Putting down the phone, while waiting for the house to come over, Qi Tianxiang couldn't help but recall Liu Zhengguo's conversation with him yesterday.

Taking Liu Zhengguo into the nearest shed, Qi Tianxiang stretched out his hand and motioned for Liu Zhengguo to sit down on the bench next to the door. The expression on his face was calm and soft, and it seemed that he was naturally and normally receiving the powerful head of the Provincial Party Committee, but his mind was not as indifferent as his expression, but as worried as a river and a sea. On such an occasion, at such a time, Liu Zhengguo had such a grand interview in public, and his expression was extremely grim, it seemed that it was not just a random move, nor was it an occasional whim, it seemed that Liu Zhengguo was also prepared, perhaps to create such an unexpected effect. Thinking of today's event, Qi Tianxiang couldn't help but consider his motives, and he also had an ominous premonition in his heart, behind the seemingly peaceful expression, he secretly cheered up.

"Don't sit down, so many people are watching, it's not good for too long." Liu Zhengguo eased his emotions and seemed to explain intentionally: "With the identities of the two of us, it is not appropriate for you to come to my office or me to your office, and it will also cause unnecessary speculation and inconvenience." ”

Liu Zhengguo said and looked at Qi Tianxiang solemnly, but saw the strange look in his eyes, which seemed to be ridicule and questioning, so he smiled and covered up his embarrassment, "Of course, an occasion like today is even more inappropriate, but the matter is urgent, and there is no way to do it." ”

Qi Tianxiang didn't answer, and his expression didn't even change, but he still looked at Liu Zhengguo's confession calmly, but in his mind he was thinking about what medicine he was going to sell in this gourd, but in his heart he was secretly mocking the paleness of his reason. As leading cadres at their level, unless it is a major natural disaster, an emergency, or a sensitive political issue, the urgency of the matter is just a pretext, and it is not so urgent that they will have an interview in front of everyone; unless it is a show, it is an expression of lack of political experience, and he will never be the latter.

Qi Tianxiang's calmness made Liu Zhengguo a little secretly angry, knowing that such a performance confessed Qi Tianxiang's dissatisfaction and attitude, but it was just right, so that no matter how big the fire was, there was nowhere to go, the matter was urgent, the time was urgent, and people did not express their attitude and listen patiently, what was wrong, and it showed people's humility and good quality. So he stopped going around the bend, took out a letter from his trouser pocket and handed it to Qi Tianxiang, and said sternly: "You can take a look at this first!" ”

Liu Zhengguo's actions and tone made Qi Tianxiang's heart burst with anger, such an urgent interview, such an important material, but it was taken out of his pants pocket, was it unintentional? Or is it intentional? Liu Zhengguo, who has been trained in officialdom for so many years and has rich political experience, has such a low-level move, which seems to be explained not only by mistakes. But looking at Liu Zhengguo's angry expression, Qi Tianxiang secretly reminded himself not to lose his temper, let alone show any dissatisfaction and resistance, in front of him were colleagues who were talking about work with him, and there were a large group of his subordinates outside, at this time emotional control was more important than ever. Thousands of thoughts and the anger in his heart disturbed Qi Tianxiang, so he had to take advantage of the opportunity to bury his head in the materials and try his best to control his emotions.

The material was placed in an envelope, a thick stack, with more than a dozen pages, Qi Tianxiang slowly pulled it out of the envelope and looked at it slowly. The material is handwritten, it is a report on the construction of the house to conceal the material of major safety accidents, the report is written to the provincial party committee and the provincial government, focusing on the report during the construction of the National Games venues, a fire occurred, resulting in the death of three people of the vicious major safety accident, at that time, as the project commander and the first person responsible for the construction of the housing construction, deliberately concealed the responsibility for the accident, with two deaths and one missing can not be identified as three deaths, deliberately circumventing the strict regulations that more than three deaths must be reported to the provincial government, and did not actively take measures to remedy the aftermathInstead, the construction continued on the grounds that the construction period was tight, resulting in huge potential safety hazards in the project, and this kind of concealment and disregard for human life was hoped that the provincial party committee and the provincial government would investigate and deal with it.

