Chapter 51: Can a Swan and a Sparrow Fly Together?

  Lu Zhong returned to the office, but Hou Jianjun was waiting for him.

  Hou Jianjun looked somewhat restless, apparently having received news of a sudden change in the county's wind direction.

  "The land bureau, the people and materials have all been handed over to the discipline inspection committee, there are still some follow-up handovers that haven't been completed." Hou Jianjun said this, his forehead was sweating profusely, fortunately, after hearing Lu Bureau's words, he didn't rush to conclude the case, otherwise, it would be a big trouble.

  Now Hou Jianjun is even more admiring of Lu Zhong's foresight. Perhaps Director Lu was not as obscure as he thought, wanting him to handle this case and use his own methods to clean up the mess. But how can I put it? If one has high aspirations, they would certainly not want to start their political career with such a stain, although it seems like an obvious advantage, but it also means tying one's fate closely with people like Qiu Dahe, which in hindsight is quite foolish.

  Lu Bureau seemed to have anticipated this day long ago. He must have had a way to handle it well, even if no one else was going to stir up the case.

  The county discipline inspection commission has taken over, and it's like passing a hot potato to someone else.

  Lu Zhong didn't say much, just nodded and said: "Tonight is Xiao Hu's birthday, come to my house for dinner, go busy first."

  Hou Jianjun hastily bid farewell and left.

  ……

  In the evening, Lu Zhong's home was extremely lively. The four deputy directors, Ma Yuewu, Wei Qingxian, He Liansheng and Hou Jianjun, as well as Chengguan Police Station's Hong Tao, Huangjin Haishang Border Defense Station's Tan Qiang, and Office Director Wang Yuguo all arrived. Among them, Wang Yuguo, Hou Jianjun, and Hong Tao all brought their spouses along, making it a family outing.

  Lu Zhong bought a cake for Du Xiaohu and even led the two little monkeys who were called to eat the cake with Du Xiaohu to sing a birthday song. In his past life, Lu Zhong had never celebrated Du Xiaohu's birthday before. Today, he smiled slightly, looking at Du Xiaohu's excited and happy appearance, Lu Zhong's depressed mood suddenly improved under Jiang Haiyan's pressure.

  Two little monkeys came over, and Du Xiaohu took special care of her two younger brothers. Today is their birthday, so Wei Xiangxiu couldn't help but come over too.

  A lively dinner, Lu Zhong also talked about the county bureau's work. Jiang Haiyan brought unprecedented pressure, and Lu Zhong had to manage his own base well, so as to remain unchanged in the face of countless changes.

  After dinner, everyone chatted in the living room again. The female comrades each prepared a small gift for Lu Zhong, of course, to be handed over to their husbands by their husbands, such as Ma Yuewu and Wei Qingxian who did not attend the scene. Lu Zhong also prepared small gifts for them, smiling and calling Ma Yuewu and Wei Qingxian "hand it over to your sister-in-law". Only Wei Xiangxiu's gift was personally handed over by Lu Zhong to her hands.

  There's no doubt that the female comrades present were all very happy, and Lu Zhong had prepared gifts of different kinds according to their ages. Wang Yuguo's partner Zeng Xiaohong and Hong Tao's wife were both in their thirties, taking care of their households and daily lives, so Lu Zhong gave them vouchers for sewing machines from the Wushan Department Store.

  Wei Xiangxiu received a small box, and didn't dare to open it, fearing that it was a necklace or ring, and others would see it, but when did Lu Zhong ever care about other people's opinions?

  Wei Xiangxiu suddenly remembered the large and small bags that she had secretly hidden at the bottom of her closet at home. Those clothes, she would also secretly flip through them at night, and even secretly wear them, but as for how to deal with them, she didn't have a single idea. Although she was clever and resourceful, when faced with Lu Zhong, this one person who didn't play by the rules, she too felt anxious and unsure of what to do.

  While chatting in the living room, Wang Yuguo heard Du Xiaohu mention that these sewing machine tickets were originally half-price tickets and couldn't help but be shocked, repeatedly saying: "Director Lu, this is too expensive, right?" Originally, he thought Director Lu had obtained ordinary supply tickets from the city through connections, but it seemed that wasn't the case. Isn't this called Director Lu paying out of his own pocket?

  Lü Zhēng smiled and said: "A friend gave it to me, you can just take it. Even if I had it, it would be useless. I couldn't possibly use it to exchange for something."

