Chapter 58: The Core of Red Movement

  During the winter vacation, Liu Xiaohui organized a classmate gathering at Dongmi Garden, unfortunately, Lu Zhong happened to go to Shenzhen for inspection and missed the opportunity to reunite with his childhood friend.

  Bi Xiaoguang did not return either, he is now somewhat famous among the graduating class of the School of Journalism at Peking University, during the winter break he was taken by a professor to Beijing Daily to participate in a news project group, it is said that if no major mishaps occur, Bi Xiaoguang should be able to stay on at the newspaper with very favorable conditions after graduation.

  The day after Lu Zhong returned from Shenzhen, he received a call from Liu Xiaohui. Upon hearing Lu Zhong's voice, Liu Xiaohui exclaimed: "Well done, Zhongzi! You've finally agreed to answer the phone and not play hide-and-seek anymore?"

  Lu Zhong coughed and said, "I've been quite busy lately, sorry about that Little Hui."

  "Yes, you're busy, you're the head of the district and a member of the county committee, how can you not be busy?" Although Liu Xiaohui's tone was one of mock annoyance, it was clear that she was delighted, naturally pleased that her childhood friend had turned out so well.

  Lu Zhong smiled and knew he couldn't hide it from her forever.

  Liu Xiaohui hummed again and said: "I don't care how busy you are, 7 o'clock tonight, Dongmi Garden second floor, if you don't show up, it's all over, just 201, I'll go book now, if someone books early, should I report your name?"

  Lu Zhong smiled and said, "Alright, let's just say that now there are more good restaurants, Old Wang's place isn't as busy, they must have private rooms available. You don't need to go now, it might be a wasted trip."

  "Alright, I'll listen to you, 7 o'clock, if we don't see each other then it's over." Liu Xiaohui hung up the phone.

  Lu Zhong slowly hung up the phone. Without a doubt, his childhood friend's call brightened his somewhat gloomy mood.

  Lu Zhong always felt that perhaps his days in Guangning were numbered.

  Recently, Provincial Department Director Chu called and said that in the past month, the provincial department has been receiving letters of complaint from Guangning, most of which are anonymous, but some are real-name reports. They all reported problems with Lu Zheng's work as the director of Guangning County Public Security Bureau. Some were purely fabricated, while those who made real-name reports had some factual basis, although they inevitably exaggerated.

  These true and false accusations mixed together, making the situation more complicated. At least according to what Director Chu said, the provincial leaders who originally had high hopes for themselves expressed their disappointment in front of Chu Baozi, with the four-character comment "Angry at not competing", which is enough to show this leader's disappointment in himself.

  Chu Pangzi also said that it's not just the provincial hall, I heard that some old cadres from Guangning wrote a letter to the provincial party committee, also reflecting on the issue of "22-year-old county party committee member" in Guangning County. Lu Zheng's relationship with Du Boguang has become one of his most criticized points. At the standing committee meeting, he proposed imposing fines on economic criminals, but then privately lent money to economic criminals. No matter how you look at it, it's very suspicious.

  There are even letters of denunciation saying that Zhao Haixia's 5-year sentence is too light. Although the definition of "speculation and profiteering" in special policy areas has become increasingly blurred, with generally lighter sentences, Lu Zheng's approach is to use fines instead of imprisonment, which is a principled error.

  Lu Zhong intuitively knew that this series of accusations was definitely not just a coincidence.

  It's been less than a year since I was reborn, and I've already turned the Guangning government upside down. It's like Sun Wukong, although many old cadres may think I'm "immature and reckless", but I really hope to bring some ideological changes to the Guangning government. In this era of great change, as a coastal open city, Wushan has many policies and laws that may have reference significance for the future development of the whole country.

  This is the original intention of being small and big, but in fact, from entering the official career, this 22-year-old county committee member, following the normal procedure, relying on his two lifetimes of life experience, grasping policies and situations, plus the family background behind him, if he wants to step by step promote it is not difficult.

  But this is not what I wanted.

  The direction of reform, policies and regulations, even the national system, are now being debated and explored from top to bottom, and I also hope that in this era of great change, we can leave some marks for the future direction of this country.

  All sorts of tough and overbearing behavior that completely violate the rules of officialdom for young officials are all for this purpose.

  In fact, young officials are most taboo against being overbearing and tyrannical. The characteristic of a young cadre that is least appreciated by leaders is "young and successful, arrogant and frivolous."

  The younger you are, the more humble you should be. This is not only a rule in official circles but also an unwritten rule throughout Chinese society.

  Later generations of 70s look down on 80s, 80s look down on 90s, and 90s also look down on 00s. To some extent, this is because they can't stand young people being arrogant in front of them.

  What I have done now is really against heaven and has been criticized by many people.

  After paying some necessary and painful costs, now I have basically achieved some goals. Take the fertilizer plant's contract reform as an example. A simple worker supervision committee can play an incalculable role in supervising and constraining private operating teams of contracted state-owned enterprises if it can improve its functional system in practice.