Qi Tianxiang quickly flipped through the materials, and deliberately looked at the date of payment, it was five days ago, and what he held in his hand was not the original, and he couldn't help but look at Liu Zhengguo suspiciously, originally thought that such a big public interview was about Lijing Garden and Fan Tao, but he didn't expect it to be the report material of Fang Jian. Extrapolating from the time, this material has been in his hands for at least two to three days, and any node can be exchanged or interviewed for such a long time, and it is not a matter of time urgency to take it out so far, but a conscious behavior. In addition, the spearhead is directly aimed at the construction of the house, and it was many years ago, so the intention is worth considering.

"The original needs to be sealed, so I have to show you a copy." Liu Zhengguo looked at Qi Tianxiang and explained, Qi Tianxiang's puzzled look made him think that it was a copy of the problem, and then said lightly: "It involves the issue of unity between your teams, I want to communicate with you, such a major safety and quality accident, malicious concealment is very serious, since someone reported it, the provincial party committee can't help but pay attention to it." ”

Qi Tianxiang glanced at Liu Zhengguo seriously, and felt funny in his heart, he could say such a reason for the original sealing, and when he made up these reasons, he seemed to forget that they were just communicating with each other, not a report, but now Qi Tianxiang didn't want to pay too much attention to these, and once the doubts in his heart were solved, he was no longer angry, but said calmly: "When this incident happened, you are the secretary of the municipal party committee, you should know the ins and outs of the matter, and the old house did this for the sake of the project." ”

"I know a little roughly, but the specific details are really not clear, it seems that I was studying in the field a few days after the accident, and when I came back, the matter has been dealt with, so I didn't take the matter too seriously. Lao Fang is a good person, he is bold and self-righteous, always does not listen to greetings, is unwilling to cooperate, likes to be in the limelight, and his personal quality and cultivation are also poor. Liu Zhengguo seemed to have known that Qi Tianxiang would say this, and couldn't help but sigh deeply and said: "Sometimes it is a very sensitive and troublesome matter for the secretary of the municipal party committee and the mayor to work together, especially between the secretary and the mayor of a sub-provincial city like Hezhou, the hierarchical relationship makes many normal things delicate. If you manage too much, there is a suspicion of taking power, and it is easy to have the feeling of using power to oppress people, no matter how many things are difficult to explain, the secretary of the municipal party committee can't do nothing! Of course, you have been here for a short time, if you are still so carefree and idle after a year or two, how will you recognize it, what will colleagues think, and the most important thing is what the provincial party committee thinks? ”

Qi Tianxiang looked at Liu Zhengguo steadily, he never thought that he would say this, such a shirk of responsibility, as a comrade who worked together, such an attitude and rhetoric did not feel inappropriate, not to mention that he had gained fame and fortune because of the great success of the Games, not only won widespread praise, but also officially became a veritable provincial leader because of his organization and coordination ability, and Fang Jianshe had followed him for so long, but he was so easily denied by him in a few words. I couldn't help but feel a little disdainful in my heart, and I also knew that he was deliberately provoking his relationship with Fang Jianjian, so he smiled faintly and said slowly: "I'll take a look at the materials, and we'll talk about it in detail in a day or two, what do you think?" ”

"That's fine, it's better to think about it seriously." Liu Zhengguo seemed to have achieved his goal, so he said slowly: "I think let's go out, after a long time, I thought we were plotting something!" ”

Qi Tianxiang smiled slightly, made a gesture of please, and ended the interview, and walked out of the shed with Liu Zhengguo, and once again integrated into the red sea, but he was still thinking about Liu Zhengguo's intentions and intentions, and he really couldn't understand what he was going to do? I can't figure out where he can play chess, and if I can't figure it out, the more irritated I become, and the more I want to figure it out.

