Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Wen Liang ran over and opened the door. Wen Huaiming was standing outside the door, covered in dust and looking very tired.
Wen Liang took the briefcase, helped him take off his coat and hung it on the hanger, and said with a smile: "Dad, am I a filial son? Even the slaves in ancient times could not compare to this kind of service!"
"Stop talking nonsense. Where have you been these past two days? Tell me the truth later. If you dare to hide anything, you will never leave Qingzhou again!"
Wen Liang lowered his head and said embarrassedly: "One of my classmates' parents was not at home, and he was afraid of the dark. I went there at night to give him courage, so he didn't go home..."
"Humph!" Wen Huaiming snorted coldly and said, "Teacher Ye called me, and you didn't go to school. You skipped classes even though you were brave enough. What kind of courage did you have? Panther courage?"
Wen Liang smiled and said, "That's a good joke. As a leader of the municipal party committee, your speaking skills are really getting better and better!"
Wen Huaiming's stern face showed a trace of amusement and he shook his head and stopped talking. Ding Mei half stepped out of the kitchen, still holding a spoon in her hand, and shouted, "Your dad is back? What are you two talking about? Come over and serve the dishes, we can eat now!"
The family of three had a rare reunion dinner. Ding Mei was called away by Aunt Liu across the street to play mahjong. Wen Huaiming went to the study to deal with some official documents first. When he returned to the living room with a cup of tea, he found that Wen Liang had fallen asleep on the sofa.
After two days of traveling thousands of miles back and forth and dealing with a series of extremely difficult matters, although there was no smoke of gunpowder, there was danger everywhere. Wen Liang was truly exhausted and worked day and night. Even with his extraordinary physique that he had honed after his rebirth, he finally couldn't hold on any longer.
Wen Huaiming tiptoed back out of the living room, went to the bedroom, got a quilt and gently covered Wen Liang with it. He stood beside the sofa and looked at his son for a while. He wanted to reach out and pat his head, but he stopped halfway and returned to the study quietly.
Father and son are connected by blood, sharing life and death. From ancient times to the present, there is no deeper love in the world than this!
At two o'clock in the morning, Wen Liang woke up from his sleep, lifted the quilt on his body, and walked to the study room. He saw that the light was still on inside, so he pushed the door open and said, "Are you still awake? Don't you have something to say? Why didn't you wake me up?"
Wen Huaiming buried his head in the desk, the pen in his hand quickly scratching across the paper, making a rustling sound. Hearing this, he said without raising his head, "Zhu Jiusi will come to Qingzhou for inspection the day after tomorrow, and many things need to be arranged. The schedule made by the people below is not perfect yet, I hurried to revise it, and it has to be discussed at the Standing Committee tomorrow."
Wen Liang stretched his body, lifted the teacup on the table and looked at it, saying: "I'll have a drink of your tea to refresh myself... Ah, it's too strong, so bitter..."
Wen Huaiming stopped writing, glared at Wen Liang, and said, "What have you been doing these past two days? Why are you so tired? If your mother hadn't covered you with a blanket, what would you do if you caught a cold? You're an adult now, so stop being careless..."
Wen Liang teased, "Okay, Dad, do all leaders have to become talkative in the end?"
Wen Huaiming couldn't help but smile and said, "You, go move a stool over here, I want to tell you something."
Zhu Jiusi came to Jiangdong to preside over the post-disaster reconstruction this time, of course he would not come empty-handed. This is actually the same as visiting relatives during the Spring Festival. If you don't bring some gifts, who will look at you well? As the vice premier, Zhu Jiusi's gifts are naturally not light. The central government allocated 9 billion disaster relief funds, and he brought nearly 2 billion at a time. No wonder all cities and counties in the province gathered in Guanshan under the pretext of the commendation meeting. You know, some cities are the hardest hit areas of this flood disaster. It's good enough that they don't hold criticism meetings. How can they be qualified to attend the commendation meeting!
However, Tang Monk's meat is only a few pounds, and the shameless monsters have no meat to eat, so they naturally jump up and down, looking for their own Buddha to burn incense. Qingzhou's popularity has increased significantly due to the media hype some time ago, and Wen Huaiming's selfless deeds in the reservoir are indeed touching. Before the meeting, Zhu Jiusi, accompanied by Yu Peidong, went to Qingzhou's seat and shook hands with comrades from the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. In particular, he shook Wen Huaiming's hand and said "good" three times! Despite this, when Qingzhou became the third stop of Zhu Jiusi's inspection after Guanshan and Lingyang, it still caused an uproar in public opinion. Because no matter according to the provincial ranking or the severity of the disaster, Qingzhou should not surpass other cities and become the biggest dark horse!
What they didn't know was that Zhu Jiusi's trip to Jiangdong was not only to revive the people's hearts in the disaster area, but also to inspect the pilot reforms of state-owned enterprises in various places. Given the current situation in Jiangdong, Yu Peidong of course recommended Qingzhou to him - although the specific reforms had not yet started, at least the ideas were clearer, the framework was set up, and with Xu Fuyan and Wen Huaiming in charge, it was really the most ideal choice.
