Chapter 1273: Invitation call

Zhao Desan, who was on a new journey of hunting for beauty, received an invitation call from He Liping. If it were normal times, he would definitely overcome difficulties and go happily, but now Zheng Jie hadn't come out yet, and there was no telling what accidental sparks might fly between him and Zheng Jie later, so Zhao Desan declined He Liping's kind invitation with an excuse.

Just after hanging up He Liping's call, Han Xue brought Zheng Jie out of the outpatient building. Zhao Desan put away his phone and quickly greeted them, asking with concern: "Is everything okay?"

"We took an X-ray, and I let the orthopedist take a look. It's fine." Han Xue said with a smile.

"Then I can rest easy." Zhao Desan smiled and glanced at Zheng Jie, only to see her rolling her eyes at him again, as if she had some prejudice against him. This made Zhao Desan very puzzled. After thanking Han Xue, he took Zheng Jie and walked out of the hospital.

"Sister-in-law, why did you pinch me just now?" After walking out of the hospital, Zhao Desan threw out this question, looking at her with confusion.

Zheng Jie rolled her eyes at him and said: "You have the nerve to ask! Just now that little girl asked if I was Sister-in-law, how could you say yes? Aren't you making people misunderstand? That girl must have thought what kind of relationship I have with you!"

After Zheng Jie said this, Zhao Desan suddenly realized and couldn't help but chuckle, saying: "Sister-in-law, you are really overthinking. That little girl should call you Sister-in-law anyway. Her sister is in the Comprehensive Office of our unit, so it's reasonable for me to say that."

Zheng Jie glanced at him dismissively and said: "Didn't you see that little girl's look when she heard me being called Sister-in-law? She must have misunderstood, thinking... thinking I was your wife." Speaking of this, Zheng Jie lowered her head shyly.

"Ha!" Zhao Desan laughed out loud when he heard her say this.

Seeing that Zhao Desan not only had no intention of repenting but also laughed so wantonly, Zheng Jie looked at him a bit angrily and said: "Comrade Xiao Zhao, you have the nerve to laugh!"

"If I had a wife like Sister-in-law, I would be content for the rest of my life." Zhao Desan said with sweet words.

"What's so good about me!" Zheng Jie felt satisfied in her heart, arched her eyebrows at him, and said shyly while lowering her head and tugging at her lapels.

Zhao Desan continued to take advantage of the situation and praised her endlessly: "Sister-in-law, to tell you the truth, not only are you good-looking, but you have also paid so much for your family. How many women have your quality now? A good woman like you is hard to find even with a lantern."

Zheng Jie felt extremely satisfied in her heart, raised her eyelids slightly to look at him shyly, and said to herself in a self-intoxicated whisper: "Comrade Xiao Zhao, you really know how to talk."

"What I said is all the truth." Zhao Desan said seriously.

Zheng Jie suddenly saw that the watch on Zhao Desan's wrist pointed to six o'clock. Her husband Zhao Da had already finished work and gone home, so she panicked and said: "I won't talk to you anymore. Your Brother Zhao has already finished work and gone home. I have to go back quickly to pick up Nini." Saying this, she walked directly toward the bus stop.

After this contact, Zhao Desan had a deeper understanding of Zheng Jie. From her behavior and performance, he had roughly grasped her character. From her attitude of not resisting him much today, Zhao Desan felt that as long as he put his heart into it, he would be able to have her sooner or later. It was just that she was Zhao Da's woman. As the saying goes, a rabbit doesn't eat the grass by its hole. Zhao Desan was a bit hesitant about whether he should launch an offensive against her. Moreover, she was of no help to his official career. Having her was just to satisfy his mentality of hunting for beauty. Wasn't it a bit too unworthy?

Looking at Zheng Jie's back as she walked quickly toward the bus stop—that round, tight, upturned buttocks, that waist, those long, straight, beautiful legs—it was simply beautiful. Although the way she walked, with her hips swaying from side to side, made Zhao Desan feel a bit dizzy, he only came back to his senses after watching her get into the bus. He suddenly remembered Zheng Tulu driving back and talking to Zheng Jie just now, and forgot to ask what that old guy Zheng Tulu had said to her.

Standing on the side of the road, savoring the situation of being with Zheng Jie just now, thinking of the petty, charming smile on her round face, thinking of her watery big eyes rolling at him in a charming way, as well as her plump chest on her medium-height body, Zhao Desan's heart itched. After savoring it for a long while, he hailed a taxi and sat in it to go home.

On the way back, Zhao Desan remembered He Liping calling him half an hour ago to invite him to her home as a guest, and began to regret it a little. However, Zhao Desan felt that since He Liping could call him to her home, it at least showed that she had relaxed her vigilance against him in her heart. Perhaps she had already regarded him as her own person and wanted him to work for her to push her to the position of the head of the Construction Bureau. Thinking of these infighting among the high-level officials, and comparing it with his own situation of being schemed against by Zheng Tulu, Zhao Desan felt that Ma Debang was actually the most unlucky person in the entire Provincial Construction Bureau—a dignified Deputy Director of the Provincial Construction Bureau was suddenly demoted to a city-level unit. Thinking of Ma Debang's demotion, Zhao Desan suddenly felt that Ma Debang's demotion didn't seem to conform to procedural regulations. In any case, Ma Debang was a deputy department-level cadre before. How was he demoted without the knowledge of Organization Department Minister Su Qing?

Because Zhao Desan didn't know much about the respective duties and powers of the Organization Department and the Personnel Department, with doubts, he asked Su Qing this question while eating at home.

