There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies.
It is reasonable and logical for Wang Guoyue to go from being at loggerheads at the beginning to shaking hands and making peace now. The two do not have an absolute conflict of interest. It is enough for them to learn from each other and get what they want.
The mystery of Du Guangquan's death was solved, and it was confirmed that he had no connection with Wang Guoyue, which also improved Fang Zhicheng's opinion of him. Although Wang Guoyue was a hypocrite, he was not disgusting to the point of being unbearable.
In this competition, Fang Zhicheng gained enough respect. Although Wang Guoyue completely controlled Cao Yao, he had to admit that Fang Zhicheng had the power to influence his layout in Cao Yao. In order to appease Fang Zhicheng, Wang Guoyue proposed to give the Su family two powerful deputy ministerial positions in exchange for concessions in Huainan.
For Fang Zhicheng, the purpose of his coming to Cao Yao has been achieved. First, his master Song Wendi has successfully moved up a step and is now the second-in-command of Huainan. With his resources in Huainan and the power of the second-in-command, there will not be much change within five years. Moreover, Song Wendi is young enough, and as long as he follows the steps, he will be able to successfully enter the Politburo Standing Committee.
Secondly, in the process of confronting the northern faction, the confrontation between the soul figures of the younger generation, although not as thrilling as the top leaders, also presented a wonderful game of back and forth. In just a few months, on the surface, it was a fight between Fang Zhicheng and Wang Guoyue, but in fact it involved a fight between the secret forces of the Su family and the Wang family. The power of the Su family, which had been dormant for many years, also proved itself through this move, enough to compete with any big family in China.
After returning to the hotel, Fang Zhicheng was about to knock on Sui Qi's door, but after thinking it over, he went back to his room, washed up simply, and prepared to go to bed.
Around five o'clock, he was sleeping soundly when he was awakened by a rapid phone call. In a daze, he touched his cell phone, squinted his eyes to look at the number, and found that it was Lu Baojuan, the propaganda minister of the Municipal Party Committee, who called, so he quickly answered the call.
Lu Baojuan complained on the phone, which made Fang Zhicheng feel strange. He didn't have a close relationship with her, so why did she choose him as the target of her venting? Thinking back to the Standing Committee meeting last night, Fang Zhicheng suddenly understood that he might have done something unintentionally last night, which made Lu Baojuan misunderstand.
Recently, because Caoyao has been developing rapidly, all kinds of negative news have emerged. According to the reception office of the provincial party committee, people from Caoyao go to petition almost every day. At the same time, media in other provinces and cities have also published many news reports that are unfavorable to Caoyao.
Lu Baojuan said indignantly: "Ten minutes ago, Secretary Guo Yue called me and asked me to find a way to guide public opinion, clarify requirements, strengthen external public relations, and ensure that work is carried out in a good public opinion environment. If problems arise again, I will be held responsible."
After listening to this, Fang Zhicheng also sobered up a lot and comforted him: "Minister Lu, our Cao Yao has always done a good job in publicity. The reason why Secretary Wang is so sensitive is mainly because he is too nervous. You also know that the Office of the State Bureau of Letters and Calls has just issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the News Release of Letters and Calls". Cao Yao is at the peak of vigorously promoting economic construction, and will definitely encounter many letters and calls, so he hopes that you can do a more solid job."
Lu Baojuan smiled bitterly and said, "Those petitioners are old-timers. The Petition Office didn't handle it, so we were asked to clean up the mess. What's going on? When something went wrong, the Petition Office didn't take any responsibility. On the contrary, our Propaganda Department got blamed. Isn't this contradictory?"
Lu Baojuan's words were ambiguous and revealed a lot of information.
Fang Zhicheng smiled slightly and said, "It is indeed a bit embarrassing, but since it is something the squad leader has asked us to do, we still have to work hard to complete it."
Lu Baojuan sighed and said, "Well, I just want to find someone to complain to. Things still need to be done. Thank you for listening to me for so long. Did I disturb your rest?"
Fang Zhicheng shook his head and said, "No, I usually get up early and do morning exercises."
Lu Baojuan smiled softly and said, "No wonder you have such a good figure. It turns out you know how to exercise. I also like to run in the morning. How about making an appointment to run together?"
Lu Baojuan is already fifty years old, not much younger than Su Qing, so Fang Zhicheng didn't think much about it and said, "Sure, let's go running together when we have time."
After hanging up the phone with Lu Baojuan, Fang Zhicheng was no longer sleepy. He got up, changed into sportswear, and went out to prepare for morning exercise.
After running for more than ten minutes, Fang Zhicheng suddenly realized why Lu Baojuan called him this morning. This was a good sign for him, indicating that he had already established a certain network of contacts in the current Standing Committee. Although he was only a member of the Standing Committee, Cao Yao's recent achievements had already been recognized by everyone. At the same time, everyone regarded him as a potential competitor of Wang Guoyue, especially when Qu Kang gradually faded out, Fang Zhicheng's role became stronger.
Lu Baojuan had previously tricked Wang Guoyue at the Standing Committee meeting and joined forces with Qu Kang to embarrass Wang Guoyue in the election for additional members of the Standing Committee. As time passed, Wang Guoyue began to make things difficult for Lu Baojuan.