  Where's the money?

  Ma Yuewu and He Liansheng couldn't help but look at the gift box in their hands, thinking that when they got home, their wives would surely be delighted.

  "This isn't good, is it?" Wei Qing thought of the two bottles of wine he had brought earlier. Although they were good wines, coming to a leader's home once and still having the leader pay for them wasn't quite right.

  Lu Zhong waved his hand: "Don't mention this, actually, it's just that we're taking advantage of Tiger's birthday to get together and strengthen our relationships. Otherwise, how would he live a long life? I invited everyone here, was it to collect money?"

  Everyone laughed, but in fact, when Ma Yuewu was informed, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. He thought that some leading cadres were more and more fond of drinking and receiving red envelopes. Unexpectedly, Lu Zhong couldn't avoid the custom either. After arriving, he found that there weren't many people, and now that the gift was in hand, Ma Yuewu's face turned red with sweat. He had indeed looked down on Lu Zhong as being superficial, measuring others by his own standard, which showed that his own mind was not broad enough, and he had a narrow-minded attitude.

  As they chatted, Ma Yuewu and others bid farewell one after another. In the end, only two monkeys watching TV, Wei Xiangxiu, Wang Yuguo and their couple, as well as Lu Zhong were left in the living room.

  Hou Jianjun's home was just downstairs, his lover and Hong Tao's lover went to his house to chat. Hou Jianjun then went with Hong Tao and Du Xiaohu to play table tennis downstairs, it seemed like they were chatting and none of the three would admit defeat, so they made a bet to determine who was better.

  Wang Yuguo's lover Zeng Xiaohong, over thirty years old, gentle and elegant, was a worker at the county garment factory, sitting in the corner with Wei Xiangxiu, whispering softly.

  Lu Zhong handed several gift boxes to Wang Yuguo and said, "Even if you didn't arrive, the gifts have."

  Du Xiaohu's birthday, if only a few people knew today, it would seem like a small circle. In fact, all members of the county bureau party committee were notified today, but only Tan Qiang is considered Du Xiaohu's private friend, plus the armed police quota, and has nothing to do with personnel in the bureau.

  However, some deputy directors are not in Guangning, and some have made contact but did not come, such as Gao Zhikai.

  Lu Zhong wouldn't play favorites, so for those who couldn't make it, gifts were also prepared.

  Wang Yuguo smiled and said it was nothing, he would naturally handle this matter efficiently.

  After glancing at Wei Xiangxiu, Wang Yuguo smiled and said: "Director, after Old Zhang went to the Fire Department, his position has been vacant for a long time. I have a proposal, let's just call on Little Wei to do it. Little Wei is strong in business ability, graduated from police school, with a solid cultural foundation, and should have been promoted a long time ago."

  Lao Zhang turned out to be Zhang Dezhong, the former deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, who was transferred to the Fire Department as the head of the department.

  In fact, excluding Wang Yuguo and Zhang Dezong, there are only 6 formal administrative staff members in the bureau. Although Zhang Dezong has left, there are still two deputy directors, so it is completely untrue to say that the deputy position is vacant.

  Wang Yuguo was meticulous and keenly aware of Lu Ju's different attitude towards Wei Xiangxiu, thinking back to the past treatment of Wei Xiangxiu, he couldn't help but feel that she was a hidden danger, after all, pillow talk can be unpredictable.

  So today, he would suddenly bring up this matter, and also have the intention of showing off to Wei Xiangxiu. Of course, he had already inquired about Lu Zhong's words, otherwise, how could he recommend a cadre in front of the person involved? Isn't that putting on airs as a leader?

  Wei Xiangxiu was taken aback, sneaking a glance at Lu Zhong, but couldn't think of anything to say. Even if she said something humble, it didn't seem quite right either.

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly, smiling and turning to Wei Xiangxiu: "Xiao Wei, it seems that you will have to be even more demanding of yourself in the future, don't disappoint Director Yu's expectations." With this sentence, he was as good as agreed.

  From a purely professional point of view, Lu Zhong thought that giving Wei Xiangxiu the position of department head was more than sufficient.

  Wei Xiangxiu's mind was a bit dazed, to say that following this bandit would be quite good, nothing had happened yet, and there was money when needed, things were available when wanted, at work, no one dared to bully her anymore, and she made progress in a muddled way.

  Why don't I just follow him then? Wei Xiangxiu's mind was a mess and she didn't even know what she was thinking.