Confidant

By Renfu Xiao

ForQualification Yang tried very hard to accomplish his dream to become an official. He tried with every means available to him, through repeated setbacks, finally his dream came true, he became the chief of the Logistic Department from a driver and then a confidant of a director. When he was riding on the crest of his success, he went to prison for himself and the director for taking bribery. When he was released from prison, he found his wife had already slept with Director ForGood Dong, after thinking the whole thing over, he made up his mind to rip off the sanctimonious cover of ForGood Dong and expose his crime of taking bribery....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Great Wall Publishing
• Release date: Jan 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224303328

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

Chapter 1

Taking the diploma with red cover from the chairman of the department, ForQualification Yang went out of the classroom where he had spent for last two years, felt a bit complacent because he thought as if he had not been the blue collar driver who was despised by people anymore but the white collar official who was respected by people in his trance.

While feeling complacent, ForQualification Yang went back to his dormitory to pick up his few things which had already been prepacked, went around the huge playground, walked through tree-shaded small path in the schoolyard toward the gate of the school in an easy fashion.

The school was TV university of ValueCapital City. Through his appearance, one could know ForQualification Yang was an adult student whose prime time for study was well over. He went to the university two years ago, through his hard efforts to conquer various difficulties which an adult had to face, at last he passed all the examinations and got his diploma.

Nevertheless he knew it was a bit too early to get complacent, as in fact he was still a blue collar driver though he was with a diploma of the university. Anyway with the diploma it was highly possible for him to change his status to become a white collar official, which was the biggest wish for most of his life and the reason for him to spend last two years in the university.

He was a driver for Agricultural Bureau of the city and drove car for the leaders of the bureau. He was very good at driving with a good mentality of service which was well recognized by people of the bureau. He had learned his driving skill when he served in the army, and had been the driver for his commander. The commander put the high responsibility to safeguard the nation on his shoulder and was willing to sacrifice his life for the mission as his inborn duty, but he was not willing to take undue risk when he was in his car, thus the commander set high demands for his driver, one had to have superb driving skill to be a driver for the commander. Furthermore, soldiers came from various parts of the country, and many of them were with superb capability and skill, thus one could not become a driver for the commander as one wished.

But ForQualification Yang did not want to be a driver for all his life. It had nothing to do with being a driver one would feel inferior to other people, in contrary he thought as a driver, particularly the one who drove for the leaders, one could benefit a lot in the process, furthermore, when one drove for the leaders, one was paid due respect by others, though the respect was not that high. When he was young, he received the education that the revolution had only division of labor without lowness or nobility as to profession, all came to serve people. As he came out of the remote countryside, it was lucky for him to be able to be a driver for the leaders to serve people. One had to know among one point three billions people, at least one point one billions people could not serve people though they yearned to.

The reason that ForQualification Yang did not want to be a driver for all his life was related to his name.

His grandfather named him. The Yang’s family was a family with educated ancestors, there were several ancestors who passed the examination held by the state at the county level. When his grandfather came to the world, the family was in a run-down condition, but his grandfather still received a lot of education and was well versed in literature and history. His grandfather was well recognized as an educated man in the countryside. His grandfather was greatly influenced by Confucianism, thought as a man one had to serve his country with his knowledge to establish his merits and fame, and pass on his knowledge, and wanted only to pass the national examination. Unfortunately his grandfather was in wrong times as the national examination for students was abolished, thus there was no way for him to become an official through the examination, he could only pin down his hope to his descendants. At the beginning his grandfather pinned his hope on his father, unfortunately in the chaotic times, his father could not go to public school, and the family could not afford to have a private teacher, thus his father had to pass down the hope on him. When ForQualification Yang came to the world, it was the most difficult period near the end of 1950s due to natural disaster, people were all hungry, the members of the family were with edema, it was hard to survive and impossible to keep the idea to serve the country with one’s knowledge. But his grandfather could not give up his hope to serve the country through examination, thus gave him the name and wished him to pass the qualification to become a pillar of society to serve the country to fulfill his dream.

Probably due to the reason, ForQualification Yang dared not to forget his mission to pass the qualification no matter how low his position would be in the society. Fortunately he was not bad, when he graduated from high school, he was able to join the army and became a driver for his commander. When he was released from the army, it was fortunate for him to become a driver in the bureau with salary from the state, thus he needed not to go back to his hometown to walk in the field. As he worked for the state, everything related to his life from living to death was guaranteed by the state. In the eyes of his fellow villagers who toiled a living in the field, ForQualification Yang had reached a new level of life with easiness, and earned an enough respect for his fellow villagers.

ForQualification Yang thought the respect was not enough. You just thought about it, he was just a driver and not even an official, how could that be taken as a pass for qualification? In his heart, at least he should become an official, thus he could be taken as the pass for qualification. He did not hope he would become a senior official as with such a starting point it was nearly impossible for him to do that. It was enough for him to become an official with a rank of head at the division level in administration rank system to be taken as the pass for the qualification.

It was valuable for one to have a clear goal for one’s life, just like when one wanted to go out for a travel, first one had to have a destination, then one could walk toward the destination step by step. If one started without a destination, one could only wander around like a walking dead, and could not achieve anything in the end. As ForQualification Yang had a clear goal, thus he could take planned actions step by step, and needed not to act like a blind man to try out his luck purposelessly.

The first step for him was to become an white collar official from a blue collar driver, then tried to find a way to become an official with a rank of head at the division level.

