13: Chapter 13 Minister Xiao's Guidance

The Municipal Government building.

The heavy solid wood door of the Executive Vice Mayor's office had been tightly shut for the entire morning.

Passing staff members subconsciously walked on tiptoe.

Even the few division chiefs who usually walked with a hurried air were stepping as if they were walking on eggshells today.

The atmosphere was too eerie.

Secretary Gao Ming was currently standing at the doorway like a telephone pole, clutching a few urgent documents in his hand.

He hadn't dared to take a single step inside for half an hour.

There were no lights on inside the office.

Half of Secretary Zhu Tianhe's face was hidden in the shadow of the mahogany executive chair.

In the crystal ashtray beside his hand, cigarette butts had already piled up into a small mountain.

A special report on the old city renovation from the Urban Construction Bureau.

The protocol for receiving the foreign business delegation.

The second-in-command of the Linjiang Municipal Government had rarely canceled all his morning engagements.

He was waiting for a phone call.

"Ding."

A ghostly blue flame flickered up.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe had just brought the flame to the tobacco.

"Ring—ring—"

The flame shuddered.

With a "plop," the burning hot ash landed, instantly burning a small black hole through his suit trousers.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe didn't brush it off.

He grabbed the receiver.

"Result."

On the other end of the line was an acquaintance from the Municipal Organization Department.

"Old Zhu, the total scores have been calculated."

"You're... one point behind that girl from the family of Division Chief Liu Haiping."

The half-finished Zhonghua cigarette in Secretary Zhu Tianhe's hand slipped right through his fingers.

One point. That one point was the key to whether or not one could land the position.

"Bullshit!"

"Zhu Wenhao beat her by a full ten points in the written exam!"

"That's ten points!"

"Did that girl from Liu Family have gold bars embedded in her mouth, or did she grow eight tongues?"

"She can beat him by eleven points in the interview?"

"Keep your voice down."

"This matter... is very strange."

"I secretly checked the original score sheet."

"The chief examiner, Principal Zhou, gave your son an extremely high score."

"He even wrote the eight-character comment: 'Profound vision, capable of great responsibility.'"

"That's a perfect-score level evaluation."

"Then how did he lose?"

"The problem lies with the deputy examiners. Of the seven examiners, six were from the province, and only one was local."

"Four of them were perfectly uniform."

"The scores were all barely scraping the passing line."

"Not one point more, not one point less."

"According to the rules, the highest score is dropped, and the lowest score is dropped."

"Principal Zhou's perfect score and one of the low scores canceled each other out."

"With the remaining three low scores, plus two other examiners who didn't give high scores, the average..."

"Slap."

Secretary Zhu Tianhe slapped his own thigh.

He understood everything.

Seven examiners.

Six sent down from the province, and only one local accompanying them.

This morning, he still thought that Division Chief Liu Haiping, a section chief from the Provincial Government Office, couldn't reach his hand into Linjiang's territory.

Turns out, he was waiting right here.

This is an open conspiracy!

Using loopholes in the rules to play you to death.

You play a trump card.

They just play four twos and flip the table.

No reason needed.

Only the result matters.

"Damn..."

"Is that how they play?"

"Old Zhu."

"I can only say this much."

"The exam room video footage was sealed and taken away by the province ten minutes ago."

"I don't have the authority."

"You... take care of yourself."

Beep, beep, beep—a busy signal came through.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe froze in place.

His mind was filled with the image of his son, Zhu Wenhao's, young and exuberant face from a few nights ago.

"Dad, I've decided, I'm not going to the Youth League Committee to retire."

"I want to go to the Two Offices."

"That is the modern Hanlin Academy."

How high-spirited he was.

And the result?

Before he even stepped over the threshold.

He was smashed to pieces along with the doorframe.

Is this the second-in-command of the Linjiang Municipal Government?

Is this the Executive Vice Mayor?

In the eyes of those in the province who have eyes and hands reaching the sky.

He was just a slightly larger ant.

The doorknob suddenly turned.

Secretary Gao Ming, carrying an insulated lunch box, poked half his body inside.

"Boss, it's almost one o'clock."

"The cafeteria made the braised pork belly you like, so..."

"Get out."

Secretary Gao Ming didn't hear clearly.

"Huh? This afternoon, Old Wang from the Finance Bureau..."

"I told you to get out!"

Secretary Gao Ming trembled all over in fear.

He almost dropped the lunch box on his own feet.

He had followed his boss for five years.

This was the first time he saw this smiling tiger, who was always grinning, reveal his man-eating fangs.

The door was hastily pulled shut.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe slumped into his chair.

He covered his face with his hands.

How humiliating.

If he swallowed this insult.

In the future, in the game of chess that is Linjiang City, who would still recognize Secretary Zhu Tianhe's rules?

