Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 22 Director Huang Jianguo is under great pressure

From Sunday to before going to school, Zhang Chao was confined to his house and had to "review" seriously, or at least hold a book to pretend to study.

It was not until four o'clock in the afternoon that Zhang Chao finally fled from home. Before leaving home, he told his parents about the punishment he had received and the fact that his parents had been asked to come to the house. Before his mother could react, he rode his bicycle out of the alley.

As soon as he arrived at the school, he went to the radio station to catch up on his "Young Like You" and he also kept writing during evening self-study.

Chen Huan looked at Zhang Chao with a sad face: "Chao, you have changed..."

Zhang Chao: “Get lost!”

It’s a new week again.

During the morning exercises, Huang Jianguo, director of the Political Education Department of No. 3 Middle School, printed out the disciplinary notice of Zhang Chao neatly, read it carefully twice, and after confirming that there were no problems, he stamped it and it officially came into effect.

Director Huang Jianguo was very satisfied. During the last conflict between Pang Yun and Zhang Chao, Zhang Chao really didn't give him face.

Don’t treat the position of school director as an inferior official!
Zhang Chao's parents will be here today, and I can criticize and educate them harshly in person, then slap the disciplinary notice in front of Zhang Chao and his parents, and then let Zhang Chao post it on the bulletin board himself. That will be the only way to vent my anger!
Just as he was thinking, Huang Jianguo heard hurried footsteps outside the office. With years of experience, he recognized the footsteps of several school leaders.

There is a principal, a secretary, and two vice-principals.

Under normal circumstances, the school’s leadership team would not mobilize all members. What big deal has happened?

I quietly walked to the window and looked down at the administrative building. I found two cars coming in with four or five strangers who were welcomed into the building by the leaders.

The situation was unclear, so Huang Jianguo did not dare to follow him rashly. Showing up in front of the leaders was a good thing, but he was in such a hurry. Maybe there was something wrong with the school's work, and the superiors sent someone to investigate and hold him accountable.

Director Huang reviewed his recent work and confirmed that the Political Education Department should not have any major problems, so he felt a little relieved - but he couldn't let go completely.

As the most ambitious middle-level manager in the school, he still had to grasp the school's dynamics. So he sent the secretary Xiao Lu out again, taking a stack of department expense reports, under the pretext of getting the principal to sign, to see if he could observe and find out something.

But after a while, Xiao Lu went downstairs and returned to the department, saying, "The principal and the secretary are in the small conference room, having a closed-door meeting with the guests. I asked Xiao Zheng and others in the office and they said that the leaders of the Propaganda Department and the Education Department came with two guests from Yanjing.

It seemed to be about promoting some student composition, but he didn’t know the details, he just overheard it when he was serving tea.”

Director Huang thought about it and was overjoyed. He thought that Pang Yun must have won a prize in the "New Concept Essay Competition". If he won that prize, he would definitely be admitted to Yanda University!

Changfu County does not produce candidates admitted to Yanda or Qingdao University every year. Sometimes there is only one candidate every few years. After all, it is just a county town, and there are usually a few top students who can get into the top of the city.

However, after the Chinese New Year, the famous schools in the city start to exert their strength, and the top students in the counties will be left behind by the top students in the city. This is the advantage of educational resources.

For top students, in most cases, their success is ultimately determined by their IQ and the school's support. Only a very small number of extremely gifted students can ignore this gap.

So, is Pang Yun going to make a leap forward? This kind of achievement is indeed worth publicizing. The two guests from Yanjing must be the admissions teachers of Yanda.

Pang Yun won the award, didn’t I have a part to play in it?

Director Huang is under tremendous pressure now!
Last week, Pang Yun "settled" Zhang Chao's matter, but he hadn't had time to ask his uncle, the deputy secretary, for credit! Now Pang Yun's worth has skyrocketed, and it would be too cheap for him to only sell this favor to the deputy secretary...

So how can one naturally and without any effort show up and take credit in front of the principal, secretary, and leaders from the education department?
Director Huang paced back and forth in the office, and suddenly fixed his eyes on Zhang Chao's disciplinary notice. Wasn't Zhang Chao's disciplinary notice stamped yet?
The regulations of No. 3 Middle School are that the Political and Educational Department can decide on student discipline below a demerit, so it is sufficient to just stamp the department seal of the Political and Educational Department, including notification of criticism, warnings, and serious warnings.

For student punishments of demerits and above, they need to be submitted for a vote at the regular meeting of mid-level and above leaders every Friday, so after passing, they need to be stamped with the school seal. Zhang Chao's serious warning punishment did not need to apply for the school seal. But isn't this just an excuse...

So he immediately told Xiao Lu, "Go upstairs right now, and when they are done, call me right away."

Xiao Lu said: "Yes, sir."

Director Huang sat down, lit a cigarette that he usually didn't want to smoke, and waited for Xiao Lu's call.

As a veteran drinker and mahjong player, Director Huang only does two things after get off work: drink with his bosses and play mahjong with friends.

He never reads newspapers or watches the news...

Half an hour later, Xiao Lu called: "Director, they have adjourned the meeting. The leaders and guests have gone to the reception room in the principal's office. The door is open."

Director Huang slapped his thigh and thought to himself, "God help me!" He immediately took Zhang Chao's disciplinary notice and went upstairs to the principal's office.

In the principal's office, several leaders were accompanying several guests, eating freshly bought fruits and talking happily. It was obvious that they had finished their business and were chatting. Generally at this time, as long as the door was open, anyone who needed to ask for instructions or signatures for specific work could come in.

Director Huang straightened his clothes, combed each strand of hair on his head, which had a name on it, and walked into the principal's office.

He tried his best to appear calm and composed, handed the disciplinary notice in his hand to the principal, and said: "Principal, please take a look at this situation. I think this punishment is a bit light. Do you think we need to go to the meeting? This Zhang Chao is not particularly well-behaved. He had a conflict with Pang Yun before, which almost delayed his participation in the competition..."

Unexpectedly, one of the guests spoke up and asked, "Zhang Chao? Is that the Zhang Chao? There aren't two Zhang Chaos in No. 3 Middle School, right? Did something happen to him?"

In the dead of winter, in a small southern city without heating, at a room temperature of 2°C, beads of sweat immediately appeared on Director Huang's forehead.

Something seems wrong! Shouldn't they be asking about Pang Yun? Why is it Zhang Chao?

Countless question marks could not be answered at this moment. What destroyed his heart was the principal. The principal of No. 3 Middle School, Wu Xingyu, quickly put the disciplinary notice on the table, covered the specific content with his hand, and answered the guest's question in a gentle voice: "Of course not. This is Zhang Chao, the Chao of Korea. Same pronunciation but different characters."

Then he said to Director Huang: "Director Huang, I will give you a reply on this matter later."

Director Huang knew that this was an order to expel him, and the principal was very unhappy, otherwise he would not have addressed him as "you".

The principal's office was no longer the luxurious place he had imagined, but a furnace. He quickly said yes and turned to leave, but he was met by Wang Zixin, the head teacher of Grade 2 (), and Zhang Ting, the Chinese teacher. Both of them looked happy and didn't even say hello to him.

And behind them, isn’t that Zhang Chao?

When Director Huang returned to the office, he found that his shirt was soaked and stuck to his back, feeling cold.

But none of this made him feel cold.

I had just poured myself a cup of hot water and was about to warm myself up when I saw Xiao Lu leading in two middle-aged men and women with heavy faces.

Xiao Zheng said: "Director, Zhang Chao's parents are here."

Director Huang Jianguo, the current pressure is greater than the Himalayas.

(End of this chapter)