Volume 1: Against the Tide Chapter 44: Director Song's Hint Worry-Free

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  Chapter 44: Minister Song's Hint

  Zhou Dayong's eyes caught a glimpse of Peng Yuanzheng knocking on the door and entering Director Song's office, with a certain inexplicable excitement floating in his heart.

  He has been in the position of department head for many years, and he is about to reach the age limit, with no hope of being promoted to deputy county. He had already made up his mind to retire as a regular department head, but unexpectedly, a "Peng Yuanzheng" appeared halfway through.

  Minister Song's special attention has raised Zhou Dayong's political sensitivity.

  Zhou Dayong was delighted to discover that Peng Yuanzheng could serve as the best stepping stone and medium for him to get close to Minister Song. Therefore, he put aside his airs as a senior cadre and department head, and humbly made friends with Peng Yuanzheng, with a very obvious attitude of deliberately getting along well.

  Peng Yuanzheng knocked on Song Bingnan's office door, and a majestic male low voice came from inside, with only one short and powerful word: "Come in!"

  Peng Yuanzheng pushed open the door and entered.

  Song Bingnan's office was very spacious, but the interior decoration was very simple. A large dark red mahogany desk, a genuine leather armchair, then a set of sofas, a coffee table, and on the opposite side of the sofa were several pots of green plants, Peng Yuanzheng couldn't even call out their names, anyway they grew very lush and green.

  "Minister Song!" Peng Yuanzheng took a few steps forward, stopping about one and a half meters away from Minister Song's desk, smiling respectfully.

  When subordinates meet with their leaders, especially high-level leaders like Minister Song, they should not be too close or too far away. Being too close can easily cause the leader to feel uncomfortable, while being too far away is not conducive to conversation and appears impolite. This is a very subtle behavioral detail, some people in official circles pay attention to it, while others do not care, but the effects are different.

  Song Bing's stern face broke into a warm smile as he waved his hand and said, "Ah, you're here, Comrade Peng. Sit down, please."

  Peng Yuanzheng walked to the sofa with a big stride, bent down and sat down. Song Bingnan's eyes flickered with an inexplicable light. His attention to Peng Yuanzheng was not without reason. In fact, he had personally asked about Peng Yuanzheng after receiving a call from Feng Botao in Beijing, which led to Peng being selected as part of the Organization Department's youth reserve cadre selection series and transferred from the county government to the municipal party committee.

  In fact, people in the city all know that Song Bingnan is a Beijing native and was originally an official in Beijing. He was the deputy director of a certain department in the State Planning Commission. In April 1987, Song Bingnan was sent to Jiangbei Province's Education Department for a temporary assignment, later becoming the secretary of the district committee of Xin'an City's Xin'an District. In February 1990, he was promoted to a standing committee member of the municipal party committee and in July became a standing committee member and head of the organization department.

  Feng Botao had a deep understanding and appreciation for Song Bingnan, so when he received Feng's phone call, Song naturally took it to heart. Although he didn't quite understand why Peng Yuanzheng, a commoner from Xin'an City, had connections with the influential Feng family in Beijing, to the point where the eldest son of the Feng family personally made the call, he thought their relationship must be quite close.

  Song Bingnan is an old subordinate of Feng Boda, and he knows Feng Boda's character very well. If their relationship was ordinary, he would not have made the call personally and would have had his secretary handle it instead.

  Precisely because of this, the clean and honest worker's son Peng Yuanzheng was shrouded in a mysterious aura in Song Bingnan's heart, no matter how he thought about it.

  "Comrade Xiao Peng studied at Jinghua University, right? That's great, it's one of the top domestic universities, a century-old famous school..." Song Bingnan started his cordial conversation with Peng Yuanzheng from his educational background, which made Peng Yuanzheng feel more like an interrogation.

  Listening to Minister Song's Mandarin with a hint of Beijing accent, Peng Yuanzhen vaguely guessed something.

  "Yes, Minister Song, I majored in Chinese at Jinghua University."

