changjun appeared elegant, with a faint smile on his face all the time. He spoke slowly, neither anxious nor impatient, as if no matter how difficult or urgent the task was, it seemed easy in front of him.
"Secretary General..."
Wu Changjun interrupted with a smile, "There are no outsiders here, Jianguo, don't be so distant. Mingyong, why should we distinguish between superiors and subordinates?"
Hu Jianguo smiled, "Okay, I'll listen to you. The provincial party committee's intention this time is obviously to increase the intensity of supervision. In recent years, administrative work efficiency has been getting worse and worse, and many departments have even formed an unhealthy trend of laziness and comfort. I want to catch a few examples in Hongjiang and stop this unhealthy trend."
Although Hu Jianguo agreed not to call him Secretary General, he cleverly avoided using the title in his following words. Wu Changjun could tell that he did not feel unhappy at all. Instead, he admired Hu Jianguo's caution very much.
"I know a little about the local situation. You want to take advantage of this opportunity... I think it's okay. Nowadays, there are so many meetings and documents, and they are getting more and more serious. There is no need to make specific regulations. They are not elementary school students. They can walk, sit or stand in any posture as long as they study hard. Is that right?"
Wu Changjun couldn't help laughing after he finished speaking, and Hu Jianguo also smiled. "This metaphor is quite vivid. Some departments are like those disobedient and unmotivated children. They get nervous only after they are slapped occasionally. When they guess that the parents are in a good mood, they relapse. So we put on a stern face first, don't show them a good face, and then we are ruthless when it comes to slapping them."
Wu Changjun nodded in agreement. "Okay, give them a warning. Anyway, we're just checking their work efficiency and results. If they can't produce results, we'll have to punish them. After this, we still need to establish an inspection mechanism, starting from three aspects: emphasizing effectiveness; standardizing the inspection process; and establishing a public disclosure system. You don't need to remember these, the provincial party committee has already started working on them, and it won't be long before we have instructions."
Wu Changjun then gave an introduction to his inspection trip to Hongjiang.
"Jianguo, did your lover give you good news yesterday?"
Hu Jianguo nodded. He seemed to have aged ten years in the past few days. "Professor Liu said that we can't delay it for a long time, otherwise it will affect Aiju's brain, so he decided to take the risk."
"Oh? What's the specific plan?"
"The student that Aiju saved is on summer vacation now. Professor Liu asked me to take him there. Hu Jiao's colleague and the babysitter saw Aiju's reaction yesterday. I also agree to give it a try. The longer we delay, even if Aiju wakes up in the future, her intelligence and memory will probably deteriorate. The key is her physical function. After all, Aiju is almost fifty years old."
Wu Changjun sighed, "The governor is very concerned about you. He wants you to hold on. No matter what happens, you must think of Hu Jiao. Well, speaking of Hu Jiao, he did well this time. This kid is knowledgeable and smart."
Hu Jianguo shook his head. "He was still too young and inexperienced. He almost got into trouble at Iron Tree."
Wu Changjun smiled and said, "Young people, it's okay to be a little radical. His starting point is not wrong. This is a good thing. I was afraid that he would suffer setbacks one after another and become depressed. I didn't expect him to do something surprising so soon. If it's gold, it will shine everywhere."
A smile appeared on Hu Jianguo's lips. Hu Jiao was indeed worthy of his pride. He was able to endure three months under the supervision of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, suffered a bloody head injury, and experienced his mother's accidental serious injury. He then wrote an article that influenced the Provincial Party Committee so quickly. As for his son, he was already very satisfied.
"Let him accompany Aiju for now, so that he won't have any regrets in the future."
Wu Changjun nodded. "But you have to be prepared. Professor Liu is already an internationally renowned expert. When he said taking a risk, it means that any result is possible. The governor's idea is to transfer Hu Jiao to his side to serve as a secretary."
Hu Jianguo was stunned. Hu Jiao was going to be the secretary of Governor Hu Zhizhong?
Seeing Hu Jianguo's surprise, Wu Changjun continued, "Don't you understand what the governor means?"