What Xu and Wen need to do is to take advantage of this opportunity to do a good job of reception and reporting, and strive to obtain enough disaster relief funds and preferential policies. They also need to find out the opinions of the upper echelons on some of the difficulties encountered in the reform, such as ideology and left-right lines.
After hearing this, Wen Liang asked in confusion: "This is indeed good news, very good news! The city has plenty of talent and experience to handle these things, so there is no need to ask for my opinion, right?"
Wen Huaiming ignored his son's arrogant words and said, "... Zhu Jiusi values it so much, the provincial government will definitely tilt funds towards Qingzhou. This is a sure thing, and of course there is no need to ask for your opinion! But the key point is, where will the city's funds be tilted towards?"
Wen Liang suddenly realized, blinked mischievously, and said: "Dad, you better stay calm, those guys in the districts and counties below will use any means to get more money, don't be hit by the sugar-coated bullets, Marx is watching you!"
Wen Huaiming had no way to deal with Wen Liang now. He picked up the teacup and took a sip of strong tea, then snorted coldly, "From your tone, it seems that Dingsheng Industrial Company, which spontaneously supported the flood control work in Yishan at the critical moment and transported a large amount of supplies and filled more than a dozen vehicles, is not interested in participating in the post-disaster reconstruction work in Qingzhou?"
"oh… "
Wen Liang was choked and said, "I thought you would avoid suspicion and deliberately exclude Dingsheng... To be honest, I really didn't think that Dingsheng would participate in the reconstruction, so as not to embarrass you. After all, I was the one who brought the supplies over, and many people saw the reservoir at that time..."
Wen Huaiming smiled and said, "You are so young, why do you have so many worries? Children should not be so depressed and calculating all day long. Wen Liang, if a person wants to do great things, he should not calculate these trivial matters. They are just scabies and are not worth worrying about."
He stood up, walked to the window, and pulled open the thick curtains. The cold moonlight sprinkled the silver-white ground by the window. He sighed softly: "National affairs are difficult, and reforms are full of obstacles. I am just a small secretary-general. Although I am trusted by Xu Fuyan and hold great power, it seems that I have the final say in Qingzhou and am very powerful. But how difficult is it to really work hard and benefit the people? From top to bottom, I don’t know how many people are waiting to laugh at you, and how many people are waiting to step on you when you land... "
Wen Liang walked to him and stopped. Wen Huaiming turned around and patted Wen Liang's head naturally. His serious eyes rarely showed some gentleness and kindness. "I personally don't fear life and death, and honor and disgrace are even smaller matters. But the officialdom is strange and unpredictable. In the past few days, even Wei Qiwen of Su Hai almost fell because of the reform... If I make a mistake, what will you and your mother do? Although you are smart and wise, you are still young after all. How can the burden of this family be placed on your shoulders?"
In his previous life, he was ignorant when he was young, and he became estranged from his father when he grew up. This was the first time that Wen Liang heard his father analyze his inner thoughts in this way, and his hard heart began to melt instantly.
"To abide by principles and uphold beliefs does not necessarily mean being old-fashioned, conservative, mean, or dogmatic. Integrity, nobility, honesty, and purity have always been requirements for being a human being, and cannot be used as a means of doing things.
I know that Dingsheng is related to you, and I believe that you will handle the relationship between you and the company well. Therefore, if the policies and conditions allow, there is no reason or need to let your friends make efforts but not get any rewards. That is neither the way to be a person nor the way to do things... "
Wen Liang suddenly realized that he had never truly understood his father. His heart, his wisdom, and his world were all far beyond his expectations.
"Dad, you don't have to worry about me. I will naturally compensate Dingsheng's friend in other businesses! But you are right. Dingsheng did make great efforts for disaster relief and was commended by the city. Xu Fuyan mentioned many times that Dingsheng should be set as a model. It is reasonable to give it certain preferential policies. Avoid being too much, as too much is as bad as too little..."
Why did Wen Huaiming choose this time to say these words to Wen Liang? Of course, it was because he knew that his son would rather sacrifice his friends than get involved in the post-disaster reconstruction in order to avoid making things difficult for him. Wen Liang understood him, and he also had to understand his son. There were no friends without a reason, and no help without a reason. This time, Dingsheng had contributed without regrets, but what about next time, and the next time
He has never been a pedantic person. There is no such thing as a lone minister in the officialdom. To walk steadily and for the long term, in addition to being "fair, just, honest, and capable", one must also have a sufficiently large network of relationships and a network of connections that can be relied upon. Otherwise, the day he broke his promise to Xu Fuyan would be the beginning of his eternal doom!
Therefore, Wen Huaiming did not hesitate to temporarily let go of his father's authority and tell Wen Liang what was in his heart that he had never mentioned to anyone else, just hoping that his son would understand that as long as it is not against the law, discipline or even common sense, there is no need to be too cautious.
Wen Liang's biggest headache has always been how to secretly develop and cultivate power without violating his father's principles. But tonight he realized that his father, like him, had already seen through the true meaning of officialdom:
No one can be trusted forever. The only person who will not betray you is yourself! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)