Chapter 42: Five vs. One: Victory in Sight
Looking at Li Changsheng with his arms folded like an old monk meditating, Cheng Yuanchao lowered his brows, as if the tea leaves in the cup could bloom into a flower.
Some people in the meeting hall had stiff and dull expressions, some were daydreaming, some were frowning and thinking hard, and some had smiles on their lips, their eyes gently moving between Tie Xiangqian and Hu Jiao.
Some people bury their heads in studying, working harder than students before the college entrance examination.
Hu Jiao glanced at everyone in the meeting room and sighed secretly. Here, the only person he could completely trust and had to rely on was Tie Xiangqian.
There are two others who have temporarily gained his recognition and initial trust, but they are all members attending the meeting.
One is the deputy county magistrate Ma Zhengpin. Although he was promoted by Wu Hao himself, he was also recognized by Tie Xiangqian. His ability is unquestionable. Unfortunately, his upright character sometimes makes Hu Jiao secretly shake his head.
He can understand.
People like Ma Zhengpin, who have no background, no connections, and who have reached leadership positions entirely through their own abilities, can only gain recognition from their leaders by highlighting certain qualities and combining their own abilities.
In addition, the special cases of minority party members and cadres carry more weight than those of others.
The second one is Guilan. Ever since that dinner, Hu Jiao has recognized Guilan's kindness towards him and their previous experience working together at Tieshu.
But afterwards, I heard some rumors that Guilan was Li Changsheng's lover...
Along with the rumors, interspersed with various ambiguous attitudes of Li Changsheng towards Guilan, as well as various humorous and sarcastic versions of the conversation, forced Hu Jiao to re-examine the story.
The seminar ended peacefully.
The report submitted by Hu Jiao was passed unanimously. The county party committee and government jointly issued an order to formally establish the Tong County Enterprise Reform Leading Group, with Tie Xiangqian as the group leader, Li Changsheng and Hu Jiao as deputy group leaders, and Hu Jiao presiding over the work. The group members include the heads of more than a dozen relevant functional units such as the Finance Bureau, Development and Reform Bureau, Economic and Trade Bureau, Audit Bureau, and Water Conservancy Bureau.
It has an office, with Wang Dezhi, director of the county party committee office, as the director, and Tang Wang, director of the government office, and Zhang Lin, director of the finance bureau, as the two deputy directors.
After completing the preliminary work, Hu Jiao began to work on the liquidation of the property of state-owned and collectively-owned enterprises in Tong County. This liquidation was not based on accounting records, but on on-site inventory and market evaluation.
That day, after Tie Xiangqian and Hu Jiao had dinner and were drinking tea together, they discussed the personnel adjustments submitted by Li Changsheng.
"Li Changsheng is a man who...is full to the point of starving but hungry to death." This was Tie Xiangqian's conclusion after listening to Hu Jiao's retelling of the rumors about Li and Gui.
Hu Jiao laughed silently and slapped his thigh a few times. This was a very insightful statement.
Tie Xiangqian went on to say, "Now the fight against corruption has undergone a new transformation. The central government has begun to pay attention to the training of reserve cadres and has gradually started the process of rejuvenating cadres. Therefore, many old comrades have fallen on their last shift . The biggest impact of reform and opening up is new ideas and concepts, especially the idea of pleasure, the value of money, and the most fundamental open sexual concept. In the past, we believed in dedicating our lives to the country, the people, the collective, and the ideal. Haha, now look, how many people still maintain the pure revolutionary ideals?"
Hu Jiao added, "Yes, they have worked all their lives and held power, but in the end they have gained nothing. However, the self-employed people who were criticized the most in the past have turned things around. Some of them make a lot of money, live in nice houses, marry concubines, buy cars... No matter what level of cadres, they will ask themselves, why do these businessmen who can't read a few words, have no jobs, and have no education wear good clothes, eat good things, and play good things? Therefore, from the central government to the local governments, no matter which level of party committees and governments, if they don't solve this ideological problem of party members and cadres, there will be no development, and it will be a fluke if they can stabilize the situation."
Tie Xiangqian nodded. This statement was not first made by Hu Jiao, but was proposed by the current provincial governor Hu Zhongzhi in the early 1990s.
Corruption of thoughts leads to corruption of behavior.
