37: Chapter 37 Top-Tier Display (Part 1)

January 6, 2013, Xiaohan.

Lüjiang City had entered the coldest time of the year, and the river was frozen into three feet of blue ice.

The river wind, carrying sub-zero chill, swept across West Lüjiang Road, causing the national flag in front of the Municipal Party Committee Compound to snap loudly in the wind.

At 9:00 AM, two Coaster minibuses drove out of the Municipal Party Committee Compound, with police cars leading and trailing.

The heat in the lead car was turned up high, and Secretary Wan Xiaohan sat in the front single seat.

In the back row, Mayor Lin Juncai was whispering to Deputy Secretary You Chuan.

Further back, Minister Lu Ziming of the Organization Department was flipping through the list of leading cadres of Changyuan County, occasionally marking a name with a pen.

Xu Weidong sat in the window seat of the last row, watching the snowy fields passing by outside.

He had traveled this road with Secretary Wan Xiaohan just two months ago.

Back then, he was the secretary to the Secretary, sitting in the passenger seat, his mind filled with the words the leader had spoken and the spots he had visited.

Now, going back, his status had changed.

It was no longer a research trip accompaniment, but an official appointment.

"Comrade Weidong."

Secretary Wan Xiaohan spoke suddenly, so Comrade Weidong stood up and walked to the front row, sitting in the side seat.

"Secretary."

"The situation in Hukuang Township, how much did you see when I took you there last time?"

Comrade Weidong pondered for a moment and then said: "I saw poverty."

"Poverty?"

Secretary Wan Xiaohan's mouth twitched and he said: "What else?"

Comrade Weidong pondered for a moment, then said: "I saw that the people's lives there were difficult."

"But I checked the accounts later, and on the financial statements of Hukuang Township, they are balanced and have a slight surplus every year."

Secretary Wan Xiaohan did not answer, just looking out the window.

After a long time, Secretary Wan Xiaohan said one sentence: "A poor temple with a rich abbot, it has been so since ancient times."

The cars drove for two hours, passing through Changyuan County, and continued north along a bumpy county road.

Outside the window, it became increasingly desolate; the farmland was covered by thick snow, and occasionally a few adobe houses could be seen, with thin smoke rising from the chimneys.

At 11:20 AM, the motorcade entered the territory of Hukuang Township.

The seat of the Township Government was called Hukuang Street. Although it was called a street, it was just a 300-meter-long dirt road with a few scattered shops on both sides.

A supply and marketing cooperative selling pesticides and fertilizers, a small store selling cigarettes and alcohol, and a single-story courtyard with a sign for the Hukuang Township Health Center.

At the end of the dirt road was a three-story building, which was the office building of the Hukuang Township Party Committee and Government.

The outer walls of the building were covered with white ceramic tiles, making it the most imposing building on the whole street.

At this moment, dozens of people were standing in the open space in front of the building.

At the front were Secretary Chen Tianci of the County Party Committee and County Magistrate Lan Tianxing.

Behind the two of them were some members of the county's four major leadership bodies.

Further back were all the cadres of the Hukuang Township Party Committee, Government, and Renmin University of China, as well as the secretaries of each village Party branch and the directors of the village committees.

In the sub-zero weather, everyone was shrinking their necks and stomping their feet in the cold wind, but no one dared to leave.

"They're here, they're here!"

Someone shouted, causing everyone to look up.

In the distance, two Coasters, guided by police cars, drove slowly and stopped steadily on the open space in front of the building.

The door opened, and the first to get off was Minister Lu Ziming of the Organization Department.

Secretary Chen Tianci was about to go up to greet him, but saw that Minister Lu Ziming did not move forward, but stood sideways next to the car door.

The second to get off was Deputy Secretary You Chuan.

Secretary Chen Tianci's heart skipped a beat; why did Deputy Secretary You Chuan come along too?

Immediately after, Mayor Lin Juncai got off.

Secretary Chen Tianci's legs began to go weak; could this turn of events be right?

Finally, when Secretary Wan Xiaohan appeared at the car door.

Secretary Chen Tianci only felt a buzz in his head, a blank space.

The Municipal Party Committee Secretary, Mayor, Deputy Secretary, and Minister of the Organization Department—four members of the Lujiang Municipal Committee Standing Committee had come.

Two at the full-department level, two at the deputy-department level, making a special trip to send a deputy-section level cadre to take office?

What the hell kind of grandeur is this?

County Magistrate Lan Tianxing stood behind Secretary Chen Tianci with a proper smile on his face, but his heart was also churning with huge waves.

