Official title: Refused to stay at the university, started his career in a rural town.

Yang Fan spent about twenty days in the county party committee office, reading documents from morning till night and hardly ever leaving the compound.

The government work reports of Ninghe County for the past three years, annual summaries of various bureaus and commissions, minutes of the Standing Committee meetings, and progress tables of key projects.

Turn the pages one by one, and look at each one individually.

On the afternoon of April 30th, he pulled out a project approval document from October 1994 from the archives. When he opened the first page, his finger paused on the paper.

The comprehensive building of Ninghe County Teachers' Training School.

The document was stamped and signed, and the name of the person in charge was written as follows: Sun Zhiguo.

Yang Fan flipped through the entire document from beginning to end.

The building has a floor area of ​​4,200 square meters, a six-story frame structure, and a total investment of 6.8 million yuan.

Construction began in February 1995 and was completed in March 1996. The construction team was the Second Construction Company of the city, and the material supplier was Hongda Building Materials Company, a local company in Ninghe County.

His gaze was fixed on the "Main Building Materials" section.

Steel slag concrete!

Yang Fan closed the file, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes in deep thought.

Steel slag concrete! He had seen this stuff at Doujia; it was indeed quite popular for a while in the early 1990s.

Waste slag from steel mills, when ground up and mixed into concrete, produces concrete with significantly higher strength than ordinary concrete. It is low-cost, can utilize waste, and is both environmentally friendly and economical.

At that time, several building materials research institutes in China were promoting it, applied for a lot of patents, and won several provincial and ministerial-level science and technology progress awards.

Ninghe County is not far from Lingang Steel, and steel slag is so cheap it's practically free. At the time, it was perfectly natural for local projects to use it.

But Yang Fan knew how big a bombshell this thing would later explode.

Steel slag contains free calcium oxide, which slowly hydrates and expands when it comes into contact with water.

You can't see anything when it's first poured, and you still can't see anything after two or three years.

By the time it became apparent, the concrete had already started to crack from the inside.

Tiny cracks gradually widened, steel bars rusted, and strength plummeted.

Most importantly, the price of 6.8 million yuan is roughly the same as other projects that normally use reinforced concrete.

This was approved according to normal construction standards! But Yang Fan knew that the cost of this thing was at least 30% less than that of a house made of ordinary concrete and steel bars! Moreover, it was already 1996, and although this thing hadn't caused a large-scale collapse, most construction companies had already stopped using it.

Yang Fan flipped through the document again and found the page with the completion acceptance report. The supervisor's seal was stamped neatly, and the acceptance conclusion stated, "The project quality is qualified, and it is approved for delivery and use."

qualified!

He put down the materials, stood up, and strolled to the window. The sky over Ninghe County was gloomy, and in the distance, several buildings were under construction, with tower cranes turning slowly.

This matter cannot be handled rashly.

Sun Zhiguo is the executive deputy county head, and he works on Zhao Guodong's side.

If the issue of steel slag concrete comes to light, Sun Zhiguo will likely use the excuse of being deceived to shift the blame to the businessmen. Although he may lose his position, it won't be of much use to them.

Moreover, this thing isn't just being used by Sun Zhiguo alone; countless projects across the province and even the country are using it piecemeal.

But if he rashly investigates and holds people accountable now, it would be a clear sign that he is about to break off relations.

Moreover, after these past few days, his investigation revealed that aside from his association with Zhao Guodong, Sun Zhiguo's personal conduct was acceptable; at least for now, there was no evidence of bribery or corruption.

But it depends on how you discuss it.

He returned to the table and read the document again from beginning to end.

It's only been a year since the building was completed, the house is still new, and you can't see any problems.

Based on the expansion cycle of steel slag concrete, it will take at least another one or two years before large-scale cracks begin to appear.

But there are definitely some problems with the foundation now.

Yang Fan sat in his chair for a long time, then finally picked up the pen on the table and began to draft a proposal on the inspection of building quality and safety in the county.

I wrote three pages, tore them up, and rewrote them.

When finalizing the draft, he deliberately softened his tone and suggested that a routine quality follow-up visit be conducted on all projects under construction and completed in the county before the rainy season.

4:30 PM, Liu Xiangdong's office.

"Steel slag concrete?" Liu Xiangdong took the draft proposal and flipped through it from beginning to end.

Yang Fan briefly explained the situation.

Of course, he didn't mention any report from his past life, only that he had read about it in the documents back then, mentioning that the long-term stability of steel slag concrete was controversial, and that there had been problems in some overseas projects.

After listening, Liu Xiangdong put the materials on the table. He lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Are you sure?

Yang Fan nodded.

"I'm planning to have our school's building materials lab do some testing, take a few samples, and check the free calcium oxide content in the steel slag. If the content is too high, expansion is inevitable. The foundation has already experienced a year of rain, so there might already be problems."

"If there really is a problem, what do you plan to do?" Liu Xiangdong asked, looking at him.

"Sun Zhiguo is in charge of urban construction. He signed off on this matter, so he can't escape responsibility."

"Are you going to harm him?"

"It depends on the specific situation, whether he knows about the profit margins involved."

Yang Fan picked up the enamel mug and took a sip.

"If you don't know, you can just break their alliance. After all, Hongda Building Materials uses these kinds of tricks to cheat them, hehe; if you do know, then it's even simpler."

Liu Xiangdong was silent for a few seconds, then stubbed out his cigarette.

"That's the right line of thinking." He leaned back in his chair. "Do you know what kind of situation Sun Zhiguo is in within the local gang?"

Yang Fan remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"County Magistrate Zhou Liangshan is retiring. Zhao Guodong is on his side, but Sun Zhiguo and Zhao Guodong's relationship was only maintained because Zhou Liangshan used to suppress them."

"They're tied together. Now that Zhou Liangshan is retiring, what can Zhao Guodong offer Sun Zhiguo? He's already been the executive deputy county head for four years. Why would he go through a transition period as deputy secretary for a few more years? As for the county head position? Zhao Guodong himself is still eyeing it. Do you think Zhao Guodong will let Sun Zhiguo go first?"

Yang Fan put the jar down.

"Then I'll contact the building materials laboratory immediately to get samples for testing."

Liu Xiangdong stood up and walked to the window.

"I've heard from other sources that he probably didn't make any money."

He turned around and looked at Yang Fan.

"First, get the test done and the data. Then, find a suitable opportunity to talk to him alone. Don't bring anyone from the county government office, just the two of you."

"clear."

Yang Fan left Liu Xiangdong's office; it was already dusk. Only his footsteps echoed in the corridor. His leather shoes clicked and clacked on the concrete floor, sounding somewhat muffled.

Back in his office, he dialed the phone number of the building materials laboratory at Handong University.

The person who answered the phone was Fang Ping, in his early thirties, a PhD graduate who stayed on at the university. Yang Fan and Fang Ping had a decent relationship during Yang Fan's graduate studies.

"Senior Brother Fang, my name is Yang Fan. I have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

"Oh, Chairman Yang, what a rare guest! What is it?"

"I would like to ask you to help me test a few concrete samples to check the content of free calcium oxide in the steel slag."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. "Steel slag concrete? You mean—expansion?"

"right."

"How much did your county use?"

"At least one building, a comprehensive building for the teachers' training school, a six-story frame structure."

Fang Ping took a breath. "Yang Fan, this thing—"

"I know, that's why I need to get tested." Yang Fan switched hands with the microphone. "Could you please come to Ninghe, senior brother? We can take a sample, conduct the test, and issue a formal report. The cost will be according to your standards."

"Sure, I'll go there next week. This kind of test takes very little time; the results should be available in about a week."