The Seventh Section: The County Party Secretary's Instructions

  At the end of work, Zhang Liren called: "Xiaoye, congratulations."

  "Wait, old brother, this is just the first step, don't know what the outcome will be." Ye Ziran hurriedly interrupted, "I heard that your sister-in-law wants to introduce a beautiful nurse from People's Hospital?"

  "Really? How about arranging a time?"

  "Thank you on my behalf, Auntie. I really don't want to talk about friends right now. When I'm ready, I'll let Auntie know and she can introduce us again." Yeziran refused.

  "You, don't be too proud of yourself, you're about the same age. Your mom was talking to Yang Hongmei when she came to Ma Shi last time, let's just leave it at that for now, see you later."

  Old mother came to Mashixiang three times for Ye Ziran's affairs, had dinner with Zhang Liren and his wife together, and was resentful of Ye Ziran's graduation from neither staying in the provincial city nor returning to his hometown Jinshan. Before leaving, she also entrusted Zhang Liren and his wife to take care of his private matters. Yang Hongmei remembered it in her heart and wanted to promote a good thing.

  But Ye Zhenran was not in a hurry, and no matter how anxious Yang Hongmei was, it was useless. After work, Ye Zhenran went to Ye Lao's house for dinner. Incidentally, he paid the meal fee, but Uncle Cai initially declined to accept it, until Ye Lao spoke up: "Ah Cai, just take it, otherwise Xiao Ye won't come to eat every day." Uncle Cai then accepted it. Of course, eating was only part of the content; mainly, they chatted with Ye Lao about work and life experiences, listening to his advice. In front of Ye Lao, Ye Zhenran had nothing to hide, and they were all frank with each other, while Ye Lao completely treated him as his own junior. The two were affectionate like grandfather and grandson, making Uncle Cai shake his head frequently, wondering in his heart, "even if it's a reunion after a long time", it couldn't be this close, right?

  However, Cai Shu also liked Ye Zhenran's character.

  After the exchange, Ye Zhenran learned that Cai Shu and Zhang Hengliang were both old subordinates of Ye Lao in the army. After Ye Lao retired, Cai Shu took the initiative to retire with Ye Lao. Ye Lao was injured in battle when he was young and lost his fertility, so he never married or had children. Ye Lao's younger brother also sacrificed himself in the Korean War, and Ye Lao raised his niece Ye Qingli to adulthood. Later, he married off Ye Qingli to Zhang Hengliang. Cai Shu has a son and a daughter who are both married, with his son being a university teacher and his daughter working at the Communist Youth League Central Committee.

  After dinner at Ye's home, Ye Zhenran went to visit County Party Secretary Tang Guoqiang.

  Tang Guoqiang and his family lived in Building No. 1 of the county committee's guest house, a four-bedroom, two-living-room house.

  His family moved to Changsha soon after he took office, and Tang Hong and Tang Kang were in the second and first grades respectively. They were enrolled in the county middle school where their mother, Yu Jia, taught. The siblings excelled academically but were mischievous and fearless. Secretary Tang was too busy to discipline them, while Yu Jia was lenient with the children, who did not fear her.

  When Ye Ziran walked in, Tang Hong was struggling with a difficult math geometry assignment. Seeing Ye Ziran, she got excited and said: "Brother Ye came just in time, come quickly to help me with my homework."

  Tang Hong and Tang Kang both called Ye Zhenran "older brother". The two kids didn't listen to their parents, but they listened to Ye Zhenran very obediently. In Tang Hong's words, "Older brother Ye is handsome and smart, he's my idol." Indeed, Ye Zhenran was not only good-looking, but also a graduate of a prestigious university, having a lethal effect on young girls.

  Secretary Tang took the opportunity to hand over Tang Hong's math homework to Ye Zhenran: "Little Ye, you first teach her about the homework."

