Chapter 611

In mid-November, the Provincial Leading Group for Cleaning Up Non-Staff Personnel issued a notice, requiring all departments of the provincial and municipal governments and all districts and counties (cities) to submit a baseline table of listed personnel.

Wang Jingchen kept things on hold during this period, intending to give Lei Xingxing the cold shoulder.

After careful thought, Lu Fan specially called Yu Bin, head of the Provincial Compilation Office, to his office, gave him a talking-to, and said that the struggle required strategy.

After the notice was issued, what was surprising was that only Three Gate City did not receive the notice; the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department and the Provincial Compilation Office directly ignored Three Gate City, cutting it out of the "cleanup" work.

Such an act of "drawing a clear line" made Lei Xingxing realize the seriousness of the problem; he muttered to himself, "Damn, what the hell are they up to?" If they keep messing around like this, how can Three Gate City and I cope? We can't really become an "independent kingdom," can we? This is killing someone's heart, damn it, so sneaky!

Lei Xingxing dared not be careless; he arranged the Municipal Party Committee Office, the Organization Department, and the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee to quickly tally the number of non-staff personnel in the city and their "entry points," and personally went to the Provincial Compilation Office to submit the ledger.

Upon arriving at the Provincial Compilation Office, Lei Xingxing saw a crowded office full of people submitting ledgers from various cities, because he knew several Organization Department heads.

After entering, many people greeted Lei Xingxing on their own; he smiled back and told the staff, "This is the non-staff personnel statistics table for Three Gate City."

Unexpectedly, the staff member didn't even look and replied, "Three Gate City? The leadership said not to accept your forms!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the office atmosphere instantly froze, becoming extremely awkward.

Lei Xingxing suppressed his anger and asked, "Why won't you accept Three Gate City's ledger?"

"The leadership specifically instructed me; I'm just a lowly grunt, following the leadership's orders!"

"Which leader gave you those instructions?"

"Director Yu personally gave us those instructions!"

Lei Xingxing turned and left the office, baring his teeth at a lowly grunt—an undignified move—and went straight to see the person in charge.

Upon arriving at the office of the Provincial Compilation Office Director, Yu Bin was reviewing the ledgers submitted by various units; Lei Xingxing spoke in an unfriendly tone: "Director Yu, you can't be treating Three Gate City differently, can you?"

Yu Bin stood up and said, "Secretary Lei, please have a seat; I'll make you some tea."

"No thanks on the tea; I'm here to submit the ledger. Your staff won't accept it—you need to speak up as the big director!"

Yu Bin showed a difficult expression and replied, "Secretary Lei, you know I'm just a gofer, a grunt. You bigwigs are fighting; don't let this little guy suffer—long live understanding!"

Lei Xingxing's expression softened, and he asked in a low voice, "Director Yu, we've been friends for years; can you give me some advice on how to handle this so we can get past it?"

"Ah!" Yu Bin sighed and said, "It's all for work; there's no knot that can't be untied. There's a saying: attitude determines everything, details determine success or failure. Personally, I believe leaders are to be respected. Since Three Gate City is carrying out work under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee, the sooner this is resolved, the better; dragging it out just turns it into a dead knot, don't you think? As for how to resolve it, with Secretary Lei's political wisdom, I'm sure it won't pose a problem for you."

"Thank you, Director Yu, for pointing me in the right direction and giving me a hand; I'm deeply grateful!"

"No problem, no problem, it's all for work!"

Leaving the Compilation Office, Lei Xingxing struggled to adjust his mindset and headed to the Provincial Party Committee, intending to directly report work to Lu Fan. He had already braced himself mentally—if he needed to lower his head, he would; if he needed to apologize, he would. For the sake of his future, what was face?

Ten minutes later, Lei Xingxing arrived at the office of Hou Wenwei, head of the Second Division of the Provincial Party Committee General Office, and politely asked, "Director Hou, is Secretary Lu in? I'd like to report on my work."

Hou Wenwei courteously said, "Secretary Lei, really bad timing; the secretary just went to the Organization Department. Shall I ask for instructions?"

"Never mind, I'll go to the Organization Department myself; it's just a few steps away."

Ten minutes later, Lei Xingxing arrived at the Organization Department again, went to the office to inquire, and was surprised to hear Director Tan Yiqiao say very politely, "Secretary Lei, really bad timing; the secretary just went to the Provincial Party Committee."

Seeing that it was almost time to leave work, Lei Xingxing asked, "Director Tan, how has Secretary Lu arranged his afternoon?"

Tan Yiqiao replied, "He should be going to Yiyang City for research."

"And tomorrow?"

"According to the schedule, he'll be going down for research for several consecutive days."

Lei Xingxing felt utterly helpless and depressed; he wasn't stupid, and it was obvious they didn't want to see him.

Left with no other option, Lei Xingxing went to Secretary Wang Jingchen's office to lodge a complaint.

Wang Jingchen directly handed Lei Xingxing a document and said, "This is the annual target responsibility assessment plan drafted by the Organization Department, requiring the top leaders to bear primary responsibility, act as good team leaders, and take initiative. Lu Fan specifically proposed that the assessment results be used as an important basis for cadre utilization; for cities, counties, and departments ranking low, the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee and Organization Department will hold a centralized talk with the top leaders, holding the main responsible persons accountable; for those ranking last, their positions will be adjusted. This plan will be submitted to the Standing Committee for discussion; if passed, it must be implemented, and you should focus your efforts on those few key economic indicators. If you end up in last place, I won't be able to speak up for you."

