Having worked in the Guangming District for almost twenty years, from deputy district chief to current district chief, Sun Liancheng was well-versed in the district's affairs.
He knew all the relevant data by heart, and he could recite all the rules and regulations backwards. Handling official business was a breeze for him.
Actually, most matters were easy to handle as long as he didn't have to consider those intricate interpersonal relationships.
The rules and regulations were there, and he just had to follow them.
Only some matters involving the municipal party committee and government, and some influential figures, were more complicated. But he could always pass those on to higher authorities and let them deal with the headache.
That's how Sun Liancheng had always done things, which allowed him to work efficiently, and his subordinates had benefited greatly from it.
Working at the grassroots level was tough, because you were always worried about being given unreasonable instructions from above that added pressure.
Now that District Chief Sun Liancheng was leading by example, following the rules and regulations, everyone else was doing the same, making things much easier for everyone.
Of course, there were always exceptions. For example, some people insisted on following the example of Ding Yizhen, demanding extra payments for their work, which could lead to breaches of the rules.
But Sun Liancheng didn't do that, making things easier for him.
Therefore, Sun Liancheng usually finished his work in half a day, and the rest of the time was for relaxing and waiting to clock out.
But this period, as expected, was one of impending storm. Just after he had finished dealing with everything in the afternoon, his secretary, Cui Hao, rushed in.
"District Chief, something's happened!"
"What happened?" Sun Liancheng had a bad feeling about this.
"District Chief, there's a workers' gathering at the Dafeng Factory. The district police say there might be a riot!"
Sun Liancheng furrowed his brows and mumbled, "So soon?"
Cui Hao asked in confusion, "District Chief, what's so soon?"
"Oh, nothing! Let's go to the Dafeng Factory, we can't let them actually cause any trouble!"
"District Chief, maybe we should call some police, in case they get emotional…"
"Don't worry, nothing's going to happen!"
"But…"
"No buts, let's go!"
The two of them got into Sun Liancheng's new car. This was a special car that his older brother, Sun Lianguo, had given him after he started producing electric vehicles.
Later, Sun Liancheng had it modified with artificial intelligence, which could actually drive itself and navigate to its destination.
But it was a bit too advanced, so unless he was alone, Sun Liancheng would drive himself to avoid attracting attention.
Because of his brotherly relationship with Sun Lianguo, this kind of gift could be reported and approved, and no one would suspect any collusion between them.
Sun Liancheng used to buy imported cars because domestic ones weren't good enough at the time. Now that he had his own brother's car, he was quite fond of it.
They arrived at the entrance to the Dafeng Factory without incident, and they saw that there weren't many people left there.
After the Guangming Peak project was launched, the old factory area had been included in the demolition plan, and most of the factories had already relocated.
Only the Dafeng Factory had a serious problem. The workers were dissatisfied, and those who held shares in the factory were particularly angry.
When Sun Liancheng arrived, the workers were indeed gathered together.
Some exclaimed when they saw him approaching.
"Hey, it's District Chief Sun!"
"Oh, if District Chief Sun is here, things will be fine!"
"What do you mean? Can he really solve our problems?"
"He should be able to, right? I went to the district government for some business, and as long as District Chief Sun was involved, there was nothing he couldn't solve!"
"Really? Is he that good?"
"Just watch and see! District Chief Sun, District Chief Sun, what brings you here?"
Sun Liancheng walked towards them, smiling and saying, "Hello everyone! I heard that a lot of people had gathered here, so I was afraid something might happen, so I came to take a look!"
"Oh, District Chief Sun is still a good official as always!"
"Everyone, don't flatter me. Let's talk about business, so we don't cause any misunderstandings!"
"Misunderstandings? There's definitely none! District Chief Sun, here's the thing…"
Sun Liancheng stood among them, listening to their complaints about the Dafeng Factory.
The situation was pretty much as he had understood it. The Dafeng Factory had agreed to the demolition, but the compensation hadn't been paid.
Furthermore, Cai Chenggong, the official legal representative, couldn't be found.
The workers at the factory had no place to go and needed to make a living, so they had to keep taking orders and producing. This resulted in a stalemate.
Sun Liancheng knew the truth, but he couldn't reveal it now, otherwise he would be caught in the crossfire.
As he was thinking about how to appease them, someone squeezed in from outside.
"What's going on? Why are you all crowded here?"
Someone said, "Chairman Zheng, we're telling District Chief Sun about our difficulties!"
The newcomer was Zheng Xipo, the chairman of the labor union, and he was no small figure himself.
Sun Liancheng sized him up and asked, "You're Zheng Xipo, the chairman of the Dafeng Factory's labor union?"
"Yes, I'm Zheng Xipo. District Chief Sun, you must have heard about our situation. Tell us, what should we do now?"
Sun Liancheng said seriously, "I have a general understanding of the situation. You agreed to the demolition, but you haven't received any compensation or relocation…"
"Exactly! If the compensation was paid, we wouldn't be making a fuss with the government!"
But Sun Liancheng suddenly said, "But as far as I know, the Shanshui Group has already acquired ownership of the Dafeng Factory and transferred the compensation to the account of your chairman, Cai Chenggong. So you should be looking for Cai Chenggong, not causing trouble for us!"
Zheng Xipo became anxious. He quickly said, "District Chief Sun, it's not that we don't want to find him, it's that we can't! We can't verify this matter, so we only recognize money. Give us the money, and we'll demolish it. Otherwise, we're not going anywhere!"
"Well, that's reasonable too! I suspect that either Cai Chenggong had an accident, or he absconded with the money, or he's hiding for some reason. But no matter what the situation is, we can't just let it drag on forever. It's not good for anyone!"
"Right, right! So, District Chief Sun, do you have any solutions?"
Sun Liancheng smiled, "Comrade Zheng Xipo, take a few key personnel, as worker representatives, and come with me to the district police station… No, let's go straight to the city police station. We'll go there together and file a report. We need to find Cai Chenggong no matter what. Once we find him, the rest will be easy!"
Zheng Xipo and the others hesitated.
According to Sun Liancheng, they were going to report Cai Chenggong to the police!
Although they were quite resentful towards Cai Chenggong, it wasn't time to have him imprisoned yet, was it?