Chapter 429

Hearing about Lu Fan's secretaries, Li Lao said thoughtfully: "Contacting excellent people more can help you learn from others' strengths to offset your own weaknesses. The current situation is very critical and can even determine the direction for a long time to come. We have reached the time when we must 'take a stand'!"

Li Mingzhou said: "You can choose not to take a stand first, wait until the general trend is clear, and then quietly enter the arena. It would be icing on the cake, neither losing nor gaining. But if you want to take a gamble, you must make a judgment quickly and participate in it without hesitation."

Li Lao asked: "Lu Fan, who do you favor more?"

Lu Fan said without hesitation: "Stand with the strong, not the weak; stand with the high, not the low..."

Li Lao smiled and said: "Asking you is the same as not asking! This matter is of great importance; I still have to think about it carefully. Even if there is a direction, the methods and means are also very important!"

In the afternoon, Lu Fan went to the Kaorowan Restaurant. Ma Yajun, Liu Yuheng, Chen Huangji, Wang Jiaming, Zhang Yuxuan, and Guo Tongyu did not listen to advice and formed a group to come to Jingcheng to "report work" to the leaders. Since they had come, he naturally had to entertain them.

While drinking, Lu Fan emphasized two things: first, requiring them to take the initiative to report their work to Li Ruifang and Si Daiqiang; second, to prepare to leave Yingjiang.

By Sunday, the training class classmates had returned to Jingcheng. Lu Fan hosted a banquet for Wang Wanghong, Deng Guoqiang, Wang Xi, and Li Boning from Huayuan Province; Chang Hanwu and Cheng Qing from Qinchuan Province; and Wang Jianming from Grassland Province.

During the banquet, Wang Jianming formally proposed that Lu Fan should be elected as the class monitor.

Hearing this, Lu Fan hurriedly declined: "There are many heavyweight leaders in the class, and I am the youngest. Everyone, don't put me on the fire to roast! I just want to study steadily and seriously for a few months."

Wang Hong advised: "If you win the Outstanding Class Cadre of the Central Youth Class upon graduation, this is not a simple honor. I think it is necessary to strive for it."

Chang Hanwu said: "There are 8 people sitting here. If we mobilize tablemates and roommates, we will definitely have an advantage in voting when electing the class monitor. Lu Fan, you are the youngest, shouldn't you be more diligent? Serving the classmates is an unshirkable duty!"

Everyone persuaded him for a while, and Lu Fan realized that if he declined again, he would be ungrateful. So he said: "Since everyone thinks highly of me, I will try it with a thick skin. However, don't make it too obvious; don't go canvassing for votes, lest others say I am impatient."

Wang Jianming smiled and said: "Since you have decided, you must go all out. Strive for what should be strived for, get everything that can be gotten, and get what you want to get. Compared to the result, the process is not important!"

After reaching a consensus, the classmates drank and chatted happily, and a small group was officially formed.

On Monday, after the morning class ended, the contact teacher held a class cadre election, using democratic voting.

As a result, Lu Fan won the position of class monitor by a margin of two votes. In fact, the process was exceptionally "dangerous"; Lu Fan only received 15 votes, and there were 35 students in the class.

After taking on the heavy responsibility of "class monitor," Lu Fan made a brief statement, expressing that he would definitely be diligent, quick on his feet, serve everyone wholeheartedly, and be a good liaison for his classmates.

The study at the Party School was fulfilling and orderly, and at the same time, it was a very good platform for building connections.

After Lu Fan became class monitor, his communication with classmates gradually increased, and their friendship grew day by day.

Time passed quickly, and by May, the long-awaited visit activity began.

Lu Fan walked slowly to the window, looking at the scenery outside, a complex emotion surged in his heart, and he sighed: "Time flies, ten years have passed in a flash! Back then, I carried a briefcase every day, either writing materials, arranging meetings, or accompanying Secretary Gao Yuanfei to the countryside, with infinite energy!"

This prison is quite famous. The purpose of this activity was to let the students see that their former colleagues were living a "life behind bars," as well as their "heart-wrenching" life regrets, effectively playing a deterrent and warning role.

During the visit, the person in charge introduced the development history and basic situation of the place, introduced the main types of economic crimes, and analyzed the subjective and objective causes of economic crimes. They stated that most people had also worked actively in the past and had made contributions, but in the tide of the market economy, they could not withstand the tests of money, beauty, and power, lost their ideals and beliefs, coveted money, were obsessed with beauty, and eventually embarked on the road of crime.

Through education and reform, most people had regrets. It is precisely based on this point that the current Tangcheng has become an anti-corruption and integrity education base with great practical significance.

Due to the special nature of the prison, once inmates enter the high walls, their information enters an opaque stage. The public has no way of knowing their imprisonment and living conditions, and only some sporadic reports appear in the newspapers.