The bureau had a clear-cut demarcation of ranking, a director was a director, a head of a division was a head, an official was an official, a blue collar worker was a blue collar worker. Everyone had to follow certain unspecified rules in their activities as to what was under one’s jurisdiction, what kind of paperwork one could sign, what kind of paper one could read, what kind of meeting one could take part, what kind of speech one could give, what kind of car one could take etc. Everyone knew the rules and did not violate a bit in their daily operations. Even people from the related departments or subordinate institutions who wanted to send some gifts or money to related leaders of the bureau, none made any mistake as to how much each of the leaders would be given, and who was the most important person and who was the least important person etc. It was an old saying that everyone wants to move a step further upward and water will flow down to a low place naturally. As benefit was closely related to one’s rank and position, one’s identity was equal to one’s value, it was natural desire for everyone to be promoted by his superiors. Thus in the bureau none wanted to be just a blue collar worker, no official did not want to become an official with a rank at the head of division level, no leader at the head of division level did not want to be promoted. As everyone wanted to move a step further upward, the road definitely became crowded, and not everyone could fulfill their dream to move further ahead as one hoped.

ForQualification Yang had worked in the bureau for almost twenty years, knew very well about the truth, and was well aware of the difficulty to become a white collar official from a blue collar worker. He knew at the moment everyone paid a high attention to the diploma, it was not a problem to become a blue collar worker without a diploma, but if he wanted to become an official, it would only become possible with a diploma. He had tried to get a diploma through self-study examination held by National Higher Education Committee, but drove the car for leaders day in and day out, he did not have enough time to do his study in his working time, and when he was in his home at his break, he wanted to sit down to read his book, but he had passed his prime time for study a long time ago, thus before he could read two pages, he would yawn continuously, the pages became murky as if they were covered with a mist.

If he continued in such a fashion, he was certain he could never get the diploma for his life. It seemed that he could only get the diploma by going into a school for full time for two years. It was not easy to get such a kind of opportunity with full salary, officials at head or deputy head level who wanted to go to school for further study had not been approved so far by the director. Nevertheless, ForQualification Yang thought though he was merely a driver, he had a natural advantage the heads did not have, that was he was staying with the leader daily, thus so long as he served the leader well, wasn’t it just merely a nod for the leader to approve his full-time study for two years?

At the moment he drove for Director Chen. When Director Chen first came to the bureau, he had another experienced driver with family name of Guo. Later Driver Guo’s father passed away, he went back to his home for the funeral, asked ForQualification Yang to substitute for him for a while. Driver Guo was a well-recognized superb driver in the bureau and a provincial model worker. Unexpectedly ForQualification Yang’s driving skill was not a bit inferior to his, and ForQualification Yang offered more thorough and careful service which was well liked by Director Chen. Thus when Driver Guo came back from the funeral, Director Chen promoted him to become the leader for the group of the drivers to help the chief of the staff of the bureau to lead the group and let ForQualification Yang become his driver. Driver Guo had already driven for more than thirty years, was tired of driving, thus accepted the arrangement willingly. The arrangement was what ForQualification Yang had hoped for a long time, he determined to follow Director Chen closely, thus gradually became a confidant of Director Chen.

When a man became a leader, it was not necessary for him to know everything, but it was absolutely necessary for him to know how to mange relationships and utilize his power to mobilize people working for him. Director Chen was in the position for several years, promoted a batch of officials, and was well supported by the people of the bureau. Everyone thought he had a bright future, and everyone worked enthusiastically. It was only after ForQualification Yang got to know the character of Director Chen, he made up his mind to follow Director Chen wholeheartedly, and hoped Director Chen would give him an opportunity to fulfill his dream.

As expected, Director Chen did treat him fairly after his wholehearted service, and asked him actively what he could do to help him. ForQualification Yang was overjoyed in his heart, but he did not want to talk about his demand directly, thus he took a bit dubious way, said: Director Chen, I do not want to hide from you, in past I really wanted to get a diploma through further study, after I got the diploma, I wanted to become an official. But since I drove the car for you, I give up the idea. Director Chen said:What do you mean? He said: Director Chen, you are the leader I respect most, your virtues and capabilities are the best among the leaders I have served. It is lucky for me to serve you for my life, so long as I could drive for you, I am completely satisfied, as to the diploma it really does not matter anymore.

Director Chen was a leader who was hearing flattering words daily and still could differentiate the truthfulness in the words, knew the words were not true and he was flattering him. But no matter what the words were easy for his ears. Though ‘flattering’ contained a derogatory meaning, none in the world did not like to hear flattering words. At least it was easy to hear the words than the abusive words. Furthermore, it was not everyone could get flattering words as ForQualification Yang never had witnessed anyone who offered flattering words to farmers or workers.

Maybe due to the flattering skill of ForQualification Yang, Director Chen laughed heartily, did not say anything more. That he did not say anything did not mean he did not put the thing of ForQualification Yang into his heart. In a short while later, Director Chen got a quota for studying in the university for two years in full time with salary, thus he changed his driver into a university student, and encouraged him with words:ForQualification, right now you can focus all your energy into your study, you salary and subsidiary will remain same during the period of your study. Once you get your diploma from the university, it might be easy to become an official to move further along.

In the first place Director Chen had already arranged everything for him, ForQualification Yang felt really grateful and almost wanted to kneel down in front of him to call father.

