Chapter 333: The Routine of Organizational Promotion

The first day of the meeting could be described as a battle of wits. Secretary Liu Qimeng kept a dark face from beginning to end. Guan Peishan, the leader of the Economic Leading Group, was full of spring, and after the meeting, he reached out to shake hands with everyone he met, greeting them enthusiastically. It was as if these people in front of him were long-lost old friends.

During the day-long meeting, I didn't see Deng Hanyu or Guo Wei, which kept me in a state of anxiety. The fact that both of them were absent from such an important meeting made my imagination run wild.

Mao Ping followed me the whole time, laughing mindlessly. Returning to the hotel, I saw a courtyard full of people, lively and bustling, all looking for people to greet and calling each other to go out for a gathering.

The meals prepared by the Huihuang Hotel went untouched. Those staying at the Huihuang Hotel were township cadres; village cadres stayed in other reception houses and had no meals prepared, each receiving a subsidy of fifteen yuan per day to solve their own meals.

My Suxi Town had five town cadres. Besides me, there was the Deputy Party Secretary, the Deputy Town Mayor, the person in charge of the People's Congress Presidium, the Women's Federation Director, and one other person from the Township Enterprise Office—it was actually Yue Bai.

Mao Ping was shouting and calling the cadres from Mao Shi Town to go out for dinner. The Deputy Town Mayor standing next to me asked, "Town Mayor Chen, how about we go out to eat too?"

I glared at him and said, "The county has prepared meals, and you don't want to eat them, preferring to run outside to eat. Do you have too much money to burn, or are you deliberately trying to show off?"

The Deputy Town Mayor smiled sheepishly and said, "Town Mayor Chen, such a grand meeting is something we haven't seen in decades. With such a good opportunity, why shouldn't we go out and live it up?"

The Deputy Party Secretary was an old man. Seeing that most of the people in the courtyard had basically left, he sighed and said, "They are all people with money. We in Suxi Town just got a nameplate; where do we have the money to compare with them? Let's just eat in the hotel cafeteria."

The Deputy Town Mayor and the others seemed not to have heard him; their feet were like they had nails in them and couldn't move.

The Township People's Congress and the Women's Federation were originally idle positions, and they didn't have many opportunities to speak usually. Accustomed to following the crowd, they remained silent at this moment, waiting for me to speak.

I walked toward the cafeteria without a word. The Deputy Secretary immediately stepped forward to follow. Then came Yue Bai, who pulled the Women's Federation Director along as she left.

The Deputy Town Mayor and the People's Congress Director, who were frozen in place, had no choice but to follow.

Arriving at the cafeteria, there were dozens of tables fully set, and the food had already been served. There were very few people in the entire cafeteria; besides a few waiters, there was only one table with a group of people who had already started eating.

One look at these people eating, and you knew they weren't township cadres; they were clearly a group of village cadres.

One of them saw us come in, chewed his cheek, and asked us in surprise, "Which village are you from?"

The Deputy Town Mayor replied unhappily, "We are from Suxi Town."

This person was even more surprised and said gloomily, "Not a single township cadre has come to eat; why did you come?"

The Deputy Town Mayor's eyes bulged, and he roared, "This is to entertain us township cadres; can't we eat?"

This person smiled embarrassedly, sat down, and didn't say another word.

My heart stirred, and I asked the Deputy Town Mayor, "Where are our village cadres staying?"

The Deputy Town Mayor looked at me hesitantly, scratched the back of his head, and said, "The reception house next door."

"How many village cadres came?"

"Twelve villages, one from each village."

"Go, call them all here to eat," I ordered him without hesitation.

The Deputy Town Mayor was still hesitating. I said loudly, "If you don't eat, it's a waste; it's a pity."

The Deputy Town Mayor went off happily. Before long, he called Zhao Dequan, Pan Shurong, and the others.

As soon as Zhao Dequan saw me, he ran over with joy, stood respectfully in front of me, and asked with a face full of smiles, "Town Mayor Chen is treating us to dinner?"

