Chapter Thirteen Change to a New Territory

  After staying in Beijing for a couple of days, Lu Zhong returned to Guangning.

  At this time, the county party committee's organization department had already issued a document appointing Lu Zhong as the first deputy director of the "Office for Striking Against Speculation and Profiteering", and after selecting several police officers from the public security section, Lu Zhong hastily took office.

  As Lu Zhong expected, Hou Jianjun's deputy departmental treatment had not been resolved. Of course, in just a few days, Lu Zhong did not have such extravagant hopes either.

  The office for cracking down on speculation and profiteering in Guangning County is located in the county's Administration for Industry and Commerce, with its director being concurrently held by Cai Jin, the head of the county's Administration for Industry and Commerce. However, the specific work of the crackdown office has always been handled by Deputy Director Wang Donglei.

  Originally, Lu Zhong was just a deputy director in name only and should have been working at the county bureau on weekdays. When the Strike Force needed to go out and take action, they would notify him and he would lead the team.

  But to temporarily avoid the county bureau's people and things, Lu Zhong simply moved into the office of the Industry and Commerce Bureau. He also took the initiative to suggest that during his absence from the bureau, the work of the Public Security Section would be handled by Deputy Section Chief Sun Jie, and Vice Director Ma Yuewu would be in charge.

  It is said that Director Zhang follows everything, and now it seems that as long as Lu Zhong does not appear in front of him, everything will be fine.

  Lu Zhong chose four civil police officers, including Du Xiaohu, to be stationed at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. However, since this year, Guangning has seen a surge in speculative and fraudulent activities, and the law enforcement team was understaffed. The arrival of Lu Zhong and his team alleviated the shortage of law enforcement personnel, but it also brought its own set of problems.

  In fact, before the 1960s, Guangning did not have a Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Its predecessor was the Department of Industry and Commerce, the County Market Management Committee and its office, and the County Office for Combating Smuggling and Speculation, which were subordinate to the Commercial Bureau and Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

  By the 1960s, although the county had a direct institution of industrial and commercial administration bureau, it was just a signboard, and in essence it was still the framework of the industry and commerce section, an affiliate institution of the business bureau and supply and marketing cooperative.

  The turmoil ended, the horn of reform was sounded, and the re-hung business administration bureau finally became a truly administrative functional department, and its power grew heavier and heavier.

  Like many regions, the office building of Guangning County Administration for Industry and Commerce is also newly completed, a brand new white three-story office building.

  Lu Zhong's office was on the second floor. He didn't expect that on his first day in office, he would run into a familiar face - Zhou Changlong, Deputy Director of the Administrative Department of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

  It seems that Zhou Changlong came on purpose, entered Lu Zhong's office, accompanied by a smile, and approached him. Before Lu Zhong could react, he stuffed a cigarette into Lu Zhong's drawer.

  Lu Zhong and Deputy Director Zhou were not unfamiliar with each other. The other day, at a small barber shop, he met Deputy Director Zhou leading law enforcement officers to bully a little girl selling eggs, and the two sides had a big fight, with Deputy Director Zhou suffering greatly.

  It's been over a month now, and Director Zhou's awkwardness has dissipated. He heard that Lu Zhong had become his superior, although just in name, so he hurried to smooth things over. After all, it's not good to be on bad terms with the public security people.

  Lu Zhong slowly opened the drawer and took out the cigarette that Zhou Kechang had put in, and couldn't help but let out a whistle. It was actually an Aishima, which cost 85 cents per pack with a ration coupon, or 8.5 yuan per stick, almost as much as Lu Zhong's weekly salary, making it a high-end cigarette.

  Zhou Ke Chang hastily turned his head to look around, afraid that someone would push open the office door and come in. He then chuckled softly and said: "Director, I think you have a pretty strong smoking habit, so I had someone get one for you. Don't worry, it's definitely not one of those smuggled cigarettes we confiscated."

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly and then closed the drawer again, only then did Director Zhou feel a little more at ease.

  Lu Zhong had just arrived and was unfamiliar with everyone, so Zhou Kechang was the only familiar face. If he were to resolutely refuse, Zhou might think that Lu was holding a grudge, making their future relationship even more difficult to handle. Therefore, Lu could only accept it for now, but he had made up his mind to find an opportunity to return the money in a roundabout way.

  Before returning to Guangning, elder sister Lu Jiaju gave Lu Zhong some money and a stack of national grain coupons. Now the grain coupons are more useful than money, in many areas it's hard to move an inch without them. However, in Wushan, although not as severe as Shenzhen where the use of grain coupons has stopped, even if you don't have grain coupons, for things like accommodation and meals, you can make up for it with money, of course there will be a difference in price, using money is not as cost-effective as using grain coupons.

  For Lu Zhong, the "magic hand" of the business world in his past life, now reborn, with his skills, money is truly at his beck and call, and he doesn't care about these filthy things.

  Now Lu Zhong is thinking about how to make a name for himself?

  Strike against speculation and profiteering? It is actually just a product of the times, and it will soon disappear in the long river of history. The better you do this job, the more unclear right and wrong will be in the future. Moreover, this job itself conflicts with one's own wishes.

  Thinking of his own predicament, Lu Zhong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Politics was indeed a treacherous undercurrent. Having lived two lifetimes, he had yet to master the art of navigating the complexities of officialdom with ease and finesse, even in this remote and impoverished region.

  Zhou Kezhang chatted for a few sentences and then bid farewell. Lu Zhuo thought for a moment, still wanting to go to the Political and Legal Committee's Liu Baojun Secretary to test the waters, striving to stay here for a while before jumping out. After all, various institutions are emerging one after another, and personnel adjustments are also extremely frequent.

