Power and Wealth

Morning.

It was just before nine o'clock.

It was still a normal workday start, and Dong Xuebing didn’t arrive early at the office. He seemed to be in no rush at all. After having driver Xiao Wang park the car downstairs, Dong Xuebing got out, adjusted his clothes, and then leisurely walked into the office building.

"Secretary."

"Uh, Secretary."

"Good morning."

When everyone saw Dong Xuebing’s calm demeanor, they were all a bit speechless. They thought, "Haven’t you heard about the provincial TV station’s morning news? Why are you so calm?" They really couldn’t understand this new county party secretary. Forget about the others; even the regular government employees were feeling a bit anxious, yet Dong Xuebing, as the top leader of the entire county, seemed completely unfazed. It was like, "The emperor isn’t in a hurry, but the eunuchs are." No one knew what Dong Xuebing was thinking, and they all felt confused and unsure.

"What's up with Secretary Dong's attitude?"

"I don't know. It seems like he just doesn’t care at all."

"Yes, the provincial authorities have already exposed it. This is a huge matter."

"Exactly, if this goes wrong, our Jiaolin County’s leadership might face a shake-up."

"Not just the leadership, the lower-level officials won’t be spared either. Who knows how many people will be implicated."

Everyone was gossiping, and no one cared anymore about the move to the new county committee complex. They were all discussing this issue.

Dong Xuebing wasn’t in a rush, but others were.

For example, Zhang Dongfang, Meng Hanmei, and the other members of the county party committee. They had already started an emergency meeting in the conference room half an hour earlier.

The county party secretary hadn’t arrived.

Even if he hadn’t arrived, the meeting had to proceed.

Upstairs.

Small conference room.

"Has Secretary Dong arrived yet?" the county party deputy secretary, Wei Zhixuan, looked quite upset.

Meng Hanmei quickly said, "Secretary Xuebing might be dealing with something. He’ll be here soon."

Zhang Dongfang was focused on refreshing a computer screen. Of course, he didn’t know how to use the computer well; his secretary was helping him. "Look, the post’s views have already surpassed 500,000. It hasn’t even been that long since it was posted. By noon, who knows how many views it will have." ȓά₦օΒĚś

The secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Chang Lin, said with a dark expression, "Can’t we delete it?"

The head of the Propaganda Department, Sun Changzhi, responded, "It’s on large portal websites, not ours. We can’t interfere."

The executive vice county mayor, Xu Zhuang, slammed his leg, "What is this? What’s going on here?"

Everyone was thinking the same thing: What is going on? Who the hell posted this? Do they have a grudge against our county, or what? Many places across the counties operate like this, but why do they have to mess with us? However, they also knew this was just bad luck. Because of this coincidental timing, the post went viral, generating a huge amount of views and comments, which in turn caused a massive negative impact. This was something no one could have predicted. They just happened to be caught in the crossfire.

The head of the Organization Department, Han Wu, asked, "What do we do now?"

Zhang Dongfang didn’t answer, and his expression was grim. Although the former county secretary had approved the new county committee complex and was later taken over by Dong Xuebing’s administration, when things went wrong, Zhang Dongfang wasn’t sure if he would get dragged into it. He had a good relationship with the city party secretary, but this time, even the city hadn’t received any news; the province had directly reported it. Zhang Dongfang felt helpless and frustrated. The city must be having a headache over this, too. If the investigation continued, the city would share some responsibility for not overseeing things properly. Moreover, Zhang Dongfang had been responsible for constructing the new county committee complex for a period before Dong Xuebing arrived, back when the county administration took over. So Zhang Dongfang was also quite nervous and uncertain about how things would unfold. He didn’t want to see this scenario, but it always made people uneasy when things were uncertain.

"County Mayor Zhang."

"Now, what should we do?"

With Secretary Dong not being present, everyone turned to the county mayor.

Zhang Dongfang gritted his teeth. "As for moving to the new county committee complex, we should hold off for now. Let’s wait for the storm to pass before proceeding. Does anyone have any objections?"

"No objections."

"Looks like it can only be this way."

The people from Zhang’s faction spoke up one after another.

However, none of Dong Xuebing's faction said anything. Though they agreed that this seemed like the best course of action, they couldn’t go along with Zhang Dongfang’s plan in the absence of Secretary Dong.

"Let’s adjourn for now," Zhang Dongfang said.

The group got up individually, leaving the meeting room with a downcast mood.

Outside, many people were still following the orders the leadership gave a few days ago, moving things out piece by piece. Seven or eight trucks arranged earlier were also arriving one after another.

At this moment, all the county committee standing members appeared outside.

"Stop moving things."

"Hold on for now."

"Don’t move anything today."

Most of the people were busy in the yard, and Zhang Dongfang, Meng Hanmei, Chang Lin, and the others each took charge of their respective departments and gave out orders.

When they heard this, no one was surprised, and they began to tidy up and prepare to move things upstairs again.

However, Dong Xuebing walked out of the office building. Zhang Dongfang and the others hadn’t expected him to show up, and all eyes turned toward him.

Dong Xuebing had returned to his office for a while, but hearing the noise downstairs, he came out. He was carrying many of his belongings and luggage as if he were about to move. "Hmm, what’s going on? Why are the things that were just moved out being brought back?"

Zhang Dongfang was speechless. "Don’t you know?"

Dong Xuebing replied, "What’s there to know? The news? Yes, I know. But this has nothing to do with us. Let’s move. Everyone, let’s hurry up and get things done."

After saying this, he placed his belongings on the ground and called two clerks over. "Put it on the truck, thanks."

Meng Hanmei said in shock, "Secretary."

Sun Changzhi, too, was taken aback. "We’re still moving?"

"Yes, why not?" Dong Xuebing gave a direct order. "Everyone from each department, pay attention—quickly get everything onto the trucks. The sooner we finish, the sooner it’s done. Don’t delay today’s work."

"What...?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

The provincial news had just exploded, and the situation was still boiling. Yet, are you still going ahead with this?

Several Committee members of the county committee felt this was highly inappropriate and asked Secretary Dong about it, trying to discuss the matter with him. Right now, The best approach is to wait and observe the provincial government’s stance first. However, no one expected that Dong Xuebing would completely ignore the provincial news and insist on proceeding with the move.

However, Dong Xuebing wasn’t listening to anyone. He was already directing people from various departments to load the items onto the trucks, with a completely relaxed expression—as if nothing was wrong.

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