CH 246

The telephone was in the secret room of the Revolutionary Committee and not in the Director’s office. All calls must be registered and recorded strictly.

Han Qingsong raised his eyebrows. The Commune did not have a true Armed Forces Department at all. He was the only official Minister of the department and it wasn’t as if the County’s Armed Forces were unaware of it. Yet, they were still making a call to him.

Needless to say, it was going to concern the same matter as well. Otherwise, who else would have the time to think about him? No one else would bother unless they intended to sack his position or cut his salary.

He went to the confidential room and the female operator helped to register the call and dial the number. Then, she gave the phone to Han Qingsong.

The phone rang as soon as it made a call—it seemed that the other party had been waiting.

Han Qingsong, “Hello.”

His voice was magnetic and low. He was in a bad mood at the moment, so it naturally became even deeper.

The female operator who was peeking at him was so frightened that she quickly lowered her eyes.

On the other side, Minister Zhang was still chatting away. Though, it was evident that he wanted to turn the topic around to Zhao Jianshe and ask Han Qingsong to release him so as to not offend anyone else.

“Han Qingsong, you have a bright future. Your future should not be limited to the Commune and your potential is limitless. You have to look far ahead, be ambitious, and think about your future when you come to the County…”

Han Qingsong frowned and muttered, “The phone is broken, I can’t hear you clearly.”

As he spoke, he handed the phone to the female operator and turned away.

The female operator listened to the passionate and mobilizing words from the opposite side to the point where her ears were almost deaf. She hurriedly said loudly, “The phone is really broken, I can’t hear anything clearly, so I have to get someone to fix it quickly. Director Han, don’t worry, I’ll find someone to fix it.”

She put the phone on the table and called out, “Xiaojie, Xiaojie, this old phone is broken again—”

Minister Zhang on the other end of the phone, “…”

Zhao Anpin looked at Zhang Jinke expectantly, “Minister Zhang, how is it? He agreed, didn’t he?”

Minister Zhang hung up the phone with a suspicious expression on his face, but said nothing.

“Calling seems to be of no use. Why don’t you make a trip to the Commune? Not approaching this face-to-face will be disadvantageous for you, but if you’re there, things might be different,” Zhang Jinke told Zhao Anpin.

Zhao Anpin said, “Minister Zhang, it stands to reason that the Jianshe should be brought back to the County. We already sent his brother back to the Commune, why wouldn’t he send Jianshe back?”

This was really hard to determine, however, as there was no written rule for this sort of behavior. Favors like this were basically done out of local practice or sense.

Theft was basically dealt with locally. If a foreigner was caught stealing things locally, the local militia company would deal with it. Rarely would any cases of theft be sent away for sentencing.

Besides, this was not a very prideful matter either, but to have the County Revolutionary Committee and the Public Security Bureau openly ask for Jianshe’s release from the Commune?

Han Qingsong wasn’t that big of a hotshot that he had to do such a drastic move.

Hence, Zhao Anpin should probably take action himself.

Zhao Anpin thought of his sister-in-law crying and wiping her tears at home. In the end, he nodded, “Okay, I’ll go out of respect for his position! No, out of respect for Minister Zhang.”