Fortunes of Officials

By Renfu Xiao

Fortunes of Officials is a story about the whole process of StrongIdeal Gao to become the most powerful person-- the secretary from deputy secretary of municipal committee of Near Violet City with a population of seven million people and to resign from the post. Like other place, Near Violet was filled opportunities, restlessness and uneasiness in the transformation period. As the most powerful person in the city, StrongIdeal Gao had to face various enticements and schemes and sufferings, but he withstood various challenges, took the great opportunities of the Reform and Opening Door Policy, and made a great contribution to the economic development of the city under the tenet: As the most powerful person in the place, local people must benefit from his performance, thus he was well loved by the people of the city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Great Wall Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223038610

Renfu Xiao

Renfu Xiao is a well-known and well-liked novelist about officials and biography of historical figures in China. He has worked as a farmer, a teacher, and officials involved education, finance, government and association, thus knows every nuance of the officialdom. He loves to write as a part-time writer, has published more than a dozen novels about officials, five biographies of historical figures in China, more than forty books of essays and collections for short novel, the total word counts are over ten millions. He is the best novelist about officials in China and his books have been well-received by Chinese readers for a long time.

Book preview

Fortunes of Officials

To be the most powerful person in a city with seven million people through...

Author  Renfu Xiao

Translators  Bin Liu  Jirong Liu

Municipal level is a crisscrossing political platform with bustling political affairs and complicated personal relationships. Many of officials at this level are promoted from township and county step by step, but the principal leaders are assigned and sent down from province. It could be taken as a distribution center and a transfer station for political talents.

Contents

Fortunes of officials

Principles to be a good official (epilogue)

Chapter one

When Secretary Song Xiaobo of Deputy Secretary Niu, Provincial Committee of Communist Party called the office of Gao Zhiqiang, he was climbing up along the staircases to Expect Violet Pavilion, located at a high level ground in Double Violet Park behind the municipal committee building（*In China there are five administration levels from central government, province, city, county to town）.

Whenever it was possible, Gao Zhiqiang would always walk in outside every morning to do some exercise and take in some fresh air. That was not special treatment for him, but to him it was a kind of luxury. He had been a secretary of former Deputy Secretary Yan of Provincial Committee who had already retired. After he left the compound of provincial committee, he first served as party secretary of South Security County Committee under Near Violet City for half term, then was promoted to be the chief of the municipal organization department in charge of personnel affairs, three years later became a deputy secretary of municipal committee in charge of officials and mass. He was very busy for various affairs, and a 

(* are annotations from translators) 

lot of people came to talk with him daily. It was very rare for him to have free time and space for himself. At the moment people were very clever, they did not come to your office to talk about their problems but at the gate of your apartment, as they knew leaders were very busy for meeting and inspection to hear reports here and issue commands there, the leaders were rarely in their offices, even if they were in the offices rarely, their offices were bustling with people just like the specialist clinic of a hospital, none would be sure when it was his turn. Often before Gao Zhiqiang got up from bed, someone would wait at the outside of his apartment stealthily, they came to him for reporting their works, seeking instructions, complaining against certain corrupted officials, reporting fraud of certain department, seeking promotion after they had stayed at a position for a long time, or seeking justice after being wronged for a long time, anyway they came to him for solving their important problems. Of course some people would push a red envelope stuffed with money through under the door, and leave at once. Nevertheless besides the money, they would leave their names in the envelopes too. It was rare in this world to give away money without asking any favor in return.

Maybe due to the heavy rain which had just stopped after daybreak, in the morning when he came out of the door, unexpectedly none was waiting for him. He let out of long breath, went downstairs, walked along the small pebble road under the wall, strolled out of the compound, then entered to Double Violet Park. At the moment the park was enshrouded into misty atmosphere, the greenery of the hills and the slopes appeared greener and denser, it seemed that so long as one stretched one’s hand out, one could get a handful of soft mist. From time to time drops of water would plop down from the leaves to ground with crispy sounds and on his body. He touched his head subconsciously, watched and breathed the fragrant dense greenery, then climbed up along the wet stone steps to Expect Violet Pavilion at high place.

When he arrived Expect Violet Pavilion, he turned to look down at the more than two hundred stone steps he just climbed over, he nodded his head with a smile to express his satisfaction. The two hundred stone steps amounted to ten storey of a building, he could climb up so easily, that meant his physical strength was very good. Yes, to be a blacksmith, one first had to have excellent physical strength, without good strength how could you cope with your heavy and onerous job? While thinking in such fashion, he raised his head to look at three characters Expect Violet Pavilion under the eave, those were true characters of Yan style(* A writing style developed by ZhenTing Yan, a famous politician and calligrapher in Tang Dynasty 709-784 AD and still in vogue for brush writing) with vigorous and firm forms by forceful strokes. The couplet were written in same characters in the columns at the sides of the pavilion: Birds chirping in screen-like green hills; Human talking in picturesque scenery. He wondered that the couplet is just so so, but the characters are marvellous, so it could be accepted by people relatively easily.

He stared at the characters for a while, then walked around the pavilion. He looked at the low and high buildings of the city at faraway places, and the indistinct Violet River behind the buildings, they all became ethereal in the faint mist. He just looked at the faraway places for a moment, then looked at the greenery in front of him which he liked most. They were tall trees commonly seen in parks of the south, including Chinese parasols with thick branches and broad leaves, tall and straight pine and cypress trees, verdant camphor trees, fragrant magnolia trees, and precious birch trees. After the heavy rain, they became even more vital and energetic.

