Chapter 592: Warm Arrangements, Both Meat and Vegetarian Provided

You see, my brain's reaction is really slow, thanks, Lai Chu!

Mao Kai hurriedly said, "Don't mention the toast; even if I end up vomiting blood from drinking today, I'll still go all out!"

Wang Huan was a beat slower, but he's a man of action, directly pushing the six full cups of wine toward Lai Junchen's face: "Lai Chu, I toast you!"

Lai Junchen then said, "I could actually drink this wine, but there's a saying about this. Things aren't necessarily guaranteed to succeed, and I'm doing this for Su Yang, so you should be thanking Su Yang, not me."

Although that sounds a bit hurtful, that's the fact—people may treat you as a friend or even call you brother, but that's just talk; whether they truly accept you is another matter.

Even if we step back ten thousand steps, just being able to sit here drinking with two division-level officials is already giving plenty of face. Moreover, what he said is correct—he's helping the two of them only for Su Yang's sake; otherwise, relying on their connections, it would be nearly impossible to get him to say a word.

Speaking plainly, the people he can directly contact in the city below are usually mayors and vice mayors—in other words, those real-power officials at the bureau and deputy-bureau level. Although he himself is a division-level official, those division-level officials below can't compare with him—although he has no real power and doesn't oversee any unit, his influence far exceeds that of a mayor, because he constantly represents the Executive Vice Governor.

Su Yang didn't expect Lai Junchen to give him this much face, so he simply said, "Forget all that—since Brother Lai insists on putting me over the fire, let's just each down six cups straight, no empty toasting."

Nobody naturally objected to his proposal—after all, they're all seasoned officials; drinking six cups in a row is just basic operation.

After clinking the six cups, Mao Kai and Wang Huan still followed the old rule, each drinking a full small vessel. Toasting is a kind of skill: you have to lift the cup each time to offer a toast to the leader, letting the leader drink; if you don't do it this way, your sincerity won't show, so you can only drink first as a sign of respect.

Moreover, some people like to watch subordinates drink; the better your alcohol tolerance, the stronger they think your ability is—those who can drink one jin should be observed more; those who can drink two jin should be heavily used; those who can drink more than three jin should be promoted.

For someone in Lai Junchen's special position, his power isn't great, but his status stands out; he's experienced all kinds of occasions. So he accepts the two's performance gladly, though if they kept constantly raising their cups to toast him, he wouldn't like it either.

Today the real star is Su Yang, not him; he originally planned to find two people to accompany Su Yang, but now seeing that even that effort is saved, it's great.

They drank until ten at night before considering it dispersed; after dispersing, Su Yang wanted to send Lai Junchen home, but Lai Junchen said he'd arrange a second round for Su Yang.

Su Yang firmly refused—first, his relationship with Lai Junchen isn't necessarily that close yet; second, he still doesn't fully understand what kind of person Lai Junchen is.

Furthermore, letting them arrange so-called a second round isn't appropriate either, since they represent Vice Provincial Governor Huang; if word got out, it wouldn't sound right. What if it's Uncle Huang testing him? Then wouldn't he just lose all face?

In the end, all that could be said was that Zhou Ruohan would constantly monitor his movements, and Lai Junchen then relented.

After Lai Junchen left, Mao Kai and Wang Huan grabbed Su Yang and wouldn't let go—it was obvious: they'd settled this big matter for the two of them, a second round had to be arranged. Even if Su Yang said he really needed to report to his fiancée, they pretended not to hear.

Normally, their promotion from deputy to regular in place is difficult—on one hand, other deputy bureau chiefs are already competitors; on the other hand, there are deputy county magistrates or county magistrates transferred laterally from other counties, as well as direct aerial placements from higher departments; in short, there are many variables.

Moreover, for such a matter, normally even if you treat people to food and drink, without a hundred or eighty rounds, the chance of success is low. But today they just casually said a sentence, and the matter was settled; they have reason to believe their appointments will come down within a month. At the end of the day, who has this much face to make their affair so clean and decisive? It's definitely Su Yang!

Frankly, they came to see Su Yang today to deepen feelings—after all, Su Yang just went through being 'rolled' (scolded?), directly talking to them about progress would be like rubbing salt in a wound. Su Yang is so open-minded, he directly turned their inner thoughts into action; if he didn't arrange a second round, could that be justified?

"Old brother, even if you refuse me today, I'll shamelessly drag you over! Old Gou and Old Li are already waiting there—they both arrived early, but hearing we're having a meal with Chief Secretary Lai, they felt embarrassed to come over."

Just as they were speaking, Gou Xiong and Li Xunhuan had already come over—in fact, they'd been waiting here all along; if Lai Junchen didn't leave, they wouldn't dare show up.

"Old brother, don't say anything else—you must go today! If you don't want the meaty option, we'll give you the vegetarian; anyway, we need to arrange things properly—this is everyone's opinion, you can't not give us face, right?"

Su Yang had no choice, so he followed them to the so-called second round. Upon arrival, seeing there was no distinction between meat and vegetarian anymore, any observant person could tell that the several women present were all brought by them, one of whom is TV host Mo Xiao Bei.

"Secretary Su, you've come—I prepared hangover soup in advance, have a sip." Mo Xiao Bei saw Su Yang enter and immediately went forward to greet him—because the few people around him are all top-tier experts; although he's a host, he might not have the upper hand.

"Old brother, look—this Miss Mo usually doesn't even give face to me, the station chief; today hearing they wanted to invite you to a meal, she voluntarily stepped forward and came along. As for those two, they were brought by Bureau Chief Gou, which is also his good intention."

Gou Xiong said, "Hey, what do you mean? Don't mess around—these are all from our bureau; they know a bit of massage technique, so I brought them over to give Old Brother Su Yang a rub, let him relax. Day after day of high-intensity work leaves people pretty tired."

Anyway, they're trying to win Su Yang's favor—especially after learning that Su Yang and Lai Junchen had just eaten together, their enthusiasm grew even more. If they found out that Wang Huan and Mao Kai's matters had already been settled, their enthusiasm might double.

Su Yang laughed and said, "Alright, all you older brothers, we're our own people—don't copy others' ways. Besides, I'm young and just starting my career; don't trip me up."

"Let's do this—I'll drink the hangover soup, but the massage is unnecessary. You know I'm engaged, basically a married man; if this got out, I don't know whether my reputation would be good or bad, but at home I'd definitely be kneeling on durian!"