ForQualification Yang did not let Director Chen down, focused all his energy into his study, swore to learn something in the university and make him become knowledgeable through the study. He went to the university not only for the diploma as he knew the diploma did not matter as much as before. One needed not to go to check others’ files to find the diplomas, so long as one went restroom, one was sure to bump into a bunch of guys with diplomas from university or college. It might be possible one would bump into a guy who would wet his pants with a diploma of graduate school in the restroom. Of course one could not go further to ask about where the guy got his undergraduate or graduate diploma as at the moment many things could not withstand to be investigated deeper.

ForQualification Yang determined to put all his efforts into his study to supercharge himself in the university, thus make him better qualified to lay a solid foundation for his progress in future. Therefore in the period of two years, ForQualification Yang focused all his attention in his study, just went back and forth from the university to his home, and did not want to spare a bit of his time to go to the bureau, even his salary was picked up from the bureau by his wife LittleDaisy Nie. Particularly three to four months before graduation, he moved his quilt and bedclothes into his dormitory, stayed in the university for the period. It might be a bit exaggerated to say that he was hanging his braid of hairs into a beam through a rope or putting an awl at the side of his thigh to make him stay awaken for his study as ancient people did, but it was a fact that he studied day and night to overcome his bad memory due to his age, thus he could pass all the examinations to get the genuine diploma from the university, which would become a real step stone for his future plan to become a white-collar official.

While thinking in such a way, he could not help but show a bit pride on his face, the pride he got through his own hard efforts. The pride boosted his own confidence, thus he could not help but walk in big strides, and could not help but take the diploma from his handbag to check it again carefully, then put it to his mouth to kiss tenderly, as if he were kissing a girl he had loved so much for a long time for first time.

Without his awareness, he walked out of the gate of the school. It was in bright sunshine, the brightness made him feel a bit sad. He had already passed the prime time to shed tears in the wind and feel sad while looking at moon, thus he did not know why he felt sad at the moment. He looked back at the white placard with bold black letters of TV University of ValueCapital City, then realized the reason for his sadness, that was he was parting with the university he had stayed for whole two years. Nevertheless he thought the sadness was so beautiful as he had not experienced such a kind of sadness for quite a long time.

Suddenly he glimpsed various colorful booklets in a stand at the side of the gate. There was a wooden sign for various diplomas and paperwork at the side of the stand. He thought it was very interesting at the moment as the people who were selling fake diploma would choose the best place at the side of the gate of a university to do their businesses and the people who wanted to do robbery would only choose to do the robbery for the cars taken by officials or police cars.

It was a bit strange. The stand had been doing the business for a long time, ForQualification Yang did not notice the stand while passing through the place though he definitely saw the stand as he focused his attention to his study, and he was not sure why he noticed the stand at the moment. Probably it was related to that he had a genuine diploma with him, thus he wanted to know the difference between the genuine and faked ones. He could not help but walk toward the stand, bent his body to pick up one with red cover to flip. In the first place, the one was a diploma for a famous university with red official seal and signature of the president, everything was in place. The old man who owned the stand immediately came closer to him, asked which diploma from which university he wanted, and said the price was negotiable. ForQualification Yang raised the diploma in his hand a bit, said for this one, and the owner immediately asked for two hundreds.

He did not say anything, just thought to himself that if the diploma for the famous university costed only about two hundreds, then the price for the diploma of his university might cost only about thirty to fifty. He sighed with emotion in his heart, but he did not get angry and feel bad due to the insignificance of his diploma as he got the diploma through his own hard efforts. The diploma was a real one without a bit falsehood, which could not be compared with the ones from the stand.

He left the stand without paying any attention to the old owner, walked forward in big strides while holding his things in his hand.

He walked for less than one hundred meters, a Mitsubishi jeep passed over him and stopped in front of him. He noticed his classmate CauldronLetters Zhong was driving the car. CauldronLetters Zhong got his diploma from the university too. Though his name was very refined, CauldronLetters Zhong was a sturdy man with heavy build and the head of police station at the west district of the city. If he stood there, his stature was very intimidating. He had the police car designated for him only, thus he drove to the university almost daily for last two years, and ForQualification Yang would hitch his car frequently. CauldronLetters Zhong was very generous, got along very well with his classmates. If any of his classmates asked for help, he would always offer his hand.

ForQualification Yang got into the car without being asked. CauldronLetters Zhong asked:To where? He said:With these things, where else I could go? CauldronLetters Zhong smiled, drove his car to No. 9 Secondary School of the city as he knew ForQualification Yang’s wife, LittleDaisy Nie was a teacher in the school and they had lived in the school since they married more than ten years ago.

The police car drove through the gate of the school, stopped at the residential building of the school. ForQualification Yang asked him to have a cup of tea in his place, CauldronLetters Zhong said with a lewd smile:You have not stayed with sister-in-law for three to four months, if I go to your place, I might affect your job, right? He gave him a friendly thump on his chest, said:We are just an old couple, how could we be so romantic as you said? then took his things and got out of the car.

ForQualification Yang watched the car turned and was about to drive away, then shouted:CauldronLetters, you just wait for a moment. He went to the storage room at the first floor, unlocked the door, put his things in the room, turned and got into the car again. CauldronLetters Zhong said smilingly:You are really cruel, aren’t you afraid that sister-in-law might suffer a lot alone? He said:Go away! I have not gone to the bureau for a long time, you just drive me to the bureau.

