Chapter Forty-Five Work Focus

  Xu Shaojie went to the municipal party committee office to work, but had not seen Ding Yuan, the secretary of the municipal party committee. The people he saw most were Qiao Yurong, deputy director of the comprehensive department, Li Heqing, director of the comprehensive department, and several cadres in the comprehensive department. Qian Dazhi often came to the office to chat, but Xu Shaojie was really busy and had few opportunities to chat.

  Xu Shaojie was doing the most initial work, roughly categorizing files. The one who actually organized the files was Qiao Yurong. After Qiao Yurong had organized the files well, the leader's secretary would come to take them away. Important meeting notifications were sometimes delivered by Li Heqing and sometimes by Qiao Yurong. Xu Shaojie discovered that whenever meetings involved the municipal party committee secretary, deputy secretaries, or secretary-general, it was always Li Heqing who went to notify the leaders. Meetings for deputy secretary-generals and office directors were notified by Qiao Yurong.

  Every day, there were many notifications from municipal units inviting leaders to attend meetings, but leaders did not necessarily attend all of them. Xu Shaojie rarely saw leaders in the office. The municipal party committee had one secretary and five deputy secretaries, each in charge of a different aspect of work. The deputy secretary in charge of organizational work was also the executive deputy secretary and concurrently served as the director of the Municipal People's Congress. The deputy secretary in charge of economic work concurrently served as the chairman of the Municipal Political Consultative Conference. The others were in charge of political and legal work, industrial enterprise work, and agricultural work.

  The municipal party committee's secretary-general and deputy secretary-generals also worked according to this principle. The secretary-general followed the municipal party committee secretary, while the deputy secretary-generals followed their respective deputy secretaries. Then came the office directors and deputy directors, and finally the leaders' secretaries. Each municipal party committee secretary or deputy secretary had a secretary-general, office director, and secretary by their side, each with different work emphases. The secretary-general was responsible for coordination, the office director was responsible for arranging and implementing the leader's instructions, and the secretary followed the leader every day.

  After Xu Shaojie went to work, he rarely left the office. Municipal leaders were picked up and dropped off by cars, and when they came to work, they directly arrived at the office, so they would not have much intersection with Xu Shaojie.

  When it was time to get off work, Ding Yuan's driver Ma Yaping arrived. Xu Shaojie had already packed up and was ready to go. After hanging up the phone and closing the door, he followed Ma Yaping out. This was the earliest Xu Shaojie had ever gotten off work. The sedan was waiting in the hall outside. Xu Shaojie didn't say a word as he opened the passenger door and got in, looking like a thief. Secretary Ding Yuan sat in the back without speaking. Xu Shaojie turned around to greet him, but Ding Yuan just nodded slightly.

  The sedan left the city and got on the highway. At this moment, Secretary Ding Yuan spoke up.

  "Xiao Xu, it's been half a month, how does it feel?"

  "Secretary Ding, I feel okay, as long as I'm careful, I can handle the essential work."

  "Uh-huh, you must have read a lot of documents. I'd like to hear your feelings about it. I don't need to know any specific numbers, just share your general impression."

  "Okay, I've read through many documents from the municipal party committee and government, county and city governments, and municipal departments. I have a preliminary understanding of everything, mainly based on work priorities and summaries. The documents from the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee focus on macro-control, direction, and policy, making principle arrangements and deployments for the city's annual work. The documents from the Huaiyang Municipal Government focus on specific deployments and implementations, with many numerical and rigid requirements, clear targets, and specific indicators. The documents from municipal departments are more detailed, following the requirements of the municipal party committee and government, and focusing on their own essential work. Each indicator is very clear. The documents from county and city governments are relatively more complex. The county party committee's documents cover both macro and micro aspects, with some specific requirements, including economic indicators such as GDP growth rate. The county government's documents are even more detailed, breaking down the overall economic growth rate into different industries, each with its own clear work targets and tasks."

  "Hmm, how does it feel?"

  "I feel that the work focus of the municipal party committee and the municipal government is different. The municipal party committee mainly grasps the direction, makes overall arrangements, combines with local actual conditions, and makes corresponding arrangements. It should stand at a higher position and do a good job in the municipal party committee's work. It must be farsighted to make every decision involving economic and social development directions. The main task of the municipal government is to grasp implementation, according to the working objectives and tasks put forward by the municipal party committee, make corresponding arrangements, and implement these tasks into specific industries and departments. Municipal units are responsible for doing specific work, following the overall requirements of the municipal party committee and the municipal government, trying every means to complete the essential work.

