Early the next morning, Ning Wanli, the head of the organization department, asked Li Xiaoning to get into his car and drive towards Pingshan Town.

Pingshan Town is actually only more than 40 miles away from Dongping County, but not long after the car leaves the county seat, the road will come to an end. After walking for a while, the road became worse and narrower, and the road surface was pitted one after another, and the big potholes were covered with small pits, and Ning Wanli's Santana was like a small boat floating on the sea, swaying from side to side, and several times, Li Xiaoning almost hit his head on the glass by accident.

After walking for more than 40 miles for three and a half hours, the car finally arrived at a dilapidated town.

Li Xiaoning can see the town at a glance through the car window, there is almost no building with more than two floors here, many houses are even half-brick and half-adobe structures, the roof is not even tiled, directly covered with thatch, and occasionally you can see one or two bungalows are considered magnificent buildings.

On the walls of the houses facing the street, various slogans are painted with lime, such as "Adhere to the four cardinal principles" and "Strive to achieve a moderately prosperous society," and so on, but more often than not, they are "Knock down, fall, stay, you can't give birth!" and "Drink medicine without taking the bottle, hang yourself with a rope, I'd rather have one more grave than one more person" and other creepy family planning slogans.

Although he already knew in advance that Pingshan Town was the poorest township in the entire coastal area, seeing this scene, Li Xiaoning still couldn't hide his disappointment in his heart, in order to stabilize his feelings, he took out a cigarette, handed one to Ning Wanli, and then silently lit it, inhaled hard, and let nicotine anesthetize his nerves.

The car continued to move forward, and finally entered a courtyard with a red brick wall, and several signs suddenly came into view, the most eye-catching is the red "Pingshan Town Committee of Dongping County" and the black "Pingshan Town People's Government of Dongping County" These two signs, next to the Ministry of People's Armed Forces, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and the first presidium, in the corner of the yard, there is also a sign - Pingshan Town Police Station. As time has passed, the wooden signs have begun to crack, revealing the debris inside.

After Ning Wanli got out of the car, he first rubbed his waist and buttocks, which could have turned him upside down along the way, if it weren't for Li Xiaoning being the "second generation of officials", he wouldn't have come to this place where birds don't shit.

After a good exercise, Ning Wanli took Li Xiaoning into the party and government office. I saw four tables in the house, more than a dozen villagers gathered around a table, it seemed to be ****, a chubby woman was sitting in front of the table and playing a sweater, and another man in his thirties was on the phone, "Mayor He, Secretary Pang said, today is the county organization minister who came down in person, can you rush back or rush back." What the? Some? I guess it's going to be afternoon! ”

After the man finished the phone call, he sat down, and suddenly there was a "creak" sound, and the Teng chair was bent up, as if it was about to fall apart.

Ning Wanli walked up to the man and said condescendingly, "What about Pang Weidong and Zhang Erwa?" ”

The man didn't answer Ning Wanli's question, he picked up the enamel cup on the table and took a sip of water, before he asked slowly, "Who are you?" This is the party and government office, what are you calling for? ”

Ning Wanli's face suddenly turned red, and he said angrily: "I'm Ning Wanli." ”

"Haven't you heard, are you awesome?" The man continued to drink his tea. It is rare for Pingshan Town to have a leader come up all year round, and Ning Wanli has never been here once, so the people in this house don't know him at all.

Li Xiaoning saw that Ning Wanli was about to get angry, so he hurriedly took a step forward and said with a smile: "Comrade, I'm here to report, please call Secretary Pang and Mayor Zhang." ”

The man looked Li Xiaoning up and down, and then said with a smile: "You still know a little politeness, looking at your quiet appearance, you are a new teacher, right?" Let's go to the teaching office next door and report to the school. ”

Li Xiaoning smiled and said, "I'm not a teacher, I'm here to work in the town government." ”

"Coming to work at the town government?" The man frowned, turned back to the fat woman and asked, "Have you heard that someone is going to enter?" ”

The middle-aged fat woman shook her head and said, "I haven't heard of it, Director Zhao." As she spoke, she also looked Li Xiaoning up and down, and said domineeringly: "This is Director Zhao of the Party and Government Office, if the government wants to enter people, he must know, are you mistaken?" ”

Ning Wanli couldn't hold back anymore beside him, "snapped" the table, and said angrily: "Bastard!" This is the new deputy mayor Li Xiaoning, I am Ning Wanli, the county organization minister, and I quickly asked Pang Weidong and Zhang Erwa to get out of here. ”

When Director Zhao and the middle-aged fat woman heard this, they realized that the person in front of them was really "awesome", and they immediately stood up in fright. In fact, they also knew that there was going to be a new deputy mayor, but they didn't expect it to be Li Xiaoning, because Li Xiaoning was too young. Director Zhao is in his thirties, and he has only become a director who is not in the stream, where did he think that this young man in his early twenties in front of him is already "high" as the deputy mayor?

