Chapter 16 The winning ticket is in the grasp, and the danger is planted

No one believes that tomorrow's Mongolian political arena will lack such a powerful oriental woman as Li Wanruo.According to the biennial law of the local council, shortly after Li Guiruo failed to make up for the election for the first time, the biennial general election officially kicked off again.And the citizens know one thing in their hearts: Most of the past city councilors were occupied by conservatives who opposed the accelerated construction of Montgomery. Therefore, the general election of councilors is regarded by the general public as a comprehensive contest between reformers who support rapid development and conservatives who restrict development. Therefore, the election of councilors in 1982 has become an important event in the history of Montgomery. the demarcation line.

Li Wanruo, who was determined to participate in politics, once again became the focus of election and attention.In the eyes of most residents, Li Wanruo is a Chinese-American, and most of the Chinese who came to Mongolia to settle and do business strongly support the vigorous development of Mengcheng and the thorough transformation of the old city, so they regard Li Wanruo as a A representative of seeking progress, having a plan, and launching a ship.At the same time, Li Wanruo's personal image is particularly distinctive. The oriental beauty and the irresistible demeanor of a mature woman all give people a brand-new feeling full of vitality. Compared with the images of other candidates, they look old. state and old style.

Li Wanruo is destined to be a person who attracts attention. There are 5 seats in the election this time, two of which are incumbents. Generally speaking, the incumbents are highly likely to run for re-election.So Li Wanruo raised the flag again and competed for the remaining 3 congressional seats with 8 other candidates.Among the eight candidates were the current city councilor Gilman who fought against Li Wanruo last time, Gao Qu, primary school principal Almanda, businessman Perat and others. Compared with the competition situation eight months ago, Li Wanruo clearly has an advantage this time.Local English-language newspapers published a large number of articles claiming that Li Huruoqian was bound to win after she announced her candidacy for the new term of parliament.The media estimated that Gao Qu and Gilman should be successfully re-elected. Almanda and Perat, the two Mexican candidates, have close ties to local real estate developers. Although they have the support of the powerful police association, the two Because the citizens of Meng City don't like it, it may be these two who failed.Later public opinion polls conducted by relevant organizations also showed the above judgment.

Li Wanruo's vote rate was far ahead. But Li Wanruo did not dare to underestimate the enemy after learning the lesson of the first 28-vote difference.She also deliberately asked for a three-month leave from her work unit—the government’s Social Welfare Department—of course it was another political campaign at her own expense.He stayed without pay, and had to spend a lot of money from his family's savings to start campaign affairs.The same fundraising activities, the same family-by-household vote-seeking, the same tea parties, meetings, and breakfast meetings to exchange feelings and policies, etc. Li Wanruo dare not relax every link. Of course, her campaign experience this time Much more than enough.With the high number of votes lost for the first time and the good image of shaking hands with the opponents in a friendly way, coupled with the political future that people have long expected, Li Wanruo's popularity in the city is very large. The situation of this election can be described as different from what it used to be .

To say that the most discerning people may be those businessmen who have a direct interest relationship with the government.We still remember that when Li Wanruo was running for the first time, several powerful figures in Mongolia who had expected support did not pay much attention to Li Wanruo's participation in politics.This time it was very different, the first ones who came to please Li Wanruo were those powerful A and B. Lily, we've covered your campaign contributions.The chubby A approached Li Wanruo and expressed his special affection for compatriots: We are all Chinese, so we should fully support your election campaign no matter what!

Because Li Wanruo remembered the previous humiliating situation, he showed a lukewarm attitude towards these businessmen, which made A, B and others anxious like ants on a hot pot.Later, I heard that Xi Jiaxi, a Japanese leader and respected by all walks of life in Mengshi, was appointed as one of the chairmen of Li Wanruo’s election committee. A had a friendship with Xi Jiaxi, so he asked Xi Jiaxi to do Li Wanruo’s work. Asked to join the ranks of Li Wanruo's campaign supporters. They're realtors, and I don't want to take advantage of them, and I'm not interested in their money.The last campaign gave me a sobering eye on them, so I'm most disgusted by these icing on the cake people.Li Wanruo has always had a clear distinction between love and hate.

