Family connections: From special recruitment by the county committee to the pinnacle of power

Wang Yu!

烟！

Give the cigarette to Wang Yu!

The mushrooms are delicious!

Zhang Chenguang pondered for more than ten minutes before distilling the essence of what Xu Hansheng wanted to express through Zhao Dongxu and in the phone call just now.

Although he didn't understand Xu Hansheng's meaning, Zhang Chenguang hurriedly called over a clerk and thoughtfully instructed, "Go, prepare two burlap sacks and fill them with plenty of dried mushrooms."

"Pack as much as you can and bring it to my office."

The clerk responded and quickly walked out.

Before long, the clerk returned to Zhang Chenguang's office carrying two full woven bags of dried mushrooms.

"Alright, you can leave now."

After dismissing the clerk, Zhang Chenguang poured the dried mushrooms from one of the woven bags onto the table, then put a third of them back in.

Then, they took out two giant panda cigarettes, put them in a woven bag, added some dried mushrooms, then put in a few packs of Zhonghua cigarettes, and finally covered the top with dried mushrooms.

After sealing the bag, Zhang Chenguang sat back down in his chair, pondered for a while, and then nodded repeatedly. Xu Hansheng must have meant it!

It wasn't until after get off work that Zhang Chenguang arrived at the conference room carrying two bags of mushrooms. He said to Wang Yu, "Xiao Wang, Xiao Zhao, I heard from Section Chief Xu that the mushrooms from yesterday tasted very good."

"I reckon your elders will like it too. Take one bag each back for your elders to try."

After saying this, Zhang Chenguang handed the woven bag containing the cigarettes to Wang Yu and the other bag of mushrooms to Zhao Dongxu. Then he said to the two of them, "When you get back, please give my regards to Minister Wang and Director Chen."

Wang Yu and Zhao Dongxu immediately understood Zhang Chenguang's meaning: these two bags of mushrooms were not for them, nor for any elders, but specifically for Chen Fangyuan and Wang Yonglin.

So the two of them smiled and accepted the woven bag.

But as soon as he picked it up, Wang Yu sensed something was wrong; his bag was noticeably heavier!

However, Wang Yu smiled calmly and said, "Thank you, Secretary Zhang. I will definitely pass on your regards."

Afterwards, Zhang Chenguang personally saw Wang Yu and Zhao Dongxu into the car.

Upon returning to Yutong County, Wang Yu went straight to Wang Yonglin's house, placed the woven bag in front of the sofa, and said to Wang Yonglin, "Second Uncle, these are mushrooms that Secretary Zhang from Longping Town asked me to bring for you."

Ok?

Wang Yonglin frowned. He didn't usually eat this. What was Zhang Chenguang doing?

Thinking of this, Wang Yonglin waved his hand and said, "Take it back to him, I won't..."

Before he could even utter the word "eat," Wang Yonglin sensed that the weight of the woven bag was off.

Wang Yu smiled and looked at Wang Yonglin, saying, "The weight here is obviously problematic. Although he also gave Zhao Dongxu a bag, I can tell that his bag is very light."

Wang Yonglin raised an eyebrow, opened the seal, and poured out all the mushrooms inside. Several packs of cigarettes landed on the table.

"This is……"

Looking at the cigarette on the table, Wang Yonglin narrowed his eyes, and after a full minute, he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Second Uncle, what... what does this mean?"

Wang Yu looked at the cigarettes on the table and frowned as he asked.

Wang Yonglin smiled faintly and said, "How could Zhang Chenguang possibly know?"

While fiddling with the cigarette in his hand, Wang Yonglin muttered to himself in puzzlement.

"What's wrong?"

Wang Yu asked with a curious expression.

Wang Yonglin narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly, "When you give gifts, do you give two kinds of cigarettes?"

Wang Yu shook his head, looking completely bewildered, and said, "No way."

Wang Yonglin patted the two packs of panda cigarettes on the table and said, "These two packs of cigarettes are not for me, they are for Zhao Changhe."

