Rebirth of the Rising Sun

Thanks to Canghai Kuangmo for sending flowers to Guicai. The flowers are beautiful!!!

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"If I wasn't the county magistrate now, I would really do this." Feng Sizhe thought. If he hadn't been in politics and was still living the same life as in his previous life, he might have really "executed" Miao Zihan on the spot. But he also knew that it was precisely because of his positive attitude that he conquered Miao Zihan, who only obeyed the strong, and made her feel good about him.

"Alas, you can't have your cake and eat it too." With a long sigh, Feng Sizhe said something that Miao Zihan beside him couldn't hear clearly.

Feng Sizhe meant that if you want to have a career, you have to restrain your emotions. If you want to be a playboy, you have to put your career on hold. In short, it's hard to have the best of both worlds.

"What did you say?" Hearing Feng Sizhe mumbling there, Miao Zihan tilted her head and asked softly.

"Oh, I...I said your perfume smells nice." Feng Sizhe explained casually.

"Oh." Miao Zihan agreed and put her head on Feng Sizhe's shoulder again, thinking in her heart, "Of course, this is something I asked my friend in the UK to mail to me. It's very valuable, so of course it smells good."

It can be said that the two of them were sitting in the car and heading to the Miao family's old house with their own thoughts.

People always say that happiness is always short-lived, and this is true for Miao Zihan's current mood. When the Red Flag car passed through the heavy guards and entered Zhongnanhai and stopped at the gate of the Miao family, Miao Zihan had not yet woken up from the beautiful atmosphere until she heard the driver say, "Miss, we are home." Only then did she wake up, but she looked at the driver with a look of resentment, blaming the driver for driving so fast and letting this beautiful time pass so quickly.

Feng Sizhe straightened his clothes, walked out of the car, opened the trunk, picked up a few gifts, and then followed Miao Zihan calmly into the Miao family's gate.

The Miao family has always been regarded as the best family in the world by those below them. The reason for this title is that the Miao family has been in charge of the Organization Department since Miao Fengshan, and has been in charge of the personnel power throughout the country. When it came to the second generation Miao Yunfeng, he also entered the Organization Department and held the high position of deputy minister.

There is a custom in the officialdom that when central officials go to lower levels, they meet officials one level higher. This is because they come into contact with many leaders and can decide the life and death of the people below them with just a few words. The Organization Department has an even more common saying that officials are one level higher than their superiors. That is to say, cadres who can work in the Central Organization Department are instantly two levels higher than cadres of the same level at the local level. Of course, these two levels are not in the policy, but this is enough to shock the people below.

The Miao family is in charge of the Organization Department. It is no exaggeration to say that most of the provincial governors across the country were promoted by Miao Fengshan. Even if some of them were not the opinions of this old man, he still agreed in the end, otherwise these people would not be able to ascend to high positions. This shows how much influence the Miao family has on the people below. Today, Feng Sizhe is going to step into the Miao family to see this old man of the Miao family who is respected as a master by many senior officials.

Feng Sizhe entered the Miao family courtyard with some trepidation in his heart. Although it was not his first time to come to the Miao family, it was obviously the first time for Old Man Miao. After passing through a corridor with Miao Zihan, they entered a large living room of nearly 100 square meters. In the main seat of the living room sat an old man with white hair and thin eyebrows. Needless to say, this person must be the old man of the Miao family.

"Hello, Grandpa Miao." After seeing this person, Feng Sizhe quickly put down the things in his hands and bowed as a junior.

"Are you Feng Sizhe?" Old Man Miao opened his eyes and asked Feng Sizhe.

"Yes, Grandpa Miao." Feng Sizhe raised his head as much as possible and looked at Miao Fengshan. And he tried his best to look into his eyes. As I said before, after the gaze of He Lao who had experienced many battles, the gazes of ordinary people really couldn't do anything to him.

Miao Fengshan didn't expect Feng Sizhe to be so bold. Not only did he dare to look up at him, but he also dared to look him in the eye. It had been a long time since anyone dared to do this, but Feng Sizhe dared. It seemed that he was not an ordinary young man.

"Okay, then let me ask you, don't you know the rules of our Miao family? We in the Miao family never accept gifts. Now take your things and get out." Looking into Feng Sizhe's eyes, Miao Fengshan spoke angrily on purpose. While saying this, a momentum naturally emanated from his body and pounced directly towards Feng Sizhe.

If it were an ordinary person, even a high-ranking official at the vice-ministerial level, he would probably be terrified at this moment. Even if he didn't lose his composure on the spot, he would probably not be able to say a complete sentence. But Feng Sizhe did not move at all, as if he had not heard these words. He stood there and looked at Miao Fengshan with a calm look.