Xi Jiaxi is a very good person. As an elder, he smiled and said to Li Wanruo: After all, they are all Chinese, and besides, they are businessmen, so of course their interests come first.You have a good momentum now, and people with brains rely on you. This is normal, as long as you know what you are doing.This is called politics!Listen to me right. Now that the chairman of the campaign committee had spoken, Li Wanruo had no choice but to listen. No matter what, the campaign was still quite fierce. It was a heavy task to attract all the important forces to his side. It is better to push the votes to the opponent.

Li Wanruo is a person who cares about principles and affection.In the future, as the mayor of Monterey, she also resolutely resisted the development projects proposed by A and the others that would damage the overall construction of the city. However, A later fell into trouble. His wife divorced him, his business declined, and his When he broke his leg and bad luck came one after another, Li Wanruo did not alienate him, but instead gave him various kinds of help.Soon A died with resentment.At the funeral, Li Wanruo also specially delivered a eulogy on behalf of the local Chinese.She said: A is a Chinese who has made important contributions to the city of Montenegro. He was very happy during his lifetime, but his contributions were too much. This is a later story.

It is said that Li Wanruo's campaign momentum is strong, firstly, public opinion shows, and secondly, it is also an important signal that dignitaries from all walks of life have moved closer to her.Just look at her two campaign chairmen and you can see how good things are going for her.One of her chairmen was Dr. Paine, former head of the journalism department at East Los Angeles College, a man of integrity and scholarly style, who had wide influence among the older residents.Another chairman, the leader of Japanese descent, Xi Jiaxi, has already been introduced.The father of Mengshi, who bowed to him even the top figures in the police station, not only became one of the chairmen of Li Wanruo's campaign committee, but also went all out to work hard for Li Wanruo's entire campaign. move.Xi Jiaxi vacated the furniture store he opened for Li Wanruo to use as the campaign headquarters. He and his retired wife worked around the clock as volunteers for Li Wanruo's campaign, leaving get off work at the latest every day.All expenses for external contact and daily necessities are paid by Xi Jiaxi.With such a highly respected person helping Li Wanruo in the campaign, who wouldn't be optimistic about the prospect of Li Liuruo being elected this time!

In the campaign headquarters, the dozens of volunteers of Li Wanruo were even more motivated, because everyone knew that Li Wanruo's election was a foregone conclusion, and they only had to wait for the voting day to open the box and check the votes. When the staff of Li Wanruo's campaign headquarters were singing praises every day, an undercurrent sneaked into Li Wanruo's side. As mentioned above, since the election of the councilors is at a time when the city is entering a historical moment where the old and the new are changing, the focus of various power contests is actually to compete for the seats of the councilors, and to try their best to attract people who can represent their own interests into the council , so as to finally grasp the legislative power to control the future Mongolian government and parliament.This is the case almost all over the United States. Except for some financial groups and powerful figures who influence local politics, the police force is the most important aspect that cannot be ignored.The city of Montgomery is no exception. Those construction developers who are actively striving to gain control of future municipal construction, in order to achieve the goal of getting their representatives Almanda and Perat into the parliament, have joined forces with the powerful local police association. Colluding together, their private political intentions are very clear. If the construction developers use the power of the police association to elect their own representatives into the parliament, then the police association will ask the government to increase benefits and salaries and change working hours and other member benefits. can be passed.The other two weak Mexican candidates, Almanda and Peratcha, could not guarantee that the citizens would vote for them, so the members of the Police Association came up with a trick: If Li Wan is not the trend of the times, she can surely win the public opinion!Alright, take advantage of her strong momentum, tie Almanda and Perat to her body, and let the three of them fly together in a straight line!

