Chapter 54: Wei Bin Arrested

In the office of the Deputy Secretary of Fangshui Township.

Over the past few days, Lin Xiyue had been calling every day to inquire about Lu Hao's condition, but she never went to the hospital to visit him because she knew Fang Jing was there.

Wei Bin's office was right next to Lin Xiyue's. At around three-thirty in the afternoon, Wei Bin was taken away directly from his office by the county public security bureau, causing a massive uproar within the township government.

Inside his office at that moment, Li Haotian kept the door tightly closed and remained completely motionless.

He had received word long ago that Wei Bin would be arrested, but he had to pretend to know nothing and certainly hadn't tipped Wei Bin off.

When he first learned that the county held a meeting and not only did not discipline Lu Hao, but instead commended him, he knew something had gone terribly wrong and was terrified of being implicated.

However, after speaking with Li Zhen on the phone later, Li Zhen told him not to panic and to focus on his work in the office.

Wei Bin was the mastermind behind the incident, so what did it have to do with Li Haotian?

Understanding the hint, Li Haotian instantly felt at ease.

As for why Wei Bin was arrested so quickly, it was because the person who set the fire on the mountain had turned himself in at noon.

The arsonist was a local hoodlum from Fangshui Township and came from the same village as Niu Dashan. He had taken five thousand yuan from Wei Bin and gone up the mountain to start the fire.

Wei Bin had told him nothing major would happen; as long as the fire got slightly larger, people would come to put it out.

The petty thug also believed he wouldn't be discovered, so he ran up the mountain. To his surprise, when he was coming down after setting the fire, he actually ran into Lu Hao, who had rushed there at the very beginning. When he reached the foot of the mountain, his figure was spotted by villagers rushing to fight the fire, and to make matters even worse, the unremarkable water bottle he used to start the fire was even recovered at the scene.

When the petty thug saw the overwhelming news coverage of the wildfire online, he became utterly terrified. Combined with the police going to the fire scene that day and villagers recalling the appearance of the person running down the mountain, the thug panicked completely.

Although Fangshui Township did not have many road surveillance cameras, there were still a few. If he accidentally exposed himself to any camera, even just his silhouette, the police would be able to follow the vine and melon to catch him.

Realizing the danger, the petty thug knew that Niu Dashan from his village worked at the township government, so he secretly sought out Niu Dashan for help. Niu Dashan gave him a sound beating out of fury and then ordered him to turn himself in immediately.

Tang Chunyan had specifically called Lu Hao to inform him of this matter.

By then, however, Lu Hao no longer had the bandwidth to care about it. Ever since news articles about his firefighting efforts flooded the internet, his phone had been ringing incessantly since dusk. They were all calls from various unfamiliar numbers, each claiming to represent some media outlet or another in Jianglin City, wanting to conduct an exclusive interview with Lu Hao.

Lu Hao had no idea how his phone number had been leaked, but he turned all of them down, eventually ignoring any unfamiliar calls altogether.

What was even more insane was that in the following days, some reporters actually came all the way to the Anxing County Hospital to look for him, scaring Lu Hao into hurriedly contacting the hospital to switch wards.

He disliked keeping a high profile, and the thought of facing cameras to make the news made his skin crawl.

All in all, Lu Hao stayed in the hospital for a little over a week.

His body recovered exceptionally well. While it usually took half a month to be discharged, Lu Hao couldn't bear the harassment from the media and strongly demanded to be discharged on the tenth day.

On the day of his discharge, Zhao Gang actually arranged a dedicated township vehicle to pick him up, which made Fang Jing feel immensely proud and respected.

Originally, Hong Haifeng and members of the poverty alleviation office had planned to come as well, but Lu Hao declined their offer.

Being discharged did not mean he was fully recovered. Lu Hao was still wearing a cast and using crutches, and conservatively speaking, he would remain in this state for a month.

Instead of returning to Fangshui Township, he went back to Su Hong's bakery and stayed on the floor directly above it.

Fang Jing had taken care of Lu Hao in the hospital for nearly ten days. Although she was always bossy and critical regarding his career in officialdom, she genuinely took good care of him, which deeply moved him.

Over the next twenty-some days, Lu Hao stayed home to recuperate, which also allowed Su Hong to bake while taking care of him.

As for Fang Jing, she came over to see Lu Hao every day after finishing her classes. During this period, the attitude of Fang Jianguo and his wife toward him had indeed changed somewhat. Although they weren't as warm as before, at least they no longer opposed his marriage to Fang Jing.

Lin Xiyue sent him WeChat messages every day to check on his health, which continued until the end of the month. Once Lu Hao got his cast removed, Lin Xiyue finally called him.

"How is your recovery coming along?" Lin Xiyue's voice was as pleasant to the ear as ever.

"I can walk normally now, though I still can't engage in high-intensity exercise for the time being," Lu Hao replied.

Although the doctor advised him to rest for another ten days to half a month, Lu Hao felt he had recovered quite well and planned to return to work next Monday.

"I didn't come to visit you all this time; you aren't holding it against me, are you?" Lin Xiyue teased.

"How would I dare? You're a leader, after all," Lu Hao smiled and said.

Lin Xiyue was a clever woman. Ever since Fang Jing arrived at the hospital, she had never shown her face again.

Although Lu Hao guessed that Lin Xiyue did so to avoid gossip and suspicion, he still felt a tinge of disappointment; after all, without realizing it, he and Lin Xiyue had developed a genuine friendship.

"Aren't you a leader now, too? Even though you're still just the acting deputy township head, it's an achievement that didn't come easily," Lin Xiyue sighed with emotion.

Lu Hao had nearly lost his life this time, but the outcome was good in the end, and even she couldn't help admiring him a little.

"That's true, but Xiyue, I've一直有个很大的疑问 (always had a huge question on my mind)," Lu Hao couldn't help saying.