The next afternoon, Yong'an County Personnel Bureau.
The Yong'an County Personnel Bureau and the Labor Bureau shared offices in the same dilapidated building. Chen Donglai had heard that some places had already merged these functionally overlapping departments into one, calling it the "Labor and Personnel Bureau."
Of course, the name more familiar to later generations would only emerge after merging the functions of the Social Security Bureau, namely the "Human Resources and Social Security Bureau."
After seeing his girlfriend off onto the ferry back to Huichuan at the South Gate Pier, Chen Donglai walked straight to the nearby Personnel Bureau.
He entered the Second floor where the Personnel Bureau was located and saw two staff members sitting in the service hall. The middle-aged woman sitting on the left had a fleshy face. She glanced at Chen Donglai, who was lightly tapping the doorframe, and said, "What is it?" before immediately lowering her head, her eyes fixed intently on the Newspaper on the desk.
"I am a university graduate this year. I wanted to ask where I have been assigned to report for duty?"
Chen Donglai's tone was gentle, and he wore a smile. In the 90s, the quality of government staff was far lower than that of staff after the "streamlining administration and delegating power" reforms in later generations.
The saying "The gate is hard to enter, the face is hard to look at, and the matter is hard to handle" was not a randomly fabricated idiom, but an experience summary after countless people dealt with government offices.
The middle-aged aunt seemed not to hear Chen Donglai, instead lowering her head and returning to the novel she was reading in installments. Chen Donglai stood silently at the door, waiting patiently.
After a while, she finally sighed deeply, closed the Newspaper, and muttered, "So annoying." She then pulled a document from the pile of Documents stacked like a small mountain on the desk, turned to the young man sitting next to her, and said, "Xiao Chen, look through this stack." Then she looked at Chen Donglai: "Which school?"
"Beijing Normal University, Chen Donglai."
"As expected." Xiao Chen, who was flipping through the documents, was startled. This morning, the Bureau Chief had specifically come to the office and named Chen Donglai, asking him to help find his file.
Xiao Chen carefully pulled out a form. "Chen Donglai, Beijing Normal University," his index finger slid across the form from left to right, "Hualang Township Party and Government Office."
Chen Donglai sighed inwardly. He had known this result long ago, but he hadn't expected Luo Yaozu's actions to be so fast. He had only been beaten last night, and by the next day, his identity had been precisely located, and his "place of exile" arranged.
"What good is a good school?" the middle-aged aunt said to Xiao Chen beside her with a cold laugh. "If you come to Yong'an without connections, you can't get anything done!"
Chen Donglai did not linger in the office. After briefly thanking Xiao Chen, he walked out of the Personnel Bureau.
...
No. 1 Xianzheng Road, Yong'an County, Second floor of the County Party Committee Building, Executive Deputy Minister's Office of the County Party Committee Organization Department.
Chen Zui, Director of the Yong'an County Personnel Bureau, concurrently served as the Executive Deputy Minister of the County Party Committee Organization Department. He was sitting behind his desk.
"Yaozu, your father and your two Uncles have been friends for many years," Chen Zui took a sip of tea on his desk. "This kind of thing is too risky. Uncle Chen can only help you this once."
"Once is enough," Luo Yaozu said fiercely. His teeth were loose when he spoke now, all thanks to Chen Donglai.
If a brother who had stood up for him hadn't secretly followed that Tricycle yesterday, he probably wouldn't even know Chen Donglai's name, let alone found out that Chen Donglai was a graduate about to be assigned.
"Once he reports to Hualang Township, I will find someone to kill him, slice him into a thousand pieces," Luo Yaozu swore. As for that woman, he would definitely take revenge on her using the most despicable means.
What he said shocked Chen Zui, who knew that Luo Yaozu was capable of actually doing some of those things.
"Don't be impulsive. You have no idea what the consequences are for killing a Civil Servant!" Chen Zui felt some regret; he shouldn't have helped Luo Yaozu with this matter. "Does your Eldest Uncle know about this?"
Chen Zui now strongly suspected that Luo Yaozu was "falsely conveying an imperial decree." He felt that neither Luo Qiyuan, the Secretary of the County Political and Legal Affairs Commission and his eldest brother, nor Luo Qiyong, the Director of the County Party Committee Office, would be this impulsive.
As for Luo Yaozu's father, Luo Qizhi, the Director of the County Supply and Marketing Cooperative, it was possible.
"I told you, I told you all," Luo Yaozu was indeed uneasy. Only his father Luo Qizhi and Uncle Luo Qiyong knew about this. Eldest Uncle Luo Qiyuan was busy with official duties and had been working overtime at the Political and Legal Affairs Commission recently, so he hadn't had a chance to meet him.
"If you had gotten into Beijing Normal University," Chen Zui sighed, "your father and I, your Uncles, would have done everything to get you into the Prefectural Committee, into the Provincial Party Committee." Chen Zui looked at the second-generation rich kid before him, frustrated that he couldn't turn iron into steel. But Luo Yaozu was not his child after all, so he could only say so much.
"If you only have a junior high school education, it's not convenient for me to arrange a position for you directly," Chen Zui couldn't help but mention it again.
Luo Yaozu's face flushed red. He stood up and left his seat, slamming the office door shut with a "bang." Staff in other offices were startled by the loud noise and looked towards the Executive Deputy Minister's office.
...
Night, Huichuan City, Jiangnan District, Provincial Direct Organs Family Residence Building.
"Always fooling around with Qi Jiajia," the beautiful middle-aged woman, though attractive, looked displeased, clearly furious. "Qi Jiajia's father is a Vice Governor; she has food and drink without working! What about your father? He hasn't achieved anything significant yet!"
"It's just playing around for one extra day, what's the big deal? Besides, you aren't working either?"
Although Ming Yuezhao was flustered, she pretended to be calm. Her mother, Liu Yan, used to work at the Huichuan Agricultural Bank but had long since resigned and stayed home, spending her days eating and drinking with other officials' wives, relying on her husband's status.
As for her best friend Qi Jiajia... she was Ming Yuezhao's smokescreen. Every time she dated Chen Donglai, she used the excuse of "traveling with Qi Jiajia" to hide it from her parents. This time, sending Chen Donglai to Yong'an to report for duty was naturally no exception.
"I am, after all, a member of a Democratic Party; this position is about as far as it goes," Ming Jinggao sighed, putting down his chopsticks. He continued:
"It's fine to play around for a couple more days, Xiao Zhao. Remember to report to the Motorcycle Factory Office tomorrow. You can't just spend all day outside fooling around!"
"Got it, Dad." Ming Yuezhao replied verbally, but in her heart, she was thinking about how to bring up Chen Donglai's request to her father.
Saying it directly in front of her mother was definitely out of the question. Her sixth sense was too strong; Ming Yuezhao felt that if her mother heard Chen Donglai's name, she would immediately guess something.
Finally, after they had eaten their fill, Ming Jinggao stacked the plates and bowls together and turned into the kitchen; Liu Yan wiped her mouth, lay down on the leather sofa in the living room, and turned on the television.
Ming Yuezhao knew the opportunity had arrived. She also walked into the kitchen and picked up a plate, rubbing it with her slender fingers.
"Did you change your tune today?" Ming Jinggao was quite surprised. His daughter was as lazy as her mother when it came to housework, always lying down after eating. What was going on today? "Or do you have a favor to ask?"
"Dad, a high school classmate of mine, the one who also got into Beijing, that one," Ming Yuezhao paused, organizing her words, "he was assigned to Yong'an County..."