When Wu Dao reported to the Hecheng Town Government, it was late August, and he set off from his home at half past eight in the morning, wearing the new clothes his parents had bought for him, riding the new bicycle that his grandfather Wu He had bought for him. Xiaohuangzhuang is less than eight kilometers away from the county seat, the road is a very flat provincial road, and before nine o'clock, he arrived at the door of the Hecheng Town Government. Wu Dao had passed by the gate of the Hecheng Town Government countless times, but he had never entered it, nor had he carefully observed this government compound. Facing the gate, Wu Dao saw a four-story office building in the courtyard, and a row of bungalows on each side. The gate was open, and he pushed his bicycle inside, but the doorman stopped him and asked:

"What do you do?"

"I'm here to report." Wu Dao said.

"Report what? Where are you a journalist? ”

"I'm not a reporter covering the news, I'm a college student who graduated this year, and I'm assigned to work here, and I'm here to report today."

"You're a new college student, no wonder I haven't met you."

"Which office should I report to?"

"You go to the office on the second floor of the office building and ask."

"Which office is on the second floor?"

"It's the office, I saw it as soon as I went up the stairs, and the one facing the stairs was the one with the word office written on the door. You put your bike in the carport first and then go to the office. ”

Wu Dao followed the doorman's instructions, put the bicycle in the carport in the corner, and then walked into the office building. The office building was built only a few years ago, and the building is still very new and clean. As soon as he entered the building, Wu Dao saw several people mopping the floor in the corridor. In order not to affect other people's cleaning, Wu Dao walked up the stairs quickly. Walking to the second floor, he saw the word "office" directly opposite. There were also a few people mopping the floor in the corridor on the second floor, and when he walked into the office, he found that there was no one inside, so he went back to the corridor. The cleaners also saw Wu Dao, and a woman who looked to be thirty-five or sixteen years old and had a very well-proportioned figure asked him:

"Who are you looking for?"

"I'm a new college graduate and I'm here to report. The doorman asked me to come to the office and ask where to report. Wu Dao said.

"You're here to report, I've been looking forward to you for a long time. You're too early, though, and we haven't finished cleaning yet. Every department in our town takes turns cleaning the common areas, and this week it was the office's turn. ”

"Do you want me to do the work?"

"No, you've only been here for the first day, how can you work right away? We're almost done. ”

"What do you call it?"

"My name is Zhang Chunmei, and I am the deputy director of the office."

"Hello, Director Zhang."

"You don't need to call Director Zhang, just call me Sister Zhang in the future. What's your name? ”

Wu Dao wanted to change his name to the other party "Sister Zhang", but found that he couldn't call these two words, so he had to not call the other party and only introduce himself:

"My name is Wu Dao, Koutian Wu, the Tao of the road."

"Xiao Wu, I'll take you to see Director Hu, who is the director of our town's office, and he's been looking forward to your coming."

After Zhang Chunmei finished speaking, she took Wu Dao to the office of Hu Xueshan, the director of the office. At this time, Hu Xueshan was already sitting on the chair behind the desk, which was facing the door. The door of Hu Xueshan's office was open, Zhang Chunmei still knocked twice, and when Hu Xueshan said "come in", she took Wu Dao in. Wu Dao saw that sitting behind the desk was a man about forty years old, with a thin stature and glasses. As soon as she entered the door, Zhang Chunmei said:

"Director Hu, the college students we are looking forward to every day are here to report. Look at it, this young man has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he is a literate person at first glance. ”

Hu Xueshan got up from the chair, walked up to Wu Dao, held his hand and said:

"Welcome, welcome, I've been looking forward to your coming. What's your name, how old are you, and what college did you graduate from? ”

"My name is Oh Do, I am 23 years old this year, and I graduated from Jeju University Maoseong Branch." Wu Dao said.

"Jeju University, that's terrible, how many people can't get in. What are you studying? ”

Wu Dao wanted to correct Hu Xueshan's words, saying that he was not a graduate of Jeju University, but a graduate of Jeju University Maocheng Branch, but he thought that the other party might have deliberately said this to praise himself in disguise, so he no longer corrected it, but smiled and said:

"It's a major in Chinese language and literature."

"The literature major is good, it is the major we need the most. You start by sitting on the couch and taking a break and drinking a glass of water. ”

Hu Xueshan's office has a black three-seater sofa and a coffee table with a kettle next to it. Wu Dao sat on the sofa. Hu Xueshan said to Zhang Chunmei:

"Chunmei, go and see if Mayor Han is here."

After speaking, Hu Xueshan walked to the side of the filing cabinet, took a disposable water cup and a box of tea leaves from under the cabinet, put the cup on the coffee table, opened the tea box and poured a little tea into the cup. Wu Dao hurriedly said:

"Director Hu, don't bother, I'm not thirsty."

"In the future, we will all be colleagues, so you are welcome." As he spoke, Hu Xueshan lifted the kettle and poured the water cup ninety percent full.

Wu Dao said "thank you" and brought the water cup closer. Feeling a little uncomfortable, he picked up the glass and took a sip of water. Hu Xueshan sat back in his chair and said to Wu Dao:

"How did you get here?"

"I'm here by bike." Wu Dao said.