"What? Didn't you hear what I said?" Miao Fengshan looked at Feng Sizhe and found that he didn't move. He thought to himself, he is still a young man after all. It seems that he was frightened by his words and couldn't even move.

Miao Fengshan, who had just thought of this, quickly denied his previous idea, because Feng Sizhe's following answer, neither humble nor arrogant, proved his current thoughts and the fact that he was not scared by himself at all.

"Grandpa Miao, I know that the Miao family never accepts gifts, but that is only for those who are seeking official positions. I am not here today as the county magistrate. I also know that a small county magistrate would not be taken seriously by the Miao family. I am here today to return the gift as Zi Han's friend. You may also know that Miss Miao Zi Han went to my grandfather's house yesterday and took a lot of things. In line with the fine tradition of reciprocity, I must return the gift. This is the education I have received since I was a child. If Grandpa Miao still can't accept this, then you can throw the things out after I leave, but the things I took today must be delivered. This is my mission."

Looking directly into the eyes of Mr. Miao, Feng Sizhe showed no fear at all. He spoke his thoughts clearly and calmly. It felt like he was talking to a friend, and it was completely different from the attitude he was facing the old man of the Miao family.

"Oh, you're quite courageous." After hearing what Feng Sizhe said, Mr. Miao laughed and retracted his frightening gaze. "Well, tell me, what did you bring today? I'll tell you, if it's too expensive, I won't take it. At the same time, I'll punish you for bribery. I'll have someone tell your superiors about this matter and let them deal with you."

Feng Sizhe said helplessly in his heart. There are so many reasons for giving a gift. Why is his life so miserable? He came here just for a symbolic visit, not to seek official position. Why did the Miao family treat him like this? But since they were not going to let him go and were going to make another move, he could only take it.

"Well, since Grandpa Miao must make a Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao, then I can explain it." Feng Sizhe knew that he had to explain, so he picked up a rectangular box and said, "This is ginseng from the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China. It is said to be top-grade ginseng, which is hard to come by. After taking it, people can prolong their lives and stay healthy. These two bottles are Hainan Qiongjiang, which was made by a famous winemaker with 20 years of hard work. I heard that eight bottles were made at that time, and these are two of them. Drinking it has a great health-preserving effect on the heart, lungs, stomach, and spleen. This is..."

"Okay, no need to say more. According to you, these are all valuable and good things?" Old Master Miao waved his hand to interrupt Feng Sizhe's next words.

"Well, in a sense it should be." Feng Sizhe nodded.

"What do you mean by 'should be'? I hear something else is going on in your words." Old Master Miao glanced at Feng Sizhe. He felt that this young man was more interesting. He spoke with extremely meticulous thinking and high skills. If you are not careful, you will fall into his trap. Therefore, every word and every sentence must be read separately.

"Grandpa Miao is awesome." Feng Sizhe cupped his hands and started to flatter him.

"Stop talking nonsense and get down to business." Old Master Miao didn't buy it. He had seen many people who flattered others, but Feng Sizhe's was not very good.

"Okay. I said that in a sense these are good things, but in fact they are not real medicines for curing diseases, they can only be called health products. And health products cannot cure diseases. For example, all the emperors in ancient times took all kinds of tonic medicines, but in the end, few of them lived long lives. For this reason, I think these things are unusable. In my eyes, they are worthless. Sometimes their effects are not as practical as a painkiller. That's why I said they should be good things, not absolutely good things."

"What? You actually gave me something that is not even as good as a painkiller?" When Mr. Miao heard Feng Sizhe's metaphor, his face immediately became obviously unhappy. He thought that Feng Sizhe was deliberately underestimating him and saying that his value was not even as good as a painkiller.

"Grandpa He, please don't say that. I just said that this is my way of understanding, but I believe that more people still think that this kind of thing is a great tonic and is worth a fortune. In fact, many things happen every day, and even different people will encounter the same thing, but in the end someone turns a bad thing into a good thing, and someone does not have any way to deal with the bad news and finally lets it go. Take these things for example, some people think they are good things, and some people think they are worthless. It all depends on how you understand it. There is no theorem in this matter itself, and you can't characterize things based on personal preferences. I think these things are not valuable, but some people think they are good things, and they can't beg for them, so you can't use these things to wrongly accuse me. As the saying goes, a gift of goose feathers from a thousand miles away is more valuable than a token of friendship. Does that mean that the goose feathers are worthless?"