Chapter Thirty-Five: Collective Light Bulb Repair

  August brought not only the news of various schools' results, but also the news of floods and disasters all over the country. This disaster did not erupt suddenly, nor was it without warning signs, everything has come.

  However, life in Xiashi City, which is not located in a severely affected area, remains as usual, with most of the news reports on TV being about the touching stories of troops and local military and civilians fighting against floods.

  Su Can knew that even if he could predict this disaster, it was still unavoidable, or at least he couldn't change it in a short period of time. He couldn't blame heaven for everything, as human activities such as deforestation and soil erosion over the years were also contributing factors.

  This flood is undoubtedly a slap in the face for those officials of the Ministry of Water Resources who misjudged that there would be no major floods or droughts in three years, stunning them.

  Flood control and disaster relief became the biggest theme across China in August.

  Su Can, however, followed his mother and accompanied by his uncle, arrived at the office building of Municipal No. 1 Middle School. Although it was a holiday, the school's administrative body didn't take a break like the teachers did, and they worked as usual with a flexible schedule.

  However, during this critical period of recruitment, the administrative building also ushered in a lively peak.

  When Su Can and others arrived, Da Shu Zeng Quanming looked around and found that there were quite a few familiar faces. There was Xiao Wang, the fourth-level inspector from the Municipal Procuratorate, accompanied by his niece; Lu Dahai, the investor of the Commercial Plaza on Jianli Street, with his daughter; Zhang, the deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce; and unexpectedly, his arch-nemesis, Xiao Fei, the director of the Municipal Bidding Office. There were many others as well. None of them had expected to run into each other at this time on the same day. It was already awkward enough that they all seemed to be bragging and chatting, but in reality, they also kept their distance from each other.

  It just so happens that today is also a coincidence, and Zeng Quanming, this notorious stinky temper, has arrived.

  These people are here to pave the way for their children or relatives to attend this school, and naturally, there is also a certain degree of introduction involved. These people generally do not hold high-ranking positions, otherwise, they would have just made a phone call to settle the matter, rather than coming in person to find the head teacher.

  Director Tian Feng is a fifty-year-old middle-aged man with a slightly bald head, protruding eyeballs, and wearing glasses. He has the habit of rolling his eyes around the eye sockets, giving people the feeling that he can also become a director by being somewhat sly.

  Recently, Tian Feng has some personal values inflated. He thinks that at the beginning of the new semester, all kinds of people will come to his door for the enrollment problem of their relatives' children. These officials' sons and daughters generally do not have high scores, and some even fail to meet the minimum admission score. If they are short of 50 points or less, it's still possible to pay a high price to make up for it. However, if they are more than 50 points away from the admission score, or even 100 points away, that's outrageous. In principle, the school would not accept such students, but any principle has its flexibility, especially when the people who come to his door are all influential figures in the city.

  The number of people receiving him increased, from the high-level municipal party committee to ordinary government agency clerks. Tian Feng's temperament and demeanor were also sufficient. Especially after helping a nephew of the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee sign an admission recommendation letter, he patted his shoulder warmly and praised him, and even invited him to a private dinner for a small drink.

  Even the municipal party secretary is on intimate terms with himself, and they often come and go together on the same platform. How can Tian Feng not be proud of this?

  This way, even when facing these big and small officials, he was calm and composed, and sometimes even arrogant. This is because Director Xiao Fei of the Urban Planning Bureau had just solved the problem of his daughter Xiao Yunyun's poor grades, and now he had received Tian Feng's signed document, so he didn't have to pay such a high price. Thinking of Zeng Quanming outside the door, he was moved in his heart, and said to Tian Feng in a sinister tone, "I see that Zeng Quanming has also come to find you, if you can't help him, then don't bother helping him. This person doesn't have much of a future, there are many people in the city who will cause trouble... being too close to him is not a good thing..."

  Xiao Fei nodded slightly and walked out of the door. He looked at Zeng Quanming, and unexpectedly burst into a loud laugh, but there was a hint of mockery in his smile.

  Su Can and his mother Zeng Ke, along with his uncle Zeng Quanming, entered the office of the teaching director. Tian Feng narrowed his eyes to greet the three of them. Xiao Fei himself was just a person in charge of bidding, but he had a good relationship with Tian Feng because Tian Feng's son-in-law was working on a road project in a nearby town and needed to go through Xiao Fei's department. The two had gotten close, and this time they didn't even need to spend an extra penny to solve the problem of where Xiao Fei's daughter, Xiao Yunyun, would attend school.