Hu Jian let out a long sigh, "You know, the governor wants to take care of Jiaojiao himself. But... I personally don't think it's appropriate. He's too young, and the governor has a lot of work to do. With his experience, I'm afraid he's overwhelmed."
"That's why the governor specifically asked for him. It won't take long, maybe two years at most, or one year at least."
Hu Jianguo frowned and said carefully, "Changjun, I think it would be more appropriate for you to take him with you."
Wu Changjun's eyebrows jumped, and then he smiled, "Are you serious?"
Hu Jianguo nodded, "Really!"
Wu Changqun clapped his hands, couldn't help but stand up, and turned around on the spot, "Haha, Jianguo, I have to thank you so much!"
"Thank me for what?"
"Two bottles of 1955 Maotai. The governor made a bet with me, saying that you would definitely want Hu Jiao to follow him. I said you should push Hu Jiao to me."
Hu Jianguo laughed heartily, "Okay, I have become the target of your calculations. Let me make a deal first, I want a bottle!"
Seeing Hu Jianguo's smiling face, Wu Changjun shook his head, pointed at him and scolded, "You are plucking feathers from a passing goose. All right, whoever sees it gets a share. But you should tell the governor about Hu Jiao in person, so that he won't suspect me of cheating."
"When are you leaving tomorrow? I'm going to take that student to South Lake, and then I'll tell the governor in person."
"In the morning, the group going to Phoenix is also waiting."
Ma Xiaowu had already been received by Hu Jianguo's secretary Qian Dezhong and was being recruited by the municipal party committee. He was watching TV at the moment, thinking about what he should say to Teacher Li when he saw him tomorrow.
Ma Xiaowu was very excited as the speeches put together by his classmates flashed through his mind. In the final exam, he unexpectedly dropped to the 200th place in the grade. His score was more than 20 points higher than the midterm exam, but his ranking dropped instead.
The principal and teachers of No. 5 Middle School were the happiest. This school, which was originally known to be a bad school, had a great change in its academic atmosphere within half a year, and the average score of the second year students increased by more than 40 points.
Originally, all the faculty and staff of the school unanimously requested to send a representative to visit Vice Principal Li at Nanhu Lake, but considering her special injury, they had to give up the idea.
But we can't just do nothing. The amazing progress of No. 5 Middle School can be attributed to Vice Principal Li. So at the staff meeting of the whole school, all participants signed a letter under the initiative of the principal: Take Teacher Li Aiju as an example, improve teaching level, enhance professional quality, speed up teaching efficiency, and work hard to cultivate more students with both good character and good academic performance.
The original motto of Hongwu Middle School was: Diligence, Knowledge, Humility, and Unity. At the end of the meeting, all faculty and staff approved the revision of the motto, which was changed to the concept proposed by teacher Li Aiju: Equality and fraternity, mutual assistance, and happiness and ideals.
The specific explanation is that all teachers and students in the school are equal, care about everyone, pursue multiple specialties, help each other, and study happily to achieve their ideals.
Ma Xiaowu recalled the twelve new words painted on the wall of the teaching building before he left school. These were what Teacher Li said, and he also did so.
Being a student of Mr. Li is the greatest blessing in life. Unfortunately, because of his behavior, Mr. Li is still in a coma.
After the incident, on the third day of Hongjiang's severe crackdown, the murderers who killed Hei San and injured Teacher Li were arrested and brought to justice. In the following half month, the gangster gangs in Hongjiang suffered a devastating disaster.
Now the social atmosphere in Hongjiang has begun to improve, and the people are applauding the campaign to crack down on gangs.
In fact, these small gangsters in Hongjiang cannot be considered as underworld gangs. In the past few years, the municipal party committee and government have focused their main efforts on developing the economy. In order to improve the investment environment, some entertainment venues have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. This phenomenon cannot be eliminated no matter where it is.
With the increase in entertainment venues, various public security cases have occurred frequently, but there has not yet been any real gang of a mafia nature. Malicious incidents such as murder are rare. Most of them are group fights involving dozens of people, which are within the controllable range. Therefore, the Hongjiang Public Security Bureau, out of inertia, did not pay attention to such minor problems. Until Hei San was killed, they only slightly increased their efforts.