If the mind is dirtier than the body, then the so-called curing diseases and saving lives has lost its fundamental meaning.
Privately, Hu Jiao still called Tie Xiangqian "uncle". Anyway, the two lived next to each other. This phenomenon made the cadres of Tong County extremely depressed.
It is said that the top two leaders would rather not be treated well at work, so how can they live together? Who likes to expose their private life in front of their opponents?
But the relationship between Hu Jiao and Tie Xiangqian is there. In Tie Xiangqian's words, this is called mutual pick and roll.
If anyone who is brave enough to find the secretary and the county magistrate at the same time is really brave enough to consider the consequences.
"Uncle Tie means that Secretary Li might make a mistake?"
Tie Xiangqian smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. Look at his attitude towards Guilan. If he says he doesn't have that intention, no one will believe it. He has that intention and the conditions, but he just doesn't dare! Look at this adjustment, Guilan is the first one, it's unnecessary. This time according to the requirements of the Municipal Party Committee, Public Security Bureau Chief Lu Dawei must enter the Standing Committee to lay the foundation for taking over the next step as the Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs, but he insists on putting Guilan in the first place? Isn't this intentional?"
Li Changsheng is a senior deputy secretary and party and mass secretary, in charge of organization and personnel. Usually, the appointment and removal of cadres in the entire county is first proposed by the Organization Department based on the situation, and then submitted by him to Tie Xiangqian for review. After the two reach a consensus, they will discuss it at the secretaries' meeting, and then submit it to the Standing Committee as a formality.
Generally speaking, every time cadres are adjusted, according to the unspoken rules, the cadre ranked first will be the one to be supported by others.
So in the list in Tie Xiangqian's hand, Gui Lan ranked first, Deputy Minister of the Organization Department and Director of the Labor and Personnel Bureau.
Regarding Gui Lan's appointment, Hu Jiao once hinted that he would place Gui Lan in the soon-to-be-established electric power group company as the first general manager. Unfortunately, he later learned about the rumors between Li Changsheng and her, and the idea was cut short.
This personnel adjustment is to prepare for the next step of enterprise restructuring in the county. Among them, the former director of the Personnel Bureau is appointed as the general manager of the Electric Power Group Company, and Gui Lan takes over as the director of the Personnel Bureau. The former director of the Economic and Trade Commission is appointed as the general manager of the Department Store Supply and Marketing Group Company, and the Economic and Trade Commission is taken over by Mu Youjun, the head of Qiaohe Township. The former director of the Government Office Tang Wang is appointed as the general manager of the Catering Group, and Liu Tieshu takes over as the director.
The cadre adjustments in Tieshu Township: Chen Fulai was appointed as the secretary and Chen Shoulai was appointed as the township head.
Zhou Xiantong, Tie Xiangqian's secretary, was sent to Qiaohe Township as acting head of the township.
Tan Tongshu, director of the Finance Bureau office, was promoted to deputy director, and the former director of the Finance Bureau was promoted to deputy county magistrate and director of the Finance Bureau.
"Jiaojiao, have you chosen your secretary?"
Hu Jiao shook his head and sighed, "I don't have time. Liu Tieshu recommended several people. I've read their information and none of them are suitable. Apart from writing, they basically have no practical work experience."
Tie Xiangqian laughed dumbly, "Writing won't work in front of you. Your consideration is correct. Otherwise... should I say something?"
Hu Jiao nodded. If it were someone else or somewhere else, how could such a thing happen?
But Hu Jiao was not afraid of Tie Xiangqian's mischief.
"Well, practical work experience and strong ability are also required. I do have a candidate. Haha, he is actually my relative."
Tie Xiangqian stared at Hu Jiao, causing the latter to smile bitterly. "Uncle Tie, don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me, which unit are you from?"
Tie Xiangqian looked helpless. "Actually, I was planning to use him myself. He has been with me for a short time and has good abilities. There was no suitable candidate for the position of Qiaohe Township Chief, so I let him go. He is also in the County Party Committee Office. He was transferred here two years ago. He worked in the township for five years. He worked as an accountant, worked in family planning, agriculture, forestry, government affairs, and even served as an acting village party secretary. He is 30 years old this year. Tie Shengli."