Among the verdant greenery, he noticed another pavilion at the top of another hill. The place was a bit higher than the place he was in at the moment. The pavilion was called Greet Violet Pavilion, the two pavilions echoed each other at a distance. As the two pavilions each had a violet, thus the park was named as Double Violet Park. He thought the names of the pavilions are interesting. The two violets all mean the Violet River at faraway, but they imply different connotations with Expect and Greet. Then how? At the Expect Violet Pavilion, Violet River which is behind the city could not be seen in full but part, thus one could only expect. If one stands at Greet Violet Pavilion, as the place was at high place, plus at a different location with a different angle, the meandering Violet River could be seen in full as if it were just in front of you. As he did not have enough time, he rarely went to Greet Violet Pavilion in the morning, only in weekend or holiday he would go to the pavilion in morning or at dusk to breathe breeze from pine trees, listen chirping sounds of birds, enjoy the landscape of the city under the hill and the meandering Violet River at faraway.

Just as he was staring at Greet Violet Pavilion at the higher place, he heard light footsteps from stone steps behind his back, someone climbed up to Expect Violet Pavilion. He turned his head, saw a young woman with red sports clothes leaning on the column while taking in air a bit heavily, she looked a bit charming and sweet. He thought he had met the woman before, maybe she worked in the compound but couldn’t remember who was she. The young lady noticed him, she looked at him with her charming eyes, said surprisingly:Secretary Gao, it’s you! He said:You’re... She said:I’m Cong Lin of the Women’s Federation, have you forgotten me?

He recalled at once, one month ago two deputy directors retired due to age limits, four candidates including Cong Lin were selected from counties and districts were reported to the Standing Committee. Two out of four, so the candidates began to take action to find various relationships to talk with the Members of Standing Committee, as he was in charge of personnel changes of officials, more than ten people came to him. At last even ForeverHarvest Jiang, Secretary of the Committee and General Manager of Violet Source Liquor Factory came to him to recommend Cong Lin, said she is the most young and capable one among the candidates, asked him to pay attention to her when they discussed the candidacy. He did not beat around the bush, asked him directly that their relationship. Jiang Yongniansaid candidly:She is my wife’s sister. If my wife doesn’t force me repeatedly, I dare not come to ask for the favor from Secretary Gao. He said jokingly: It is not a bit strange that you work so hard to get her promoted. People say that sister of one’s wife is more tasty than one’s wife, as a brother-in-law he could occupy half of her. Jiang Yongniansaid:Even if I want to, but I dare not to. Otherwise my wife will go to crazy and take my life with a stroke. Later he got to know among the four candidates, Cong Lin is really the best one in capability, thus when the committee discussed the candidacy, though several members wanted to let her pass, let their own candidates take the positions, he persisted and put the actual and detailed information about the candidates on the table for discussion, after comparison and balancing, all members thought Cong Lin and another candidate with a family name Jin are more suitable candidates, thus they both were promoted as deputy directors. As the Women’s Federation was under his jurisdiction, later Director Tan of Municipal Women’s Federation took Cong Lin and Deputy Director Jin to his office to visit him, at the moment he was about to leave his office to take care of something, thus he did not have a deep impression about her.

First time meet was for strangers, second time meet could be taken as friends, he thought they are not strangers anymore, thus said hurriedly:Director Cong, has already started to work in Municipal Women’s Federation? She said:I have already worked for more than a week. Director Tan has already found an apartment in the compound, and I have already moved in. This morning when I came out for exercise, I found the park is near the compound, thus I come here. He asked:Who else is your home? Where is the other half? She said: As to the other half, we stayed together for two years, he went to Japan last year, and we divorced. He said:Why did not you go with him as it was a nice opportunity? If I were you, I might have already gone with him. She said:I’m a nationalist, the Japanese had committed hideous crimes in our country, and they still don’t want to admit their crimes, even their prime minister goes to pay tribute to the memorial tablets of war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine, I hate Japanese most, how could I go there?

It is a bit interesting about this Cong Lin, he thought. Nevertheless he did not want to continue to discuss such kind of private topic, raised his head to look at the three characters of Expect Violet Pavilion. She raised her head and looked at the characters too, said: When I was young, my father taught me about writing with Chinese brush, there was a kind of writing  called Yan style, they looked similar like these. He said:You have practised Yan style? Then in future when I ask your writing, you should not spare it with me. She said:Secretary Gao, you needn’t to joke with me, how my one could be treated as practise, mine could only be taken as daubing, just in several days, I became impatient, then threw my brush away. He said:These are really characters of Yan style, and were written by a magistrate of the prefecture in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty(An emperor from 1654-1722 AD). As the magistrate was descendant from same the family of ZhenTing Yan of Tang Dynasty(709-784 AD), he practised the character for his life, reached the acme of perfection, you could see his superb status from the three characters.

Upon hearing his words, she began to look at the words even mores seriously. When he saw her serious expression, he became even more interested, and told her an allusion. The original name of the park was Greet Violet Park, and there was only one pavilion at the top of the hills. The magistrate was not a local of Near Violet, his parents had passed away, he was raised by his maternal uncle who was an official. In the year his uncle was assigned to be the magistrate in Near Violet, he came with him, lived in the compound for magistrate which is current compound of Municipal Committee. At that time he had not passed Imperial Examination Test for officials, he had just passed the test at provincial level, and failed for several times at national level. In order to prepare for forthcoming test, he would come every day to this park and climbed up to Expect Violet Pavilion to enjoy distant views. He studied very hard, in next year he passed the test, became an official, worked some years in other places, just like his uncle, he was assigned to be the magistrate of Near Violet Prefecture.