  Thinking of dealing with Liu Baojun, Lu Zhong couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Unlike the business world where everything is open and aboveboard, officialdom is all about dealing with people, from start to finish you have to figure out what makes them tick. Only by understanding people clearly and smoothing out interpersonal relationships can you create opportunities for advancement.

  Liu Baojun himself can understand a few points?

  In the power struggle of Guangning, I am now barely qualified as a chess piece, and maybe I have overestimated myself.

  Lu Zhong couldn't help but think of his father. He hadn't appreciated his dad's abilities in his past life, but now that he had been reborn and was preparing to fight for power, he could deeply understand the extent of his father's prowess.

  He is unassuming at home, but in the temple, he has reached a high level of enlightenment.

  But as for myself, in this small Guangning County town, I am still confused and do not know who to rush around for. To reach the level of being a good person and official like my father, I don't know when that will be.

  With a wandering mind, Lu Zhong rode his bicycle to the county committee compound again. The gatekeeper, Old Chen, remembered him and smiled as he greeted him.

  Standing in front of Liu Baojun's office on the second floor, Lu Zhong gently knocked on the door.

  ……

  Liu Baojun has been in a bad mood these days, don't know why, recently everything seems to be going wrong.

  He is not one of the five members of the county party committee, and even among the deputy county heads, he ranks very low. The institutions under his charge are all miscellaneous and trivial ones. Moreover, Jiudahe seems to like passing on any work that gets too hot for him to handle.

  Qiu Dahua is the Secretary of Guangning County Party Committee and also serves as the county magistrate. After the initial chaos, governments at all levels replaced the Revolutionary Committees to restore their powers, so it was not uncommon for a county party secretary to concurrently serve as county magistrate. However, now that there is an increasing emphasis on separating party and government departments, the city has repeatedly sent messages about adjusting Guangning's leadership team, but Qiu Dahua's dominant position remains unchanged.

  Liu Baojun posted big-character posters against Qiu Dahai during the turmoil, although he didn't know if Qiu Dahai would bear a grudge or not. Liu Baojun had always wanted to leave Guangning, but things went against his wishes; organizational matters aren't something that can be decided by personal will.

  The day before yesterday, Qiu Dazhong threw another hot potato at him at the party committee office meeting. The county reception office was reformed and a leading group for the reform of the county reception office was established, with Liu Baojun as the leader, responsible for the entire reform work, to explore experience for the upcoming reform of county-level and below public institutions.

  Liu Baojun's heart was about to curse, the county party committee guest house, originally fully funded by the finance department, now allowed to do business externally and with a difference in funding, this had an extremely huge psychological impact on the staff, just like suddenly changing from a government agency to a small hotel, from serving leaders to serving workers, peasants and soldiers, not to mention the huge gap in welfare treatment.

  And under the system of budget allocation, only 70% of the staff's salary in the guesthouse is paid by the finance department, and the remaining part of the salary has to be solved by the guesthouse through business income. Who wouldn't curse when a secure iron rice bowl becomes a fragile clay rice bowl that breaks at the slightest touch?

  And this work is now to be completed under his leadership.

  Liu Baojun would naturally be furious, who wants to play the villain in political life?

  Just as Liu Baojun was getting angry, Lu Zhong arrived.

  Seeing Liu Baojun's displeased expression, Lu Zhong knew he had come at the wrong time, but since he was already there, he couldn't just turn around and leave.

  Liu Baojun sat shoulder to shoulder with Lu Zhong on the sofa, slowly lighting a cigarette. This Lu Gang head was actually quite puzzling to Liu Baojun. Take the county bureau for example, if it were an ordinary cadre who broke a big case, they would be squeezed out of the county bureau to some extent, and no one could understand why. If it were himself when he was young, even if he didn't make a big fuss, he would definitely feel angry in his heart. But this Lu Gang head, obviously a hothead, was surprisingly calm and composed.

  "Is the leader busy?" After contacting Liu Baojun several times, Lu Zhong also became familiar with him and changed his title to "leader", a term that was slightly intimate yet respectful.

  Liu Baojun smiled and said, "Let's talk about why you're here. You must be someone who doesn't come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing." He thought to himself that Lu Gangtou had finally come to his senses and realized he was being marginalized at the county bureau, which is why he came running over.

  Lu Zhong's eyes glanced at the red-headed document on his desk, vaguely seeing the words "Reception Room", and immediately understood why Liu Baojun was annoyed.

  The county committee's guest house is going to be reformed, this wind has been blowing for more than a day or two. At one point, it was put on hold due to the intense resistance and backlash from the guest house cadres and staff, but now it seems that it is already set in stone. Moreover, Liu Baojun was forced to take over this hot potato.

  Lu Zhong smiled and said: "The county committee's guest house, the accommodation conditions in our county are among the best, let alone those private small hotels at the train station, even state-run hotels are not on the same level as ours. If we say reform is a good thing, I don't understand what they're making a fuss about. In the future, their salaries and bonuses will probably far exceed ours."

  Liu Baojun responded absent-mindedly with a hum, not thinking that Liu Gang would understand these questions. Listening to this rough man talk about reform and economics, he still felt a sense of ridicule in his heart.

  Lu Zhong said: "Secretary, how about this? I'll do some research for two days and then write a letter of opinion on the county's recruitment reform. You can refer to it?" Liu Baojun is now the first county leader to have frequent contact with him. Whether he is a black cat or a white cat, he has to think of ways to help him catch mice. After all, he has been an official for two lifetimes and his experience in governance is not as good as Liu's. But when it comes to reforming enterprises and institutions, he should be more knowledgeable and have seen more things than Liu.

  Liu Baojun didn't take it seriously either, and chuckled "Alright, alright." In his heart, he was still sneering at Lu Gang's overconfidence, thinking that just because he had solved a case, he thought he could intervene in everything?