Chapter 1 Civil Servant Examination (Part 1)

  Early spring in April is a time when grass grows and swallows fly, kites dance wildly everywhere, and the scene is full of prosperity.

  Although the weather has warmed up, this year's spring in Nanping City, the provincial capital of Hebei Province, has brought a cold wave. The sky is somewhat gloomy, and the entire city is shrouded in mist. There are few pedestrians on the streets, and even those who are walking on the streets are covering their collars tightly and half-closing their eyes to face the slow-moving sandstorm.

  However, in front of the Nanping Municipal Public Security Bureau, it was bustling with people, with three or five people gathered together, chatting and laughing. This formed a stark contrast to the sparse pedestrians on the street. On the right side of the gate stood a sign that read: "Henan Provincial Public Security Bureau Civil Service Examination Candidate Waiting Area".

  Liu Fei stood under the wutong tree, a solitary figure standing there quietly, his admission ticket fluttering back and forth in the spring breeze on his chest.

  His eyes were somewhat dazed.

  The results of the civil service written examination have been released, and he ranked first in the unified civil service examination across the province. He didn't feel surprised at this result, as four years ago he was admitted to Peking University as the top science student in Hebei Province. After four years of university life, he is also full of expectation and confidence for this interview, believing that as long as the exam is fair and just, he has the confidence to stand out among more than 40 candidates on site, laughing proudly at his peers.

  A few candidates stood not far from Liu Fei, they seemed to know each other and were discussing this interview.

  "Zhang Long, this time the Provincial Public Security Department only recruits one civil servant, and there are indeed 20 candidates taking the exam. Are you confident?"

  "Of course I'm confident, the examiner in charge of this interview, Director Liu, is my dad's old buddy!"

  "I'm speechless, just because of Director Liu you think you have the upper hand? I really admire you. My dad has already made arrangements with Deputy Director Huang from the Provincial Public Security Department, this time I feel completely confident."

  "Hey, Zhao Hu, do you think Huang Fuhall is impressive? My dad often drinks with Sun Yaowei, the vice director of the Provincial Public Security Department. This time, I've got a note from Director Sun." The speaker was a slender boy wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looking refined and elegant, but his eyes showed extreme arrogance, and his face had an expression of disdain.

  The other two boys heard this and looked somewhat dejected.

  However, at this time, a fat man about 1.8 meters tall next to him suddenly said: "Wang Chao, it's not me who is hitting you, neither of us has any chance in this exam! It's just going through the motions. The real big shot is over there!" He pointed with his hand at a boy standing under a tree about five meters away from them. The boy was tall and handsome, wearing a dark suit, tie, and a silver diamond ring on his right ring finger, with a faint smile on his face.

  "Who is he?" asked Zhang Long and Zhao Hu.

  Fatso said: "He is the nephew of Zhao Yong, the director of the Provincial Public Security Department, Zhao Shijie. I heard that before this interview, Zhao Shijie had already visited all the examiners one by one. You say he's here, do we still have a chance?"

  Everyone was somewhat disheartened at this moment, but Zhang Long suddenly pointed to Liu Fei and said: "Do you see that person? His name is Liu Fei, he is the provincial champion of this written test, every subject's score is full marks! I think he is Zhao Shijie's true opponent!"

  The other three nodded in agreement.

  Hearing their discussion, Liu Fei smiled: "It seems that my reputation among the examinees is quite big!" However, after hearing a few people discussing this, Liu Fei also became interested in the handsome boy standing under the phoenix tree next to him. He looked over and coincidentally, the boy also looked over at the same time. The two pairs of eyes met in mid-air. Neither of them backed down, and an invisible spark seemed to be flashing, colliding intensely.

  Liu Fei smiled faintly and withdrew his gaze, he had seen it, the boy opposite him looked like himself, a very confident and arrogant person. However, Liu Fei could also feel that in the boy's eyes, there was a flicker of mockery and disdain. It seemed that no one present was worthy of being his opponent. He appeared to be determined to win this exam as well. Moreover, Liu Fei had also paid attention to the ranking list of this exam, Zhao Shijie's score was not as good as his own, but it was still quite good, ranking in the top 50 in the province.

  At this moment, Zhao Shijie walked towards Liu Fei and stopped two meters away from him. He looked at Liu Fei with a playful gaze for a few moments before asking in a condescending tone: "You're Liu Fei?"

  Liu Fei disliked his tone of speaking, as if he was born superior to others. So Liu Fei gave him a cold look, raised his head and gazed at the sky, as if there was a wonderful adult movie being shown in the sky, without putting Zhao Shijie beside him in his eyes at all.

  At this time, the boys next to them who were originally discussing the two also looked over and saw that Liu Fei didn't even bother to shake off Zhao Shijie. The fat boy said in a low voice: "Damn, this Zhao Shijie is already arrogant enough, but I didn't expect Liu Fei to be even more arrogant than him. This is going to be interesting! Let me tell you guys, don't look at how refined and elegant Zhao Shijie appears to be, that kid has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He's notorious in our Tsinghua University for being cunning and vengeful!"

  Zhang Long said: "Now Liu Fei is in trouble."