  Ye Zhenran took a look and saw that it was a proof question of plane geometry, which belonged to the type that required adding auxiliary lines to prove. For this type of question, if the auxiliary line is not added correctly, it cannot be proved. Ye Zhenran thought for a moment, helped Tang Hong add the line, and said: "Tang Hong, take another look, can you prove it with this line?"

  Tang Hong immediately understood and happily said, "Brother Ye is really awesome, I know what to do now." After finishing speaking, she took her homework book and went to the inner room to do her homework.

  Ye Ziran didn't see Yu Jia and asked: "Secretary Tang, where is Teacher Yu?"

  "She was tutoring Tang Kang's composition." Secretary Tang pointed to the sofa and said: "You sit down, I'll talk to you about something."

  Ye Ziran sat on the sofa to the left of Secretary Tang's hand.

  "The county party committee organization department will come soon to inspect, I ask you first, are you confident in doing a good job?"

  "Yes, I will do my best to work well and not give you a bad name." In front of Secretary Tang, Ye Zhenran didn't speak the usual official phrases. "When encountering problems, I will promptly ask for your instructions."

  "Little Ye, once you reach the deputy department level at the township level, you'll truly be on your way to a career in officialdom. With power comes responsibility, and every move you make will affect the interests of the common people. You must be extremely cautious."

  "I understand, Secretary Tong can rest assured." Ye Zhenran said firmly.

  Comrade Tang nodded and said: "Very well, I'll ask you, after becoming the deputy head of the village, how can your work ideas be implemented?"

  "Please teach me, Secretary Tang." Ye Zhenran looked at Secretary Tang and said sincerely.

  "The work of cadres, in the end, is the work between people." Secretary Tang said, "A leading cadre wants to implement his own ideas and guidelines, he must rely on others' cooperation, so how to handle interpersonal relationships is a big question."

  "Yes, I will definitely remember your words." Ye Zhenran slowly savored his words.

  "When doing things, you must learn to use people. Using the right person and using them well is the only way to achieve results, Xiao Ye. There are two types of people who can never be used: one is those with ulterior motives, and the other is those who do not obey orders at critical moments. No matter what position you hold in the future, you must remember this." Secretary Tang's eyes were piercing and full of spirit.

  This remark has two layers of meaning. Firstly, when doing work, one cannot do it alone and must rely on others, relying on the support of superiors, but more importantly, relying on subordinates to execute; secondly, using people is extremely important, subordinates not only need to be capable of doing things, but also need to be loyal, at critical moments, a subordinate who drops the chain cannot be used. Ye Zhen thought to himself: "No wonder many leaders are willing to use an incompetent but obedient subordinate, rather than an able person who doesn't listen."

  Being able to execute one's own ideas and concepts is the most important thing, just like an army at war, where the commander points, the troops must follow, even if it's wrong, they must still carry out the order, otherwise, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of soldiers will all act on their own, and the army will be a loose sand, inevitably suffering defeat.

  Secretary Tang paused for a moment, seeing that Ye Zhenran understood his words, continued: "For commanders, just doing the above is not enough, before going into battle, they must carefully choose how to fight and where to fight, and gather wisdom from all sides, knowing oneself and knowing the enemy."

  "Thank you, Secretary Tang. Your words have inspired me a lot." Ye Zhenran looked into Secretary Tang's eyes with great respect. Seeing that the water in Secretary Tang's teacup was running low, he stood up and refilled it for him.

  Yu Jia finished guiding his son's composition and came out of the study, seeing Ye Zhenran pouring water, and praised: "Little Ye is really good, in the future when you become an official, you should be like this too, don't develop a big master attitude, where everything has to be done by others."

  Ye Ziran smiled brightly and understood she was hinting at Secretary Tang, so she didn't respond.

  Tang Shuji just smiled and said: "Are you putting a hat on me? Or are you speaking up for Xiao Ye?"

  Yu Jia poured a glass of water for Xiao Ye and said: "Look, Xiao Ye has been here for so long, but the water hasn't even moved."

