"Hehe, big sister, honestly, deep down, you probably know it all too well, don't you?" the worker said with a faint smile.
"I don't care!" Auntie Zhou said loudly, shaking her head.
Obviously, she had prepared herself for this, prepared to be shalessly adamant. Even if it ant her death today, she absolutely couldn't let them take down the street light.
Seeing this, the group of workers also felt helpless, both sides deadlocked. One side wanted to remove the street light to complete the task given to them by their superiors; the other was determined to protect these lights, as they were nothing but beneficial to the residents of Fuxing Community. With these lights, it would be much safer for residents to co and go in the future. No one wanted to walk on a pitch-black road where one couldn't see their own fingers, and danger could strike at any ti.
"What... what should we do now?" the workers asked anxiously.
"Team leader, call our superiors, tell them they absolutely refuse to let us dismantle it, and that we can't carry out the work!"
There was no choice; work had to continue. Since so people were obstructing, it was ti to let the higher-ups figure it out.
After a call, the nearby police on duty arrived swiftly.
The arrival of the police made the situation even more muddled. With the police there, it essentially beca a matter of playing peacemaker. No one from the police station wanted to offend anyone—they couldn't upset the city governnt's people, nor the Residents' Committee.
"This... just work it out amongst yourselves," the police said with a smile, "This is beyond our jurisdiction. Unless..."
"Unless what?" the lead worker asked.
"Unless you start fighting, then we have the right to intervene!" the police hastily explained.
With that, both sides fell silent once more. Who would dare to throw a punch on New Year's Day? They'd likely be unlucky all year long. Plus, with police on the scene, no one dared to make the first move, because once a fight broke out, it would be hard to explain themselves. The police were watching everything unfold in front of their eyes.
After the standoff lasted over ten minutes, soone from the police finally stepped forward.
"How about this," a man wearing a police uniform began, "It's the New Year's celebration, and this isn't really appropriate, right? So, in my opinion, why not wait until after the festivities to deal with this issue, how about that?"
"That won't work!" the construction workers shook their heads, saying, "The city governnt's leaders said that today, no matter what, this light must be taken down, otherwise, we'll lose our jobs!"
"No taking it down today, nor in the future!" Auntie Zhou asserted forcefully.
"Right, no one is allowed to dismantle it!" the residents of Fuxing Community protested.
Xiao Han and Liu Xiaolei were among the crowd. The situation was still brewing and hadn't escalated to a breaking point.
"Why do they want to remove it?" Liu Xiaolei was sowhat puzzled.
"Because it offends the interests of the city governnt," Xiao Han explained.
"How did it offend them?" Liu Xiaolei asked, confused.
"The sa street lights, we in Fuxing Community only need to pay two hundred yuan each, but on the city governnt's procurent list, they cost two thousand!" Xiao Han said with a calm smile, "Do you think they'll allow such street lights to exist?"
"What?!" Liu Xiaolei exclaid in surprise upon hearing this, "That's... that's unbelievable, they actually bought such expensive lights? Are they the sa kind?"
"Of course, they're the sa," Xiao Han said smiling, "Even the supplier is the sa. Most importantly, the city governnt buys hundreds or even thousands at a ti. We only bought dozens. They charge us two hundred each. You think..."
"My God!" Liu Xiaolei gasped, saying, "The depths of the city governnt's waters are too deep, aren't they?"
"Not just that!" Xiao Han scoffed, "This is just about street lights, which is to say, it's only the tip of the iceberg, nothing more."
"Ah!" Liu Xiaolei took a deep breath. Now when she thought about it, the waters were indeed deep. Just the matter of the street lights alone was enough to shock her. Now, imagining the financial statents published by so local governnts online, with their exorbitantly priced computers, bicycles, office equipnt... it suddenly seed more believable. Previously, she had thought it was just people stirring up trouble, but now Liu Xiaolei believed it, it was all real. She felt a bit dazed, "Then... what can we do about this situation?"
"Don't do anything!" Xiao Han shook his head, "We absolutely can't let them tear it down!"
"But..." Liu Xiaolei looked at Xiao Han, saying, "People have never triumphed over officials since ancient tis. Aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid of what?" Xiao Han shook his head, then said with a smile, "This is a society governed by law, everything must be done according to the law."
The situation on-site was chaotic beyond resolution.
More than two hours later, city governnt officials sent soone to negotiate.
As more and more spectators gathered, the city governnt personnel feared the spread of the incident, so they decided to resolve the situation through negotiation.
