Chapter 611: with translation of chapter title

This remark seemed fairly mild, but the words sometimes felt like a steel spear stabbing into Jiao Qiang's heart.

He is indeed the County Government Office Director, but he differs from the County Party Committee Office Director, whose main role is to serve the County Party Secretary.

Besides serving the County Magistrate, the County Government Office Director also serves the other Vice County Magistrates.

If another Vice County Magistrate said this, he wouldn't be scared at all.

But Su Yang is different; since this morning, the entire County Party Committee and County Government compound have been rumoring that their county government team will be transferred a super-young Vice County Magistrate with background, decisiveness, courage, and ability.

Moreover, he will also join the County Party Committee Standing Committee.

He has been in the Government Office for many years; he may not understand much else, but he certainly understands that when immortals fight, mortals suffer.

Putting it bluntly, Wen Qiren and Su Yang will eventually clash; regardless of who loses, getting rid of him, this Government Office Director, will be easy.

He also feels bitter; Su Yang's arrival, hardly any county cadre welcomes it, especially him as the County Government Office Director in the county government team, who would rather suffer an early, merciless, brutal reality blow and be left incapacitated.

Otherwise he would be like a mouse in a bellows, getting squeezed from both ends.

Before he could react, Su Yang had already stepped upstairs, because he also knew that this so-called office arrangement was not at all Jiao Qiang's intention.

A Government Office Director essentially provides service to these county government leaders; if he had a grudge with a certain Vice County Magistrate and secretly tripped him up, that might be possible.

But as long as he is sane, he would never dare to trip up a Vice County Magistrate who has entered the Standing Committee.

Unless he has become utterly stupid beyond remedy.

Su Yang walked up to the fourth floor himself, found office 407, glanced at it—it was actually quite large, at least over thirty square meters, and it also came with an attached suite.

The office contained a desk, a bookshelf, two file cabinets, two single sofas, and a coffee table.

This is also standard for a leader's office; the only difference from his previous posts is that now there is a suite and a private place to rest.

Actually, he isn't superstitious about door numbers at all; sometimes it's purely for appearances.

Of course, some leaders pay special attention to this; generally, if there is a ninth floor they definitely go to the ninth floor, if not, they often end up on the seventh floor.

Moreover, besides caring about floor numbers, they are very superstitious about feng shui layouts; some even place supporting mountain stones in their offices.

Even more laughable, they have monks and Taoists perform rituals.

You know that with such leaders, there will inevitably be such subordinates; throughout the region, it will trickle down, and a superstitious trend will prevail.

Such officials talk about freedom and democracy every day, advocate belief in science, but behind the scenes they engage heavily in feudal superstition.

There are no leader offices on the fourth floor; they probably are testing him, to see if he will openly cause trouble just because he works on the fourth floor.

However, they don't know that Su Yang doesn't care about those at all; anyone who engages in feudal superstition surely has a guilty conscience.

Even if nothing happens now, sooner or later something will happen.

Before anything happens, they pray to gods and buddhas every day, engaging in superstition, thinking it works.

When something does happen, they think it's because their sincerity was insufficient; in short, anyone upright and honest has no need for such tricks.

As for lodging, he didn't even bother to look; after work he just goes to the guesthouse, which is normal for leaders.

The work just handed over certainly doesn't have a suitable room ready; generally one has to wait a while before arrangements are made.

Strictly speaking, it's not that there aren't any; it's that one must find a suitable one.

One can't just put leaders in a student dormitory; that wouldn't make sense and wouldn't follow the rules.

Although there are standards and requirements from above, local implementation is another matter; at the very least, a standard apartment must be available.

Just now Jiao Qiang mentioned that Shuanggou Winery is renovating the recently completed apartments; the implication is that Shuanggou Winery is the financial backer of the entire county's finances.

This also deliberately emphasizes who really calls the shots in Lieshan County.

Although the office has standard fittings, fortunately the hygiene is kept especially clean.

He had just sat down behind his desk when Jiao Qiang followed him in: "County Magistrate Su, since you've just arrived and we haven't assigned a liaison officer yet, I will assist you with your daily life and work. As for the liaison officer, we are currently doing an initial screening; after that, we will give you their resumes to review."

Su Yang waved his hand and said: "No rush; I don't need it for now, and I'll let you know when I do."

At present it is possible to assign a liaison officer, i. e., a secretary, but when Su Yang arrived today and saw Department Head Lu's condition in the car, he roughly understood that Geng Miao must be all‑pervasive, having co‑opted and corrupted everyone who could be won over or used.

Even if he now needs a liaison officer, no matter how he chooses, that person will be Geng Miao's man.

Moreover, many things are still unclear since his arrival, and there's no need to plant someone else's spy beside him.

A flicker of disappointment crossed Jiao Qiang's eyes; this was one of his important tasks today. He had thought that if Su Yang, upon arrival, rushed to arrange a liaison officer, it might raise Su Yang's suspicion.

He also smugly said he was in the process of screening, and after selecting a few candidates, Su Yang would make the final decision.

In his view, this was reasonable and orderly, showing his work was well‑organized while dispelling Su Yang's doubts.

But in fact, they don't need it at all, so his careful preparations came to nothing.

It's not a problem that it fell through; the important thing is how to explain it to them.

After thinking this through, he put on a smile and said: "Fine, then I won't disturb County Magistrate Su. If you need anything, just call me; there's a contact list on the desk with the phone numbers of all County Party Committee and County Government leaders, as well as ours who serve the leaders."

Su Yang gave a slight nod, and he hurriedly turned and left. Logically he should have taken Su Yang around to familiarize him with the environment, but he was in a rush to report to someone, and there was no time.

He rushed out to make a phone call, and Su Yang didn't pay attention to these things.

He picked up the desk phone and called Sun Chengjun, who should have reported for duty this morning, wanting to ask how things were on his end.

Having just arrived and been given a hostile welcome, he believed the pressure on Sun Chengjun's side would be no less than his own.

The result was that the phone rang for a long time before Sun Chengjun answered.