Hu Jiao suddenly realized that Tie Shengli was his high school classmate. At that time, Fenghuang No. 1 Middle School was a key middle school in the city. It recruited students from counties and districts. There were only two classes in one class. Fenghuang District almost occupied one class. The other students were recruited from various counties, and no more than five students from one county.
Tie Shengli came from the countryside and started school late. In addition, Hu Jiao was very good at studying and skipped grades. The four or five year age difference between the two was normal.
At that time, in Hu Jiao's class, there was only Tie Shengli from Tong County.
Speaking of the two people's meeting, there is a bit of drama. On that day, Hu Jiao took office, and Tie Shengli, as a staff member of the county party committee office, also had to go to the venue to participate in the service work.
Tie Shengli did not recognize Hu Jiao on the rostrum. He knew his name, but he could not connect him with his high school classmate.
After all, Hu Jiao was only 17 years old when he graduated from high school, and he was only about 1.6 meters tall at that time. When Hu Jiao actually grew to 1.83 meters tall, he was still a sophomore in college, and was already 19 years old.
Moreover, Tie Shengli also didn't believe that his old classmate became a deputy county magistrate at the age of 26.
Hu Jiao would never have imagined that his old classmate was in the audience, and he was having a great time on the road of learning, from high school to college and graduate school.
Tie Shengli chose Nanzhao University in the college entrance examination. He was 24 years old when he graduated and returned to his hometown to work. Since he had no background or connections and had studied law, he was first assigned to the township finance office, where he studied accounting.
After working as an accountant for less than a year, he was assigned to family planning. After working in family planning for a few months, he was promoted to director of the agricultural station. After working as director for less than a year, he was transferred to the forestry station and finally to the director of the township government office, and finally promoted to deputy section chief.
Four years later, a deputy secretary of the county party committee took a fancy to my academic qualifications and transferred me to the county party committee office. I was originally planning to be a secretary, but the deputy county chief was transferred away.
So Tie Shengli became an orphan. He was a deputy section-level official, so it was reasonable for him to be appointed as the deputy director of the county party committee office, or a section chief or something like that.
But no one paid any attention to him, so he just stayed in the county party committee office and became a jack of all trades. Everyone knew that he was capable, familiar with grass-roots work, and very good at handling written materials, so whenever there was a problem, they would always look for him.
I did a lot of dirty, tiring and hard work, but to no avail.
Hu Jiao's main job was in the county government, and the county magistrate deliberately left the position vacant to give him some time to transition. Once, Tie Shengli received a call from Liu Tieshu and sent some materials over.
I happened to meet Hu Jiao in the corridor.
When Tie Shengli went back that day, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a bad thing. This Hu Jiao had the same name and looked almost the same as he remembered, except for his height.
He specifically looked through the photos of his old classmates and couldn’t believe it. Hu Jiao was 26 years old?
So the more they looked at each other, the more familiar they became. The two slowed down their pace and moved closer. Hu Jiao pointed at Tie Shengli and said, "You..."
Tie Shengli looked at Hu Jiao and didn't dare to recognize him.
Hu Jiao couldn't remember the names of his high school classmates. He tried hard to think, but he thought that as they had been classmates for three years, he shouldn't have such a bad memory. But something unexpected happened to him, and some people or things that were not very special were not so clear in his memory.
Very familiar! This person is very familiar!
Hu Jiao thought at the time that in Tong County, no one except Tie Xiangqian would dare to contradict him, so he simply asked directly, "What's your name?"
"Iron Victory."
"Are you from Phoenix 24?"
Tie Shengli stared at Hu Jiao stupidly, "Jiaozi... is it really you? Damn it..."
As a result, Liu Tieshu happened to come out to see, and Hu Jiao, who was carrying her on her back, immediately recognized her old classmate and was so happy!
In the past, Hu Jiao would definitely not swear.
"You are my best friend! Black Bull... the one who fainted Wu Xiuxiu with his big dick... Black Bull?"
Liu Tieshu's cheeks flushed and he deliberately slammed the door shut. Tie Shengli laughed and then he remembered that the old classmate in front of him was the deputy secretary and deputy county magistrate in charge of the work.
Recalling that scene, Hu Jiao smiled. Hei Niu'er, this guy is interesting. He dared to call the county governor "a bastard" in front of the county government and became a celebrity.
