Who’s Up to Mischief chapter 2

Who’s Causing Trouble

After several days of investigation following Mayor John’s lead, goodness! There were hundreds of people on the suspect list! Chief Sam didn’t know where to start, scratching his head in a hurry. Fortunately, Mayor John was busy preparing for the comprehensive governance inspection and didn’t have time to urge him, giving Chief Sam a chance to catch his breath.

The comprehensive governance inspection had a one – vote veto system, so Mayor John took it even more seriously. He held a special meeting. After a long discussion, they finally agreed that Mayor John should use his talent and write two more slogans to catch the inspection team’s attention.

This time, Mayor John was more cautious. He asked the staff to divide into two groups to come up with a slogan each. After each group had analyzed it thoroughly to make sure there were no loopholes, he would write. He cut a large piece of paper into two halves and wrote four characters on each half, making it harder to switch. Tom Brown, to prevent anyone from causing trouble, waited until it was dark and the street was empty before quietly putting up the slogans…

Early the next morning, Tom Brown woke up and planned to wake up Mayor John, who had gone out for another engagement last night. As he walked towards the town government, he saw from afar that the front gate was surrounded by a large crowd, and there were bursts of harsh laughter. Tom Brown had a bad feeling and rushed over. Sure enough, the slogans on both sides of the gate had changed again. The one on the left read: “Step up efforts to severely crack down on public protests and purify the social environment!” The one on the right was also very prominent, saying: “Liberate your thinking and correctly handle prostitution and gambling to promote economic development!” It turned out that someone had switched the positions of “prostitution and gambling” in the left – hand slogan with “public protests” in the right – hand slogan! Oh no, why hadn’t they thought that the two slogans could be switched?

What made Tom Brown even more frustrated was that there was a reporter from a state – level newspaper in the crowd, taking pictures with a camera. He had come back to his hometown to visit his relatives and happened to come across this. He thought it was very newsworthy. Tom Brown rushed over and tried to grab the reporter’s camera, but the reporter glared at him and said, “If you touch me, with the public as witnesses, I’ll expose you on a well – known news program!” Tom Brown had to withdraw his hand, his face turning red.

Tom Brown tried to squeeze in to tear down the slogans, but the crowd was so dense that he couldn’t get through after struggling for a long time. He was sweating profusely and turned around to run back to ask Mayor John to come out and deal with it. But Mayor John was a bit late. When he stumbled out in his robe, the inspection team members were looking at the slogans with stern faces.

Soon, the news spread throughout the county. A local evening newspaper in the state even published the reporter’s news article and photos with the title “This Mayor Is So Bold!” There was an uproar in public opinion. Mayor John was severely criticized by the county leaders. He was so angry that he paced back and forth in his room for several days, swearing that he wouldn’t rest until he caught the trouble – maker.

But Chief Sam was at his wits’ end with the investigation and still couldn’t find any leads. One afternoon, Mayor John called Chief Sam and Tom Brown to his office and said, “There’s no other way. We have to lure the snake out of its hole. This afternoon, we’ll put up the slogans again. There’s a hotel opposite the town government owned by my god – sister. Tonight, you two will keep watch all night and catch the culprit red – handed!”

Chief Sam slapped the table and exclaimed in approval, and Tom Brown also kept saying it was a great idea! Mayor John gritted his teeth and cursed out of the window, “Let’s see how I’ll deal with you tonight!” Just as he was cursing, the owner of the “Fun – For – All” nightclub called to invite Mayor John to go there for a drink to relieve his stress. Mayor John quickly wrote two slogans, threw down his pen, and left in a huff.