Magistrate Yan of course was grateful about the park which made him pass the test and become an official, found some money to renovate the pavilion, wrote the three characters of Expect Violet Pavilion by himself and the couplet. After engravers got the characters ready, they were put there. When Magistrate Yan saw the renovated pavilion and his own characters in the pavilion, recalled he becomes a powerful magistrate from a poor student, thought he should be recognized with success and fame at least, felt very good about himself. He thought about the characters Expect Violet Pavilion for a while, found the Expect is a wonderful word which is more appropriate to be used in the place. But at the moment, how his emotion and mood could not be demonstrated by the word completely and only? When he was studying for a long time as a poor student, who would think about him, though which became a past, at the moment he was the magistrate of the prefecture, he was satisfied with his achievement, what should he expect more? After thinking for quite some time, Magistrate Yan raised his head, noticed another towering hill is in front of him, was moved by the scene, walked energetically to the top of the hill, turned his head to look faraway after he reached the top, found the meandering Violet River, it seemed that the river are about to rush into his arms. He got very excited, told his retinues loudly to build another pavilion with its name of Greet Violet Pavilion.

In a short while Greet Violet Pavilion was ready, the three characters were of course his writings. At that time it was March, it was time for flying birds and growing grasses, he dug out several holes around the pavilion, planted several camphor and magnolia trees. Later on at the same time every year he would plant some trees in the hills, either pine, Chinese parasol, birch or laurel trees. He worked in Near Violet for several years, built water-control projects, roads and bridges, encouraged farming and weaving. He did a lot of good and practical things for the place, and was well loved by local people. At the same time the trees around the two pavilions grew up, became a green scenery, it could be said the scenery is a reflection of his achievements and fame in his official career. It was said that when his term was near, he was about to leave the place, he planted elm trees(* a homonym of remember and recall) to represent he would remember and recall the two pavilions, the verdant forest, the place which had given him favor and an opportunity to display his talents forever in his life.

The allusion ended in such fashion, Gao Zhiqiang stopped his words, turned his head to look at her. She was looking at him, saw he does not talk for a while, asked: And? He said:No more. Don’t you think the story is complete? She said:I mean how about the later officials? Did not they act a bit like Magistrate Yan?

He smiled, had to continue: Whenever a new magistrate came to preside the work of Near Violet, upon hearing the story about Magistrate Yan, all expressed their admiration to the magistrate, followed his example to plant the trees in the hills. The tradition has been kept to the moment. Even after the foundation of Republic and People’s Republic, every chief executive who came to work in Near Violet would plant trees in these two hills. It was very strange for the two hills, no matter what kind of trees, so long as they were planted here, they would grow wildly, even they couldn’t survive in other places, so long as they were transplanted here, they would become full of vigour, as if the trees wanted to boost the will and spirit of the officials.Gradually another meaning was added to planting tress, i.e., planting trees was not the one in a common sense, but became an important part of their official activities, and a special symbol for them. Anyone who became a chief executive understood that their term in a place is limited, the thing they could do in a place is limited, but one has to leave his name behind just like a wild goose will leave its sound behind its flying path, maybe in their subconscious mind they wanted to leave something in the place they had worked to tell people what he had achieved. Then what was the best way to express such kind of his wish? With time everything would fade out, including the good things and welfare one developed for local people and your fame. Only trees planted by one wold grow up, would still be there hundreds even thousands later, and they could be best, objective and obvious annotation of your achievements as a chief executive in the place, though not every chief executive would have the capital to use personalized tree planting to demonstrate his achievements.

He talked in such a way as he pleased, she was enchanted by his story, did not expect there is such a kind of interesting story about the park, looked at and listened to him like a primary school student. Though he had already stopped his talking, she still did not come into reality. The bright and vivid sun which only has such kind of color after a night rain was rising from east horizon, and made the park look even more colorful and brilliant. He knew it’s time for his return, said goodbye to her, walked along a small path of Expect Violet Pavilion in quick steps, and left her at the top of the hill.

The compound of Municipal Committee was very quiet at the moment, only occasionally several old men were practising Taiji boxing and several old ladies were performing sword dance. From time to time three to five students of primary or secondary school would cross the yard in a hurry. He walked along the wide pebble-paved road to the building for Standing Committee Members, and went to the third floor of his apartment.

When he came out of his shower, his secretary Forward Ma had already prepared his breakfast. His wife Ning Jing and his daughter Gao Jie were staying in Provincial Capital, and his life was essentially taken care of by his secretary. Little Ma had already married for two years, but he did not have a child yet, so it was easy for him to arrange his time. Every morning around seven o’clock when he was at the top of Expect Violet Pavilion or was held off at the door by some people, Little Ma would come to the apartment to do house cleaning and prepare his breakfast. It nearly was same for his breakfast, one cup of milk, one egg and two steamed stuffed buns bought from Virtue Garden restaurant. Milk and egg were boiled by Little Ma every morning, the buns were bought from the shop. At the moment there were a lot of shops sold the buns called Virtue Garden, none was sure which one is genuine, anyway he just got used to the buns, thus he just took them so long as they were called the name, furthermore Little Ma told him that he bought from the real shop for the buns as the shop had been open for dozens years in Near Violet City.

He first turned on TV on a short cabinet, then sat at the dinner table to take his breakfast while his eyes were focusing on TV screen. He was busy everyday at the outside, usually left the room early in morning and came back late in night, rarely had time to watch TV, only had a bit time to watch TV when he took his breakfast.

At the moment several pieces of news about meeting were reported in TV, he had already gotten to know the information yesterday in computer and evening newspaper. He took his look back from TV, took a bite at the buns, asked Little Ma whether he had had his breakfast with courtesy. Little Ma just came out of the restroom with a plastic basin of his clothes he had taken off, was about to go to balcony to throw into the automatic washer, heard Gao Zhiqiang was talking to him, halted his step, said:I have already had in my home. He asked:Is Little Cai back from her business trip? Little Cai was the wife of Little Ma, Little Ma said:Not yet. He said:I have told you that when you are alone in home, you should come to join me for breakfast. Little Ma said:I could not get used to milk and the bun, and like spicy and sour needle much more. He smiled:What kind of nutrition of your spicy and sour noodle could have? Could its nutrition be higher than milk and egg? It’s easy to change a dynasty than to change an inborn nature of a person.

