Volume 1 Chapter 36: Taking Office (Part 1)

  (Shen Huai finally got on the right track from this chapter onwards. Originally wanted to start a new volume, but thinking about it, let's just go with the flow! Please continue to support Shen Da Shao as always.)

  When Shen Hua rode his bike to Meixi Town, the town was already bustling with cars and horses.

  The town government is located in the middle section of Xuetang Street, and diagonally opposite is the town's vegetable market.

  Around eight o'clock in the morning, the sun had just risen above the treetops. Students going to school, people buying vegetables, and those heading to work were all rushing to get ahead of each other, not giving way to one another. The Xuetang Street, which was paved with asphalt in 1990, had sidewalks on both sides, but the shops along the street seemed to want to extend their awnings into the middle of the road. The vendors selling goods on the roadside and the bicycles and motorcycles parked randomly made this section of Xuetang Street near the vegetable market particularly congested. Pedestrians, bicycles, and motorcycles wove in and out between cars, trying to squeeze through the gaps to gain some speed, but often ended up getting stuck even more firmly.

  The sounds of horns, bells, curses and din blended together.

  A Santana with a county license plate was stuck there, unable to move up or down. The impatient driver kept honking the horn, but no one paid attention to them and the jam remained. Shen Hua rode his bicycle over and found that inside the car were the county committee organization department staff members who had agreed to meet at the town government today.

  "Director Chen is up early!" Shen Huan leaned over and tapped on the car window to greet the people inside.

  To coordinate with Shen Hua's schedule, Chen Kuan and others got up early on purpose. They asked their grandfather to tell their grandmother to find a spare car from the county and rush to Mei Creek Town. Just 300-400 meters away from the town government, they were stuck here, unable to move forward or backward. Feeling anxious and annoyed, they heard the sound of knocking on the window.

  Jian saw Shen Hua riding a bicycle over, Chen Kuan suppressed the curse that was about to burst out of his throat, rolled down the car window and responded: "Secretary Shen isn't late either..."

  Chen Kuan had mixed up a deputy department until he was forty years old, and when he saw Shen Hua, whose beard hadn't even turned white or hardened, this young face who was actually one level higher than himself, he felt uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart. There was no way out, several deputy ministers were unwilling to accompany Shen Hua to Mei Xi to take office, so it became a matter that Chen Kuan, the personnel department head, could not escape.

  "Looks like we'll have to block it for a while, the town government is just ahead, Director Chen, let's go to the town government with me..."

  Chen Kuan and also inquired about Shen Hua's background, and didn't particularly perfunctorily. Hearing Shen Hua suggest going to the town government, Chen Kuan and felt anxious, opening the car door to follow Shen Hua to the town hall of Meixi Town.

  The town government is a three-story small building, surrounded by a courtyard with white walls, facing west to Xuetang Street, and the party and government are working together.

  As soon as Shen Hua and Chen Kuanhe walked into the town government compound, a middle-aged man rode up on his bicycle from behind, patted Chen Kuanhe's shoulder, and greeted him: "Old Chen is not late, huh!" He then looked Shen Hua up and down, seemingly suddenly remembering who he was, stretched out his hand, "You're the newly transferred Shen Hua, Secretary Shen? I said why Chen Kuanhe came to Meixi Town for no reason, it turns out he's here to escort you. I'm He Qing She."

  "Oh, Mayor He, hello." Shen Huan extended his hand and shook it, feeling a thick layer of calluses on He Qing's palm.

  As for the so-called "protection" of Shen Huai, it was just a laugh. He is a full-time official, and Chen Kuanhe is a part-time official. Is there any reason why a part-time official would protect a full-time official? This indirectly shows that no matter how County Secretary Tao Jixing appears on the surface, there are not many officials in the county who welcome him to come to Xiapu to stir up trouble.

  Shen Huai smiled faintly in his heart: Hadn't thought of getting along peacefully with this group of bureaucrats...

  He Qing was around forty years old, with a dark face that had almost no wrinkles, wearing a dark jacket, and although he rode a bicycle to work, his leather shoes were polished to a high shine.

  In Meixi Town, Party Secretary Du Jianyong holds absolute power, and although He Qing is the deputy secretary and town mayor, he has been marginalized with little actual authority. He Qing nominally oversees all aspects of the town government's work, but in reality, he can only intervene in a few areas that are difficult to manage, such as family planning, agricultural taxes, and the collection of land contract fees.

  Apart from He Qing Society, several deputy town mayors of the town government and key departments such as the Finance Office, Economic Management Station, Education Office, Land Office, Industrial and Commercial Office, Enterprise Office, etc., as well as the main persons in charge of enterprises affiliated to the town such as Meixi Steel Factory, are mostly trusted followers of Secretary Du Jian.

  Shen Hua rushed to the town government on time, but there were not many staff members in the entire building who had started work; punctuality was apparently not a good habit of government departments.

  He Qing invited Shen Huai and Chen Kuan to sit down in his office, poured a thermos of hot water into a teapot, and personally took three ceramic tea cups to wash.

  Shen Hua was unclear how the society viewed his arrival in Meixi Town as the deputy secretary of the party committee in charge of economy, and directly took over as the director of Meixi Steel Factory, replacing Du Jian. His attitude towards him was lukewarm, and he just watched with a cold eye.

  Just as the hot water was about to boil, a man with a middle parting hairstyle poked his head in and asked He Qing She: "Director He, are you free now? Secretary Du wants you to go over." After asking this question, he saw Shen Huai and Chen Kuan sitting in the room together, and was taken aback.

