Chapter 63: Dominance

  Liu Siyuan took a taxi and arrived at a high-end restaurant in the center of Ziwai City according to the address on the note. As it turned out, the downtown area of Ziwai City was just as bright and bustling at night as the provincial capital. He walked into the lavishly decorated private room and found Li Zhexuan waiting for him, accompanied by his secretary Zhang Jianjun.

  When he saw Liu Siyuan walk in, he burst out laughing and stood up, warmly patting him on the shoulder and exchanging a few pleasantries. He then turned to Zhang Jianjun and said: "Jianjun, you can head back and rest early, I didn't drink enough earlier, now I'll have a few more cups with Siyuan."

  Zhang Jianjun looked at Liu Siyuan with a slightly complex expression, nodded and backed out.

  "It's been months since we last met, and Secretary Li is even more impressive than before." Liu Siyuan said with a smile after sitting down.

  "Suit yourself," Li Zhexuan said with a wave of his hand. "In the past, we were always following our leaders to get things done. Now I realize that being in charge is not easy either."

  Liu Siyuan was shocked by the words and said: "Secretary Li is in charge of the party's mass construction work in a prefecture-level city, and the work must be very difficult."

  Li Zhexuan shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about this issue. To be honest, doing party work is just a matter of dealing with people. If you can get all the relationships in order, the work will naturally go well. It's just that I'm currently unable to fully utilize my abilities in Ziwai City, sigh."

  Liu Siyuan said with surprise: "Secretary Li is the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, in charge of the city's party building work, and the third person in the municipal party committee. Is there still someone who can hinder you?"

  Li Zhexuan smiled wryly and said, "It's okay to be tripped up, but what's most pitiful is that I don't have anything that can make people trip over me. They just put you on a pedestal like a good luck charm, and when something really happens, they just bypass you. Tell me, isn't it bitter?"

  As the two continued to chat, Liu Siyuan also roughly understood his situation. What was most troublesome for Secretary Li was Xu Dianjie, the head of the Organization Department. The Organization Department is in charge of personnel work for all cadres in the city, but after all, it is just a subordinate institution of the Party Committee.

  Even so, as a subordinate organization of the Party Committee, everything, especially personnel matters, should be reported to the vice secretary in charge of party building. However, Xu Dingjie almost treated Li Zhexuan as if he were air, and although his attitude was respectful on the surface, he basically ignored him and directly reported to Secretary Zhang Mingduan. As a result, Li Zhexuan had nothing to do every day and had almost no say in personnel matters in the city. Every time, Xu Dingjie would prepare materials for Secretary Zhang Mingduan, who would approve them and then they would be passed at the Standing Committee meeting without any issues. At the Standing Committee meeting, as long as Secretary Zhang proposed an agenda item, it was impossible for it not to pass.

  Liu Siyuan sighed and said: "Li Ge, then you should reflect the situation to Secretary Zhang. Work has to follow a procedure, without rules, how can there be order..."

  Li Zhexuan shook his head and sighed, "You don't understand this, Siyuan. It's obvious, isn't it? Do you think Xu Tingjie would dare to do this if she wasn't instructed by Zhang Mingduan? So, actually, I'm not blaming her either. To be honest, she's just a gun in someone else's hand."

  Liu Siyuan could only comfort him by saying that Lige had just arrived and some things couldn't be rushed. After drinking for a while, Li Zhexuan suddenly said: "I heard you also know Mayor Yan?"

  Liu Siyuan saw that he couldn't deceive him, so he honestly replied: "We can't talk about friendship, but we did meet once in the capital last time."

  Li Zhexuan nodded and said, "It turns out that Mayor Yan's situation is a bit like mine. The government has been unable to make progress on this matter either. Those few vice mayors are all Old Zhang's people, so Mayor Yan is also in a difficult position." He paused for a moment, then asked, "This time you came to Ziwai, didn't you meet with Mayor Yan and have dinner together to report on your work?"

  Liu Siyuan smiled and said, "Tomorrow I'll go to the county town, no time to look for leaders, besides, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, Mayor Yan is also busy, so I won't disturb him."

  Li Zhexuan shook his head repeatedly and said, "Si Yuan, this is where you're wrong. How about this? You call Mayor Yan now and ask if he has time. If he does, we can all come over together and have a gathering. I also want to get closer to Mayor Yan."

  Liu Siyuan said it's so late, isn't it not good to go disturb the leader? Later, he really couldn't get around him and could only make the call, soon followed by the sound of Yan Chuting's voice.

  "Mayor Yan, I'm Liu Siyuan, do you still remember me?" Liu Siyuan asked cautiously.