Suddenly, he picked up the phone on the desk.

Reporting to a superior beyond one's immediate supervisor is the number one taboo in the officialdom.

But he couldn't care about that anymore.

He pressed the keypad.

"Beep—"

It connected.

"Hello."

Standing Committee Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, Minister Xiao Dingyu.

He was also the old mentor who had forcefully promoted Secretary Zhu Tianhe back in the bankrupt machinery factory.

"Old Leader..."

"It's Tianhe."

"Not taking a nap in the middle of the day."

"Has the sky fallen?"

"Old Leader, I have grievances!"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe gripped the receiver tightly.

"That child, Zhu Wenhao, took the provincial exam this time."

"He did very well on the written exam!"

"His essay for the civil service exam was even taken by the provincial grading team as a model essay!"

"Today, during the interview, the examiners ganged up to suppress his score!"

"Several deputy examiners gave bottom-tier scores in unison, forcing the score down!"

"This is a blatant hunt!"

"Old Leader, you are in charge of cadres."

"You have to handle this matter!"

The other end of the line fell into a deathly silence that lasted for half a minute.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe's back slowly seeped with cold sweat.

He began to regret his speed of speaking just now.

"Tianhe."

Minister Xiao Dingyu finally spoke.

"You're forty-eight this year, right?"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe paused.

"Yes. Forty-eight."

"You're nearly fifty."

"When you encounter a problem, you're still like a little apprentice who just entered the factory."

"Someone stepped on your foot, and you just know how to cry and ask your master for an explanation?"

"Old Leader, I'm doing this for the child..."

"It doesn't matter who you're doing it for!"

The volume didn't rise.

But the sense of pressure instantly pierced through the telephone line.

"You are the Executive Vice Mayor of Linjiang City."

"You are the proposed Deputy Secretary who is about to enter the core three-person group of Linjiang!"

"Where is your composure?"

"Where is your depth of character?"

"You say someone set a trap."

"Where is the evidence?"

"Do you have a recording?"

"Do you have video footage?"

"Or did you catch the transfer records of any examiner accepting bribes?"

None.

None at all.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe opened his mouth.

"You have nothing, just a few score sheets, and your 'I feel'."

"And you dare to call the office of a Standing Committee Member of the Provincial Party Committee to cry injustice?"

"If the Discipline Inspection Commission handled cases by just using their gut feeling like you."

"The Provincial Party Committee Compound would have been empty long ago!"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe's legs went weak.

He almost slid off the chair.

"A few days ago, Secretary Yang met with me."

"We were originally discussing letting you take over for Old Su and take on the position of Deputy Secretary."

"I even put in a good word for you."

"Now it seems."

"Putting you in that position."

"Would be irresponsible to the millions of Linjiang people."

It's over.

It's all over.

One phone call.

The son wasn't saved, and his own future was ruined.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe changed his tone repeatedly.

"Old Leader, I was wrong."

"I was really dizzy with anxiety, I'll self-reflect..."

"That's enough."

Minister Xiao Dingyu interrupted him.

"Anxiety leads to disorder."

"But remember, when it comes to specific matters, it's never about who has the loudest voice."

"Since Division Chief Liu Haiping dared to make the move."

"He must have wiped his tail clean."

"You jumping around now has no meaning other than letting others see you as a joke."

"Then... I'll just watch Zhu Wenhao get ruined like this?"

"You, oh you."

"Usually, besides keeping your head down and pulling the cart, you really should look up and see the road."

"You have such a great living Buddha in your own home."

"You don't go to burn incense."

"Why run to me to ring the bell?"

Secretary Zhu Tianhe was stunned.

A living Buddha?

He was from a humble background, what kind of living Buddha could he have at home?

"Your father-in-law."

"He has been retired for a few years."

"But back when he was in office, he and the old man of Liu Family..."

"Had quite a relationship."

For these years, they had been respectful to each other, and he had only focused on working hard at the grassroots level, actually forgetting this golden arhat!

"Understand?"

"Understood! Understood!"

"Thank you for the guidance, Old Leader!"

"That's it."

Minister Xiao Dingyu prepared to hang up.

"By the way."

"I read the article written by your boy."

"The opening is very accurate."

"Don't let it go to waste."

Click.

A busy signal sounded.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe held the receiver.

Standing in front of the desk.

He stood still for a full minute.

Was the Old Leader praising the article with that last sentence?

No.

He was telling him: I have my eye on this kid; if you can pave the way, I can let him walk it.

Secretary Zhu Tianhe took a deep breath.

He picked up his phone.

His fingers skillfully slid through the contacts, found the right number, and dialed.

"Hello." The woman's voice was very calm, "Old Zhu, it's the middle of the day, what made you think of calling me?"