The private room of Saint Te's restaurant has bright tableware and glass walls reflecting colorful lights, creating a surreal magical feeling.
Sitting opposite Lu Ming was Li Cangyu, chairman of the Beiguan Health Committee, a man in his sixties with short white hair, but he looked energetic.
At this time, he was smiling bitterly, "Lawyer Lu, I, an old man, will retire in a few months, so please let me be quiet!"
Indeed, after the parliamentary elections are completed at the end of the year and a new seven-member committee is formed, the seven-member committee will appoint the heads of various administrative agencies.
He is old enough to work for a few more years and is in good health, but it is rumored that the chief member of the Seven-member Committee, Bucklo, will be nominated again by the Duke's family and re-elected. Deputy Director Zhang Zhenbang seems to have been noticed by Sir Bucklo's son, Bucklo Jr., and was once invited to watch horse racing with Bucklo Jr.
There are rumors that Zhang Zhenbang's daughter-in-law has an unclear relationship with little Bucklo.
Li Cangyu had a premonition that his official career would come to an end in a few months.
Every four years, when a new seven-member committee is formed, it is customary for the chief executives of all administrative agencies to submit their resignation letters to the new seven-member committee. However, as long as there are no major problems, most of them will likely be retained. Legally speaking, the new committee will form a new ruling team and appoint new chief officials of the ruling departments.
In some cases, the seven-member committee will actually leave a letter of resignation and appoint new candidates.
However, the replacement of most chief officials of administrative agencies is not completed immediately after the change of term.
However, Li Cangyu felt that once he submitted his resignation letter, he would truly leave the Health Commission.
But I didn't expect such a troublesome thing to happen before leaving.
At this time, he smiled bitterly and said, "So, Lawyer Lu, I am a few years older than you, so I am arrogant enough to call you brother. Brother Lu, please don't make things difficult for your elder brother!"
Lu Ming smiled, "Brother Li, how can you say that I am making things difficult for you? In fact, bad things can turn into good things, right?" After thinking for a while, he leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and said something.
Li Cangyu's face became uncertain and he slowly fell into deep thought.
…
The sun was shining brightly, and Lu Ming was sitting under a parasol on the lawn of the Liberty Building, drinking from a straw while looking at several forms in his hands, including questionnaires and percentage circular charts of voters' political inclinations.
There was a light sound of footsteps behind me. It was Murong Xue, the campaign office director, who was wearing an elegant red suit, light-colored stockings, beautiful legs and high heels.
A while ago, he was applying for an ordinary position in the public relations department of Hua Xia Clothing Industry. Pamela saw his resume and found out that he was once a member of the campaign team of a famous councilor in the East District. Although he was an ordinary affairs officer, or in other words, a handyman, it was a good starting point, so she recommended him to Lu Ming's campaign office.
She walked over lightly and placed a pile of documents in her hand on the small white round table under the parasol. "Boss, these are transferred from the firm and need your signature. Also, here are the latest newspapers with reports on the 'Lemonade Girl Movement'.
”
Lu Ming nodded, picked up the document, looked through the contents, and signed very quickly.
There are relevant documents and permission to open a fund account for Xiuxiu, which requires the signature of the law firm.
Shortly after meeting Li Cangyu, the firm's representative, Xiuxiu, signed a secret settlement agreement with the Health Commission, which meant that the content of this agreement could never be made public.
The Health Commission paid 50,000 yuan in compensation, and Lu Ming paid 20,000 yuan out of his own pocket, but still managed to raise a total of 70,000 yuan for Xiuxiu's fund.
In addition, the document also includes a letter of intent for the firm to cooperate with the Health Commission to establish the "Lemonade Girls" charitable health fund.
The Health Commission pays the money, and also raises donations from the public. The donations are mainly used to support the poor and provide free medical care and other assistance.
The firm is responsible for supervision and makes the accounts public.
This is what Lu Ming proposed to Li Cangyu, turning a bad thing into a good thing.
At the social level today, there is the Lemonade Girls movement, which is actually a call for social equality.
Lu Ming suggested that the Health Commission respond to this movement and set up a charity fund, which would be supervised by his own firm. In this way, a bad thing would turn into a good thing, because the dispute between the client represented by his firm and the Health Commission, and the actions of his firm, became the fuse of the Lemonade Girls Movement. Now that his firm and the Health Commission have cooperated to establish a charity fund, the outside world's impression of the Health Commission will also change.
Of course, the Health Commission needs to set up a fund, especially since it has to pay out its own money every year. This means that part of the money that should be turned in will be withheld, and this will definitely need to be approved by the seven-member committee or even the parliament.
In fact, it was a very troublesome matter. After Li Cangyu agreed, Lu Ming understood that he did not want to step down and wanted to take the opportunity to stir up trouble. Maybe it would improve his reputation, or maybe it would cause a lot of trouble and no one would be willing to take over. Of course, even the worst result would be that he would be dismissed, which was no different from the normal trajectory.
After signing all the documents that needed to be signed, Lu Ming picked up the newspaper that reported on the Lemonade Girls Movement and read it.
Murong Xue stood aside, glancing at the reports. She felt that the lemonade girl movement had suddenly become a trend, which was not that simple, but it was not something she should care about.
Anyway, it's good for the boss's election.
However, in reality, the boss makes all the decisions on all election affairs, and I, as the director of affairs, am just a figurehead.
But then again, if one were to choose a proper campaign office secretary, it would never be my turn.
I still remember the first day I met the boss and the day Mr. Pan recommended me to come.
At that time, the boss's campaign office was full of talented people, including a very famous campaign expert who was also the secretary-general at the time.