  Ye Ziran hastily said: "I don't want to drink, at your house, if I want to drink, I will pour it myself."

  Yu Jia stopped caring about that matter and asked: "Xiao Ye, for such a long time, why haven't you mentioned your girlfriend? Are you not dating yet?"

  "Not talking."

  "Really? Then Auntie will help you pay attention, Xiaoye's condition is still pretty good." Yu Jia got a little excited.

  Ye Ziran was a bit embarrassed. He thought to himself, this is just women's innate hobby: they like to play matchmaker. His head had grown bigger. Fortunately, Secretary Tang said a sentence to help him out of the predicament: "First do your work well, although Ma Shi Township is not big, there are many things waiting to be done, and after achieving results, the road ahead will be very wide, and it's no problem to talk about relationships."

  Yu Jiamu said: "You say others are light, how come you came after me when I was in college?" After finishing speaking, he laughed.

  Listening to Yu Jia's jokes, without any regard for his presence, Ye Zhenran knew that she had already taken him as one of her own, and said: "Aunt Yu, is Secretary Tang doing this for my good?" The term "Aunt Yu" was called out with a natural closeness.

  Yu Jia was even more delighted and rushed to say to Secretary Tang: "You should pay more attention to Xiao Ye, Xiao Ye is a good person."

  Secretary Tang nodded and smiled.

  Ye Ziran thought of the encounter with Lin Chang and Magistrate Ma in the afternoon, felt it necessary to report to Secretary Tang, sat down and told the whole process in detail.

  Tang Shuji listened with great interest and asked: "When Magistrate Ma said these words, was anyone else present?"

  "As for me and Lin Chang's widow He Chunying, just the two of us." Ye Zhenran thought for a moment before saying.

  Secretary Tang smiled and said, "Xiao Ye, you are a lucky person. This way, your matter is simple. I originally thought that taking the vice township head position would not be a problem for you, but entering the township party committee would have obstacles. Since Mayor Ma also supports you, I will let you take it one step at a time and become a member of the township party committee and vice township head."

  The Party Committee of Mashixiang Township has nine members, including the Secretary of the Township Party Committee, the Township Mayor, the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Organization Commissioner of the Party Committee, the Propaganda Commissioner, the Head of the Armed Forces Department, and two Deputy Mayors. In the government system, there are four deputy mayors, including those who enter the party committee and those who do not, with very different powers.

  The county party secretary is in charge of official hats. Now, listening to Secretary Tang say that he didn't have a good grasp when he first entered the party committee, Ye Zhenran thought that the struggle within the county's standing committee must be very fierce. Thinking about it, it makes sense. Although Secretary Tang has abilities, he has only been the county party secretary of Changjia for three months, and County Magistrate Yin's foundation is deep. It's normal that he hasn't gained a relative advantage in the standing committee in the short term.

  Yeh Zhen said, "Thank you, Secretary Tang. It seems that Mayor Ma and County Magistrate Yin are not quite on the same page either. Perhaps he is a fulcrum to pry loose County Magistrate Yin's foundation."

  Tang Secretary smiled and pointed at Ye Zhen Ran with his hand, saying: "A bit of political vision. That's why you're a lucky general."

  Ye Ziran became excited and said: "Secretary Tang, what do you need me to do?"

  "After you take office, I'll find an opportunity to have dinner with County Mayor Ma together." Secretary Tang smiled, full of confidence. "County Mayor Ma is a standing committee member and the executive vice county mayor. If we can cooperate, it will also be beneficial for carrying out government work."

  If three people have a meal together, with Yezhen in the middle as a lubricant, it will naturally be much better.

  Yu Jia couldn't help but say at this point: "How can you guys just talk about these things? Can't we discuss life?"

  "Life and work are inseparable, after all."

  Ye Ziran chimed in with a smile: "Secretary Tang has already made work his life."

  The three of them burst out laughing together.