  This idea also arises because later generations often see some old workers petitioning, thinking that the factory they contributed to for their entire lives was sold cheaply, and no matter how hard they try, they can't understand why a good factory suddenly became worthless or even a negative asset, and yet, they have no way to investigate.

  Under various institutional deficiencies such as auditing, the supervisory committee elected by workers can serve as the first gatekeeper to prevent state-owned assets from being lost to the greatest extent, as they are familiar with all kinds of situations in the factory.

  As long as these ideas can be sown, how one's own career goes is secondary. If we follow the rules and climb up step by step now, by the time we can truly make our voices heard, it may be too late. What if we suppress our true nature and become officials in a rigid and conventional way? Who knows what we will become after several years or decades? Maybe we'll just become another Liu Baojun or Ju Dahe.

  Now, some seeds have been sown, and I will face the consequences of going against the tide for nearly a year.

  The subtle change in Vice Secretary Zhang's attitude towards himself also indicates that his situation is getting worse and worse.

  However, in Dongmi Garden, when he saw Guo Weisong, Lu Zhong's worries had already been put aside, and he smiled and hugged Guo Weisong.

  Like Bi Xiaoguang, Guo Weisong was a core figure of the "Red Movement" at that time. He is three or four years older than Lu Zheng and had repeatedly tried to challenge Lu's authority but was put down thoroughly. Now he has a square head and big ears, moves steadily, wearing Lenin attire, with an obvious air of a state official.

  Liu Xiaohui smiled and said, "I didn't tell either of you in advance who we were going to meet, it's been six or seven years now, can you still recognize each other without my introduction? Indeed old friends, childhood buddies."

  Kuo Wei-song just smiled, Lu Zhong punched Kuo Wei-song's chest and said: "This guy, even if he turned to ashes I would still recognize him."

  There were only four people in the private room, Liu Xiaohui's boyfriend didn't come, but instead there was an additional young man with a bearded face who looked unfriendly. When Lu Zheng's eyes scanned towards him, he smiled awkwardly.

  Liu Xiaohui glared at the young man and said, "Dajun, what are you smiling about? You should thank Zhenzi, if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be able to come out." Then she said to Lu Zhen, "He is Lei Dajun."

  Lu Zhong hummed and thought to himself that he didn't look like a people's teacher at all. If he spoke any more glibly, it wouldn't be surprising if people mistook him for a rascal.

  After sitting down, Guo Weisong smiled and said: "Zhengzi, actually I had heard that Guangning had a particularly young public security bureau chief named Lu Zheng, only I didn't think it was really you."

  Lu Zhong smiled slightly: "I've also heard Xiaohui mention you, you're in the Qinglong Propaganda Department, right?"

  Guo Weisong nodded: "My family has moved there, got married two years ago, and our son is almost one year old."

  Lu Zhong exclaimed, "Congratulations then!" He raised his teacup, "Let's use tea instead of wine, I'll toast you one. When I have time, I will definitely go visit your wife and nephew."

  Two people chatted, Liu Xiaohui went out to arrange food, Lei Dajun sat stupidly on the side and couldn't interrupt. He rolled his eyes, stood up, walked to the windowsill, rummaged through a black leather bag on the floor for a while, pulled out two Chun Cheng cigarettes, put them on the table, and said somewhat awkwardly to Lu Zheng: "Director Lu, I know you don't lack this, but it's my heartfelt intention, and it didn't cost much money. You must accept it."

  Lu Zhong was stunned, and at this moment, Liu Xiaohui returned to the room and saw this scene. She was furious and walked over to grab the two cigarettes from his hand and stuffed them back into the black bag. She said angrily: "I knew it, you're being mysterious again, and you still want to put on a show? What do you take Zhongzi for? Besides, these two broken cigarettes are not even worth taking out. If it weren't for Zhongzi saving you, who knows how many years you'd be sentenced to?"

  Lei Dajun was quite embarrassed, and Lu Zhong patted his shoulder with a smile, saying: "I got your heart, okay?" And then said: "Little Hui, how did you become a sharp-tongued person? This doesn't seem like you."

  Kuo Wei Song gazed at the scene, intuitively feeling that Lu Zhong was not the same as a few years ago. The original Lu Zhong would never have had the leisure to give someone an excuse to step down.

  In just a few short years, the changes between people can be truly great.

  Guo Weisong let out a sigh with some emotion and asked Lu Zhong: "Zhongzi, I heard you've been promoted to the Standing Committee?"

  Lu Zhong smiled self-deprecatingly and said: "I'm afraid it's almost time to come down."

  Kuo Wei Sung helplessly said: "When did you also start loving to joke around?"

  Lu Zhong shook his head, "It's not a joke." Looking at Liu Xiaohui who also leaned in to listen, he smiled and said: "Xiaohui, your brother Lu Zhong is about to fall, it's just a matter of time. If there's anything you want to help with, hurry up and say it, or else the opportunity will be gone."

  Liu Xiaohui let out an incredulous "Cut!"

  Guo Weisong could feel that Lu Zhong's words, although half-joking, were also half-serious.

  But he didn't say much more, just smiled and said: "Little Hui, bring the wine quickly, no wine is not a banquet, let's drink!"