"Secretary Qi, Mayor Fang has arrived." Xiao Zhang walked in quickly and whispered to Qi Tianxiang.

Xiao Zhang's words interrupted Qi Tianxiang's contemplation, and when he looked up and saw that Fang Jianshe was already standing in front of his desk, he hurriedly stood up, looked at Xiao Zhang reproachfully, and said dissatisfiedly: "You can say it earlier, Mayor Fang is standing at the table, what's the use of reporting?" Hurry up, make a cup of our good tea for Mayor Fang, and accompany him. ”

"You're fooling me, a big man who doesn't understand tea, right? What makes a good tea? Say good tea is good tea? Fang Jianshe shook Qi Tianxiang's hand with a smile, and slowly followed Qi Tianxiang to the front of the sofa, saying as he walked: "I'm busy chattering early in the morning, you have to hurry up, I'll have a meeting later." ”

"It won't affect your meeting, and it won't affect your visit to Hexi District in the afternoon." Qi Tianxiang smiled slightly and motioned for Fang Jianshe to sit down, then sat down slowly, picked up the cigarette case on the table, handed one to Fang Jianjian, and then said slowly: "Be pragmatic before retreating, it's good to change your brain!" ”

Fang Jianshe glanced at Qi Tianxiang quickly, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he quickly regained his composure, smiled faintly, took the cigarette handed by Qi Tianxiang, lit it and smoked, and said slowly: "According to the spirit of your instructions, I have also started to smoke this kind of cigarette for about ten yuan now, but I don't like your brand, too chong, I still like to smoke a little softer." Let the special cigarettes prepared by the office get moldy! Hahaha. ”

"What my instructions, you old man can't misinterpret what I mean, as long as you spend your own money and smoke any kind of cigarette, I don't care." Qi Tianxiang responded with a smile, took the tea brought by Xiao Zhang and gently put it on the coffee table in front of Fang Jianjian, and said calmly: "How about tasting this tea?" Isn't it fooling you. ”

Fang Jianxiang pretended to take a sip of the teacup with interest, looked at the tea in the cup seriously, and said slowly: "This tea is okay, at least it has a little bit to do with the word good." ”

"Be content! This tea is more than 400 yuan a catty, compared to those tea that cost more than 100 yuan, it is not only a good word, I earn more money! How much tea will I consume in more than a month! Qi Tianxiang's eyes widened, and he looked at Fang Jianshe dissatisfiedly and said: "This cigarette, tea, it costs a lot of money a month, your brother and sister settle accounts for me every day, as if I spent all this money." ”

"Hahaha, do you believe what you say? Heck the hell! Fang Jianshe laughed heartily, smiled and pointed to the door to Qi Tianxiang and said: "You go out of this door, say to all the people you see, see how many people believe, if it is my old house that rural wife, it is estimated that half of the people believe it, saying that the younger brother and sister will be like this, as long as someone believes it, one counts as one, and my old house invites him to dinner at night." ”

"I knew you didn't believe it, I won't tell you, anyway, I don't know how difficult it is for a family." Qi Tianxiang saw that the greeting was almost over, so he slowly stood up, walked to the desk, opened the drawer and took out the envelope, walked back and put it on the coffee table in front of Fang Jianjian, and said slowly: "Look at this." ”

"What is this?" Fang Jianshe looked at Qi Tianxiang suspiciously, but saw a calm and gentle expression, so he could only pick up the envelope, slowly pull out the materials, and read them seriously, but after reading a few pages, he put down the materials, and said to Qi Tianxiang puzzledly: "Why are you showing me this at this time?" ”

"Look at the payment date." Qi Tianxiang calmly reminded Fang Jianjian, and then continued: "This is a copy, the original is not in my hand." Take your time and watch it a few more times, and don't rush. ”