Little Ma smiled too, was about to turn, then suddenly recalled one thing, said: Secretary Song Xiaobo of Deputy Secretary Song called a moment ago.

In fact though he was talking with Little Ma, his attention was focused on a piece of important news on TV when Little Ma talked about the call of Song Xiaobo, thus he did not pay much attention the words, just asked casually:Did he say what is his call for? Little Ma said:No, he just told when you come back, you give him a call. He said:I know. All his attention was focused on TV, even the glass of milk stopped at the lips of his mouth, as if it were a close-up in a movie.

In first place the TV was reporting the major smuggling cases of Yuanhua of Xiamen, the guy, Changxing Lai who only stayed for three years in primary school had developed and decorated a red building with one hundred millions, dragged more than six hundred leaders and officials into the mire, evaded more than ten billions tax each year. Gao Zhiqiang just did a rough estimate that there are two districts and eight counties with more then seven millions of people in Near Violet City and annual fiscal income of one point two to one point three billions, for more then ten billions it amounted to total annual income for ten years for the city. As to the fiscal income only at the municipal level it was about a bit over two hundred millions, that meant half century’s annual income for the city for ten billions.

He suddenly recalled the traffic police of Near Violet City had registered for many of the smuggled cars last year, maybe those cars were from smuggled cargo ships of Lai Changxing. As the fiscal difficulty faced by the city, the registration of the smuggled cars for people who came from nearby cities and province had increased fiscal income over ten millions, thus when traffic police proposed the method, principal leaders of Municipal Committee and Government had given their supports. Who could expect that there would be a large scale nationwide campaign against smuggling, after receiving complaints, the provincial committee of discipline inspection sent Deputy Secretary Xiong to station into Municipal Traffic Police Brigade to investigate. There were a lot of investigations like that before in the city, so long as the group was well received and given a bit more, then the thing was not a big deal. But this time the group did not want to leave the city, said they got instruction before they arrived that all those involved have to be relieved from their positions or caught without any misgivings, the bayonet has to be stained with blood. Standing Committee of Municipal Committee couldn’t do anything but instruct Prosecutor’s Office to arrest the Commander of Municipal Traffic Police Brigade and the leader of Finance Section of the Brigade. Nevertheless the group still thought the measures were not severe enough and did not want to leave the city, they had to stay to urge the city to do more. Thus Secretary Wen of Municipal Committee, Mayor Lei of Municipal Government enjoined Gao Zhiqiang and Bi Yuntian in charge of traffic police to take good care of the group and work hard to conclude the thing as soon and appropriate as possible before they went to provincial capital for a meeting about structural adjustment meeting of industry and agriculture with deputy secretaries and vice mayors in charge of related areas.

After the smuggling news, Gao Zhiqiang noticed the clock on the wall, it’s about quarter to office hour, he turned off the TV, was about to leave the room. Little Ma immediately handed his necktie and overcoat, took his handbag and waited at the side of the door.

Ten minutes later they entered the office building of the Municipal Committee. When they arrived at third floor, Little Ma unlocked the door of his office, stood a bit at side to let him enter the office first, then followed and put his handbag at the side of computer of his desk, took out a glass travel flask with bamboo case from his handbag, rinsed the glass with hot water in a thermos at tea table, made a cup of tea with newly picked tea leaves before Grain Rain(*The sixth of twenty four Haisons in Lunar Calendar for a year in China, and the tea is best around the period), put it carefully at a location on the desk which could be easily picked up by him. At the moment, Gao Zhiqiang had already sat in his high back leather chair, took the cup up and sip a bit, habitually turned on his computer, at the same time enjoined:Go to the secretarial division to check whether notices of meeting and letters. Little Ma nodded his head, retreated to the door, before he turned, said:You need to call Secretary Song.

Sure, I’ll call him. While saying the words, he still focused his eyes on the screen, flicked the mouse with his right hand rapidly, opened his email box. There was an unread message in the box. It was needless to say that the message from Dai Kanlan. He opened the mail, there was only one sentence: See you in Orchid Stream House at noon.

A sly smile showed up on his face at once. Dai Kanlan was his university alumnus and a chief of a department in Provincial Bureau of Organization at the moment. They had been confidants for many years, before they had contacted with each other by phone, for last two years with widespread usage of computers, they rarely called each other, often sent email to each other. They thought it was not enough to send emails, thus they created a special room for chatting in the net, would set a time in advance to have a chat in the room if they wanted to. She named the room with a poetic room: Orchid Stream Room.

The characters of Orchid Stream were from a beautiful poem written in Tang Dynasty. Their friendship had started many years ago from the poem.

He then signed out of the mailbox, browsed several pieces of news, turned the computer off, was about to call Song. He did not know why he called him early in the morning, but he was sure that the call of the secretary of the leader was usually very important, sometimes the call of the secretary was more effective than that of the leader. When he had been the secretary of Deputy Secretary Yan, many instructions and intentions were sent out through him as a secretary. He thought the call might be very important for him, and couldn’t miss the call casually. He raised his hand to pick up his phone to make the call, unexpectedly someone entered his office at the moment. It was not convenient to call the secretary of a leader when someone else was present, thus he had to draw back his hand, said:Secretary-General Yin, do you have anything for me?