OK, great!Building developers and police association traders raved about the trick.So within a few days, the Police Association came forward and deliberately put up large signs and posters in support of Li Liuruo, Almanda and Perat in the busiest commercial area of ​​Jiawei Street in Montenegro.In addition, the Police Association also printed a lot of materials, and tried to tie Li Wanruo's image with the two candidates they supported as much as possible, so that residents could see that Li Wanruo was also a representative of construction developers!The Police Association took advantage of their management power and asked them to vote for Almanda and Perat when they voted for Li Wanruo when mobilizing citizens for elections. Shameless!Dr. Pain, who is straightforward by nature, was the first to expose the conspiracy of the police association and the building developer to Li Wanruo. He said angrily at the campaign headquarters: We, Lily, have always been an independent candidate. We do not represent any extreme interest groups, but only represent the general public. Now someone is forcibly pulling Lily into the same carriage as the construction developer, which feels bad enough. We absolutely cannot agree to this kind of behavior. We must stop it and make a public statement! Yes, there should be a statement debunking some people's conspiracy.Otherwise, the residents really mistakenly think that Lily is a representative of some vested interests!Many at campaign headquarters thought so too. Li Wanruo herself was also very surprised and annoyed by this matter. She didn't expect that she would be in trouble even if her election momentum was too good!What makes her feel uneasy is that some old residents in Mongolia insist on maintaining the inherent characteristics of Mongolia in the development of urban construction, while the other part of the new immigrants who want to make money here hope that the city will be prosperous overnight. In all fairness, there should be no contradiction between the two, and they should be unified as a whole.But different forces and concepts affect people's way of thinking and code of conduct, so the conflict between the two parties representing different concepts is very sharp.Voters generally believed that she basically represented those Chinese-dominated construction developers who were going to make money here. In fact, all the signs at the time also showed this. Look at how much the Police Association supports you Li Guiruo!Look at how much a group of construction and development giants like Xie Shugang support you, Li Wanruo! Li Wanruo, who was very popular, said confidently: No, I feel like I have been thrown into a dye vat if I go on like this, and I won’t be able to wash it off in the future! Hi, hi, I think what Dr. Paine said makes sense, and we should make a statement.Li Wanruo found the elder she respected and the campaign chairman who had a lot of political experience.Xi Jiaxi pondered for a moment and said: Lily, I agree that the Police Association and some building developers have a special intention to tie you and Almanda and others together, but we should see this effect on your election for parliament And getting votes has certain benefits.Your biggest task right now is to win the election, to win the election, which is the number one priority.As for other issues, do we still have enough time and opportunity to study countermeasures in the future! Xi Jiaxi's words cannot be said to be unreasonable. If the election fails, how can other things be discussed?Perhaps because of his eagerness to win, Li Wanruo failed to insist on listening to Professor Pain's words in the end, and temporarily remained silent on Almanda and Perat's tie-up campaign. Lily, you can't do this!Understand?Your campaign is guaranteed to win without any group influence.But now, if you don't blindly draw a clear line with those construction developers, you will ruin your future in the future!The tall, thin and white-haired Professor Pain was trying to persuade Li Wanruo hoarsely, but when he felt that the entire campaign headquarters were impatiently waiting for Li Wanruo to win the election, the old professor lowered his head in pain... Things didn't end there.On the last weekend before polling day, a colorful promotional material called "Monterey Park City Chronicle" was sent to the majority of voters in the city.The newspaper published a full page of extra-large photos of Li Wanruo, Almanda and Perat, and Li Wanruo was highlighted in the middle.In addition to photos, the newspaper published an article on the theme of opposing the construction of a casino in the name of the three, and attacked several other candidates such as Gao Qu and Gilman with the most vicious language.On the surface, this article is not much different from Li Wanruo’s previous political views against the construction of casinos. Its viciousness lies in that it prominently binds Li Wanruo with two other candidates who are completely unknown to the citizens, and at the same time uses Li Guiruo’s name to viciously Attacked several candidates who were not Li Wanruo's political opponents. hateful!Damn it!Li Wanruo's lungs would explode when she saw this newspaper.A few months ago, she lost to Gilman by 28 votes. What a big heart she came to the stage to shake hands with Gilman in congratulations. How touching and glorious the news was!But now someone is attacking Gilman in this way on her behalf. The first