  "Your Chinese is not bad, no wonder your writing is good, the level of material is high, it seems that the foundation laid in school is quite solid." Song Bingnan smiled and said, "However, you can't be proud, young people who have just started working should do things steadily, be humble as a person, and can't show off just because they have achieved something."

  "Please rest assured, leader, I will not disappoint your expectations and work solidly." Peng Yuanzheng smiled unconsciously to express his attitude. This was almost an instinct for him as a minor official in his past life.

  ……

  ……

  Song Bingnan probed for half a day without getting the answer he wanted and began to get down to business.

  He didn't speak directly or clearly, but rather intentionally and unintentionally mentioned some special situations in the current Xin'an government circle with profound meaning, seemingly casual, very subtle, probably only someone like Peng Yuanzheng who has been reborn and is attentive can truly understand his words.

  It depends on how much Peng Yuanzheng can understand, originally for Song Bingnan.

  The secretary of the municipal party committee, Xue Xinlai, is indeed going to leave Xin'an City. This is no longer a secret in the high-level leadership of Xin'an City. It is said that the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department has already talked to Secretary Xue about this matter. In fact, the promotion or transfer of the municipal party committee secretary is a common occurrence, but due to certain reasons, Xue Xinlai's departure has caused a certain shock in the official circles of Xin'an City. The deputy secretary of the municipal party committee and mayor, Zhou Guangli, has long coveted the position of secretary of the municipal party committee. The situation in the official circles is complex and turbulent, with a storm of old and new officials vying for power and repositioning themselves on the horizon.

  In the city, many middle and high-ranking leaders began to lean towards Mayor Zhou Guangli, which made Xue Xinlai feel somewhat uncomfortable. He had to leave, but before he left, the number one person in Xin'an City was still him.

  That's okay.

  Following the usual practice of government officials, as the municipal party secretary, Xue Xinlai had two secretaries, one was a personal secretary Zhu Yong and the other was a documentation secretary Liu Qiang. Zhu Yong was previously a deputy director-level cadre and is now a member of the Municipal Education Bureau Party Committee and vice president, although it's not a real powerful position, but solved the problem of a deputy departmental level position.

  Leaders usually consider a way out for their secretaries when they are about to retire or be transferred. This is normal.

  But compared with Zhu Yong's "rise", Liu Qiang, the literary secretary, was very disappointed.

  He was the deputy director of the secretariat many years ago, and because of his strong business skills, he has always been Secretary Xue's personal secretary, deeply trusted. However, Zhu Yongdao solved the problem for the deputy department level, but did not solve it for Liu Qiang. As the rumors of Xue Xinlai's departure grew stronger, Liu Qiang's disappointment slowly turned into resentment.

  In his view, he has worked hard for so many years and been at the forefront of everything for so many years, but has not received fair treatment, which makes him extremely indignant.

  So, for his own future prospects, he resolutely went to another place. Recently, he has been getting close to Qian Lu, the deputy secretary-general of the municipal party committee.

  Qian Lu has a good relationship with Mayor Zhou Guangli, and recently he has been moving frequently. The signs are already very clear. Once Zhou Guangli becomes the new municipal party secretary, he will definitely strongly recommend Qian Lu to the provincial party committee as a member of the municipal party standing committee and secretary-general.

  Xue Xinlai was dissatisfied and disappointed. The reason he didn't promote Liu Qiang before leaving for Lin City was that he valued Liu's writing skills and organizational coordination ability, wanting to take him along to work in Lin City. In the long run, this would definitely make Liu's development prospects better than being a deputy department-level cadre in Xin'an City - after all, Xue Xinlai was planning to cultivate him as a trusted aide for his future endeavors.

  Alas, Liu Qiang was too impatient and rushed, leading him to take a wrong path and stand in the wrong queue.

  This intangible "betrayal" made Xue Xinlei extremely angry and felt that he had misjudged the person.

  All of the above are things that Peng Yuanzhen "analyzed and judged" from the hints of Minister Song, which is not far from the truth.