Chapter 24: The Second Crucial Choice

  Collect and recommend now. There will be another update around 8 pm tonight and another at midnight, please help the old fish rush to the list, thank you.

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  After Sun Yanmei left this guest from Beijing, the next day in the afternoon, Peng Yuanzheng's opportunity finally came, although it was a bit late.

  The municipal party committee's organization department had actually taken away Peng Yuanzheng's file and personnel relationship from the personnel bureau yesterday morning under the pretext of selecting reserve young cadres from this year's university graduates. This morning, a call was made directly to Peng Yuanzheng's home by the staff of the first section of the municipal party committee's organization department, requiring him to report to the first section of the municipal party committee's organization department that afternoon, saying that the municipal party committee would uniformly arrange for a batch of students, but the specific unit and department had not been determined.

  Peng Yuanzheng left a note for his mother Meng Lin explaining where he was going and then walked to the Municipal Party Committee compound.

  Xin'an Municipal Committee is not far from his home, just two streets and three intersections away. The straight-line distance is very close. But the municipal government is a bit further away, on one side of the development zone.

  Peng Yuanzheng walked quickly, and after more than ten minutes, he arrived at the gate of Xin'an Municipal Committee. On the opposite side of the road, he gazed at the solemn and majestic main gate of the courtyard, and the expression of the armed police standing guard at the gate was so serious that it made people feel a sense of reverence.

  This is the center of power in Xin'an, a prefecture-level city. Although the three buildings built in the late 1970s hidden behind high walls are not eye-catching in today's rapidly developing Xin'an City, all the highest decisions concerning the lifeblood of this city are issued from here.

  In his previous life, Peng Yuanzheng was an ordinary cadre in the office of the Xin'an District Government of Xin'an City. He was naturally not unfamiliar with this courtyard. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still touch the path of these three small buildings and be familiar with every department and section here.

  Peng Yuanzheng let out a sigh of relief, calmed himself down and strode towards the door.

  Because many people come to the municipal party committee's office building for business, the armed police officer only took a glance at him and thought he didn't look like a lawbreaker, so he ignored him.

  The municipal party committee's organization department is on the first floor of the first building, and the entire floor is occupied by departments and offices of the organization department. Of course, the municipal party committee's organization department also has two other departments and subordinate agencies that are located in the city government office building.

  Peng Yuanzheng swiftly and familiarly made his way to the Cadre Section One office, then gently knocked on the heavy door.

  "Come in." A calm male voice came from inside the door.

  Peng Yuanzheng walked in lightly, with a calm and composed smile on his face.

  There were three people in the department. The innermost one had a dark-colored office desk, where a bald man in his 40s sat, obviously the head of the department. On the outside, there were two slightly smaller beige-colored office desks, with a man and a woman in their early 30s sitting facing each other.

  The bald man was reading a newspaper. When he saw Peng Yuanzheng enter, he raised his head, with a stern and serious expression, slightly arrogant.

  Looking at Peng Yuanzheng's experience of often dealing with organizational department cadres, this is not a deliberate pose, but rather that the people in the organizational department have always had a sense of superiority. The reason is simple: the organizational department manages cadres. When the municipal party committee's organizational department sends someone to the grassroots level, even if it's just a small section chief, the leaders of district and county government agencies or public institutions will give them some face.

  "Hello, I'm Peng Yuanzheng. Mr. Kori called me this morning and asked me to report here." Peng Yuanzheng said with a polite smile, looking at the bald-headed man.

  The bald man's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, as if he felt that the young man's attire was somewhat different from his imagination. However, he immediately smiled and stood up to greet him, "So you're Little Peng, come on in, please sit down. Little Li, pour Comrade Peng a glass of water."

  The bald-headed man surprisingly personally brought a chair over for Peng Yuanzheng and placed it in front of his office desk. His attitude was so enthusiastic that even his clerks, Xiao Li and Xiao Wang, were somewhat astonished. Even when the deputy heads of the organizational departments from lower-level counties came to do business, they had never seen him be so enthusiastic.