Secretary-General Yin stood at the side of his desk with a bit unhappy face, said helplessly: Chief Qin, Office of People’s Complaints called a moment ago to seek urgent assistance, Guo Baotian has already gone to railway station with a group of people to prepare to make complaints to Provincial Committee. He said:Chief Qin really couldn’t do anything. As he knew Guo Baotian wants to take a group of people to make complaints in Provincial Capital, why he did not send people to stop them, how he just comes to Municipal Committee to seek urgent help? Secretary-General Yin said:He called from railway station, Qian Baotian did not acknowledge his authority, said even if Secretary Wen and Mayor Lei come forward to talk with them, they would not cancel the action. He said angrily:Secretary Wen and Mayor Lei are having meeting in Provincial Capital, you just call them back to handle the thing, why you come to me?

Mr. Yin could not utter a word for the moment, just stood there without a bit movement. He knew if he did not interfere for the thing, Mr. Yin would not leave his office, thus stood up, took his handbag and went to the door.

Guo Baotian was a famous professional petitioner in the city, leaders in Office of Complaints and Municipal Committee and Government had a headache once they heard his name. Gao Zhiqiang had come into contact with him twice already, and got to know some information about him. He was a retiree from Cooperative Supply and Marketing Organization, his ancestors lived in the village of Guo’s Family Level Ground in East Violet District. As he had received some formal education, acted fairly when handling things, would always have some novel ideas for finding solution to problems, people in the village would come to him to seek help when they bumped into problems or had some conflicts with other people, and he was willing to offer his help, always could find some solutions to solve the problems, thus had established certain prestige in the village. Several years ago the government of East Violet District wanted to establish an economic development area in the village, the land and houses were expropriated according to the official document with red letter head issued by the district, that was to expropriate the houses of the villagers first, after constructing of the buildings, the first floor was given back to the villagers, and the apartments above the first floor were belonged to developers. At the beginning people thought they got equal value for the plan, gradually people realized that the deal was not equal, as they just got first floor, the land owned by their ancestors were divided by people living above their floors as a matter of fact. People came to Guo Baotian, he thought the thinking is reasonable, thus took people to talk with the Urban Development Bureau of the district and developer. The bureau and developer could not give a reasonable explanation to those people, and did not want to give an extra compensation, thus Guo Baotian and his people filed their complaints to District Committee and Government, and to Municipal Committee and Government. Gao Zhiqiang thought the thinking is reasonable, ordered the government of the district to compensate some money to the people from Supporting Fund for City Construction,thus the problem was finally put to an end.

At the moment a more urgent and serious problem happened in the village, Guo Baotian had to come out to help to solve the problem. It was said the petition is related to gypsum mining in the village by someone, the mine was digging directly under the buildings of the villagers. He worried the buildings might fall down into ground in one day, so he took some people to stop the mining of the developer, but the developer ignored them, said their paperwork is complete, and the mining procedure is legal. He had to talk with Magistrate Sun of the district, Magistrate Sun said: The gypsum mine in your village has been approved by authority after repeated surveying and assessing of Municipal Mining Administration Office with special instruction by Municipal Leaders, it has already concluded that the mining does not pose any danger to the villagers. Guo Baotian, you needn’t make any troubles for such a kind of thing. He had no other choice but come to Gao Zhiqiang. In first place Gao Zhiqiang did not really know the actual information, second he did not want to interfere with a thing related to governmental side, told him to go to Mayor Lei Yuanming and Executive Vice Mayor BrightIntelligence Ou. They both scolded him, said:The gypsum mine is 70 meters below the surface, and several hundred meters away from the residential buildings, you, Guo Baotian, have nothing to do, just want to find some troubles, right? He saw the problem couldn’t be solved by local government, thus wanted to take people to petition in Provincial Capital.

When Gao Zhiqiang and Secretary-General Yin arrived in station, Vice Mayor Bi Yuntian had already arrived, as several people wanted to petition in Provincial Capital, officials in Municipal Committee and Governments all came to the station in a hurry, it seemed that the officials might be overreacting, but the reaction was very common to officials at County and City levels. At the moment as it was the transforming period for economic system, the relationships among government, group and individual were changing silently, various kind of social problems were emerging, thus it was unavoidable for people to make petition in other places. But if many people went to superior institutions to make petitions, besides the problems they caused to the superiors, they also demonstrated incompetency of local governments, thus the superior would certainly hold a different opinion about the local government, in addition important attentions were paid to people’s complaints and comprehensive management of social stability from the central government to local governments, all local problems had to be solved locally, and no local problems would be allowed to push to superior institutions to put tremendous pressures to them. Not a long time ago Provincial Committee had made open criticism for several cities which were ranked at the top of the list for allowing their people to come to make complaints in the superior institutions, had decided to repeat the process every quarter to make a list, then notify the whole province for the rank. When GDP or fiscal income were ranked at the top of the list, it was a glory for a local government, but it was inglorious for any local government to be ranked at the top of the list for complaints. Therefore, before Secretary Wen and Mayor Lei went to the Provincial Capital for the meeting, they particularly held a standing committee meeting to assign and arrange necessary procedures and measures regarding people’s complaints and comprehensive social safety management, emphasized nothing wrong should happen in the period. Otherwise Gao Zhiqiang and Bi Yuntian would not adopt such a kind of attitude as soon as they heard Guo Baotian would take people to make petition in Provincial Capital, went to the station to stop them as if they were rushing to fight against a fire disaster.

When they saw Bi Yuntian and Chief Qin are talking with Guo Baotian and his people, Gao Zhiqiang went to the the office of the station with Secretary-General Yin, asked the chief of the station and the chief of police station to the office. Gao Zhiqiang briefly explained the situation to them, took them to the waiting room, pointed Guo Baotian and his people to them, said to them for all trains going to Provincial Capital, you have to send policemen to guard, they are not allowed to board the trains. They both nodded their heads, left to arrange necessary personnel, then Gao Zhiqiang went to Guo Baotian.