  Tian Feng naturally couldn't completely follow Xiao Fei's instructions, after all Zeng Quanming was still the director of the municipal planning bureau. Not giving him face would be his own foolishness. However, Tian Feng's attitude was a bit arrogant and his expression gave away some of this. People said that Zeng Quanming was a dark-faced god who didn't understand officialdom, and even dared to publicly scold his superiors when he wasn't satisfied with them. Tian Feng also wanted to show off in front of this dark-faced god.

  Besides, if you give Zeng Quanming a headache with your high-profile move and then low-key let go in the end, who knows, this awe-inspiring Black Face God might even feel a little grateful to you.

  "Ah, 645 points, but the volunteer is not our report..." Tian Feng saw Su Can's case and was shocked at first. This kid's grades are pretty good! It's hard to get a top student like him in No.1 Middle School. To put it bluntly, the volunteer form is just a piece of scrap paper. We can't force them to admit him, and Third Middle School has no way to compete with personal freedom."

  Of course, Tian Feng didn't show it on the surface, he just furrowed his brow, "Oh dear, this is not easy to handle... Who made him not fill in our volunteer form..." Then he stood up, walked to the water dispenser, poured a cup of tea, and then paced back to his own desk.

  It turned out that there was no sequel to Zeng Quanming's story.

  Zeng Quanming had never been treated with such indifference. Wherever he went, people would always speak to him with courtesy and respect. Now, the other party didn't even offer him a cup of tea, let alone invite them to sit down on the stool beside them. From the beginning, they had an attitude of deliberately ignoring them, still reading the newspaper when they arrived, completely at ease.

  "You go tell your principal Sun, what school doesn't want this score? It's more than enough to get into First Middle School. You don't choose students like Su Can, but those people outside with mediocre scores can get in, what does that mean!" Big Uncle Zeng Quanming's official tone had come out, but he hadn't thought that he was the one going to ask for a favor, not the other way around. And apart from Su Can, it was likely that he had never taken the initiative to ask someone for help before.

  Tian Feng was annoyed at that time, thinking to himself that the second half of his life was still waiting for him to soften up, but you actually dared to glare at me and shout. He usually hated it when others mentioned Principal Sun, who was originally a colleague of his at No. 1 Middle School, and was even younger than him. As a result, he had mixed for twenty years from the front line of education and only managed to mix up a director's signboard, while this Sun had stepped on his shoulders to become the principal in twenty years.

  The knot in his heart, of course, cannot be told to others. On the surface, he still maintains the posture of a 20-year-old friend and brother with Sun Xiao, but in his heart, he is increasingly angry. Whenever he sees Sun Xiao speaking at various meetings, he feels jealous.

  Zeng Quanming's words at this time happened to touch his reverse scales, and with the planning director, Dai Shu, not being a big deal in front of him, the municipal party secretary had even had tea and dinner with him, who do you think you are?

  Let him burst out suddenly, the two people's words clashed, and they immediately started to rub against each other. It was actually a situation where neither of them would give in to the other. Moreover, with Eldest Uncle Zeng Quanming having a bad temper when speaking, even Old Mother Zeng Ke was at a loss for what to do.

  Tian Feng's forehead bulged with blue veins, a pair of wide, protruding eyes behind thick glasses, connected to twisted blue veins, making him look even more ferocious.

  "What's going on, what's going on!? What do you want to do!?" As he spoke, Tian Feng slapped his hand on the table, his tone rising higher and higher, taking on a sharp, feminine pitch, "Do you think I'd engage in corrupt practices? Ah!"

  The sound echoed in the long corridor outside, and a group of cadres' children waiting outside looked even more embarrassed, thinking to themselves that this was what they meant by coming here, could it be that they would bring their families to change light bulbs? What's wrong with Tian Feng?

  Then came a series of big hats from Tian Feng, "I'm telling you, even if you're a national cadre, can the national cadre make me go against the school's will? Can it violate the rules and regulations? Ah! I really don't believe in this evil!" At this moment, what Tian Feng was thinking about was that Xiao Fei and himself were standing on the same front line, and no matter what, he had made up his mind to confront Zeng Quanming.

  The eldest uncle and Tian Feng quarreled in the teaching office, making a big fuss. In the end, my mother was afraid that things would get out of hand, so she persuaded the eldest uncle to leave. The whole event ended in an unpleasant way, and the people outside who had been watching also dispersed, planning to come back another day. After all, Tian Feng's words had made them lose face too.

  Su Can and his family had just left, Tian Feng was still pointing at the office door, shouting in a sharp and fierce tone, "He can't even get into this gate of No. 1 Middle School! How about that, I don't believe it! I'll see what tricks Zeng Quanming uses! A planning department director, what's the big deal?!..."