I pointed to the empty restaurant and said, "Sit wherever you want, eat whatever you want."

Zhao Dequan patted his forehead and said, "I knew our town would make arrangements. You, Old Pan, insisted on going outside to find food. Look, isn't it here now?"

Only then did I know that when the Deputy Town Mayor went to call them, Zhao Dequan and Pan Shurong were arguing about eating. Zhao Dequan wanted to eat, but Pan Shurong said to just get a bowl of rice noodles. The thirteen village cadres didn't come to the county often and weren't familiar with the situation. Only Pan Shurong helped Pan Xiaoqin with purchasing, so she came more often. The others were new here and didn't dare to walk around, so they had to wait for the two of them to finish arguing and go to a small restaurant on the street to fill their stomachs.

Just then, they met the Deputy Town Mayor who came to call them. Hearing that I was there, the thirteen people followed happily.

Just as they were about to sit down, they found that every table had a sign standing on it, written with the names of various townships. Our Suxi Town table was placed at the very edge, and there were only six chairs around the table.

The table next to ours was the Mao Shi Town table. Mao Shi Town seemed to be haunting us lately; I could run into them everywhere.

I pointed to the Mao Shi Town table and said, "Sit on both sides."

A waiter came over and asked me, "Leader, how many people are you?"

I pointed to the dozen or so people and said, "Just these."

The waiter said in surprise, "Your town has so many cadres?"

I smiled and said, "Our town is big, so naturally there are many cadres."

The waiter wanted to say something else, but I didn't let her continue. I pulled over a chair from the Mao Shi Town table and sat down.

When the Deputy Secretary and the others saw me sitting at the Mao Shi Town table, they smiled and followed suit, leaving the table with the Suxi Town sign to Zhao Dequan and the others.

After finishing the meal and coming out, I still hadn't seen a shadow of cadres from other townships.

Chunshan County was not big; one could walk across the entire city in half an hour. The sudden influx of so many people into the county town made the small city much livelier.

Zhao Dequan and the others went back to rest. I had been away from the government for a while, so naturally, there were many things I needed to hear the Deputy Town Mayor and the others report.

The town cadres followed me, wanting to go to my room to report.

Entering the room and sitting down, the Deputy Secretary first asked me, "Town Mayor Chen, where is Secretary Guo?"

Judging from the ranking, Guo Wei was in the first chair in Suxi Town. With Guo Wei absent, I, in the second chair, had absolute command. This was decided by our town at the Party Committee meeting, and all town cadres knew it.

The Deputy Secretary was still waiting for my answer. I said calmly, "Secretary Guo has gone to handle a major matter."

They looked at each other. The Deputy Town Mayor first took an envelope out of his bag and said hesitantly, "This envelope contains fifty yuan. I heard from the person who sent it that it was given by Secretary Guo. I don't know if it's true or false."

The People's Congress Director and the Women's Federation Director hurriedly said, "We received them too."

Yue Bai looked at me and said, "I received two. Do you only have one?"

The Deputy Town Mayor smiled unnaturally and said, "I have two as well. The other one was sent by Town Mayor Deng of Chengguan Town. He sent mine personally; I don't know what it means."

Yue Bai said, "I heard that the last agenda of this conference is to vote for the Deputy County Magistrate." She paused and asked the People's Congress Director suspiciously, "This election is the business of your People's Congress. We are not People's Congress deputies; can we vote for the Deputy County Magistrate?"

The People's Congress Director smiled awkwardly and said, "It's a mess, it's all a mess. I don't know what's going on either."

The Deputy Town Mayor said cleverly, "How come I heard that our Town Mayor Chen is also a candidate for this Deputy County Magistrate election?"

The Women's Federation Director was impatient and hurriedly interjected, "Hey, how come I didn't receive an envelope from Town Mayor Chen?"

Her words made everyone pause for a moment, and then they laughed and joked that as a Town Mayor, if I didn't send some money, they wouldn't vote for me.

I was in no mood to listen to this and asked the Deputy Town Mayor, "How is the construction site?"

