Chapter One: The Old Fox

  The sky had just lit up, and the fine rain was pouring down from the gray sky, the entire Yan Mountain was gray and silent, as if it were a dead silence. But suddenly, it was as if someone had struck this silence with great force, and the streets and alleys slowly came to life. Bicycles, one by one, two by two... eventually gathered into a stream of cars flowing onto the streets, the "ding-dong" sound of bicycle bells rose and fell, and the entire Yan Mountain County seemed to have turned into an ocean of people in an instant.

  "Hey, Uncle Wang, I heard that our newly appointed county deputy secretary is only in his twenties. Does he take care of things around here?"

  "Lao Du, you work at the county committee, have you seen our young leader?"

  The gathered traffic, commuters riding together in twos and threes discussing the weather and family matters. Of course, the hottest topic now is the newly appointed deputy secretary of the county party committee who has just taken office, with doubts, incomprehension, but more freshness and admiration.

  Tang Yi formally took office after attending a one-month training session for middle-aged and young cadres at the Central Party School. The newly appointed County Party Secretary, Tao, spoke with him and assigned him the task of party mass work and economic construction. Looking at Secretary Tao's turbid eyes behind his thick glasses, which were narrowed into a line, Tang Yi keenly sensed that Secretary Tao and Xiao Ri had completely different personalities. This was a true old oil slick in the officialdom, rumored to be a direct subordinate of Municipal Party Secretary Lin, who came from the post of Deputy Director of the Municipal Government Office.

  Tang Yi is now the third in command of Yanshan, at that time, the county party committee's weight was much heavier than the government. The members of the county party committee, except for the county head and the executive vice-county head, were basically not ranked among the other business vice-county heads unless they had a particularly heavy weight. Therefore, Tang Yi, who is in charge of party affairs and economy as the first deputy secretary, ranks third on the list of county party committee members.

  The party's mass work is the most important work of the county committee, and the organization department, propaganda department, and discipline inspection commission are all under the leadership of Tang Yi. Of course, this is also a unified management, and specific matters of each department are led by the head of each department, and some departments have deputy secretaries in charge. In short, at that time, the phenomenon of institutional bloating, overlapping divisions of labor, and multi-headed management was very serious. Therefore, the weight of several deputy secretaries is not simply a matter of ranking, but also depends on personal connections and individual abilities.

  Tang Yi felt a headache when he heard about his work arrangement. Everything else was fine, but the most important thing in party and mass management was having control over personnel matters, being responsible for the work of the organization department. Tang Yi knew his current situation, in Yanshan he had no foundation at all, and being young made it difficult to command respect. Suddenly taking control of the county committee's personnel power, everything went dark. This county committee team had more than half new people, and even among the few remaining from the previous team, he didn't have much contact. Without understanding the county committee team, having control over personnel matters would only lead to losses. He was afraid that in just a few days, he would be emptied by other secretaries and the organization department's big and small foxes.

  Tang Yi hesitated for a moment and said sincerely, "Secretary Tao, taking on the task of party group work is too heavy a burden for me. I'm afraid I won't be able to carry it."

  Secretary Tao was taken aback, his feelings about Tang Yi were complicated, with a mix of curiosity and subtle awe. When he first took office, he had already investigated the roots of all the county's standing committee members, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a clear read on Tang Yi. Even Secretary Lin from the municipal party committee couldn't gauge Tang Yi's pulse, and his advice to Secretary Tao was "to respect him from afar". Secretary Tao had a hunch that Tang Yi had some backing, but these old foxes would never dare to touch something they didn't know about. Even if Tang Yi did have a powerful backer, Secretary Tao knew he wasn't qualified to get involved in that kind of muddy water.

  But Secretary Tao would not submit to Tang Yi's control, no matter what. After a lifetime of hard work, he had finally become a prominent local figure and was now the county magistrate. How could he possibly yield to a young whippersnapper? The best solution was to find some excuse to get rid of this hot potato, so that he could sit comfortably in his own chair.

