Chapter 1094

At this moment, the county magistrate Niu Guoqing, who earlier seemed to not know him at all, smiled, extended his hand to Su Yang and said, "Secretary Su, hello, I am our County Government's county magistrate Niu Guoqing; please cooperate sincerely in the future."

Next came Executive Vice County Magistrate Li Changgong, Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Wang Kaixuan, Organization Department Head Wu Chong, Chengguan District District Committee Secretary Teng Shijie, Publicity Department Head Li Yuxia, United Front Work Department Head Hong Guanghua, Standing Committee Vice County Magistrate Jin Chaoyang, and County Party Committee Office Director Zhao Chuanwen.

Everyone hurried forward to introduce themselves and shook hands with Su Yang very enthusiastically.

Su Yang also responded with a warm smile, but in his heart a chill kept rising. The entire standing committee consisted of 11 members, including him.

All these people seemed like subordinates of Pan Wenhai, obeying him unquestioningly, even county magistrate Niu Guoqing behaved so submissively.

It should be known that at present, the county party secretary as the top leader cannot keep the whole team tightly under control; at the very least, the county magistrate is qualified to spar with the county party secretary.

Moreover, in some places even the locally born, powerful deputy secretary or executive vice county magistrate can spar with the secretary; in short, such a situation could not exist.

Pan Wenhai saw the change in Su Yang's expression and was very satisfied. This was only the beginning; the real show was still to come.

Afterwards, he arranged for everyone to be seated, and the waitstaff began serving dishes. In a short while, ten cold plates and ten hot dishes were placed, and each table also received a bottle of Maotai.

The crucial point is that four of the ten hot dishes were seafood, which is rare in inland cities; to eat seafood one must have it air‑freighted in.

After all, this thing has not yet become common on ordinary tables, especially in the relatively poor western provinces; it only began to spread gradually after more than ten years.

This shows they indeed have a mine at home; other local governments may splurge occasionally, but inland cities truly cannot afford to arrange seafood.

Pan Wenhai seemed to see what Su Yang was thinking, and smiled, saying, "Comrade Su Yang, our Liu Cheng Xian is different from other places; although we are also an inland city, seafood is indeed a novelty here."

"But we are rich in black gold, so the local finances are decent, and these seafood dishes are sponsored by local enterprises; otherwise we wouldn't be able to eat them."

"Moreover, the whole welcome banquet tonight is also funded by several of the larger coal‑mining enterprises in our county."

"Therefore you shouldn't feel any psychological burden, nor think we are squandering public funds. Every cent of our county's budget is spent on the Common People, concretely helping them solve problems."

"So, don't carry any burden in your heart; eat what should be eaten, drink what should be drunk. In a moment, I'll have these entrepreneurs come over to meet you; many future public‑welfare projects and county activities will need their sponsorship. Although I personally don't advocate getting too close to enterprises, every penny we save for the county treasury counts."

Su Yang listened to Pan Wenhai's pompous words and felt as awkward as possible. He had never heard of any local government openly mixing with enterprises, let alone speaking so grandly and passionately.

Just as he was about to say a couple of polite words, Pan Wenhai, who was about to pick up his chopsticks, suddenly set them down, shouted "Stand up," and sprang to his feet.

Immediately afterward, everyone else also stood up in unison and looked toward the door.

Su Yang truly didn't react at once, lagging a beat, thinking to himself what on earth was happening; those who know would say this is a county welcome banquet, while those who don't might think it's a military unit's team‑building event.

He now increasingly felt that Pan Wenhai was a bit neurotic.

However, he also realized that the person who could make Pan Wenhai stand was undoubtedly someone of extremely special status.

Following the crowd's gaze, a person in his twenties entered, wearing capri‑length pants, red leather shoes, a spiky hairdo, and ear studs—a shamate style.

The shamate scanned the room, finally fixing his gaze on Su Yang: "You must be the newly arrived Secretary Su, right? Hello, hello, I am a small businessman in our county, Huang Baisheng."

"You may not have known me before, nor heard my name, but that's fine; you'll know me later. Today this banquet hall and all the food and drinks are personally sponsored by me, especially to welcome you."

Saying that, he casually reached out to shake Su Yang's hand. Su Yang did not shake hands immediately, but looked toward Pan Wenhai beside him.

Pan Wenhai promptly stepped forward and introduced, "Secretary Su, you may not know, this is the owner of our big coal hotel and the head of the largest coal mine in our county, General Manager Huang."

"General Manager Huang is an outstanding entrepreneur in our province and was selected as one of the city's top ten outstanding youths. Though he is young, he has done many practical things for our area, such as donating several Hope Primary Schools, and he single‑handedly funds the various activities of the County Party Committee and County Government each year. Having General Manager Huang here today truly makes this welcome banquet shine."

Su Yang instantly understood; indeed this was the biggest coal boss, no wonder he was so arrogant, daring to swagger in this setting as if he owned everything. Pan Wenhai's attitude further explained everything.

However, he did not rush to shake hands, but smiled and said, "A pleasure, a pleasure. I had originally planned to smooth out work and then personally visit our local outstanding entrepreneurs, and I didn't expect to meet you today—what an honor. General Manager Huang, please have a seat."

He was the epitome of a polite smile, yet kept people at a distance.

Huang Baisheng's hand remained outstretched, the rebellious look in his eyes instantly turning angry: "It seems Secretary Su has a prejudice against us small businessmen. In that case, I won't bother you any further; we have a long road ahead."

Saying that, he turned and walked away, casting a cold glance at Pan Wenhai before leaving.

Pan Wenhai shivered, and Su Yang saw all of this.

He had heard stories about coal bosses being overbearing, but never imagined that at today's event, merely the son of a coal boss could make Pan Wenhai grovel.

The reason for his judgment was that a coal boss wouldn't be so young; it must be the coal boss's son.

It seems he didn't go looking for trouble; trouble has already come to the door. Such a person shows up uninvited just to make a scene, and since he didn't get the respect he wanted, what will happen next is obvious.

Sure enough, Pan Wenhai's face stretched into a donkey‑like grimace, while the others trembled like quails, all bowing their heads as if they wanted to bury them in the table.