  Male staff member Xiao Li and female staff member Xiao Wang exchanged a suspicious glance, but each read doubt in the other's eyes. They worked in the Organization Department's Cadre Division, where political sensitivity was extremely keen. The bald man was a big shot in Xin'an City's organizational system, so for him to be so polite, there must be some background to it.

  Relationships with influential people who are either wealthy or of high social status.

  "Please sit down, I'm Zhou, Zhou Dayong, head of the first department. Come on, have a drink of water." The bald-headed man warmly introduced himself and gestured for Peng Yuanzheng to take a seat.

  Peng Yuanzheng didn't stand on ceremony either, and sat down with a smile, "Thanks, Zhou Ke."

  "In accordance with the instructions of the Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee, the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department has decided to select a number of young reserve cadres from this year's university graduates and uniformly assign them to work in the municipal party committee, municipal government and district and county organs."

  Zhou Dayong began to talk with Peng Yuanzheng in a fair and square manner, this is the organizational procedure, can't be careless at all.

  "Comrade Xiao Peng is a graduate of Jinghua University, with excellent moral character and academic performance, and is also a student party member. According to the arrangement of the department leaders, he was assigned as a backbone cadre."

  "This time, the placement of reserve cadres has three directions. The first is the municipal party committee organization department, the municipal party committee propaganda department and the municipal party committee office hall agency each department; the second is the municipal bureau committee office; the third is the district and county party committee agency. Today, I was entrusted by the leadership to solicit Comrade Xiao Peng's personal opinions."

  Zhou Dayong smiled warmly and slowly approached, lowering his voice to say, "Comrade Xiao Peng, I personally recommend that you stay in our organization department. We have another position available in our office. The Organization Department is in charge of cadres, so it's easy to become a cadre. If you work hard here for a few years and get sent down, becoming the deputy head of a district or county Organization Department or the head of a bureau at the county level will be very easy. Later on, getting promoted to vice-county is also quite simple."

  Zhou Dayong's voice was extremely low, but it had a strong persuasive power. He seemed not to be representing the Organization Department talking to reserve cadres waiting for assignment, but rather as a section chief recruiting talent for his own department.

  If Peng Yuanzheng wasn't a reborn and had experience in organizational work, it's really uncertain whether he would have been deceived by him. The Organization Department does indeed produce cadres, but only relatively speaking. If it were that easy, Zhou Dayong wouldn't still be stuck at the department level at his age and unable to get promoted.

  Peng Yuanzheng smiled, but his mind was on the electric shock.

  The Organization Department has power, prestige and face, but in his opinion, the atmosphere is too serious and rigid, not suitable for him; as for the district and county agencies, they are not as easy to promote as the municipal level, so he also gave up on them. As for the municipal bureau, if there were better options, Peng Yuanzheng would not be willing to go either.

  In an instant, Peng Yuanzheng made his second major decision after rebirth - going to the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department.

  After all, he is a Chinese learner and it is easier for him to make achievements in the department of ideological work. Although the municipal party committee office is also a good choice, he does not want to go and serve the leaders.

  "Zhou Ke, if possible, I'd like to go to the Propaganda Department... don't know if it's okay..." Peng Yuanzheng said lightly, with at least 50% of the humility and respect on his face being fake.

  Zhou Dayong was visibly disappointed.

  But he soon adjusted his emotions, nodded and smiled, "Okay, Comrade Xiao Peng is studying Chinese, going to work in the ideological field is also a matter of talent. Hmm, the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department has two departments that are short-staffed, do you want to go to the News Section or the Propaganda Section?"

  Zhou Dayong sought Peng Yuanzhen's opinion again.

  Next to them, Comrade Li from the male section and Comrade Wang from the female section were watching, they simply didn't dare believe their eyes. The personnel department was supposed to assign cadres, when had it ever solicited opinions from those being assigned like this time and time again? This seemed more like asking for favors rather than assigning jobs, as if they were afraid that the other party wouldn't be satisfied.

  "What's up with the news?" Peng Yuanzheng replied.

  Zhou Dayong immediately nodded and clapped his hands, "Alright, it's settled then. Little Wang, please issue a letter of introduction to Comrade Xiao Peng right away, and I'll give Old Gong at the news department a call to give him a heads up."