It took about twenty minutes for the car to enter the bureau.

People of the bureau saw a police car driving into the yard, thought something bad might happen, thus ran into the corridor to watch for what might happen. ForQualification Yang felt glad in his heart, that was what he wanted to achieve. He wanted the people of the bureau to know that he had graduated from the university and was driven back to the bureau by the head of police station at West District. One could earn more respect if one was driven back by a car. Whether it was an official or an ordinary person, who did not want respects from other people.

When the car came to a full stop, ForQualification Yang asked him to have a cup of tea in his office, CauldronLetters Zhong said:There are a lot of things waiting me to take care in the station. Let’s pass this time. He did not persist, was about to leave the car, suddenly remembered one thing, said:Do you have cigarette? CauldronLetters Zhong said:You don’t smoke, why you ask about cigarette? He scratched his cheek, said:I have not been with my colleagues for a long time, it might reduce the estrangement if I offer cigarettes to them.

CauldronLetters Zhong took out a pack of Lotus King from his pocket, threw to him, said:You take my car without buying a ticket, you still want to gyp me, I have never met such a kind of passenger like you. He took the pack, threw the pack into the air, then took back into his hand again, checked the pack, said:"Lotus King is a famous brand, could it be faked one? Upon hearing the words, CauldrongLetters Zhong stretched his hand to take back the pack. ForQualification Yang withdrew his hand, put the pack into his pocket, said:You are the head of the police station, I bet none dares to send you faked ones no matter how dauntless they are."

When he got off the car, he stood at the side of the car to wave his hand, watched the car driving away through the gate, then turned his back easily, walked toward the office building while squaring his shoulders.

It was not easy to change one’s habit. ForQualification Yang came to the door of the office of the drivers at the first floor without his awareness, but he soon stopped his steps as he thought he was an undergraduate from a university at the moment and how could he take himself as an ordinary driver? Did not he understand that? Nevertheless, he forgave himself at once, people often said it took at least three generations to become a nobleman, how he could be aware of everything in just two years by staying in the university, it seemed that he needed to practise more in future.

He thought he had to pay his visits to three places.

First the office of the director. It was Director Chen who made it possible for him to go to the university. At the moment he graduated from the school with a diploma, Director Chen might be very happy about his achievement. The main reason was that ForQualification Yang realized that though he was an undergraduate with a diploma, it was still a long way for him to go to become a white collar official from a blue collar driver, the process could only be realized through the right leadership and care of the leader. He also knew that when he left the bureau for the school Director Chen was not satisfied with other drivers, and asked his former driver Old Guo to drive for him again. Director Chen also said at the time after his graduation from the school, ForQualification Yang still had to drive for him. For his own future, ForQualification Yang had to visit the office of Director Chen first.

Second the office of personnel department. Before he went to the university, the head of the department, Chief Cai, showed his care to him too, enjoined him to cherish the opportunity to learn real things and become a knowledgeable person to contribute to the agricultural development of the city. Chief Cai signed on his paperwork to get full refund for his tuition, under normal circumstance the person concerned could only get half of the amount through begging around with nice words to get the signature. Of course ForQualification Yang knew in his own heart that Chief Cai treated him in such a way had nothing to do with his own looking or wanted him to pay back in future for the favor, but Chief Cai took him as the confidant of Director Chen. Nevertheless, no matter what Director Cai had given him a considerable favor, thus he had to pay his tribute to him, show himself up in front of him to tell him that he was back. By the way he could show his diploma to the people of the department, thus in future if there was any quota to become a white collar official, they should not forget him as an undergraduate with genuine diploma.

Third the office of the staffs. Though drivers followed closely around with the leaders, they were under direct leadership of the office. They had to get refund for the gas filling or the subsidiaries through the office. GuardEast Wu, the chief of the office, was promoted to the position when Director Chen was presiding the bureau, naturally people in the bureau took him as the confidant of Director Chen, GuardEast Wu thought he was in the same boat with ForQualification Yang. Several years ago when ForQualification Yang was driving for Director Chen, GuardEast Wu would show himself up in front of ForQualification Yang without special reason and would visit his home with bottles of liquor and cartoons of cigarette in holidays. Of course ForQualification Yang knew clearly in his heart there was no love or hatred in the world without special reason, and knew the reason why GuardEast Wu wanted to curry his favor. Nevertheless, ForQualification Yang understood him completely, as everyone in the bureau was chasing after something, thus he took the convenience with Director Chen daily together, said some favorable words about GuardEast Wu intentionally or not, thus Director Chen gradually formed a favorable impression about him, in a short while GuardEast Wu was promoted to be an official with a rank at deputy head level, then was promoted to be the chief of the office under the help of ForQualification Yang, thus GuardEast Wu became one of the confidants and close allies of Director Chen. With such a kind of relationship, ForQualification Yang thought he had to show up in the office to visit GuardEast Wu to tell him that he had already finished his study, and ask him to help in future.

With such a kind of thinking, ForQualification Yang turned his back from the office of the drivers, went directly to the upstairs in big strides.