For example, there were rumors that some people enjoyed a large suite of nearly 200 square meters and a daily meal cost of 200 yuan. But what the students saw was that serious criminals were locked in a suite of nearly 20 square meters, with a separate bathroom and a sit-down toilet inside. The prison door was a wooden door covered with iron, the walls were specially treated, and all permanent facilities in the room had their sharp edges removed and polished into round shapes.

In the discussion, an inmate said: "My family used to be proud of me, but now, how can my wife hold her head up in front of others? How can my children fill in the 'father' column when applying for jobs? How many long nights must I endure before I can reunite with them? Trapped in prison, thinking about the past, only now do I deeply realize how precious it is to be an ordinary, useful, and free person, and how wonderful it is to reunite with loved ones and enjoy family life!"

Others said: "Once a person cannot control their desires, greed will drown you like a flood. Others ask me for help, I do things for them, and they send money to thank me; I thought it was reasonable. I use my blood-stained lessons to warn people that the power in their hands must be restricted and supervised. Just imagine, if I didn't have power and it wasn't up to me alone, would those bosses and businessmen still bribe me like flies chasing filth?"

In this activity, the students walked into the inmates' dormitories, canteens, study rooms, workshops, psychological counseling rooms, prison supermarkets, and other places, personally experiencing the inmates' production and study environment, feeling the inmates' lives, listening to the inmates' personal accounts, and receiving a baptism of the soul. It was a vivid and realistic education on life outlook, world outlook, and power outlook.

The next afternoon, the class organized a major discussion on this visit.

Lu Fan, as the class monitor, was the first to speak, stating: "I had never been to a prison before and didn't understand the life of prisoners. After experiencing it personally this time, my soul was strongly shocked. I realized that there are two worlds inside and outside the high walls, and one misstep leads to eternal regret. Looking at them and thinking of myself, we should cherish life, cherish freedom, and cherish our work even more. We must further improve our awareness of integrity and self-discipline, keep our purpose in mind, hold fast to the bottom line, be clean in being a person, be clean in doing things, and repay the organization and the people."

Wang Jianming said: "The sorrow and repentance of being trapped in prison, and the longing for freedom and family affection, brought me a huge visual impact and spiritual shock. I summarize my feelings in four sentences: Thick clouds and cold fog, the iron gate is cold; people are quiet, the lonely lamp, the sunset is residual. Don't talk about the dragon rolling in the water; the west wind blows it all away, don't lean on the railing!"

The students spoke enthusiastically, one after another expressing that in their future work, study, and life, they must always maintain a sense of awe, have a defensive line in their thoughts, a bottom line in their hearts, and a red line in their behavior. They must continuously strengthen their self-discipline awareness, hold the "protective embankment" of their hearts in the face of various temptations, and strive to be good cadres who are "loyal, clean, and responsible."

By June, Lu Fan not only got along well with his classmates in the class but also expanded his social circle to other classes. With the introductions of Chen Jianfei, Wang Gang, and Bai Chengzhi, he met many new friends.

And with the "matchmaking" of Wang Hong and Deng Guoqiang, Lu Fan met Zhang Wenjun, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Huayuan Province; Su Wenbin, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture; Wu Zhengyu, Deputy Director of the Department of Education; and Li Yuan, Secretary of the Wolong District Committee of Nanyuan City. He consciously strengthened communication and interaction with them, gathered a few times on weekends, and initially established a "friendship."

After returning home on Friday, Li Zimeng's face was filled with a bright smile, and she said to Lu Fan: "Husband, I think I'm pregnant!"

"Pregnant with what?" Lu Fan didn't react for a moment, but immediately asked excitedly: "Zimeng, are you pregnant?" A strong premonition suddenly welled up in his heart.

Li Zimeng said happily: "Yes, our family is going to add a new member!"

After hearing this, Lu Fan immediately fell into ecstasy, even crying with joy. After working hard for so long, the crystallization of love had finally arrived; this was the continuation of the Lu family's life!

Lu Fan hugged his wife tightly and said affectionately: "Zimeng, thank you! Let us welcome the arrival of the child together, accompany him to grow up, watch him learn to walk and talk bit by bit, and witness every important moment of his!" Imagining the days to come, Lu Fan knew that the responsibility on his shoulders was heavier, but his heart was full of happiness and satisfaction.

After a moment of warmth, Lu Fan hurriedly told his sister the good news.

Hearing the good news, Lu Yao, who was already serving as the County Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary, was as happy as a child in her office, saying that she, the aunt, would definitely come back next week to see her nephew.

Then, Lu Fan called Li Lao and his father-in-law. When the two learned the good news of Zimeng's pregnancy, they were immediately too excited to sit still and couldn't wait to come and see Zimeng. They were looking forward to the arrival of the next generation more than anything.

In the evening, Li Zijun also came with his wife and daughter. The whole room was filled with a warm atmosphere, and everyone was talking joyfully, looking forward to the birth of the little life together.