Chapter 78 - 78 78 Difficulties

Words : 2071 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

78: Chapter 78 Difficulties 78: Chapter 78 Difficulties Pushing Qin Yue to the forefront as the village chief was Liu Hun’s own calculus. Although Qin Yue wore the title of “village chief,” she was working on Liu Hun’s behalf, while Liu Hun didn’t need to stay in the village all day and had more time to handle affairs in the town. After some time, Liu Hun calculated that apart from the more than two hundred thousand he got from Ding Yajun, there really wasn’t any proper income. The blueberries that were planted still needed time, which he considered a well-done job. He was not in a hurry, but the villagers of Wanbao Village were growing anxious. The houses that had been rebuilt after the last flash flood were shabby, with windows patched up with paper, and the food situation was dire. The blueberries would also take some more time. As a result, everyone started thinking again about the poverty aid and disaster relief funds from the town. Liu Hun thought this situation was like an old cold leg, occasionally flaring up to bother him. It was a matter that had to be resolved eventually. Now, with urgent need for money, Liu Hun started handling this matter. The delayed funding required him to shamelessly approach the town for it, because if he waited in the village, who knew how long it would be? This time at the Township Government, Liu Hun learned his lesson and straightforwardly gave the guard two packs of cigarettes. As the old saying goes, money can make the ghosts turn the millstones, and it proved true. The guard directly told Liu Hun to first go to the office of Mayor Xie. Although Liu Hun had met Xie Heguo a few times and had been commended by him, he really didn’t feel he had any special connection with Xie Heguo. This was truly different from Yang Yide; at least there was a collaboration there, where both parties had interests intertwined, and one’s loss could affect the other. Thus, Liu Hun felt that matters had to proceed in the proper order. Upon reaching the door of the mayor’s office, Liu Hun discovered that the door was tightly shut without a hint of air passing through. After knocking several times with no response and just as he was about to leave, the door opened on its own. “What are you knocking for? Who are you... What do you want? You look familiar, what do you need?” A woman in a woman’s suit and heavy makeup asked Liu Hun. Liu Hun looked at the woman; although she was dressed similarly to Cai Yan, he always felt if Cai Yan was a real flower, this woman before him was a fake one, resembling the real deal but exuding a plastic scent all over. “I am Liu Hun from Wanbao Village. I came to consult with Mayor Xie about our village’s poverty aid and disaster relief funds,” Liu Hun told the woman. The woman suddenly nodded, as if she had just woken up, and said, “You are Liu Hun, come in and sit. The mayor is in a meeting; I don’t know when it will end. You can wait here!” The woman was polite enough to let Liu Hun into the office, and after speaking, she left. Liu Hun sat in the office alone, watching the hands on the clock go from 2 almost to 5, and it was almost time to close the office. He suddenly grew restless; even a memorial service wouldn’t last this long. Having sat until he was about to develop heat rash, he could no longer bear it. Just as he stood up, he saw the same woman coming in and quickly stepped forward to ask, “Excuse me... when will Mayor Xie finish the meeting?” The woman, frightened like she had seen a ghost, shuddered and looked at Liu Hun for quite a while before snapping back irritably, “Scared the life out of me! Why didn’t you make any noise? Why are you still waiting here? The mayor already finished the meeting and left!” “What? The mayor finished the meeting and left already? Wasn’t it you who asked me to wait here? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Liu Hun got a bit heated, having sat there for five hours, having manipulated through the ‘People’s Daily’ main headlines about the policies of the Central Committee thirty-six times, only to be told that he had left! “What are you making a fuss about? Who do you think you are, the county head? County Party Secretary? To have someone specifically looking after you? You really think highly of yourself!” The woman grumbled at Liu Hun for a while, then ignored him and started tidying her desk to leave. Suppressing the urge to slap her, Liu Hun took a deep breath and figured he would have to come back again tomorrow. “Hold on!” As the woman was cleaning up her desk, she suddenly found a slip of paper in the pile of documents, then hurriedly called Liu Hun back. “What is it now?” Liu Hun replied curtly. The woman pulled out the slip and looked at it for quite some time, then mumbled, “I don’t remember when the mayor signed this...” She then asked Liu Hun, “Are you from Wanbao Village? What’s your name?” “Liu Hun!” Liu Hun repeated his name again, his mind racing that this woman certainly hadn’t listened carefully to him earlier and hadn’t taken him seriously. “Why do I remember that last time Mayor Xie mentioned that Ye Canghai was the village chief of Wanbao Village, handling this matter. Now, how come it’s you here? Last time we notified your village’s Ye Canghai to come, but there was no response, so the matter was left pending.” The woman told Liu Hun, showing him the document in her hand. Liu Hun had mulled over the possibility of this happening before, that’s why he was hell-bent on finding Ye Canghai to deal with this matter properly; it turned out he was right. Liu Hun explained