  When Tang Yi said he was unwilling to take on the party's mass work, although his expression looked sincere, how could Tao Secretary believe him? This kind of pretentious show he performed was more brilliant than Tang Yi.

  Secretary Tao showed a warm smile: "Secretary Tang, although you are a bit younger, since the organization has promoted you, it naturally recognizes your ability. You don't have to be overly modest. The future belongs to young people like you, and we old comrades will support and protect you, so don't worry."

  Tang Yi was very disgusted with the hypocrisy in the officialdom, but still had to endure and continue to perform. He sincerely said: "Then thank you, Secretary Tao. From now on, I will focus on reporting party and mass work to you. With your instructions, I will execute them. If Secretary Tao really cares about me, please criticize and point out more in the future." It's better to hand over power to Secretary Tao first than to be manipulated by those oily officials. When he really had the ability, he would think of a way to take it back.

  Secretary Tao was surprised, but he didn't believe that Tang Yi would really let him take charge of all the party's affairs. He replied perfunctorily: "Alright, you think what is beneficial for work, just do it."

  Tang Yi then discussed some work issues with Secretary Tao before taking his leave. Secretary Tao subconsciously stood up to see him off, but only realized it when his butt left the chair and didn't take a step forward, just smiled and said "take your time", making an excuse of looking for files. After Tang Yi walked out the door, Secretary Tao furrowed his brow, unexpectedly finding that he still feared him in his subconscious, it seems like he must hurry up and get rid of him.

  His butt hadn't even warmed the seat, and Yao Secretary from the United Front Work Department of the County Party Committee came to find him again. As soon as he entered the room, he smiled and said: "Secretary Tang is really something, looking like a student, but doing things with lightning speed and thunderous power, and in the blink of an eye, he went to the Development and Reform Commission to give a lecture." The words were praising Tang Yi, but there was some disapproval in his tone.

  Secretary Tao smiled and said, "Young people, that's just a bit impatient." Secretary Yao's eyes lit up, and he keenly sensed from this remark that the top leader didn't seem to have a good impression of Tang Yi either. He secretly observed Secretary Tao's expression but couldn't find any other signal.

  Secretary Tao smiled and said, "Old Yao, is there something on your mind? If you have something to say, just say it. We old comrades should also learn from Secretary Tang's style of being swift and decisive, or else we'll be left behind."

  Secretary Yao's face didn't look good when he heard this. This time, the big adjustment of Yanqing City and County leadership team, he had been active for a while, and finally managed to move his position. Originally, he thought that coming to Yanshan would make him the first deputy secretary, but unexpectedly, he was occupied by a young whippersnapper. As for Tang Yi, Secretary Yao couldn't bear to look at him, but after writing a few articles, he suddenly rose to fame and shot up like a rocket. Especially when seeing Tang Yi's elegant appearance, his always straight waist, Secretary Yao felt an uncontrollable jealousy, because after all these years of struggling in the officialdom, he felt that his own waist was becoming more and more hunched, as if it could never be straightened again.

  Secretary Yao and Secretary Tao reported on their recent work, finally with a stern face and complaining: "Secretary Yao, you say, Secretary Tang has just entered the Standing Committee, not in a hurry to familiarize himself with his work. Yesterday, he borrowed the original edition of the county annals from the archives room, I don't know what he wants to do."

  Tao Secretary smiled and said, "Maybe Tang Secretary likes to study ancient history, you just worry less about these things." Watching Yao Secretary leave with a face full of discontent, Tao Secretary took off his glasses and gently wiped them with the white cloth, thinking that he needed to add fuel to the fire from time to time. He wanted to get rid of the hot potato without getting burned, which required using tongs. Now thinking about it, Old Yao's two eyebrows really looked like a pair of tongs. As he thought, Tao Secretary's eyes seemed to have an unfathomable depth.