Chapter 32 Spoiler

Deputy Director Dai nodded with satisfaction and said, "Dear residents of Courtyard 40, today is the day for our street to elect stewards for each courtyard. The purpose of electing stewards is to provide better service to everyone. A good steward can solve many problems and conflicts for everyone, so I hope everyone can take it seriously."

"Next, I'll let Xiao Zhou explain to you today's election rules."

After Deputy Director Dai finished speaking, he gestured to Xiao Zhou, the clerk next to him, indicating that it was his turn to explain the rules.

Secretary Xiao Zhou cleared his throat and said, "Dear neighbors, the rules for today's election are very simple. Everyone can vote, but each person can only vote for three people. You can vote for fewer people or abstain, but you are not allowed to vote for more than one person."

"Each household can only cast one vote. Please discuss with each family who will vote. After the votes are collected, I will count the votes. Deputy Director Dai will be personally responsible for supervising fairness. The ranking will be based on the number of votes, and the first uncle, the second uncle, and the third uncle will be ranked."

"At the same time, in order to prevent those who were not elected from retaliating afterwards, we will destroy all the ballots after the voting is completed."

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Seeing that no one was talking, Xiao Zhou continued, "Since no one has any questions, I will distribute voting papers to everyone."

"Here, Auntie, here are the voting papers. Each household should take one and pass it around."

The voting papers have been distributed, and the next step is for each household to write their vote.

There were a few families who could not read and did not know how to use pinyin, so they asked a few primary school children to write for them. These children were simple-minded and would not cheat or write carelessly.

A few minutes later, everyone had written down their votes.

Yi Zhonghai saw that everyone had already written down the candidates to vote for, and he couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

Although Deputy Director Dai promised to help him, he has not taken any action so far. Now that the ticket has been written, is there any other way for him to turn the tide?

At this time, Deputy Director Dai suddenly spoke:
"I see that everyone has already written down their preferred candidate for the position. Please fold your voting paper twice. Then sit in your seat and don't move. I'll have Xiao Zhou go down and collect the votes one by one."

Li Jiandong and others folded their voting papers.

Xiao Zhou, the clerk, collected the tickets one by one from the front to the back, and counted them. There were 20 tickets in total. There were exactly 40 households in Courtyard 20, so there was one ticket for each household.

"Director Dai, exactly 20."

Xiao Zhou said to Director Dai, who nodded:
"Then let's count the votes. You count the votes and I'll supervise. There's a teacher in your academy, right? He'll come up and be in charge of counting."

The only teacher in the school was Yan Bugui, who stood up and walked forward upon hearing this.

Chalk in hand, he said, “I’m ready.”

Xiao Zhou opened a voting paper and called out the names written on it: "Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui."

Every time he called out a name, Yan Bugui would write one.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai's mouth was twisted with joy.

The voting results are written on the blackboard and are clear at a glance.

He received the most votes in the entire academy with 15 votes, while the second and third places were Liu Haizhong with 13 votes and Yan Bugui with 12 votes.

Yi Zhonghai now understood how Director Dai helped him.

As long as there are two people who are in charge of counting the votes and supervising fairness, no matter how others vote, the results will be decided by these two people, right?

Deputy Director Dai said with a straight face and a fair look:

"The vote count shows that the first place is Yi Zhonghai with 15 votes, the second place is Liu Haizhong with 13 votes, and the third place is Yan Bugui with 12 votes."

"I declare that from now on, the first uncle of Courtyard 40 is Yi Zhonghai, who will be responsible for the overall affairs of the courtyard. The second uncle Liu Haizhong and the third uncle Yan Bugui must cooperate with Yi Zhonghai's work and strive to lead our courtyard to become an outstanding courtyard in the street."

There was scattered applause from the audience.

Only a few people, including Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady, were applauding.

The other residents were all confused. None of them expected Yi Zhonghai to get the most votes.

At this time Li Jiandong suddenly stood up.

"Director Dai, I have questions about the voting results and request that the ballot be made public."

As soon as he said this, the residents began to talk.

"Old Li is right to be suspicious. I also think there is something wrong with this vote."

