Right path to power

In a luxurious private room at Changxing Restaurant in the county town, Xie Tiancai was waiting for his guests with great interest. Bored, he picked up his phone and saw a message in his classmates' group chat, so he clicked on it and casually opened the picture sent by Liu Yun.

"Wow……"

Xie Tiancai exclaimed in surprise, then gasped deeply, staring intently at the picture with his eyes wide open.

"How is this possible? How could Lin Xiao be promoted? What exactly happened?"

He rubbed his eyes and carefully read each word again, sweat beading on his forehead.

He had just thoroughly offended Lin Xiao not long ago, but he never expected that Lin Xiao would make a comeback in the blink of an eye. This is probably a plot that only exists in novels!

"Did he just get incredibly lucky?"

Xie Tiancai muttered to himself, his face already showing anger.

Meanwhile, the classmates' group chat was already buzzing with excitement, even more so than when Lin Xiao was sent back to his hometown. There were firecrackers, applause, and flowers being offered. Some people tagged Lin Xiao and Liu Yun, all saying congratulations and clamoring to celebrate.

Liu Yun, acting as the "authorized person," replied in the group on behalf of Lin Xiao: "Classmates, I'm sorry, Lin Xiao is a new official and hasn't even started his three standard campaigns yet. He's quite busy, so we'll have to talk about the gathering later."

Then, Liu Yun closed her phone and said to Lin Xiao with a smile, "Everyone says that the friendship between classmates is the purest, but our classmates are really boring. Not many of them truly wish you well. If I post screenshots of their previous comments in the group chat, I'd like to see how many of them are still respectable."

"Don't get involved in this, there's no need for it. We'll keep it in mind. In these days, it's good enough if we don't harm you. As for exchanging sincerity for sincerity, that depends on fate."

"I just feel that if these people didn't become actors, we would lose a lot of Best Actor and Best Actress awards."

"Haha, your analogy..."

After finishing their meal, the two had just stepped out of the small restaurant when they were approached by several men who were clearly intoxicated. One of them, a young man with a briefcase tucked under his arm, was speaking to a middle-aged man beside him with a fawning smile.

"You should buy a lottery ticket today. Look, speak of the devil, and he appears. Look closely, doesn't it look a bit like that 'Haba Dog'?"

Lin Xiao frowned. He recognized not only the young man but also the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man was Ke Jianjun, the deputy director of the county education bureau. He was the one who had promised Lin Xiao's father that he would help him transfer from the township middle school back to the county town, but had gone back on his word.

Ke Jianjun saw Lin Xiao at this moment, paused for a moment, then smiled and quickly walked towards Lin Xiao.

"Secretary Lin... no... I should call you Director Lin, hello, hello, congratulations." He Jianjun said politely with a big smile on his face.

"Lin Xiao!"

The one who exclaimed was Xie Tiancai. The moment he saw Lin Xiao, the smile on his face froze. He was filled with frustration and thought he would rather encounter a ghost than this guy. But it was too late to say anything at this point, so he could only bite the bullet and step forward.

"Lin Xiao, congratulations! You're the pride of our Senior 3 Class X! Everyone's asking how we should celebrate for you."

Upon hearing this, Ke Jianjun quickly turned around and said, "President Xie, so you and Director Lin were classmates? We really are destined to meet."

"They're classmates, but we're just nodding acquaintances, not really close friends," Lin Xiao preemptively defined his relationship with Xie Tiancai.

Xie Tiancai nearly choked on his words. He had just told Ke Jianjun that he and Lin Xiao were very close, but Lin Xiao had preemptively spoken. Now he could only bite the bullet and make up another story:

"Old classmate, you still love to joke around like before. I remember we were not only deskmates, but also played basketball together and teased the girls together. It's no wonder, after all, you're the vice principal now. Sometimes you really should joke around and relax."

Looking at Xie Tiancai's hypocritical smile and these fabricated words, Lin Xiao couldn't help but sneer, "Is that really true? But all I remember is someone owing money and trying to renege on it?"