In the 1980s, the conditions at Fenghuang No. 1 Middle School were poor, especially in winter. Hot water was supplied twice a day, and all boarding students had to line up early to get water.
Personal hygiene became a big issue.
Wu Xiuxiu's family was not well off. Others went to private bathrooms on the street to take a bath on weekends, but she was reluctant to spend the money. So every Saturday, she and another classmate pooled all the thermos bottles in the dormitory, took a bath once at noon and once in the afternoon, and then had a nice bath in the evening.
Tie Shengli is older than his classmates and is in puberty, so he secretes more male hormones. Therefore, he likes to use his hands to solve physiological problems when taking a bath.
But there was one good thing. There was a small tent next to the boiler, and the boilerman happened to be from Tong County, and was from the same hometown as Tie Shengli.
So I took care of him and he didn't need to fetch water. I just used a basin to get hot water and brought it into the tent to wash.
It happened that there was a problem with the pipes that weekend, so the hot water couldn't be released. Tie Shengli was alone in the small tent, washing while...
Unexpectedly, the fellow villager brought in two girls. It happened that the boiler had two hot water taps, one outside and one at the door of the tent.
It just so happened that Tie Shengli had applied soap and was rubbing the thing with one hand quickly, not noticing someone coming...
So Wu Xiuxiu saw...
Before he could scream, Tie Shengli had already reached the peak of pleasure, and with a muffled groan, he sprayed out several streams of white liquid...
Wu Xiuxiu rolled her eyes and fainted from fright.
This was Tie Shengli, the black bull who was known as one of the top ten influential figures on the campus of Fenghuang No. 1 Middle School. There was also a chapter titled: "Five against one, victory is in sight, but when Four Xiuxiu is mentioned, she loses her soul."
There is no need to explain five against one, one carries four, which means Wu Xiuxiu carries four bottles of hot water by herself.
Hu Jiao shook his head and rejected Tie Xiangqian's proposal. He felt uncomfortable with his old classmate being appointed as secretary. Although he was trustworthy, it was difficult to distinguish between high and low. No matter who it was, it would be strange if he didn't have some thoughts in his mind.
Tie Xiangqian also knew about the affair between Hu Jiao and Tie Shengli.
Hu Jiao really couldn't order Tie Shengli around openly. Ever since they recognized each other and had been together a few times, Hu Jiao had clearly felt Tie Shengli's restraint, and there was also an emotion that he couldn't tell whether it was envy or jealousy.
Hu Jiao has never denied the advantages his parents have given him.
But does Hu Jiao have a choice?
No, he couldn't just pretend and say, if I were also from a poor family, I could still have achieved my current status!
Anyone who says this will definitely get spitted in the face.
"Uncle Tie, Shengli should stay with you. I lack work experience in this area, so I won't hinder his development. I will study hard with you for a while. In the future... well, maybe I can take on a bigger responsibility."
Tie Xiangqian did not force it. He had been observing Tie Shengli for a long time. Letting go of the original secretary this time might be the end of the test and the beginning of his real training.
Liu Tieshu did a good job. He arranged Hu Jiao's daily schedule in good order and understood Hu Jiao's thoughts. He also found out the loopholes and shortcomings in Hu Jiao's policies and put forward pertinent and feasible suggestions.
You can't keep forcing people to be your secretary like this.
Tie Xiangqian picked up the teacup and said, "I'll show you another way. There's a guy in the People's Congress office, nicknamed 'Tingyong', whose full name is Chen Tingyong. He was assigned to college in the same year as Tie Shengli. They were the only two undergraduates back then, but now one has become a jack of all trades, and the other is a Tingyong. Haha, Tong County is an interesting place."
After saying that, he took out a pen and crossed out Guilan's name at the end, "Don't get too close to Guilan. Although Li Changsheng can't cause a big stir, he can still do something to disgust us."
Hu Jiao felt a little uncomfortable. He hadn't gotten his hands on any meat yet, but he was already covered in stench. "After the restructuring is done, I won't get close to her, but I'll let her get close. Secretary Li used his spirit to win a romantic encounter, and I'll use my body to help him achieve his goal."
The tea that Tie Xiangqian had just drunk spurted out with a "pop" sound, "Hahaha... you are so wicked..."