"The remaining eight strips of Chinese cigarettes are for me."

"He... wants the title of Standing Committee member!"

what?

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu was completely dumbfounded; the leap seemed too great!

How does this relate to the title of Standing Committee member?

The current number of members on the county party committee standing committee is just right; it's impossible to promote another member!

Looking into Wang Yu's clear, unwavering eyes, Wang Yonglin said calmly, "Fu Changqing will retire soon. Whoever succeeds him won't be of a high enough rank to be directly promoted to the Standing Committee!"

"In other words, now that Fu Changqing has stepped down, there is a vacancy on the county party committee's standing committee. This vacancy can be filled by either the directors of various bureaus or the main leaders of the various townships!"

"Longping Town has projects under its control. At this juncture, sending cigarettes is a way of currying favor; paying homage to me is secondary, paying homage to Zhao Changhe is the primary goal!"

"They just want me to be the middleman."

"As for the mushrooms, you can take them back tomorrow morning, then you won't have sent anything at all, right?"

Holy crap!

Wang Yu felt an intense itch on his scalp, as if his brain was growing out of him!

He then recounted everything that had happened that morning to Wang Yonglin, finally saying, "I remember, these two cartons of cigarettes were brought to Zhang Chenguang by Xu Hansheng!"

"I also mentioned that I'd be visiting Zhang Chenguang's parents in a few days!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yonglin burst into laughter and said, "That's utter nonsense!"

"Do Xu Hansheng and Zhang Chenguang have such a deep relationship? Did he go to visit his parents?"

"His meaning is that one should try to curry favor with the local official, because after a while, the opportunity will be gone. Sending cigarettes is a reminder to Zhang Chenguang that although the cigarettes aren't worth much, Zhang Chenguang should appreciate the favor!"

"As for how Zhang Chenguang contacts Minister Zhao afterward, that's Zhang Chenguang's own problem..."

"But if Zhang Chenguang really gets promoted to the Standing Committee, and Xu Hansheng goes back to him to ask for favors, will he give him the green light all the way?"

"Leaving aside distant issues, do you really think the feud between Xu Hansheng and Lin Mingyuan and his son Lin Weidong has truly been over?"

"Lin Weidong is one of the Standing Committee members. If you want to get rid of him, you can't do it without the Standing Committee's approval. Secretary Qi can't openly target him alone. At this critical moment, Zhang Chenguang is a knife in Secretary Qi's hand, and also a knife borrowed by Xu Hansheng!"

"Ten Chinese cigarettes and two giant pandas—this deal is worthwhile."

After listening to Wang Yongwan's explanation, Wang Yu's mind was in complete disarray.

These are all unrelated matters. How did Xu Hansheng come up with the idea of ​​connecting them together and so decisively targeting Zhang Chenguang?

Thinking of this, Wang Yu frowned and said, "Second Uncle, isn't Xu Hansheng acting a little too soon? What if this doesn't work out?"

Wang Yonglin shook his head and said, "There's no 'what if'."

"Second Uncle, how can there not be any 'what ifs'? There are so many towns and villages; Zhang Chenguang isn't even the most capable one!"

Wang Yu frowned and asked.

Wang Yonglin sighed softly and said, "Xiaoyu, your understanding of ability is flawed!"

"What is ability? It's not just about working hard; it's also about looking up and seeing where you're going. But that's just the most basic ability!"

"While the project in Longping Town had a lot of luck involved, luck is also a part of ability. In the entire county, besides Longping Town, who else in the seven townships and four towns has had such luck?"

"Besides Longping Town, who else could receive such high attention from Secretary Qi?"

"Pushing him up would be in Zhao Changhe's interest, and even more so in Secretary Qi's favor. Nominating Zhang Chenguang would already be Zhao Changhe aligning himself with Secretary Qi, and then there's Zhang Chenguang's cigarettes... the consequences will likely extend beyond just cigarettes. So, do you think there might be any unforeseen circumstances?"