But when he came to the outside of the office of Director Chen, the door was closed. He was not sure whether Director Chen was in the office or not. As he drove for the leader, he went to the provincial bureau of agriculture frequently, the leaders in the provincial bureau liked to shut their doors to do their works, they did not have frequent contacts in their daily activities, which increased the mystery in the bureau. If they wanted to someone in next room to pick up a paperwork, though the one in next room would hear clearly if one knocked at the wall between them, or it would take seconds to walk to the room, they wold pick up the phone to call the one in next room as if they were thousands miles away. In contrary, the office doors of the municipal bureau were always open, if one wanted to find someone else, one just needed to shout, thus everyone in the building would hear the shout. The people in the bureau called the practice as an open administration with high transparency. The doors of the directors might be shut for a short while when they held private talk with someone about personnel affairs, which should be done in private. Anything related to the official business needed not to be done in private. Of course, the doors would sometimes be left ajar, which usually meant that a male director was talking with a female subordinate, or a female director was talking with a male subordinate. Under such a kind of circumstance, it might be appropriate to leave the door ajar to avoid to cause unnecessary misunderstanding, otherwise even if they did nothing wrong, they just could not exculpate themselves from misunderstanding.

At the moment the door was shut. If Director Chen was in the office, definitely he was not talking with his female subordinate but with a male subordinate, thus he would not cause misunderstanding. ForQualification Yang stretched his hand to knock at the door, just as his knuckles were about to reach the door, he began to hesitate, thought as the leader was holding private talk with someone, that meant the talk was absolutely necessary, if he knocked rashly under such a kind of circumstance, he might interrupt someone’s fortune, thus retracted his hand tactfully. He wanted to leave and return to the office later, but he just did not want to give up in such fashion, thus he put his ear on the door to hear what was going on in the room, just like a thief who wanted to make sure none was around before he began his action.

After he was hearing for a while, it seemed there was no sound inside the room, then he realized that Director Chen was not in the room. Yes, the leader was always very busy for meetings, speeches, instructions and banquets, as you were not a hero returned from a battlefield after a victory, the leader definitely would not wait for you in his office. He felt a bit dispirited, blamed himself for not choosing an appropriate time, and had to turn back and leave. He just walked several steps away, then turned his head to look back at the office as if he were seeing off his lover with an unwillingness to let her go. He really hoped that door would open suddenly, thus he could turn and rush to the side of Director Chen, which he was yearning for.

But the door was still shut coldly without caring his feeling.

At the moment, he came to the outside of the office of Personnel Department. It was lucky for him that the door was open, there were low and unclear conversation coming out of the room. He felt warm at once all over his body, thought if the door were close, he might get a heart attack for his suffering. He noticed after his two years study in the university he was very sensitive and fragile to everything.

He walked into the room. Chief Cai was talking with several people while drinking tea enthusiastically with bright smile. When they saw someone entering the room, they stopped their talk, turned to look at him. He said jokingly with a bold face:I, Third Hu, come back again. That was an actor’s line from the movie of flashing red stars, everyone in his generation knew the line very well and joked around with the line.

None responded to his joke, everyone looked at him with seemingly smile as if they had not understood his words.

He came to the front of Chief Cai, stretched his hand to shake. Chief Cai raised his hand too, but he did not shake his hand with ForQualification Yang, just slid his hand from the side of the hand, picked up his cup on the desk. ForQualification Yang felt a bit embarrassed, did not care too much, thought to himself that Chief Cai took him as one of his people, thus Chief Cai did not confine himself with such a kind of ordinary courtesy. Thus he hurriedly took Lotus King from CauldronLetters Zhong out of his pocket, picked one out of the pack, handed it to Chief Cai. Unexpectedly, Chief Cai did not want to take the cigarette, waved his hand, said:No, no.

He felt cold all over his back at once. He knew Chief Cai valued cigarette more than his life. In past if anyone offered him a cigarette like Lotus King, Chief Cai really wanted to take the whole pack away. He could not take back the cigarette, thus put it on the desk of Chief Cai, then turned to offer other people of the cigarette. Everyone refused his cigarette as if they had agreed beforehand. He felt very uneasy, thus had to leave one cigarette each on every desk.

When he finished handing his cigarettes, still none showed any appropriate hospitality to him, even none invited him to have a seat. He stood in the room without knowing what he should do next, as like a farmer coming to the office for first time. He thought he might interrupt their lively conversation, thus made them uncomfortable, and felt awkward by himself. Then he remembered the gold stamping diploma in his pocket, originally he wanted to take out of the diploma, and show it to them, when he noticed their lukewarm response, he lost his enthusiasm about that. If people could not find a topic, several words might be verbose among themselves, thus he just talked several words with them from here to there, realized that he was not welcomed in the office, thus retreated from the office tactfully.

Then he came to the office of the staff. The office was a comprehensive department of the bureau in charge of secretaries, logistics and accounting with wide responsibilities and many people. In the day it seemed that people were getting some subsidiaries as people were around the accountant and the cashier to sign and get money, it was really a boisterous scene. At the other side of the room on the desk there were newly printed materials emanating the fragrance of the ink. Deputy chief of the office, FairVirtue Zeng in charge of secretaries and paperwork was busy in binding the materials with a secretary. Chief of the office, GuardEast Wu was busy too, he was shouting to the speaker of the phone as if his house were in flame. None paid any attention to him, or maybe none noticed him. He stood for quite a while at the door, then walked toward GuardEast Wu hesitatingly.

