Qi Tongwei: Sign-in relationship started during student days

Chapter 1050 Victory (2)

Duan Feng, the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, had no idea that he had less than eight hours left before being imprisoned.

They were still in Wu Yingjie's office, drinking tea and talking at length about the "revolutionary victory" of the secretary's faction.

Wu Yingjie said that, based on the current situation, Party Secretary Xia Guanglei has basically grasped the situation, and Beishan will soon enter a stage where the Party truly leads the government.

Duan Feng strongly agrees with this.

One was the head of the propaganda department, and the other was the secretary of the political and legal affairs committee. As natural members of the party committee, they had long been disgusted by the working model centered on the municipal government when He Anxia was in office.

In their view, this is putting the cart before the horse. Although there is a division of labor between the party and the government, in China, the party leads everything at every level of government. This is beyond doubt.

If we ask them to cooperate with the municipal government, wouldn't their positions as standing committee members be meaningless?

"This time, Beishan has finally set things right," Duan Feng said with a smile.

"It should have been set right a long time ago." Wu Yingjie smoked a cigarette, the smoke trail dancing wildly with his indignation. "If we don't set things right now, that brat Xu Lian will be riding roughshod over me."

Duan Feng was puzzled and asked what was going on.

Wu Yingjie took the cigarette out of his mouth, held it between his fingers, and sneered, "What else could it be? It's just a fox borrowing the tiger's power."

Before, whenever this kid saw me, he would always bow and scrape, respectfully calling me Minister Wu.

Since I became a member of the Standing Committee, wow, guess what my name is?

Old Wu!

You tell me, whether it's age or seniority, am I not much older than him?

Is that an appropriate way to address him? Who does he think he is? Qi Tongwei? He can't just call me whatever he wants! He has no respect for elders.

Duan Feng felt that Wu Yingjie was making a mountain out of a molehill. "Hey, Lao Wu, don't blame your brothers for not being on your side."

"Isn't this kind of thing normal in officialdom? When you rise in rank, your title will definitely change; it's an implicit rule."

"Of course I know that, but we can't change things too quickly. We should at least show some respect to our seniors and veterans."

Duan Feng laughed again, "There are no such things as seniors or old comrades. As long as you don't retire or give up your power, you're all part of the same generation. At most, it's about who gets the most power first. In the end, it all comes down to who has the most power."

You can't expect Secretary Pei and Governor Zhao to address you as Minister Wu, can you? If they did, could you handle the responsibility? Huh?

Wu Yingjie laughed, "It's only because I was in Beishan. If I had been assigned to Ningchuan or Pingzhou back then and worked with them, they might actually have called me Minister Wu respectfully."

Wu Yingjie's rise to the rank of director-general was actually quite fast; he was a contemporary of Pei Yihong and Zhao Anbang. His real decline occurred during the promotion process from deputy director-general to director-general, making him a typical example of someone whose economic abilities outweighed his propaganda work.

"Then you, Lao Wu, might become our Hanjiang's 'Minister Wu,' and Xia Guanglei and Qi Tongwei would probably have to bow and scrape before you," Duan Feng joked.

Wu Yingjie took it seriously, “That’s not necessarily true. Take Ningchuan for example. Since Zhao Anbang’s leadership, five deputy provincial-level leaders have emerged, becoming department-level officials in charge of a region. There are even more who have taken charge of a department. Pingzhou has the same number.”

What does this show? It shows that when it comes to politics, sometimes ability is very important, but having the right background is also necessary, and where you work is also crucial.

In other words, one must have the right timing, the right location, and the right people, among which the right timing and the right location are the most important.

Take those deputy provincial and department-level officials in Ningchuan, for example. Are they really more capable than us? I doubt it. Ultimately, they were just lucky; they hitched a ride on someone else's coattails.

Duan Feng nodded, finding it very reasonable, and let Wu Yingjie continue while he summarized his experience.

Wu Yingjie didn't want to say anything more: "What experience are you summarizing? Do you still think this is from decades ago?"

Now Beishan has all the advantages of timing, location, and popular support, but our political careers are over, so further discussion is just a waste of breath.

Duan Feng sighed, "That makes sense." He then said, "Let's get back to Xu Lian. You said he was just a bully using someone else's power, but there must be other stories behind it."

Wu Yingjie: "Of course, I'm not that shallow; I wouldn't curse someone over a matter of how they address them."

That's only one aspect; the main problem is that this kid's reach is too far.

On several occasions, in order to promote his political achievements, he bypassed me and directly ordered the TV stations and newspapers under my command to put the projects he developed on the front page and give them prominent coverage.

You know, propaganda work has its own set of procedures. If everyone were as simple and crude as him, things would fall apart.

There was nothing I could do; his subordinates didn't dare offend him, so they had to report to me. I had no choice but to go out and talk to him, and guess what he said?

"How did he say?"

“He said,” Wu Yingjie raised his head, mimicking Xu Lian’s tone, “Mayor Qi said that all work must be coordinated with and make way for economic development, and propaganda work is no exception.”

Do you think he still respects me?

Just as Duan Feng was about to reply, the phone rang.

Picking up his phone, Duan Feng saw it was an unknown number. He immediately guessed who was calling and answered without batting an eye.

The call was indeed from the assassin organization. They said the mission was complete and they hoped he could arrange the cleanup properly so that the relevant departments wouldn't keep pursuing them.

Duan Feng was overjoyed, but he didn't ask any questions. He simply hummed a few times and hung up the phone.

"Old Duan, what's wrong with you? Why is your face red?" Wu Yingjie asked, pointing to Duan Feng's suddenly "rosy" face.

Duan Feng touched his face and said, "It's nothing, just a flare-up of my high blood pressure."

Duan Feng appeared calm on the surface, but his overwhelming joy was difficult to suppress. Sure enough, his blood pressure spiked.

As the saying goes, good news makes people feel refreshed. The high blood pressure that used to make him dizzy and lightheaded was now like a bottle of fine wine, making him feel like he was floating on clouds. It also made his brain lose its basic ability to make comprehensive judgments, and he failed to understand the development of the situation through multiple channels in the first place.

It's actually not very convenient. He's been by his side the whole time since he entered the municipal party committee building. How can he find out anything?

Wu Yingjie quickly called his secretary to get the medicine from the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

When the secretary returned, she not only brought the medicine, but also a message.

The Standing Committee meeting will be held ahead of schedule, at 10:20 a.m., which is half an hour later.

After taking the blood pressure medication urgently delivered by his secretary, Duan Feng remained unperturbed by the news. Instead, he happily analyzed with Wu Yingjie what kind of signal the Standing Committee meeting being held ahead of schedule was.

The two men were in agreement, both believing that the mayor had already surrendered in the municipal party secretary's office.

Xia Guanglei is trying to further solidify his position and prestige by holding the Standing Committee meeting ahead of schedule.

The two sat for a while longer, until the bloodshot look on Duan Feng's face subsided a bit, before getting up and heading to the conference room.