At that moment, Director Zhao didn't bother to apologize, and hurriedly ran to the back to call the secretary of the town party committee and the town mayor.

Pang Weidong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Pingshan Town, had already received the notice, but because the roads around Pingshan Town were too difficult to walk, and he didn't know when Minister Ning and his entourage would arrive, he did not take the main members of the two sets of teams to greet him at the gate of the town government in advance.

Now after listening to Director Zhao's report, Pang Weidong immediately called the mayor of the town, Zhang Erwa, to rush to the front in a hurry, stretched out his hands and planned to shake hands with Ning Wanli, and said at the same time: "Welcome Minister Ning to Pingshan Town to guide the work!" ”。

Ning Wanli was angry just now, so he didn't shake hands with Pang Weidong at the moment, but said with a calm face: "Don't say anything superfluous, let's go to the conference room first." ”

Pang Weidong withdrew his hand in a daze, waved it back, and said, "Minister Ning, please." ”

Li Xiaoning had already taken advantage of this effort to carefully examine his two top bosses, Pang Weidong, secretary of the town party committee, looked thirty-five or sixteen years old, tall and thin, with a scholarly atmosphere all over his body, and it was estimated that he was a cadre who came down from the organ; And the mayor Zhang Erwa is a different situation, at the age of forty, the figure is a little rickety, and the big yellow teeth in a mouth, at a glance, you can know that she is a native of the grassroots cadres.

Everyone surrounded Ning Wanli and entered the conference room. Ning Wanli didn't say a word of nonsense, and directly took out the red-headed document from his briefcase and announced the appointment of Li Xiaoning -- after organizational study and decision, Comrade Li Xiaoning was appointed deputy mayor of Pingshan Town.

Just like the situation in Dongping County, as soon as Ning Wanli's words fell, everyone in the conference room focused their eyes on Li Xiaoning, and the conference room was like a stone falling on the calm water, and everyone turned their heads one after another, guessing what the young man was about. They can't help but think about it. When Pang Weidong, secretary of the party committee, came down, he was only sent to take office by the deputy director of the county organization department, and Li Xiaoning was just a deputy mayor, so why could he enjoy the treatment that even the secretary of the town party committee could not enjoy? And he is so young that he can't find such a young cadre in the entire Pingshan Town, let alone the deputy mayor. Even a blind man can see that the background behind Li Xiaoning is not simple.

Ning Wanli coughed loudly twice, and the conference room immediately became quiet again, and Ning Wanli then said in a businesslike manner: "Comrade Xiaoning is an outstanding young cadre specially sent by the Organization Department of the Municipal Party Committee, he is not afraid of hardships to work in one of your poorest townships, this spirit is noble, everyone must support his work." I believe that the party committee team of Pingshan Town is a united and combat-ready team, and it will definitely cooperate well with Comrade Xiaoning. Meeting! ”

It is estimated that he has not dissipated his anger yet, and after the meeting, Ning Wanli ignored the reality that it was already lunch time, categorically rejected Pang Weidong's lunch invitation, and got in the car and left.

As soon as Ning Wanli left, Pang Weidong's face immediately became gloomy, he was also a person who came down from above, before becoming the secretary of the Party Committee of Pingshan Town, he had been in the county organ for more than ten years, and finally relied on giving the deputy secretary of Dongping County a family heirloom jade bracelet to get into such a position. And Li Xiaoning is young, handsome, educated and has a "background", which is a great stimulus to him, and he has a sense of rejection of Li Xiaoning from his heart.

The mayor of the town, Zhang Erwa, has no good impression of Li Xiaoning, he is a native of the grassroots cadres, and what he hates most in his life is these gold-plated cadres who are gilded from above, not to mention that they can't help at all, and they make trouble for themselves. Pang Weidong and the deputy mayor who had just been emasculated before are typical examples. One doesn't know how to command blindly all day long, and the other ignores reality and only knows how to do it. Like Li Xiaoning, it is estimated that he is even more unreliable than Pang Weidong. Therefore, he didn't give Li Xiaoning a good look.

Li Xiaoning didn't expect that as soon as he took office, he was put on the list of persona non grata by his two top bosses. He was still immersed in the longing for a new work and new environment, he walked over to Pang Weidong and Zhang Erwa, "Secretary Pang, Mayor Zhang, I am young, inexperienced, and I am a newcomer, so I will ask the two leaders to take care of me in the future!" As he spoke, he took out Su cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to Pang Weidong and Zhang Erwa.

Pang Weidong snorted coldly in his nose and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to smoke." After speaking, he didn't wait for Li Xiaoning to answer, and turned around and went back to the office.

Zhang Erwa also said with a smile: "I was born in the countryside, and I am used to smoking tobacco leaves rolled in white paper, so I can't smoke your expensive cigarettes." As he spoke, he took out a cigarette roll made of notebook paper from his pocket, lit it to himself, spit out a large cigarette stick, and then turned away.

Li Xiaoning's hand froze in mid-air awkwardly, and he didn't react for a long time......