But the Li Aiju incident happened, so the Hongjiang Public Security Bureau took the lead. The Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Public Security Bureau Director Chen Wenbo has been living a miserable life for the past month.
After the crackdown ended, the municipal party committee held a special meeting to summarize the political and legal work. Chen Wenbo escaped. He never expected that it was Hu Jianguo who saved him.
What was even more unexpected was that two days later, Secretary Mao Yongcheng nominated Deputy Director Shen Fuzheng to be transferred to the Municipal Party Committee Supervisory Bureau as deputy director, and Liu Qifeng, deputy captain of the Second Criminal Team of the Provincial Public Security Department, was parachuted into the Hongjiang Public Security Bureau to take over Shen Fuzheng's position as deputy director.
Later, Chen Wenbo learned the news from a classmate of the Provincial Public Security Department. Mao Yongcheng originally wanted to take this opportunity to remove him and push Shen Fuzheng up, but the provincial party committee disagreed, so Mao Yongcheng could only settle for the second best.
Chen Wenbo was originally a good friend of Tian Fumin. The two worked together from the county to the city. Wherever Tian Fumin went, Chen Wenbo followed.
Mao Yongcheng did not have time to communicate with Hu Jianguo in advance and reported directly to the provincial government, but the provincial party committee did not agree. Mao Yongcheng then made trouble at the municipal party committee meeting, but was easily resolved by Hu Jianguo.
Through this incident, Mao Yongcheng's prestige in the hearts of Hongjiang cadres was greatly damaged, while Mayor Hu Jianguo won a good reputation.
Regardless of the right and wrong of Hong Jiang, let's just say the next afternoon, Ma Xiaowu didn't sleep well the night before, his eyes were dark circles, and when he approached Li Aiju's ward, he stopped abruptly.
Qian Dezhong followed Hu Jianguo and pushed open the door. Seeing Ma Xiaowu in a daze, he waved hurriedly, "Xiao Ma, come here quickly."
Ma Xiaowu shook his head, and Hu Jianguo turned to look at him, "It's okay, just follow what Professor Liu taught you before, don't worry, if Teacher Li knew you were here, he would definitely be very happy."
Ma Xiaowu gritted his teeth stubbornly and did not move. Hu Jianguo waved his hand to interrupt Qian Dezhong and stood quietly with Ma Xiaowu.
After a long while, Ma Xiaowu spoke stiffly, "Uncle Mayor, I, I don't want to follow what the doctor told me to do."
Hu Jianguo nodded and asked, "Why?"
"I don't want to lie to Teacher Li. I will tell her my true feelings, as well as... the greetings that my classmates asked me to pass on."
Hu Jianguo signaled Qian Dezhong to invite Professor Liu.
After a while, Hu Jiao also came out. Professor Liu stared into Ma Xiaowu's eyes and said, "Can you tell me first? Child, you have to understand that your words may save Teacher Li, but they may also cause her greater harm."
Of course Ma Xiaowu didn't dare to make a decision rashly. Normally he was bold and didn't take anyone seriously. But now that the target was Li Aiju, as long as it was beneficial to Teacher Li, he would probably be able to do it, even if it meant killing someone.
Seeing Ma Xiaowu bowing his head and keeping silent, Professor Liu winked at Hu Jianguo and his son, then walked over and put his arm around his shoulder, "Come on, let's go over there and talk."
Hu Jiao's face was full of anxiety. Today was like Judgment Day for him and his father Hu Jianguo. They could not make their own decisions and everything was left to fate.
Either life or death.
If misfortune strikes, a son loses his mother and a husband loses his wife.
So Hu Jiao had never been so uneasy, and had never prayed so devoutly to the gods and Buddhas in the sky.
To be honest, he didn't like Ma Xiaowu. It was unbearable for him to let his mother's fate be decided by a student, and a bad student at that.
Hu Jiao has been an excellent student since childhood. Although he was reluctant to see his mother sacrifice herself to save her students, he had to approve of it.