When seeing Gao Zhiqiang, before Bi Yuntian could open his mouth, Guo Baotian said first:Secretary Gao, you needn’t blame me. I talked to Lei Yuanming and BrightIntelligence Ou according to your instruction, but they chose to ignore us, thus we have to take such a kind of unwise measure. He said:Old Guo, you just tell me, what’s your opinion about me? Guo Baotian said:Secretary Gao is a good leader, last time regarding to the compensation for the real estate, if it were not you, we could not get an extra penny, for that people of the village and I have always kept in our hearts. He said: I know you’re a man with affection and loyalty, I have to thank you for that. Then added: As to your petition in Provincial Capital, I’m not against it. But you should know that Secretary Wen and Mayor Lei are in Provincial Capital at the moment for a meeting, they have designated Mayor Bi and I to take care of everything in the city for the time being, thus we have the responsibility to take care of everything for the time being. You’re really nice to choose to go to Provincial Capital at the moment, are you trying to make trouble for Mayor Bi and I?

Guo Baotian giggled, said:According to your words, we have to wait till Secretary Wen comes back, then we go to Provincial Capital? I’m afraid that before he comes back, the village will sink down completely into the ground. He said:Old Guo, you needn’t be overactive and oversensitive, how could the village sink down into the ground as you said? Guo Baotian said: Secretary Gao, when you are free, how about I take you to look at the place, then you will know my meaning. He said:Okay, how about you accompany me to go to the place now?

His sly small eyes were shiny, Guo Baotian said:You needn’t use the scheme of luring a tiger out of its territory, I won’t fall into your trick. Let me be frank with you, I have to get Pockmark Sun down from his position, otherwise I won’t be a human! He said: You can do whatever in Near Violet City, if you file lawsuit, I will give you my support. But you cannot go to Provincial Capital, which I am definitely against. Guo Baotian humphed once, said:I know you officials will offer mutual protections, there is no way for me to get him down in the city, I have only ways to file complaints against him in Provincial Capital and Beijing.

While they were talking, the loudspeaker announced that the train for Provincial Capital is arriving, it’s time for passengers to check in. Then Guo Baotian left them, took his people to go to ticket checking gate.

When they came to the gate, Guo Baotian took out his ticket, the staff of the station suspected his ticket is not right, asked the policeman who is standing at the side to maintain order to have a look. The policeman just glanced his ticket once, said:Your ticket is a faked one. He shouted:What’s wrong it could be, I just bought the ticket from your ticketing window, unless the window is selling fake ticket. The policeman said:I don’t care where you have bought your ticket, you have to go with me to police station for further investigation.

Guo Baotian did not want to go with the policeman, the policeman went forward to take his arm. Other people with him went forward to take him back from the policeman, suddenly several more policemen showed up, and stopped them. Then Guo Baotian cursed:You are doing illegal arrest, I’ll file lawsuit against you in court. The policeman said:It’s your right to file lawsuit, but here is not the court, you have to go with me first. Thus he was taken away.

Other people with him just pulled back and forth with the policemen several times, when they saw their leader was taken away, they had to give up their efforts to take the train.

When the train left the station, Gao Zhiqiang and Bi Yuntian went into the police station, took him out. Gao Zhiqiang asked Chief Qin to refund the tickets for them, said to Bi Yuntian:You go to cope with the inspection group. I take care of Guo Baotian. He said:Okay. While Bi Yuntian was going to his car, Gao Zhiqiang suddenly remembered the news about the smuggling case in Xiamen,  called him back, took him to side, asked whether the attitude of the group changed a bit. Bi Yuntian shook his head, said:For the time being they haven’t shown any sign of change. He said:How about we both invite them to have a lunch together, then take them to visit scenic spots in the counties.

Bi Yuntian shook his head, said:Chief Xiong of the group is as hard as a stone, persists in not taking our dinner, and buying their lunches in restaurants in street every day, thus it’s unnecessary to mention the visits to the counties. I tried twice, they just ignored me. He realized the seriousness of the problem, patted several times on his back, said:Yuntian, it seems that you have to suffer some grievance this time and prepare in advance. Bi Yuntian said:What kind of preparation I should have? The worst thing is they let me be relieved from my office.

When they got back into the city, Gao Zhiqiang said to Guo Baotian:Old Guo, you just give me two more days, then you take me to visit the village. he said:Secretary Gao, you have to visit the village as soon as possible, otherwise you may not find the place anymore. Gao Zhiqiang said:You shouldn’t scare me. Then told Chief Qin to take him away, and enjoined Chief Qin to call East Violet District to take them away. At last he went into the office building with Secretary-General Yin.

After entering his office, he picked up the glass cup, drank a mouthful tea, was about to call Song Xiaobo back, the secretary on duty for Standing Committee entered his office, said the people of investment promotion bureau is waiting him for whole morning, want him to meet the businessman from Hong Kong. When the businessman first came to Near Violet, it was Gao Zhiqiang who received him, the businessman had a very good impression about him, persisted in seeing him before he left the city. The businessman had already agreed to invest in the city, it was not an excessive demand to meet him before he left the city. Gao Zhiqiang had to say to himself in heart, Song Xiaobo, I wish you don’t have something urgent for me, I have to see the businessman off first, then call you back.

When he came back from the bureau, it was already over eleven o’clock, he took a towel to wash his face in restroom, then sat down at his desk, called the desk phone of Song Xiaobo. Song Xiaobo did not pick up the call, someone who answered the phone said he is out for a business trip. Then Gao Zhiqiang called his cellular phone, the female voice was coming out the phone: The call you made is not in the service area. After a while, he called again with same answer. He repeated several times, and couldn’t make the call go through. When he saw it is time to go off the duty, he thought Dai Kanlan might have already been waiting him in Orchid Stream Room, stood up, closed his door, turned on his computer, entered password, singed in OICQ, entered the room, the nickname of Dai Kanlan was showing up in screen with on sentences: Why you still don’t sign in? Are you snagged by your lady secretary?