"What do you mean, you called me over early in the morning just to watch this?" Fang Jianshe picked up the materials again, turned to the last page, looked at the payment date, stood up excitedly, tried his best to suppress the unhappiness and anger in his heart, and asked gloomily: "Is it interesting to turn over these old things now?" What exactly do you mean? ”

"What do you mean by me? What do you want me to mean? You sit down! Qi Tianxiang suddenly couldn't control it, and questioned Fang Jianshe in a loud voice, his tone was cold and harsh, "Why did I let you see the date of payment, why did I tell you that the original is not in my hand, didn't you think about it carefully?" ”

There was no reaction from the construction of the house, and Qi Tianxiang then said solemnly: "I only saw these yesterday morning, please come over early this morning?" I understand what you mean, you think I'm making a fuss and want to take the opportunity to rectify you, but you don't want to think about it, I don't have anything to fix you, what benefits can I get from fixing you, is it a job promotion, or actual benefits? Do I need this? Why do people let me see this, is it to respect the Hezhou Municipal Party Committee, and I am the secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, is it necessary for people to do this? They just want the two of us to be suspicious of each other and fight each other, and the bigger the movement, the happier the family. As he spoke, Qi Tianxiang sighed deeply and said emotionally: "Actually, I can pretend not to know, or not to express my position, which is normal, but this is not my character, nor is it my way of doing things." We are colleagues, partners who need to work together for a long time, and I don't want to stand on the dry shore and watch jokes, let alone watch you be calculated without knowing it. ”

Fang Jianshe was stunned by Qi Tianxiang's sudden outburst of fire, and was even more embarrassed by his questioning, and it took a long time to come to his senses, sat down slowly, looked at Qi Tianxiang grinning, picked up the cigarette case on the coffee table, took out one and handed it to Qi Tianxiang, and flatteringly picked up the lighter and prepared to light it for him, but Qi Tianxiang opened his hand angrily, and then hurriedly smiled and said: "Don't be angry, that's what I said, you still don't know the problem with my old house, are you really angry?" ”

"What am I angry about, I can't get past it, do you know what people say when they give me this material? said that people were studying outside in the past few days when the incident happened, and they didn't know at all, and they pushed it cleanly. Qi Tianxiang glanced at Fang Jianshe angrily, his face gradually warmed, and he said with deep feelings: "I don't say this to prove anything, nor is it idle helpless gossip, I just want to remind you." Anyway, people didn't ask me to keep it secret, not to mention that there was no need to keep it secret, I thought about it for a long time yesterday afternoon, and I still think I should let you see it. ”

"You Lao Qi is a real person!" Fang Jianshe glanced at Qi Tianxiang deeply, and muttered: "Stomach, vision, feeling, especially ability and heart, are all beyond the reach of my old house!" What is convincing, this is it! ”

"What do you mean by that? What do you want to explain? Qi Tianxiang squinted his eyes and smiled slightly: "I'll listen to a few more words, I love to hear this." ”

"Forget it, let's stop playing this kind of low-level pediatric game." Fang Jianshe looked at Qi Tianxiang and said sincerely: "Just like you said, I can't pose a threat to you, and I won't get any benefits in the fight with me, this is your frankness and belly, and this is also the problem that you have paid attention to maintaining and avoiding everywhere in the past few months, you don't want to have any conflict with me, because you don't treat me as an opponent at all, and you don't bother to fight with me." From my point of view, I always regarded you as an adversary, at least in the early days, when you first came, I was thinking about how to deal with your challenges and guard against the means you might take. But gradually, I found that whether it was your early visit to the old cadres, or the symposium and the discussion of social customs, as well as the renovation of old communities and unfinished buildings, they were all walking according to the rhythm you had set, and the clear thinking was a step ahead, which was simply incomparable to me and difficult to achieve. And your arrangement and love for Li Guoqiang, and your interaction with Fan Tao, all show that you are extraordinary, these are discouraging to think about, maybe you don't believe it, since you last went to my office, I don't regard you as an opponent anymore, because self-knowledge tells me that I am not good enough at all. ”