It took quite a while for GuardEast Wu to finish the call. ForQualification Wu lowered his body, walked a step forward, while handing out a cigarette to him, said:Chief Wu, how do you do! GuardEast Wu did not take his cigarette, just glimpsed him once with a look lacking the enthusiasm ForQualification Yang had expected after such a long time but a trance, as if ForQualification Yang was an outsider coming for business in the office. ForQualification Yang felt a bit disappointed, but he still acted like he was in Personnel Department, put the cigarette carefully on his desk. Then GuardEast Wu opened his mouth, said:I had taken you as someone else, you are Driver Yang. He said the words casually.

Driver Yang the words made ForQualification Yang feel uncomfortable, as if several ants were crawling on his body. At least at the moment he was not the former driver anymore. In fact GuardEast Wu always called him in such a way. He thought for a moment, maybe he became unfamiliar with the calling after he had stayed in the university for two years.

While ForQualification Yang was murmuring in his heart, GuardEast Wu opened his mouth again:Driver Yang, have you graduated? Whether the calling was Driver Yang or not, he did not care it anymore, thus said lukewarmly:Yes, I have already graduated. I come to report to Chief Wu. GuardEast Wu smiled, said:How could you come to the office to report? You are now an undergraduate with profound knowledge, and one of the pillars of society, how could the small pond of the office accommodate you with such a capacity.

Of course the words were not for humor as GuardEast Wu had never been so humorous to him. GuardEast Wu had always thought himself and ForQualification Wu were people of Director Chen. No matter how low the ability of his understanding, ForQualification Yang could figure out the sarcasm in the words.

Then he heard GuardEast Wu said again:Of course if you want to come to the office, I would be more than willingly to let you come back. I am not well qualified for the position and satisfied with my performance, worrying about to find someone to take my position. If you take the position, I will bow to you, kneel down in front of you, or invite you to have a dinner in restaurant as you like. While talking, he pulled out of the chair he was sitting, and wanted to force the chair to ForQualification Yang to sit.

The words and action were really equal to whip him. Though he had graduated from the university, he was just a blue collar worker but not a white collar official at the moment, how could he dare to think about the position of the chief. He cursed in his heart: Fuck you, damn GuardEast Wu, you are really a mean guy! How could you forget that you took presents to my home to flatter me to offer my help to you, furthermore, I had not fucked your mother, why you cursed me in such a way? Anger was welling out of his heart, he almost clenched his fist and gave GuardEast Wu a thump at this chest. Of course he held up his anger, left the office angrily.

He came out of the office building, came to the level ground in front of the building, and still couldn’t let out of his anger. He just could not understand what’s wrong in the day, he just came back to the bureau, did not offend anybody, why everyone treated him in such fashion. He thought at the moment he is at least an undergraduate from a university with a genuine diploma, though he could not be compared with those in front of him but at least a lot of people are standing behind him in the bureau, he is not the ordinary worker anymore like before, do they still despise me? Upon further thoughts, something definitely was wrong. When he was a blue collar worker, none treated him such an attitude. No matter where they bumped him, they would actively greet him, the enthusiasm had no difference with the one they showed to Director Chen.

It took him a lot of efforts to get the diploma he dreamed for his life, he could not wait to come back to the bureau with his diploma, unexpectedly he met with cold shoulders and sarcastic words, he felt dispirited and crestfallen at once.

He stood at the level ground for quite a while, was at loss, and was not sure where he should go. Then he glimpsed the door for the group of the drivers was open, thus he walked subconsciously toward the room. The room was his base, he still had a desk belonged to him near the side of the window, thus it really did not matter whether he was welcomed or not. He felt strength coming back to his body, his steps were more steady than a moment ago, thus he could walk in relatively easy fashion.

Besides ForQualification Yang, there were still four drivers in the group, OneJustice Diao, StateOfficial Hu, Little Qian and Old Guo, mentioned before. In the day, Little Qian and Old Guo were not in the room, only OneJustice Diao and StateOfficial Hu were playing chess. ForQualification Yang knew they both played not well at the chess but they both liked to play with enthusiasm. It seemed that was a rule for people who were bad at playing the chess they liked to play very much, so long as they were free, they would play the game, sometimes they would get angry and argue for retreating a step, even they wanted to have a fight due to the argument.

When ForQualification Yang entered the room, they both were arguing for a step, and did not notice him. He stood at the side for a while, in the first place StateOfficial Hu put his horse at an inappropriate position, OneJustice Diao took the chance to get rid of one of his cannons, StateOfficial Hu wanted to retreat his step, OneJustice Diao touched his moustache, and did not allow him retreating with an insidious smile.

When he saw the insidious smile, ForQualification Yang recalled the reason for the nickname of OneJustice Diao, OneVirtue Diao. OneJustice Diao was with a thin body and moustache, looked a bit like the famous character OneVirtue Diao in Sha’s Family Creek of Peking opera, thus everyone in the bureau called him with the nickname. OneJustice Diao did not care too much about the calling, sometimes he would sing some lines of the opera in the private room for karaoke while putting one hand on his waist and holding a cigarette in another to imitate the OneVirtue Diao with words ‘the woman is exceptional’, he really looked like the character.

StateOfficial Hu got very angry when OneJustice Diao did not allow him retreating his step, said:You have already retreated for three steps, how could you not allowed me retreating for just one step, I really could not play with you anymore. OneJustice Diao said:In the first place I did not want to play with you, if I play with you with such a kind of level, I might decrease my own performance. StateOfficial Hu could not tolerate the words, he got infuriated by the words, slapped the desk with his hand, shouted with his widely opened eyes:What are you bragging for? You are just same like me as a little driver.