  Zhao Shijie could also feel the curious gazes around him, and when he saw Liu Fei not giving him any face after waving at him, his expression changed instantly. The smile on his face grew thicker, but the chill in his eyes grew more intense, and a hint of sinister intent flashed across the bottom of his eyes. However, his tone was surprisingly pleasant: "Liu Fei, my name is Zhao Shijie, from Tsinghua University. I'd like to have a word with you in private." This time, he didn't have that condescending attitude when speaking.

  Liu Fei finally lowered his head, smiled and said: "Zhao Shijie classmate, hello, what's up? I, Liu Fei, like to do things openly and honestly!"

  Zhao Shijie was suddenly speechless, his face changing from pale to red and back again several times, his breathing becoming rapid, his chest heaving, his face filled with anger. However, he quickly calmed down, took two steps forward, and walked up to Liu Fei's side, pulling out a check from his pocket and handing it to him. He said in a low voice, "Liu Fei, this is a 100,000 yuan check. If you withdraw from this interview, this money is yours. I know your life at Beida is very difficult, always following others around for meals. If you withdraw from this interview, I guarantee that next year you will be admitted to any civil service position in Henan Province."

  Liu Fei took over the check.

  Although Zhao Shijie's voice was very small, the fat man and Zhang Long, Zhao Hu, Wang Chao, who were not far away from them, also heard it. They couldn't help but shake their heads, both admiring Zhao Shijie's clever move of using money to lure people in, and sighing that Liu Fei couldn't resist this temptation. The fat man sighed and said: "Ah, this Zhao Shijie is really sinister enough, actually playing this trick, it seems he must get the only quota for the Public Security Bureau this time!"

  Wang Chao also said: "It seems that Liu Fei will definitely choose to withdraw, after all, Zhao Shijie can guarantee that he can pass the exam next year! If it were me, I would also choose to withdraw."

  Seeing Liu Fei take the check, Zhao Shijie couldn't help but raise his head again, showing a superior attitude, with a hint of disdain and mockery at the corner of his mouth. In his heart, he said: "Hmph, Liu Fei, you're still pretending to be arrogant in front of me! I don't believe that 100,000 yuan won't knock you out! As for whether you can pass the exam next year, who cares!"

  Liu Fei took the check, glanced at it briefly, pinched one corner of the check with his right hand and gently flicked it with his left hand, saying to Zhao Shijie: "Do you really want me to withdraw from this interview? Don't you have confidence in yourself?"

  Zhao Shijie curled his lips: "I've always been confident in myself, I just didn't want to add you as a variable."

  Liu Fei's gaze lingered on Zhao Shijie's face for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing. With a flick of his right hand, the check flew like a sharp sword and was stuck in the collar of Zhao Shijie's suit. Zhao Shijie's face changed instantly: "What do you mean? Are you dissatisfied with the amount? I'll add 50,000 more!"

  Liu Fei raised his index finger in front of Zhao Shijie and shook it a few times, smiling faintly: "Money is a good thing, but my mood is more important than money! Only if I pass the civil service exam will my mood improve, so this money, just keep it for your next civil service exam bribery!"

  After finishing speaking, Liu Fei turned around, stretched his waist and murmured: "This waiting time is really long!"

  Zhao Shijie's eyes flashed with a hint of resentment, his gloomy gaze staring fiercely at Liu Fei as he said: "Hmph, even if you participate in the interview, it's impossible for you to get high marks. I've already greased the wheels with the examiners! Today's interview, and I'm the only winner!"

  Seeing Liu Fei refuse Zhao Shijie's check and promise, Pangzi and Zhang Long Zhao Hu Wang Chao almost simultaneously clenched their fists and waved them, saying: "Liu Fei, well done! You're the real man!"

  "Everyone is ready, everyone is ready! Please prepare your admission ticket and ID card, line up to enter the gate, follow me to the conference room!" A middle-aged examiner stood at the door with a loudspeaker in his hand, shouting towards the outside. The candidates quickly lined up voluntarily, entering one by one. Liu Fei also joined this long dragon, following the crowd slowly walking towards the conference room.

  The examination room is set up in the conference hall of the Public Security Bureau, outside which is a large conference hall, and inside the conference hall there is a small meeting room.

  Before the exam, a middle-aged examiner read out the examination rules first. Then the examiners and examinees met each other.

  There were 7 examiners in total, with Director Du of the Human Resources Department of the Public Security Bureau as the chief examiner. The other six deputy chief examiners were also main leaders of various departments of the Public Security Bureau, including Wang Haiming, director of the Criminal Investigation Department, who was responsible for this recruitment.

  When Liu Fei met the examiner, he quietly observed the situation in the field. He found that most candidates would communicate with one of the examiners through eye contact, and the most impressive was Zhao Shijie. Liu Fei discovered that five out of seven examiners showed a smile or nodded at Zhao Shijie, the meaning is self-evident. Especially the head of the criminal investigation department, Wang, even patted Zhao Shijie's shoulder lightly when passing by, nodding and smiling at him.

  After the meeting was over, there were five minutes of preparation time for the candidates. Zhao Shijie then gave Liu Fei a contemptuous glance, and then pointed to Liu Fei with his hand, sticking out his thumb and turning it downwards. Liu Fei was even more direct, directly raising his middle finger at him, which made Zhao Shijie turn his head away in anger, while Liu Fei smiled lightly.