Fang Jianshe waved his hand and didn't let Qi Tianxiang speak, but said eagerly: "I treat you as an opponent, in fact, it's not against you personally, but at the position under your ass." To tell the truth, I have been looking forward to this position for a long time, and it can be said that I want to see through it, but Liu Zhengguo is gone, and Luo Jian is transferred from the island city, and it is easy to get rid of Luo Jian, and then come to Longjiang, and it is directly mentioned by the secretary of the Hedong Municipal Party Committee, and the hope is ignited again and again, and it is shattered. The dragon river fell, and I saw hope again, and it may be the last hope to go further, but you fell from the sky. Think about what kind of mood I have, and how I survived the days and nights in the early days, I have been looking forward to this position for ten years, not counting the two years that I just came, but also eight years, the War of Resistance has been won, where is my dawn? ”

"I also know that it is a shame to say this, and I should not say it, and I can even say that being an official is not the goal, but to serve the people. But I did this, I thought like this, but others didn't do it, if I didn't think like this, didn't I want to cry without tears! Fang Jianshe looked at Qi Tianxiang straight, as if he had the answer on his face that he had been thinking hard about, and then laughed self-deprecatingly, shook his head helplessly and said: "Fortunately, the provincial party committee and the provincial government are quite generous, and I think my old house is still useful, and my work experience and ability are still suitable for the position of mayor, so I have been working for so many years." If I had been transferred to the position of director appointed by the provincial government a few years earlier, wouldn't I have lost any further hope? ”

"Lao Fang, don't say that, I don't feel good about what I said." Qi Tianxiang lent Fang Jianshe the effort to hand over cigarettes, got up and gently patted the back of his hand a few times, and said sincerely: "You don't believe it if you say too much, and it has no practical significance, but from these heart-to-heart words, I can hear your sincerity, and you are also a real person." ”

"If you don't get what you want, how can you fulfill my wish, I also understand this, and I understand it more and more." Fang Jianshe glanced at Qi Tianxiang gratefully, and said deeply: "You don't have to comfort me, in fact, when you asked me to see the payment of the letter just now, I knew your intentions, and I just wanted to verify it." And you said that the original is not in your hand, I also know what you mean, with your experience and vision, it is impossible not to know why it is just a copy, because it is impossible to take out the original, and it will be a big joke if you take it out. These doubts may not have been understood at the time, but it is not difficult to understand them if you take a closer look and think about it carefully. ”

Facing Qi Tianxiang's puzzled eyes, Fang Jianshe smiled bitterly and said: "I have seen this material many years ago, and the handwriting and the tone of the report are also very familiar, so it can be seen that I am really blocking the passage of some people's ascent, so impatiently picking up the old bottle to fill the new wine, it can be seen that the donkey skills are really exhausted." However, seeing these materials, I am still very moved and gratified in my heart, after all, after so many years of the mayor, there is no corrupt material, no evidence of Miss Yang, and there is no correction of the power for personal gain, which shows that my old house is still worthy of the trust of the organization and worthy of his conscience. ”

"That's the main reason I asked you to come and talk." Qi Tianxiang looked at Fang Jianjian with a slight smile, and said seriously: "When people asked me to go to the shed yesterday morning, I also muttered a little, I don't know what it is that makes the family so troublesome, and after reading the materials, I am also very puzzled, why is it that things have been shaking out for so long now, and because I was looking at the photocopy, my heart was on fire." After coming back in the afternoon, no matter how I looked at it, I felt that it was not like that, but after a careful look, I finally understood the reason why there was no original for me to see, not frivolous, nor confidential, but that I couldn't see the original at all. Later, when I calmed down and analyzed, I was able to take out these materials to stumble on your old house, not to show mercy to your subordinates, but to really not be able to come up with something more lethal, which also made me admire your character and virtue, and decided to let you look at this thing, and I felt a little guarded. ”

