Chapter 705: I'll pull out your wick

"Let's go, Li Ye, it's time for the branch meeting."

On Wednesday morning, as soon as he got to work, Li Ye received a notice to attend the quarterly Party branch general meeting.

"Alright, Master, coming right away."

Li Ye picked up his notebook and followed his master, Old Ding, out the door. Deputy Wu Kezhang Wu Qingyi lagged slowly behind.

As for the others, they could only look enviously at the backs of the three section chiefs and deputy section chiefs.

This wasn't decades later, when some people would complain about paying Party dues proportionally and clamor to quit all day long.

In this day and age, the identity of a Party member was still a very "expensive" label of honor.

Moreover, if you wanted to develop within a state-owned enterprise, the Party member identity was also a very important personal condition, directly affecting the final height of your ceiling.

And in 1987, the number of Party members nationwide was far less than it would be decades later, and the proportion within manufacturing factories was not as high as in government agencies.

So young intellectuals like Yue Lingshan, Pan Dachuan, and Zheng Jiemin were all at the stage of "submitting applications," not even having touched the status of activists yet!

Factory, factory—first, you have to take care of the frontline workers.

"Master, there are quite a few people today!"

After arriving at the scene, Li Ye found there were about seventy or eighty people, a bit more than last time.

Old Ding nodded slightly, "It's more orderly than last time today. You be careful."

"Don't worry, Master. As long as others don't provoke me, I definitely won't make a sound."

Li Ye nodded with a smile, his expression very calm, but his eyes were full of anticipation.

Old Ding was nearly sixty years old; how could he not hear the subtext in Li Ye's words? He could only patiently say, "Don't be impatient yet. It's been so many days and the higher-ups haven't talked to you; they must be playing a game of balance. If you don't make the first move, you won't have any flaws. Once they reveal their flaws, you'll win."

Li Ye smiled and didn't speak. He had been waiting for many days, and his little heart, eager to cause trouble, had long been starving.

If there are no flaws, then create flaws!

Today's branch meeting was presided over by Deputy Secretary Yang. He first briefly spoke about some instructions from higher-ups, then listened to the branch committee's work report—all fixed procedural content.

According to routine, the next agenda item was to discuss the acceptance of new comrades and the regularization of probationary Party members, discuss and decide on commendations for outstanding Party members, punishments for Party members who made mistakes, and so on.

Li Ye felt that if there was going to be trouble today, it would definitely be in this segment.

"This quarter, we reviewed six applications from new comrades. Now I will announce the names, and everyone will vote to include them in the scope of investigation for activists."

"Jiang Lingui, Zhang Sister Xiao Yue, Zheng Jiemin..."

Li Ye heard Zheng Jiemin's name. This colleague who was limping but still insisted on working—he was also very "positive and upward," right?

Li Ye's lips curled slightly, and he cast a vote against him directly.

"Hiss, Li Ye, this is too ruthless! Wouldn't abstaining be enough?"

Behind Li Ye came a complaint from someone.

Li Ye turned his head to look and found a middle-aged man around fifty years old craning his neck to peek at Li Ye's ballot.

Li Ye frowned slightly, just about to speak, when his master, Old Ding, beside him, had already shouted sternly, "Old Qiao, what are you doing? Can't you even follow election discipline?"

Old Qiao was sprayed with saliva by Old Ding and stared, "Old Ding, what are you shouting about? Am I not afraid that the young man will suffer a loss? Enemies should be resolved, not tied; it's one thing that you, as a master, don't advise him, but why are you fanning the flames?"

"Master Qiao, what are you saying?"

Li Ye blocked his master, Old Ding, who was rolling up his sleeves to argue, and said calmly to Old Qiao, "I am casting a vote against him based on the principle of seeking truth from facts, fairness, and justice.

Zheng Jiemin engaged in feudal superstition against colleagues and indulged his family to interfere with the unit's work order. Do you think he still meets our organization's ideological requirements?"

"Practicing Qigong isn't considered feudal superstition, haha... I was just saying it out of kindness..."

Facing the extremely calm Li Ye, Old Qiao was not as composed as he was facing the angry Old Ding.

After all, Old Ding was already fifty-eight, and his cards had long been seen through by everyone. Li Ye, however, was still young, and who knows, he might be riding on top of his head tomorrow or the day after, and could really crush someone with his butt.

Li Ye said calmly, "But our organization didn't encourage practicing Qigong at others, did it?"

Old Qiao smiled awkwardly and turned his face away.

Zheng Jiemin "practicing Qigong" at Li Ye in the office—the label of "not uniting with comrades" couldn't be shaken off. This matter couldn't be washed away.

After Old Qiao's commotion, the people around were all thoughtful, and some were already quietly changing their ballots.

The result was as expected. When it came to the vote counting, Zheng Jiemin's "abstention rate" was surprisingly high, and he failed to be selected, ranking last in votes.

The rest was the selection of outstanding Party members, branch committee members, and other segments. The various selections of the Light Auto Company were still very rigorous, basically produced in the form of voting.

And in the voting segment involving Guan Liang, Li Ye filled in a vote against him every time.

He knew that someone might trace back who was making trouble through various traces, but he didn't care.

In his previous life, Li Ye had once believed in the principles of "the happy person retreats" and "harmony and tolerance."

But facts proved that this principle was at most occasionally applicable in dealings with unrelated people.

For example, if someone maliciously cuts you off on the road, you swallow your anger and let them go first, trading the price of being sullen for half a day for so-called "vast sky and open sea."

But in a unit where you see each other every day, screw that tolerance and harmony!

The more harmonious and tolerant you are, the more arrogant they become, climbing all over your head.

On the contrary, as Li Ye lived and understood more, he felt that the later "theory of blowing out the lamp" was more suited to the temperament of working people.

In a unit, everyone has a lamp. If you want to perform and get ahead, then you just burn hard and shine hard; no one will bother you.

But you must never think about blowing out someone else's lamp.

If you want to blow out someone else's lamp, then don't blame them for blowing out yours in return, and then pulling out your wick while they're at it!

"Alright, we have discussed the gratifying achievements of our unit in the past few months. Now let's discuss some mistakes,"

Deputy Director Xiao Jingang said with a dark face, "Just recently, some of our comrades have been very inattentive to their personal conduct, leading to rumors flying around the unit, which has greatly hindered the health of spiritual civilization..."

"I won't name this comrade here, but I hope he will consider it carefully after he goes back, explain it to us as soon as possible, avoid the rumors from continuing to expand, and strive for our forgiveness..."

There was a gasp in the conference room, and many people looked toward Li Ye.

Then, everyone saw Li Ye's arm raised high.

"Deputy Secretary Yang, I request to speak!"

Li Ye was very disciplined—raising his hand, reporting, requesting to speak; his attitude was beyond reproach.

Deputy Secretary Yang nodded, "Permission to speak."

Li Ye stood up directly and said in a loud voice, "I think Deputy Director Xiao's method of 'not naming names' is inappropriate,

because in the face of rumors, we should face them and solve them head-on, instead of watching from the other side of the river with this kind of indifferent attitude, letting the rumors expand uncontrollably.

Here, I have to question Deputy Director Xiao's specific intention. Are you deliberately indulging the spread of rumors? If not, it's been almost two weeks; may I ask what measures you have taken to solve this problem?"

"..." ===== CHAPTER 706 =====