HLM – Chapter 1079 A Case Full of Mysteries

McGee was becoming increasingly serious about the town mayoral election. There was only one month left before the big vote. To quote a joke often used about the Chinese men’s national football team: he didn’t have much time left.

Before investing in the Central Square project, he treated the election as something to participate in rather casually. But after throwing in over a million, his attitude had completely changed—now he cared a lot.

These small neighborhood disputes might seem trivial, but minor issues could reveal bigger problems and easily spark discussions. Winning public favor this way would greatly boost his election campaign.

Naturally, McGee couldn’t afford not to care.

Sure enough, after hearing McGee’s worries, Bowen grinned. “How could the Second Deputy Mayor resist getting involved? He went—but couldn’t solve it—and had to come back with his tail between his legs.”

Wang Bo stroked his chin. “Then resolving this won’t be easy.”

He planned to talk to Li Bo and Zheng Hongmei first. Conveniently, both of them were at the hospital today. Even more conveniently, he hadn’t had a massage in a long time.

So, under the guise of handling official matters, he had Li Bo squeeze him into the schedule. Then he lay face-down on the massage bed, enjoying himself while gathering information.

Perhaps because of his eyesight issues, although Li Bo shared the same name as Wang Bo, their personalities couldn’t be more different. Li Bo was somewhat self-conscious and rather quiet.

As he enjoyed the massage, Wang Bo took the lead. “Dr. Li, how’s life been lately?”

Li Bo replied in his muffled voice, “Great. Sunset Town is like a garden. Even though I can’t see, I eat well, drink well, my health’s better, and I can even feel the air quality.”

“How do you feel the air quality?” Wang Bo asked with a smile.

Li Bo said, “I have severe pharyngitis. When I lived in Modu, I often couldn’t sleep at night because of it. But ever since I came to Sunset Town, it’s healed on its own.”

“Well, congratulations! Haha, I didn’t know our town had that ability. But everything’s been going smoothly then, right?”

After Wang Bo asked about his life twice, Li Bo heard the implied meaning. He pressed a few spots before saying, “There is actually something. Mayor Wang, could you give me some advice?”

“You know how we were assigned a house? Well, the quality wasn’t great. Hongmei said the walls even had cracks. After we arrived, I earned some money with my skills, so we decided to rebuild the house.”

Wang Bo nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen your application. No problem there.”

“There’s always fencing around houses here. This time, the builders offered to throw in a new fence. Our old one was basically falling apart, so we thought we might as well replace it while we rebuilt.”

“When you started doing that, did you deliver a ‘Fence Construction Notice’ to your neighbor, Mr. Tister?” Wang Bo asked.

Some might find this ridiculous, but New Zealand’s Fencing Act really does require such a notice. Before anyone builds or replaces a fence, they must issue an official Fencing Notice.

Importantly, this notice must be delivered at least 21 days before construction begins. And if the neighbor is a tenant, the notice must be sent to the landlord.

Aside from informing the neighbor, this notice serves as legal protection.

Because if the neighbor doesn’t respond within 21 days, it is automatically considered consent, and it also implies they agree to share the construction cost.

Li Bo froze. “We… have to write a notice?”

Wang Bo sighed. So they hadn’t sent one. No wonder the neighbor was unhappy.

Li Bo grumbled, “We didn’t know… That fence was so broken it practically needed to be rebuilt from scratch. We figured the neighbor wouldn’t mind—after all, it wouldn’t intrude on their land, and we weren’t charging them a cent. We thought they’d be okay with it.”

He added, “And we didn’t just assume. When we first moved in, we talked with them. They often complained about the fence quality and even discussed repairing it together.”

“But back then, we didn’t have any money, so the matter was delayed. Now that we finally can afford it, we didn’t plan on making them pay anything. But unexpectedly, they’re unhappy again.”

Normally, fences benefit both sides. Legally, the one building it can ask the neighbor to share the cost—usually half. But as the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. That’s true even in New Zealand, so most things get worked out through discussion.

And as Li Bo said, since they were paying for everything, the neighbors shouldn’t object. Under normal circumstances, they would agree. So why the conflict?

Wang Bo was about to ask when Li Bo spoke first.

“Mayor, I’ve asked some clients. They said this kind of thing can go to court. Is that true? If it’s that serious, maybe we should just forget it.”

According to the Fencing Act, if one party wants to build a fence—even if they’re paying everything—and the neighbor refuses to allow construction, or refuses to pay their legal share, then a legal dispute arises.

New Zealand has a Small Claims Tribunal. If the fence cost is under 15,000 NZD, the tribunal can resolve it quickly.

So yes, going to court was possible. But what did Li Bo mean by “just forget it”?

Wang Bo sensed several questions popping up and asked directly.

Li Bo answered, “Well, at first the neighbors wouldn’t agree. We got into an argument. They even came to our door shouting ‘chilaos’ and ‘yellow monkeys’. Mayor, those are insults, right? Even racial slurs?”

“Hongmei got angry and argued back. We wanted to find you and reason with Mr. Tister, but you weren’t around. Someone suggested going to court and suing them. But you know our situation—going to court would be too troublesome.”

Wang Bo frowned. If Li Bo was telling the truth, then the Tister family had gone too far. This was clearly picking a fight. But—

“I can understand them calling you ‘yellow’. But chilaos? They’re Australian immigrants. How would they even know that word? Are you sure you heard correctly?”

Li Bo nodded. “Definitely. They yelled it loudly right at our door. First they called us ‘chilaos’. Hongmei got angry because of that, and that’s how the argument started.”

“But… how would they even know that word?” Wang Bo muttered. Even he barely knew its exact meaning—only that in the Wu-speaking region, it was an extremely insulting term.