  The county and city are more complicated, with finer management. The county and city party committees and governments have some consistent goals in certain aspects, all focusing on economic and social development work, involving specific things. I remembered a saying: 'Above are thousands of threads, below is one needle.' It seems that the county and city belong to the grassroots category."

  "Uh, your summary makes some sense. The county and city are actually the grassroots level. Don't underestimate the county and city. Although sparrows are small, they have all five internal organs. Only when the work of the county and city is done well can our overall work be improved."

  The air conditioning in the car is quite good, sitting inside feels very comfortable, not a single drop of sweat on his body. Xu Shaojie couldn't help but think of the time he took a bus to Yudu District, where it was crowded and smelly, with people standing and sitting everywhere.

  "Xiao Xu, what do you think our current work priorities should be?"

  "Develop the economy and make everyone rich as soon as possible."

  "Haha, you've hit the nail on the head! It seems that your efforts over the past few days have been effective. Tell me about the general situation in Huai'an City."

  Huai'an City is the largest county-level city in Huaiyang, with a population of 11.7 million people. The city has 12 districts, 78 townships and 417 administrative villages, covering an area of 4,177 square kilometers. Last year's fiscal revenue was 2.1 billion yuan, and there are 170,000 cadres in the whole city. The characteristic industry is the textile industry.

  "These are all data on the file, you can remember it so clearly, it seems that you have prepared for it, knowing what I'm going to ask, haha, able to anticipate what's going to happen next, with sufficient preparation. Your habit is very good, keep it up in the future. Are you familiar with Yudu District?"

  "Secretary Ding, I know that Yudu District has a population of 850,000 people, 21,000 households, and 51 administrative villages. The total area of the district is 408 square kilometers. Yudu District has a relatively obvious regional characteristic, with large regional differences in elevation. Places above 700 meters account for 55% of the total area, while the rest are around 400 meters above sea level."

  "You will know later, the elevation feature is very important for a place. We develop economy, we must combine with actual situation, the biggest and most important problem in this process is regional characteristics and climate characteristics. We must respect natural law, cannot violate, cannot be blind. In these years, we have suffered some losses."

  The sedan sped towards the provincial city, and Ding Yuan didn't ask any more questions.

  "Xiao Xu, after we arrive at the provincial city, let's just find a place to eat casually, you choose the place."

  Xu Shaojie was a bit nervous, although he had been in the provincial capital for four years, Xu Shaojie had never been to a hotel, and the most he had eaten at was the big stall outside Xilin University. He really couldn't think of anywhere good, but Ding Yuan was the municipal party secretary, eating at such a place, wasn't it a bit inappropriate?

  "What's wrong, don't you know where to eat?"

  "Secretary Ding, when I was studying in the provincial city, I often ate at the big stalls outside Xilin University. I never went to hotels or restaurants for meals, as they were a bit low-end and not quite suitable for you to dine at."

  "Haha, Little Xu, what's good or bad about eating? Two bowls of rice are both in the belly, just eat till you're full, what else is there? You little guy, do you still have so many scruples?"

  "No, I don't mind, you are the municipal party secretary, going to those places, I'm afraid you won't be used to it."

  Ding Yuan smiled and didn't say anything.

  Ma Yaping was familiar with Ding Yuan's habits, and after the sedan entered the provincial city, it went straight to Xueyuan District. Soon, the familiar scenes around Xu Shaojie appeared in front of his eyes. Although it was already dark, everything around him was too familiar to Xu Shaojie. It was mid-July now, and other students at Xilin University were about to have a holiday soon. Today was the weekend, and the large stalls outside the school seemed a bit lively.

  "Hehe, Little Xu, when I was studying here before, there weren't all these big restaurants outside, now they're everywhere, the economy has developed, it's just not the same anymore."

  Xu Shaojie carefully followed behind Ding Yuan, gesturing to the driver to stop at a place with good food. Although the environment wasn't great, he still wanted to find a place with good taste.

  "Secretary Ding, when we were in school, opportunities to come here were rare and we didn't have much money. Our classmates had no income of their own and relied on their parents' remittances. Occasionally coming here to eat and drink was considered an improvement in life."

  Finally arrived at the entrance of the big stall, Xu Shaojie hurriedly contacted the boss. Before, they always ate outside, but today it's not good to eat outside. Originally, eating outside was cooler, but inside, despite having a fan, it was still somewhat unbearable.