everything to the woman, and it was only after she recalled the previous commendation and reward event that she really believed Liu Hun. Then she handed the document in her hand to him and said, “Take it, I’m overwhelmed as it is. Just look at all these documents on the table. I’m the only one handling all these issues. Plus, who knows about your village’s trivial matter of changing the village chief? I need to figure it out, right?” Liu Hun didn’t want to waste time with this woman. Seeing that it was almost time to leave work, he took the document and went where the woman had directed him to handle his business. The door of the service center was wide open. A plump woman and a tall, thin man were sitting opposite each other at the desk, the tall man reading a newspaper while the plump woman was incessantly cracking sunflower seeds. “This comrade, I am from Wanbao Village. Here are our village’s applications for poverty alleviation and disaster relief funds,” Liu Hun said as he handed over the documents to the plump woman. “Puh puh puh!” The plump woman spat out the shells of the seeds, her face squeezed tight making her eyes as small as mung beans as she glanced sideways at Liu Hun and muttered, “Don’t you see it’s almost time to leave? Troublemakers sure know how to pick the time! Who would enjoy doing so much daily for this little money? It’s like serving ancestors!” After mumbling, she snatched the document from Liu Hun’s hand, glanced over it briefly, then threw it back at Liu Hun and said, “Go! The office across the door – get a stamp! After you get it stamped, bring it back to me!” “Across the door?” Frustrated, Liu Hun looked outside the office; there wasn’t any “across the door,” just a dam, and then one would be out of the government building. With no other choice and needing help with paperwork that involved money, Liu Hun suppressed his anger. Besides dealing violently with a woman wouldn’t be proper, so he continued to ask the plump woman, “Comrade, could you please tell me specifically where I can get the stamp?” “Across the door!” The plump woman picked up the newspaper, still blurting out the same three words. Liu Hun felt his anger almost erupting as he asked again, “But... there’s nothing across from this office!” The plump woman squinted at Liu Hun impatiently and said, “Go find it yourself! Do I need to show you the way?!” After finishing her sentence, she continued to murmur under her breath, “Just wants money, probably forgot to take his meds before leaving the house.” Before, Liu Hun had been able to restrain himself, but this last remark from the plump woman was the final nail in his coffin—he was determined to sort out this woman today. First, however, he needed the stamp; otherwise, not getting the money would be a loss. As Liu Hun was pondering, he suddenly changed his thoughts and left the service center to find the gatekeeper grandpa and asked, “Grandpa, let me ask you something, where exactly should I get the stamp for these documents?” “Hey!” The gatekeeper grandpa chuckled; his yellow teeth all showing as he told Liu Hun, “Is it that plump woman who oozes oil from her corpulence told you to get a stamp from across the door?” “Yes! I looked for a long while and there’s no ‘across the door’?” Liu Hun was as confused as a monk who couldn’t find his head. “You seem smart, how come you can’t figure this little thing out? That fat lady Huang Meili is notoriously haughty and looks down on others. Her ‘across the door’ refers to that sly old fox sitting opposite her, Zhang Gui’er. If you don’t ask, Zhang Gui’er won’t speak. These two have delayed countless matters; hurry and get your document stamped, or you’ll have to come back again tomorrow.” The gatekeeper grandpa instructed Liu Hun. Now, Liu Hun had really measured how deep the waters of this government office were, so to avoid any delays, he hurriedly took the documents and went back to the service center. Just as he returned to the service center, Liu Hun saw Huang Meili, the plump woman, squeezing towards the door, clearly getting ready to leave work. He quickly walked up to her in large strides and said, “Comrade, could you please help me get this stamp?” His tone was already quite bad. “Why is it you again? Are you haunting me? Work’s over! Come back tomorrow!” The fat woman was very impatient and was about to leave, but Liu Hun blocked her, “This is the mayor’s approved document, and it’s not yet time to leave work!” Huang Meili glanced down at her watch; indeed, there were still eight minutes before work ended, noticing Liu Hun’s assertive demeanor. Reluctantly looking as if she was glancing at mud, she pursed her lips and extended her round pudgy hand towards Liu Hun, “Give it here, let me take another look!” Liu Hun passed the document to Huang Meili to check. Gazing at it seemed to infuriate her as if she were looking at her own weight, “Who are you trying to fool? The mayor hasn’t signed this! Who knows who approved this document! Take it and leave! If you bother me again, I might start cursing!” “Comrade! Look, isn’t there a name signed here?” Liu Hun pointed at a name below on the paper and said to Huang Meili, determined to sort this out today. “Fu Li’er? She’s just a secretary! She has no authority to sign documents! Plus, how can we tell if this is real or fake without an official seal? You can either bring her here, and I’ll open the door for you, or bring the mayor’s signature. Can’t get it, can you? If you can’t get it, then leave! A good dog doesn’t block the path!” Huang Meili tossed the document back to Liu Hun, turned around, and prepared to leave.

Chapter 78 - 78 78 Difficulties

Comments (0)