The person the city governnt sent over was the Section Chief in charge of the street light project.
As soon as Section Chief Liu arrived at the scene, he imdiately put on the airs of an official, and after getting there, he started pointing here and there, "Demolish it, who dares to obstruct the governnt's demolition?"
"What's wrong with the governnt?" Auntie Zhou sneered, then said, "Shouldn't the governnt's people abide by the law as well?"
"Uh..." Section Chief Liu was taken aback, then said, "They should. But the governnt's decisions are the law. You people, not abiding by the governnt's decisions, that's breaking the law!"
"Ridiculous!" Auntie Zhou looked at him with disdain and said, "Even the emperor makes mistakes, can't your re governnt make mistakes?"
Section Chief Liu frowned, then scoffed and said, "I'm not going to argue about this, let's find a place to negotiate."
Seeing that the other party was compromising, Auntie Zhou was also ready to keep up the hard stance with him. Since you want to negotiate, let's find a place to negotiate. So, she imdiately said, "Go to the Residents' Committee office, it's quieter there."
"Okay, okay," Section Chief Liu nodded, cursing under his breath, "A bunch of fucking troublemakers. Making trouble during the New Year, don't you want to celebrate it at all?"
Although the voice was very low, Xiao Han heard it very clearly.
Xiao Han, naturally, could not be absent from the negotiation; being the sponsor for the renovation of the street lights on Fuxing Road, he definitely had to show up. Auntie Zhou imdiately had everyone from the Residents' Committee take their places. Dozens of people crowded into a small office space, and Section Chief Liu took a seat in the office with several municipal workers.
No tea, no fruit, no hospitality whatsoever.
There were so fruits on the eting table, originally laid out for welcoming guests, but were cleared away by Auntie Zhou when they ca in.
"Hey hey..." Section Chief Liu hurriedly said, "Why have you cleared everything away?"
"Our things are to welco every person with a conscience." Auntie Zhou sneered, and said, "Not for those without a shred of conscience to eat."
Upon hearing this, Section Chief Liu's face turned green, as if he had swallowed a green-headed fly and was feeling nauseous.
"Fine, fine," Section Chief Liu repeated.
The negotiation formally began.
Section Chief Liu, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, then said, "This is the situation, Director Zhao from the municipal governnt asked to negotiate with you. He put forward two demands and two suggestions. The first demand is for you all to cooperate with the governnt's work, the second demand is for you to take down the financial announcent from the internet; either don't announce it at all or continue to announce it according to the municipal governnt's suggestions."
"And the two suggestions?" Auntie Zhou asked.
Governnt people all like to speak in officialdom, and when they do, it's all very formulaic.
"The two suggestions," Section Chief Liu smiled, then continued, "The first is that we hope you won't be too high-profile externally; the second is that we hope whatever you do in the future, you will record it properly with the governnt, don't act on your own, the Residents' Committee is also a unit under the leadership of the governnt."
Auntie Zhou sneered, "We have never said that we do not recognize that we are a unit under the leadership of the governnt. It's just that this ti you've touched on sothing that displeases us."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Section Chief Liu nodded helplessly, then said, "I admit we did wrong this ti, but you must comply with our demands."
"This..." Auntie Zhou hesitated.
Auntie Xiaohong, who was beside her, hurriedly said, "Big Sister Zhou, let's just agree to their terms."
"Right, agree to them," another person beside her hurriedly said.
This matter, continuing as it was, would be endless. Moreover, it is irrational for the community to oppose the governnt. Everyone understands the principle that commoners should not contend with officials. The outco of contending with the governnt is well known to all.
And if the trouble continued, it might end up with no good outco. It would be better to agree to their demands and save the street lights for the ti being.
"Alright then!" Auntie Zhou nodded.
Afterwards, as per the municipal governnt's demands, Section Chief Liu ca with the materials. To put it nicely, it was to maintain a high degree of unified thinking between the two units regarding work opinions. To put it bluntly, it was to have the Residents' Committee's price list displayed according to the municipal guidelines.
Auntie Zhou had soone take down the public announcent page from the internet, right in front of Section Chief Liu, and then put up the prices they had requested.
Such prices left Auntie Zhou staring in astonishnt and her heart pounding.
"Why are these prices so expensive?" Auntie Zhou was floored.
"Hmm." Section Chief Liu nodded and said, "These prices are reasonable. Your prices were too much for the masses. Understand?"
Gurgle...
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