Chapter 2 Stay Behind!

  (Revised opening, old readers can ignore it, the plot remains unchanged)

  At this time, Liu Siyuan was sitting in the supervision room of the Hanjiang Municipal Government, feeling extremely bored. The reason for his boredom was that the work of a civil servant was too leisurely. He had already read all the newspapers in the office that day, including the advertisements in the middle pages. Basically, as long as it was reported in the newspaper, Liu Siyuan could recite the red and white matters of Hanjiang City from memory. Sometimes he thought to himself that this newspaper should award him a certificate of honor for being the best reader.

  He passed the civil service examination smoothly that year, well, to be precise, under the gaze of a middle-aged woman with autumn waves like water, he almost scored the first place in Hanjiang City, and then was assigned to the inspection room.

  The inspection room supervises the completion of tasks assigned by the municipal government to various bureaus and counties under its jurisdiction, and has a great deal of power. It is considered a lucrative department that is not easy to get into. Later, he found out that it was actually Director Ouyang who played a crucial role.

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  Here is a brief introduction to the Supervision Office of the Hanjiang Municipal Government, with an unusual level setting.

  Hanjiang City is not only the provincial capital but also one of the 15 vice-provincial cities in the country, with a rank half higher than that of ordinary prefecture-level cities. The heads of the four sets of organizations are all deputy ministerial officials, and most of the subordinate institutions are at the deputy departmental level.

  The Municipal Supervision Office is directly under the Vice-Hall-level Municipal Government Office, so normally it should be a regular full-division-level structure. Considering the importance of the Supervision Office, it was upgraded by half a grade, making it a Deputy Bureau-level full-division-level structure. By the way, this unusual level of Deputy Bureau-level full-division is exclusive to vice-provincial cities.

  The head of the inspection office is personally served by the secretary-general of the municipal government, and the secretary-general of the municipal government in a vice-provincial city can be at the level of a full department or a deputy department. Currently, Zhang Secretary-General is still at the deputy department level.

  According to official sources, the Secretary-General Zhang personally took charge of the Supervision Office, which fully demonstrates the municipal government's high attention to supervision work. The actual reason is well understood by everyone, but it's just that the leaders considered the special nature of the Supervision Office's work, and the level of the person in charge was too low to suppress the districts, counties, and municipal bureaus below, making it impossible to carry out the work.

  Apart from the Secretary-General who is also the Director, the Supervision Office has two Deputy Directors, both of whom are at the level of a department head. The two deputy directors, one male and one female, have different styles of handling matters. Female Deputy Director Yao Yuan represents the tough line, doing things quickly and decisively, earning her the nickname "Iron-faced Judge" or "Ghostly Official" from the lower-level officials in the districts, counties, and municipal bureaus. Generally speaking, anything that falls into her hands will not be let go until it is turned upside down, with people and horses overturned, chickens flying and dogs jumping.

  And another deputy director, Zhang Jinsong, was just the opposite. At the age of 29, he was a regular official and a rising star in the municipal government. With his handsome appearance, open and affable personality, and being unmarried, he was a diamond bachelor in the eyes of many unmarried girls in the city hall. Director Zhang's style of handling affairs was completely different from that of Yao Yuan. He had absolutely inherited the true tradition of Zhang Sanfeng and was a top-notch master of Tai Chi boxing. His forte was to start with minor details, balance all aspects, and turn even the most difficult situations into a smooth conclusion through his skillful maneuvering, leaving everyone satisfied. As a result, he won the favor of many district and county officials.

  The personnel in the inspection room are relatively few, except for two deputy directors, and there is also a deputy department-level researcher Zhang Jinping in the inspection room, who is about 50 years old. At this age, being at the deputy department level means that there is no longer much prospect, and it's already passed. Unexpectedly, the best result would be to promote one rank before retirement.

  Then there were two ordinary clerks, Xing Jun and Liu Siyuan. Xing Jun was already twenty-five years old and was eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be promoted to deputy director clerk, while our protagonist Liu Siyuan, due to his early education and skipping a level, had only just turned twenty-one after one year of work. He also knew that he had the shallowest qualifications and no chance of promotion in the short term. So overall, among the people in the inspection room, he and Zhang Jinping were relatively free from desires and ambitions.

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  "Xiao Liu, what are you daydreaming about? Come over here." A voice came from behind, belonging to Deputy Director Yao Yuan.

  Yao Yuan looked for Liu Siyuan, nothing big, just asked about the case of implementing the subsidy payment in Eshan County last time, how was the relevant report written, and the subsidy payment is one of the major commitments made by the municipal government to the people this year, so the leaders also attach great importance to it.

