Rebirth of a Farmer's Dad

For the next two days, Luo Feng did nothing but focus on memorizing his speech. This was his first time recording his face in a formal setting, and he couldn't afford to mess it up.

Once a person is focused, time flies by, and two days pass in the blink of an eye.

Yesterday afternoon, Luo Feng received a notification from Officer Liu, instructing him to report to the police station at 8:00 AM this morning.

When orders came from above, Luo Feng naturally dared not delay. He quickly put on the outfit he had prepared last time; the last time he wore this outfit was when he helped his daughter attend a parent-teacher conference.

Luo Feng was dressed in a suit with a small lapel, his hair slicked back, and his shoes were polished to a shine. He looked quite presentable as he prepared to leave.

"Hey, Feng, you're dressed really stylishly today. Are you going on a blind date?" As soon as he came downstairs, he ran into Ade, who was greeting customers in the store, and couldn't help but be teased by him.

"What are you talking about? Don't you know what I'm going to do?" Luo Feng said, giving Ade a flick on the forehead.

"Fengzi, tell us, where are you going?" one of the customers in the shop asked Luo Feng.

"Yeah, looking at your outfit, anyone who didn't know better would think you were really going on a blind date," someone chimed in.

"You're not really going on a blind date, are you? When are you going to add another proprietress to the shop for us to see?" An old man stepped forward and patted Luo Feng on the shoulder.

"Hey, stop teasing me. You all know the county police station is holding a public event this morning, right?" Luo Feng said.

"We know about this, but what does it have to do with you?"

"I'm going to participate in an event today, and I'll be giving a speech on stage later," Luo Feng said with a smug look on his face.

"Okay, then we should go take a look." Everyone became interested upon hearing this and responded enthusiastically.

"Alright, I won't say any more. They asked me to be there at eight o'clock, and it's already past seven-thirty." Luo Feng said, cupping his hands in greeting to everyone in the store, and then hurriedly left.

The county town wasn't big; Luo Feng arrived at the police station in about ten minutes.

Logically speaking, Luo Feng had been here before, having dealt with Officer Liu and Director Li. But upon returning today, he discovered many unusual things.

Because of the event, a stage had already been set up at the entrance, and a bright red carpet had been laid out. A row of tables and chairs were placed on the stage, and a banner was stretched behind it that read: "Public Meeting on Case Details and People-Friendly Rally".

This kind of content left Luo Feng speechless. Honestly, you might as well just write "press conference"; that would at least be more formal. Unlike this, it looks like some little Japan is holding some kind of Sino-Japanese goodwill conference.

But then I realized that people today are definitely different from those of later generations. Unlike later generations, people haven't experienced the media explosion era. People today probably don't even know what a press conference is.

Without a second thought, Luo Feng stepped forward and greeted the crowd. The police were taking this event very seriously, having publicized it extensively in the county several days prior.

By now, everyone of any standing in the county town had arrived. Luo Feng even saw several people with cameras standing to the side; they must have been reporters hired by the police.

Of course, there were also many merchants among them, and Luo Feng was already familiar with them. The county town wasn't very big to begin with, and since everyone was in business, it was inevitable that they would have some interactions.

It's worth mentioning that a small incident occurred yesterday afternoon after Officer Liu left.

To be honest, I originally planned to bring my daughter and Biaozi, those three guys who have nothing better to do. But yesterday afternoon, Officer Liu made it very clear that due to space constraints, each business should only send one representative.

Xinghua was furious, since Luo Feng had promised to bring her today.

Left with no other option, Luo Feng had to ask his daughter to propose other conditions in exchange. Xinghua seemed to realize that this was a good opportunity to squeeze money out of her father, and she made a long list of demands.

Luo Feng suddenly realized that his daughter had learned from him the trait of being solely profit-driven and trying every means to maximize profits.

Looking at the scene today, Luo Feng was somewhat glad he hadn't brought his daughter. He hadn't expected it to be so grand, giving off a solemn atmosphere; it certainly wasn't a suitable place for a child to fool around.

After exchanging pleasantries for a short while, the event officially began.

First, the county head spoke, announcing the start of the meeting. Next came several leaders from the Public Security Bureau, followed by the key personnel involved in the case investigation, who were there to introduce the case details.

As for Luo Feng's order, he was last. Leaders' speeches are always long and rambling, just rehashing old ideas.

There was nothing I could do; given my lowly status, it was only natural that my speech was scheduled for last. I couldn't go against my superiors, so I just had to wait.

They waited and waited, until Luo Feng was almost asleep, when it was finally their turn to speak.

After Director Li gave a few opening remarks to the crowd, he gestured with his eyes that Luo Feng could go on stage to speak.

Luo Feng took a deep breath to calm himself down and walked onto the stage. He cleared his throat and began his speech.

"Dear residents of the county, good afternoon. It is my honor to stand here today as a representative of the people to speak..."

Official speeches are naturally all the same, just different versions of the same thing. Luo Feng recited the several hundred-word speech with great emotion.

Fortunately, the effect was good, and some people even applauded. It seemed that the hard work of the past two days had not been in vain. Seeing that his efforts had been recognized, Luo Feng felt somewhat gratified.

"In a couple of days, my cool, arrogant, and awesome image will probably be in the newspapers," Luo Feng thought to himself with a smug smile.

After Luo Feng finished speaking, Director Li asked him to step down from the stage.

Then Luo Feng stood there below the stage, watching as the bureau chief invited the county magistrate back onto the stage.

After the county magistrate on stage gave a lengthy concluding speech, the event came to a close.

Luo Feng wasn't entirely clear on what the county head specifically said. The gist was that he told the residents to rest assured and to trust the government.

This is the government's consistent approach, aimed at stabilizing public sentiment, and Luo Feng was already used to it.

After the county head announced the end of the event and that everyone could leave in an orderly manner, Luo Feng returned to his shop alone.

Since I've already finished my own work, and the rest isn't really my concern, I'm too lazy to bother with it.