He smiled, immediately entered one sentence behind his nickname: Lady secretary is not as beautiful as you, I couldn’t tempted by her. She said: Your man is really immoral, while taking in what is bowl, he is still focusing his attention in big pot, you still said you’re not tempted. He said: You are in not only my bowl but also my pot. She said: You needn’t think too much about yourself, do you think who are you? He said: Deputy Secretary of Near Violet City. She said" Deputy Secretary of Municipal Committee? What’s a role for Deputy Secretary? Aren’t you an official at Deputy Provincial Bureau Level? You come to visit Provincial Capital, if you go to a restroom to relieve yourself once, when you come out, you will see a full table with officials at Deputy Provincial Bureau Level. He said: That depends where the restroom is located, if you go into restroom in Beijing, you might see not only officials at Deputy Provincial Bureau Level but also officials at Deputy Minister Level.

Every time when they entered the room, they would joke for several sentences casually. He thought it is very strange, as such a kind of joke could only be talked in the net, when they both met in face, though they still bantered with each other happily, they never could go to this kind of extent. He thought virtual is really virtual, just like a dream, when one is in dream, everything is a fantasy, therefore even people know each other very well, one couldn’t take it too seriously about words exchanged in the virtual world. Who would take one’s dream too seriously? Only because one doesn’t take it too seriously, thus one could joke in such an open and unscrupulous way. But none couldn’t have a dream, the dream is a supplement to reality, thus many want to seek his dream in the net. He thought maybe Dai Kanlan and he are not in the same city, it is very hard for them to meet in reality, thus they would come to gather in the virtual world.

While thinking in such fashion, his typing speed slowed down a bit, she urged: Are you at the side of your computer or not? I have something serious to tell you. He said: I’m listening. She said: I tell you some information, Ministry of Organization called yesterday, said there will be a class in the first half of the year, every province could send one to two principal leaders at city and prefecture level to take part in the class. He said: Is there anything to do with me? She said: Maybe or not. He said: Who will take part? She said: Not clear at the moment. He said: Who will take part? Could I? She said: That could only be determined by the Standing Committee Members of Provincial Committee, I don’t know. He said: You mean... She said: I do not have any meaning, I only just give you a tidbit information.

Just a tidbit information! How could a chief of a department of Bureau of Organization of Provincial Committee have a tidbit information? He said goodbye to her, signed out the room, couldn’t understand the real intention why she had told him about the information for a while. He sat at the side of the desk blankly for a while, then remembered that he had not called Song Xiaobo through yet? He called twice, still got the same answer from the female voice. He left the office, went back to his apartment to take his lunch. After lunch break, he went back to his office, called again for Song Xiaobo, but still could not get through.

It was nearly four o’clock in afternoon, he connected with Song Xiaobo. Song Xiaobo said jokingly:Secretary Gao, you’re really arrogant, Deputy Secretary Niu wanted you to call back, where have you hided to show up till now? He said: We have to make it clear, is it really that you are hiding or I am hiding? I have called you from morning, you are not at the service area all the time, I only could get you through at the moment. Song Xiaobo said:You need not deceive me. We only went into mountains after eleven o’clock. Before that, I got very good signal for my phone. He said:Mountains? What mountains? Song Xiaobo said:A vice minister from Ministry of Forestry comes to inspect and survey a program of Returning Grain Plots to Forestry in West Mass City of your neighbor, Deputy Secretary Niu is accompanying him, wanted to see you as he had a bit free time in the morning, who could expect you not to call back and show your respect to him?

Gao Zhiqiang moved a bit by the information, realized that Deputy Secretary Niu wants to see you and must have some important information for you, thus said in a hurry:Will you not leave West Mass City today? He said half-jokingly:How could I know? He is from Beijing, Deputy Secretary Niu is only accompanying him, how could Deputy Secretary Niu make the decision? Gao Zhiqiang said:You needn’t joke with me anymore. You tell Deputy Secretary Niu, I will drive to West Mass now.

It was over four o’clock when Gao Zhiqiang left downtown area of Near Violet City with his secretary Little Ma. West Mass is located at the southwestern direction of Near Violet City, the road was located in mountainous areas with deep valleys and in very bad conditions with bumps and hollows. The car was moving very slowly in the road. When they exited the West Violet District, crossed another two counties, they entered South Security County, at the moment there were lightnings in sky, followed by thunderclaps and pouring rains. The road was enshrouded in misty rains, his driver Little Luo had to turn on the headlights, drove very slowly along the road.