  Liu Siyuan muttered to himself for half a day, but couldn't come up with a good reason. Actually, he didn't know how to write it well. After investigating, it was true that there were cases of embezzlement in the county, but on the other hand, this kind of thing is quite common. If he wrote it too seriously and made it sound like a big deal, it would be embarrassing for the people involved, and besides, several leaders in the county had a very positive attitude towards him. When he went down with Yao Yuan, they kept saying things like "the city leader is wise" and "the county is having difficulties", which made Liu Siyuan feel quite awkward.

  According to Comrade Liu Siyuan's own idea, this is not a matter of principle, and it would be enough to criticize a few sentences. However, Yao Yuen, the iron-faced judge, was not so easy to talk to, and insisted on making suggestions to the higher-ups to execute a few people, saying it was to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

  Yao Yuan looked at him with a constipated expression and knew what he was thinking. She scolded with an expression of hating iron for not becoming steel: "How? Afraid of offending people? If you're working in the inspection room, are you still afraid of offending people? How will you carry out your work in the future? How will you help leaders share their worries? Ah?! I think if you continue like this, you might as well go to the secretariat."

  Yao Yuan scolded him for half a day, until lunchtime before stopping, making Liu Siyuan feel depressed and sighing, even losing his appetite for food.

  He sat opposite Liu and couldn't help but comfort him: "I'm telling you, Little Liu, Director Yao is just that kind of person, she says what's on her mind, puts everything on the surface, at least you know what things make her unhappy, and once she scolds you, it's over, she won't hold it in her heart. It's better than some leaders who don't say anything on the surface but remember everything in their hearts, and then come up with a strong attack at critical moments." He was much more senior than Liu Zhiyuan, and after observing him for a year, he felt that Liu didn't have any solid background, so he never considered him as a competitor, which is why their relationship was still pretty good. He often acted like an elder brother, pointing out things to the not-so-bright Liu.

  "I said, Brother Xing, you said that Director Yao has always had this working style, and he must have offended a lot of people too?" Liu Siyuan asked in puzzlement.

  Xing Jun naturally understood what he was asking, and smiled: "Si Yuan, you've only been working for a short time, there are some things you don't understand yet. Actually, Director Yao said something today that wasn't wrong at all - when doing things, don't be afraid of offending people, otherwise how can you carry out your work?"

  "I don't think Director Zhang is someone who easily offends people." Liu Siyuan said with a bit of discontent.

  "That's because the things he was in charge of didn't need to offend people in the first place." Xing Jun said with a profound expression.

  "Xing Ge, I don't have much experience and can't quite understand. Can you be more specific?" Liu Siyuan asked humbly.

  "Hey, you're underestimating the leader's wisdom. You think the two deputy directors' working styles are unknown to the secretary-general? The leader's eyes are sharp! So how they divide tasks is an art form. In short, look at which deputy director they assign work to, that represents the leader's attitude towards this matter! Get it?" Xing Jun said with relish, and put down his chopsticks, not even eating anymore.

  "Let's put it bluntly, if the Secretary-General assigns a task to Director Yao, it means that the leadership is very angry and the consequences are severe, and they must thoroughly investigate. On the other hand, if it's assigned to Director Zhang, it means that the leadership understands the difficulties of those below and everyone will smooth things over and handle it simply. Now do you understand? You really think that Director Yao is so righteous and willing to risk her life to pull down the emperor? Is she that foolish? The key is that she has a bottom line in her heart, and she's just carrying out the leadership's intentions by being strict. Even if the sky falls, there will be someone to take responsibility! Those people below understand this logic and know that her appearance is just a manifestation of the leadership's will. If they want to blame someone, they can't blame her, but only themselves for not having a strong enough background or not coordinating their relationships well, which made the leadership angry. Those deputy district heads and deputy department heads who often receive us are all at the level of deputy director-general, so why do they fear Director Yao so much? What they're really afraid of is the leadership behind her!"

  Liu Siyuan nodded suddenly enlightened, and hastily said: "Hearing your words is better than reading ten years of books. That's right, what if the leader assigns the task to our Zhang Ke? What does that represent?"

  Xing Jun shrugged and laughed: "That's simple, it means this broken thing can't even enter the leader's eyes, too lazy to manage, whatever."

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  As soon as the two returned to the office, Yao Yuen saw him and immediately said seriously: "Siyuan, go to Eshan County for a run, communicate with them again, and write the inspection report by tomorrow at the latest."

  Liu Siyuan sighed, responded with a sound, and busied himself preparing things, planning to go out.

  Suddenly, the notebook in his arms vibrated slightly, and he instantly felt a tightness in his heart, secretly resenting that demon for causing trouble at this time. Taking advantage of no one noticing, he took it out to take a sneak peek, and on it, the azure font was boldly written with three big characters:

  Stay!