Power and Wealth
Chapter 22 – The opportunity to shine
General Affairs Office.
The office was dead silence after Deputy Director Li left. Zhou Changchun frowned and rubbed his forehead. He was looked through the document in his hand and then looked around the office. “This is about the same as last time. Bureau Chief Yang did not give any specific instructions. Xiao Tan?”
Tan Limei, who had never complained about her work looked at Zhou Changchun pitifully. “Chief Zhou, please let me off.”
Zhou Changchun gave some encouragement: “Writing speeches have always been your job. As a university graduate, it should be an easy task. You can’t expect me or Old Yan to write it, do you?”
Tan Limei sighed: “Chief Zhou, you also know that Bureau Chief Yang’s expectations were so high. The last time, Sis Chang, Guo Panwei and I had spent 2 days on his speech. We wrote 6 versions, and he did not use any of them. I was still scolded by him. I…… I……”
Zhou Changchun interrupted: “Bureau Chief Yang told me that he has high hopes for you. This time, you should put in more effort.”
Tan Limei lowered her head and replied reluctantly: “Fine. I will try.”
Zhou Changchun looked at Guo Panwei and the rest: “Panwei, Xiao Chang and Shunjie, all of you will also write a draft. Do your best.”
Changjuan immediately said: “Sir, I am not good at writing. Bureau Chief Yang will surely not use my draft.
Guo Shunjie also said: “Chief Zhou, I……”
Zhou Changchun was slightly pissed and knocked on the desk: “Look at all of you. What are all of you trying to do? No matter how difficult this task is, all of you still have to do it. This is your job! Start working now and tomorrow send the drafts to Bureau Chief Yang.” Zhou Changchun was also afraid of Bureau Chief Yang. Bureau Chief Yang was not satisfied with the General Affairs Office’s drafts the previous time. Not only the staff workers were scolded, even Li Qing and he were reprimanded. This was why Li Qing and Zhou Changchun were troubled when they knew Bureau Chief Yang wanted them to write out his speech again.
After work.
Dong Xuebing walked up to Tan Limei: “Tan Zhi, let’s leave together.”
Tan Limei listlessly sighed: “What bus are you taking?”
“Number 46.” Dong Xuebing walked out to the pouch with her. “What’s wrong? Is it tough to write the speech?”
“It’s not that difficult if it was for other Bureau Chiefs. The rest does not even need to write a draft, and I alone am enough. But this Bureau Chief Yang is different. He…… He……” After Tan Limei’s explanation, Dong Xuebing understood what happened. Bureau Chief Yang’s full name was Yang Yizhong. He was the Bureau Branch Deputy Divisional Chief. He was transferred over from East City Branch not too long ago, and the staffs were not familiar with him. They only knew that this Deputy Chief had a bad temper and had high expectations for his speeches. He was not interested to even look through the drafts. A while ago, the whole General Affairs Office were scolded by him.
Dong Xuebing thought deeply about what Tan Limei said.
The next day.
The first thing Zhou Changchun asked when he stepped into the office was the drafts.
Tan Limei replied weakly: “I have finished the draft, but I am not sure if Bureau Chief Yang will approve it.”
Guo Panwei, Guo Shunjie, and Changjuan had the same facial expressions as Tan Limei. They were all not confident.
“Ok.” Chief Zhou said. “Send the drafts over and see what Bureau Chief Yang says.”
Dong Xuebing looked at those 4 people who left for to the “Execution Grounds.” After they left, Dong Xuebing opened a few Word documents and look at the samples of speeches. He had downloaded these examples from the internet last night. He had learned about the sentencing structures and the words used.
1 minute……
5 minutes……
10 minutes……
Guo Shunjie was the first to return.
“Chief Zhou, Bureau Chief Yang says that my draft is not structured well enough.”
The next person to return was Guo Panwei. “Bureau Chief Yang says…… he says……” Bureau Chief Yang might have said something very nasty, and Guo Panwei was too embarrassed to tell Chief Zhou. “He asked me to rewrite.”
Changjuan also returned with an awful expression. “My draft did not make it.”
The last to return was Tan Limei. Everyone looked at her and asked: “How was it?”
Tan Limei did not say anything and returned to her desk and started sobbing.
Zhou Changchun understood immediately. She must be scolded by Bureau Chief Yang too. Sighed…… What’s wrong? How come no one could write a draft that can appease Bureau Chief Yang? If this carries on, Bureau Chief Yang will think that the General Affairs Office had no one capable.
Ring, ring, ring. Zhou Changchun’s office phone rang, and he immediately went to pick it up. “Hello? …… Oh, Bureau Chief Yang…… Yes…… Ah…… Ok…… I understand….. but we…… Ok…… Then…… Yes…. I will ask them to rewrite… Yes…. Rest assure……”
Outside of the office, Zhuang Zhi was trying to comfort Tan Limei.
Zhou Changchun rubbed his temples and slowly walked out: “Bureau Chief Yang said that the City Bureau’s meeting has been brought forward to tomorrow. So, no matter what, he wants to see the speech today. Let’s do our best and write out a speech which meets his requirements. Go through the first drafts and see if we had missed out anything.”
Tan Limei who was still crying: “I…… I had written the draft based on what he wanted…….”
Changjuan: “Chief Zhou, we really tried out best.”
Zhou Changchun sighed: “I know this is not an easy task. But this is the task given to us by the higher-ups. We must complete it. Let’s put our brains together and think of a solution.
Everyone in the office lowered their heads, and no one said a word.
Zhou Changchun frowned and wanted to say something, but Dong Xuebing slowly stood up.
Zhou Changchun looked at him: “Oh? Xiao Dong have an idea?”
“Huh? It’s not what idea.” Dong Xuebing smiled embarrassedly. “Chief Zhou, if there are really no other ways, can I try?”
“You?” Zhou Changchun paused for a while. “You know how to write speeches?”
Dong Xuebing does not dare to claim that he was good at writing speeches. He does not want to let other people think he was too proud. “A little.”
“Fine. Go ahead and try.” Zhou Changchun did not have many expectations from this new guy. Even the drafts written by the experts from the office were not accepted by Bureau Chief Yang, let alone this newcomer. Zhou Changchun thought to just let him try.
Dong Xuebing felt that this was an opportunity for him!
An opportunity to shine!