Gao Zhiqiang had been Secretary of South Security County for half term, he was really unhappy with the road which was built at the beginning after the foundation of People’s Republic from Near Violet to West Mass, the road is in a very bad condition after lack of good maintenance and widening for so many years. For that he went several times to Provincial Capital and Beijing, got several dozens millions poverty alleviation loan with low interest, prepared to widen the road within the boundary of South Security County. But he was promoted to the chief of Organization Department of Municipal Committee of Near Violet City, the project stopped just after it had started for several days, the part of the loan was used by the leaders of county committee to develop so-called economic development zone, and some of the loan was taken out by people in Poverty Alleviation Office to buy several pieces of land for real estate development in Guangdong, the land was still in their hands. It drove him into crazy, he really wanted to relieve the leaders of the county from their offices, but those leaders had some powerful men to offer protection, thus he couldn’t do anything about them. When he became Deputy Secretary of Municipal Committee, he mentioned again about the problem of the road, suggested to send some capable people to go to Beijing to get particular fund to upgrade the road crossing seven counties and one district of Near Violet City. But the Standing Committee Members could not reach consensus about the project, someone said at the moment the enterprises are closing down, many workers are laid off, they need to focus attention to input money to the enterprises to restore production and maintain social stability, and it is not appropriate time to upgrade the road; someone said though Near Violet City is a city with history over two thousands years, the infrastructure has been done bit here and bit there, there is no single presentable modern building in the city, the most urgent thing is to strengthen infrastructure development to develop good image of the city to promote business investment and economic development in the city, thus bring economic developments in the counties of the city to make the city prosper as a whole, as to the road, it has worked for so many years and as West Mass City is not a developed area, the road could wait for several more days which would not affect the economic development. One hand could not make a clapping sound, only he talked about the issue, and couldn’t do the thing by himself, thus the road project was still procrastinated in such fashion, and the road was still not at the list of the agenda for the Standing Committee. He thought in one day if he is in charge of the city, he would definitely get the road upgraded.

It was still raining, they crossed another three counties after they left South Security County, then they reached the westernmost county, Calm Prosperity of Near Violet City. The road became wide and level at once, and was in good condition. Little Luo exhaled a long breath, said:Only the road of Calm Prosperity County is for human out of the whole city. Then he pressed the gas pedal, drove the car ahead at a very high speed. Gao Zhiqiang knew that was achievement of Bi Yuntian. CouldSky Bi had been Secretary of Calm Prosperity County for two terms, decided to upgrade the road no matter what and fought against various oppositions to finish the project. To be frank among the current leaders of Municipal Committee and Governments for Near Violet City, Gao Zhiqiang admired only Bi Yuntian. Let alone the achievements when he was Secretary of the country, when he was vice mayor in charge of either urban development and transportation or culture and education, he had achieved a lot in his responsible area, unlike other officials, who could do excellent reports and make excellent use of his power but just couldn’t do anything measurable. Gao Zhiqiang thought if he becomes Secretary and Mayor of the city, he will definitely give Bi Yuntian a huge responsibility, at least he should be an executive vice mayor.

After they left the boundary of Calm Prosperity County, the rain was getting less and less, gradually stopped. Gao Zhiqiang asked Little Ma at passenger’s Hait what time is it now, he looked at the time behind the driving wheel, said:Nine past ten. Gao Zhiqiang said: Five hours for just a bit over two hundred kilometers. If road were in good condition and it had not rained, we might at most need only three hours. then asked:Are you hungry now? How about to find a place to solve the problem of hunger? Little Ma asked Little Luo:What do you think? Little Luo said:Let’s take the chance to go to West Mass first as it stops raining. Little Ma said:Yes, you’re right. Based on the outside, it might rain again in a short while. He said:Okay, when we’re in car, you both are leaders. They both smiled without uttering a word. The road was in very good condition, they entered the downtown area just a bit over ten o’clock. A broad cement road showed up in front of them with two rows of lamp pole at the sides of the road, lights were hanging on the poles, they gave colorful look to the road and made the road look resplendent. LittleLuo slowed the speed of car a bit, as if he had wanted to take the opportunity to have a bit more time to watch the beautiful scene. Little Ma turned down the window, stretched his a head a bit out to watch the scene while letting out a sigh with admiration:My goodness, what a beautiful and marvellous scene.

Gao Zhiqiang had the same feeling of entering a metropolitan area. In fact the population in downtown area of West Mass is just half of the number of Near Violet, but they were good at getting thing done to make the road to enter the downtown area to have such a magnificent look. He thought it is not a bit strange that the main leaders of West Mass have been promoted in much quick fashion for recent years, on contrast the leader of Near Violet has stayed in the place without a bit promotion or transfer. For example Secretary Wen has already been near two terms, and has no sign to further movement. If he doesn’t move, there are rarely opportunities for us as deputy secretaries and deputy mayors.

While he was thinking in such a fashion, they had already drove out of the fifteen kilometers of scenic street and into downtown area. Little Ma asked:How about to call the leaders of West Mass? He said:Let’s get something to eat first, then call them. Thus Little Luo stopped the car at a restaurant, they three had a simple meal.

When they got out of the restaurant, it rained heavily again, it was much heavier than in afternoon. When they got into car, he called Song Xiaobo, said he has already arrived in the city, where are you now. Song Xiaobo said:We’re still at the countryside. The flood has rushed the road away, and we has been trapped in the place for more than two hours. He said:Leaders are working too hard! How about I go to pick you up? Song Xiaobo said: How about to get a helicopter to pick us up. He had to give up, told Little Ma to call the secretary on duty for Standing Committee of West Mass City to find a place to stay.

Deputy Secretary Yang of West Mass City welcomed him. As Deputy Secretary Yang was staying in West Mass Hotel, after permission of Gao Zhiqiang, Deputy Secretary Yang asked them to stay in the hotel too. All suites had been occupied, thus Gao Zhiqiang took one room, Little Ma and Little Luo took another one.

Deputy Secretary Yang and he were official colleagues, they frequently had meetings together, thus when they both were in the room, they began to talk casually. Deputy Secretary Yang said meaningfully:Secretary Gao, you really have a good source of information, as soon as Deputy Secretary Niu has arrived, you come here to see him. He said:Based on your tone, I’m not welcomed in this place. Deputy Secretary Yang said with a smile:Welcome, welcome! We’re neighbors with continuous mountains and same flowing rivers, furthermore before West Mass became a city, most of the city had belonged to Near Violet. He said:"Yes, when ChangLing Wang(*A famous poet and politician in Tang Dynasty 698-757 AD) had been in West Mass to write a poem to his friend