I had arranged for him to follow this matter before I went to Hengyue City, so asking him now was a matter of course.

The Deputy Town Mayor scratched his head and ears for a long time, his face turning red, and said, "Town Mayor Chen, you know, it's been snowing lately, and the construction site can't work. I only went once and found there weren't many people at the site, and there was nothing to do."

A fire flared up in my heart. The Suxi Town construction site was now the top priority for the whole town, with many unpredictable things waiting to happen. Without a cadre sitting in charge, if the sky fell, no one would know.

With fire in my heart, my mouth naturally started cursing. Township cadres were casual; cursing a few swear words was a common occurrence. Not cursing made people feel strange and not part of the group.

"You don't work because it's snowing? Are you afraid of hiding at home and rolling in the quilt with your wife?" I asked coldly, my face covered in a layer of frost.

The Deputy Town Mayor panicked and pointed to Yue Bai, saying, "If you don't believe me, ask her; she is at Laoyingzui every day."

I turned my head and looked at Yue Bai inquiringly.

Yue Bai gave a faint smile and said, "There really isn't anything to do. Old Qian and Old Sun run to Laoyingzui every day to drink, going from one house to another."

My mind conjured up the expressions of Qian Youyu and Sun Demao drinking. These two old guys didn't even go home, staying at Laoyingzui every day. Thinking of this, I smiled on my face and cursed, "These two dog-day things, why are they still staying at the construction site in this weather?"

"Old Qian is busy pairing up, saying that after the town government is built, he wants to invest again to set up a farm. He wants to tie the people of Laoyingzui and Yuetang Village together so everyone can get rich together." Yue Bai smiled lightly, her expression peaceful.

"Boss Qian's idea is indeed good. It's just that with the current policy, I don't know if it's allowed or not," the Deputy Secretary said worriedly. "Suxi Town just got a foundation; if we violate the policy, I'm afraid the higher-ups will be angry and we'll be back to square one."

I comforted him, "Don't worry! The current policy is: let everyone get rich! You should be able to see that from this county-wide three-level cadre economic development conference. The times are different. People in coastal areas have long been booming. Now, compared to them, I'm afraid we are decades behind."

The Deputy Secretary had always been in charge of party-mass work, and his understanding of policy was always based on thinking according to the editorials of the *People's Daily*. Unfortunately, his theoretical foundation was not solid enough, and he couldn't understand many policies thoroughly.

"So, we are going back to before the Cultural Revolution?" he was still hesitant.

"It's not the same concept!" I said. "Now is the era of Reform and Opening-up; how can it be linked to the Cultural Revolution?"

In fact, I knew nothing about the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, I was still a bear child wearing open-crotch pants.

"If Secretary Guo goes to be the County Magistrate this time, who will come to our town to be the Party Secretary?" The Deputy Town Mayor pulled the topic back to Guo Wei again.

"Does this still need to be considered? Of course, it's Town Mayor Chen," the People's Congress Director said righteously. "Usually, the routine for organizational promotion is like this."

"That's good, that's good!" The Deputy Town Mayor clapped his hands and said, "If Town Mayor Chen becomes the Secretary, Suxi Town will have more hope."

"You, you don't leave a door when you speak," I scolded with a smile. "Secretary Guo is still the Secretary of Suxi Town until now. As for his development, is it something we can guess and talk about behind his back? You, this cadre, should go pick up dog shit. Your political awareness is probably lower than that of an old farmer picking up dog shit."

Everyone laughed and accused the Deputy Town Mayor, saying that if Secretary Guo heard this, he would think he was chasing him away. The Deputy Town Mayor was so scared by everyone that his face turned white. He held his hands together and begged for mercy, saying, "I was just talking nonsense, talking nonsense, don't spread it around!" As he spoke, he slapped his own face a few times, making everyone laugh even more happily.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! This saying is not false at all. Before the Deputy Town Mayor's words had even faded, a person walked into the room with a dark face and an old-fashioned look. Looking closely, it was actually Guo Wei, the Secretary of Suxi Town, who had walked in. ===== CHAPTER 334 =====