Fang Zhicheng jogged to the shade of a tree, took out his cell phone and called Wang Guoyue.
Wang Guoyue was a little surprised and said, "It's really rare that you called me this morning. It seems that we got closer to each other last night."
Fang Zhicheng smiled faintly, and then said in a serious tone: "For the petition problem, I think we still have to find the source. We can't just rely on public opinion guidance. That is just treating the symptoms but not the root cause. It doesn't actually solve the problems encountered by the people. It just creates the appearance of a good environment, which is not sustainable."
Wang Guoyue smiled faintly. He was reading the newspaper. Every morning, the Caoyao Daily would be placed on his desk at around 4:30. This was his habit to ensure that all citizens could read the news of the day and make some decisions at the same time. Today, he saw a news report in the social section about a petitioner being found on the highway, so Wang Guoyue called Lu Baojuan to reflect the seriousness of the matter.
Wang Guoyue's original intention was just to hope that the propaganda department would be aware of the political stance and influence of each piece of news. If this news was seen by the citizens, they would not only feel pity for the petitioner and sympathize with him, but the image of the government would also be greatly damaged.
Wang Guoyue said: "You are right. But we still have to consider the overall situation. As a party newspaper, we must talk about politics. As a propaganda department, we must build a network of public opinion relations and provide a more favorable environment for the government to govern. We should publicize more positive things and not always look at problems simply from a personal standpoint. Otherwise, it will cause misunderstandings among citizens and bring many negative effects among the masses."
Fang Zhicheng shook his head and said, "If the media is too clean, reality will become dirty. If we ourselves are unwilling to tell the truth, then the people will lack channels and dare not speak out. A person who is unwilling to tell the truth is a coward. If the media dare not tell the truth, it is a shame for the media. Of course, not daring to listen to the truth and being very sensitive to some truths is the dereliction of duty of our civil servants."
"You are right, but we should treat them differently. The country is taking petition work so seriously, but our local media is not sensitive at all and is actively exposing problems. Isn't this creating chaos?" Wang Guoyue stood up and said nervously, "Caoyao seems to be stable now, but in fact some people still have bad intentions... Some people are ready to make a move, and they can't bear to see such a good situation. They deliberately create a sense of panic, hoping that the world will not be in chaos."
Fang Zhicheng knew what Wang Guoyue meant. He was afraid that someone deliberately wanted to use the power of the media to create trouble for Wang Guoyue.
Fang Zhicheng's tone softened, and he said, "Everything should be viewed from both sides. I just hope that Cao Yao's media environment is relaxed enough, because this is a modern society. Hiding things is useless. The government needs to put out fires, not hide them."
Wang Guoyue nodded and said, "You are right, so I want to set up a department responsible for external publicity and handling various crisis public relations."
Fang Zhicheng secretly thought that Wang Guoyue had done enough research on this matter, and said, "Now all levels of foreign government departments have a press spokesperson system. Once a public event occurs, the press spokesperson will make a public explanation. If there is any panic, the official explanation will be given. In a society with information explosion, when the masses know more real information, they will not feel panic, and malicious rumors can be prevented from being spread."
Wang Guoyue was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly and said, "It seems that I was right to criticize Comrade Baojuan today. Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken the initiative to find you, and you wouldn't have said so much to me."
Fang Zhicheng said: "I still advise you to be more realistic. Although the hard look may look cool, it will not be cute enough after a long time of contact."
Wang Guoyue laughed when Fang Zhicheng said this without any emotion, and said, "Why do you make me sound like a robot?"
Fang Zhicheng sighed: "If a person loses his emotions, what is the difference between him and a robot?"
Wang Guoyue wanted to refute Fang Zhicheng, but he felt a little speechless. A gentleman does not argue. However, every time he communicated with Fang Zhicheng, he always felt like there was a turbid air in his chest that he wanted to spit out, and he wanted to compete with Fang Zhicheng.
After hanging up Fang Zhicheng's phone call, Wang Guoyue walked to the French window, looked at the gradually brightening sky, and sighed softly. Fang Zhicheng's evaluation and reminder of himself were very accurate, and the restraint deep in his bones made him have an invisible film on his appearance, which was enough to make others respect him, but difficult for others to get close to him.
Chapter 1022: The Willful Kindness of a Woman
In mid-to-late October, the weather in Caoyao gradually turned cooler. Although young women in thin clothes could still be seen on the streets, the branches and leaves of the trees on the street began to turn yellow. After an autumn breeze swept through overnight, the half-yellow and half-green leaves were scattered all over the ground.
The sudden drop in temperature has caused many people to catch colds. Caoyao People's Hospital is particularly busy. The drip room is full and people need to queue up to find a seat.
Sui Qi was not in a normal state yesterday. Fang Zhicheng was going to invite her to dinner in the morning, but the call didn't go through. He asked the waiter to open the door and found that she had a high fever and was very ill. So Fang Zhicheng took her to the Municipal People's Hospital. After registering in the emergency room, he saw the doctor, did a blood test, and took the report to the doctor. The doctor gave the conclusion that first, she caught a cold, and second, she was too tired.