Lei Xingxing anxiously said, "Secretary, the assessment results aren't up to him to decide—what can I do?"

Wang Jingchen furrowed his brows and said, "You're underestimating Lu Fan; he wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for you in the assessment. But if your work isn't up to par, you can't blame others."

"'Secretary, I'm practically offering my face for him to hit, yet they won't even give me a chance!'"

"Learn from setbacks and gain wisdom! Only by seeing yourself clearly and putting yourself in the right position can you temper yourself in adversity, forge ahead bravely in tough times, and rally after failure. You don't need to worry about this matter; I'll talk with Lu Fan. As the top leader of Three Gate City, your every word and deed, every move, invisibly sets a direction and cultivates an atmosphere; you must always strengthen your sense of responsibility, devote yourself wholeheartedly to matters concerning Three Gate's development, take initiative, and always fulfill your duties in office, plan its governance, and discharge your responsibilities. Do not say what hinders development; do not do what hinders development; speak more and act more proactively for what benefits Three Gate's development."

"With only two months left until year-end, we're at the final stage of the game, the end of the race near; all targets and tasks are heavy, work is myriad. You must be in a state of not waiting for time, seizing every second, focusing your thoughts and energy on relentless implementation, centering on the key indicators and clear goals of the year's key work, fighting with posted charts and reverse scheduling, the whole city as one chessboard, up and down of one mind, twisted into one rope, sprinting the fourth quarter, running out acceleration. Remember, work comes first!"

"Thank you, Secretary, for your earnest teachings; I will certainly raise my awareness, firm up my confidence, strengthen responsibility, unite efforts, ensure implementation, and win the year-end battle!"

November 20, Secretary Wang Jingchen summoned Lu Fan to the office to discuss the Standing Committee agenda.

Lu Fan, staying true to his original aspiration, clearly proposed that the Organization Department report on the progress of the cleanup work and communicate the supervision work, suggesting that Three Gate City be given serious disciplinary action.

Lu Fan said solemnly, "To know straightness, one needs a plumb line; to know squareness, one needs a compass. Secretary, I'm not nitpicking or holding a grudge against Three Gate City; I have no personal grudge against anyone."

I am responsible for Party building; comprehensively enforcing strict Party discipline requires ironclad discipline. Without strict constraints and strict enforcement, cohesion and combat effectiveness will become empty talk. If everyone acted according to their own claims and wishes, we would become a loose sand, easily shattered at a single blow.

Among Party discipline, political discipline takes the lead and oversees the rest. Numerous negative cases warn us that if political norms cannot be established and enforced, many problems will arise. Some will place power above the law and act wantonly; some will outwardly comply with superiors' decisions while secretly defying them; some will falsify and deceive superiors and subordinates. All of these corrupt the atmosphere, disperse the organization, and provide fertile ground for corruption.

Therefore, all provincial leading cadres should look to the Provincial Party Committee as a model, consciously become 'clear-minded' in politics, persist in putting discipline and rules first, and ensure that every word and deed serves to uphold the unity of the Provincial Party Committee and the Party's image and prestige; in anything they do, they should keep in mind the 'measure' of rules and the 'ruler' of discipline, achieving heartfelt awe, restrained speech, and restrained action, being pure in character, pure in mind, and clean in governance.

Thus, dealing with Three Gate City, Lei Xingxing, and Wen Chaozhi is meant to educate all provincial leading cadres: constantly check themselves against the alarm, keep the rules and discipline ruler high, temper themselves with discipline and rules awareness, treat strict observance of discipline and rules as life itself, put it first, regard compliance as the foundation of conduct and existence, as a responsibility, truly internalize it in the heart and externalize it in form, to become a clean, loyal, responsible new-era leading cadre, fostering a clean and upright environment for undertaking ventures in Huayuan.

Having dragged this on for so long, continuing to delay is inappropriate; Wang Jingchen realized that talking policy and reason was useless, so he changed tactics and said, "What you say is correct; a unit without discipline cannot have combat effectiveness, so we need to give Three Gate City a tight-fillet spell." But when handling problems, we must move with the times, change with circumstances, and renew with the situation; after all, Lei Xingxing once served Comrade Guoqiang, so we should show some consideration for the leadership's feelings—Huayuan's work cannot do without the support of superiors!

I have no objection to handling Three Gate City; the Organization Department is the lead unit for the cleanup work, and the head of Three Gate City's Organization Department bears unavoidable responsibility—disciplinary action or reassignment is not excessive.

With the atmosphere set thus, Wang Jingchen, being the top leader, Lu Fan had to find a way down; he said, "Secretary, the General Office still lacks two deputy secretaries-general, which hinders work; we need to fill them soon, and I recommend Cheng Zexin, head of the Discipline Inspection Group. This comrade has strong principles, a high sense of organizational discipline, handles affairs fairly, and has proper conduct."

Wang Jingchen nodded and said, "The head of Ruzhou City's Organization Department is also a suitable candidate; take the proposal and let's discuss it in a meeting."

"'Secretary, should we also fill the Ruzhou City Organization Department head position? The head of the Organization Department's Division Three, Fan Yanjun, has outstanding business ability and solid comprehensive qualities, making him a suitable candidate."

"'Ruzhou City's Vice Mayor Wu Li is more familiar with Ruzhou's cadre situation; let Fan Yanjun serve as Vice Mayor!"

……