Su Qing listened to his doubts, smiled lightly, and while eating, said: "This thing can't be explained in a few words. The Personnel Department and the Organization Department have their own division of duties. How should I put it? The Personnel Department generally manages the personnel appointments of leaders below the division level, while the transfer and appointment of leaders above the division level are generally managed by the Organization Department."

Zhao Desan then roughly understood some knowledge about personnel appointments and said that Ma Debang's demotion was a document issued by the Organization Department, while for Zheng Ru's promotion, he heard from He Liping that the Personnel Department was in charge. After Su Qing's rough explanation, he understood. "Sister Su, I have a matter I don't quite understand." Zhao Desan gradually led the topic to Ma Debang.

"Oh? What is it, say it." Su Qing put down her chopsticks and looked at Zhao Desan with interest, ready to answer his questions at any time.

"Sister Su, you say like Ma Debang, according to his administrative level, should he belong to a deputy department-level cadre?" Zhao Desan asked.

Su Qing nodded and said: "Yes, the Deputy Director of the Provincial Construction Bureau belongs to the deputy department-level establishment. What's wrong?"

"Then I don't quite understand. If a deputy department-level cadre is to be transferred, can the Organization Department decide it internally? How could Li Changping make a decision without your consent, Sister Su?" Zhao Desan asked suspiciously. Although he didn't know much about the transfer procedure for deputy department-level cadres, he felt that at least it wouldn't be that simple.

Speaking of this, Su Qing got angry, knitted her eyebrows, and a cloud hung on her face. Even her tone changed, and she said: "Li Changping overstepping his authority is something that makes me angry as soon as you mention it. You are right. The transfer and appointment of deputy department-level cadres are not that simple at all. It must be proposed by the Organization Department and studied and passed at the Provincial Standing Committee meeting."

"Then Ma Debang's transfer didn't follow the procedure at all?" Zhao Desan asked in surprise. "Does the province know?"

"That Li Changping, he had already privately proposed a plan in the name of the Organization Department and cleared the relationship with the Executive Vice Governor, so he didn't go through the procedure of the Standing Committee meeting and issued the document directly." Speaking of this, Su Qing was really full of fire, but because she didn't know when Li Changping had established a relationship with the Executive Vice Governor, and because she was the only woman in the Provincial Standing Committee, many people were already unconvinced by her. In this matter, the Executive Vice Governor made the final decision. As the Minister of the Organization Department, she had to give the Executive Vice Governor some face, so she had to swallow her anger and didn't make it public, fearing that if she kept pursuing this matter, she might offend the Executive Vice Governor, and her position as Minister of the Organization Department might be in jeopardy. As a woman who had been struggling in the officialdom for so many years, Su Qing had long understood the importance of self-preservation. She only angrily criticized Li Changping for Ma Debang's demotion, which was considered a warning, but in reality, she turned a blind eye and didn't pursue it deeply.

"Damn!" Hearing the truth of the matter, Zhao Desan couldn't help but burst out a swear word, which made Sister Su look directly at him. So he hurriedly continued: "Sister Su, Li Changping is too arrogant, isn't he? He doesn't put you in his eyes at all!"

After listening, Su Qing gave a humph and said: "He wouldn't dare not put me in his eyes, it's just that he was well-prepared in the matter of promoting He Liping, and caught me off guard!"

"Sister Su, since the promotion of He..." Zhao Desan habitually prepared to say "Sister He," but suddenly realized that calling He Liping "Sister He" in front of Su Qing would expose his relationship with He Liping, so he changed his words to Deputy Director He without anyone noticing, saying: "Since the promotion of our Deputy Director He didn't follow the organizational procedure, do you think you can exert some pressure on Li Changping on this matter, Sister Su?" Zhao Desan himself had no grievances with Li Changping, but he had deep grievances with Li Changping's wife, Zhang Ailing. Now that they were in different camps, Zhang Ailing relied on her husband Li Changping, who was the Deputy Minister of the Provincial Organization Department, to cover the sky with one hand in the Yuyang City Coal Bureau. And he was now relying on Su Qing, the Minister of the Provincial Organization Department, to just establish a foothold in the Provincial Construction Bureau. Although he might not have the opportunity to take revenge on Zhang Ailing in the future, this idea hadn't been put down. Zhao Desan's QQ signature was "One day the dragon raises its head, watch my Yangtze water flow backward," which he wrote when he was forced to leave the Yuyang City Coal Bureau. He was a person who loved and hated clearly. Whoever was good to him, he would be good to them, and whoever was not good to him, he would pay back double. He had always remembered this "deep hatred" of Zhang Ailing forcing him to leave the Coal Bureau. Since he couldn't deal with Zhang Ailing for the time being, he would take Li Changping as the target! Of course, Zhao Desan himself didn't have the ability to directly oppose Li Changping. The only thing he could do was to use the fact that Li Changping violated regulations in the promotion of He Liping and wanted to use Su Qing's power to deal with him.

Su Qing looked at Zhao Desan faintly and gave a bitter laugh, saying: "Desan, do you think I don't want to? A matter that even I, a dignified Minister of the Organization Department, couldn't decide was decided by a Deputy Minister. I certainly feel uncomfortable in my heart, but things above are too complicated, not as simple as you think. Since Li Changping was able to persuade the Executive Vice Governor, other Standing Committee members must also know about this. Moreover, Li Changping also submitted the Organization Department's proposed appointment plan for that He Liping. If I keep pursuing this matter, wouldn't that be clearly going against other Standing Committee members in the province?" ===== CHAPTER 1274 =====