  Yan Chuting smiled brightly and said: "Who did I think you were? I was just thinking that even when you arrived at Ziwei, you didn't give me a call, which is really not very considerate."

  Liu Siyuan hastily said: "I just stayed in the Ziwei for a day, and I just attended the welcoming party of the Organization Department. Isn't this coming to report my thoughts while taking the risk of disturbing the leader's rest?"

  Yan Chuting was amused by him and laughed, scolding: "What's the disturbance? I'm accompanying my wife to watch a TV series. You shouldn't be jealous either, do you have any good ideas to report?"

  Liu Siyuan then said: "I'm having dinner with Secretary Li right now, I don't know if Mayor Chu has time to come out and gather together?"

  Yan Chuting was stunned on the phone and asked if he meant Li Zhexuan, the secretary. Liu Siyuan nodded and said yes, then fell silent for a while before saying okay, wait for me, I'll be there in half an hour.

  Learning that Yan Chuting would be over soon, Li Zhexuan seemed to be in a good mood and took the initiative to talk about the situation in Cheng'en County. According to him, the situation in Cheng'en County is similar to that of the city, with County Party Secretary Fan Yugun being Zhang Mingduan's man, who holds the county party committee firmly in his hands. However, unlike the city, the county magistrate Jian Zhiqiu is also Zhang Mingduan's man, so the two cooperate quite well. Li Zhexuan particularly mentioned that he dislikes Jian Zhiqiu even more, thinking that he is more sinister and warning Liu Siyuan to be careful when dealing with him.

  He also mentioned that Zheng Gaofeng, the fat man, was not easy either. Although he was the secretary of the county political and legal committee and also served as the director of the public security bureau, the president of the court, the procurator-general, and the deputy director of the public security bureau were all listening to Fan Yugun's people, making it impossible for him to exert himself, feeling very stifled.

  Liu Siyuan shrugged and said he didn't know the situation in Beixi Town, Li Zhexuan chuckled and said that it's hard to say for a town-level place. The implication is that his hands haven't reached that far yet, as a deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, there's no need to pay too much attention to the situation of a small town.

  Two people were chatting, and then they saw Yan Chuting push the door open and enter. They quickly stood up, and Li Zhexuan took a step forward to shake hands with him, shaking his hand vigorously: "Still thanks to Siyuan's influence, we can gather together with Mayor Yan."

  Yan Chuting smiled: "Secretary Li is being polite, I've wanted to chat with you for a long time but never had the chance. It seems that Si Yuan's arrival is quite timely."

  At this time, Liu Siyuan also came up, Yan Chuting smiled: "It's good to come, if there are any problems in the future work, just come to me at any time."

  Liu Siyuan hastily said that he would definitely report to Mayor Chu in a timely manner, and the latter jokingly said, I promised Xiaoxian, I have to keep an eye on you.

  Li Zhexuan burst out laughing and said, "Mayor Yan is right. When Siyuan really becomes Minister Ouyang's son-in-law, he must treat Mayor Yan to a good meal."

  Liu Siyuan didn't know what to say for a moment, it seemed like everyone thought he and Ouyang Qian were already a couple.

  At the same time, he knew in his heart that his relationship with Yan Chuting was not so good, and his face was not so big. It was okay to chat politely on the phone for a few sentences, but today, she was willing to come out purely to give Li Zhe Xuan face.

  As expected, the two heavyweight municipal leaders soon opened up and talked freely, while a certain person became an accompaniment. Of course, many people would be eager to play this accompanying role. Liu Siyuan tactfully listened without speaking on the side, probably also understanding some of the situation. Zhang Mingduan was indeed a strong secretary-general, not only relying on the organization department head to isolate Li Zhequan, but also frequently intervening in municipal government affairs. In the municipal government, including the vice mayor, there were four or five deputy mayors who were his people. As Yan Chuting put it, he himself had both hands and feet tied up, purely a wooden puppet.

  Liu Siyuan thought that it was no wonder that the province would also change its second and third-in-command at the same time, guessing that it was also a balance within the provincial party committee to restrain Secretary Zhang.

  From the current situation, it can be seen that the temporary alliance between the two is a trend, but Liu Siyuan is somewhat surprised. Generally speaking, as the municipal party secretary facing new second and third-in-command, the best approach is to pull one and hit another, and then hide the bow after the birds are gone, firmly grasping the overall situation. However, Secretary Zhang Mingduan seems too lazy to do so, directly suppressing both of them first. It can be seen that he is extremely confident in his control over Ziwai City.

  At this point, Liu Siyuan began to worry about his own Ziwei's future.