Xie Tiancai's smile turned incredibly awkward again. He glanced at Ke Jianjun beside him and noticed that Ke Jianjun was also staring at him with a surprised look. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still took out his phone and transferred 20,000 yuan to Lin Xiao.

Then he said, "Oh dear, look at my memory, it's worse than a pig's brain, I actually forgot such an important thing. Old classmate, even if you're busy, you have to remind me. Paying back debts is a matter of course, you should hurry up and collect the money."

To someone unaware of the situation, these words would suggest that the debtor was at fault, and that the person who owed the money had simply forgotten about it.

It has to be said that Lin Xiao and Liu Yun's ability to spout nonsense is something they will probably never be able to match in their lifetime.

After accepting the money, Lin Xiao said coldly, "Let me give you a piece of advice: Heaven is watching what people do. You'd better watch yourself!"

"you……"

Xie Tiancai was really unable to suppress his anger, but he swallowed the words back down.

"What do you mean, Xie Tiancai? How come I only realized today that even if you used a plane to scrape your face, it would still take some time before it bled? You really are a master of disguise!"

Liu Yun retorted and then followed Lin Xiao, who was already walking towards the car. Liu Yun then started the car, and the two drove away.

Watching Lin Xiao leave, Xie Tiancai finally had time to vent his anger. He said to Ke Jianjun, "Director Ke, look at this. This is the arrogance of a deputy director. He's just a deputy director of the office now, but he's already so cocky. If he gets promoted in the future, I think he'll be so arrogant that he'll be in heaven. He's just too disrespectful to everyone."

In reality, Ke Jianjun had no interest in Xie Tiancai's anger. He himself was quite depressed, and he couldn't believe that Lin Xiao would have any chance of making a comeback, yet she still managed to rise again so quickly.

In addition, he had also heard that County Magistrate Gong Lei valued him highly. Gong Lei had directly named Lin Xiao, not only making him his secretary but also promoting him to deputy director of the office.

If I had known the situation would turn out this way, I should have put in a lot more effort in Lin Changhe's job transfer, so we wouldn't be in such a passive position now.

"Mr. Xie, I have a meeting this afternoon, so I'll be leaving now."

After saying this, Ke Jianjun hailed a taxi and drove off.

Xie Tiancai was momentarily distracted. When he came to his senses and wanted to say something more to Ke Jianjun, he found that the car was already quite a distance away.

His lavish banquet for the deputy director of the Education Bureau was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; rather, he wanted to secure the contract for the canteen at the No. 2 Middle School in the county through Ke Jianjun. However, after Lin Xiao's outburst, the deal is likely off.

Thinking of this, Xie Tiancai gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly, wishing he could knock Lin Xiao to the ground with one punch.

In fact, Ke Jianjun wasn't stupid. He could tell that Lin Xiao and Xie Tiancai were clearly at odds, and even had some past grievances.

Therefore, he immediately decided to have nothing to do with Xie Tiancai anymore. He knew very well that he could give up the benefits, but he must not offend a big shot who was close to the county magistrate with great potential.

When Lin Xiao arrived at the office floor where the county government was located in the afternoon, he encountered several staff members from the county government office who greeted him warmly.

At the end of the corridor, he knocked on the door of County Magistrate Gong Lei's office.

"Enter."

"Hello, County Head!"

"Oh, Kobayashi, you're here. Come in, come in and have a seat."

As Gong Lei left his desk, he gestured for Lin Xiao to sit on the sofa, a smile always on his face.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Gong Lei got straight to the point: "Xiao Lin, here's what I'm thinking. You can work with me for a while, and when a suitable secretary comes along—and you can help me find one too—I'll then let you go."

As you know, I'm quite adept at handling Party affairs, and we need someone with your experience to help us get things done more smoothly.

"County Chief Gong, you're too kind. You're the leader, and I will resolutely obey your arrangements. I will also do my best to complete all tasks."

"Okay, okay, I'm relieved to hear that."

Gong Lei took a sip of tea and gestured to Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao then raised his teacup, took a small sip, and put it down, saying, "County Chief, I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you regarding the work of the office."

Gong Lei was taken aback for a moment, but then laughed and said, "Great! Young people are so efficient. You got into the zone so quickly. Very good."