He looked past Secretary Wan Xiaohan and landed on the young man who got off last.

Xu Weidong was wearing a black down jacket, wrapped in a dark gray scarf, following behind the four leaders, his pace unhurried.

Twenty-four years old...

Deputy-section level... which was already ridiculous enough.

Now, four standing committee members from the Municipal Party Committee came to send him off personally?

The heads of three factions had all come; I might as well just send him off for Changyuan County...

Secretary Chen Tianci finally regained his senses and led a group of people to greet them.

"Secretary Wan, Mayor Lin, Deputy Secretary You Chuan, Minister Lu Ziming, it is such a cold day, thank you leaders for your hard work along the way!"

Secretary Wan Xiaohan shook hands with him, his eyes sweeping over the group of township cadres whose faces were blue with cold.

"Waiting here?"

"Yes, we are, we are!"

Secretary Chen Tianci said with a full face of smiles: "Hearing that the city leaders were coming, the comrades of Hukuang Township were so excited that they didn't sleep all night and came here to wait before dawn!"

Secretary Wan Xiaohan did not respond to this and walked straight into the building.

When Mayor Lin Juncai passed by Secretary Chen Tianci, he paused and said: "Comrade Chen Tianci, today we are here to send Comrade Weidong to take office."

"The Provincial Organization Department has specifically issued a document requiring an increase in the cultivation of selected graduates."

"Comrade Weidong is a top student from Civil Engineering University and a reserve cadre that the Provincial Party Committee pays close attention to. The city has high expectations for him."

Secretary Chen Tianci nodded repeatedly and said: "Understood, understood! Don't worry, Mayor Lin, we will definitely cultivate him with all our might!"

Mayor Lin Juncai glanced at him and didn't speak again.

The group walked into the third-floor conference room. The conference room had been arranged in advance, and nameplates were placed on the rostrum.

Comrade Weidong was arranged at the very edge of the rostrum. According to the rules, a deputy-section level cadre is not qualified to be on the rostrum on such an occasion.

But today the situation was special, and Secretary Wan Xiaohan personally instructed that Comrade Weidong be seated up there.

Who would be stubborn enough to go against the Municipal Party Committee Secretary?

Is your surname also Xu?

Or is your spit redder than someone else's blood?

The meeting began, and Minister Lu Ziming presided over the meeting personally.

He cleared his throat, took a document from his briefcase, and began to read: "After research and decision by the Lujiang Municipal Committee: Comrade Weidong is appointed as a member of the Hukuang Township Party Committee of the CPC Changyuan County, Deputy Secretary, and concurrently serving as the Organization Committee Member."

The document was very short, taking less than two minutes to read.

There was silence off the stage, and the cadres of Hukuang Township looked at each other. Some secretly pinched their thighs to confirm if they were dreaming.

Deputy Party Secretary and concurrent Organization Committee Member—this is the third-ranked position in the township, second only to the Party Committee Secretary and the Township Head.

A twenty-four-year-old young man, parachuted directly from the Municipal Committee Office to this position, and sent here personally by the Municipal Party Committee Secretary, Mayor, Deputy Secretary, and Minister of the Organization Department?

Whose prince is this down here to gild himself?

Secretary Hu Dakui sat in the second row, his smile as stiff as frozen lard.

He secretly glanced at the Township Head Ge Jiefang next to him. Township Head Ge Jiefang was also looking at him, and their eyes met and then separated.

Secretary Hu Dakui was lecherous; this was a secret known to the whole township.

He had been the secretary in Hukuang Township for eight years and had changed three township heads, but only Township Head Ge Jiefang had been his partner for four years.

It wasn't because they cooperated well, but because Township Head Ge Jiefang was greedy for money, and he was lecherous; they each took what they needed and kept out of each other's way.

Behind Secretary Hu Dakui stood Secretary Chen Tianci, and Township Head Ge Jiefang was a man of County Magistrate Lan Tianxing.

The coal mines in Hukuang Township were held by these two Bodhisattvas together.

But now, a Deputy Secretary had come.

And he was someone held in the palm of the Municipal Party Committee's hand; Secretary Hu Dakui's palms began to sweat.

"Next, please ask Secretary Wan Xiaohan to speak."

Applause rang out. Secretary Wan Xiaohan did not speak immediately, but picked up his teacup and took a sip, his gaze slowly sweeping across the audience.

His gaze lingered on the face of Secretary Hu Dakui for a moment, then shifted to Township Head Ge Jiefang, and finally fell on the village cadres in the back row.