But of course Hu Jiao felt emotional about saving a guy who looked like a gangster.
It's just that he hid this emotion very deeply.
For about ten minutes, the father and son looked into the distance. Professor Liu continued to communicate with Ma Xiaowu. Judging from Professor Liu's frequent nodding, he seemed to agree with what .
Ma Xiaowu walked back to the ward again, his expression serious, but without the hesitation and anxiety as before. His face was full of determination.
Hu Jiao looked at him with a complicated expression, "Ma Xiaowu... please..."
Ma Xiaowu looked at him, took a step back, and bowed deeply in the direction where Hu Jianguo and Hu Jiao were standing side by side. "I'm sorry. I will do my best. If... I can exchange one life for another, I..."
Hu Jianguo hurriedly stopped him, "Kid, get up. We believe in you!" He patted Xiaowu on the shoulder and said, "Go ahead. No matter what the result is, we believe you will try your best."
Professor Liu entered the ward first, Hu Jianguo and his son stood outside, and several doctors and nurses were on standby.
A white screen was drawn in the middle of the room, and only Professor Liu and Ma Xiaowu appeared by the bed. Other medical staff gathered around various medical instruments with nervous expressions. A person in charge kept whispering reminders of precautions and checked the equipment again.
Professor Liu stuck his head out, looked at everyone, then signaled to start. He returned to the bedside to operate an instrument, staring at the display screen.
Teacher Li's head was sucked into a cylinder, and a dark yellow light shone on her eyelids. Professor Liu signaled Ma Xiaowu to start.
Ma Xiaowu first lowered his head and looked at the teacher quietly, then slowly bent down, kneeled on the ground, and took Teacher Li's right hand. Xiaowu began to speak hoarsely: "Teacher Li, I'm Xiaowu, I'm here to see you... The school is on vacation, the final exam is over, our class eight's score is only 40 points lower than the top class, I didn't do well in the exam, and ranked 209th in the whole grade."
At this point, Xiaowu paused. Hu Jiao frowned and looked anxious. Professor Liu gestured for him to continue.
"Teacher Li, we miss you and look forward to your return every day. My classmates asked me to tell you that Class 8... 59 students, are all your children..." Ma Xiaowu's voice trembled and he choked up in his throat.
"I'm sorry, Teacher Li, it's all my fault! I swear, I will study hard from now on! I, I...my classmates said that they would be your good children and not let you down. We pray every night and ask God to bless you...We need you, teacher, please wake up, I was wrong...Wuwu..."
Ma Xiaowu's forehead touched Teacher Li's hand, and tears burst out. Hu Jiao lowered his head and thought, he is not that bad.
“Teacher… do you know? I, we, are all secretly calling you, mom, mom, mom… mom… we are your children… wuwu… you are our mom, mom… children, need, need mom… how can mom, mom, abandon the children… and not… care…”
Xiaowu's desperately suppressed cries echoed back and forth in the ward. Everyone was staring at the instrument. Professor Liu had a serious expression. Hu Jiao didn't dare to look anymore. He rested his head on his father's shoulder, his body twitching with Xiaowu's cries.
The calls of "Mom" made everyone's faces stiffen. Several nurses kept wiping their tears. Hu Jianguo closed his eyes and his lips turned pale. Qian Dezhong stared at him closely.
Professor Liu took the time to look at Hu Jianguo, asking him if he could hold on. Hu Jianguo shook his head at him to indicate that it was no problem.
After two minutes, Ma Xiaowu's crying gradually subsided. He looked at Teacher Li with tearful eyes and called "Mom" unconsciously, but there was no sound.
The only sound in the entire ward was the beeping of instruments.
Hu Jiao felt as if several centuries had passed. He was already a little exhausted, fearing that the doctor would suddenly stand up and say to him and his son, "We tried our best..."
"Attention!" Professor Liu's trembling voice was seriously out of tune, and he was obviously suppressing his excitement.
Everyone's nerves were instantly tense!
A faint female voice came out weakly and intermittently: "Call... Mom... again..."
This is the voice of mother!
Hu Jiao and Ma Xiaowu screamed at the same time: "Mom!"
