Chapter 415

He glanced at the phone number, signaled for Li Chunsheng to get out of the car, and then he also got out and pressed the answer button: "What's wrong? Why are you calling? I just entered the city."

It was Zhou Ruohan on the other end: "I'm waiting for you to cook tonight. I want to eat dry-fried green beans and braised eggplant tonight. It would be even better if you could make a Four-Joy Meatball. How about I go buy the groceries first, and you can cook when you get here?"

Su Yang thought to himself that other people who are county magistrates have endless dinners every day, but Zhou Ruohan is the opposite, eating at home every day, seemingly without any social engagements.

Of course, this is also good. Which man likes his wife to be out and about every day, socializing at various events?

"I have a dinner engagement tonight. Why don't you come too? I just don't know if they would welcome you," Su Yang said deliberately.

As soon as Zhou Ruohan heard Su Yang had a social engagement, she said, "What's wrong? Are you going to engage in corruption? You're a dismissed Town Mayor, and yet someone is still inviting you to dinner? Who is so lacking in political intelligence?"

"By the way, who's going to be there? Let me see if I can come and get a free meal, otherwise I'll have to cook myself."

Su Yang said, "Ah, mainly Minister Gao from the Organization Department, and Secretary Tan, who is about to take office in our Huatian Town."

Before Su Yang could finish, Zhou Ruohan said, "Then I won't come. You talk about your business; if I come, I might interfere with you."

Su Yang hadn't finished speaking yet, so he continued, "Oh, and there's also a female cadre from our town, the one who was just promoted..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Zhou Ruohan: "I've thought about it, and I've decided to come over after all, to supervise you people so you don't engage in corruption."

Su Yang was left speechless. Didn't she say she wasn't coming? Why did she suddenly want to come? With the County Magistrate present, if we talk about work, I'm afraid the pressure will be immense.

But since Zhou Ruohan wanted to come, he had no choice but to say, "Then I'll send you the address in a moment."

After hanging up, he said to Li Chunsheng, "Wait a moment, someone else is coming. You don't mind, do you? It was originally just to introduce you to Secretary Tan and sort out work matters, but this dinner is getting more and more crowded."

Li Chunsheng said, "I don't mind. Why would I mind?" At the same time, she thought that no matter who Su Yang's friend was, she would take this opportunity to build a good relationship; for her, there were only benefits and no harm.

Of course, that's what she thought for now; she might not think so in a little while.

As they spoke, they arrived at the entrance of Jincheng Restaurant. Tan Donglai was already waiting at the door: "Mayor Su, I've finally been looking forward to your arrival. This comrade is... Mayor Li?"

After seeing Li Chunsheng, Tan Donglai was stunned for a moment, and then he understood why Su Yang had brought Li Chunsheng along.

They were both old hands in the officialdom; he naturally understood that Su Yang was telling him Li Chunsheng was one of his own.

In fact, as long as Su Yang brought someone, Tan Donglai already understood how the two would get along in their future work.

"Hello, Secretary Tan. I will be working under your leadership in the future; please give me more guidance."

Li Chunsheng stepped forward to shake hands. Although Tan Donglai wasn't very "familiar" with her, she was very clear about Tan Donglai.

Because she was originally the Organization Committee Member in the town, she was naturally quite familiar with the leaders in the county, specifically the leaders of the Organization Department.

Tan Donglai's words were more or less a bit pretentious. If it were other cadres, he might not remember them, but since they were all doing organization work, he certainly knew the organization committee members of each township.

However, he kept his distance like this precisely so that after Su Yang introduced them, he could close the distance with Li Chunsheng because of Su Yang, and thus it would be Su Yang's credit.

"Not at all, not at all. I'll need your support when we form the team later. After all, I'm completely in the dark about the situation in the town. Oh, to be precise, both you and I need to ask for Mayor Su's support."

Su Yang laughed and said, "Alright, everyone, let's stop being so polite here. Shall we go up first and wait for Minister Gao?"

Tan Donglai said, "Minister Gao has already arrived; he's in the private room upstairs."

Afterward, the three of them went upstairs. Minister Gao was indeed already in the private room. Su Yang said, "I'm sorry to have kept Minister Gao waiting. If we had known you were coming, Minister Gao, we should have been the ones waiting for you. How could we let you wait for us?"

These words were indeed polite, but they were very well-received by Gao Fengming; after all, Su Yang was different.

If someone else had said this, it would have seemed very normal. He was a leader of the County Party Committee Organization Department and a member of the County Standing Committee. It was only natural for these township cadres to be respectful when seeing him.

But was Su Yang the same as those ordinary township cadres? Obviously not. As for Su Yang's identity, others might not know, but he knew it clearly.

He laughed and said, "Su Yang, when did you learn this officialdom stuff? Wasn't it fine before? Besides, why are you being so polite with me?"

"And Donglai, you and this Comrade Li Chunsheng should sit down quickly. Everyone is hungry at this hour; let's have them serve the dishes."

The dishes had been ordered beforehand. As they talked, the cold dishes were quickly served on the table.

Only then did Li Chunsheng have the opportunity to greet Gao Fengming: "Hello, Minister Gao. I am Li Chunsheng from Huatian Town."

"Hahaha, congratulations, Mayor Li. This time, the organization originally only listed some of you in the inspection list and didn't highlight who to recommend specifically; it was mainly Mayor Su who insisted on recommending you."

"And you might not know yet, but in order for you to become this Town Mayor, Mayor Su spent a lot of energy, even going personally to talk to some of the Standing Committee leaders in the county about your situation."

As expected of a leading cadre, in just a few sentences, he had raised Su Yang's image even higher.

Li Chunsheng immediately expressed her gratitude to Su Yang again. Su Yang said, "Alright, alright, no need to be polite in front of Minister Gao. Shouldn't we toast Minister Gao?"

In such occasions, toasting the leader is an ironclad rule. After the toast, Su Yang said, "Minister Gao, we originally agreed to have a meal together, but a friend of mine just called and wants to have a meal with us too. I don't know if it's convenient?"

Gao Fengming didn't hesitate at all and said, "You kid are learning to be more and more polite now. If a friend wants to come and eat, just let them join."

"Or should we wait a bit longer? Once your friend arrives, we can all start together."

At this moment, Tan Donglai said from the side, "The hot dishes have already been prepared. I think we might as well eat while we wait, and when Mayor Su's friend arrives, we can order a couple more dishes."

Li Chunsheng said from the side, "Since Mayor Su's friend is coming, wouldn't it be inappropriate for us to eat first? Minister Gao, what do you think?"

She naturally knew that Tan Donglai was Gao Fengming's man, so she naturally had to center everything around Gao Fengming. Moreover, Minister Gao was the highest-ranking person among them, so there was no problem with that.

But in her heart, she centered everything around Su Yang. It was indeed impolite to start eating before Su Yang's friend arrived, and besides, Su Yang had just spoken and Minister Gao had agreed.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward for a moment. In principle, neither of them was wrong, but there was a hint of gunpowder.

At this moment, Su Yang smiled: "What's going on? You two haven't even formed a team yet, and you already have disagreements?"