"It's fine if Lao Liu and Lao Yan got more votes, but how did Yi Zhonghai get 15 votes?"

"I absolutely don't believe that he can get more votes than Lao Liu and Lao Yan, not to mention Lao Li in the Intermediate Court."

"Do you think that the person counting the votes may have mixed up Lao Li's name with Yi Zhonghai's name, and those 15 votes should actually have belonged to Li Jiandong?"

The residents were discussing it, and they hadn’t realized yet that there was some behind-the-scenes dealing involved in this election.

Deputy Director Dai saw that the situation was getting out of control, so he slammed the table and shouted:

"Everyone, be quiet. I supervised the vote count just now. Yi Zhonghai did receive 15 votes. I can testify for him."

Li Jiandong sneered: "Director Dai, we are not doubting you on purpose. But, look at the reactions of our residents. If 15 people really voted for Yi Zhonghai, would they be so suspicious?"

He Daqing has always followed Li Jiandong's lead.

He then shouted, "I also demand that the ballots be made public. It is impossible for Lao Li to have only three votes. There are three rows of votes for me, the Jia family, and the Yan family. With Lao Li's own vote, there are at least four votes."

Yan Bugui also quickly expressed his position: "I can prove that the Yan family voted for Li Jiandong. My family's Jie Cheng is his apprentice. If not for him, who else should we vote for?"

Jia Dongxu simply stood up and said, "My mother can't read. I voted for the family. I am sure that I also voted for my master."

There were also several other families, including Sister Ma, who clearly stated that they voted for Li Jiandong. A rough count showed that there were more than ten people in that family.

Director Dai didn't expect that the people in Yard 40 were so stubborn that they dared to doubt the fairness of him as a supervisor.

He shouted loudly: "Be quiet and listen to me."

"Just now, Xiao Zhou has already made the rules of today's election clear to everyone. The reason why the votes are not announced is to protect everyone from retaliation by those who did not vote."

"So, although I understand your suspicion, this vote must not be made public." After Director Dai finished speaking, he glanced at everyone in a deterrent manner.

"If it's not made public, how can we know if there's anything false? Isn't it that what you say is true?"

He Daqing shouted at the top of his voice, and the other residents also agreed with him.

Director Dai's face turned pale: "Your name is He Daqing, right? I supervised the vote counting just now. Are you doubting the fairness of me as a street director?"

He Daqing doesn't care what position he is in the street.

"That's right, I just doubt your fairness." He sneered and stood up. "Last time, when Yi Zhonghai held a meeting of the whole hospital to force Lao Li to donate money, you stood beside Yi Zhonghai and took sides. Now you want us to believe that you are fair. Ask yourself, do we in the hospital believe you?"

Jia Zhang said sarcastically, "Da Qing is right. As the director of the subdistrict, you are the first to take sides. Why should we believe you?"

Liu Haizhong wanted to show off in front of Deputy Director Dai, so he tried to smooth things over:

"Actually, I still believe in Director Dai. After all, he is the director of the neighborhood committee. How could he be biased in such an election campaign?"

"Otherwise, everyone should raise their hands to vote. Those who are willing to make their votes public can raise their hands and let Director Dai make it public. Those who are unwilling can still be protected."

Liu Haizhong thought that by saying this, he would not offend either side and would even gain a good reputation in front of Deputy Director Dai.

Who knew that his flattery would backfire, and Deputy Director Dai reprimanded him on the spot:

"Liu Haizhong, shut up. We have agreed that it cannot be made public. This is the rule. How can you break it so easily?"

After that, he ordered Xiao Zhou, the secretary: "Xiao Zhou, according to the voting rules, I order you to destroy all the ballots immediately."

"Yes."

Xiao Zhou agreed, took out a match, struck it, and lit all the tickets.

Looking at the ballot paper that has been burned to ashes...

Deputy Director Dai sneered.

So what if you suspect the vote was rigged?
Now, how can you be public without tickets?

The residents were helpless. They could see that Deputy Director Dai was determined to help Yi Zhonghai.

Li Jiandong didn't want to give up, and said coldly:

"Director Dai, just because we don't have the votes doesn't mean we can't prove that someone cheated."

