Chapter 1021: If it

Su Yang immediately said, "Thank you, Uncle Xia, I'm really sorry—I didn't know you had an event outside, otherwise I wouldn't have come to your office so abruptly."

Minister Xia laughed and said, "What's with the formality, kid? To be honest, hardly anyone comes to see me these days; if someone does, I ought to give them a warm reception. Come on, let's go up and talk."

As they spoke, his gaze turned to Jiao Qiang.

Su Yang introduced, "Uncle Xia, this is our colleague from the county, Jiao Qiang, the County Magistrate."

Jiao Qiang hurriedly greeted Minister Xia, "Hello, Minister Xia, I—I—I am…"

He was so nervous he could barely speak. At his level, he might not have seen many high officials, but he had seen provincial-ministerial-level cadres before—usually only at big meetings, where he stood far away, at most a background figure, never having a face‑to‑face with a provincial-ministerial-level bigwig.

Seeing how nervous Jiao Qiang was, Su Yang said, "County Magistrate Jiao, why don't you wait here? I'll come find you after I finish my talk."

Jiao Qiang felt like he'd been pardoned. He knew they'd gotten in thanks to their own background and connections—he had no right to join them.

One should still have self‑awareness in life.

If he were forced to go up, he wouldn't even know what to do with his hands and feet; it'd be better to stay here and relax.

Sure enough, after Su Yang and Minister Xia went up, a dedicated staff member soon escorted him to the reception room and warmly received him.

Even a deputy division head personally accompanied him—such treatment was unmatched; back in the county he could brag about it.

In the office, Minister Xia told Su Yang, "There's tea and coffee here—help yourself, don't stand on ceremony."

"I've also heard about your county's work lately—it's indeed not bad, but some people are obsessed with power struggles and neglect the county's most basic development."

"Officials like you are rare; making achievements is hard, but fortunately you can keep your original aspiration and devote all your energy to local development."

"But you also shouldn't become a target of everyone's resentment—doing good deeds and getting no thanks just isn't worth it."

"I also heard you've run into some trouble on this project."

"Just now on the phone I didn't quite catch it—could you explain it again?"

Su Yang then repeated the whole story, and of course he didn't forget to brew a cup of tea for Minister Xia.

Minister Xia said blandly, "Some comrades in the ministry are getting more and more outrageous—acting as if I don't even exist while I'm right here."

"All right, you don't need to worry about this. The ministry normally has many support projects each year meant to pair‑assist your poor counties, but in practice those projects are all exploited by people with connections."

"They never truly reach the ground—that's also our shortcoming. Our country is a relationship‑based society; you know you can't avoid networking, but you can't overdo it either, so each year we help as much as we can, and when we can't, there's nothing much to do."

"By the way, have you spoken with Governor Zhou lately? Governor Zhou is extremely busy these days—he has to attend some important national economic meetings and basically flies to Jingcheng every two weeks."

"Although at our level Governor Zhou counts as a young‑and‑strong faction member, he's still essentially an old father‑in‑law—you should still call to check in, especially work‑wise, since he can give you plenty of help."

"To be honest, I envy Governor Zhou for having you as a son‑in‑law—I wish I had a daughter, hahaha."

Minister Xia's thoughts leapt ahead, and Su Yang could barely keep up—just moments ago they were talking about the project, and in the blink of an eye he was bringing up Old Zhou.

Of course, Su Yang also understood that Minister Xia could see him and give him such support—partly because of Minister Fang's connections, and certainly also out of respect for Old Zhou's face.

At that level, every factor is considered—as just said, the ministry actually has many pairing‑support projects, but the places that truly need them may not get them, while most are snatched up by people with connections; and those people are basically folks like Su Yang.

Because he has at least one well‑known close relative behind him, when such junior relatives come to the ministry seeking projects, he is bound to give them some consideration.

Speaking of which, this is also a drawback of a relationship‑based society—it inevitably deprives some truly needy places of fairness.

Everyone knows this, yet everyone still strives to do it, because if you don't, someone else will.

Until now no one has been able to change it, because one person alone can't shift it—and might even be ostracized.

Su Yang said, "Ah, I'll call every few days to update him on my situation, though his work certainly won't be discussed—mostly we just chat about daily life."

Minister Xia laughed and said, "Heh, I heard there'll be an important economic meeting in the next couple of days—your dad will surely attend; if it's convenient, could you help me arrange a meeting, see if we can meet and have a quick meal together?"

Su Yang's heart gave a slight jolt—it seemed Uncle Xia was also looking for a backup plan. He'd heard during the New Year that Uncle Xia was slated to take a local post, but nothing had been finalized yet.

So even though the rumors were spreading everywhere with solid evidence, he himself remained very cautious.

Of course, let alone someone at his level—even a county official hoping to move up a grade must be extra careful, afraid of missing the chance.

Still, he couldn't casually agree to this, because Old Zhou is now a hot‑shot figure who already has the qualifications to attend major economic meetings.

Moreover, with the Zhou and Qiao families firmly behind him, the future outlook is basically clear—even many peers of the same rank want to stay on good terms with Old Zhou.

But he also couldn't refuse, since the person had personally met him and helped with the project—he couldn't not feel grateful.

He could only say, "I really don't know that my dad's coming to attend an economic meeting these two days—he usually doesn't tell me about his affairs. But if you'd like to meet him, I'll let him know."

"But I truly don't know whether he has time or other arrangements—I'll still try my best to make it happen."

But I really don't know whether he has time, or in other words, whether he has other arrangements, but I will still try my best to strive for it.