OneJustice Diao said calmly:Of course I am just a little driver, unlike you who are the state official, at the moment you are driving for Director Tang, thus you should not be taken as an ordinary official anymore.

In the first place the name of StateOfficial Hu had a story. StateOfficial Hu had also been a soldier to provide technical service for two years. When he came to the bureau from army at the end of his service, he would tell people that as he was a soldier to provide technical service, thus he should be taken as an official. Leaders in the bureau did not pay much attention to his words and argue about that with him as the bureau needed not pay him as an official anyway. The colleagues of the driver group were all with the identity of a worker, thought he tried to raise the status of the officials and despised workers, felt uncomfortable about his words, thus gave him a nickname of StateOfficial Hu. Unexpectedly the nickname was spread in the bureau, later everyone called him StateOfficial Hu, thus everyone forgot his original name as if his original name was StateOfficial Hu. At the beginning when he heard people called him the nickname, StateOfficial Hu felt a bit awkward, later he got used to the name, thought the name was marvellous and meaningful, when he felt complacent about himself, he would pat his chest in front of people and say StateOfficial this or that, as if he really had taken himself as a state official.

Nevertheless, in the day when OneJustice Diao talked about him as a state official, he understood the irony in the calling, blushed for a while without uttering a word. As they could not continue their play, they both stood up to leave the chess board.

Then at the moment they noticed the arrival of ForQualification Yang.

The unnecessary anger in the game disappeared at once, they both stood in front and at back of ForQualification Yang, respectively, asked about him for many things. StateOfficial Hu said:Are you still alive? I thought you had already died a long time ago with a complete disappearance of your body. ForQualification Yang said:What kind of benefit you could get from my death? OneJustice Diao said:If you were dead, he would think about Teacher Nie. Teacher Nie was the wife of ForQualification Yang, LittleDaisy Nie. StateOfficial Hu said:How dare I? Teacher Nie is a scholar, I would never be able to have anything to with her for people like me.

ForQualification Yang felt warm all over his body, the unhappiness from Personnel Department and Office of Staffs nearly vanished completely at once. He hurriedly took out of Lotus King, handed cigarettes to them. StateOfficial Hu immediately put the cigarette into his mouth, lighted the cigarette, took a deep smoke, said:"Nice cigarette, nice cigarette! As an undergraduate, ForQualification’s cigarettes move a step upward too. You might not be able to get used to our White Sand in future. He said:I got from a classmate, how could I afford to buy such a kind of cigarette."

While they were joking, Old Guo and Little Qian came back, and they joined the bantering. After the bantering, ForQualification Yang offered the cigarettes to them too. Thus the whole room was filled with smoke as if the room were on fire. Little Qian glanced ForQualification Yang several times, said:Brother Yang, you are an undergraduate now, how could you hold the damn appearance just like before?

The words made ForQualification Yang feel grateful. At last someone remembered that he was an undergraduate. He wanted to offer several words on the subject of undergraduate, but he thought if he did that, he might appear superficial, thus only said modestly:You needn’t to jeer at me, how could I be taken as an undergraduate, I am merely an undergraduate from TV university. Little Qian said:You are an undergraduate from TV university, we are even not undergraduates from a university yet.

StateOfficial Hu picked up the errors in the words, cursed Little Qian:What’s your education? Do you think an undergraduate from a university is inferior to an undergraduate from a TV university? Little Qian looked at StateOfficial Hu askance, said:You have not a bit humor. Then turned to ForQualification Yang, said:How about let us have a look about your diploma to get to know the difference between the genuine one and the faked one in street stand. ForQualification Yang recalled the faked diploma in the stand at the side of the school, kept a straight face, said:Of course my diploma is more formal than that kind. Little Qian urged:Hurry up to show us.

ForQualification Yang really wanted to show his diploma to them. When he took his diploma to the bureau, he originally intended to show it to people. When he inserted his hand into his pocket, he gave up, said:It is nothing to show around about the diploma from TV university. If I get a diploma for undergraduate or graduate from a famous university, I might feel proud to show it to you. Little Qian wanted to go forward to search his pocket, Old Guo held him up, said:Do you want to do something rude to him?

ForQualification Yang glanced Old Guo once, recalled that after he went to TV university, Old Guo was driving for Director Chen for him. At the moment Old Guo came back to the group, that meant Director Chen came back to the bureau, thus asked:Where is Director Chen? He went to his office? The meaning of ForQualification Yang was that if Director Chen went to his office, he would go to his office at once.

Director Chen? Old Guo asked in reply as if he had not known the person anyway. Then he understood his meaning, said:You meant Director Chen, he was not in my car today.

The number one person was the busiest person in the bureau, his superiors wanted to talk to him, his subordinates wanted to talk to him, he had to go to somewhere to give a speech or survey. His buttocks could not leave the car for a moment just like a husband for his beautiful wife in honeymoon. He was surprised by the words, thus asked:Is Director Chen not in the bureau today?

Old Guo avoided looking at him directly, said in a dubious way:The weather is nice today, the fish in a pond might be more likely to bite the bait, it would be nice to spend one afternoon at the side of a pond in suburb.

ForQualification Yang then found as soon as Director Chen was mentioned, all the people present shut up their mouths tightly as the asshole of a chicken immediately did after its poo.