"Those ballots were written by people, and now everyone is here. Even if you burn them all, we can always vote again."

"If the result this time is very different from the previous one, how do you explain it?" Director Dai was speechless after Li Jiandong's question.

Yi Zhonghai saw that Deputy Director Dai's face turned pale and he had nothing to say, so he had to stand up.

Pointing at Li Jiandong, he shouted, "Li Jiandong, stop making trouble here. Do you really think you are popular in the courtyard?"

"How can the leaders trust a disobedient thorn like you? If you become the boss, we won't be able to win any awards in our hospital."

Li Jiandong looked at Yi Zhonghai, sneered and said: "Yi Zhonghai, listen, whether you are an uncle or a street director, you are all serving the people."

"Being a boss means helping to resolve disputes in the yard and promoting mutual assistance among neighbors, but it does not mean being a lackey for the leader.

If the street director doesn't stand in the shoes of our residents, serve everyone, and think about everyone, then what does it matter if I rebel against him?"

"well said."

As soon as Li Jiandong finished speaking, the whole hospital burst into applause.

Compared with a lackey like Yi Zhonghai, an old man like Li Jiandong who stands from the residents' perspective and considers things is what they need most.

At this time Jia Dongxu stood up and said:

"Master, why don't we have the street committee to supervise the election? We can just elect our own leader. At worst, we can inform the higher-ups after the election. I don't believe that the street committee is full of rats like Director Dai."

Jia Dongxu is worthy of being Li Jiandong's eldest disciple. He speaks and acts with the same principle as Li Jiandong.

In front of the whole hospital, he called Deputy Director Dai a rat, which made Deputy Director Dai so angry that his face turned blue.

He Daqing also agreed: "That's right, since the streets are unfair, then we can elect the uncles ourselves. After all, the uncles serve us, not the dogs of the street office."

Led by Jia Dongxu and He Daqing, other residents also rose up and demanded re-election.

Li Jiandong asked Deputy Director Dai: "Director Dai, you have seen what our hospital means. Now I will give you another chance."

"Look, do you want to preside over a new vote, or do we want to re-elect a new leader and notify the street? You choose."

Director Dai had never seen such a troublesome person before, and he was the troublemaker of the entire hospital.

He knew that he had made a big mistake by helping Yi Zhonghai this time, and said in a somewhat relaxed tone:
"You can vote again, but time is tight and the task is heavy, so we can't do it now."

"We don't have enough voting papers. It will take a lot of time to cut the voting papers again. Let's do it another day. I will host the vote for your house another day."

Director Dai is obviously procrastinating. Who knows when he will delay this decision.

Director Dai may be making a last-ditch effort or just trying to buy time.

In short, he had to think of other ways and couldn't let Li Jiandong be the boss.

Otherwise, Courtyard No. 40 might be completely out of his control in the future.

However, Li Jiandong didn't give him any chance to delay.

"Director Dai, voting doesn't require paper and pen. Raising hands can be quick."

"Please raise your hands if you support Yi Zhonghai to be the boss," Li Jiandong shouted.

The deaf old lady was the first to raise her hand, and two other families also wanted to raise their hands. But when they saw that only the deaf old lady had raised her hand, they quietly put their hands down halfway.

Yi Zhonghai also wanted to vote for himself.

However, there was only one person voting for him now, so it didn't matter whether he got that vote or not, so he didn't raise his hand.

"Okay, Yi Zhonghai has one vote. Those who support me, Li Jiandong, please raise your hands."

As soon as Li Jiandong finished speaking, everyone raised their hands. Except for the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai, almost everyone raised their hands.

"One, two, three, four, five... seventeen, including my own vote, a total of 18 votes."

Li Jiandong looked at Deputy Director Dai and said, "Director Dai, do you have anything else to say?"

Director Dai's face turned pale. After a long while, he said angrily:

"Li Jiandong, you are awesome. I hope you can manage Yard 40 well and not cause trouble for the street. If someone in your yard causes trouble and brings shame to our street, I will definitely remove you as my uncle."

Li Jiandong smiled provocatively and said, "Don't worry, Director Dai, I won't give you this opportunity."

