The little girl's eyes were red and full of tears, saying repeatedly: "It wasn't me, Wei Hong Auntie, I was at home by myself, I didn't take care of her, sorry, sorry." As she apologized repeatedly, she struggled to support the madwoman. At this time, Jiao Lei walked in carrying Jun's military coat and, seeing the situation, quickly went over and draped the coat over the madwoman's shoulders.

  "Thank you, Uncle." The little girl looked at Jiao Yue gratefully and hastily walked out of the dining hall with her mother.

  The waitress was stunned for a moment, and when she saw Jiao Zhuo sit back in his seat, she came over with a smile and said, "You folks are really kind."

  "What's wrong with this woman? Is she crazy?" Nowadays, rural mental patients are indeed rare to be sent to a mental hospital, but a young naked female lunatic is even rarer.

  The waitress sighed and said, "To say that Xiaqing's mother is also quite pitiful." Seeing Ma Kui's surprised gaze, she said, "Don't be surprised, I was so fierce in driving them away just now because I was afraid of affecting the restaurant's business. Besides, originally a good person, now every day running around with her body exposed, who wouldn't feel uncomfortable seeing it? What a pity..." She sighed again.

  Lu Zhong pinched out his cigarette butt and said, "Let's go." He wasn't the type to listen to family gossip.

  The waitress said, "Well, well, let's not talk about it anymore. It's just a pity that Xiao Qing's mother was wronged and spent a year in prison, and she went mad." Lu Zhong slightly startled, said: "Wrongly imprisoned?"

  The waitress saw that the young man who seemed to be in charge of the three was interested in this topic, so she lowered her voice and said mysteriously: "You can just listen to this, but don't go spreading it around."

  Lu Zhong endured her mouthful of garlic flavor and nodded slightly.

  "This was two years ago, I think it was October of that year? Xiao Qing's family had just built a new house and were moving in. She seemed to have parked her cart at the entrance of Zhang Lao Liu's house, and Zhang Lao Liu came out to scold her. Later, the two started fighting, and several members of Zhang's family came out to beat her up."

  "At that time I was there too, and I even helped pull the stretcher. After pulling it open, everyone dispersed."

  But the next day, Zhang Liuxi went to the health clinic for hospitalization. After several days, she was transferred to the county hospital and stayed there for more than three months. Later, the hospital issued a certificate stating that she had suffered a brain injury and was diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia.

  Then Xiao Qing's mother was detained, and the county court sentenced her to one year in prison, also ordering her to pay Zhang Laoliu over a thousand yuan in economic compensation.

  Lu Zhong glanced at Ma Kui Shan and said, "Isn't this normal? Even if a few people beat her up, she's got a heavy hand, and the person was beaten until they were sick, so compensation is also necessary. However, for neighborhood disputes, should it be punishable by imprisonment? That's a bit severe, huh? At that time, the crackdown was strict."

  Ma Qiu Mountain was faintly visible, and he thought of a case like this.

  The waitress said: "Little Qing's father said that the doctor who issued that medical certificate was not right, what did he say? Ah, yes, he is not Zhang Lao Liu's attending physician, nor the department head, nor the doctor in charge. Little Qing's father has asked around and found out that the certificate is invalid."

  Just as Lu Zhong's gaze came over again, Ma Kui Shan was startled and said: "Is that so? I didn't know that."

  The waitress didn't notice the grammatical error in Ma Kui Shan's words and continued to say: "Later, I heard that Zhang Lao Liu had connections at the court, but at the time we didn't know, so we just waited for the verdict. As a result, he was sentenced to one year, Xiao Qing's father almost went crazy, and when he got back, he wanted to fight with the Zhang family to the death. In the end, he was also detained, I heard that inside, he was treated quite harshly."

  "Last year, at the end of the year, Xiao Qing's mother was released from prison after serving her sentence. However, in the detention center, court personnel handed over a release certificate with their left hand and an arrest warrant with their right hand, resulting in a second arrest. It is said that Xiao Qing's family has been ordered to pay compensation to Old Zhang's family."