On the first day, I didn't understand the situation clearly, but I remember the expert chattering non-stop to the boss about what to do and what not to do.
The boss seemed annoyed and told him directly that from now on, he was no longer the director of affairs.
Then, she lit herself up, and from then on, she was my chief clerk.
The campaign expert was very angry and asked why.
The boss said that because she is beautiful, she is pleasing to the eyes.
At that time, everyone was stunned.
I was so scared that I even wanted to write a letter of resignation immediately.
It was Mr. Pan who comforted me and told me a lot of things about the boss.
Now I understand that the boss just didn't agree with what the campaign expert said, which was completely different from his ideas. The expert was also too long-winded, so he fired You Yu, but he had to use a very absurd excuse.
I even thought it was the same shameless person as my former boss who used to harass me.
Thinking of the past, a layer of gloom appeared on Murong Xue's face.
"Well, it's time to get some political donations. This won't work. It would be too embarrassing if I lose money while running for a seat in Congress. I've already lost 20,000 to Xiuxiu!" The boss suddenly stood up, mumbling.
Murongxue was helpless. Did Xiuxiu's 20,000 yuan also count as money spent on the election
"Prepare the car and go to Wendebao!" the boss made a gesture.
Murong Xue hurriedly picked up the slightly bulky walkie-talkie and asked someone outside to drive the car in.
…
I don't know when Wendebao started to become a gathering place recognized by most Beiguan merchants. Not only does the club have more members, but their level is also obviously higher than before.
The club rooms on the second floor are no longer just rooms 8, 88 and 888, but more than a dozen club activity rooms that can accommodate businessmen from a dozen different circles to gather at the same time.
Today, more than 20 businessmen gathered in private room No. 6, all of whom are leaders in the Beiguan business community who support the Grand Public Party.
But Lu Ming was in Room 7 next door, chatting casually with Wen Liangyu.
"Qianxing, it's all thanks to you. I never thought that I would see this day for Wen Debao. Even when my grandfather was still alive, there was no such grand occasion!" Wen Liangyu was full of emotion and spoke from his heart.
Lu Ming smiled and nodded to the person sitting next to him, "Where is Dong Wenquan giving a speech?"
Wen Liangyu smiled bitterly: "Yeah, this has to be a formality, right? Talking about political ideas and making promises to the sponsors, only you don't even give them this little face."
He took out a check and a piece of paper. "Here, it's yours."
Lu Ming only left a note and handed the check to Murong Xue who was sitting next to him, "Deposit it later."
The campaign office has a special account for political donations, which can only be used for campaigns.
Murong Xue knew that although her boss often did things unconventionally, he never broke the rules. After taking the check, she immediately widened her eyes and exclaimed "Ah..."
Because I really can't imagine this number.
Lu Ming glanced at her and said, "You, I will dismiss you as the chief clerk later. You seem to have never seen the world. I hope that Fourth Brother will not be able to do so much for me next time."
Wen Liangyu smiled bitterly, "This has nothing to do with me. These are all people who want to lift you up."
Murong Xue already knew her boss' temper and didn't feel like she was being scolded. Before putting the check away, she couldn't help but take one more look at it and counted the zeros at the end. That's right, 1 million. This is more than enough to run for a seat in the East China Sea region, right
Lu Ming looked at the paper in his hand, which was a list of donations.
He frowned slightly and said, "What does it mean that Fila Petroleum donated 300,000 yuan to me? They have no business in Beiguan, and I don't know anyone from them."
The person who donated the most was Rabbi Fila, the vice president of Fila Petroleum and the youngest son of old Fila, the current head of the Fila family.
Lafite Petroleum is one of the three largest oil companies in the empire and a super company with assets exceeding one billion.
It was only twenty years ago that the first billion-dollar company appeared in the empire. Even now, a company with a market value of one billion is the standard for the top companies.
Wen Liangyu smiled and said, "I don't know either. Maybe you are very optimistic about Qianxing and your investment in the future."
Lu Ming looked down again, "Well, Century Pictures, Gao Jingtai, 50,000 yuan. Mr. Gao is very particular."
Of course, the headquarters of Century Pictures is not in Beiguan, but Lu Ming saved his life, so this can be considered a kind of repayment.
Looking at it again, Lu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly: "My brother Liu really doesn't want to live anymore."
Liu Laocai donated 50,000 yuan, which is the annual dividend of New Era Shopping Mall. After deducting various expenses, it is already very good for him to come up with this figure.
Lu Ming shook his head: "There really should be a limit!"
Like a certain major Western country at the same time, there is no limit on political donations, either for individual donations or for the total amount of donations.
However, even during the quota period, the major Western countries had super committees that circumvented regulations and exploited legal loopholes. This was because through the overall planning of the super committees, they avoided the one-on-one limit on individual donations to a particular candidate.
Moreover, the country's Supreme Court later deemed the limits on political donations unconstitutional and abolished the limits.
As he spoke, Lu Ming looked down again and saw that Wen Liangyu's number was 65,000, which just made it a round number for him.
Lu Ming shook his head: "You guys, if you make friends with me, you will all become poor in the end!"
Wen Liangyu smiled and said, "How come?"
Indeed, his social circle is getting bigger and bigger nowadays, and he is moving up the social ladder. Looking into the future, he may be able to realize his father's lifelong ideal of cleansing himself.
All these are the changes that gradually happened after I got to know this little brother.
"Okay, Fourth Brother, it's time for me to go! Let's go see Master Qing." Lu Ming stood up.
"Okay, come and visit often when you have time." Wen Liangyu stood up to see him off.