  "Little Xu, don't say anymore, let's eat outside, it's stuffy inside and we're not in the mood for food."

  The boss knew Xu Shaojie, and it had been less than a month since he left. He remembered very clearly that when Xu Shaojie and his classmates had a midnight snack here, Xu Shaojie usually paid the bill, so the boss wouldn't forget. However, today Xu Shaojie's attitude was very different from before, and he was extremely respectful to those around him. The boss didn't know how many times he looked over, but quickly understood that the people around Xu Shaojie had an extraordinary air about them, and must be high-ranking officials. The boss hurried out, enthusiastically greeting them, using a clean towel to carefully wipe down the table and chairs, while also moving out a fan.

  "Xiao Xu, you order, I don't care about anything today, whatever you order is what I'll eat."

  Xu Shaojie was familiar with the menu and didn't need to ask, he ordered several dishes that he thought were delicious.

  "You little scamp, are you trying to burst my stomach? Three people can't possibly eat that much!"

  Ma Yaping smiled on one side, he had a good impression of Xu Shaojie, and Xu Shaojie's carefulness with the vehicle left a deep impression on him.

  "Secretary Ding, Little Xu is worried you won't eat well."

  Ding Yuan was in a good mood and ordered the boss to bring wine. This put Xu Shaojie in a difficult position, as there wasn't any good wine around. Ding Yuan asked the boss to bring authentic Baoku wine, and the boss, being very clever, ran into the house and after a while brought out a jar of it. When he opened the lid, a strong aroma of pure wine wafted out.

  "Haha, boss, this wine is good."

  The boss poured wine diligently, and Xu Shaojie felt that the boss was actually not bad at all. He observed people's words and expressions carefully, worked hard to do business, and had a keen sense of smell. He knew that Ding Yuan was not an ordinary person. Of course, Xu Shaojie and Ma Yaping's attitude also explained the problem.

  "Little horse, have some drinks today and stay overnight at the provincial capital office, don't go back."

  Xu Shaojie had his first drink with the municipal party secretary. After a period of work, Xu Shaojie understood that the municipal party secretary was a big leader. In the eyes of ordinary people, the county party secretary and county magistrate were already very impressive, let alone the municipal party secretary and mayor. As for the leaders of the provincial party committee and government, it was still hard to imagine such a high level. Xu Shaojie and Master Ma stood up at the same time to toast Ding Yuan, who asked them to sit down before he would drink that glass of wine.

  While slowly eating and drinking, Xu Shaojie found that Xu Zhuxin was walking over. Xu Shaojie had never told Xu Zhuxin that he had been assigned to the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee Office, and he had been too busy to return to the provincial city during this time.

  "Little Xu, have you seen anyone familiar?"

  "Secretary Ding is my class teacher, Teacher Xu."

  "Oh, then come quickly and eat together, the teacher from Xilin University is also my teacher."

  Xu Zhuxin saw Xu Shaojie, very strangely, Xu Shaojie didn't have time to speak, and pulled Xu Zhuxin directly to the table.

  "Director Xu, let me introduce you. This is Ding Yuan, the original secretary of Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee, and this is Ma Yaping, the deputy director of the Administrative Section of the Municipal Party Committee Office. Secretary Ding, this is my university class teacher, Teacher Xu Zhuxin."

  The clever boss finally knew Ding Yuan's identity.

  Xu Zhuxin smiled and greeted Ding Yuan, with a very good temperament. Without waiting for Xu Shaojie to speak, Xu Zhuxin sat down. The boss hurriedly took out bowls and chopsticks. Xu Zhuxin finally knew where Xu Shaojie worked. It seems that Xu Shaojie has a great opportunity, being able to have dinner with the municipal party secretary just after starting work.

  Ding Yuan noticed the temperament that Xu Zhuxin carried, which was not an ordinary temperament. Ding Yuan had been in the official circle for a long time and felt that Xu Zhuxin had the temperament of a superior person. Xu Zhuxin was a teacher at Xilin University and would not be an official figure, so there was only one possibility: Xu Zhuxin's background was not simple and should be very prominent. Ding Yuan looked at Xu Shaojie with profound meaning in his eyes. Just now, Xu Shaojie directly pulled Xu Zhuxin over, which meant that Xu Zhuxin highly appreciated Xu Shaojie.