  "Xiao Qing's mother went crazy that day, and it was true. After finally enduring the hardships of prison, she got her release certificate but was caught again in less than a minute? Although I've never committed a crime myself, I've heard how hard it is to endure life inside. If I had gone through this, I think I would have gone crazy too."

  The waitress sighed and said, "When I got to this point, I felt a sense of empathy, and my heart couldn't help but feel a pang."

  Lu Zhong stood up and said: "The story is over, we should also leave!"

  Ma Kui and Jiao Ye quickly stood up, the waitress was stunned for a moment, saying: "Heavenly conscience, I'm not making it up." Hesitating, she asked: "You're not big officials from the city who came to inspect the highway?" As she spoke, she pointed to the black sedan parked not far in front of the restaurant.

  "Hmm, you're quite kind-hearted." Lu Zhong now understood why she was telling them these things. It involved the villagers and probably the old Zhang family too, who would normally keep a low profile and not speak out of turn. How could they just blurt it out to anyone? Today, it seemed that she thought the three of them were officials from the city, hoping to meet an upright and impartial official who could handle this case that was a grievance in her eyes.

  She didn't understand that the city officials, each with their own department, who would come to manage things below? No such power, no such need. Seeing Lu Zhong and three others walk out of the cafeteria, the waitress regretted it so much that her intestines turned green, wasn't she looking for trouble herself? Not only couldn't she help Xiaocyan's mother, but if Old Zhang found out, she would be in trouble.

  "Uncle! Uncle!"

  Just as Lu Zhēng was about to get on the bus, a clear and crisp voice came from afar. A delicate and elegant little girl, holding a green military coat, ran over panting, and when she arrived in front of him, she handed the coat to Jiao Lei with both hands, saying: "Uncle, thank you."

  Seeing the little girl's big eyes full of gratitude, Jiao Ke couldn't bear it and took over the military coat with a smile: "Yes, yes, our leader asked me to bring it, I'm just an errand boy, if you want to thank, thank our County Magistrate Lu." He gestured towards Lu Zhen's direction.

  "Thank you, Uncle Lu," the little girl said with a curtsy, but it seemed that she also thought that County Magistrate Lu was just a name and wouldn't think that this county magistrate was actually the head of the county.

  Lu Zhong thought for a moment, then stretched out his hand to Jiao Ke and said, "Give me your laptop."

  Jiao Yue hurriedly bent down and fetched it from the car, handing it over to Lu Zhong.

  Lu Zhong flipped it open, pulled out a pen from the pen holder in his notebook, scribbled a few lines, tore off the page and handed it to the little girl, saying: "You're called Xiao Qing, right? Tell your dad to take this paper to the Letters and Visits Bureau to find Director Zhang."

  The little girl took it, her face bewildered.

  Ma Kui Shan glanced at the little girl's hand, on the notebook paper were four large characters in a flying dragon and dancing phoenix style, "Verify carefully", signed "Lu Zhong". Ma Kui Shan hastily instructed the little girl: "Don't lose this paper, give it to your dad and tell him it's a note from County Chief Lu, have him take it to the petition office." The little girl responded with an "oh".

  Lu Zhong smiled and patted her head, then turned around and got on the car.

  The sedan sped away quickly, the little girl looked at the note in her hand, then looked at the distant car, her clear eyes were full of confusion, but on her head, as if there was still a warm feeling left by that big hand, it felt so comfortable.

  A black sedan was driving along the bumpy Kengtia Road.

  In the car, Lu Zhong held a stack of documents and flipped through them.

  Ma Qiu Shan laughed and said: "County Magistrate Lu, take good care of your eyes, don't mess around until you have to wear glasses."

  Lu Zhong hummed in agreement.

  Ma Kui Shan thought for a moment and said: "The case of Xi Ji, it wasn't handled by me, I've never even heard of it."