"Is your home in town?"

"It's not in the city, my family is from Xiaohuangzhuang."

"Is this the little yellow village in our river town?"

"Yes."

"I've been to your village, it's not very far, it's quite convenient to get to our town."

Zhang Chunmei returned to the director's office and said to Hu Xueshan:

"Mayor Han is here, in his office."

"Okay." Hu Xueshan said to Wu Dao again, "Secretary Wang went to study in other places, and only Mayor Han was at home. We went to his office and asked how your work was arranged. ”

Wu Dao followed Hu Xueshan to the office of the town mayor Han Siming. The mayor's office is located on the second floor facing the sun in the easternmost direction, and opposite is the office of the deputy mayor Yu Ying. The mayor's office is an ensuite office with two rooms. Hu Xueshan knocked on the door of the outer room twice, and a voice came from inside:

"Come in."

Hu Xueshan took Wu Dao into the outer room of the mayor's office, and then into the inner room. Wu Dao saw that there was a man in his forties sitting inside, with big shoulders and a round waist, although he was sitting on a chair, he could see that he was very tall, which was in stark contrast to the thin Hu Xueshan. Hu Xueshan said to the man in the middle:

"Mayor Han, this is Wu Dao, a new college student who has reported for duty."

Han Siming stood up, shook Wu Dao's hand, expressed his welcome, and asked again questions about age, graduation school, major, home address, etc., and asked again:

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nope." Wu Dao said.

"Go back and look for one in the county. Start a family, and now that you have a business, it's time to think about starting a family. Han Siming said with a smile.

"Secretary Wang is not here, Mayor Han, do you think Xiao Wu's work is arranged according to what Secretary Wang said in the previous meeting?" Hu Xueshan said to Han Siming.

"Secretary Wang won't come back until three weeks later, it's not easy for us to make the decision, if he changes his mind, let's wait for him to come back and make formal arrangements." Han Siming said to Wu Dao again, "Xiao Wu, for the past three weeks, you will temporarily work outside my office, familiarize yourself with the environment first, and then arrange a position for you after Secretary Wang comes back." ”

"Okay." Wu Dao said.

Coming out of the mayor's office, Hu Xueshan took Wu Dao to meet other leading cadres, and asked Zhang Chunmei to take him to various departments under the town government for a walk, and finally returned to the office.

After returning to the office, Hu Xueshan and Zhang Chunmei took Wu Dao to the staff dormitory. Wu Dao was arranged in a two-person dormitory. A few days ago, Hu Xueshan had asked Zhang Chunmei to buy bedding, towels, washbasins, slippers and other supplies in advance, and put them in Wu Dao's dormitory, so that he could move in directly without buying anything. Living in the same dormitory with Wu Dao was a worker in his fifties. In the town, people over the age of fifty can not come to work every day, but because they are not of retirement age, office equipment and dormitories are still retained. During the time when Wu Dao was working in the Hecheng Town Government, the colleague in the same dormitory only came to the dormitory three times, and each time he picked up things and did not stay overnight, so Wu Dao almost lived in a single dormitory.

Coming out of the dormitory, it was already past eleven o'clock, Hu Xueshan and Zhang Chunmei took Wu Dao directly to the government canteen next to the leader's dormitory. The canteen was built only half a year ago, and although the decoration is not luxurious, it is also spacious and bright.

There are two types of people who eat in the canteen of the Hecheng Town Government: one is to eat only lunch every day and pay 50 yuan a month for food, and the other is to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and pay 70 yuan a month for food. Hu Xueshan specially greeted the chef of the canteen, Wu Dao was exempted from food fees for the first month, and he could eat three meals a day. There were two dishes for lunch, a braised pork ribs, a fish-flavored eggplant, and unlimited rice and steamed buns. Wu Dao was deeply surprised, he was frugal every day in the university, eating vegetarian food every day, and spending more than 100 yuan a month, in the Hecheng City Government Canteen, he only spent 50 or 70 yuan a month, and he could eat so well, compared to Jeju University Maoseong Branch, the Hecheng Town Government Canteen is really a paradise for the poor. After lunch, he went back to his dormitory to rest.

After getting off work in the afternoon, Wu Dao did not live in the dormitory, nor did he go to the cafeteria to eat, so he went home directly. As soon as he entered the house, his parents and grandfather kept asking questions, and Wu Dao told him what happened in the day of the Hecheng Town Government from beginning to end, and the family was surprised, Wu He said:

"On the first day of work, I worked in the same office as the mayor of the commune, and it will be the same after that."

The next day, Wu He told the villagers at the intersection what Wu Dao said the day before after exaggerating it, and especially emphasized that Wu Dao and the mayor worked in the same office and could see the mayor every day, as if Wu Dao was a big celebrity in front of the mayor and could be the mayor's home.

Although the people of Xiaohuangzhuang knew that Wu He had always loved to brag and had a lot of water in what he said, listening to him speak so realistically, they couldn't help but have a little more respect for Wu Dao and the Wu family. The people of Xiaohuangzhuang have taken Wu Dao as an example to educate their children, so that they can study hard, and when they grow up, they can sit in the office and become officials, otherwise they can only farm, or go to work as a small worker to build a building, in short, they will have to work hard.