Rebirth: 1977

Minister Li had dinner at the company, and after arriving home, he took a shower and went to his study.

His family had already turned on the air conditioner in the study. He made himself a cup of tea and turned on the radio, which was playing domestic news.

He leaned tiredly on the sofa, lit a cigarette and closed his eyes.

To be honest, his job is not that hard. The hard part is that he has to try hard to figure out his leader's thoughts.

When they encounter situations where leaders pass the buck to each other, they are caught in the middle and that feeling of being caught in the middle is the most uncomfortable.

Everyone in the leadership team of Pengcheng City, including various departments of the municipal government, knew the original relationship between Xia Minglei and Xia Zijian.

A small number of leading cadres even knew the reason why Xia Yingying and Xia Zijian divorced.

He is the Minister of Organization and a member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee. Of course, he knows what happened after Xia Yingying went to Yangcheng.

But the more they understand the truth, the more they cannot mention it.

After all, that is Leader Xia's face, and no one can easily remove this fig leaf.

When Xia Minglei firmly held the leadership position of the Pengcheng government, those who knew the inside story had to keep a low profile.

He had secretly contacted the second-in-command to ask if he could sign and stamp on behalf of Leader Xia?

The other party refused repeatedly.

Although we all know the saying "rights expire if you don't use them", there are some rights that you should not rush to use.

Sitting in the position of second in command, Xia Minglei also gave him the power to manage the matters that belong to him. As long as he does not overreach and touch the bottom line of the power of the top leader, and behaves himself, Xia Minglei will never let him suffer any loss when "rewarding according to merit".

Who among the clear-minded veterans in officialdom doesn’t know that the position of second in command is actually very comfortable?

Especially when you are over 50 and approaching 60, it is equivalent to preparing for retirement.

Pengcheng's current second-in-command is exactly of this age. He certainly would not want to "go to the trouble of doing something unnecessary" to offend Xia Minglei and end up with an "early retirement" outcome.

The officialdom is different from the business world. Sometimes the more you do, the more mistakes you make, and the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make. If you do nothing, cough cough... haha, everyone understands.

It was almost half past eleven when Minister Li received Xu Rong's call. He lit three cigarettes in a row, and the study was filled with smoke.

He coughed and choked repeatedly but did not put out the cigarette.

The telephone suddenly rang, making him jump up suddenly. He quickly picked up the receiver: "Ahem... Hello, ahem... Who is this?"

He has been waiting for a call, but he doesn't know who it will be.

"Hello, Minister Li. I'm Xu Rong."

Xu Rong's voice was a little deeper than usual.

"Director Xu? You're calling me at this time. Do you have any news from Leader Xia?"

When he heard Xu Rong's voice, a look of joy flashed across his face.

This was not the call he expected to receive tonight, but it was the one he was most looking forward to.

"Minister Li, I have contacted Leader Xia and I have passed on your message to him.

But Minister Li, regarding the instructions given by the leadership to your Organization Department, I don’t think it is appropriate for me to convey them.”

Xu Rong's tone was very humble: "Well, I'll tell you Leader Xia's current contact number.

They have been moving around a lot these days and it's not easy to contact him.

Since you feel that you need to consult Deputy Director Xia regarding his transfer order, he happens to be resting in a hotel in Shanghai at this time.

I'll give you the contact number. It will appear more serious and cautious if you ask him directly."

Minister Li agreed with Xu Rong's words. He also needed to hear in person the leader's attitude towards handling this matter.

"Okay, thank you Director Xu. You tell me, and I'll remember it."

Xu Rong breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to be caught between her leaders, so it was better to have less trouble than more.

She would rather let Xia Minglei think that she was cautious and irresponsible in handling things than to bear the possible "wrath of thunder" and take the blame.

She has calculated every step carefully to get to where she is now, relying on caution.

She had already taken a wrong step in the previous step, and she must not make any more mistakes in the future.

"Minister Li, I'll tell you the contact number. I hope you won't say that I told you, okay?"

Xu Rong's tone softened a bit, with a hint of negotiation and pleading.

"Why?" Minister Li asked without hesitation.

"Just say you contacted them yourself. That should be better, don't you think?"

"Oh, okay, okay, thank you Director Xu, I understand what you mean.

We'll contact each other if we have anything to say. It was very late, so I quickly called Leader Xia to ask for instructions.

I hope he's not asleep yet."

Xu Rong hung up the phone with Minister Li, was stunned for a while, and sighed softly.

Suddenly I felt that I had no reason to hate Xia Zijian.

She clearly knew the relationship between the two members of the Xia family, but was instigated by the old man to have improper thoughts.

That old man was so cunning, how could he really be considering her future when he let her pursue Xia Zijian?

Does he have such good intentions?

Thinking about the unclear relationship between herself and Xia Minglei, she did have some ulterior motive in looking for him.

She originally thought that their relationship was now one of 'equal exchange', but it seemed that this old man was even more cruel and ruthless than she thought. He actually used her as a bargaining chip to exchange for his own benefits.

She also realized this truth today when Xia Minglei gave her an order in his tone without hesitation.

In the short-lived relationship of the past two years, he didn't show any sympathy or tenderness to her.

How abominable!

But she chose this path herself, and there is no turning back once the arrow is shot. Xu Rong will not regret it.

But he became wary of Xia Minglei.

Whether to exchange yourself for benefits or career, you must make your own choice, rather than being exchanged by others for their own interests.

Minister Li was also forced into a corner. He could no longer keep Xia Zijian's transfer order in his hands, and had to hand this hot potato over to his leader to resolve.

It’s not too late in Pengcheng at this time, and most people haven’t gone to bed yet.

But the working hours of the Shanghai Stock Exchange are different from those of Shenzhen, and it is already late at night there.

He dialed the number Xu Rong told him without hesitation.

Xia Minglei got used to the daily routine in Pengcheng and lay on the bed watching the news on TV.

But in his mind he kept thinking about the new transfer order for Xia Zijian that Xu Rong had told him.

Normally he doesn't smoke in bed, unless he is with Xu Rong, then he almost has to smoke "after-sex cigarette".

Now, his chaotic thoughts made him uneasy, and Xia Minglei had already smoked two cigarettes in a row, which was rare.

What he is most worried about now is that Ye Tianshui will fall out with him because he did not sign and stamp Xia Zijian's transfer order in time.

He was afraid of this young man from the bottom of his heart.

Before he had a real job, Xia Minglei didn't want to ruin his relationship with Ye Tianshui.

Now, having become the youngest leader at the departmental level in the Inspection Department, he felt an indescribable fear in his heart.