  Lu Zhong smiled and said, "We don't know how things are yet. In the countryside, rumors spread quickly, and nothing can be exaggerated ten times over. Let's wait for a conclusion before saying anything."

  Ma Qiu Shan finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "You're right."

  Lu Zhong looked at him and snorted.

  Maybe it's because spring has arrived, the leaves of the tiger skin banana on the windowsill are even more lush and green.

  In the afternoon, Ma Weiguo came to Lu Zhong's office again. Wearing a round-collared black flower deep red satin Tang suit, he smiled and said: "Director Lu, happy new year, happy new year."

  After getting the first 500,000 yuan investment from Zhu Mingze, Ma Weiguo seemed to be in a good mood, and even greeted Lu Zhong with a fist and a bow when he entered. Lu Zhong smiled: "Secretary Weiguo is also doing well for the new year."

  For nearly a month after that, Ma Weiguo had been running around, and Lu Zhong was busy with his own affairs. The two hadn't met yet.

  "Are we going to have another Standing Committee meeting? I wanted to touch base with you, discuss a few agenda items and hear your opinions." Ma Weiguo smiled and got himself a cup of hot water, sitting down on the sofa.

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly.

  Ma Weiguo took a sip of water and pondered, "You see, it's like this, Gao Zhikai. The director has also been in the job for quite some time, and his work ability... well, you should understand that without me saying it. Of course, he can't compare to you, but in the public security bureau, he's considered a rare talent."

  Lu Zhong smiled and said: "Secretary Wei Guo is too kind to me."

  Ma Weiguo waved his hand, "It's not flattery, it's a fact! As for Gao Zhikai, I also understand that this comrade has many shortcomings. So in the past two years, he has been struggling and frustrated, and people who are frustrated cannot make progress or mature. Now I think he is okay, no longer as arrogant as before, what do you think?" Lu Zheng nodded slightly.

  Ma Weiguo looked at Lu Zhong and said, "So it's also time to promote him. If not, as the director of public security, many tasks will be difficult to carry out smoothly. How about making him a deputy county head?"

  Lu Zhong thought for a moment and said: "I think we should still be cautious."

  Ma Weiguo was taken aback for a moment, then leaned against the sofa and smiled: "Is that what you think?"

  Lu Zhendao said: "I think that our Qinglong Public Security Bureau has many problems, of course these problems have nothing to do with Zhi Kai, but I still feel that before rectifying the style of public security and procuratorate work, it's better to put off Zhi Kai's appointment for now."

  Ma Weiguo slightly raised an eyebrow: "What's the problem with the procuratorate?" He then said "Oh" and continued: "You're referring to that case in Xiji, right? It did happen after I took office. What do you think is the issue?"

  It's been several days, and Xiao Qing's father still hasn't shown up. Lu Zhong was just about to send someone to take a look when, unexpectedly, the person rushed over and startled Ma Weiguo. It seems that there are indeed many people who love to report small matters.

  "There's no problem, it was just a misunderstanding." Lu Zhong picked up his tea cup, it seemed that Ma Weiguo had misunderstood, thinking he was reopening an old case to pick on him, but this wasn't something that could be explained clearly either.

  Ma Weiguo gazed at Lu Zhong, nodded slightly and said: "Hmmm, it seems we have differing opinions again. Let's discuss this further in the meeting." With that, Ma Weiguo stood up and left.

  Ma Weiguo has absolute control over the Standing Committee, and he came to meet with Lu Zheng alone, not even through a secretary's meeting to coordinate opinions with Lu Zheng, but personally came to Lu Zheng's office to talk to him. In his view, it was a kind of humility and courtesy, and the greatest effort to unite with Lu Zheng. But Lu Zheng, on the other hand, did not appreciate this, giving people a feeling of being forced to drink penalty wine when offered a toast.

  At this moment, he was already filled with rage.

  Lu Zhong quietly got up and walked to the windowsill, lost in thought about something.