Later StateOfficial Hu said the meeting of municipal government might be over soon, he had to go to pick up Director Kang, waved his hand to ForQualification Yang, went out of the room. Then OneJustice Diao and Little Qian left the room with excuses. The room became quiet at once. ForQualification Yang asked Old Guo again:What’s wrong with Director Chen? Old Guo remained silent for a moment, then said:Boss Chen has already stepped down from his post to become an investigator.

Boss Chen was Director Chen. At the moment people in the bureau liked to call leaders as bosses, it seemed that calling was more intimate to people. Upon hearing Director Chen became an investigator, ForQualification Yang felt sad at once in his heart, he seemed to understand the reason why people in the bureau treated him in such cold fashion.

Chapter 2

ForQualification Yang got to know the stepping down process of Director Chen.

ValueCapital City was a city with big agriculture. The ‘big’ was related to not only the wide area of countryside with high population of farmers and high ratio of agricultural output in GDP but also many departments and professions involved in agriculture. For example, many farms established in 1950s in various counties of the city were under jurisdiction of the bureau. Based on preliminary data, there were still more than a hundred farms in the city. At the beginning the farms were established through developing of wasteland to plant crops, vegetables, tobacco leaves and fruits. Through years development, in 1990s the farms were not the farms in its original sense, there were huge changes in their production, some farms became a comprehensive enterprise with agriculture, industry and commerce with its own administration and society.

In the year when ForQualification Yang was preparing his final examinations for graduation in his dormitory, there was not an insignificant incident happened in a farm under the jurisdiction of the bureau.

At the moment the most emphasized thing was safe production, so long there was an accident related to safety, the related party and leaders would be punished without any reservation concerning only about the accident. According to usual practice, as soon as it was spring, the leaders of the bureaus would check production facilities in various subordinate units with other officials to find out hidden problems to eliminate potential risks. Several days after Spring Festival, Director Chen took a group of people to check the related facilities, Deputy Director Kang and two other deputy directors each took a group to check farm production facilities in various districts and counties, then they would have a meeting in the bureau to discuss about the problems found in the process, list the potential risks and addressing methods.

Among the farms checked, one was called DragonMouth farm, which was the earliest farm established in the city, under the tremendous and continuous efforts, the farm was not a farm in conventional sense, it had a lot of subsidiary enterprises to produce and process agriculture related products, and it even had a mining and smelting company. The farm became a comprehensive group with more than three thousand employees. For production and living, one has to have water resource. With the expanding of the businesses, the farm built a dam with a height of more than sixty meters in the mountains behind the farm with their own money and fund from fiscal money through the bureau. The dam was named as DragonMouth dam, which provided water for the farm and nearby areas for irrigation and living. Of course everything came with two sides, the dam not only solved the irrigation problem for the farm and nearby areas but also left a tremendously potential risk, the risk was, in case the dam was broken, the consequence was beyond one’s imagination. None worried about the thing would definitely happen, but everyone worried about the thing might happen, thus every year the bureau would send designated people to check the dam to make sure no potential problem was ignored, and due care was always given to the dam.

In the year the dam was checked by the group leading by Deputy Director Kang. After their check, when they had the meeting in the bureau to discuss about the problems found in the process, Deputy Director Kang reported that the farm had strengthened the dam recently, the leaders of the farm thought the dam had no potential risk. Director Chen did not pay particular attention to the words that the leaders of the farm thought the dam had no potential risk, remembered that last year when he was doing the check, it was himself who proposed the strengthening project, allocated special fund for the project, urged the farm to finish the project accordingly, thus he thought it was only one year after the project, the dam should be free of problem, thus he did not take the dam as the priority for the check.

Who would expect Director Kang would keep something to himself without telling the truth. When Deputy Director Kang checked the dam, he found the strengthening project was a jerry-built project, did not report the fact in the meeting, but he said in front of Director Chen that the leaders of the farm thought the dam had no potential risk, thus he intentionally hid his own opinion to deceive Director Chen.

In a short while after the meeting, it was raining heavily for half a month in the city. Deputy Director Kang went to report to Secretary Zhang of the municipal committee of the city in secret about the problems of the dam, said the strengthening project was under direct supervision of Director Chen with special fund, Director Chen thought the dam should be okay, thus did not list the dam as a priority for the safety check of this year and take any precautionary measures in emergency, in case something happened, it might cause huge problem.

As mentioned before, besides more three thousand employees of the farm, there was still six to seven thousand people of DragonMouth township living downstream of the dam. If something happened, the thing would definitely not be a small one. Secretary Zhang clearly knew the danger of the thing in his heart, at the moment the rain got heavier and heavier, he became more and more anxious, took the top leaders of the city with several thousands of policemen, armed policemen to the dam. They were joined by officials and people living downstream the dam to eliminate the potential risks in the heavy rains, fought for two days and nights to eliminate several leakages in the dam, thus put the dam back into safety.

After the incident, Secretary Zheng ordered by himself that related departments to investigate the problems related to responsible people in charge of the strengthening project of the dam, two people who held direct responsibility were put under arrest. At the same time a working group under the leadership of Municipal Committee of Discipline Inspection was sent to the bureau to carry out a thorough investigation about the incident. Rumors were spreading widely in the bureau that the contractor of the project was a relative of Director Chen, and Director Chen got a huge kickback in the process which led to insufficient fund for the project, thus the jerry-built project. Director Chen had a bad working style as each time when he went to check in subsidiary units, he would only take expensive dishes with expensive liquors such as Maotai and WuLiangYe( *two brands most expensive liquors