  "Oh, this is Director Huang Xinliang of the Party and Government Office," He Qing Society sat in his seat without moving, pointing at Huang Xinliang who had just arrived with Shen Hua and Chen Kuan to introduce him, and beckoned Huang Xinliang to come in. Introducing Shen Hua, he said, "This is the newly arrived Secretary Shen, come and get acquainted; also, there's Director Chen of the County Organization Department, you've met before."

  Unlike county-level and above party and government organs which have separate government offices and party committee offices, townships only have one party-government office.

  Office Director Huang Xinliang is the trusted aide of Party Secretary Du Jian. From his casual poking his head in and calling out to He Qing she to come out, it can be seen what status He Qing she holds in Meixi Town.

  Huang Xinliang's eyes hesitated on Shen Hua's face for a few seconds before he seemed to come back to himself, pushing open the door and entering with an abrupt and somewhat awkward enthusiasm, grasping Shen Hua's hand: "Secretary Shen, hello! Secretary Du instructed me yesterday to prepare your office. Seeing you've arrived to take up your post, I'm still in the dark, and it's gotten to the point where Mayor He had to personally serve tea to you and Director Chen... truly a sin, a sin..."

  Looking at the thermos bottle next to him "puffing" out hot steam, Huang Xinliang hurried over to unplug the "quick heater", looked at the ceramic tea cup on the table, took it to the window and examined it carefully again, and asked He Qing She.

  "Town Chief He, has this teacup been washed? Do you want me to wash it again?"

  Huang Xinliang hastily helped Shen Huai brew a good cup of tea before saying to He Qing: "Secretary Du is looking for you also because of Secretary Shen's inauguration today, but I didn't expect Secretary Shen to be sitting in your office already. Otherwise, I'll go over and inform Secretary Du first?"

  "No, I'll just go with Secretary Shen and Director Chen," said He Qing, standing up and asking Shen Huai, "Are we leaving now?"

  "Alright." Shen Huai stood up with Chen Kuan and walked towards the office at the easternmost end of the same floor.

  Walking up to Du Jian's office, I heard him scolding someone inside.

  "I came to the government today, and Xuetang Street is congested again. What are you doing in the comprehensive management office? If you're short-handed, you can let the joint defense team assist you. In any case, you need to sort out the order," a loud voice boomed from behind the partially closed door of the office, as if the person was standing with their hands on their hips, pointing at the mountains and rivers. "You should know that Xuetang Street is chaotic every day, and some people are dissatisfied when they see it. They curse my ancestors in front of me. If you don't do a good job and eliminate this kind of evil trend where everyone fights for an inch of land, I'll curse your ancestors."

  "Director Du always gives instructions in such a high-handed manner." He Qing she smiled slightly and knocked on the door twice.

  "Something will come later." The person in the house heard the knock on the door and didn't want to be disturbed, so they directly spoke out to get rid of the person standing outside the office.

  He Qing Society was a bit embarrassed in front of Shen Huai, the town head and secretary's office couldn't even enter, had to be driven away, really lost some face. Of course, from this can also see the working style of Party Secretary Du Jian standing among thousands of people.

  "Director Du," Huang Xinliang helped to knock on the door, relieving He Qing's embarrassment, "it's Mayor He bringing over newly arrived Secretary Shen."

  After a while, the office door was opened from inside, and it was not someone else who opened the door, but Wang Gang, the "yellow-faced cat" who led the team to beat Chen Tong a few days ago.

  Wang Gang did not expect that the newly arrived deputy secretary, who was notorious for meddling in other people's business as a "municipal government secretary", would block his way at the door, staring blankly and forgetting to step aside. He thought to himself: How could the new secretary be him? He wanted to help Chen Tong find trouble for himself, what should he do? But then he thought again, no matter how powerful the background of the new deputy secretary was, he was only a deputy secretary, and his godfather was still the kingpin of Meixi Town.

  Shen Huai looked at Wang Gang blocking the door and forgot to let go, smiling and saying: "Deputy Captain Wang is reporting work to Secretary Du?"

  "Does Secretary Shen know Wang Gang?" He Qing She was somewhat surprised, he could expect Shen Hua to come over and collude with Du Jian Dou, if Du Jian and the newly arrived Shen Hua were to join forces again, then Mei Xi Town would really have no way out for him.

  "Oh, we don't really know each other. Just the other day on Xuetang Street South, I saw Deputy Captain Wang directing the road repair work. His methods were a bit too extreme, so I corrected him." Shen Huai said lightly.

  Shen Huai's words made He Qing She and Du Jian, who was standing in the house, both take a deep breath: Had Shen Huai come to Mei Xi Town for a private visit before taking office?

  He Qing looked at Shen Huai again before entering Du Jian's office:

  He Qing Society had previously heard that Shen Huai's backer had died unexpectedly, and he had won sympathy points in the city. He came to the town and became the deputy secretary of the party committee in charge of economy, which is also a rare achievement for young people. But it was also said that Shen Huai had a deep conflict with Ge Yongqiu, who had just taken office as the acting county magistrate of Xiapu County, at the municipal government. He thought he would restrain his sharpness when he came to Meixi Town, but unexpectedly, he became even more arrogant.

  He Qing She knew that Shen Huai had secretly investigated Meixi Town before taking office, and thinking about the work assigned to Shen Huai after arriving in Meixi Town, He Qing She thought: I'm afraid there's a good show to watch...