"Xiao Zhou, let's go."

Director Dai glared at Li Jiandong again, then fled away with his clerk Xiao Zhou.

There was a sudden cheer in the courtyard.

Everyone stood up and congratulated Li Jiandong.

"Li Jiandong, congratulations on becoming the head of our hospital with 18 votes. From now on, the unity of our hospital depends on you."

Yan Bugui stepped forward with a smile to congratulate him. He was calculating but not very ambitious.

Liu Haizhong stepped forward, but said with a conflicted expression:
"Old Li, even though you got 18 votes, you are only 30 years old this year. You are still a younger brother to me and Old Yan. It is a little hard for you to convince others that you are the uncle."

"How about you become the uncle first according to your age?"

Li Jiandong is 30 years old this year. Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui are 38 and 37 respectively. If they are ranked by age, Li Jiandong would indeed be the last one.

"Haha, Lao Liu, it's not that I don't respect you, it's just what the people want. When it comes to the interests of the people, we have to talk about fairness, not family affection."

Li Jiandong laughed and cursed in his heart, "Liu Haizhong, how can you be so shameless?"

I can easily manage the entire hospital as a big boss, why should I make it more difficult for myself?
Even with my means, Li Jiandong, being the third uncle is enough to sideline the two old guys, but I would rather not be the third party.

Everyone knows that being a great master is great.

"Lao Liu, you are really shameless! Everyone knows that in any unit, the top leader has absolute power."

On the side, He Daqing, the best supporting actor, spoke up.
"Old Liu, although you are older than Old Li, Old Li is an eighth-level fitter, two levels higher than you anyway. It would definitely be more prestigious to tell others that an old man in our hospital is an eighth-level fitter than a sixth-level fitter, don't you think?"

The residents chuckled and nodded, agreeing that this was the case.

Liu Haizhong blushed.

"Old Liu, please humble yourself a little. It's just a ranking. It won't affect Old Li's respect for you as his big brother."

Yan Bugui also stood on Li Jiandong's side, and persuading Liu Haizhong was also a way for Liu Haizhong to step out.

Seeing that everyone supported Li Jiandong, Liu Haizhong could only sigh and said, "Well, I was just talking casually. Old Li, you are an eighth-level worker and I admire you for being the boss. From now on, we will cooperate with Old Yan and the other two to strive to unite our hospital into an excellent hospital."

Seeing that the matter of the master was finalized, Jia Zhang interrupted and said, "Now that the three masters have been selected, shouldn't we celebrate next?"

Everyone agreed and clamored for the three gentlemen to treat them.

It can be said that Yan Bugui likes to do this kind of thing the most. Whenever there is a happy event in other people's families, he will ask them to treat everyone to a meal to celebrate.

But this time it was his turn, and he hesitated.
"This, this..."

Liu Haizhong was a little more generous, with an attitude of noncommittal, but with so many people in the yard, he was a little scared to really invite them, so he looked at Li Jiandong.

"My sister-in-law is right, we must treat you!"

"Although we are elected to serve everyone, since everyone is willing to elect us, it is also a gesture of friendship and trust."

"Today, the three of us will host a meal for everyone. Each of us will pay 5 yuan. As the eldest uncle, I will pay double. How about 10 yuan?"

If it comes to Li Jiandong, he can just wave his hand and it will be decided.

He Daqing also raised his hand and said:

"I'll give 10 yuan too. Last time the outsiders came to cause trouble, everyone helped out and I haven't treated everyone to a meal yet. This time it's just right for me to join forces with Lao Li and the others, and give everyone a meat dish."

There are 20 households in the hospital, and the meal allowance is 30 yuan, which means each household can get yuan.

It only costs 6 cents to buy a pound of meat, and 1 yuan is enough to eat something very good.

The residents were excited.

Five bucks, and it’s within the acceptable range for bangs.

Yan Bugui felt that 5 yuan was a bit much, but when he thought about it, how did Yan Jiecheng get his job and the salary of a level 3 maintenance worker? Even if it was to support Li Jiandong, he had to pay the money.

Just as everyone was cheering, a discordant voice suddenly came from outside.

(End of this chapter)