feeling is that Li Wanruo is completely unscrupulous in order to win today. Isn't it obvious that someone dug a hole and wanted me to drill it?Find out how that picture of mine got to them right away!Li Wanruo asked the staff of the campaign headquarters to find out the cause of the incident quickly. Wasn't that photo taken by the female student who volunteered with us a few days ago? Lily you agree!The staff remembered. That's right, that photo is what I promised to give to that female student!Li Wanruo suddenly remembered that a few days ago, a female student came to her campaign headquarters to volunteer as a volunteer, and took a photo of her, saying it was for publicity.It turned out to be a little spy!Li Wanruo couldn't be angry. There is a saying that playing politics is playing tricks and tricks. It seems that someone maliciously wants me, Li Wanruo, to jump into the dye vat! what to do?Ask them to withdraw.Li Wanruo consulted Pan En and Xi Jiaxi, the two chairmen of the election committee.This propaganda newspaper is too vicious, not only borrowing Li Wanruo's knife to kill Gilman and other candidates, but also those who played the conspiracy made a time difference: next Tuesday is the polling day, and now this weekend newspaper appears Undoubtedly, such things have left the attacked candidates such as Gilman with no time to clarify and defend, and also left Li Wanruo with no time to explain this matter clearly to the majority of voters. I have already written a statement, no matter what, Lily, you must get yourself out of the shadow of those representatives of construction developers this time, which will be of great benefit to your political future and identity.Professor Pan En deserves to be a professor of journalism, he has already prepared materials for Li Wanruo's counterattack. It's too late now.Even if it is sent to the newspaper office for publication (Mongolia Progress Newspaper), it will not be published until Wednesday! Someone reminded me. Even though the vote was on Tuesday and our statement was issued on Wednesday, I still think it is necessary because Lily's political future still has a long way to go.The fate of the individual cannot be delayed because of this matter, and it will affect the historical development of the entire city of Meng.Therefore, I insist that the statement must be issued!Professor Paine said firmly. Li Guiruo turned to Xi Jiaxi, hoping to hear his opinion. Xi Jiaxi still used his oriental calmness to express his opinion that Li Wanruo didn't know what to do: I think Lily should see that she can't affect her relationship with the Latino because of this incident.Although Almanda and Perat represent the interests of some construction developers, they are representatives of the Latin ethnic group after all.Lily will deal with them often in the future. We Asians are a minority, and the Latino population is currently on par with our Asians. We must not lose our community leadership because of this.Besides, the harm has already been caused, and if we try to clarify it, it may not have a good effect. If it is not good, the voters will be misunderstood. The best way is to make the big problem small. You are unprincipled!I am firmly against it!Pan En got angry when he heard that, Lily, if you don't come out today to clarify the truth, there will be endless troubles in the future.All I can do now is to resign with regret as chairman of your campaign committee.After finishing speaking, Paine tore the statement into pieces, and then left Li Wanruo's campaign headquarters. Paine!Penn—!No matter how Li Wanruo yelled from behind, Bo En, who was usually very kind, never returned to the campaign headquarters. Li Wanruo is really sad.She lost a respected elder in the final moments of her campaign. Lily, don't cry, let's see our victory! On April 13, the voting results were announced: as expected, Li Wanruo was elected as the new Mongolian City Councilor with the highest number of votes, becoming the first Chinese-American councilor and female mayor in the city's history.Almanda and Perat, who hitched a ride to Li Wanruo, were also elected respectively, while Gao Qu and Gilman, who had been very popular and experienced, were defeated.As soon as the election results were announced, Li Wanruo's campaign headquarters was full of cheers. The happiest and most out of touch was her husband, Chen Baohe, who was a mature man who was born as an engineering technician who was more than prudent in everything he did. When he heard that his wife was elected with a high number of votes, he jumped up and shouted repeatedly: Victory!We are victorious! After bouncing around, Chen Baohe suddenly came to hug his wife, regardless of whether the people present were acquaintances or strangers. The scene infected all the relatives, friends and every volunteer who supported Li Wanruo.Xi Jiaxi, Xi Jiaxi's wife, Li Wanruo's father and father-in-law, the doctor Zhou who broke his leg... People from different ethnic backgrounds came to congratulate Li Wanruo.People sang and danced, and the entire Chinese community in Mongolia was boiling. They held slogans and banners, cheering for the success of their first compatriots participating in politics... That scene will remain forever in the memory of the residents of Meng City. There is a passage in American university textbooks: From this day on, the history of Monterey Park, an emerging city in Southern California, has opened a new page...