"Thank you again." Fang Jianshe looked at Qi Tianxiang with deep eyes, and said briefly: "Actually, since you came over, especially after you did a few things, I have retreated, since I can't go up and go further, why don't you quickly find a safe and comfortable place to do it for a few more years." I know in my heart that there are not a few people staring at my position, and there are also people who keep making small moves behind my back, I don't bother to care about these, and I don't want to bother, but I am a little unwilling. Of course, if Shanzun takes over my position, I am convinced, after all, Shanzun has high quality, strong ability, strong energy, and more importantly, he has an advantage in age than me, so it is perfect to work with you. It's just that I'm worried about encountering a black-box operation, and Shanzun is not necessarily an opponent, so why don't I make do with you? Even if you can't play a tune, at least you won't play the piano indiscriminately. ”

"I feel these things too, but I don't want to speculate, after all, some things still can't be considered by guessing." Qi Tianxiang seemed to be a little worried and said: "Now that I hear you say this, it seems that I really can't take it lightly, yesterday it was aimed at Lao Fan, today it is aimed at you, it seems that people have a lot of ambitions, killing two birds with one stone!" ”

"Fortunately, yesterday was calm, and the rumored owners and returning residents did not take action, if it was really a disturbance on the spot, Lao Fan would be passive." Fang Jianshe also responded to Qi Tianxiang with some concern, "I'm really a little lucky!" ”

"Do you really think that the fact that nothing happened yesterday was discovered by the conscience of those who deliberately made trouble, or that people were really late because Wang Tao went to pick them up?" Qi Tianxiang glanced at Fang Jianjian, and said with a meaningful smile: "Forgot what my eldest brother did?" ”

"Ao, it turns out that you have already made arrangements, no wonder you didn't see the leaders of the Municipal Public Security Bureau at the celebration ceremony yesterday?" Qi Tianxiang's strange eyes made Fang Jianshe suddenly realize, and he looked at Qi Tianxiang with admiration and said: "At that time, it was strange that none of the leaders of the city bureau appeared in the activities that the provincial leaders participated, but the Dongcheng Branch sent some policemen to maintain order. ”

"Several intersections are armed, the leaders' convoy in the past not long ago, there are a few cars ready to enter the Lijing Garden, was stopped by the provincial department, more than 30 people did not run, the result of the preliminary trial is a group of social personnel, only one or two relocated households, not only to make trouble, but also with guys, to make a big incident, but also to explain the instigator, has also been controlled." Qi Tianxiang smiled inexplicably as he spoke, "Now Yan Yong is going to gain something from fighting the underworld and eliminating evil, so I have to let him invite me to dinner." ”

"Whether to eat his meal or not is secondary, we should both have lunch." Fang Jianshe glanced at his watch, stood up with a smile and said, "Did you invite me, or did I invite you?" ”

"Let's eat to each other! said that it would not affect your meeting, but it still delayed you, but fortunately, it did not affect your departure in the afternoon to conduct research. Qi Tianxiang stood up with a smile and said slowly: "I still have to prepare after eating at noon, and I asked Secretary Lin to listen to my report in the afternoon, don't dare to be careless." ”

"I think it's better to forget it!" Fang Jianshe looked at Qi Tianxiang with concern and said, "Let him go with this matter, it's not worth it for you to speak for me." ”

"It's not a question of whether it's worth it or not, you and I are both party members, and this party spirit principle should still be there." Qi Tianxiang sent Fang Jianshe to the door of the office and said solemnly: "Since it is a fraud, it is even more important to let the secretary know." ”

As he spoke, Qi Tianxiang tightly shook the hand stretched out by Housing Construction, and only let go after a while, and watched Fang Construction turn around and leave with a smile.